Effect of Motivation on Employees Productivity - 1775 Words

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY One of the most erratic of all available organizational resources is human. As a matter of fact, a major perplexing issue facing the Nigerian organization over the last few years is not that of retaining the workforce because they (the workers) want to leave voluntarily, rather, it is that of finding ways and means of retaining them because the opening environment makes it difficult to continue to keep employees beyond a certain maximum number. Research reports has shown that employees motivation is essential in an organization as it is a key to a successful organization need for maintaining continuity and survival. Motivating the staff leads to broaden their skills to meet the†¦show more content†¦The nations (Nigerian) reward system is probably the poorest in the entire globe were an average take home of the worker is put at $120 per month. Workers are used and abused harassed, treated, offended and discarded without any appreciation for their contribution to their organization and to the society at large. It is therefore apparent that the issue of adequate motivation of worker has relevance in managerial function and activities that are aimed at directing the productive effort of the workforce toward achieving organizational objectives. Babalola (2006) quoting â€Å"Knotz et al (1980)†, holds that management strives to create and maintain an environment that is conducive to the performance of individuals who are working together in groups towards the accomplishment of pre-selected objective result in the conflict of goals between individuals and their groups. Motivation is the key of a successful organization to maintain the continuity of the work in a powerful manner and help organizations to survive. Motivation is finding a need inside the employees and help to achieve it in a smooth process. Motivating the staff leads to broaden their skill to meet the organizational demands. Each manager should have the responsibility to work with the staff to find out their individual needs and put them side by side to the organization needs. Dissatisfaction also,Show MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Motivation On Motivation Within The Workplace1001 Words   |  5 PagesMotivation is necessary for employees to grow and stay satisfied with their jobs and their current employer. Motivation is a driving factor that leads people to work harder, produce higher quality work, and contributing to the factor of overall satisfaction, which leads to better employee retention. Everyone is unique, with their own set of unique values and ideas. To be successful in instilling motivation within a company there has to be multiple strategies in place to reach each individual. ARead MoreMotivating Within A Workplace Or An Organization1469 Words   |  6 PagesMotivation is the desire to behave in a particular way or the willingness to do something. Motivating within a workplace or an organization is defined as â€Å"psychological processes that cause the arousal, direction, and persistence of voluntary actions that are goal directed†. Organizations depend on their employees and managers to work towards their mission and goals. In order to achieve the common goals organizations incorporate motivational factors which promotes and meets the expectations as wellRead MoreAn Effective Human Resource Management Department960 Words   |  4 Pagesproper knowledge, necessary tools, and effective advice to guide employees and administrators towards successful operation (Heathfield â€Å"What is Human†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). Since our debut, we’ve been continuously profitable. However, our downside is that we have been primarily focusing on targeting the cus tomer, when we need to apply a different approach: we need to empower our employees and their passion for the job. Investing in our employees’ motivation will not only allow us to grow in sales, but also as an overallRead MoreEssay about Motivation, Communication and Leadership Theory1435 Words   |  6 PagesMotivation, Communication and Leadership Theory In this essay I will discuss the various different theories on motivation such as scientific management e.g. Taylor as well the humans relation approach such as Maslow and Herzberg and how they relate to organisations improving their overall effiencentcy. Another aspect that I will discuss in the following essay will also be how communication can affect the productivity of a company, I will also relate this to motivational theory. The finalRead MoreHr Theories of Motivation1667 Words   |  7 PagesThe low workforce motivation and poor workforce productivity can create essential problems for a company, as the human resource is not only key asset, but also the major cost taking up over 75 per cent. Thus as an asset it is very important to take possible return from these expenditure by finding the best ways to meet the needs of people in order to help them to develop themselves to the full. In these essay will be examined HRM policies, supported with theories of motivation, which are used toRead MoreThe Impact Of Employee Motivation On Organizational Productivity, Employee Turnover, And Employee Satisfaction Essay1492 Words   |  6 PagesEmployee Motivation Motivation of employees plays a crucial factor in determining their performance with regard to productivity and engagement in their respective duties. Actually, employees who are adequately motivated tend to enhance their performance, be more productive, feel more satisfied, and be more engaged in their work. Managers should take responsibility to enhance their employees in order to enhance their contributions to the organization or company resulting in increased productivity. TheRead MoreWhy Incentive Plans Can Not Work1555 Words   |  7 Pages- By A. Kohn Name Subject Situation Analysis: The article emphasizes that managers are skeptical about the redemptive effects of rewards. Many companies in United States support as well as use this program to enhance the employee productivity but there are many evidences that render this practice useless. These evidences state that the actual effect that could have been achieved by the program is not the end result. Problems with the Rewards Program: One of the major problems seenRead MoreThe Impact of Motivation on Workers Productivity in Aquasafe Spring Water Factory1523 Words   |  7 Pages 1. INTRODUCTION MAJOR theories of motivation are classified as those dealing either with exogenous causes or with endogenous processes.where as the latter help explain motivation the former identity levers for improving worker motivation amp; performance.key stratagies for improving work motivation were distilled from the exogenous Thiories .illustrative programs are described for implementing those stratagies ,programs that aim at creating organizations in which workers are bothRead MoreWork Arrangements For Employees And Increase Their Satisfaction And Productivity1419 Words   |  6 PagesIf organizations want to engage their employees and increase their satisfaction and productivity, they might be able to do this through alternative work arrangements. Alternative work arrangements allow workers more control over how, when, and where they work, by using flextime or telecommuting. Flextime allows people within an organization to vary the hours during which they work, as long as they work for a specified number of hours per week. Companies like FedEx that used flextime reported reducedRead MoreJob Satisfaction Is Essential For Productivity1298 Words   |  6 Pagesthe fulfilment an individual contains towards their work is job satisfaction. The productivity could either be positive or negative while the relationship between the productivity and satisfaction may not be cons istent. There are multiple internal and external factors of job satisfaction that can impact the behavior of an employee and engagement over time. The way the worker’s attitude concerning their field effects the performance they perform on a daily basis. One who is satisfied with the job they

Conflict Resolution - 1132 Words

Conflict Resolution Leaders must learn how to deal with issues that may arise among their followers. Some of these issues may consist of the leader managing conflicts, handling communication challenges among team members, or addressing organizational communication needs. The communication process is important step for the transfer and understanding of meaning between individuals when working toward a goal together (Robbins Judge, 2013). With the correct style of communication utilized leaders can help to avoid conflicts among groups. Storybook #1 How would you react when a team member is being vague and trying to spin bad news to sound more positive, thereby making it harder for the team to actually approach and resolve the issue?†¦show more content†¦Storybook #3: What strategies would you use to help your team alleviate stress caused by deadlines before any conflict arises? Each day managers are confronted with scenarios that require attention. These can range from balancing a budget, customer service, and conflicts within teams. Managers must determine the best way to handle these situations on a case-by-case basis. Managers must choose the best option based upon corporate culture, persons affected, and the nature of the scenario. Conflict in the workplace is inevitable and healthy. It breeds new ideas and creativity when handled properly. Conflict among teams that disrupts productivity and risks deadlines should be handled immediately. Allowing disruptive conflict in the workplace to linger, presents a threat of missed deadlines, which results in decreased revenue. This can devalue the company and the manager’s reputation, and cause the company to miss out on future opportunities for revenue in the marketplace. An important leadership responsibility is to interpret confusing events and build consensus around. Reacting to a disruptive con flict in the workplace immediately would demonstrate the manager taking on this important role. A leader immediately stepping in willing to meet with the individual’s one-on-one and as a whole to come to an agreement demonstrates what an effective leader he or she is. A manager could easily spendShow MoreRelated Conflict Resolution Essay1288 Words   |  6 Pages Major conflict that is not dealt with can devastate a team or organization (Make Conflict Work, 2008). In some situations, conflict can be more constructive than destructive. Recognizing the difference between conflict that is constructive to the team and conflict that is destructive to the team is important. Trying to prevent the conflict is not always the best way to manage conflict when working within a team setting. Understanding conflict, what causes it, and how to resolve conflict effectivelyRead MoreConflict Resolution : Conflicts Resolution988 Words   |  4 PagesWhen it comes to conflict resolution there are several ways to handle this. There’ve been several times that I’ve had to deal with conflict resolution. Conflict resolution also has several tips that you can learn to be able to handle a conflict. A conflict resolution can be handled in a positive way or a negative way. What is conflict resolution? In Community Tool Box it states â€Å"Conflict resolution is a way for two or more parties to find a peaceful solution to a disagreement among them. The disagreementRead More Conflict Resolution Essay614 Words   |  3 Pages Conflict Resolution nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;What does conflict resolution mean to me? Conflict resolution is when an impartial or neutral person puts a plan into action to resolve and settle issues within an organization or a team. In the business world today a great amount of focus is being placed on employees working as team unit to increase new ideas, distribute more job responsibilities among a larger group, and most important create a unified front and camaraderie. Along with advantagesRead More Conflict Resolution Essay1017 Words   |  5 Pagesprofessional to personal, they are all prone to encountering some form of conflict. John Dewey has designed a problem solving sequence with 6 (six) steps, listed and explained below, to facilitate resolution of these conflicts. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Since the way one deals with conflict within the relationship will affect how the relationship progresses, it is vital that one posse all the necessary skills to resolve conflict in a way that brings satisfaction to everyone involved. Dewey’s stepsRead MoreThe Family Mediation And Conflict Resolution Process4320 Words   |  18 Pagesmediation and conflict resolution process and techniques. The student endeavored on an educational journey to study mediation within the context of families as a means of resolving conflicts without resort to adversarial means such as litigation. Focus and attention was given to family dynamics, child development, the Texas Family Code, family violence, and facilitating of communication and dispute resolution. The components and benefits of family mediation and conflict resolution were introducedRead MoreConflict Resolution934 Words   |  4 Pagesto them she has licence and authority to watch them as she is their supervisor and they have to obey her commands. This statmemt of her escalted the whole issue and continued for a long time. This situation turned in to a big arguments and conflict that it had a great imapct on the productivity of work. There was a big loss of components as they were not able to process in a timely manner. Next day the staff meeting was called on by Manager and all the night staff were called to attendRead MoreConflict Resolution Strategies Essay1444 Words   |  6 PagesConflict Resolution Strategies Conflict has long been viewed as negative, and is usually associated with things as trivial as an argument to something as extreme as war, and is seldom seen as beneficial. In the team environment however, conflict can be very beneficial if recognized early and managed properly and can enhance team performance as well as relationships between team members. Conflict is inevitable as humans interact, because not everyone shares the same beliefs, values, opinions, levelRead MoreInterpersonal Communication And Conflict Resolution1439 Words   |  6 Pagesresearch resources that helped me understand my interpersonal communication topic, Conflict Management, and how theories, relevant skills and strategies can play a big role throughout the resolution and frequency of conflict among my peers. Personality Types and Development of Adolescents’ Conflict with Friends This study aimed to examine the developmental pattern of adolescents’ conflict frequency and conflict resolution with their best friends, and differences in these developmental changes betweenRead MoreConflict Resolution1281 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction Everyone faces conflict in their lives on a daily basis. It is an accepted and expected part of life. Conflict is not a problem in itself - it is what we do with it that counts. You cant avoid conflict in your life, at home, at work, and even at play. Wherever people interact, there is a potential for conflict. That is not bad news because good things can arise, and relationships can improve through conflict, provided conflict is managed with thought and attention. The bad newsRead MoreThird Party Conflict Resolution2113 Words   |  9 PagesThird Party Conflict Resolution MGT/445 Organizational Negotiations March 11, 2013 | | | | Third Party Conflict Resolution

Greektown Ethnography Free Essays

I took a trip to Greek town Casino in Detroit Michigan with my father, this trip was something of an unexpected trip but I figured it was a great place to observe the behaviors of many different cultures as Greek town casino is the home of a multicultural society. I wanted to observe the behaviors of those between African American’s and Caucasian persons. I wanted to see if one race over the other tended to gamble more or if one culture got more aggressive as the night went on. We will write a custom essay sample on Greektown Ethnography or any similar topic only for you Order Now While we know that casinos in Michigan restrict the age limit of gamblers did age affect those that gambled or was it just those of a certain race. The crowed is about sixty percent African American, Thirty Percent Caucasian and the other ten percent is in the category of what is called the â€Å"other’s† category. The age groups range from the young newbie’s that just turned twenty-one to late eighties. The bells and whistles are going off on nearby machines; the crowds grow increasingly big at different tables as the more a person wins. Yet those who come for just something to do keep sat at their machines playing their slots. Looking around the people didn’t seem any different the African American’s seemed to stay localized to the slots area whereas the Caucasian’s seemed to play at the tables more. I found a patron playing a penny slot named Gladys who gave me the rundown of the people and their actions. According to Gladys the Caucasian people tend to play on tables more and consume more alcoholic beverages as where the African Americans tend to gamble more at the slots and tend to smoke more than those of the Caucasian culture. I continued to observe the patrons to see if what Gladys was saying was true. Great majorities of the Caucasian’s were in fact at tables and about sixty percent of them had a drink at hand. While majority of the African American’s were at a slot machine or an electronic table with no human interaction. I wondered if there was something to the no human interaction did African American’s think it was bad luck. Did they think it would make them gamble more? The move I observed the cultures at the casino the quicker I noticed that African American’s gambled more on the slots then the Caucasian’s at the tables. As the day went on I continued to talk to the staff and patrons regarding he behavior of everyone around. A few waitresses claimed African American men; young or old were rude when it came to providing service. They were more touchy feely and made sexual comments, not to mention they left a lousy or no tip at all. Whereas Caucasian’s regardless of age, or gender provided better tips, manners and compliments said Allison the head supervisor of the wait staff. The pit managers claimed that Caucasian’s placed higher bets if there were a female table dealer where as African American’s placed higher bets if it was a male dealer. He went on to tell me that most Caucasian’s started their gambling in the casino with twenty-five dollars and that African American placed bets of one hundred dollars to start their gambling fiasco. While it seemed obvious that regardless of shape, size or color everyone at the casino claimed not to care whether the won or lost. But as long as they had fun that was all that mattered to them. In conclusion the African American’s tended to gamble more than Caucasian. But the Caucasian’s tended to get rougher as they drank and lost more.  It was right then and there that I realized that the casino wasn’t really about money but about freedom. People of all different cultures were coming to Greektown casino in the hopes that they would possibly win, someone would listen to their story, and most of all that they would have fun and escape their everyday life. Regardless if a person had a drink or cigarette in hand, they were there laughing and spending whatever money they came with. It didn’t matter who it was, African American, Caucasian or a member of the other category each and every one of them had a smile on their face and were laughing they were just there to have fun. How to cite Greektown Ethnography, Essay examples

Utilization of Corporate Communication in Addressing Ethical Issues

Question: Write research questions for "Utilisation of corporate communication in addressing ethical issues". Answer: Research questions facilitate the researcher to address the key issues of the research topic. Moreover, the research questions provide brief ideas about the research execution method. In this context, the researcher develops research questions on the topic of utilization of corporate communication in addressing ethical issues. Corporate communication is one of the major aspects of the business that facilitates organization to conduct the entire system in an effective manner. There are two forms of corporate communication including internal and external communication. Moreover, organizations follow three types of corporate communication including management communication, marketing communication, and organizational communication (Cornelissen 2014). The corporate communication not only facilitates organizations to identify ethical dilemmas but also contributes in several aspects of business including the global economy, environment, and rapid development of technology and enhanced comm unication trends (Pollach et al. 2012). In this context, the researcher develops the following questions for executing the research in a systematic manner. How does the corporate communication facilitate organization to identify ethical issues in business? How does organization execute internal and external corporate communication in the business to evaluate ethical issues? What are the key challenges for executing corporate communication in the business? What are the major impacts of corporate communication on the business process management? How does the higher level of corporate communication facilitate organizations to diminish ethical issues from the business? How does the corporate communication monitor the entire system for evaluating ethical dilemmas in the business? What are the recommendations for enhancing the corporate communication method in the business to identify ethical dilemmas in an effective manner? References: Cornelissen, J., 2014.Corporate communication: A guide to theory and practice. Sage. Pollach, I., Johansen, T.S., Ellerup Nielsen, A. and Thomsen, C., 2012. The integration of CSR into corporate communication in large European companies.Journal of Communication Management,16(2), pp.204-216.

How to Prevent Crime free essay sample

Crime statistics compiled by the FBI in its yearly crime index show what many in the law enforcement field consider to be an encouraging trend. From 1990 to 1995, the crime rate declined steadily in every category: murders, rapes, assaults, robberies, burglaries, and thefts. Sociologists and criminologists debate the explanation for this downward turn in crime rates; improved economic conditions and tougher criminal justice measures are two of the theories offered. Other experts, however, dispute whether the decline is significant, pointing out that crime rates in many categories are still higher than in the mid- 1980s. These scholars also deny that the trend of decreasing crime rates will continue. James Alan Fox, dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University in Boston, is among those who believe that the recent drop in crime rates is merely the lull before an approaching crime storm. The reason for the current decrease in crime, he maintains, is the demographic dip in the number of teenage and young adult males (ages fourteen to twenty-five), the part of the population most likely to commit crimes. We will write a custom essay sample on How to Prevent Crime or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In addition, he points out that even as the overall rate has decreased, the crime rate among the present population of teenaged males has grown, and many of their crimes are more violent and vicious in nature than those committed by young males of preceding generations. As the numbers of teenaged males increase in the near future, he predicts, the crime rate will naturally return to previous levels and will possibly climb even higher. Expanding upon Fox’s argument, Princeton University professor John J. Di- Iulio Jr. rgues that it is more than simply the number of boys approaching their crime-prone teen years that portends an impending explosion in the crime rate. In his opinion, it is the moral poverty in which the next generation of adolescents is being raised that bodes ill for the nation’s crime rates. Moral poverty, according to DiIulio, is â€Å"the poverty of growing up surrounded by deviant, delinquent, and criminal adults in abusive, violence-ridden, fatherles s, Godless, and jobless settings. † According to DiIulio, research shows that a small proportion of juvenile criminals is responsible for nearly half of all offenses committed by all teenagers. What is well established yet little known, he asserts, is that each successive generation of this segment of young offenders is approximately three times more violent and dangerous than the previous one. In DiIulio’s view, this is because each generation grows up â€Å"in more extreme conditions of moral poverty than the one before it. † The criminal behavior of the current population of offenders brings about the social conditions to produce an even more deviant future breed of juvenile â€Å"superpredators,† he maintains. Today’s criminals are frightening, in DiIulio’s opinion, because they have never learned right from wrong, they have no concept of the relationship between present actions and future consequences, and they place no value on the lives of others. But tomorrow’s superpredators are destined to be worse, he contends, because they are being raised in the fatherless families and drug- and violence-ridden neighborhoods created by today’s criminals. And due to current population trends, he adds, there will be more of these juvenile criminals in the near future. Many criminologists, however, disagree with the predictions of Fox and Di- Iulio. Among them, Alfred Blumstein, a professor of urban systems at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, remains unconvinced that a juvenile crime wave is imminent. Blumstein contends that crime rates do not follow demographic trends in the numbers of teenage males as closely as proponents of the crime wave theory believe. He argues that violent crime has increased among the current population of teenagers (even though that population is relatively small) due to the influence of the drug trade and a lack of economic opportunity. As the economy improves and drug battles diminish, Blumstein maintains, fewer young people will become involved in crime. Counter to the beliefs of Fox and others, he predicts that crime rates will continue their downward slide. Others dispute DiIulio’s theory of a coming generation of superpredators. University of California, Berkeley professor Jerome H. Skolnick, for one, asserts that DiIulio’s theory of moral poverty â€Å"ignores such factors as racism, joblessness, inequality, and poverty. Although there undoubtedly will be more teenagers in the near future, he contends, whether they become incorrigibly violent depends on how society addresses these root causes of crime. Skolnick argues that poverty and unemployment within urban neighborhoods historically have been â€Å"a recipe for the emergence of youth cultures leading to rising crime rates. † He cites research by sociologists Kenneth Land, David Cantor, and Stephen Russell that shows a long-term correl ation between unemployment rates and property crime rates, particularly within inner cities. In Skolnick’s opinion, this research suggests that long-term economic deprivation is a motivation to commit crime. Isolated by declining economic conditions and racial divisions, he contends, urban neighborhoods over the years have developed patterns of lawlessness and family instability. As further proof, Skolnick points out that the declining crime rates of the 1990s have been accompanied by declining unemployment rates. It is by no means certain, he concludes, that America is on the brink of a wave of juvenile crime and violence. Debates about future crime trends are inextricably interwoven with arguments about juvenile crime, since many believe that today’s juvenile delinquents are destined to become tomorrow’s adult felons. Crime: Current Controversies presents debates about crime rates, juvenile crime, and other topics in these chapters: What Causes Crime? Is Crime Increasing? Can Stronger Criminal Justice Measures Prevent Crime? How Can Juvenile Crime Be Prevented? The issues surrounding crime are controversial and, as the viewpoints that follow demonstrate, reasonable people can draw differing conclusions from the available evidence.

Contemporary Issues in Corporations

Contemporary Issues in Corporations Overview of contemporary issues Contemporary issues refer to the various issues that might be facing the organization in the present time. These issues may include International Conflict, Terrorism, Waste Management, Natural Resources Energy Conservation, mobile technology and communication, and many other current issues.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Contemporary Issues in Corporations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In hospitality and tourism, the major contemporary issues include emotional intelligence, Professional Development (including employee empowerment, personality and conflict), Globalization and Cultural Diversity, Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility, values and Ethics. This paper will focus on corporate social responsibility as the contemporary issues facing hospitality industry. Corporate Social Responsibility In the hospitality industry, the issue of corporate social responsibility has been debated in detail and it is not yet clear how the industry should be regulated using corporate social responsibility actions. Corporate social responsibility deals with corporate conduct in respect to the broader societal values. It questions the responsibilities of hospitality establishment to the entire society. Despite the lack of an accepted theory of corporate social responsibility, it is obvious that CSR draws on the fields of ethics and morals, which are basic to most cultures (Averch, 1990). Hospitality establishments do not operate in a vacuum but constantly interact with the society. This is because it is a part of society. It interacts at a primary level with groups such as employees, distributors, consumers, stockholders, banks, suppliers and competitors. At a secondary level, it interacts with such institutions as governments, local communities, media social pressure groups, business support groups and the public. With all these interactions, hospitality establish ments cannot afford to go on with their businesses without responding to issues affecting these groups. Thus, the reaction of hospitality establishments towards these groups is the source of corporate social responsibility (Demsetz, 1979).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Some people argue that there is no such thing as corporate social responsibility. Others argue that CSR must and will eventually result in long run profits, while others feel that modern organizations must undertake social responsibility regardless of the profit. Whatever the argument, the question of accountability arises making CSR become a major contemporary issue in the hospitality establishments (De Wit, 2004). Corporate social responsibility involves decisions. The corporate world is decision oriented and corporations have an impact on society through these decisions. Therefore, CSR raises t he question of rightfulness of decisions and of which decisions are more right. Furthermore, social responsibility goes beyond short run profitability of hospitality establishment. Merely meeting minimum legal and market directives does not constitute social responsibility. CSR is very subjective in nature and is influenced by the economic and social system within which it operates. For example, benefits from social responsibility do not directly accrue to the firm making the expenditure on social responsibility. CSR is hence a system holding that the corporation should respond to the moral and ethical values of society within which it is licensed and which it serves. A given corporation will draw from and shape the values of the society from which it draws its existence. CSR tries to fuse social values with profit maximization goals (Horn, 2009). During this century, there has been great change in what the society expects of its institutions and in what hospitality establishment re gard as the proper roles in organization. This change has gradually developed into a new concept of corporate social responsibility.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Contemporary Issues in Corporations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Increasingly, many hospitality establishments are adopting the view that besides the obligations they have on their business, they have a personal responsibility to the society. Hospitality industry personnel and their managers are increasingly being held accountable for the social effects of their actions. However, it is not clear where such social responsibility begins and where it ends (Drucker, 1990). In other words, corporate social responsibility may refer to the moral and ethical content of managerial and corporate decisions. That is to mean that the values used in business decision making are over and above the requirement of the law and market economy (Trevino, 2007). Closely related to social responsibility is the concept of social responsiveness, which simply means the ability of a corporation to relate its operations and policies to the social environment in ways that are mutually beneficial to the economy and the society. The difference between social responsibility and social responsiveness is that the latter implies actions and the ‘how’ of enterprise responses. Two areas of corporate accountability exist in the hospitality industry. Conventionally, it shows that management is professionally responsible to the board of directors while the directors run the corporation for the shareholders who are the providers of capital to their corporation. It is logical that the shareholders expect a fair financial return for their investment. However, through separation of ownership and control, shareholders do not run the company. Therefore, by implication, management has the responsibility to ensure that the shareholders receive an adequate retur n. Broadly and with a more modern view, hospitality establishments should be accountable to employees, customers, suppliers and the state. In short, corporations should respond to external forces that are of value to it. It is from these external forces that the corporation draws its existence. How then can it operate without them?Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More CSR involves decisions – the hospitality industry is decision-oriented and corporations have an impact on society through these decisions. Therefore, CSR needs to know how correct the decisions are and which of them are more applicable. Social responsibility goes beyond short run profitability, merely meeting minimum legal and market directives do not constitute social responsibility. CSR is very subjective in nature and is influenced by the economic and social system within which it operates (Stephen, 2007). Social responsibility does not directly accrue to the firm making the expenditure on social responsibility. CSR is hence a system holding that the corporation should respond to the moral and ethical values of society within which it is licensed and which it serves. A given corporation will draw from and shape the values of the society from which it draws its existence. CSR tries to fuse social values with profit maximization goals. Many organizations have thus been evalu ating the benefits and problems that are associated with corporate social responsibility. Some business organizations argue for but others are against them. Those supporting it say that since businesses create some problem, they should solve them as well as the fact that organizations owe society for supply of resources. Those arguing against it say that social responsibility gives corporations too much power and that it will decrease profits and end up contradicting the real reason for firms’ existence. The idea behind corporate social responsibility in hospitality industry has been articulated in several ways. In practice, the rationale of corporate social responsibility is about building sustainable businesses, which need healthy economies, markets and communities. The core drivers for corporate social responsibility include enlightened self-interest. This creates an ethical synergy and cohesion in sustainable global market economies. This driver enables the communities an d labor markets to function well together in the hospitality industries. Social investment, as corporate social responsibility driver, contributes to physical development of infrastructure in the hotel industry and promotes the use of social capital as an important tool of doing business. On the other hand, transparency and trust as corporate social driver affect the hospitality establishments in the view of how businesses perceive trust issues in public. There is increasing expectation that hospitality establishments will be more aggressive, accountable and better prepared to report publicly on their performance in terms of social and environmental issues. Other aspects of corporate responsibility is geared towards increasing public expectations of business, hospitality establishments are thus expected to achieve much more than just providing job opportunities that increase economic growth through taxes and employment (Arrow, 1951). There are different areas of social responsibilit y that hospitality establishments can exercise. This includes business giving donations, ecology and ensuring environmental quality such as noise control and aesthetic improvement. It should also ensure consumerism such as in the control of harmful products. Some provide community needs such as the improvement of health care and education. Government relations such as the restriction on lobbying and internal relations, labor relations such as the expansion of employee rights, and promoting stockholder relations such as providing full financial disclosures are also necessary. Companies are often in a position to do most of these things but the challenge to most corporations is the absence of immediate benefit (Adams, 1965). Studies have also shown that there is a certain pattern of response to social demands. Hence, hospitality establishments can respond to social demands in three strategic approaches. The first one is adoptive strategy. This involves changing only when you are force d to do so by the society. This implies complying with the law. The law gives business a general guideline of what is expected by a society. Legal compliance is the minimum that is expected by a society. Organizations that use this strategy adopt or react to the environment only when there is strong outside pressure. For example, the producers of body perfumes have to be ozone friendly. The second one is proactive strategy. This involves an attempt at shaping the environment. The company using this strategy tries to manipulate the environment in ways that will be to their advantage. The steps they take may or may not be to the interest of the society in the end. For example, paying off politicians to avoid scrutiny is done to their own advantage. The last one is interactive strategy. When a company is able to anticipate environmental changes and blend its own goals with those of the society, then it is said to have taken an interactive strategy. This involves reducing the gap betwee n public expectations and business performance. This calls for knowhow and skills on how to manage the company’s social relations with external forces, which may affect the company. That is, the firm tries to interact with the surrounding social environment in ways that will be mutually beneficial (Buckley, 1976). Contribution of these trends towards Career growth and personal development Corporate social responsibility is by far the most influential recent trend that contributes towards the survival of most businesses in the corporate world. Learning and appreciating this issue has enabled me to realize the need for giving back to the society. This has strengthened my work-life relationship and has also helped me develop my career in the hospitality industry since it highlights on how to make better decisions and improve personal development. This has improved both my personal and professional development. This issue has enabled me appreciate the need to have professional co nduct and know how to deal with people in real life situation and as professionally as possible. In terms of personal development, corporate social responsibility has improved how I view the general roles expected of businesses and individual towards the community. The social responsibility principle is a modern concept that provides businesses and organizations with corporate priorities. They are of significant influence to the way the organizations operate and especially its survival in the near future. Customers are increasingly showing interest in doing business with those organizations that demonstrate responsibility and ethical practices. Those organizations that fail to achieve this suffer the consequences in many different ways. This may be through the loss of market share, which will reduce revenues and in the end, it may put organizations out of business. Therefore, social responsibility decisions are of utmost importance in the running of any organization. Corporate socia l responsibility is what separates the successful hospitality establishments from the losers in the modern corporate world. It also determines the decisions that a company makes in ethical matters that would determine the success or failure of the company. Conclusion The hospitality industry should work towards developing strategies and making radical rehabilitations on the image of the various establishments through adopting and being keen on the effects of the various contemporary issues faced. On one hand, corporate social responsibility may be a vital contemporary issue and so is the future of the hotel’s profits. Therefore, hotel establishments should be very cautious and on watch for potential contemporary issues. References Adams, J 1965, ‘Inequality in Social Exchange’, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 2, pp. 267. Arrow, KJ 1951, Social Choice and Individual Values, John Wiley, New York. Averch, H Johnson, LL 1990, ‘Behavior of the firm under regulatory constraint’, American Economic Review, Vol.52, pp. 1052. Buckley, PJ Casson M 1976, The Future of Multinational Enterprise, Macmillan, London. De Wit, B Meyer, R 2004, Strategy: process, content and context, Thomson, London. Demsetz, H 1979, ‘Ethics and Efficiency in Property Rights Systems’, Exploration of Austrian Themes, pp. 97. Drucker, PF 1990, ‘Ethics in Management’, The Practice of Management, pp.124-125. Horn, R 2009, The business skills handbook, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, London. Stephen, G, Dirk, DS Daniel S 2007, Managing social and ethical issues in organizations, IAP, New York. Trevino, L Nelson KW 2007, Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right, Hoboken, NJ.

Marketing planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing planning - Essay Example In order to attain the above mentioned objectives, Tesco would have to implement certain significant tactics that include the broad conception of marketing mix which fundamentally comprises the 7 P’s, market segmentation, positioning as well as targeting tactics. Furthermore, Tesco should majorly focus upon the rise in its industrial network portfolio along with universal market expansion in future. In this context, Tesco can initiate the tactic of offering cheaper products for the customers along with possessing powerful brand image, especially to cope up with the fierce competition in the grocery business market in UK. These particular tactics would assist Tesco to accomplish its objectives by a significant level concerning with the fact that the reputation of the organisation is constantly growing. Apart from the above mentioned tactics, Tesco could follow certain other major plans that include the conception of new product innovation along with the idea of Total Quality Ma nagement (TQM) (Scribd Inc., 2012). Additionally, there lies certain other crucial dimensions of tactics through which Tesco could attain its expected business goals by a considerable level. The different dimensions include the consciousness of Tesco regarding the various law set of laws that applies in its particular business operating location along with complying with them in an effective manner and mitigating the issue of Credit Crunch that affected the performance of Tesco in terms of sales.. In this regard, it has been observed that the economy of UK has been experiencing a challenging situation that resulted towards the decline of the economy due to the emergence of significant issues related to Credit Crunch. Such an issue, in due course, affected the disposable earnings of the individuals in the country which indicated that the people or the customers largely focussed upon the idea of saving their valuable money rather than making expenditures for the consumption of products apart from their basic needs. Hence , the purchasing capacity of the customers was observed to slacken in that particular area. In order to mitigate the consequences led by weakening customer purchase, Tesco applied

Frankenstein or the modern prometheus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Frankenstein or the modern prometheus - Essay Example The defiance that Frankenstein displays in the novel, of the natural laws and the divine modes of creation makes him a modern-day Prometheus. This paper shall also seek to show the importance of this analogy to the Romantics. Revolution against established authority was one of the major concerns of the Romantics, who sought to express this concern in their literary creations. Mary Shelley’s own concerns regarding male authority can also be seen in this analogy that is a conscious device within her work. VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN, A MODERN PROMETHEUS Victor Frankenstein, a Modern Prometheus The character of Victor Frankenstein has intrigued critics since the time of the publication of the novel, Frankenstein. Derided by some as a blasphemous character who seeks to appropriate the functions of God and meets his just end by the end of the novel, Frankenstein has also been compared to the mythic character of Prometheus for the defiance that he exhibits by the very act of creation that h e commits. By doing so, he challenges the authority of the Christian god, very much like Prometheus, who questions the right of Zeus to withhold knowledge from mankind. Rebellious figures both, Frankenstein goes one step ahead and actually attempts to appropriate the functions and powers that are conventionally associated with God. Modeling a character on Prometheus is part of an ethos that supports revolution and liberty. This was the prevalent ethos amongst the writers who were a part of the Romantic movement in England during the nineteenth century. By explicitly stating the analogy between Frankenstein and Prometheus, Mary Shelley erases any doubt as to the nature of the character of Frankenstein. The use of the figure of Prometheus for revolutionary purposes can be seen in the work of another writer of this period, P.B. Shelley. Mary Shelley’s husband, in his poem Prometheus Unbound portrays his main character Prometheus as a long-suffering revolutionary who finally mana ges the overthrow of the tyrant Jupiter (Shelley, 2001). The influence of the VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN, A MODERN PROMETHEUS ideas of her husband can definitely be seen in the work of Mary Shelley. Frankenstein, even while he is performing his scientific experiments, is aware of the blasphemous nature of it. When he says, A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs. (Shelley, 2003, p. 36), he proves that he knows his aspirations: become capable of something that only God was capable of. In an act that would provide mankind with the secret of life and death, Frankenstein is similar to Prometheus who aimed to do something very similar through his theft of fire that enabled man to raise himself above the savage state in which he had existed till then. For their crimes, both the characters are separated from their fellow-beings and are tortured by a providential authority, which seems to be a punishment for transgression. Prometheus undergoes separation from his beloved in a manner that is similar to that of Frankenstein’s misery at the death of the members of his family. A thirst for knowledge and the urge to discover what is new characterizes both Frankenstein and Prometheus. Frankenstein is engaged in the constant pursuit of new experiences and it is only when his torture at the hands of his creature begins that he retracts VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN, A MODERN PROMETHEUS from his policy of acquiring new knowledge. Similarly, Prometheus’s attempts to steal fire are born out of a thirst for knowledge. Apart from this thirst for knowle

Indonesian Music and Korean Music Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Indonesian Music and Korean Music - Case Study Example It is said to have originated in 16th century before the arrival or introduction of Islam in Indonesia, because of this, it is slightly modified, had change in new ways and absorbed new contexts (Harnish and Rasmsmusen). According to Harnish and Rasmussen, it is a large ensemble consisting of predominantly tuned, percussion instruments such as metallophones, hanging gongs and kettle gongs. It consists of two basic categories, pencon which are knobbed gong instruments and wilahan or slabbed key instruments (Spiller 60). It is composed of several gongs with different pitches based on the differences in thickness of surfaces, sizes, shapes and weights. It can be arranged vertically or suspended horizontally and struck with a use of a mallet. Slab key instruments compose of ten to fifteen rectangular metal bars arranged from left to right, from smallest to largest. The timbre of the metal bars depends on the softness or hardness of mallet use when playing the instrument. Gamelan Sekaten is a gamelan piece. It has a cyclical pattern and can be played repeatedly many times (Spiller 69-71). It is associated with the Muslim festival Garebeg Maulud, birth of the prophet Mohammed during Muslim holy week. No drastic changes have been done in gamelan sekaten because of its historical values. Javanese treats the instrument not as an ordinary instrument but a symbol associated with history, royal legitimacy and link to the past. No new pieces have been composed and the instruments have not been tuned ever since to preserve its originality, prevent distracting its venerability and diminishing symbolic potency (Spiller 70-72). Due to its status symbol and importance in history that can be traced many centuries ago, gamelan sekaten has. Banquet music is played to entertain. Korean banquet music is divided into three categories, the aak or Chinese ritual music, tangak, Koreanized Chinese ritual music and the hyangak or the Korean ritual music. According to Broughton et al. (p. 1 61) aak was the first to be introduced to Korea by Chinese in 1116 and has been modified and changed through the years. Contemporary aak originated from the reconstruction in 1430 with the use of written melodies dated back to twelfth century. Only two melodies have survived though the years and played only in Sacrifice to Confucius using Chinese originated ritual instruments. May states that (p.32) Tangak means music from the T’ang dynasty China, ak means Korean term for music. Tangak has only two orchestral pieces and hyangak pieces are originally created on fifteenth century to suit Korean royal ancestors. To this day hyangak pieces still exist that is still closely related to fifteenth century notations. Its purpose was to entertain the royal ruling class in informal form and subdivided into two, the chong-ak and sog-ak. Chong-ak is for the royal ruling class while sog-ak is for ordinary people. Court music includes ritual, banquet and military music. It consists of voice , musical and instrumental components. It usually starts in a slow pace and progresses into a cheerful dance pace until the end. Court music should be approved and accepted by the ruling class. In addition, the circumstance of its performance should also then be approved

A microscope: An overview

A microscope: An overview 1. Introduction A microscope is an instrument used to investigate tiny objects which cannot be seen by naked eyes. There exist three types of microscopes which are optical microscopes, electron microscopes, and scanning probe microscopes. (1) Six types of microscopes talked in this report are reflected and transmitted light microscope, scanning electron microscopes (SEM), transmission electron microscopes (TEM), focused ion beam (FIB), and atomic force microscope (AFM). 1.1 Reflected light microscopes Reflected light microscope is a type of microscope using visible light and a system of lenses to magnify images of small samples. It is used to examine opaque specimens which will not transmit light and other materials such as ceramics.The reflected light travels through the objective lens, which in this arrangement acts as both a condenser and an objective, and strikes the specimen.It is then reflected off the specimen back up through the objective lens, the head, the eyepieces, and finally to the eye.(2) 1.2 Transmitted light microscope Transmitted light microscope is a type of microscope where the light transmits from a source on the opposite side of the specimen from the objective. Usually the light is passed through a condenser to focus it on the specimen to get very high illumination. (3)After the light passes through the specimen, the image of the specimen goes through the objective lens and to the oculars where the enlarged image is viewed. 1.3 Scanning electron microscope The scanning electron microscope (SEM) is one kind of electron microscope. The SEM utilizes a very fine probing beam of electrons scanning over the specimen to emit a variety of radiations. The signal which is proportional to the amount of radiation leaves an individual point of the sample at any time. The signal obtained from one point will display the information of that point. In practice, the points follow one another with very high speed so that the image of each point becomes an image of a line, and the line move down the screen so rapidly that the naked eye sees a complete image on the computer. SEMs are patterned after reflecting light microscopes and will yield similar information 1.4 Transmission electron microscope A transmission electron microscope (TEM) works much like a slide projector. A projector shines a beam of light through the slide, as the light passes through it is affected by the structures and objects on the slide. These effects result in only certain parts of the light beam being transmitted through certain parts of the slide. This transmitted beam is then projected onto the viewing screen, forming an enlarged image of the slide. TEMs work the same way except that they shine a beam of electrons through the specimen. Whatever part is transmitted is projected onto a screen for the user to see. TEMs are patterned after transmission light microscopes and will yield similar information. 1.5 Focused ion beam A focused ion beam system (FIB) is a relatively new tool that has a high degree of analogy with a focused electron beam system such as a scanning electron microscope or a transmission electron microscope. In SEM and TEM the electron beam is directed towards the sample generating signals that are used to create high magnification images of the sample. The major difference with a focused ion beam system is the use of a different particle to create the primary beam that interacts with the sample. A highly focused ion beam is used instead of electrons in FIB. As the beam scans the surface of the sample, a highly magnified image is created, which allows the system operator to view the samples microscopic features clearly. 1.6 Atomic force microscope The AFM is one of the foremost tools for imaging, measuring and manipulating matter at the nanoscale. The information is gathered by feeling the surface with a mechanical probe. To achieve atomic scale resolution, a sharp stylus (radius ~1-2 nm) attached to a cantilever is used in the AFM to scan an object point by point and contouring it while a constant small force is applied to the stylus. Piezoelectric elements that facilitate tiny but accurate and precise movements enable the very precise scanning. (4) 2. Study of comparison among six kinds of microscopes 2.1 Optical microscopes Optical microscopes, which use visible wavelengths of light, are the simplest and most used. Both transmitted light microscopy and reflected light microscopy need low energy and the microscope itself is much cheaper and smaller than electron microscopes. Compared to electron microscopes, the optical microscopes have another advantage that the image obtained from them is in color. Comparing to reflected light microscope, the transmitted light microscope only works on light transparent specimens but not metal, ceramics and some polymers such as rubber. However sample preparation of transmitted light microscope is relatively complicated. As it requires sample thin enough for the light to go through. This can be done by using a microtome to slice at lower temperature; as well the distortion of the section due to the sample preparation is a problem for observing. (5) 2.2 SEM The SEM has allowed researchers to examine a much bigger variety of specimens no matter it is bulk or thin layer. The scanning electron microscope has many advantages over optical microscopes.The SEM has a large depth of field, which allows more of a specimen to be in focus at one time.The SEM has much higher resolution (~1-5nm). (5)Because the SEM uses electromagnets rather than lenses, much more control in the degree of magnification can be done.All of these advantages, as well as the actual strikingly clear images, make the scanning electron microscope one of the most useful instruments in research today. However, materials that can be examined in the SEM must be vacuum compatible, clean and electrically conducting such as metal. But for non-conducting materials such as ceramic and polymers, gold or carbon coating on the surface of the sample is essential. 2.3 TEM TEM is a technology using a high energy (80-200kV) beam of electrons to transmit through an ultra thin specimen (50-200nm). High resolution (~0.2nm) is the most significant advantage of TEM. (5) However, there are a number of drawbacks to the TEM technique. Many materials require extensive sample preparation to produce a sample thin enough to be electron transparent, which makes TEM analysis a relatively time consuming process. The structure of the sample may be changed during the preparation process. Also the field of view is relatively small, which leads to the region analyzed may not be characteristic of the whole sample. There is potential that the sample may be damaged by the electron beam, particularly in the case of biological materials. 2.4 FIB FIB is usually used to examine metal surfaces. If the sample is non-conductive, a low energy electron flood gun can be used to provide charge neutralization. FIB is inherently destructive to the specimen because when the high-energy gallium ions strike the sample, they will sputter atoms from the surface. Ga atoms will also be implanted into the top few nanometers of the surface making the surface amorphous. (6) These limitations produce noticeable effects when using techniques such as high-resolution lattice imaging TEM or electron energy loss spectroscopy. 2.5 AFM The AFM is a very high-resolution type of scanning probe microscope, with demonstrated resolution of fractions of 1 nm. (4) AFM provides a true three-dimensional surface profile. Additionally, samples viewed by AFM do not require any special treatments such as coating. Most AFM modes can work perfectly in air or even a liquid environment without a need of vacuum. This makes it possible to study not only metal, ceramic, polymer but also biological macromolecules and even living organisms. In principle, AFM can provide higher resolution than SEM. It has been shown to give true atomic resolution in ultra-high vacuum and in liquid environments. High resolution AFM is comparable in resolution to TEM. A disadvantage of AFM compared with the scanning electron microscope (SEM) is the image size. The AFM can only image a maximum height on the order of 10-20 micrometers and a maximum scanning area of around 150 by 150 micrometers. (4) Another inconvenience is that the AFM could not scan images as fast as an SEM, requiring several minutes for a typical scan, while a SEM is capable of scanning at near real-time after the chamber is evacuated. The relatively slow rate of scanning during AFM imaging often leads to thermal drift in the image making the AFM microscope less suited for measuring accurate distances between topographical features on the image. (4) 2.6 Competition 3. Example of applications 3.1 Reflected light microscope Normally, reflected light microscope is used to image metal, ceramic and rubber. Thats the reason why it is also called metallurgical microscope. Nowadays it becomes a fast growing interest; especially in regard to its increasing usefulness in the fluorescence microscopy as well as the rapidly growing semiconductor industry had also led to an increase in the use of reflected light microscopes. (7) 3.2 Transmitted light microscope Polymers can commonly be looked at under the transmitted light microscope, because most of them are transparent or translucent. It can also analyze cell slices obtained from organism. Most of the lab can afford a transmitted light microscope since it is relatively cheap. 3.3 SEM About any scientific field can use an SEM as a research tool. It can be used to look at the crystalline structures of chemical compounds and how their bonds form. A scanning electron microscope is especially useful for looking at the surfaces of materials at an atomic level. 3.4 TEM TEM can do diffraction analysis of small areas by selected area diffraction. High resolution x-ray microanalysis and analysis of crystal defects such as dislocations, stacking faults using diffraction contrast can also be done by using TEM. Another important application is it can image lattice of crystalline materials. (8) 3.5 FIB FIB can be used as Ion beam imaging. The FIB also offers the ability to perform nanopatterning and micromachining respectively, and by instructing the machine to add or remove pertinent features, operator can design and prototype a new micro or nanostructure, modify integrated circuits and cross section specific features to allow failure analysis even in the 3D (TEM sample preparation). FIB is also used for Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). (7) The ejected secondary ions are collected and analyzed after the surface of the specimen has been sputtered with a primary focused ion beam. 3.6 AFM The atomic force microscope (AFM) is one of the most powerful tools for determining the surface topography of native biomolecules at subnanometer resolution. AFM allows biomolecules to be imaged not only under physiological conditions, but also while biological processes are at work. The AFM can also provide insight into the binding properties of biological systems. 4. Summary Characteristics of six different types of microscopes are compared in this article, including sample preparation and technique limitations. Each one has its advantage and disadvantage, so it is necessary to consider comprehensively before choosing, for example, the type of the material, needed information, vacuum compatible, conductivity and sample preparation, etc. References Microscopy and Analysis. [Online] http://www.microscopy-analysis.com/. Reflected Light Microscopes. [Online] http://reflectedlightmicroscopes.com/. Wikipidia. Optical microscope. [Online] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/optical Microscope. W. Richard Bowen, Nidal Hilal. Atomic force microscopy in process engineering : introduction to AFM for improved processes and products. 2009. Geoff West, John Bates, David Ross, D Grandy, J Perkins. MPP242 Microscopy Handouts. Loughborough: The department of materials, 2009. Peter J. Goodhew, Richard Beanland, John Humphreys. Electron microscopy and analysis. s.l.: Taylor Francis Ltd, 2000. The Royal Microscope socieity. [Online] http://www.rms.org.uk/. Brent Fultz, James Howe. Transmission electron microscopy and diffractometry of materials . 2008.

Power Play in Samuel Beckett’s Endgame Essay -- Samuel Beckett Endgame

Power Play in Samuel Beckett’s Endgame In a shelter devoid of sunlight and laughter, the family in Samuel Beckett’s Endgame all struggle to find their niches within their world. Central to the play physically and emotionally, Hamm has the ability to make the others revolve around him. Clov, physically the healthiest in the family, has a power that even Hamm could not define until very late in the play. Nagg and Nell, the elderly parents of Hamm, hold the power of memories. Although some characters may appear weaker than the others at times, Hamm, Clov, Nagg and Nell all hold a source of power, resulting in a weak type of mutualism in the family dynamics. Hamm is blind and unable to stand. However, sitting in a chair at the centre of the room, he is the axis of power in the family. Hamm repeatedly says, â€Å"Outside of here it’s death† (2475) and, according to Clov’s observations, the world outside has indeed been forsaken by nature and is awash in desolation. Therefore, as the owner of the shelter, Hamm has the power to protect Clov, Nagg, and Nell. Hamm makes the house rules even though he does not have the physical ability to enforce the rules: â€Å"I’ll give you just enough to keep you from dying. You’ll be hungry all the time† (2474). There is nowhere else to go, so in order to survive, everyone abides by Hamm’s commands. Clov humours Hamm, because it is Hamm who took him into the shelter when Clov was a child. With a paternal power over Clov, Hamm has the power to make Clov suffer. He controls Clov like a puppeteer, telling the latter to withdraw or to go close to him. Using Clov as a physical extension of himself, Hamm is able to â€Å"bottle† his father Nagg when the latter complains he is unable to eat the hard bisc... ...dysfunctional family, amidst their painful existence, manages balance their powers and to mutually co-exist. Words have much power, and Hamm retains his grip on his family by his commands. However, Clov – Hamm’s eyes and limbs – has power that matches Hamm’s, because if Clov leaves, no one will be able to physically support them. Nagg and Nell have the power of words and memories, as well as that of listening skills. They are the perfect audience for Hamm, who feels that dialogue is his main reason for living. Without them, Hamm will have no more reasons to continue living. Precariously balanced, the power play in Beckett’s play is like that of its title: an endgame fraught with dangers and overshadowed with doom. Works Cited Beckett, Samuel. Endgame. 1958. Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. 2 vols. New York: Norton, 2000, 2: 2472-2500.

Consumer Behavior Case Study Do Our Avatars Learn Essay

1) According to the text, classical conditioning occurs when a stimulus that elicits a response is paired with another stimulus that initially does not elicit a response on its own. As time passes, the second stimulus is able to cause a similar response because of the fact that we associate it with the first stimulus. An example of classical conditioning would be one that was demonstrated by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov. He conducted research on digestion in dogs. Pavlov was able to induce classically conditioned learning when he paired a neutral stimulus (a bell) with a stimulus that was known to cause a salivation response in dogs (he squirted dried meat powder into their mouths). The powder represented an unconditioned stimulus due to the fact that it was naturally capable of causing the response. As time passed, the bell represented a conditioned stimulus. Initially, the bell didn’t cause salivation. However, the dogs learned to associate it with the meat powder and began to salivate at the sound of the bell only. The drooling of these canine consumers because of a sound, now linked to feeding time, represented a conditioned response. Pavlov demonstrated a basic form of classical conditioning that primarily applies to the responses that the autonomic (e.g., salivation) and nervous (e.g., eye blink) systems control. Meaning, it focuses on visual and olfactory cues that induce hunger, thirst, and other basic drives. When marketers are able to consistently pair these cues with conditioned stimuli, such as brand names, consumers may learn to feel hungry or thirsty when they encounter these brand cues at a later point. This is an example of how classical conditioning can operate for a consumer who visits a new tutoring Web site and is greeted by the Web site’s avatar who resembles Albert Einstein. The individual might not pick of the olfactory cues the first time he visits the Web site, but over a period of time he/she will. 2) According to an online source, instrumental conditioning (also known as operant conditioning) is a form of learning in which an individual modifies the occurrence and form of its own behavior due to the consequences of the behavior. The difference between instrumental conditioning and classical conditioning is that instrumental conditioning deals with the modification of â€Å"voluntary behavior† or operant behavior. Operant behavior â€Å"operates† on the environment and is maintained by its consequences. On the other hand, classical conditioning deals with the conditioning of reflexive behaviors which are elicited by antecedent conditions. Behaviors that are conditioned via a classical conditioning procedure are not maintained by consequences. This is a learning process that we most closely associate with the psychologist B.F. Skinner. Skinner demonstrated the effects of instrumental conditioning by teaching pigeons and other animals to dance, play Ping-Pong, and perform other activities when he systematically rewarded them for desired behaviors. Due to the fact that responses in classical conditioning are involuntary and fairly simple, we make those in instrumental conditioning deliberately to obtain a goal, and these may be more complex. The desired behavior might be learned over a period of time as a shaping process rewards our intermediate actions. From all of this research about instrumental conditioning, we conclude that a consumer who purchases a new outfit for his avatar on a virtual world would be modifying the occurrence and form of the avatar’s behavior due to the consequences of the behavior. 3)I believe that consumers do build associative networks through their avatar’s experience just as they would with any other product or service. The text states that we each have organized systems of concepts that relate to brands, manufacturers, and stores stored in our memories. The contents, however, depend on our own unique experiences. We should think of these knowledge structures, or storage units, as complex spider webs filled with pieces of data. Any information that is incoming gets put into nodes that connect to one another. When separate pieces of information are viewed as similar, we chunk them together under some more abstract category. Then, we are able to interpret new, incoming information to be consistent with the structure we just created. This helps to explain why we are better able to remember brands or stores that we believe â€Å"go together.† Recent research has indicated that people can recall brands that are not as obviously linked. However, in these cases, marketers have to work harder to justify why the two things go together. I do believe that this network is part of the consumer’s overall associative network for that brand. This is because in the associative network, links form between nodes. For instance, the text states that a consumer might have a network for â€Å"perfumes.† Each node correlates to a concept related to the category. This can be an attribute, a specific brand, or a related product. When the consumer is asked to list perfumes, she only recalls those brands that show up in the appropriate category.

Winter Storm essays

Winter Storm essays The white storm that I was caught in happened twenty-seven years ago. The natural disaster I refer to struck on Friday, January 28, 1977, The Blizzard of 77", or as author Erno Rossi, M.A. termed it White Death. What happened on that Friday so long ago was actually a winter hurricane. It had been such a cold, brutal winter. Lake Erie had been frozen solid by Christmas. With extreme temperature and record snowfall, the snow had piled up on top of the ice. So as the 50 mile an hour wind swept across Lake Erie, it blew the powdery snow off the lake, and into Buffalo and the surrounding counties. Into my county it came with a vengeance. I was working as an office clerk at a local linen factory. At that time I did not have my license to drive, so I had to depend on others for my transportation. On this particular day it was my Dad who drove me to work, and who would also drive me home. As we went to work that day it had been snowing heavily. Note enough for us hearty Upstate New Yorkers to stay home though. As the morning had progressed, so had the snow and the wind. My Dad had called me to let me know that he was leaving work early, everyone was being sent home. My Dad came and picked me up at about 12:00 noon. At which point the winds were even stronger and visibility was zero. There we were my Dad and I leaving the city of Batavia to make our six mile trek home in the storm. As we inched our way out of the city we were headed north to our home in Oakfield New York. When I say inched I mean it literally. The windshield wipers couldnt work fast enough to keep the snow off the windshield, the wind was howling around us. We couldnt see. I would roll my window down and pop my head out to see if we were still on the road, but that did little good. So we crept on. It seemed we were alone in this white vacuum. ...

Free Essays on Summary Of “The Scar“

and decides to ... Free Essays on Summary Of â€Å"The Scarâ€Å" Free Essays on Summary Of â€Å"The Scarâ€Å" â€Å"The Scar† is a short story written by Margaret Biggs. The story focuses on fourteen-year-old Chris who struggles hard to face the reality of his damaged arm. Throughout the story, you will get a clear view of what he is thinking about and how he approaches daily difficulties. Chris wakes up early on a Wednesday morning, delighted to be able to see his beautiful English teacher, Mrs. Chadwick whom Chris likes a lot. Just then, he notices the deep, permanent scar on his arm as he recalls the unforgettable car accident four years ago. Since then, Chris’s arm looks so awkward that he wishes it weren’t there. On his way to school, he reflects on his relationship with his best friend Pete; and how he has to give up playing sports because of his injuries. Surprisingly, he meets Mrs. Chadwick somewhere near the school gates. She mentions a drama production she is planning for the class and persuades Chris to audition later in the day. When Chris tells Pete about the issue, Phil Carter interrupts and mocks at Chris’s bad arm. This has made Chris feels desperately miserable. After Science lesson, he finds a seat at the back of the English classroom, still hesitating whether to audition or not. After the scripts are passed around, Pete and Carter have their turns, and Chris gets a chance as well. As soon as it’s two in the afternoon, everybody gathers at the notice board where a list of chosen actors and actresses is posted. Janetta has the part for Lady Treazle and Chris, Sir Peter, the main character. Phil is very unhappy with that and says nasty things to discourage Chris. After giving a thought, Chris decides to give up his role as Sir Peter. Twice in that day, Chris bumps into Mrs. Chadwick. He tells her his decision to quit the drama, but Mrs. Chadwick reassures him by telling him that she was also in an accident years ago and lost one of her legs. Startled by her confession, he ponders over her words and decides to ...

The Unconscious Patient Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Unconscious Patient - Essay Example In the case study, Spencer had a GCS of 7/15 and did not respond to verbal commands. However, he responded centrally to painful stimuli. This score is usually associated with a state of coma. Research shows that patients with GCS scores between the range of 3 and 8 are often comatose, or are unconscious such that they cannot interact with their immediate environments. From these information, it is clear that the verbal response on the patient failed and thus some stimuli was needed to obtain a response from him. He was therefore not aware of the surroundings. The Trapezium squeeze was used to twist Spencer’s muscle so that Julia could assess his response to painful stimuli (Sternbach, 2000). I would recommend that Julia also try to observe the patient’s motor response by giving some commands such as â€Å"lift your legs from the bed†,   so that his weaknesses can be noted. In addition, inconsistent and inaccurate recordings could have a harmful effect on the pa tient’s comfort and may affect his care plan. I recommend that Julia or any other nurse handling the patient be educated on how to use the tool correctly so that potential irregularities could be addressed. QN.3. deteriorating changes that may occur as a result of the collapse and how the patient will respond to those changes in his GCS status The patient in this context may experience deterioration in his consciousness provided that there is an underlying problem with his brain due to head injury. When the patient loses consciousness, the tongue often fall back in his pharynx and blocks the airway. He loses the cough reflex, and regurgitated stomach contents or blood are aspirated into his lungs. The patient should therefore have his airway supported by slanting the head and lifting... Factors that can lead to secondary brain injuries include hypercapnia, intracranial hypertension, hypotension, and hypoxia. To prevent these factors, interventions need to begin in the pre-hospital care phase and go on into the critical care unit. Recognizing these factors in the early stages as well as timely intervention can enhance the neurologic effect of the patient with brutal head injuries. One of the oral medications prescribed to treat patients with Diabetes 2 is Glyburide. conventionally used as antiglycemic medication, this drug is meant to block entrà ©e to the sulphonylurea receptors, thus effectively drain edema, intracranial pressure, and swelling brought about by secondary brain injury; consequences that can come about in the days after the initial injury. However, research in animals indicate that glyburide is effective in preventing the adverse effects of secondary brain injury, though it works more effectively if the patient takes it prior to the second injury.

Mobile Computing and Social Networking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mobile Computing and Social Networking - Essay Example For the same reason, health industry has always been a hot spot for research and development thereby attracting lots of investment and renovation. Monitoring of Patient Vital Signs Technology has revolutionized the health care sector to such an extent that one’s blood pressure, blood sugar levels, oxygen levels or respiratory levels all can be measured using mobile technology. Thus the perils of a patient travelling to a doctor’s office for these physiological states to be tested, manual documentation of the readings by a nurse or a clinician and the occurrence of errors while recording the readings etc can be avoided. Above all the greatest advantage is saving the most valuable resource- time. A scenario resembling a science fiction movie where sensors implanted under ones skin detects ones blood sugar level and alerts the doctor is not very far if technological explosion happens at this pace. Today’s technology has made patient’s care very effective. Sma rt phones and broad band enabled devices has allowed patients to do their own monitoring of vital signs and body functions and upload them to their medical provider’s clinical servers. Videoconferencing with their doctor via phones is possible. Not only the patients but also the hospitals are benefitted by the technology. Devices like ECG machines, ventilators, oxygen sensors, blood pressure sensors are connected to the hospital server that records and transmits to the doctor or the nurse to ensure the best care possible. As Shahriyar, Bari, Kundu, Ahamed and Akbar (2010) point out, the use of bio sensor based mobile monitoring system collects data from the patients, mines the data, predicts the patient’s health status, and provides feed back through their mobile phones. So they can access their health information anywhere and anytime. This monitoring system is called Intelligent Mobile Health Monitoring System (pp. 5-6). Advantages As Smith (2011) points out, enhanced patient doctor interaction, accessibility of health care to geographically remote patient, greater exchange of information, increased accuracy of patient records, saving time with diagnosis and treatment of illness, freedom of patience from smoldering hospital rooms and cumbersome medical devices are some of the advantages of monitoring vital signs using mobile computing technology. Wireless networking enables the transmission of signals from the monitor of an ambulance to the emergency room so that the staff is alert to treat the patient as soon as they arrive. The use of mobile technology informs the doctor about the early symptoms of his patients before acute attacks occurs. This is a boon to patients who are reserved in nature as they can express their problems without face to face interaction with the doctor. Doctors also can provide more assistance regarding the treatment and medication which otherwise would have been shortened due to lack of time. Doctors are benefitted in a way that they can focus more on priority tasks. These technologies make the health care system personalized and thereby improve its quality. Disadvantages This technological advancement may not be always an easy task for not so technologically savvy people, especially the older generation. The chances of going offline can cause unprecedented delay in communication between the doctor and the patient. There is a high risk of patient

The importance of sex education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The importance of sex education - Essay Example Sex, apart from the education perspective is akin to hunger and thirst in many ways. However the need for sex is not that powerful as that of food and water. Just like food has its own importance in our daily lives which influences our social, cultural and moral values but also highlights our economic sustainable conditions, same as the case with ‘sexual values’ where it seems that for sexual behavior, environmental factors are more influential than psychological factors. Simon and Gagnon (1986) describe environmental factors in terms of sexual(Strongman, 2001, p. 16)The importance of sex education in the context of learning can be considered just like other subjects on the curriculum: it involves the transmission of information; it contributes to the development of personal autonomy;and it seeks to promote the interests of both the individual and the broader society. (Halstead & Reiss, 2003, p. 3) In other respects, however, sex education is quite different. It is about human relationships and therefore includes a central moral dimension. It is about the private, intimate life of the learner and is intended to contribute to his or her personal development and sense of well-being or fulfillment. It generally involves intense emotions, to do not only with intimacy, pleasure and affection but often also with anxiety, guilt and embarrassment. In all of these respects, values are involved which need to be researched and studied for the self-consciousness of younger generation.

Conceptualization of Culture and Language in Post Colonial Literature Essay Example for Free

Conceptualization of Culture and Language in Post Colonial Literature Essay Culture and Language are the major issues in the post colonial theory. My assignment will deal with these three factors in terms of colonial perspectives. The post colonialism mainly explores the ideas such as cultural diversity, geographical dimensions, Diasporas, race, ethnicity, marginality, hybridity, national identities, cultural transformation, changes and politics in language etc†¦ Considerations of hybridity run the range from existential to material, political to economic, yet this discussion will not be able to tease out the extensive implications of each consideration. Rather, this discussion aims to explore the notion of hybridity theoretically, synthesizing the vast body of literature to critique essentialist notions of identity as fixed and constant. According to my understanding of Hybridity, there are three ways in which hybridity might serve as a tool for deconstructing the rigid labels that maintain social inequities through exclusion in race, language and nation. By exploring how the hybrid rejects claims of bonds within race, language, and nation, I understood that cultural studies like these are imperative in considering the politics of representation. For the purposes of this discussion, the cultural hybridity refers to the integration of cultural bodies, signs, and practices from the colonizing and the colonized cultures. The contemporary cultural landscape is an amalgam of cross-cultural influences, blended, patch-worked, and layered upon one another. Unbound and fluid, culture is hybrid and interstitial, moving between spaces of meaning. The notion of cultural hybridity has existed far before it was popularized in postcolonial theory as culture arising out of interactions between â€Å"colonizers† and â€Å"the colonized†. However, in this time after imperialism, globalization has both expanded the reach of Western culture, as well as allowed a process by which the West constantly interacts with the East, appropriating cultures for its own means and continually shifting its own signifiers of dominant culture. This hybridity is woven into every corner of society, from trendy fusion cuisine to Caribbean rhythms in pop music to the hyphenated identities that signify ethnic Americans, illuminating the lived experience of ties to a dominant culture blending with the cultural codes of a Third World culture. Framing Cultural Hybridity in post colonial context; Among postcolonial theorists, there is a wide consensus that hybridity arose out of the culturally internalized interactions between â€Å"colonizers† and â€Å"the colonized† and the dichotomous formation of these identities. Considered by some the father of hybrid theory, Homi Bhabha argued that colonizers and the colonized are mutually dependent in constructing a shared culture. His text The Location of Culture (1994) suggested that there is a â€Å"Third Space of Enunciation† in which cultural systems are constructed. In this claim, he aimed to create a new language and mode of describing the identity of Selves and Others. Bhabha says: It becomes crucial to distinguish between the semblance and similitude of the symbols across diverse cultural experiences such as literature, art, music, Ritual, life, death and the social specificity of each of these productions of meaning as they circulate as signs within specific contextual locations and social systems of value. The transnational dimension of cultural transformation migration, diaspora, displacement, relocation makes the process of cultural translation a complex form of signification. The naturalized, unifying discourse of nation, peoples, or authentic folk tradition, those embedded myths of cultures particularity, cannot be readily referenced. The great, though unsettling, advantage of this position is that it makes you increasingly aware of the construction of culture and the invention of tradition. In using words like â€Å"diaspora, displacement, relocation,† Bhabha illustrates the dynamic nature of culture, and the flimsy consistency of the historical narratives that cultures rely upon to draw boundaries and define themselves. As a result, culture cannot be defined in and of it, but rather must be seen within the context of its construction. More significantly, Bhabha draws attention to the reliance of cultural narratives upon the other. In illuminating this mutual construction of culture, studies of hybridity can offer the opportunity for a counter-narrative, a means by which the dominated can reclaim shared ownership of a culture that relies upon them for meaning. This theoretical erspective will serve as the foundation for the considerations explored in this paper, employing hybridity as a powerful tool for liberation from the domination imposed by bounded definitions of race, language, and nation. RACE: Racial hybridity, or the integration of two races which are assumed to be distinct and separate entities, can be considered first in terms of the physical body. Historically, the corporeal hybrid was birthed from two symbolic poles, a bodily representation of colonizer and colonized. These mixed births, mestizo, mulatto, muwallad, were stigmatized as a physical representation of impure blood, and this racism long served as a tool of power that maintained that even in this blending of two bodies, just â€Å"one drop† of black blood would deem the body impure and alien, an abomination. Institutionalized racism created a perpetual state of ambiguity and placelessness for the hybrid body and prevented cultural inclusion via race. However, the expanse of immigration since colonialism and the spectrum of shades of visible difference point to an increasingly hybrid populace in which these classifications of black and white no longer carry the same power of representation, yet the old labels persist. This labeling is significant as it elucidates the continuing power of racial labels in a society set on fixing bodies in racial space by binding them to labels, which are understood to contain fixed truths. I argue that utilizing the conceptual tool of hybridity to deconstruct these labels allows a means by which hybrid individuals can come together in powerful solidarity, rather than allowing their ambiguous place in racial space to render them invisible. Harnessing racial hybridity to project the simultaneously unique but common experience of hybridity can be a means by which the individual subject can join to a marginal community through stories and partial memories. Furthermore, racial hybridity must harness the dualistic experience of passing, or being mistaken for a race other than one’s own. All identities involve passing to some extent, in that a subject’s self can never truly match its image, but racial passing implicitly deconstructs the boundaries of Black and White. In passing, hybridity might function not as a conflict or struggle between two racial identities, but instead as constant movement between spaces, passing through and between identity itself without origin or arrival. The freedom to move between identities carries its own power in defying the claims of essentialized racial identity. Furthermore, the bounded labels of race do not account for the historical and geographic narratives that lie behind each body and inform their identity. In â€Å"Black Africans and Native Americans†, Jack Forbes explores the disconnect between racial labels and the consciousness of the bodies behind them using Native Americans and Africans as examples by which â€Å"groups are forced into arbitrary categories render their ethnic heritage simple rather than complex†. As a result, hybridity calls into question the boundaries of racial consciousness as a hybrid consciousness defies the imposed limits of race. The management of these identities becomes its own sort of performance, as the body negotiates each consciousness in different spaces. Again, the ability to play multiple roles, to â€Å"pass† in different arenas, carries significant power. In embodying the inability to bind identities to race, racial hybridity both in the physical body and in consciousness offers a means of deconstructing the boundaries of dichotomous racial identities. In addition to race, language has long been bound in definitions as a symbol of nation and a mode of exclusion. As a means to connect with other social beings, communicating with language is a meaningful performance in that speaking requires two parties, one to perform language and an audience to observe and absorb language. During colonialism, as the colonizer’s language dominated national institutions, the sense of being outside and â€Å"othered† was instilled in the colonized as their language and means of communication was stripped away. Now in a time after colonialism, can the colonized ever reclaim a language long lost, or has the colonizer’s language become their own? Has ownership of the colonizer’s language expanded over time? Fanon’s theorizing addresses the power of language in the formation of identity as he says, â€Å"To speak . . . means above all to assume a culture, to support the weight of a civilization,†. He suggests that speaking the language of the colonizer stands in as acceptance or coercion into accepting a role in culture. Yet in accepting a role, whether by choice or force, the meaning of the culture shifts and evolves. No longer does it â€Å"belong† to the colonizer, as it relies upon the colonized to give it shape. Similarly, with the introduction of a new set of users performing a language, the language no longer exists as it was; it has shifted in meaning. Beyond the thematic implications of language, hybridity has inspired an immense movement in literary discourse and understandings of the very way language is managed and owned. Herskovits developed the notion of syncretism, a theory attempting to explain why certain cultural forms are carried and others lost. Similarly, Claude Levi-Strauss developed the term bricolage to describe mixed forms within narratives. Creolization describes the linguistic blending of dominant and subdominant cultures. These examples illustrate the broad realm of studies that have developed simply around the use of hybridized language. In an analysis of the rise of the â€Å"hybrid genre† in postmodern literature, Kapchan and Strong say, â€Å"Hybridization has become one such analytic allegory, defining lines of interest and affiliation among scholars of popular and literary culture, perhaps quite unintentionally. The extent to which these authors use the metaphor of hybridity consciously and concisely differs. That they use it, however, qualifies hybridity as one of several tropes, or forms of metaphoric predication, that most epitomize the scholarship of the last decade,† . Not only does this observation imply that the body of hybridized literature is growing, harkening to the rising voices and representations of the hybrid, but that hybridity is becoming normalized as an accepted form of literature and the purist notion of genre is diminishing. Furthermore, the use of a colonizer’s language by the colonized to speak of the crimes of colonialism is its own transgression and act of resistance. In taking ownership of the language, changing the way that it is used, the boundaries of language as belonging to a specific place or race are dissolved. Jahan Ramazani’s Hybrid Muse is an analytical review of the poetry that has arisen from the hybridization of the English muse with the long-resident muses of Africa, India, the Caribbean, and other decolonizing territories of the British Empire (2001). A hybrid himself, Ramazani suggests that the use of indigenous metaphors, rhythms, creoles, and genres has allowed a new form of poetry that not only speaks of the violence and displacement of colonialism, but embodies it in its very form. These hybrid poetries can be viewed as a gateway to understanding those once deemed unfamiliar, and hybridity of language becomes a way by which to deconstruct borders and relate to collectives across cultural boundaries. Further, hybridity must interrogate the notion that nationality is essential zed in a distinct culture that geographic borders somehow embody inherent knowledge or truth about the people they contain. Mamdani asks, â€Å"How do you tell who is indigenous to the country and who is not? Given a history of migration, what is the dividing line between the indigenous and the nonindigenous? . He addresses the nationalist concern over entitlement to nation, and the indigenous wish to lay claim to culture. I understood that theories of hybridity, in clarifying the shifting and indefinite nature of culture, can serve as a tool that complicate the nationalist exclusionary practice of determining who does and does not have claim to a nation. From health care to immigration, h is arguments resonate loudly with current events. Similarly, we must consider the ways in which the â€Å"things† that give culture meaning are unfixed and variable, negating essentialist arguments about inherent meanings of culture. In The Predicament of Culture, James Clifford (1988) analyzes sites including anthropology, museums, and travel writing to take a critical ethnography of the West and its shifting relationships with other societies. He demonstrates how â€Å"other† national cultures are in fact fictions and mythical narratives, and we must ask the question of representation and who has the authority to speak for a group’s identity. In his article â€Å"Diasporas†, he suggests that â€Å"The old localizing strategies by bounded community, by organic culture, by region, by center and periphery may obscure as much as they reveal†. Diaspora is defined as a history of dispersal, myths/memories of the homeland, alienation in the host country, desire for eventual return, ongoing support of the homeland, and a collective identity importantly defined by this relationship. In this consideration of culture, we understand the vast connotations of displacement, from asking which history the diasporic should identify with to asking if it is even possible to return to a homeland one never knew or left long ago. Second, in the representation of culture, be it by petrifying culture in a museum or nailing it to an anthropological account, the risk lies in taking these subjective moments as truths or knowledge. Furthermore, the far-reaching diasporic symbols and narratives that snowball into this thing we call national culture suggest that culture is itself a traveler collecting artifacts from various locations along the way, and its walls are too insubstantial to be used as a means of exclusion. Third and perhaps most significant, hybridity in a postcolonial world muddles the very definitions of culture by which nations define themselves. Given that nationalism is founded upon a collective consciousness from shared loyalty to a culture, one would assume this culture is well-defined. Yet the â€Å"solid† roots of historical and cultural narratives that nations rely upon are diasporic, with mottled points of entry at various points in time. An investigation of the roots of cultural symbols like folk stories, religion, and music would reveal sources varied and wide-ranging. Furthermore, culture is defined in relationship to other cultures. Edward Said’s Orientalism (1979) offers a strong description of the system by which nations appropriate from others to define themselves. He suggests Orientalism â€Å"has helped to define Europe as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience†. Using a theoretical framework influenced by Gramsci’s notion of hegemonic culture and Foucault’s notion of discourse, Said draws significant attention to the intricate and complex process by which the West must use the East to construct itself, its culture, its meaning. In an illuminating excerpt describing the process of Orientalism, he writes: To formulate the Orient, to give it shape, identity, definition with full recognition of its place in memory, its importance to imperial strategy, and its ‘natural’ role as an appendage to Europe; to dignify all the knowledge collected during colonial occupation with the title ‘contribution to modern learning; when the natives had neither been consulted nor treated as anything except as pretexts for a text whose usefulness was not to the natives; to feel oneself as a European in command, almost at will, of Oriental history, time, and geography to make out of every observable detail a generalization and out of every generalization an immutable law about the Oriental nature, temperament, mentality, custom, or type; and, above all, to transmute living reality into the stuff of texts, to possess actuality mainly because nothing in the Orient seems to resist one’s powers. † In a st ream of fragments, Said shows the diverse processes by which dominant cultures are formed at the service of Others. Using words like â€Å"shape,† â€Å"definition,† and â€Å"transmute,† he describes the act of defining nation and the artificial nature of these boundaries. Said offers a theoretical means by which to reject nationalist divisions between an us and Them, a West and Other. This conceptualization of the ways in which nations determine not only their own national identities, but the identities of Other is powerful in revealing the inherently hybrid roots of national culture. Studies of national identity are thus essential in deconstructing xenophobic nationalist claims to nation and the resulting miscegenation of immigrant Others. CONCLUSION This discussion draws from the body of postcolonial literature to suggest that studies of cultural hybridity are powerful in probing the bounded labels of race, language, and nation that maintain social inequalities. By examining how the hybrid can deconstruct boundaries within race, language, and nation, I understood that hybridity has the ability to empower marginalized collectives and deconstruct bounded labels, which are used in the service of subordination. In essence, hybridity has the potential to allow once subjugated collectivities to reclaim a part of the cultural space in which they move. Hybridity can be seen not as a means of division or sorting out the various histories and diverse narratives to individualize identities, but rather a means of reimagining an interconnected collective. Like the skin on a living body, the collective body has a surface that also feels and â€Å"Borders materialize as an effect on intensifications of feeling and individual and collective bodies surface through the very orientations we take to objects and others,† In the description that Formations our orientations can be shifted, our feelings towards Others transformed, there is a possibility of redefining our exclusionary systems of labeling. Furthermore, breaking down immaterial borders through explorations of hybridity offers the possibility of more effective public policy, one that refers to the broad expanse of its diverse population. Frenkel and Shenhav did an illuminating study on the ways in which studies of hybridity have allowed management and organization studies to manage their longstanding western hegemonic practices and to incorporate postcolonial insights into the organizational literature revolving around the relationships between Orientalism and organizations. The willingness of institutions to reform their long held ideologies in light of a changing world, as well as to consider their work through alternative lenses, is an essential practice in deconstructing the bindings of narratives-as-knowledge. In the boundary-shifting process, there is power in the notion of deconstruction in the service of reconstruction, breaking down boundaries in order to form a more inclusive sense of the collectivity. Furthermore, hybridity asserts the notion that representations of collective identity must be analyzed contextually. When we examine a representation of culture, be it in a film, poem, or speech, we should ask: Who is doing the representing? What are the implications of the representation? Why are they engaging in the process of representation? What is the historical moment that informs the representation? How are they being represented? In addition to the questions explored in this paper, I would recommend applying theories of hybridity to a realm beyond race and nation, in order to consider alternative boundaries such as gender and sexuality. The work of hybrid theorists from Bhabha to Said suggests that there is a vast intellectual landscape for cultural inquiries like these. Our mission must be to continue this work and to delve deeper. Cultural studies have great potential to liberate us from the socially-given boundaries that so stubbornly limit our capacity for thought and discussion, but we must take time to join in a collective critique of the knowledge we ingest and disperse. After all, the greatest power lies in the heart of the collective.