Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Ethical Management Essay

This essay seeks to identify the study of ethical management on a broad scope, and to specifically sieve out the issues which are common within the banking sector. This would include a case study on UBS and ethical problems which UBS have faced. As ethics cannot be divorced entirely from the study of sustainability and corporate social responsibility, this essay will also feature a look at banks, and their decisions which might be been unethical. The Study of Ethical Management While there might be many reasons why unethical behaviour happens, this essay would be looking at three of them in particular: 1) Personal Gain, 2) Strong Organisational Identification, and 3) Personality. . To examine the relationship between organizations and why ethical issues occur within them, we first define the term â€Å"Business† and â€Å"Businessperson†. The book, â€Å"Business Ethics†, written by William(2008), states that a business can represent and range from a start-up venture by some students, to a multinational corporation. Businessperson might be a sole proprietor running a business for themselves, or a CEO responsible for a multinational corporation. To take a broader view, we view the businesspeople under the personal point of view, and couple them with the other individuals who are within the organization. This would allow us to see why unethical behaviour can derive not only from the top management, but from every aspect of the organization. To expound on the individual, we refer to the book written by Schminke(2010), â€Å"Managerial Ethics†, where he identified â€Å"four individual decision-making styles†. The first belongs to an individualist mentality, this mentality ignores the stakeholders. The second mentality is altruistic, where the benefit of others is of the essence. The third group is the pragmatists, and lastly, the idealist, whose decisions are governed by principles and rules. Common Ethical issues faced in the Banking sector 1) Insiders Trading Insider trading, defined by Cornell University Law School, is when company’s stocks or other securities are traded by individuals who have access to undisclosed and confidential information. These individuals are known as insiders. To better comprehend the concerns of insider trading, we refer to the paper by Yulong & Huey-Lian(1998). Two things must first be addressed. First, who do these insiders refer to? Secondly, how is insider trading illegal? By definition from the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission(S. E. C. ), insiders are, â€Å"chairmen, directors, officers, etc. , and principal shareholders with 10 percent or more of their own firm’s common stock†. People in these positions are likely to be able to gain access to the firm’s undisclosed information. However, not all insiders trading are illegal. For example, managers of firms can often purchase its own firm’s stocks to increase their own individual share and voting power within the firm. This train of thought also believes that the more stock of the firm the manager holds, the greater their ownership and thus a higher work morale is derived from it. Insiders are still allowed to purchase its own firm’s stock, if they truly believe that it is a good investment. Insider trading becomes illegal however, when trades are made by insiders with the prior knowledge of an announcement for the investor’s personal gain. When an act as such is committed, insider trading becomes illegal. This action is deemed unethical as it is unfair to investors who do not possess the material information. Other transgressions can include the handling of undisclosed firm’s information from a firm’s insider to a public investor. For a trade to occur under the basis of the privileged information, and for the recipient to have personally gained from the trade, both parties can be charged under the S. E. C. ’s regulation of Fair Disclosure. An example of illegal insider trading within banks can be seen from as recently as January 16, 2014, where David Michael Gutman from J. P. Morgan colluded with Christopher John Tyndall from Meyers Associates. As â€Å"long time close personal friends†, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority(FINRA) discovered that Gutman had shared material, undisclosed information with Tyndall over a span of 19 months. This information included pending corporate mergers and acquisition transactions, which allowed Tyndall to make informed, no-risk trading using personal and family accounts. Quoting from Cameron K. Funkhouser, he said, â€Å"David Gutman had the keys to the kingdom through his position at J. P. Morgan as a gatekeeper.. †, we can see to how unethical behaviour driven by an individual in the position of power, can taint the image of the firm. Enforcements have been put in place to prevent and to deter insiders from carrying out such behaviours. The SEC has instituted new rules, 10b5-1 and 10b5-2 under the code of Federal Regulations, and the enforcement of these regulations being made global just recently in 2013 after the insider trading inquiry regarding the acquisition of H. J. Heinz Company. 2) Profits before Ethics The relationship between business ethics and profits can be complicated at times. Profits values will sometimes conflict with ethical values which will lead to unethical business behaviour in the manager’s bid to raise profits within the firm, consequentially affecting the firm’s stakeholders. Watkins (2011) brings about the argument that for those who ethics concerns, the chase of pecuniary values creates a potential compromise between social ethics and profitable opportunities, a factor that links to the Goldman Rule. The rule states that the greater the profitable opportunities, the higher the opportunity cost for the firm to consider ethical behaviours. This is further described by Weber (2006), as he states that companies are not evaluated on their success based on â€Å"their reputation for ethics†, but on the basis of profitability. It is plausible now to see why banks are driven by a sole concern for profit and to raise the value of their stock. With that in mind, what are some ethical boundaries a bank could trespass upon? As a corporation whose sole objective is to increase profit, they carries the potential turn a blind eye to internal ethics; explained in the book by Reynolds (2011) titled, â€Å"Ethics in Investment Banking†, which defines internal ethics as ethical considerations in regards to their employees’ welfare and the considerations in the use of the shareholder resources. These transgressions can range in forms of overworking employees, to an audit coverage of losses to portray a higher stock market price. As individuals looking for greater profits either for self or the firm, especially under the investment wings of banks, individuals can turn rogue and make unauthorised transactions which goes beyond the risk limits of the banks in hope of a greater profit. Jerome Kerviel’s case in 2008; where even the hierarchy turned a blind eye to his risks due to the profit he was generating, and Nick Leeson’s famous collapse of Barings Bank in 1995 are two such examples. Investments in environmentally harmful industries Environmentally harmful projects have been a major factor against Global Warming Awareness efforts. Such investments are being funnelled by banks who are less ethical in the area of sustainability. There have been numerous campaigns to counter banks from investing into unethical projects, some of which protestors even boycotted such banks. Citigroup the world’s largest project finance bank has been known to grant loans to these projects, which are harming the environment. Citigroup was indirectly related to the Camisea pipeline in Peru which has at least 5 spillages along the pipeline to date. Which not only damages the local ecosystems, but also detrimental to the livelihood of people around the world and threatens the well-being of mankind via climate change (Hogue, 2002). A glimpse of such unethical activities reveals something prevalent. It destroys our natural environment, by means of deforestation and the release of harmful gases from the burning of fossil fuels. However, Citigroup has yet see that their funding of major oil drilling and pipe laying companies not only worsens the global warming situation but also encourages environmental insecurity. Several other big-scale European banks, such as Dutch Bank and ABN Amro, came up with a policy which prevented funding of these industries. According to (ABN Amro’s) sustainability policy, â€Å"limited to financing of companies or projects related to timber, paper, agricultural plantations, mining and/or oil and gas. The bank would consider exceptions only â€Å"when extractions are delicately prepared, and holds responsibility on issues of national forest management. † A positive example of how banks can fund environmentally friendly projects can be seen from analysing the Banking Environment Initiative (BEI), it aims to lead the banking industry in directing bank investments towards environmentally and socially sustainable economic development. The objective of the BEI is to also unravel ways to invest in clean energy and soft commodities. As quoted from (CPSL, online), â€Å"the group, currently comprises of 10 global banking institutions which stretches across Asia to Europe, the United States and Latin America. † The best way of creating a united force amongst them was if they were acting on behalf of their clients. Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) has the intention to eliminate deforestation from their supply chain. As such they would prefer to form alliances with banks and work together to counter and ultimately eliminate deforestation. Banks have got to find ways to come up with a significant source of funding to finance the journey to sustainability. 4) False Accounting Frauds False accounting fraud, defined by the United Kingdom’s police, is the practice where a business, works in tandem with an accounting firm to overstate or understate company’s asset or liabilities with the intention of making the business appear financially stronger or healthier than it really is. As there are a multitude of reasons to commit false accounting fraud, we will not be listing all. False accounting allows for a corporation to gain higher credit ratings, report unrealistic profits, and hide losses to appeal to potential shareholders with an inflated share price. Some extraordinary cases which occurred regarding the falsification of accounts are such as the Enron scandal in 2001; where the audit and accountancy firm, Arthur Andersen was involved and convicted of assisting in audit fraud and subsequently dissolved. Enron was declared bankrupt and new laws were instituted to increase the accountability of firms who are auditing to remain independent of the clients whom they audit. Didn’t the code of conduct promise proper handling of UBS’s assets? He first began his illicit deals in late 2008, doing it for personal gains while covering his tracks with false accounting to the back office. This led to the back office being ignorant of the unauthorised trades as the regular books did not show it, instead, the profits were filed into a secret account called his Umbrella. Adoboli’s desk colleagues admitted to being in the know of the secret accounts, and his two bosses did not enquire into the suspicion despite the daily trading maximums being exceeded. This breakdown in corporate beliefs at the managerial level led to the unethical trading arising within the ranks of the department, and it going by unnoticed. While the integrity of the individual must be questioned, the work culture of UBS could be a factor to encourage the individual to behave unethically. Since the incident, UBS has taken a few measures to facilitate the new risk management practices. Firstly, the bank has taken step to refrain from proprietary trading. A bank would engage in proprietary trading as it benefits firms to make extra revenue. However, the disadvantage of engaging in this form of trading is that with high returns, often comes high risks. Conclusion In summary, how ethical management is derived has no hard and fast rule. However, implementations such as a Code of Conduct, or a company policy helps in setting the tone right within an organization. Through the paper, it is seen how ethical dilemmas can arise on an individual level or an organizational level. If one were to follow the many trains of thoughts regarding ethical management, they would get lost in the plethora of unions and activist fighting for ethical beliefs.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Ensorship and mass culture in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 Essay

Of the famous dystopian literatures of the 20th century Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 offers perhaps one of the more interesting suggestions to the historic causality of censorship.   While subtle hints of ignorance is power for a tyrannical government is mentioned by some characters ala 1984, most of the text instead suggests that in the dystopian world of Fahrenheit 451 that censorship is not so much intentional as it is a side-effect of a postmodern predilection toward, as Frederic Jameson notes, a cultural waning of affect and a world of signs without signifiers, a pastiche of histories without meaning (Jameson, 2001). The books being censored then, in Fahrenheit 451’s dystopian America, then have less of an impact on the society than the drama and entertainment created from their discovery and destruction and that more than the censorship therein this blissful ignorance is the dystopian element in Bradbury’s novel. Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopia for the intellectual.   Within the story is presented an (assumed) United States where people live reasonably happy lives.   From everything we see in the novel they are well fed, live in wonderful fireproof houses, have jobs, families and plenty of entertainment.   Yet, as main character Guy Montag dwells on, people kill themselves still and a constant threat of war seems to loom in the background of the novel. Yet there is never any discussion of why, and no matter how many â€Å"picture walls† or radios are turned on throughout the course of the book no more information is ever truly recovered as to how or why the country finds them in this mess.   Yet no one outside Montag and a handful of outsiders seem to think there is any problem with this. People in Montag’s world seem encouraged to live a life of leisure.   Montag’s boss, Beatty, talks endlessly about sports and his coworkers play hand after hand of poker. Dance faster than the white clown 2 Montag’s wife, Mildred, is addicted to the â€Å"picture wall†, or television, and is constantly begging for a fourth and final wall to be installed.   Violence as entertainment, even, seems to in some way be supported generally by society as Mildred seems to take pleasure at one point from hitting small animals with her automobile.   Yet there also seems to be an urge and encouragement of sameness, as echoes in many other works of dystopian speculative fiction.   Montag notes of his colleagues, â€Å"These men were all mirror images of himself! Were all firemen picked then for their looks as well as their proclivities?† (Bradbury, 1991)   His friend early in the story, Clarisse, falls victim to this sameness as she seems pushed out of public school because she doesn’t â€Å"mix.† (22)   Mildred, although a seemingly perfect member of society also seems to suffer from the strain of sameness as Montag notices a body strained by dieting. When we think of censorship, especially in the context of dystopian narratives, we often think of an oppression of knowledge by the government in order to control the proletariat.   Yet in several sections of the novel Bradbury makes allusions that the government didn’t censor the book initially, but rather the public abandoned the book and the government got rid of it as an after thought.   In his history lesson on the fireman, Beatty explains: The bigger your market, Montag, the less you handle controversy, remember that! [†¦] Authors, full of evil thoughts, luck up your typewriters.   They did.   Magazines became a nice blend of vanilla tapioca.   [†¦]   But the public, knowing what it wanted, spinning happily, let the comic books survive.   And the three dimensional sex magazines of course.   [†¦]   It didn’t come from the Government down.   There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship to start with, no!   Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God! (47) Dance faster than the white clown 3 Beatty explains that a globalized consumer market and an increasing demand to be entertained with bigger and better products is what killed the book and the government made firemen â€Å"custodians of our peace of mind† (48) to prevent unhappiness.   Jean Baudrillard discusses homogeneity in consumer society as â€Å"where everything is taken over and superseded in the ease and translucidity of an abstract ‘happiness,’ defined solely by the resolution of tensions.† (Baudrillard 2004) This seems to fit well with the construction of media and hyperconsumerism in Montag’s world, as all things in his world seem to exist for the purpose of happiness and entertainment.   Baudrillard’s description of the consumer experience could easily come from any number of facets of Montag’s life: Work, leisure, nature and culture: all these things which were once dispersed, which once generated anxiety and complexity in real life [†¦] these activities which were more or less irreducible one to another, are now at last mixed and blended, climatized and homogenized in the same sweeping vista of perpetual shopping. (30) The sadness and dystopia of Montag’s reality is not that the books are banned, but rather, as Montag’s ally Faber notes, â€Å"the public itself stopped reading of its own accord.†Ã‚   Montag’s society believes books are boring, difficult and bring only confusion and unhappiness and are so blindly obsessed with the consumption of happiness that even if books were available they would probably be ignored. If we think of a dystopia as a world where people have no interest in educating themselves or learning about things that may potentially make them unhappy, a world where image and a pastiche of history are all that are important, then we may very well have to worry that our own society is becoming a kind of dystopia.   Of course books are still readily available, but studies show that Americans are taking less time to read and that reading comprehension skills are greatly suffering. (Brown, 2008) As Beatty describes we too are Dance faster than the white clown 4 craving faster, more flashy and more dramatic entertainment.   Internet phenomena like Twitter, where users are limited to messages of no more than 140 characters, and Youtube, where the average video is 5 minutes, are outstanding examples of our ever shortening attention spans.   As a society we are looking ever conspicuous consumers, as Frederic Jameson says, on an unending quest for bigger, faster, better.   (Jameson 2001) Unfortunately in a post-Bush America there’s a lot to be said that we have entered a dystopia.   We are a country possessed by fear and worry, where children who, like Clarisse, â€Å"don’t mix† are being pushed out as safety risks.   Our activities and interests are being more carefully monitored by authorities than they have ever been. In the UK, fears of future terrorist activities have caused authorities to create advertisements encouraging neighbors and family to report suspicious activity, in very similar ways to that of Fahrenheit 451. (Doctorow, 2009)   If we think pessimistically on such events it is very easy to think we are in a doomed and dire situation like in the book and, as Faber says, â€Å"the whole skeleton needs reshaping.† Bradbury obviously wrote Fahrenheit 451 out of a growing concern that the world he lived in was being overtaken by a world of people who chose pleasure over the burden knowledge can bring.   He wrote it hoping that things could be turned around.   I suppose he might be horrified at many of the new ways people are wasting their time, the new distractions that keep us from educational entertainment.   However, the pursuit of knowledge continues on, albeit in sometimes altered ways. The book may be going out of style but knowledge continues on in forms on the internet, is discussed on the radio and (sometimes) television.   While there are dystopian elements to our world there is still hope for intellectualism and literacy.   Bradbury’s book stands as a warning to heed to prevent ignorance and cultural destruction. Dance faster than the white clown 5 References Baudrillard, Jean (2004). The consumer society: Myths and Structures. London, England: Sage Publications. Bradbury, Ray (1991). Fahrenheit 451. New York, New York: Ballantine Books. Brown, Joseph (2008).†As the constitution says†: Distinguishing documents in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Explicator. 67, 55-58. Doctorow, Cory (Mrch 24, 2009). Boing Boing. Retrieved April 15, 2009, from London cops reach new heights of anti-terror poster stupidity Web site: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/03/24/london-cops-reach-ne.html Jameson, Frederic (2001). Postmodernism, or the cultural logic of late capitalism. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Industrial-Organizational Psychology in Film Essay

Industrial-Organizational (I/O) psychology is the study of human behavior at work and it is concerned with the development of and application of scientific principles to the workplace (Spector, 2008). In this field of I/O psychology there are many topics that outlined how individuals will perform at work and how successful they will be. Some of these topics are as fallows Goal setting, Selection, Employee Motivation, Job satisfaction, Emotions at work, Burnout, and Occupational Stress. In the film, 12 Angry Men (Rose et al., 1957) shows various topics of I/O psychology that are concerned with the 12 jurors in their workplace and their decision-making. In this paper I will explain how the film, 12 Angry Men (Rose et al., 1957) explains several topics of I/O psychology on how they are applied in the workplace. I will begin by given a short synopsis of the film and then explain five different I/O psychology topics that were portrayed in the film. The I/O psychology topics that I will discuss are as fallows, goal setting, job satisfaction, emotions at work, occupational stress, and finally group think Movie Sypnosis The film, 12 Angry Men (Rose et al., 1957) is a classic movie about 12 white men deciding the sentence of a 18 year old kid who has allegedly committed murder in the first degree by stabbing and killing his father to death. The movie begins showing the different jurors walking into the courtroom at different times. The presiding judge over the courtroom delivers the decision to the jurors that they must decide if the kid is guilty or not. If the kid were to be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt he will be sent to the electric chair. Fallowing in the film the jurors are sent to deliberate the fate of the kid. They enter the room in what was said to be the hottest day of the summer, but everyone is in laughter and ready to make their decision. At the first deliberation everyone votes guilty except for one man his reason as to why he didn’t cast his vote as guilty was because he couldn’t decide that fast over the life of a kid. The man is Henry Fonda the main protagonist of the movie, juror number 8 the only juror who wanted to give the kid a chance because a reasonable doubt. The movie continues with argument from other jurors wanting to convict the kid to the electric chair because they thought he was guilty. But as the discussion heats up Juror 8 keeps convincing everyone to a reasonable doubt that the kid is not guilty. As other jurors began to turn their decisions the emotions in this workplace escalate and so does the stress. The group must come together and reach a verdict but with dissatisfied jurors and little motivation how could they? In the end of the movie the final verdict is reach and those who were fast-acting decision making jurors cast their vote as not guilty. I/O Topics Goal Setting Goal setting is a theory of motivation and it says that â€Å"people’s behavior are motivated by their internal intentions, objectives or goals† (Spector, 2008 p.207). According to the theory it explains that goals are what a person consciously wants to attain and the things that they are going to do to get it. These goals can be specific or general, for example being able to run a marathon is a specific goal but being able to run is a general goal for someone. Also some goals are not meant for everyone ones goal should be able to be attained, some goals that effective for a orientation might not be necessary from the other. Locke and Henne (1986) said that there were four ways in which goals affect behavior. First the goals need to direct attention and action to behaviors the person believes will achieve the goal. Second, the goals mobilize effort in that the person will try harder. Third, goals increase persistence and this will result in more time spent on behaviors necessary for goal achievement. And finally goals can motivate the search for effective strategies to attain them. For every goal that is desire by an individual in order to be effective goals also need to fallow four more principles. One of the four principles is that goals must be specific and not vague because one can easily get tangled the objective. Second, goals need to be committed and have a sense of ownership to an individual because they are more likely to attain the goal. Third, feedback needs to be given by employer or organization on how an employee is doing. Finally goals need to be difficult because it will result in better performance and the person will work harder to achieve it (Spector, 2008). In 12 Angry Men, we see the goal setting of the different jurors. In the second scene of the movie when all the jurors entered the deliberation room the juror 1, the Foreman was the leader of voting he organized everyone around the table and the goal was to vote on the sentence of guilty and not guilty. Juror 1, main goal was to get the other jurors votes he committed his goal by asking a showing of hands to those who thought the kid was guilty or not guilty. All the jurors goal was to reach a verdict based their vote of guilty or not, everyone was entitled to their own opinion since the goal was committed to them and the feedback that they receive from their decision was given by the other jurors. Once the first vote was cast to show that all 11 other jurors found the kid to be guilty except for juror 8. Here we see the entitlement of the goal of juror 8 his goal was to reach a decision and he decided of not guilty. The feedback was received from the other jurors when all of them started to get loud and grumpy because his decision differ from theirs. The film demonstrated the topic of goal setting to be use correctly because in the film at the first voting everyone agreed but one person. But as the film progress the juror’s vote and their final goal began to shift when several factors were put on the table that the kid might not be guilty after all. I/O psychologists explained that the goals needed to be specific and committed, well in the film the juror’s goals was their own opinion to guilty or not and why was. The decision was not easy and many jurors where dissatisfied and their well being was not optimal because it was very hot that afternoon. Using the principles of goal setting could of helped the jurors reached a conclusion rather quickly than they did; if they had all agreed when Juror 8 was explaining as to why the kid might not be guilty because a reasonable doubt. Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction is how people feel about their jobs, and there are two ways of looking job satisfaction global and facet approach. According to Spector (2008), the global approach treats job satisfaction as a single, overall feeling toward the job. But the facet approach say that satisfaction focus on different aspects of the job such as pay, supervision, coworkers, communication, benefits, and promotion. Many people express their level of their satisfaction by showing up everyday to work and being on time, also based on the facet approach it can be explain to their pay, some people got to work because they like the people they work with, or are wanting a promotion, and other factors. Staw and Cohen-Charash (2005) identified other factors that lead to job satisfaction; the factors are personality, gender, and age. These factors contribute to a person overall satisfaction because their personality can link for them to be negativity affectivity, and their locus of control. You would want some one that is not negative and have an internal focus of control to experience the best job satisfaction. Also someone who is young is more likely to experience negative job satisfaction than someone who is old and has moved up in the career ladder within the company. A study has proved that gender has shown to not influence job satisfaction (Witt & Nye, 1992). Job satisfaction in the movie is that of Juror 8 because he could not convict the kid because he was not yet satisfied with the decision of the other jurors. Its reason was that there was a reasonable doubt to not convict the kid to murder, meaning he wasn’t going to decide that rather quickly. Also other example of job satisfaction was how negative Juror 3 was and Juror 10 when the other jurors began to change their vote. They tried to convince themselves and the others without looking at the possibility of a reasonable doubt. These Jurors were very dissatisfied with the other juror’s decision of turning their vote. The movie demonstrated job satisfaction to be done correctly it seemed, as the cast were to be conform of people who would experience higher levels of job satisfaction than others. It was done correctly because some of the jurors like number 3,7, and 10 showed higher levels of dissatisfaction because of their negativity to evaluate the facts and evidence of a reasonable doubt given by the other jurors. The principles of job satisfaction like their focus of control being able to have internal and controlling their decisions rather than relying in powerful facts that the kid was guilty because of the eye witnesses could have lead them to a easier decision. And they will all have experience better well being without getting so angry and dissatisfied. But we can see at the end that the I/O principles were apply and those who were dissatisfied became satisfied whenever they changed their vote of guilty to not guilty because they looked away from their negativity. Also it gave all the jurors a sense of satisfaction for finding a kid that presumably that was guilty to not guilty and saving his life. Emotions at work Emotions are explained by Spector (2008) to be an important component of life, and providing not only resources to acquire the necessities of life but a sense of purpose and social contacts as well. Also accomplishment is a type of feeling that will provide people with positive feelings such as pride, joy. But a heated argument in the workplace can result in feelings of anger and annoyance toward the supervisors or the organization in general. People who experience positive and reinforcing emotions at work will perform well in their job duties. Brief and Weiss (2002) said that stressful and aversive emotions at work can produce negative emotions states and moods. In the film 12 Angry Men, juror 10 and juror 3 showed the most emotions mostly negative while juror 8 showed positive emotions while looking for a reasonable doubt that the kid might not be guilty of stabbing his father. Juror 10 said â€Å" the kid lives in the slum, is had a bad record in the past for knife fighting, his no good kid that’s why his guilty† (Rose, R. 1957). This juror was very much showing his emotions and most of them seem to be negative that’s why he experience the most dissatisfaction and he had to kept wiping his nose every time he spoke very angrily regarding the matter. Juror 3 wanted to punch Juror 8 because they had difference of opinions and Juror 6 wanted to fight juror 3 because he didn’t shut up. The movie seems to cover up all the emotions that these state appointed juror showed while they were delivering the verdict. It’s a very hard decision to make and when people differ in opinion some of the jurors got really excited and the temper escalated. The topic of emotions at work was demonstrated corrected because in I/O psychology they are concerned in how people behave at work either positively or negatively (Spector, 2008). It was very well expressed the amount of anger juror 3, and juror 10 had towards the other jurors that gradually change their votes too not guilty. The characters needed to apply positive emotions and deep surface acting to experience less negative emotions towards the matter that they were discussing. If they had better moods and emotions they will had experience more positive reinforcement in their jobs as jurors. Because positive emotions in the workplace result in better performance in the case of the juror will be the decision-making and more satisfaction for their jobs. But the movie is not called 12 Angry Men for nothing, so that’s why many of the jurors expressed negative emotions. Occupational Stress Occupational stress is a state of being that has experienced by almost everyone. Occupational stress starts with a job stressor, which is a condition at work that requires and adaptive response (Spector, 2008). It is then fallowed by a job strain, which is a reaction to the job stressor. Some of these job stressors identified by Spector (2008), are role ambiguity, role conflict, workload, Social stressor and control. In role ambiguity and employee is uncertain about what their job functions and responsibilities are. In role conflict the employee people experience negative demands at work and outside work (extrarole and intrarole). In intrarole are too many demands a job is asking of their employee, extrarole occurs when demands from work and nonwork domains become overwhelming. Workload is the amount of work an employee is ask to complete in a certain time, as to a social stressor is stressful incidents concerning other people often can lead to incivility. Finally control the extent in which employees can make decisions about work. With regards to the film an example that depicts occupational stress is the overwhelming decision of whether the kid was guilty or not. A stressful situation is when at the beginning of the voting juror 8 decides that the kid is not guilty he puts himself in a stressful situation because his peers do no agree with him and he has to prove to them why he doesn’t think that the kid is guilty. He experiences a lot of role conflict within his job because now all the other 11 jurors are making a lot of demands as to why his decisions is what it is. This is called in the movie intrarole situation because since all the jurors are against his decision to decide that there is a reasonable doubt for the kid not being guilty. The movie shows that occupational stress is a major part of being a juror because since everyone is bound to have their own opinion they can all differ from one another. This stress leads to job stressor that can cause some of the jurors to get burnout in the process, just like juror 7 change his vote to not guilty because he wanted to leave without any reason. The I/O topic of occupational stress in the job as a juror is utilize correctly in the movie because it apply to several principles of this topic like role conflict cause intrarole to juror 8 since he was with almost all the weight on his shoulders and the most stress to explain to the other jurors his decision and he also had a social stressor given by the other jurors difference of opinions. Juror 8 was almost assaulted in the movie because he didn’t agree with the rest ultimately he had control of his own decisions and why it lead to the whole jury changing their vote to not guilty. It lead to an overall better decision and more satisfaction even though there was a lot of stress and tension among the jurors. Group-Think Groupthink is a phenomenon that can occur when groups make decisions that individual members know are poor decisions. According to Janis (1972) groupthink is more likely to occur in cohesive groups with strong leaders. Because social pressures to maintain a certain level of conformity and harmony takes over good decision-making. But that’s not the end we cant always think that every time there is group the phenomenon of groupthink is likely to occurs there are some things we can do to avoid it explained by Janis (1972). The first thing leaders should be impartial moderators rather than attempting to gain control. Second, group members should evaluate decision alternatives and seek for information that can support or refute their decision. But this is not all to help with this problem sometimes is suggested that large groups to be divided into smaller groups where people can decide better among some critical issues within a organization which eventually can lead to the correct decision. A good example of groupthink in the movie is when juror 8 decides to cast his votes as not guilty while the other eleven members thought the accuser was guilty. In this case we see that groupthink being evolve as one of the jurors exclaims as to why he would decide that the kid was innocent and he insisted that juror 8 had ignore all the evidence. Juror 8 said, â€Å" I am not saying he didn’t do it, but there is a possibility that he didn’t, I have a reasonable doubt† (Rose, R. 1957). Juror 8 decisions to go against the other jurors vote is thought by him to be right while the other eleven jurors knew their decision was the right one. He thought that the decision for all eleven members to cast their vote as guilty was wrong and he wanted an explanation as to why they thought the kid was guilty. The movie demonstrated the topic being use incorrectly because the group did not wanted to agree with the other juror that thought the group decision was wrong. The leader being juror 1 didn’t sit impartial to the decision while he let some others like juror 2 and 10 control the decisions of the whole group of jurors. Also the other jury members did not evaluated their decision to cast their vote as guilty to either supported or refuted it they just kind of went what the leaders were voting. The topic would had been shown more effectively in the movie if the group of jurors had divided in to two groups and both evaluated different sides of evidence and then presented each other and make a vote from there. Rather I was open where a few that stood strong in their decisions where fallow by those who didn’t. Also another big issue is that there was no diversity among the groups it was an all white jury with no women or anything that was different. Maybe if the director would have added a women or a person of color into the group to have another point of view from a different background the decision might have been better received at first. Conclusion In the world that we live today there are many jobs and different principles of I/O psychology that can be apply to a specific job. It is not easy dealing with the demanding qualifications some jobs require and with the certain things an employee needs to put up with. As depicted in the film 12 Angry Men, being a juror in a specific trial can take a toll on the jurors, but in this film we saw that the jury had a clear and identifiable goal that was to reach a verdict concerning the life of 18-year-old kid. The juror satisfaction of this state appointed job might not always be the best at the beginning because of their different attitudes, but I can be very rewarding to save a persons life in the end. Emotions are a key thing jurors face when facing a hard decisions but always being positive and staying clear of the objective can help with the decision. But at the same time with emotions can bring a lot of stress for this occupation a juror must be able to face it and control and look into the bigger perspective. In the end we use groupthink to make decision being diverse will help an reach decisions rather quickly but sometimes it will not work out that way for those power hungry individuals. There will be no more rewarding job then going home knowing that you did the right thing and helped society. References Rose, R. (writer), Lumet, S. (director), Fonda, H. (writer). (1957). 12 Angry men. [Motion Picture]. United States: Orion-Nova Productions Spector, P. E. (2008). Industrial and Organizational Behavior, 5th Edition. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Compliance Techniques Getting People to Say yes ( Shelley E. Taylor, Essay

Compliance Techniques Getting People to Say yes ( Shelley E. Taylor, Letitia Anne Peplau, and David O. Sears - Essay Example A family of robins had nested in a nearby tree near his rest shed. We stealthily walked to just beneath the tree and dad informed me to raise the stick up to the nest. A red male robin had stood guard nearby. Immediately he saw the red feathers; he attacked them, wildly chirping and flapping his wings in distress. I was flabbergasted. My father told me that the red feathers made the bird go berserk. I asked for reasons, but he told me he did have any though he though the bird thought that the feathers were from another robin. He noted that robins have territories and are prone to attack another robin on his territorial sight. Since then, I have experienced experimental demonstrations that unadorned bunch of red feathers can be assaulted by a male robin will. However, I have ignored a detailed resemblance of an actual male robin that does not possess red feathers. I do not know if the other male robin will recognize it and react in the same way it does to the red feathered

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Lesson planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Lesson planning - Essay Example There are two students from Germany who are relatively new to the country but have a little background in English. There are three African students who are fluent in Rwandese and French. She has been studying in the school for a while and moved from the beginners’ class to the intermediate level. The other two are from South America and know Spanish and a few words in English. The purpose of learning is to enable the students understand English. It is important for my lesson plan to follow the order above for maximum gain of the pupils. Introduction to each other help ease the ambiance in the room, and the students become open minded to learn (Kerns and Mendelson 2004). The tutor should also be friendly to his/her students. The first few weeks are for the students to get into the groove and remind themselves the English language they already know. The short term goal for the students is to become fluent both in written and spoken English. There is also the long-term goal is for the students to be able to advance their careers while others are doing it for leisure purposes. The tutor should also be goal oriented while making the lesson plan. There should be a strategy in the execution of the lesson plan by the teacher. Involving and engaging the students intensively during the lessons is important in ensuring the students learn English vocabulary at a faster pace (Kerns and Mendelson 2004). The students being adults’ means they have rich life experiences that would be fun to share with the class. Part of the lesson plan is to let the students tell the class a little about themselves in the English language. It is a brilliant idea for any tutor to capitalize on the diversity of the learners. Learning different cultures while still learning the English language is a fun way of educating a class. The choice of the family and friends nouns is pure to enable the learners put into practice the lessons they are getting in class. Most of the adult learners have

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Eco-innovation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Eco-innovation - Essay Example Organizational change occurs when there is a company making a transition from its current state to some other desired future state. Managing the organizational change can be characterized as the process of planning and then implementing change in organizations in a way as to minimize the employee resistance and resulting cost to the organization while side by side maximizing the effectiveness of the innovation effort. Todays the business environment requires all companies to undergo changes almost more often if they wish to remain competitive. Some of the factors such as the globalization of markets and the rapidly evolving technology force the businesses to respond if they wish to survive. Such changes or innovation might be relatively minor , for instance in the case of installing a new software program or they could be even quite major, for instance as in the case of refocusing a complete marketing strategy, transforming a company in face of continual foreign competition or fighting off a hostile takeover. Online free dictionary defines construction industry as an industry that builds housing. Construction Industry is today one of the most booming industries worldwide. This industry covers mainly urban based areas who are concerned with preparation as well as the construction of real estate properties. Though, the repairing of existing building or even making certain alterations may also falls under Construction Industry. This industry usually categorized into three basic categories: All three types of construction project require unique teams to plan, design, construct along with maintain the project. At times the construction industry has to bear heavy maintenance cost that results in much losses for the industry. It is important that for such a big industry to properly plan its activities and utilize such measures that decrease the ever increasing maintenance cost. Mostly, the maintenance occurs after construction and therefore the

Friday, July 26, 2019

ERP in Public Sector Oman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

ERP in Public Sector Oman - Essay Example Vulnerable individuals such as the underage, old people, the mentally handicapped, the sick are ethically entitled to special considerations against discrimination, abuse, deception or even exploitation. In the conduct of research, the issue of ethical obligation to this category of the public demands a well-planned method to protect their interests, reactions, and suggestions about the ERP implementation in Oman public sector.Another ethical issue expected in this research is the circumstances where the interviewee expects or goes to an extent of requesting special services or bribery; some even ask for monetary assistance in return for their participation in the research. This is illegal and it brings about conflict of interest, as the information given will most likely be questionable.Oman is a country which is part of the expansive Arab states in the Maghreb region; traditionally, it has been using the Sharia law as part of its judicial system to govern and rule over its subjects and government operations as a whole. One of the branches of its judicial systems is the restriction it has placed on social interactions between men and women. The social segregation according to sex has made men largely prohibited from women’s realms, and vice versa. This is most likely to create difficulties in collecting data if the information has to come from a member of the opposite sex.Another legal factor that may be considered during my research is the issue of justice and fairness for all respondents.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Pathophysioloty of a chronic condition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Pathophysioloty of a chronic condition - Essay Example On questioning the patient had a localised pain score of 8/10 in her back and a pains in her joints and muscles with a pain score of 4/10. When questioned about her medical history, she stated she had a condition called systemic lupus erythematosus. This is not a condition I had heard of before I, therefore, questioned her more about it. A 20 year-old women patient presented with fatigue, heart palpitations and anxiety. Examining her medical history including her ANA, CBC, skin biopsy of lesions on her legs, complementary series, and anti-DNA antibody test, reveals vessel vasculitis. The results indicate hematocrit: 10.5 g/dL. ANA: 1.640, an elevated Anti-DNA antibody test, 3.8 million/mm3 for red blood cell count, 6000/mm3 of White blood cell count, 35% for Hematocrit, 138,000/mm3 for platelets, 6000/mm3 for White blood cell count, Decreased C3 level at 43 mg/dl for the Complement assay, and a decreased C4 level a 14 mg/dl (Appendix A). The patient’s rheumatoid arthritis factor had been found to be negative with

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Psychology - Essay Example Important here to note is that there is no meaning attached to them and no forceful repetition of the same. In case of other the both of them, the stored memory becomes a short term memory that can last with the individual for less than half a minute (Henderson, pp. 115-116, 1999). It is like when a person looks at a word or a picture for a while to recall it after a while. The longest possible recall is of the long-term memory that a person posses which can last from minutes to lifetime. One of the most important aspects of this model is flashbulb memories. Under normal situations, one would move from sensory to short term and from short term to long-term memory, however, there are special circumstances when a sensory memory directly becomes a part of your long-term memory. People who have witnessed the assassination of John F. Kennedy, 9/11 Attacks, flood, fire, murder, robbery or some extra ordinary event in their lives, even if they have witnessed, only a glance of it, they tend to remember it for ages making it a part of their long term memory (Heffernan, pp. 89-90, 2005). For the past few decades, flashbulb memories have been considered as very dynamic and life long memories, however, recent researches have shown that they may not remain with a person for that long, as it was believed previously. Furthermore, during the period of 3-12 months after the events, the memory also starts to rust raising serious questions over its accuracy (Cardwell & Flanagan, pp. 56-57, 2005). Levels of Processing Model and Revising an Exam Craik and Lockhart in 1972 presented their model of memory, which they name as Level of Processing Model. Unlike the Multi Store Model of memory, which argues about eh dual store of memory, this model urges that short term and long-term memory is based on depth or level of processing on the stimuli. Fragile, vulnerable and violate memory traces are in the short-term store, however, memories with durable and lasting elements are placed in th e long-term memory section of the brain. However, important here is to understand that what makes a memory fragile or durable? For example, processing of words based on their pictures and sounds requires shallow and straightforward processing, however, processing of things along which some meaning, logic or rational has been associated, is deeper and thus more durable (Miller, pp. 69-71, 2002). The human brain has complete network of semantic structures and whenever a specific stimuli is recalled, it will tend to have a higher recall value it is line with the existing semantic structures’ of the brain. In this case, the processing of that stimuli or memory would be deep, since many different portions of the semantic structure of the brain would come into action before a perfect meaning for the stimuli comes onto the scene. As mentioned that since it is deep processing, therefore, this stimuli or memory would become a part of this long-term memory section of the brain (Weiten, pp. 6-8, 2008). Without any doubts, the level of processing model offers great insights regarding how to revise for an exam. The basic idea to remember is that in some way or the other, the key to recalling things is associating other things

(Technology Supporting Business Processes 1) Assignment

(Technology Supporting Business Processes 1) - Assignment Example To begin with, management of business usually requires efficient collection and allocation of information. Through the use of information system this process has been made more efficient. Reason being, it has facilitated speedy transfer of information among different level of management. This has to a great extent minimized costs associated with meetings. Moreover, the information system has enhanced sharing of information amongst employees of an organization; this has been made possible through storing files at a central point accessible to certain employees. Consequently, the business becomes more competitive. (Markgraf & Media, 2010) The management process of a business is usually dependant on the information in hand. Through the use of information systems business can get up to date information about their markets; consumers; and competitors. Consequently, it makes the business to be more efficient and competitive. As an illustration, sales information provides an overview of what consumers are really purchasing. For this reason, business will stock and manufacture products that are in great demand. This minimizes loses making the business profitable. (Markgraf & Media, 2010) Most of the businesses require record keeping. This is usually meant to monitor performance of the business in all its sectors (production, marketing, etc). The information system provides an efficient and cheap platform to do so. As an illustration, a business information system has the ability to store communication and financial records; modification histories; and performance data. The information stored can be useful in a number of ways; for instance: estimating costs and analyzing performance of a business. (Bocij & Chaffey, 2003) Markgraf, B., & Media, D. (2010). Importance of Information System in an Organization. Retrieved July Thursday, 2014, from Chron:

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Barney's Entanglements with Various Aspects of Property Law Essay

Barney's Entanglements with Various Aspects of Property Law - Essay Example First his son Opie had used the property as collateral for a loan, and with a payment default the property was being pursued for foreclosure by the lending party. Next Barney finds out that Ernest had been squatting on that property for about two decades, and claimed ownership for that reason. First Barney’s ownership claim on the property is legitimate, under the principle of law called â€Å"joint tenancy with right of survivorship†. The case’s citing this principle is valid, and that Barney had legal right to the mountain property as alleged. The interesting aspect of this principle of law is that when a partner co-owner dies, the law’s operation automatically grants full rights of ownership to the remaining co-owner, with no regard to the power of a will to subvert that operation (Farlex, 2012; James T. Blazek & Associates, 2000). Opie was able to use the land, meanwhile, as collateral on the strength of his stake on this property, from a will by Barne y. There is some legal opening for Barney to explore this aspect of joint tenancy law in order to contest the legality of Opie’s use of the land as collateral for the failed loan. Meanwhile, Barney’s larger problem seems to be that Ernest had usurped the land, and may have legal ground to stake the claim to that land and retain ownership. As the case states, Ernest’s possession of the land is uninterrupted for two decades, is notorious, and for that long period of time uncontested. Under adverse possession law, where usual limitation statutes for contesting ownership is seven or twenty years, Ernest may have a case for claiming legal ownership of the land (Cornell University Law School, 2010). As a lawyer my advice would be for Barney to weigh how much the property means to him versus how much his relationship with Opie means. He can pursue a case contesting the legality of the use of the land as collateral, but there is the matter of Ernest having probable vali d claim to the land that complicates things. Barney here is stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one end he is being pursued by the lender who wants to foreclose. On the other Ernest had laid claim to the land. There seems to be no easy way out of this. The mountain property maybe a lost cause (Cornell University Law School, 2010; Farlex, 2012; James T. Blazek & Associates, 2000). II. The Beach Property The town authorities cited eminent domain as the primary law principle that justified their appropriating Barney’s property for use to develop the beach front into the Nickelodeon facility that Barney thought so little off. Now eminent domain is a power of the state and of the governments, in this case of the county government, to do such appropriating of private property for particular purposes, but it is not clear in the case that the town itself was the acting developer, or whether the town was citing eminent domain in order to profit a private developer who may be the real owner of the resort. There is the element of eminent domain that the land appropriated must be for the use of the public. In this case, while the resort is supposed to be for the general public, it might be a privately owned enterprise, in which case the use of eminent domain may not be applicable, or valid. There is a case to be made for contesting the right of the town to take away Barney’s beach property, on the basis of the use of eminent domain as the primary excuse is an invalid interpretation of the eminent domain doctrine. In fact, the literature lists exactly

Monday, July 22, 2019

Common Size Financial Statement Analysis Essay Example for Free

Common Size Financial Statement Analysis Essay When all the items of a financial statement are expressed on a common basis, it is known as a common-size financial statement. Common-sizing of balance sheet is done generally by expressing its all items as a percentage of its total assets or total equities. Similarly, income statement is common-sized when its all items are expressed as percentage of total sales. PROCEDURE OF COMMON SIZING In preparing common-size income statement, the following procedure is to be followed : †¢Total sales revenue or total revenue is taken as hundred. †¢Each item of cost or expenses is represented as a percentage of total revenue. †¢Profit or loss also shown as a percentage of revenue. Similarly, balance sheet is common-sized as follows : †¢Total of assets side or total of liability side is taken as hundred. †¢Each item of asset is expressed as percentage of total asset total of capital and liabilities. †¢Each item of the liability side is also expressed as a percentage of total assets or total of capital and liabilities. USEFULNESS OF COMMON-SIZE FINANCIAL STATEMENT ANALYSIS †¢Inter-firm comparison becomes more meaningful when financial statement of the firms under comparison is common-sized. †¢Common-size financial statement analysis is most suitable to evaluate the performance of a company over a period of time. †¢It is useful in understanding the relative importance of different sources of financing. †¢It helps the analyst to formulate hypothesis about the most efficient business model by means of effective inter-firm comparisons. †¢Common-size financial analysis can be used to compare a company’s financial data with industry norms or average. COMMON-SIZE FINANCIAL STATEMENT ANALYSIS When all the items of a financial statement are expressed on a common basis, it is known as a common-size financial statement. Common-sizing of balance sheet is done generally by expressing its all items as a percentage of its total assets or total equities. Similarly, income statement is common-sized when its all items are expressed as percentage of total sales. PROCEDURE OF COMMON SIZING In preparing common-size income statement, the following procedure is to be followed : †¢Total sales revenue or total revenue is taken as hundred. †¢Each item of cost or expenses is represented as a percentage of total revenue. †¢Profit or loss also shown as a percentage of revenue. Similarly, balance sheet is common-sized as follows : †¢Total of assets side or total of liability side is taken as hundred. †¢Each item of asset is expressed as percentage of total asset total of capital and liabilities. †¢Each item of the liability side is also expressed as a percentage of total assets or total of capital and liabilities. USEFULNESS OF COMMON-SIZE FINANCIAL STATEMENT ANALYSIS †¢Inter-firm comparison becomes more meaningful when financial statement of the firms under comparison is common-sized. †¢Common-size financial statement analysis is most suitable to evaluate the performance of a company over a period of time. †¢It is useful in understanding the relative importance of different sources of financing. †¢It helps the analyst to formulate hypothesis about the most efficient business model by means of effective inter-firm comparisons. †¢Common-size financial analysis can be used to compare a company’s financial data with industry norms or average.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

International Olympic Committee

International Olympic Committee Introduction: Now a day, to present and promote the national identity and cultures on a global scale, hosting the international games is the one of the greatest way. On 6 July 2005 the International Olympic Committee has given the right to stage the 2012 summer Olympic and Paralympics Games to London. Now its necessary to find out whether its good the Economy of UK or what affects will be on the UK. The pros and cons of the London 2012: [P1] As London is going to host the 2012 Olympic Games, we have to find out some advantages and disadvantages of hosting the 2012 Olympic Games. Even though its estimated that there will be  £2 Billion in tourism revenue and its predicted that the benefits of the game will be felt across the whole of the UK with becoming the centre of the worlds attention, there are so many disadvantages of the hosting of such a big games. Advantages of hosting the 2012 Olympic games: 1. Urban regeneration: Due to Olympic 2012, Government making a new stadium with setting capacity of 80000 and this will be the main focus area for Olympic. This East-end side is bit less developed area in comparison to other part of the London. So due to Olympic 2012 this area will be developing area very soon. 2. Housing: Government is building 5000 homes for the Olympic village which will be using for housing of the local people after the Olympic. It will increase the housing cost of the area. 3. Transport Improvement: As large number of visitor will be visiting during the Olympic, Government is improving the transport line rapidly. Following Improvements are mainly focused: a. Building a channel Tunnel which will connect Stratford with Kings Cross b. Increasing the jubilee line capacity by 45% c. Extending the DLR network d. Major improvement work in East London line which is costing around  £1bn. 4. Jobs: East end is known as a area where unemployment rate is very high. As this area has become the Olympic Zone, now there are lots of short-term jobs opportunity is there which may help to reduce the unemployment rate. 5. Tourism: UK is expecting the number of tourist will increase rapidly due to the Olympic. 6. Financial Benefits: A city may receive lots of benefits from Olympic games. If we look at previous Olympic history we can see that Barcelona was able to do vast urban renewal from the gained revenue of Olympic. Sydney was also able to generate huge revenue from the tourist and it also increase the number of tourist for the city. 7. Employment Effects: As we describe earlier Olympic creates lots of job which helps to reduce the unemployment rate.. 8. Intangible Benefits: There are lots of benefit for being host city of big event like Olympic. It could be tourist perspective, employment creation, development of particular area, improvement of transportation system, being the focus placed for the rest of the world. [http://olympics.pthimon.co.uk/londonadv.htm] Disadvantages of hosting the 2012 Olympic game: ïÆ'Ëœ Cost: Cost of hosting a big event is the main drawback. Government may need to spend around  £2.373bn for Olympic 2012 and it is predicted which may increase. There could be huge operating loss which is nearly  £500million. ïÆ'Ëœ Lakes of long term job: Olympic is creating short-term job but it is not creating any long term jobs. So that after the Olympic, unemployment rate may increase rapidly. ïÆ'Ëœ Olympic Debt: With the Olympic Games being of the scale that it currently is, there is a risk of ending up in huge financial deficit if preparations are not organised or overseen properly. The result is a debt that lasts for years, as happened at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. ïÆ'Ëœ Rising Consumer Prices/Rent: As we know that if demand increases, price will increase. So that price of product and rent may increase during the Olympic which will have a serious negative impact to the local poor resident. For example, is an area in which landlords will be able to charge 10 times their normal price during the surge of visitors to Athens in 2004. If too many prices shoot upwards in this way, a lot of poorer locals may find goods or services which they used to be able to afford are now out of reach. However, this change may not be affect larger cities. Cities such as Montreal and Los Angeles did not undergo any significant price surges around the Games, and price changes were consistent with those in surrounding cities. [[http://olympics.pthimon.co.uk/londonadv.htm]] Impact on Environment and Other stakeholder: [P2] The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games will bring a wide range of positive impacts to the region. These include transport infrastructure, employment, skills, and economic, social and environmental impacts. Many benefits include opportunities to showcase the region through various Olympic-related media. It has to be monitored noise, dust which is around the Olympic park. The waterways which runs around the park must need to be protected so that storing chemicals, oils do not run into the water ways. Arrange a huge event like an Olympic can easily effect on environment. It can be effect environment in different way like Carbon emission: In this mega event its very possible to environment effected by carbon emission. But Olympic committee has set an inspirational goal ‘Towards a One Planet Olympic. They try to keep carbon emission as low as possible. London 2012 has pledged to undertake a study of the carbon footprint of the Games. The first draft of the carbon footprint and associated carbon management strategy, including a reference scenario and numbers quantifying emissions, is due to be published by the end of July 2008. This will then be revised in light of lessons learnt in Beijing Energy: For running this Olympic it needs a huge amount of energy. There is a possibility lots of energy can be waste as well. So London 2012 planning a proper energy plan for reduces waste of energy. Waste: In this Olympic game there will be lots of tourist who will come from all over the world. In this time London population going to be increase as well as waste. Because lots of people will dumps huge amount of waste every day. It can easily affect on environment. As further plans for waste infrastructure and minimising food packaging and other Games time waste are developed over the next few years it will become clearer whether the positive goals for waste management will be achieved [http://www.london2012.com/plans/olympic-park/getting-ready/environmental-monitoring.php] Other stakeholder: London Development Agency which is a subsidiary of the Mayor of London, its investing around  £15 million for games and improvement of Lower Lea Valley. [http://www.londonnet.co.uk/ln/guide/about/olympics2012_stakeholders.html] Comparison with other Olympic: [P3] First of all lets have look at the Beijing Olympic 2008. Beijing Olympic can be treat as a one of the successful Olympic. Chinese President Hu Jintao declared open the 29th summer Olympic Games of Beijing in the National Stadium in north Beijing. For the Olympic they have built 12 new stadiums with 11 existing stadiums and 8 temporary stadiums. On the other hand for London 2012 Olympic one of the biggest Olympic park construction going on where the setting capacity will be around 80000. To prepare for Olympic visitors, Beijings transportation infrastructure was expanded significantly. Beijing airport had a major expansion, adding the new Terminal 3 which is the worlds largest airport terminal. They reopened the Beijing south railway station after remodelling. They have introduced Beijing-Tianjin intercity train to connect with co-host city. On the other hand for London 2012 Olympic the government has already introduced major construction for London underground, and approximately 7.7 million tickets are available for sale for the London 2012 Olympic Games. An estimated 1.5 million spectators are expected to watch the Paralympics Games.. If you compare the investment, London 2012 Olympic are investing for then Beijing Olympic. London 2012 has got more sponsor then Beijing Olympic. House of common has approved budget of 5.3 billion pound for construction of venues [http://getsmaart.com/student-guides/index.php/student-life-advice/London_2012_Update] Impact on local business: [P4] The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games will bring a wide range of positive impacts to the region. These include transport infrastructure, employment, skills, and economic, social and environmental impacts. Many benefits include opportunities to showcase the region through various Olympic-related media. Many small business premises have to move away due to manufacturing the main park. Its really worse to business owner, because they have been doing business for long time and when move to new place it will take long time to settle down. On the other hand, During the Olympic number of tourist will increase. They will come to London to visit and they will spend money over here. So that its a great opportunity for the local business to increase the profitability. For business people, 2012 London Olympics will not be just a gathering of sports events and countries—not just for entertainment—but more than that, it is going to be a huge potential business. Many people from different countries, various races and colours, will converge in one place and this just means, great business opportunity. There is a great deal of investment that is being pumped into the country and the area in particular and many are looking at the business opportunities that will come about as a result of this huge sports gathering. The London 2012 Olympics will be a great venue for the local United Kingdom based athletes as they look to showcase their talents to the country at large. There are also some potential negative impacts to the region as a result of the Games. The South West may experience a decrease in tourism as a result of displacement or negative effects on staging the sailing events. Research shows there are a number of ‘Olympic aversion markets that can increase tourism flows outside host cities. A number of national and international tourists may choose to not visit the region during 2012 because of perceived congestion and overcrowding. Through a structured and co-ordinated approach, the South West can plan accordingly for the tourism opportunities of people staying away or at home during the Games themselves. One such market will be London residents wanting to escape the Games, and the South West is one of the UK regions that has recognised the potential of this market, with the South West England Legacy Strategy for the 2012 Games noting the potential to capitalise on the displacement of UK citizens from London; this can be mitigated by d eveloping events (big screen, festivals etc.) to attract visitors. [http://blogstuck.com/sports-sports-more-sports/2012-london-olympics-jobs-why-should-england-host-the-olympics/3239/] Impacts on economy: The total cost of the hosting Olympic 2012 will be around  £736 million and if could affect in welfare of London around  £4003 million. So that Olympic 2012 will affecting significantly to the local economy which can help to recover the recession. There will a great opportunity for the economy to be stronger. For example, The Olympic 2012 games will impact in London economy because many tourist will come here, the hotel business will increase at that time, Food, drink business will increase. Because many people, tourist comes here and they will buy food, drink for them On the other hand we should also know that hosting of Olympic could be courses for huge loss. For example we can tell about Munich Olympics 1972. They made loses of  £178 million and in 1976 Montreal made losses of  £692. If we look at 1984 los angels Olympic and 1992 Barcelona Olympics they made around  £215 million profit as because of the increased economic performance , creation of large market, and broadcasting rights. So that Olympic 2012 could affect significantly to local economy. Micro and Macro Environmental Factors related with Olympic: [P7] There are some uncontrollable factors which has got impact on the business organisation. As like that Olympic Games could be affected by some micro and macro environmental factors and it could influence on the number of tourist. Factors or elements in an organizations immediate area of operations that affect its performance and decision making freedom. These factors include competitors, customers, distribution channels, suppliers, and the general public. Example for Olympic 2012: ïÆ'Ëœ Competitor- There is no competitor in London 2012 Olympic ïÆ'Ëœ Customer- Peoples who buy the Olympic events ticket. ïÆ'Ëœ Suppliers- Construction firms, workers. For macro environment we can say the economic factors, environmental factor political factors, technical factors, social environment and for micro environmental factors it includes the supplier, stakeholders, government, and competitor. These are the factors has got significant impact on the Olympic Games also. For example currently the political, situation of UK is satiable. So that tourist can visit UK without any fear. So that each an every factor has got significant impact. Marco and Micro environmental factors also has got affect on SMEs growth. To find out the macro and micro environmental factors on the SMEs growth we can have a look on the PESTAL and Potters five forces Analysis. PESTEL analysis: [P6] It is a part of the external analysis when doing market research and gives a certain overview of the different macro environmental factors that the company has to take into consideration. Political factors include areas such as tax policy, employment laws, environmental regulations, trade restrictions and tariffs and political stability. Political Factor: A political factor is one of the major factors which have got significant impact on SMEs. In UK political situation is stable and Politian appreciates small and medium business. All the existing rules regulation of business and the spending power of the customers are very good for SMEs. Economic Factor: As marketers need to consider the state of the trading economy in the state of a trading economy in the short and long tern. The economic condition of UK is much better then any other country for SMEs. In UK economic growth is very good; customer has got more spending power. So that its very helpful for the SMEs. Sericulture Factors: the social and cultural influence on business very from county to country. As UK is a multinational country it a good place to do business. Peoples already adopted with so many culture and they do respect each other. Here people would like to spend so that its good for SMEs. Also when customers do perceived that their cultural values are being respected by the business as evident in its market(ing) strategy and customer handling, they will respond more positively to the business and its revenues will increase. Technological Factors: Industry change is driving insurers to reinvent themselves by building new strategies and deploying new technologies. But it isnt easy in the tight economic market to fund new projects while prioritizing investments. It is more crucial than ever to know when to be an early adopter, and when to be a fast follower. Kimberly Harris-Ferranti, research vice president, Gartner, Inc., recently discussed opportunities to achieve a first-mover advantage, and others where it is acceptable to follow the crowd. As UK is technologically advanced it easy to get access to the new technology which is helpful for SMEs and its easy to get competitive advantage. Environmental Factors: climate changing, global warming, waste management could affect the business significantly. Sometimes its not easy to adopt with new environmental factors. In UK people are concern about environment. Its difficult to do business without concern about environment. It may increase the cost for small and medium business organisation as they have spend extra money for the waste management or recycling. Legal Factors: Current law and order in UK is very friendly for the business. Small and medium business organisation can get help for the local authority and police any time. The legal environment is secure and government has introduced business friendly law and regulation Affect on SME Growth: [P9] There will be certain affect on the SME growth. It has been shown through Porters Five Forces. Porters Five forces The model of pure competition implies that risk-adjusted rates of return should be constant across firms and industries. However, numerous economic studies have affirmed that different industries can sustain different levels of profitability; part of this difference is explained by industry structure. Michael Porter provided a framework that models an industry as being influenced by five forces. The strategic business manager seeking to develop an edge over rival firms can use this model to better understand the industry context in which the firm operates. Rivalry: In the traditional economic model, competition among rival firms drives profits to zero. But competition is not perfect and firms are not unsophisticated passive price takers. Rather, firms strive for a competitive advantage over their rivals. The intensity of rivalry among firms varies across industries, and strategic analysts are interested in these differences. It could create following cost for SMEs 1. A larger number of firms 2. Slow market growth 3. High fixed costs 4. High storage costs or highly perishable products 5. Low switching costs As there are large numbers of SMEs in UK the completive rivalry is very high which is affecting it. As because of London 2012 Olympic games the number of competitor will increase. Threat of Substitutes: In Porters model, substitute products refer to products in other industries. To the economist, a threat of substitutes exists when a products demand is affected by the price change of a substitute product. A products price elasticity is affected by substitute products as more substitutes become available, the demand becomes more elastic since customers have more alternatives. A close substitute product constrains the ability of firms in an industry to raise prices In UK the threat of Substitutes are very high. For SMEs they have to take quick decision regarding substitutes. Its also affecting SMEs. Buyer Power: The power of buyers is the impact that customers have on a producing industry. In general, when buyer power is strong, the relationship to the producing industry is near to what an economist terms a monophony a market in which there are many suppliers and one buyer. Under such market conditions, the buyer sets the price. In reality few pure monopolies exist, but frequently there is some asymmetry between a producing industry and buyers. The following tables outline some factors that determine buyer power. In UK the buying power of customers are more and they have got more choice. In order to get more customers all the SMEs has to provide excellent customer service. As London hosting Olympic 2012 games its good for the SMEs that the number of Buyer will increase. Supplier Power: A producing industry requires raw materials labour, components, and other supplies. This requirement leads to buyer-supplier relationships between the industry and the firms that provide it the raw materials used to create products. Suppliers, if powerful, can exert an influence on the producing industry, such as selling raw materials at a high price to capture some of the industrys profits. The following tables outline some factors that determine supplier power. Like other big business supplier has got some power to influence the SMEs. Due to Olympic London 2012 number of SMEs will increase and if the supplier has got more power they may increase the price of the produced which may seriously affect the SMEs. Threat of Entry: It is not only incumbent rivals that pose a threat to firms in an industry; the possibility that new firms may enter the industry also affects competition. In theory, any firm should be able to enter and exit a market, and if free entry and exit exists, then profits always should be nominal. In reality, however, industries possess characteristics that protect the high profit levels of firms in the market and inhibit additional rivals from entering the market. These are barriers to entry Lets have a look its easy to enter into the market what will happen to SMEs and its difficult then what will happen: Due the London 2012 Olympic the threat of new entry will increase significantly which may affect lots of SMEs. We can easily realise the situation of UK. From the analysis we can say that UK the Competitor rivalry is very high, so that every day lots of small business organisations are closing down. Also buying power of customer is very high and supplier power also involved with this. Due to London 2012 Olympic the buying power, supplier power and rivalry will be very high. Existing SMEs have to take preparation for that now onwards. They have take plan in order to maximise the profit during the London Olympic 2012. Reference ïÆ'Ëœ http://www.londonnet.co.uk/ln/guide/about/olympics2012_stakeholders.html ïÆ'Ëœ http://www.london2012.com/plans/olympic-park/getting-ready/environmental-monitoring.php ïÆ'Ëœ http://getsmaart.com/student-guides/index.php/student-life-advice/London_2012_Update ïÆ'Ëœ http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6580page=53 ïÆ'Ëœ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-413426/Coe-London-wont-grind-halt-Olympic-Games.html ïÆ'Ëœ http://www.activedorset.org/site/index.php?/news/2012/transport_plan_for_the_london_2012_olympic_games_and_paralympic_games ïÆ'Ëœ http://blogstuck.com/sports-sports-more-sports/2012-london-olympics-jobs-why-should-england-host-the-olympics/3239/ ïÆ'Ëœ http://www.best-family-info.com/sports/4667-benefits-of-london-olympics-2012-london-olympics-2012-logo ïÆ'Ëœ http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=630 ïÆ'Ëœ http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/archive/5410.aspx ïÆ'Ëœ http://www.le.state.ut.us/interim/2000/html/20001017OCCM.htm ïÆ'Ëœ http://www.pm.gov.pg/speeches/52-33rdindependeceanniversay

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Reflective practice is an integral part of developing skills to improve

Reflective practice is an integral part of developing skills to improve Reflective writing is as a medium for an individuals reflective capacity to be communicated and examined both internally and externally. Self directed learning is emphasised through reflective writing as students engage in a more holistic approach which uncovers the reasons behind their actions. Experience and learning Moon (2004) emphasised that an individual can both reflect in order to learn or learn as a result of reflecting. Through experiencing new situations medical students are able to learn and develop new skills but the level of learning depends on the depth of reflecting of the experience. This is often why reflection is described as learning through experience. Reflection of an experience is associated with deep learning where the student is able to gain more insight into the decisions behind the actions involved. (Marton,Hounsell, Entwistle 1984) By learning through experience students are able to build on previous knowledge which covers a solid knowledge base that can be applied to changing situations and which experiences can be drawn from. Learning does not stop at reflection but involves the changing in decision making processes and actions that reflection should bring about in future situations. What is learnt from reflection must be put into practice for it to be effective. Kolb (1984) proposed that Learning does not result from having an experience but occurs when an experience is examined, reviewed and reflected upon. This process allows a connection to form between theory and actions where an experience involves preparation, action, reflection and connection back to previous knowledge. Refection involves lifelong learning as the changing nature of medicine and ethical concerns continues to challenge practitioners. Emotions and Reflection William (2002) said Actions are so much more powerful if they arise from both feelings and thoughts. Reflection involves the process of understanding and examining emotions and how they affected a situation. Emotions are an integral part of any experience and it is through reflective practice that the impact emotions has on a situation comes to light. Practitioners have to deal with many different situations that can cause psychological and emotional strain. Reflective writing allows emotions to be dealt with and not compressed. Through expressing personal feelings practitioners are able to be more focused and self-aware which can increase their capacity to feel empathy for patients situations. Empathy makes patients feel more understood and heard and through reflective writing the promotion of understanding of patients situations and vulnerabilities can be achieved. (Squier 1998) Negative feelings can hinder performance through self doubt and lack of confidence but through reflecting on negative experiences these emotions can be used to improve performance and encourage self directed learning. (Olckers, Gibbs, Duncan 2007) Reflective writing allows students to use emotion in their writing which assist in overcoming psychological and emotional barriers which they may face and provides an opportunity to examine potential moral consequences of an action. Reflective writing allows students to deal with their emotions instead of suppressing them and allows the development of strategies to deal and express emotions in different settings. This promotes a sense of practitioner wellbeing where the mental, emotional and spiritual health of practitioners is looked after. Through reflecting on emotions a connection between the medical profession will the rest of society is built where there is less risk of practitioners becoming detached and intolerant. Reflection and learning in the Professions Reflection in the medical practice can be viewed from three directions; reflection-on action, reflection-in action and reflection-for action. (Killion, Todnem ,1991) Donald Schon (1983) developed theory of reflective professional practice by developing reflective- in and reflective-on action. Reflection- in action involves connecting past experience, feelings and knowledge to a current situation. This process allows new insight and understanding to be established in relation to the situation which will influence the decisions made by the medical practitioner as the situation develops. This type of reflection is particularly important to medical practitioners who face complex and new situations regularly and who need to make fast accurate decisions and actions. (Schon 1983) Reflection-on action involves reflecting on a situation that has occurred and analysing decisions made to determine weaknesses or possible improvements that could be implemented in future practice. This form of reflection is often only undertaken when something goes badly or not to plan but it is essential for reflection to take place after experiences that went well to fully reflect on an individuals strengths and weaknesses. There is also pr-action reflection which describes a form of reflection before an action is taken. This form of reflection aims to prepare professionals to be able to deal with situations where there may be no time to reflect in action so it becomes important to reflect prior to action. (Mann, Gordon and MacLeod, 2009)Reflection prior to action is often done unconsciously where future possible actions are accessed and evaluated and goals are set. In medicine if prior knowledge of patients condition is known research through literature, past case studies and communication with other health professions can result so that possible conditions which may be present can be dealt with. Reflection for action can be used to view the situation from a variety of perspective not just from ones self. It can include perspectives of the patient, other health professional and text based knowledge. This form of reflection can reduce mistakes and prepare practitioners for possible unforeseen circumstan ces. (Keith Ong 2011) Reflection and Personal Development Reflective practice is a key skill for medical students to develop and continue to use throughout their medical careers. Reflective practice assists medical students and practitioners to refine their ability and continually challenge their own decisions making process. The goal of reflection according to Epstein, should be to develop not only ones knowledge and skills, but also habits of mind that allow for informed flexibility, ongoing learning and humility, (full text1 19) Personal and professional development is an integral part of the medical profession. This development is cultivated by reflective practice which allows self-assessment and professional identity to be uncovered. Professional identity is established through reflective writing as a medium for practitioners to express their own voice and perspective, and clarify and refine personal values which may be competing or conflicting to others. (Shapiro 2006) Through becoming more self-aware reflective practice allows practitioners to become more engaged and aware during clinical encounters and improve clinical reasoning. This is why reflection has close links to safe practice as critical though has been put into decisions allowing care to be solely patient based. (Bansman 95). Critical examination of decisions allows problem solving skills to enhance which contributes to more effective treatment of patients. Reflection assists in guiding present and future decisions and actions in a competent and knowledgeable way through allowing new experiences to draw on pervious situations to increase understanding of patients and to extend empathy towards them. (Wald 2010) Reflective writing improves clinicians stores of empathy, reflection, and courage Writing that affects the reader is art (Charon 2004) Reflective practice is shown to have many benefits for practitioners not only through clinical skill improvements but assisting in developing the whole person by developing interpersonal skills. Practitioners improve skills of empathy as they are more aware of their patients and their own emotions and how those emotions may effect the consultation or decision made by the patient. Reflective practice allows a connection to form between technical and knowledge based facets and emotional aspects. It aims to develop personal skills which will enhance and guide technical learning and performance in a clinical setting. Through assessing the bigger picture though reflective practice students are able to deal with more complex and unforseen issues. The process of reflection Reflection may be difficult to teach (Stimson 2009, Roberst 2009) although reflective frameworks can assist in engaging individuals with reflective practices and developing skills for future internal reflection. Reflection in a practical setting needs to be continuous for the knowledge uncovered during reflection to be translated into action. Gibbs (1988) created the Five stages of reflection model which can be used as a guide for reflective writing. This model represents the cycle that reflective practice is a part of. The five steps of this model include describe, reflect, research and analyse, decide, act and evaluate. Brookfield (1987) approach to reflection involves using the view points of a number of different perspectives know as the four lenses. It involves researching, analysing and connecting through critical reflection. Conclusion Reflective practice is an important attribute for undergraduate medical students as it increases self-awareness, refines problem making skills and prepares students to deal with complex, unpredictable situations. Through reflection students are able to refine their clinical skills by recognising their strengths and weaknesses which develops personal competence and identity. Although reflection takes time and effort the long term benefits create a more competent and compassionate practitioner

Claude and the Classical Dream :: essays papers

Claude and the Classical Dream In Kathleen Nicholson's book, Turner's Classical Landscapes, is an interpretation of Turner's concepts and ability of landscape painting in contrast to Claude. In particular, chapter six, Nicholson discusses Turner's artistic career and how it models Claudean classical landscape. Nicholson conveys her opinion on how Turner re-created Claude's a realm to maintain a balance between homage and revision, between landscape as a tradition and landscape as a modern form of expression. Kathleen Nicholson, in this chapter, takes the reader through many aspects of Turner's re-creation of Claude's classical landscape into his own modern form. Turner understood Claude's qualities as an artist. He clearly knew the extent to which Claude's art came from, with extensive study of nature, part by part, and a realization that informed his own process of idealization. Nicholson states, " Allow he showed proper respect to Poussin, his heart went out to Claude (222)" because Turner saw Claude's work as the realm of the classical landscape. Many other artists, such as Constable, looked at Claude's works for inspiration in aspects ranging from the design of rivers to the finish. Other artists continuously copied Claude's landscape paintings as a basis for representation of their own landscape. Turner instilled Claude's work into two compositional formats, a seaport and an inland setting, which he would personalize and update while at the same time leaving no doubt about their source. However, at the beginning of Turner's career, he believed that Claude's work was beyond the power of imitation. At first, he followed Poussin's order and rationality in his 1800 and 1802 Plague pictures. Poussin may have seemed more comprehensible to Turner before being exposed to more of Claude's paintings. After a visit to the Lourve, Turner's paintings appeared more and more like Claude's, especially in the Thames River paintings, where Turner used an air of eternal beauty to counterbalance the changeable effects of English weather. Nicholson finds Turner's sketchbook as the example of how Turner's idealization derives from the kind of exchange between the natural and the imaginary. She states,"His projection of a harmoniously arranged natural environment never subjects to the ravages of time imparted an elegance and breadth to his observation of the real world (223)". Nicholson finds his sketchbook to be a journey that embarks through imagination and the sensual. The first pages of the book depict a little ship ready for departure.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Commentary on Act 1 of the book Translations by Brian Friel :: English Literature

Commentary on Act 1 of the book Translations by Brian Friel The opening paragraph of the play Translations tells us in great detail about where the play is set. It is set in a hedge-school, which was a disused barn or hay-shed. The opening of the play makes us see that there are two means of isolation. The language binds together the community and in this play we will see how differences in language split society. Manus is teaching Sarah to speak as the play begins. He is being very patient with her and he thinks that it is important to teach her to articulate, 'Come on, Sarah. This is our secret'. When you see how Sarah is finding it hard to speak English it makes you feel that she is the symbol for Ireland's backward position. Jimmy on the other hand represents the educated civilised tradition of old Ireland. He is a scholar, however Sarah is the opposite. She is a contemporary Ireland, as she has no voice to speak out. She has no capacity for taking part in the modern world. Sarah just wants to become part of the society. The way Manus is pushing Sarah to speak, for example, 'Raise your head. Shout it out. Nobody's listening'. You feel that Manus does not want Sarah to be a nobody in the community, so he is helping her. The way that Sarah acts around Manus makes you feel that she fancies him, 'Manus hugs Sarah. She smiles in shy, embarrassed pleasure'. Jimmy is reading The Odyssey. As he is a scholar he can read books in Greek. He sees himself as a person in the story, 'Sure look at what the same turf-smoke has done to myself!' This is not very scholarship like of Jimmy as he relates the text in a very un-scholar like way to himself. He also says things that are very sexually orientated, 'if you had a woman like that about the house, it's not stripping a turf-bank you'd be thinking about-eh?' and 'she can't get her fill of men'. Jimmy asks Manus whom he would pick out of Athena, Artemis and Helen. All of these people are characters from the book Jimmy is reading. This shows that Jimmy has a very limited view and conception of what he is reading. Manus asks Sarah whom he should pick; this shows that he considers her view to be important. The way Jimmy acts in this part of the play makes you feel that he is very intellectual but he is living his life in a book, he feels he is almost a Commentary on Act 1 of the book Translations by Brian Friel :: English Literature Commentary on Act 1 of the book Translations by Brian Friel The opening paragraph of the play Translations tells us in great detail about where the play is set. It is set in a hedge-school, which was a disused barn or hay-shed. The opening of the play makes us see that there are two means of isolation. The language binds together the community and in this play we will see how differences in language split society. Manus is teaching Sarah to speak as the play begins. He is being very patient with her and he thinks that it is important to teach her to articulate, 'Come on, Sarah. This is our secret'. When you see how Sarah is finding it hard to speak English it makes you feel that she is the symbol for Ireland's backward position. Jimmy on the other hand represents the educated civilised tradition of old Ireland. He is a scholar, however Sarah is the opposite. She is a contemporary Ireland, as she has no voice to speak out. She has no capacity for taking part in the modern world. Sarah just wants to become part of the society. The way Manus is pushing Sarah to speak, for example, 'Raise your head. Shout it out. Nobody's listening'. You feel that Manus does not want Sarah to be a nobody in the community, so he is helping her. The way that Sarah acts around Manus makes you feel that she fancies him, 'Manus hugs Sarah. She smiles in shy, embarrassed pleasure'. Jimmy is reading The Odyssey. As he is a scholar he can read books in Greek. He sees himself as a person in the story, 'Sure look at what the same turf-smoke has done to myself!' This is not very scholarship like of Jimmy as he relates the text in a very un-scholar like way to himself. He also says things that are very sexually orientated, 'if you had a woman like that about the house, it's not stripping a turf-bank you'd be thinking about-eh?' and 'she can't get her fill of men'. Jimmy asks Manus whom he would pick out of Athena, Artemis and Helen. All of these people are characters from the book Jimmy is reading. This shows that Jimmy has a very limited view and conception of what he is reading. Manus asks Sarah whom he should pick; this shows that he considers her view to be important. The way Jimmy acts in this part of the play makes you feel that he is very intellectual but he is living his life in a book, he feels he is almost a