Mice and Men Essay

There are a number of characters in Of Mice and Men who have dreams of a better life. These characters include George, Lennie and Candy, who dream of a farm of their own, and Curley’s wife, who dreams of becoming a glamorous Hollywood actress. In this essay I will discuss their dreams and the effects on the novel’s characters when their dreams are unfulfilled. The central characters in Of Mice and Men are George and Lennie. Their dream is introduced to the reader in the first chapter, ‘OK. Someday we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and – ‘An’ live off the fatta the lan’,’ Lennie shouted. ‘An’ have rabbits. ‘ George and Lennie’s dream is to leave behind their lives as travelling workers and have a place of their own where they can settle down. For Lennie the dream of living on their own farm is closely connected to looking after rabbits. Perhaps this is because the only way that Lennie can actually relate to the dream is through the idea of something practical and touchable which relates to his tactile qualities. Clearly, the material aspect of owning his own land means very little to Lennie. At the start of the novel we learn that Lennie likes to pet soft things, like mice and rabbits. It is this trait that eventually leads to Lennie’s downfall when he tries to smooth Curley’s wife’s soft hair. However, for George the dream of the farm has other benefits. Firstly, George can see the practical, economic advantage of owning their own place. ‘If I was bright, if I was even a little bit smart, I’d have my own little place, an’ I’d be bringin’ in my own crops, ‘stead of doin’ all the work and not getting what comes up outta the ground. ‘ Yet it is not just the practical benefits of owning a farm that attract George to this dream. We learn that George has no family – ‘I ain’t got no people’, and it seems as though the dream of a farm also represents the notion of ‘home’ to George. ‘An’ we’d keep a few pigeons to go flyin’ around the win’mill like they done when I was a kid’†¦ ‘We’d jus’ live there. We’d belong there. ‘ So, for George, the dream of a farm offers a psychological antidote to his rootless, travelling life and gives him a sense of belonging. Another attraction of the farm dream is that it gives George the promise of some sense of control and autonomy in his life. In his conversation with Candy about owning a farm, George says: ‘S’pose they was a carnival or a circus come to town, or a ball game, or any damn thing. ‘ Old Candy nodded in appreciation of the idea. ‘We’d just go to her,’ George said. ‘We wouldn’t ask nobody if we could. Jus’ say ‘We’ll go to her’, an’ we would’. This shows how powerless George feels in his life and how much power employers exercised over their workers at that time. Another example of George and Lennie’s powerlessness is shown after Lennie’s fight with Curley, the boss’s son; when George’s immediate concern is that they will be ‘canned’ or dismissed. However, in this situation, they retain their jobs because Slim steps in and persuades Curley to say he got his hand caught in a machine. In Chapter 2 when George and Lennie discuss their dream they are overheard by Candy, the old swamper. Candy is immediately swept up with the idea of owning their own farm and offers his savings to them to make the dream come true. At this point in the novel it seems as if the dream could actually become a reality. They fell into silence. They looked at one another, amazed. This thing they had never really believed in was coming true. George said reverently, ‘Jesus Christ! I bet we could swing her. ‘ His eyes were full of wonder. What is interesting is that at this point in the novel the dream of the farm actually moves from being a pipe dream which will probably never happen, to an achievable goal which is actually within their grasp. It is Candy’s involvement that makes this change take place. Although Candy shares George’s reasons for wanting a farm, there is also an extra dimension for Candy wanting to live on their own place. We get the sense that Candy feels redundant, useless and vulnerable because he is old and has lost his hand. Candy feels uneasy about his future: ‘ â€Å"They’ll can me purty soon. Jus’ as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunk houses they’ll put me on the county. â€Å"‘ So for Candy the dream of the farm means independence – ‘nobody could can us’, because in his present situation he is entirely dependent on the boss’s tolerance and charity. In the novel, this is partially demonstrated by Carlson shooting Candy’s dog earlier that evening. In an echo of Candy’s own situation of the ranch, Carlson, without much pity or concern, shoots Candy’s dog because he is old and it is inconvenient to keep him because of the smell. It is not hard to imagine that Candy feels there is a parallel between his own situation and his dog’s. Candy’s attachment to the dream of their own farm is demonstrated in Chapter 5 when he realises that all hopes of the dream have come crashing down when he discovers Curley’s wife’s dead body: ‘You God damn tramp’, he said viciously. ‘You done it, di’n’t you? I s’pose you’re glad. Ever’body knowed you’d mess things up†¦ ‘If they was a circus or a baseball game †¦ we would of went to her †¦ Never ast nobody’s say so. ‘

Cirque Du Solleil- Strategic Management Essay

Executive Summary Cirque du Soleil is an entertainment firm from Montrà ©al, Canada and was founded in 1984. The company started as a small business and gradually grew into a successful organisation with an established presence in the entertainment industry. This report deals with the ways in which the organisation became successful. Therefore, it is necessary to analyse different factors. The first part enumerates the stakeholders which contribute profits for Cirque du Soleil. Conversely, this section will cover the considerations the organisation must take into account for the welfare of its stakeholders. The second part illustrates the organisation’s uniqueness and how they differ from their competitors, which is a result of several innovations and business strategy. In the last part, the mission statement will be illustrated and discussed. Analysis of the mission statement will show the principles, philosophy, and beliefs that take high priority for their business. Furthermore, suggestions for the future will be listed. 1.Stakeholders & the success of Cirque du Soleil A stakeholder is a person or a group who has an input in an organisation. It can affect the achievement of company’s objectives, activities and the behaviour of its member. (Mullins, 2005:163) 1.1.Cirque du Soleil’s stakeholders Cirque du Soleil, like all other organisations, has many stakeholders which include managers, employees, customers, government, etc. Every stakeholder has its particular interests to support an organisation. 1.1.1.Managers Managers have particular interests in an organisation e.g. in job security, size and growth of the organisation or prestige. (Mullins, 2005: 164) Additionally, the managers achieve a self fulfilment because they have career prospects due to the variety of jobs e.g. in environment issues. (Cirque du Soleil, 2012) Hence, the managers are able to learn different stages of work and also have job possibilities in non-circus work. 1.1.2.Employees Like managers, employees have interests in job security and in learning because the shows are always differentiated. Therefore, employees can also experience a self fulfilment. It is believed that employee’s salary is above the average circus industry salary because the shows are upscale and successful. Thus, employees can build up a reputation and also expand career options e.g. by retraining for a second career or by changing the industry like transitioning to musical theatre for example. (Cirque du Soleil, 2012) 1.1.3.Customers The customers of Cirque du Soleil are the audiences and they are of prime importance for the organisation. The benefit that Cirque du Soleil gives to the audience is an escape from the stress of their daily lives. In other words, they can get away from it all for a short while. The audience gets a unique experience from the spectacular performance. Due to the multiple shows, customers may come frequently which brings travel possibilities because the organization is touring around the world. An adult experience can be fulfilled due to the fact that the show is more elegant and rich than loud like in a traditional circus. (Pawar, 2007: 8-10) 1.1.4.Government The government’s purpose in helping the organisation might be to enhance their image. Especially for tourism, the organisation enlarge government’s cultural offering. Therefore, a new target group can be achieved e.g. those who are not interested in historical sights. As a result, this benefit supports the local industry due to taxes. Hence, the city can pursue other projects like the construction of parks as public service. Cirque du Soleil has an agreement with the Government of Canada to serve 25 years with entertainment to support the cultural program in Canada. (Canadian Heritage, 2010) 1.1.5.Suppliers & Distributors Suppliers and distributors are committed in long term relationships with Cirque du Soleil and bring prestige to the stakeholders due to frequent orders and demand. It may also be possible that the stakeholder gets new customer groups due to references. 1.1.6.Investors & Sponsors For these groups, cooperating with Cirque du Soleil brings a prestige to the  locals. In the case of Arab investors, the cooperation brings business in tourism, regional development and support for the local industry. Dubai firms bought 20% of Cirque du Soleil which brought profit. Last year 10000 visitors watched Cirque du Soleil’s performances and the company owns a stake in casinos where Cirque’s shows are shown. (The star, 2008) Sponsors want to enhance their image and in addition, get new target groups. Besides, return on investment is a benefit for sponsors. Nevertheless, sponsors are a low key stakeholder because they also use the event for fundraising opportunities. (De Wit, 2004: 931) 1.1.7.Community The province of Quebec and its community share almost the same interests as the government. Quebec wants to enhance their image and enlarge their cultural offering and in doing so, hope to achieve new target markets. The global community looks for funding and developing e.g. for projects like charity. Cirque du Mond is a special project for youth who have HIV or victims of sexual violence. Cirque offer them workshops to express themselves. (Cirque du Soleil, 2012) 1.2.Stakeholders & financial performance The aforementioned stakeholders bring their expectations to the organisation and the organisation tries to fulfil their expectations which may simultaneously lead to the organisation accomplishing its own goals. If the requirements and expectations are reached, high performance can be achieved. (Manowong, 2010: 131) 1.2.1.Superior financial performance through serving stakeholders’ interests In the interests of the stakeholder, managers will be rewarded for their performance. When expectations are met, managers build commitment and loyalty and thus, cause a positive contribution from each member of the organisation. This in turn, lowers the cost for recruitment and training. Satisfied employees provide inputs for creativity for new shows. If they perform excellently they can bring more possibilities in creating new and spectacular acts. Hence, better shows can be offered. As a result more tickets can be sold for high prices which lead to high turnover and profits. Furthermore, new target groups can be tapped into by attracting those who  are watching the shows for the first time out of curiosity. By giving the audience unique experiences of its shows, Cirque may receive frequent and repeated business. As a result, and similar to the effect that employees have on the organisation, the audience brings the organisation turnover and profit due to high ticket sales. (Kim, 2005: 15) The government supports the organisation. One example can be given from 1985 where Cirque du Soleil was in debt. The Quebec government granted funds to the organisation to sustain their business which brought the organisation slowly back into a stable condition. (Pawar, 2007: 4) Due to long-term relationships to suppliers, the stakeholders build trust after a long collaboration. As a result, the stakeholder supports the organisation with lower and better prices. Concerning investors, they support Cirque du Soleil with projects for example. Therefore, Cirque du Soleil has lower financing costs and has a better financial reputation and position. Cirque du Soleil attracts investors and thus, they have a financial backup. (TheStar, 2008) Through the community, Cirque du Soleil achieves a reputation e.g. by giving tickets to charitable organisations. Having a positive impact on the greater community and society in general can help Cirque boost their ticket sales. (Pawar, 2007: 9) Corporate social responsibility became important where companies take responsibility towards community and environment and operate in social and ecological aspects. As a result, the organisation may increase customer retention, enhance relationships (customer, supplier) and differentiate from competitors. (Sims, 2003: 43-44) 1.3.Serving stakeholders’ interests through superior financial performance Good financial performance of Cirque enables the organisation to better serve the stakeholders in more ways than simply revenues and profit. As a consequence of superior financial performance, a further aspect is important to how Cirque du Soleil satisfies their stakeholders. Due to the high  turnover and profit in business, better shows are offered where the expenditure is spent on modern technology or venues. Suppliers are charged with new tasks and build trust. Besides, the bigger the company size, the bigger the orders because the company may have the ability to manage the delivery. Hence, the studios get seller’s attention. (Hollensen, 2005: 296-297) Additionally, better training can be provided for employees in circus school and career transition program support artists when they step out of the organisation. Furthermore, Cirque du Soleil offers their employees health benefits like medical plan and travel benefits due to shows in different countries. (Cirque du Soleil, 2012) Communities can be provided with new projects beside environment issues like environmental pollution. According to Cirque du Mond Cirque du Soleil can provide new projects. So besides Africa and Australia they could also operate in Asia. (Cirque du Soleil) 2.Operational innovations at Ciruqe du Soleil Operational innovation is about creating new ways in business e.g. in new projects or providing customer service to achieve success. Consequently, success is not only based on the working performance of a company. (Hammer, 2004) 2.1.Operational innovations & the unique Cirque experience Cirque du Soleil distinguishes themselves from traditional circuses by eliminating and adding factors. (Kim, 2005: 36) Eliminate Star performance Animal shows Aisle concession sales Multiple show arenas 3 ringsRaise Unique venue + Touring location Reduce Fun and humour Thrill and dangerCreate Theme + Multiple shows Refines environment Multiple productions Artistic music and dance Music first than shows Production e.g. film, TV, retail, corporate shows Unique combination of performing act Table 1 Eliminate- Reduce- Raise- Create Grid (Source by Kim, 2005: supplemented by author) Furthermore, it is said that less successful companies followed usual strategic logic and successful companies used value innovation. Value innovation differs from the basic strategy and does not focus on rivals. It focuses more on the values customers have in common and new processes. (Kim, 1998: 25-26) Moreover, by eliminating certain elements, costs can be reduced e.g. by reducing advertising because value innovation causes word-of-mouth. Thus, a part of differentiation is also value at a lower cost. (Kim, 1998: 28-30) As illustrated below (see Figure 1), the key factors for the value curve are focus, divergence and a compelling tagline to achieve and exceed the value for both buyers and the organisation which Cirque du Soleil manages to do. Evidently, it is shown in Strategy Canvas that Cirque du Soleil differs from other competitors. The Circus Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Value Curves are similar to a traditional circus and Cirque du Soleil is the total opposite of it thr ough alternatives with new factors. (Kim, 2005: 37-41) Proceeding on the assumption, the operational innovation leads to value innovation and as a result, those unique strategies such as new concepts and process create unique experiences. (Waltz, 2003: 86) For example they attract audiences with lighting effects, original music and new and appealing costumes. (Pawar, 2007: 4) In general, a mature industry has a greater chance of success and rewards than industries which appear profitable because mature industries have a  greater creativity in business and higher level of innovation. Customers are especially attracted by the creativity of industries which can cause unique experiences. These industries are also difficult to compete because of the market niche they create. (Baden- Fuller, 1992: 18) These criteria fit Cirque du Soleil’s business model and is carried out by its Blue Ocean strategy in which the organisation builds a new and uncontested market which made the competition irrelevant due to creative innovations. (Kim, 2005: 4&18) 2.2.The influence of operational innovations on the financial dynamics of Cirque du Soleil Financial dynamics reflect results of an organisation’s decisions which are important for the cash flow. Increasing the productivity means not reducing costs. Nevertheless, it creates options which may lead to turnovers. The effect of increasing output or input may enhance profit for the business. (Yu- Lee, 2002: 136&138) In general the circus industry comprises high costs and most of the circuses incur increasing costs without rising revenues. (Kim, 2005: 13) Based on the innovation in 2.1 the author identifies the reducing cost and the turnover due to the organisation’s elimination and addition of elements which lead to profit. 2.2.1.Turnover Cirque du Soleil has various factors which attract customers and leads to turnover. For example, they have unique venues with comfortable seats instead of hard benches like in traditional circus. (Kim, 2005: 15) Cirque du Soleil started to perform in different continents like Asia and Europe and people all over the world have the chance to take part in the events. Moreover, the organisation creates themes which have impressive storylines and multiple shows with new acts. Additionally, artistic dance and music make it more unique. A special feature of the shows is how they create music first and then adapt the acts to the music. All in all, the unique entertainment created a new form of entertainment and combined circus art with theatre and ballet. (Pawar, 2007: 3-6) This generates turnover because creativity causes a great ambience and introduces an intellectual element into the shows which impress audiences and increase demand. (Kim, 2005: 15) In general, Cirque’s shows are sold out or well frequented with occupancy of  85-95%. (Williamson, 2004: 931) By other ventures like audio, videos, t-shirts and masks Cirque can increase their revenue. (Pawar, 2007: 3) In addition, less than 10% of revenues come from concessions at shows. Nothing is sold inside the tent and also not during performances. Therefore, Cirque du Soleil offers VIP packages which include food in a separate tent. Hence, the customer can get better beverages for a higher price. (Williamson, 2004: 931) 2.2.2.Reducing Cost Reducing costs are achieved by significantly eliminating elements. By eliminating circus animals reduce one of the most expensive expenditures. This consists of training, insurance, medical care and transportation, and transportation expenses are especially costly because Cirque du Soleil tours around the world. Moreover, star performances in traditional circuses are expensive and Cirque does not include these performers in its programs. Instead of three-ring venues Cirque reduces it into one which reduces e.g. the effort of decoration costs. (Kim, 2005: 14) Besides touring shows they have permanent shows which take place in Las Vegas, Orlando and Walt Disney World. (Pawar, 2007: 3) 2.2.3.Profit In terms of profit, operational innovations develop improvement for better market performance. It enables Strategic, Marketplace and Operational benefits. (Hammer, 2004) The results of Cirque du Soleil’s innovations can be gathered from â€Å"A Powerful Weapon† (see appendix: table 2). Applicable to Cirque du Soleil, they achieved strategic benefits which lead to higher customer retention, ability to execute strategies and to enter new markets due to their new entertainment business. Their marketplace benefits are based on greater customer satisfaction, differentiated offerings and stronger relationships due to offering unique experiences. Operational benefits are acquired with lower direct costs and more added values. 3.Cirque du Soleil’s corporate mission The corporate mission is an element of the organisation’s business plan. It is a function for the strategic planning which gives a specific direction to the business process. Therefore, the organisation has a purpose and business principles to form the firm’s identity. (Bierce, 2004: 592) 3.1.Components  of the corporate mission The corporate mission consists of three elements. First of all, in organisational beliefs the members have the same strategic beliefs and share a common understanding which makes decision making easier in business processes. It results in a more confident and driven group. (Bierce, 2004: 592) Secondly, the organisational values guide the actions in a business and are an integral part of the company but each person has her own value in what they believe to be good. Therefore, by sharing common values e.g. in ethical behaviour or worthwhile activities, reaching aims can be supported. Lastly, an organisation has a specific business definition which creates a direction for the organisation to follow and thereby attain success. Through this guideline, members focus on opportunities and efforts to expand their business. (Bierce, 2004: 593) 3.1.1.Business definition According to the mission, Cirque du Soleil places high importance on artistic performances and creative productions. (Cirque du Soleil, 2012) Based on the research of the author, their mission is not a precise business definition of Cirque du Soleil because there is no clear direction how they want to develop. For example, they do not define themselves as a traditional circus. Not having a business definition points to a weakness in the organisation. On the other hand, not having a definition is a strength because there is no other organisation which is similar with Cirque du Soleil’s business (exemplified in 2.1.). 3.1.2.Organisational purpose Cirque du Soleil’s purpose â€Å"[..] is to invoke the imagination, to provoke the senses and to evoke the emotions of people around the world.† (Cirque du Soleil, 2012) The organisation is trying to do everything to impress their customers but to fulfil their needs they do not use market research for their shows. By following trends the organisation will lose their unique presence. Instead, the organisation’s culture is to create new shows to update previous shows. (Pawar, 2007:8-9) 3.1.3.Organisational beliefs Cirque du Soleil is breaking the market boundaries of circus and theatre (Kim, 2005: 14) which points to a new form of live entertainment with a  combination of circus art, ballet and theatre. (Pawar, 2007: 3) Coherent with this finding, the non-existent business definition is contradictory because it is said that Cirque du Soleil tried from the beginning to differentiate itself from the traditional circus in business perspectives. (Pawar, 2007: 6-7) Moreover, to achieve this belief by breaking market boundaries, innovations enabled steps to be taken in a specific direction. 3.1.4.Organisational values The value of this organisation is to keep their creativity in business and try to exceed their limits. In addition, the organisation tries to empower its people and promote the youth. Furthermore, every member of the organisation respects every contribution of one person. (Cirque du Soleil, 2012) 3.2.Mission function & statement The mission functions devote strategic measures for the future and thus, represent the purpose of a unit. Moreover, a mission statement defines customers, products and services. (Entrepreneur Media, 2012) 3.2.1.The future development of the business & mission of Cirque du Soleil For the future, Cirque du Soleil is planning to build more entertainment complexes in major cities like Sydney, London and New York. The complexes would include art galleries, nightclubs and restaurants for people to dine. In addition, Cirque wants to include hotels in which artists perform in the waiting area and clowns are doing the room services. (Pawar, 2007: 10) Based on the mission of Cirque du Soleil, the author analyses the factors of mission. The aforementioned organisational values are definite such as the purpose has a clear understanding of what the organisation wants to offer their customer. In contrast to the business definition, there is an indistinct clarification. In particular, Cirque’s intentions for the future blur the business identity and make it even more vague than it already is. A suggestion would be to take preference and choose between the hospitality or entertainment industry and commit resources accordingly. Thus, they can also assure stakeholders of what specific business they are partaking in and the stakeholders have a clear understanding what purpose the organisation is. 3.2.2.Renewed mission statement To modify the mission statement the author extracts parts of the exciting mission of Cirque du Soleil (see appendix: Figure 2) and adds purposes: â€Å"Cirque du Soleil is an international organization and puts a high value on creation, production and performance of artistic work which will impress the audience to evoke the emotions. The organisation will torch people over the world with unique experiences of their performance which differentiate from other entertainment. â€Å" In the modified mission, value on creativity like production will be retained because it highlights the features of Cirque’s business. Furthermore, members of the organisation have a clearer understanding of their aim or purpose. Moreover, Cirque du Soleil should expand in more countries so that everyone, even people in developing countries, can take part in the unique experiences. Cirque could design smaller shows because the usual tickets are expensive. The mission clearly states that they differentiate from others and still hold their accurate business in the background. In summary, audiences might show a continued curiosity with promises. Strategic BenefitsïÆ'ËœHigher customer retention Greater market share Ability to execute strategies Ability to enter new markets Marketplace benefitsïÆ'ËœLower prices Greater customer satisfaction Differentiated offerings Stronger customer relationship Greater agility Operational benefitsïÆ'ËœLower direct costs Better use of assets Faster cycle time Increased accuracy Greater customization or precision More added value Simplifies processes Table 2 A Powerful Weapon (Source: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, 2004) â€Å"Cirque du Soleil is an international organization founded in Quebec dedicated to the creation, production and performance of artistic works whose mission is to invoke the imagination, to provoke the sense and to evoke the emotions of people around the world.† Figure 2 Mission (Source: Cirque du Soleil 2012, online) Bibliography Baden- Fuller, C. (1992). Rejuvenating the Mature Business: The Competitive Challenge. Routledge Bierce, A. (2004). Strategy: Process, Content, Context. Cengage Learning Emea Hollensen, S. (2010). Marketing Management- A Relaitionship Approach 2nd ed. Pearson Education Limited Kim, C. (2005). Blue Ocean Strategy. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation Kim, C. (1998). Harvard Business Review on Strategies for Growth. Harvard Business School Publishing Corportation Manowong, E. ( 2010). Construction Stakeholder Management. Blackwell Publishing Ltd Mullins, L. (2007). Management and organisational behaviour 7th ed. Prentice Hall Pawar, M. (2007). Innovation at Cirque du Soleil. ICMR Center for Management Research Sims, R. (2003). Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility: Why Giants Fall Waltz, E. (2003). Knowledge Management in the Intelligence Enterprise. Artech House Inc. Williamson, M. (2004). Strategy: Process, Content, Context. Cengage Learning Emea Yu- Lee, R. (2002). Es sentials of Capacity Management. John Wiley & Sons Online Resource Hammer, M. (2004): Deep Change: How Operational Innovation Can Transform Your Company. Online: URL: http://hbr.org/2004/04/deep-change-how-operational-innovation-can-transform-your-company/ar/1 [25th June 2012] Cirque due Soleil (2012): Mission, Goal and Values. Online: URL: http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/about/global-citizenship/introduction/mission.aspx [26th June 2012] Cirque du Soleil (2012): Career Transition.Online: URL: http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/jobs/casting/work/career-transition.aspx [26th June 2012] Cirque du Soleil (2012): Social Circus. Online : URL : http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/about/global-citizenship/default.aspx [26th June 2012] Canadian Heritage (2010): Government of Canada and Cirque du Soleil Announce Canada’s Cultural Program for Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Online: URL: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Government-Canada-Cirque-du-Soleil-Announce-Canadas-Cultural-Program-Expo-2010-Shanghai-1100427.htm [26th June 2012] Entrepreneur Media (2012). Online: URL: http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/term/82494.html [1st July 2012] The Star (2008). Dubai firms buy 20% of Cirque du Soleil. Online : URL : http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/473172–dubai-firms-buy-20-of-cirque-du-soleil [4th July 2012]

Comparison Between Erec and Enide and Don Quixote Essay

The famous Spanish novel, Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote is a parody for epic. It mimics traditional epic in a funny way so as to destroy the conventional expectation behind this serious genre. Therefore, its plot structure can be compared with Chretien de Troyes’ Erec and Enide ,a classic romance epic in Late Middle Ages. In Erec and Enide, the value of chivalry, courtly love and guest and host relationship may be found in this work. Speaking of chivalry, it starts from Erec’s adequate qualities of knighthood: handsome, valiant, noble, young and wealthy. He is qualified as a knight perfectly in appearance, social position and personality. Thereafter, Erec goes through two adventures. In the first one, he experiences a dishonored event, humiliated by a dwarf, the knight named Yder’s servant, and he fights and gains his honor back. In this combat, the dwarf’s physical imperfect may suggest his mental shortage, since he didn’t go hunting as other knights do, but he chose to accompany the queen with casual dress. This behavior and his lack of equipment may indicate that he may not fulfill his obligation of chivalry well. Therefore, the retribution means not only for the return for his honor but for the correction for his uncourtly behavior. After that, Erec becomes so attached to his wife , Enide, that he quits hunting with other knights. Afterwards, he goes on to the second journey. In the second one, he encountered a giant, Guivret, who symbolizes his overacting of courtesy. Guivret is also defeated, showing that Erec has corrected his behavior of overdoing. These two adventures tell that chivalry should be followed neither lacking nor exceeding. When it comes to courtly love, it may be shown from the relationship between Erec and the queen. At the beginning of the story, Erec’s undressing and his accompany with the queen may suppose his unusual relationship with her. When he triumphs over Yder, he commands Yder to go back to the queen to honor her. Since Erec can’t make this love toward her be revealed for the difference of social status, he puts this love into his heart and reveals it in this way. As for the relationship between guest and host, Erec meets the father of Enide and he shows his hospitality to Erec, and he in the end was rewarded for honor and wealth. Although Don Quixote has similar structure, its context reverses audience’s expectation of traditional epic and makes fun of it. First, speaking of chivalry, Don Quixote’s appearance may not be adequate: he is an old and lean person with a meager face. Besides, he is praised by getting up early; apparently it is not a description for a good knight. Cervantes makes Don Quixote funny by these portrayals. Later, he has several adventures, and in one of them he encounters the Biscayan, a servant of the ladies. Don Quixote’s fight with him mimics the combat between knights, and that it ends with Don Quixote’s victory and his request for the Biscayan to beg for mercy in front of his beloved lady, Dulcinea del Toboso. Second, as to courtly love, Don Quixote imagined a farm girl, Aldonza Lorenzo, to be the Princess Dulcinea del Toboso. Even though every time Don Quixote calls her name before he is going to fight, he never talks to her, nor did her know his name. Besides, unlike the noble ladies in traditional chivalry work, Dulcinea is described as â€Å"the best hand of any woman in all La Mancha for salting pigs†. Third, when it comes to the relationship of guest and host, in Don Quixote’s first journey he breaks the law of guest and host. He enters the inn and troubles the landlord to the degree that the landlord wants him to leave without charging him. In conclusion, Cervantes doesn’t only mimic the romantic epic badly for mocking it. He also wants to criticize it by putting a knight to the 17th century. The value of chivalry may differ from the value in 17th century society so much that the originally normal behavior of knights seems ridiculous in people’s eyes from different time.

Rise and Fall of Civilizations During Pre-History to 1500 CE Research Paper

Rise and Fall of Civilizations During Pre-History to 1500 CE - Research Paper Example The current socio-political status-quo is said to be the continuation of the previous political world order. This paper aims to discuss the rise and fall of different civilizations and how the acted as a base to shape the contemporary political practices. The civilizations which have been chosen for the purpose of discussion in the paper are chosen on the basis of their impact on political contribution. Byzantine Empire Contribution to Political Diplomacy: Byzantine Empire was basically a facet of the Roman Empire during middle Ages. Likewise other civilizations, the Byzantine Empire had its own army and societal setup. Byzantine Empire had to face a number of challenges as the demise of the Roman Empire in its initial phase was noted. The era of Byzantine Empire can also be referred to an era of preservation of Roman traditions and values. The employment of diplomacy was concerned as significant in the era of Byzantine Empire. It can be said that most of the modern practices in the political diplomacy are inspired by the Byzantine Empire1. ... on made to the modern political practices of diplomacy, the Byzantine Empire ultimately led to its dissolution in the long run2 Anglo-Saxon Empire Contribution to Democracy: By going through the history of the Anglo-Saxon Empire, it becomes easy to understand that common language and the control of the ancestors on the tradition of a community can create a balance in the community. The political control was bestowed to the ancestors of the civilization as they were considered as the teachers of the forerunners. The Anglo-Saxon Empire is basically referred to the German invaders who invaded British during the 5th century. The contribution of the Anglo-Saxons on the modern political practice was their tradition of following meetings and discussion. This act of discussing any political action is considered as democratic act in the modern time. The political order in the era of Anglo-Saxons was stable and able to meet the needs of its people which ultimately led in increased loyalty from the people. It would not be incorrect to state that Anglo-Saxons could not survive for a very long period of time in Britain because they were divided into groups which fought frequently. The increased fights between these invader groups resulted in the fall of the civilization. Despite the interest of the civilization in maintaining army, Anglo-Saxons lost because of its own armed men3 Ottoman Empire Contribution to Bureaucratic Structures: Among different civilizations, Ottoman Empire is considered to be an Empire which lasted longer than any other Empire in the history. This Empire was also known as Turkish Empire which had its own supremacy in terms of monarch. The political control in the Ottoman Empire was strictly liable to the monarchs. The Empire is also known as a symbol of

Poverty across cultures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Poverty across cultures - Essay Example The monitory need for the basic needs is what falls under the group. Bodily poverty refers to lack of physical health and access to health living condition. Mental poverty is the lack of thinking which affects the access to education and knowledge (Ravallion 368). Cultural poverty refers to the lack of coming together in a society leading to a disconnect between individuals in the society. Political poverty refers to the inability to understand the difference and how political systems work leading to neglect of rights such as the right to vote. The above descriptions illustrate the diverse understanding of poverty in the society (Ravallion 368). Despite the differences, all the definitions refer to lack of access to something that may make life better or easier. Poverty has been used in the society to define the inability to meet basic needs of the society with its effect being adverse in the society. Poverty affects the society at both individual and society levels. The inability to meet the basic needs may force individuals to turn to criminal activities, which in turn create insecurity which becomes as a social problem. Poverty and relationship development Poverty affects mental development, which in turn affects development and relationships. Many believe that poverty is all about money, but the thought is wrong because poverty is complex and covers a myriad of issues that affect personality and in turn affect the society. Under mental reasoning, poverty is defined as a chronic mind/body condition influenced and propagated by negative thinking. The situation is made worse if the situation involves other types of poverty affecting other spheres of health. Children brought up in poverty stricken family exhibit different character because of their brain adapt the suboptimal conditions. However, the brain changes every day allowing children from poverty stricken families succeed in life. From research carried out by Jerry, the cognitive development of children is affected by poverty. Children from poverty develop impaired exposure to critical enrichment factors. The situation is same in adulthood as witnessed in the story narrated by Gorge Orwell in the Down and out from Paris to London. The main character in the story argues that why should one waste sleep because of the murder? (Orwell 67). The statement illustrates the lack of societal values in the society. The main focus of the whole incident is on how sleep is valuable than the murder witnessed. Such reasoning indicates the effect of poverty in the development of values in life. Amazing comment of the narrator is on being back to sleep within three minutes. The generalization to justify the action by stating that they are working people, and there is no need to waste sleep on such issue is a consolation argument. The development of relationship with the society is evident by how the narrator reacts on the witnessed murder case (Orwell 234). Poverty affects the values of the individu al by influencing the values esteemed. These values affect personal relationship development. According to Jerry, parent from poverty use different vocabulary every day, but the number and complexity of the vocabulary used are few and less complicated compared to families with greater income. The success of the argument can be supported by the level of vocabulary used by the narrator in describing situations encountered in life. The effect of pover

Douglas Holt - how brands become icons Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Douglas Holt - how brands become icons - Essay Example Followers are the consumers who value a brand the most. Next are insiders who are somewhat critical to a brand. The author has linked the success of a brand with the cultural understanding of consumers while discussing the theory for the development of iconic brands. Douglas Holt has given some valuable suggestions for development of the branding strategy. The suggestions are based on the in-depth study of the historical records of some key iconic brands, such as, Harley-Davidson, BMW, and Coca Cola. One of the main points that Holt has raised in the book is that brands do not become icons by focusing only on the benefits and functions; rather the more important thing in this regard is to create a valuable place for the brand in the national culture. The author has come up with a new branding model named ‘cultural branding’. Cultural branding is a phenomenon that is applicable to a range of categories in which consumers adopt the use of products as things which can expre ss their identities. Some prime examples of cultural branding are also discussed in the book that can be used to express consumer identity. Some of the main examples include famous places, politicians, musicians, cartoon characters, famous heroes and heroines, and sports stars. Apart from this, the author has asserted that companies need to follow hybrid strategies to create iconic brands, such as, Apple, Harley, and Coke. The author has given example of BMW, which is a renowned automobile company, by saying that the company focuses on cultural branding along with a conventional focus on quality reputation in order to remain on top. The author has given example of Budweiser advertising in the initial chapters to show the role of advertising and marketing in creating iconic brands. Advertising is the key to success of a product in any particular market. If a company succeeds in creating a positive image about its products in the mind of consumers, the ways towards forming an iconic b rand becomes easier. To make a product an important part of the popular culture, companies need to develop and follow such marketing and advertising strategies that can set a high place for the brands in any particular society or culture. In the book, the author has proposed three key principles that validate the creation of an iconic brand. The first principle given by the author is that iconic brands are those which are able to deal with the severe contradictions in society. Iconic brands go beyond the functional benefits by grouping the collective desires of people of the society. Next principle is that iconic brands inject a sense of independence and strength in the mind of consumers. Such words are used in the ads that make a person escape from the realities of life. The last principle is that iconic brands work as status symbols for people. For example, a person owning a BMW car and wearing a Rolex watch is assumed top be a successful person in the society and that perception is usually same all over the world. These are the principles that are mentioned in the book by Douglas Holt that confirm the value of a brand as an iconic brand. The author has used the case studies of some of the most famous iconic brands to support the proposed principles regarding development of iconic brands. The main point raised in the book is that cultural understanding is the factor that plays the most vital role in building an iconic brand. Moreover, it is also

Does Having a Strong Defense Make you an NBA Playoff Teams Essay

Does Having a Strong Defense Make you an NBA Playoff Teams - Essay Example Data have been obtained from the website, EPSN.com (http://espn.go.com/nba/standings/_/year/2010). According to this paper, a strong defense is equated to registering lower scores against for the respective teams, while entering the NBA playoffs is measured based on the percentage of wins registered by a team. For the purposes of this research, it will be assumed that a team qualifying for the play is supposed to win at least 60% of its games. However, this assumption will only be used for the purpose of developing descriptive statistics to use in this research. The descriptive statistics in relation to the percentage of wins registered by the respective teams are provided below. Although the table provides descriptive statistics for both variables, this section will focus on the variables relating to percentage of wins registered by the respective teams. This is considered a key determinant of any team that managed to make the playoffs. See the table below for the descriptive stat istics on this matter. Descriptive statistics N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Dev. Variance Skewness Statistic Statistic Statistic Statistic Statistic Statistic Statistic Std. ... Considering that the results used in this study came from one season, they cannot be conclusively said to represent all seasons. For this reason, a t-test is performed to evaluate the results of a larger sample at various confidence intervals. One-Sample Test (95% confidence) Test Value = 0 t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Percentage wins by the teams 17.046 29 .000 .50000 .4400 .5600 From the table above, at a 95% confidence level, the average percentage of wins is expected to be within .4400 and .5600. One-Sample Test Test Value = 0 t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference 90% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Percentage wins by the teams 17.046 29 .000 .50000 .4502 .5498 At a 90% confidence level, it is expected that the mean will be within the range of .4502 to .5498. One-Sample Test Test Value = 0 t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference 99.9% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Percentage wins by the teams 17.046 29 .000 .50000 .3927 .6073 At a 99.9% confidence level, it is expected that the mean will be located between .3927 and .6073. One-Sample Test Test Value = 0 t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference 99% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Percentage wins by the teams 17.046 29 .000 .50000 .4191 .5809 At a 99% confidence level, it is expected that the mean will fall within .4191 and .5809 Testing hypothesis At the hypothesis stage, it was presumed that teams that made the playoffs recorded at least a winning percentage of 60% within a season. The hypotheses described below are therefore based on this assumption. These include:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   H0: 40     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   H1: 40   The test for this hypothesis is based on 30 teams. According to the findings, the mean

Alternative Energy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Alternative Energy - Essay Example Proven Alternative Energy Sources Several kinds of renewable and clean sources of energy such as wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, biomass energy are now available. Each alternative source has its own characteristic importance depending upon geographical possibilities for its production. It will be most appropriate to delve deeper into each one of these sources. Wind Energy Wind energy is available mostly at the coastal regions where wind velocity is higher. Kinetic energy of the wind is tapped using wind turbines and converted into mechanical or electrical energy. Mechanical energy can be used to produce either electricity or can be used directly to run wind mill. For an efficient use of wind turbines, wind velocity of 11 meters per second or higher is desirable. Wind velocity mapping is necessary while selecting a site for installation of a wind turbine because higher wind speeds will provide higher kilowatts of electricity (Renewable energy sources in the United States, 2011). Solar Energy Solar radiation provides continuous flow of clean and renewable energy and in that sense Sun is the most potential alternative source of energy that can always be relied upon. Earth's existence is linked with Sun. Thus, here is the source of energy that can never get exhausted at least theoretically. Though technologies are rapidly advancing to tap this source of energy yet certain impediments such as cost and space do pose certain difficulties. The state of California leads in solar power installations in the US. World over, many countries particularly those with strong solar radiations have been investing heavily in solar photovoltaic cells to harness this source of energy (Renewable energy sources in the United States, 2011). Hydropower This is a clean and renewable alternative source of energy which can be banked upon. Almost 7 percent of the total electricity produced in the US comes from hydropower sources. The Colorado River and the Tennessee Valley are the potential sources of hydropower production (Renewable energy sources in the United States, 2011). Large and small dams are the places to install turbines where the potential energy of water is used to produce electricity. As per the World Bank report, hydropower currently meets almost 18 percent of the total world electricity needs. Hydropower is considered the most affordable renewable energy source among all available energy sources (Hydropower 2012). Geothermal Energy When Earth's heat is tapped to produce electricity, it is known as geothermal source of energy. Temperature inside our earth remains more or less constant throughout the year. This energy is tapped using various technologies such as heat pumps, direct-use systems, and deep reservoirs. The heat is recovered from water or steam and converted into electricity. Many residential and commercial buildings are heated using heat pumps. Utah, Hawaii, California, Nevada are some of the places where geothermal energy plants are in operat ions (Renewable energy sources in the United States, 2011). Biomass Power or Biopower Food crops, organic municipal wastes, grassy and woody plants and farm residues are used to produce electricity and that falls in this category. Plant sources are used as major feedstock to produce Biopower and because they are available everywhere, Biomass power can be produced in any part of the world.

American Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

American Economics - Essay Example It was easily understandable that the situation had worsened far beyond immediate recovery. During this time, the concept of 'free market' prevailed. This idea suggested that the market would effectively balance itself the business could run smoothly without any government intervention. With this belief the government of President Hoover did not take any action believing the market would attain balance soon by itself and prosperity would return. It was assumed that once public regained confidence, business would begin and economy restored; but the business would not resume as there was surplus in the market that was unsold. Later, the government attempted to minimize state spending and increase taxes which in turn reduced the liquid money from market and worsened the situation. Attempts were made later to make this loss good by providing loans to banks in order to pump in money in market by offering relief work, providing loans to industries and expanding public works. No assistance in terms federal help was not provided and the government promoted 'self help' groups to promote self reliance. Decline in world trade and imports reduced because of an increase in import tariff. As an effect, exports also reduced considerably further weakening the state economy. With the onset of President Franklin Roosevelt's government, the

Chromatic Aberration in a Lens Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chromatic Aberration in a Lens - Essay Example This difference between an image formed by a lens and the object in terms of shape, size, color etc. is known as aberration. Now aberration is of two types-monochromatic aberration and chromatic aberration. To understand chromatic aberration the author concentrates on a prism first. A prism splits white light into its seven constituent colors. While violet light suffers maximum deviation and deviates towards the base of the prism while red color suffers the minimum deviation. The refracting angle of a prism is greatest at its center and reduces towards the sides. When white light is incident on the prism, each light is deviated at a different angle and thus they focus at different points on the principal axis. This results in the formation of a blurred and colored image. This defect in image formation is termed as chromatic aberration. Now, a lens is considered to be made up of a number of prisms and hence this prismatic phenomenon of chromatic aberration when shown by the lens is kn own as chromatic aberration in a lens.  Consider a convex lens on which a beam of white light is incident. Dispersion takes place and the white light is split up into its constituent colors and each of the colors is focused at different positions on the axis. This gives a blurry image. A concave lens also shows a similar phenomenon and forms an unclear image. Chromatic aberration in a lens is again of two types-longitudinal and lateral. Longitudinal aberration is the difference between the focal lengths of violet and red color.

Leadership Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 12

Leadership - Assignment Example Leadership style: Consultative. This is a problem that is long overdue. In other words, it needs a very effective and promising solution. Being unsure about a solution needs further consultation from highly capable followers who possess expertise to assist you in making decisions. Leadership style: Participative. Although it is important to synchronize the working hours, I need to realize that my followers are very capable and love making decisions. If I insist my decision to impose 8 working hours, they might feel different about it and it may affect their performance at work. Seen this way, it is better to ask them what would be the best solution to the problem and consider all their opinions. That way, they would feel that their inputs are valued and at the end of the day, whatever decisions we may come up to, everyone is willing to follow it without compromising productivity. Leadership style: Consultative. As a leader, I am more aware of the working attitudes of my followers. Since I have plenty of time to decide, I can spend some of that time in gathering inputs from my followers since they are the ones who will directly be affected by my decision. Leadership style: Autocratic. The success of the change relies on me. In other words, my decision is very critical. Considering that my followers are not interested in making routine decisions, I have to be the assertive decision-maker in the team. Leadership style: Autocratic. Looking at the situation, it is clear that it comes with time pressure. There is no sufficient time to discuss the situation with your followers since an immediate decision is needed. I think that autocratic leadership would salvage the job since my followers are both capable and cooperative anyway. Leadership style: Empowerment. This is a difficult case since you are dealing with work and emotions. Hence, it is best to provide a neutralizing factor that will not compromise the top management’s decision, at

Critical Analysis of Traditional and Agile Project Management Essay Example for Free

Critical Analysis of Traditional and Agile Project Management Essay INTRODUCTION Project is an effort taken to build something unique within a specific period. (PMBOK, 2004: 20). This means that a project has a starting and an ending which has to be completed within the specified time. For a project to be completed within time limit and with little or no flaws, a plan has to be put in place so as to get a desired result. Project planning is the determination of the progress of a project to be carried out in a serial manner. (Successful Project Management, 2011: 57). Project planning is very essential in managing a project and will be discussed in detail specifically in traditional and agile project management which is the two major project management approaches. Critical analysis of these two approaches in respect to project planning will be given. That is treating the necessary processes in planning a project. Tools, techniques, and project lifecycle models used in project management will be explored. See more: how to write an analysis OVERVIEW Traditional project management TPM is a set of technique and tools that can be applied to an activity that seeks an end product, outcomes or service. This is a well taught out planning process which has a very strict control method that makes distinguishable stages in a project life cycle (hass, 2007). Requirement such as scope, cost and time are determined upfront, followed plans are also well laid out and once laid out, it cannot be modified. Due to this, life cycles are easily recognizable. Task are completed one after another once completed, it cannot be revisited. In TPM, a lot of importance is attached  to documentation of business needs thereby stakeholders needs are already known (Leybourne, 2009). TPM is based on the fact that situations surrounding project and activities are predictable and manageable (Hass 2007, Yusuf et al 1999). TPM views each project level as a separate process whose outcome or completion has an effect on how and when subsequent levels begin (caddle and Yeates 2008; Thonsett 2012). According to Larman (2004), a well thought out rule on project team members’ responsibilities are determined at the planning phase. This makes team members accountable for the project which ensures control (Saladis and Kezner, 2009). Examples of traditional models are: 1. PRINCE2 2. Waterfall 3. Event chain 4. CA-PPM. Agile project management APM is all about incremental iteration, adaptability, agility and collaboration (Scuh, 2005; Larman, 2004). It takes individual and iteration contribution over process and tools. It lays emphasis on short cycles of structure which happen at different levels and also emphasis on feedback (Hass, 2007). All plans are revisited to get certainty of delivery. APM sees the project as product increment. Due to its lack of structure, it requires a considerable amount of discipline and coordination. APM allows project scope to change rapidly and frequently which is done by constant communication with project stakeholders. APM teams consist of skilled members fully dedicated to the project and are co-located (Hass, 2007; Wysocki). The whole idea of what APM is all about is based on the agile manifesto. It was put forward by Martin Fowler and Jim Highsmith (wysocki,). Its content are given below: â€Å"We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items  on the left more.† Types of agile project management approaches are as follows: 1. Agile Unified Process (AUP) 2. Scrum 3. Lean Software Development 4. Extreme Programming (XP) 5. Dynamic Systems Development Method 6. Feature Driven Development Scope Planning Scope planning is a process that describes and documents the boundaries of a project and project expectation. TPM is a rigid approach that gives no room to change once the scope plan has been created. Plans are made to prevent change in project scope. It focuses on developing all parts of the scope first. Documentation is very detailed trying to encompass the whole requirement. The project scope statement consists of the objective and boundaries of the project and also product specification. Work breakdown structure is then created. In TPM, steps are taken that the team sticks to the scope of the project. Scope planning in APM is a high-level activity because little is known of the solution. Change is a key part of APM, making the scope very flexible. The scope is constantly redefined due to the series of iterations. Ideas could be added at stage of the project. Documentations is present but not as detailed as in TPM. APM focuses on developing the most important part of the scope first and then proceed to the next. Human Resource Planning In TPM, team is usually large in number and consists of various levels of skilled members. The teams are very organized. The teams don’t make decisions on their own without the approval of senior managers. APM team members are proficient and are highly skilled, they are collocated in order to handle changes in project scope and also performance, communication and more so, interrelation. APM consists of small team, members are mostly between five and nine, and they also are highly productive. Agile teams are self-organizing and disciplined (Hewson, 2006). Agile teams are basically  independent. Risk Planning TPM assumes that there will be risk in the project. This is put into consideration at the planning of the project and measures are put in place to handle it. Projects in APM are volatile and very unstable because the solutions are not known. Every iteration cycle comes with its own risks. These risks are expected and are handled sequentially when it arises during project (Owen et al, 2006). Proponents of agile approach argue that dealing with real risk is better than preparing for unknown risk (Schuh, 2005). Quality Quality in agile is often determined by the regular feedback and acknowledgement of the customer’s view of the quality of the product. Time planning: In traditional approach, time estimation is dependent on the amount of tasks to be executed. Time estimation is done right after the WBS is created. Effort is made in other to complete the project within the required time (Hass, 2007). In agile approach, time estimation is based on features. The numbers of features to be developed determine the amount of time that will be used. Scheduling and workflow are also closely aligned. Management style: In TPM, the project manager is responsible solely for the planning and allocation of responsibilities (Kerzner, 2003). Traditional project managers focus more on the schedule, scope and budget (Fernandez and Fernandez, 2009). In APM, the project manager works in collaboration with the team (Hass, 2007). Agile managers focus more on the business value and deliverables (Fernandez and Fernandez, 2009). Cost management: Agile projects should be based on either a cost-reimbursable system, or the client accepts scope is a variable based on achieving the maximum improvement possible for a pre-set budget. This is a totally different philosophy to traditional project governance. Tools, Technique, models, and Project Lifecycle Models There are numerous tool and technique that can be utilized in the course of planning a project which include: Gantt chart is a graphical representation for scheduling the execution of various project activities. It can be used to make an approximation of time required to complete the  project. Brainstorming involves the assembling of idea by a group of people in order to solve problem and to arrive at a conclusion. It is essential in development of new ideas. Work breakdown structure (WBS) is the breaking down of project into smaller more manageable pieces in a hierarchical order. Each level in WBS is a smaller piece of the level above. Fishbone diagram is also known as cause-and-effect diagram. It is used to check the cause of a specific event. They also help during the collating and analyzing factors phase of project planning. Critical Path Method involves dealing with activities that has to be completed in order for other activities to be completed. It helps in the sequencing and correlating of interdependent processes. PERT Chart is a representation that shows the task to be performed serially in a graphical form. It helps to focus more on the most critical part of the project in order to reduce constriction. Project Charter is a document that formally authorizes a project statement. It contains project justification, business needs and so on. . (PMBOK, 2004) Scope Statement ensures that only the required work is done. That is work is not done out of scope of the project. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) WBS is a deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be done by the project team, to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables. WBS is a tool which focuses on how a project work should be done. It breaks down the work to be done into smaller sections that can be managed by the project team, each section give details of the project work as such giving team understanding of what do(Biafore, 2011). WBS can be depicted as an outline or a diagram (Biafore, 2011). The number of levels present in a WBS should be reasonable as this is determined by how voluminous and complex the project is. WBS helps in d identification of task, brings to light what d project entails and a lot of other tools depend on WBS. It also allows stakeholders have an understanding of the scope of the project (Biafore, 2011). PERT Chart (Project Evaluation and Review Technique) It is visual illustration of a project plan task. It document important or critical phases of a project. It helps to identify critical processes and  the time that the process will end. It can also help in the documentation of a project. It helps in the organizing and scheduling of interrelated tasks in a complex project (Chinneck, 2009). It does this by using a network description to show parallel relationships between tasks (Chinneck, 2009). It helps in the completion of each task in other of precedence. It is a very important tool for tracking project activities and milestones. PERT enables the project team to handle task in order of importance. It also deal with uncertainty in process completion dates and determines activities start and end dates. Finally, PERT chart can be adjusted at anytime in the duration of the project. Linear Project Management Lifecycle Model This is a simple TPM approach which does not allow for returning to a project which has previously been completed. (Effective : 329). This means that once a phase in a project is completed, there will be no room to do any kind of adjustment. Incremental Project Management Lifecycle Model It is a traditional TPM in which unlike linear. It releases a solution to each phase of the project and it also emphasis on customer value than the linear approach. (Fernandez, Fernandez). Iterative Project Management Lifecycle Model In the iterative PMLC, change is required as it is the important part of the model. It is a learn by doing strategy. (Fernandez, Fernandez). All iteration consists of feedback loop, and it involves more clients and customers than incremental. Adaptive Project Management Lifecycle Model This is a PMLC that almost nothing is known about the solution and almost all of it are designed for software development project. It deals with a high level of uncertainty because little is known of the end product. Extreme Project Management Lifecycle Model In this model, there is no broad knowledge and solution about the project. The level of uncertainty is high and also that of clients too. CONCLUSION After looking at the two approaches, it is seen that both approaches are good  and can work perfectly well depending on the project at hand. TPM due to its detailed planning is the preferred choice for structured project. It is used in large projects that have well understood features and requirements and which involves large teams. Also, TPM is suitable for project that requires little change. APM is the preferred choice for unstructured projects. These kinds of projects have a high level of uncertainty and unpredictability about them. APM unlike TPM involves smaller projects.

The Duty Versus Charity

The Duty Versus Charity In The Drowning Child and the Expanding Circle and Famine, Affluence, and Morality, Peter Singer argued that people in affluent countries have the duty to help people in need in countries suffering from famine and other disasters. Perhaps the strongest argument that he gives for this claim relies on the claim that donation to developing countries is good to do and wrong not to do. Since moral responsibility includes anything that is good to do and wrong not to do, making such donation is moral duty for people in rich nations. In this paper, I will support that this argument stands because donation to developing countries is good to do and wrong not to do. In The Drowning Child and the Expanding Circle (1997), Peter Singer proposed a situation of a drowning child. In a divarication that the drowning child in a shallow pond would die, or one would have made his clothes dirty, and missed his first class if rescued the kids. Peter Singer questioned that if it is our duty to save the child, no matter how far the child is, and is there anyone else nearby. Peter Singer supposed to show the similarity between the drowning child case and the donations to the developing countries. We could all help the people in less fortunate countries to escape from death, at a little cost to ourselves. Even if our donation could not be used effectively to help those needy people, at least we could still support them. He also introduced the expanding circle (1997) theorem, originated from WH Lecky, to link the duty of being a global citizen. The theorem stated that human concern begins with the individual and family, and then includes a class, a nation, a coalition of nations, all humanity and also the animal world in ascending order (1997). Hence, by the theorem, we all have global responsibility as being one of the human beings. With the rapid development of transportation and communication nowadays, it has become our current responsibility to help out the refugees. In todays free-marketing society, how could people achieve global ethic? There is a chance. Many people are psychologically empty, found their lives meaningless at the present day. Ethics did solve the problem. By Peter Singer, An ethical life is one in which we identify ourselves with other, larger, goals, thereby giving meaning to our lives (2007). In other words, live ethically could make our lives meaningful. To have ethical life, we have to free ourselves from prevalent success and self-interest. It does not mean that their relationships are not opposed. It just changes our sense of priorities (Singer, 2007), put something moral significant before anything. In this case, helping the needy people is the ethical action. If everyone could do this, our world would be different from now. In Famine, Affluence, and Morality (1972), Peter Singer revealed that regarding the donation to developing countries as charity is morally wrong. And he suggested the present distinction between duty and charity should be redrawn, based on his argument if it is in our power to prevent something very bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything else morally significant, we ought, morally, to do it(Singer, 1972). However, this modification of moral concept induces some potential objections. The first objection is that it would be driven to extreme if really revising the moral scheme. The prevalent definition of duty is something must be done, while charity is something good to do but not wrong not to do. Anything that is social existence tolerable with respect to certain society (Singer, 1972) is morally correct, and regarded as duty. In other words, something that is beneficial to people outside the society is seen as charity, since the present moral judgment is society-oriented. Nevertheless, Peter Singer disagreed with this argument. What duty and charity are? this question is greatly influenced by the surroundings. Instead, he thought moral actions should be beyond the benefits of ones own society, and duty should also include things that are good but not wrong to do. To achieve his goal, a suitable basic moral code could be set for common human beings. The next objection is against utilitarianism, that it is impossible for us to work all the day to raise the amount of happiness. However, for the present situation in the world, we should work to prevent as much suffering as we can without sacrificing something moral significant. And this just opposes our common moral standards, but not the position of Peter Singer. The reason for people nowadays disagreeing Peter Singers argument is because of self-interest. It makes us unwilling to admit the fact that we have to do everything that we ought to do. In Famine, Affluence, and Morality (1972), Peter Singer has also asserted that if it is in our power to prevent something very bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything else morally significant, we ought, morally, to do it. This assertion implied that our traditional moral categories are upset. It is because our traditional concept makes donation to refugees an act of charity, while Peter Singer thought that we should regard it as duty. Nowadays, we would praise people who contribute money, but not blame someone for not donating properties to non-profitable organizations. If we followed Peter Singers conclusion, the thought of putting self-interest above donation is morally wrong, as it would not be sacrificing anything morally significant. We should not consider donation as an act that is good to do, but not wrong not to do, rather than duty. Hence, he believed that it is the traditional moral conception which makes us falling into the trap, considering donation belon gs to charitable action. In both passages, Peter Singer persuaded us that people in affluent countries have the duty to help people in need in countries suffering from famine and other disasters. I do agree with his conclusion, because I believe this is good to do and wrong not to do. But I want to justify some of his argumentation. His premises and conclusion are as follows: (P1) Suffering and death from lack of food, shelter, and medical care are bad. (P2) If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it. (P3) Donation to needy people is not morally significant. (C) We ought to, morally, prevent people in need from suffering and death from lack of food, shelter, and medical care, by means of donation. The first premise is not a polemical one. It is obvious that suffering and death are not good at all. The point I want to discuss is the second premise. Although I agree with the premise, I am not quite convinced with the analogy between the drowning child case and donations to the developing countries, proposed by Peter Singer. It is because in story of drowning child, wading in and pulling the child out is not the best short-term method. Why we cannot just be a bit clever, using a net to catch the child? This would not make our clothes wet and muddy. Obviously, there are some other short-term methods to save the child. According to utilitarianism, we have to choose actions that could maximize utility, which means the net amount of happiness (Goodin, 1976). Hence, these other measures are better in terms of utility. Nonetheless, donation is our only short-term means to help people in need. I believe it is why some of us may still find that the analogy was weird, as the two cases are not similar at all. To continue our discussion, I would still use the drowning child as the example, since the aims of both cases are the same rescuing people. I am in the same ways as Peter Singer that neither distance nor number of participants does matter on our moral choice to help needy people nowadays. Nowadays, the rapid developments of communication and transportation technology do solve the problem of distance. People who are still considering geographical factor as a barrier is indeed discriminating needy people far away. The number of participants problem is actually a psychological issue. It does nothing on the moral duty. If everyone asked why dont he/she donate first? and shirked ones responsibility, there would have been nobody doing first step and those needy people could just wait to die. This reflects that people are not aware of their moral responsibility, and the consequence is horrible as a result of social unrest. I believe that the third premise, Donation to needy people is not morally significant, is the most controversial one. Money is not important, but without it you could not do anything, this is the global motto at the contemporary age. Capitalism promotes the importance of self-interest, making people believe that consumption of material goods is the living purpose. A lot of people do regard money as one of essential things, ignoring the ethical values. Yet moral importance is beyond our own self-interest. We should believe that giving away money is not scarifying something morally significant, and make donation to those needy people in countries suffering from disasters. But, I want to raise one question: Is that donation is the only most effective way to help people in need in countries suffering from disasters? Although making donation is the most direct and fast means to help them, I believe that assistance with development is the most effective way. As we could not assist needy people forever, the best long-term way for them to escape from poverty is to achieving autarky. All we could do is educating them the proper agricultural techniques and helping them to develop localized infrastructure, together with direct donation. I believe this combination is the best. For people who accept the premises, they should also agree with the conclusion drawn. We may agree that the affluent countries have the duty to help people in need in countries suffering from famine and other disasters. I take Peter Singers point that it belongs to our moral responsibility, and is good to do and wrong not to do. Although we accept the conclusion, some people might still want to shirk their responsibility to the government and the rich people. In fact, the question is defined as should we, who act as individuals, help the needy people. Besides, the amount of donation from our government is independent of that we made. Hence, it is not under our consideration. For the concern of wealthy people, there are actually many rich people giving away their money to help ill-fated citizens in developing countries. For instance, the Giving Pledge (2012) set up by Giving What We Can is a promise by them to contribute part of their property to charitable work. There is no excuse for us not to make donation to the unfortunate nations. Others may have consideration of the effectiveness of those non-profitable organizations. It is undoubted that some of these organizations were not effectiveness in helping needy people, misusing the donation. For example, after SiChuan earthquake, the donated school from Hong Kong government was replaced by a government building. But as time passes, this situation has been improved a lot now. There are some organizations provide track records of the donated money and materials, increasing the transparency. This raises the effectiveness of these non-governmental organizations, and hence its reputation. Even though the conclusion drawn by Peter Singer is correct, somebody may think that the priority of solving population explosion should be higher than that of starvation in developing countries. They believe that by stopping donation to these countries, the global population could be controlled. This is an extremely dangerous idea. Although the problem of population explosion is serious now, we could not risk their lives to solve this problem. The appropriate means of controlling population growth is through sex education, teaching them the useful contraception. But not scarifying their lives. In conclusion, I have argued that donation to developing countries is good to do and wrong not to do even if the problem of population explosion exists, and hence that the strongest of Singers arguments for making donation to developing is moral duty for people in rich nations stands.

George Boole: The Genius Essay -- essays research papers

George Boole: The Genius   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  George Boole was a British mathematician, and he is known as the inventor of Boolean Algebra. His theories combined the concepts of logic and mathematics, and hence he is known as the father of mathematical logic. This combination of mathematics and logic came to be known as Boolean algebra, and is the basis of digital electronic design, which is used in fields ranging from telephone switching to computer engineering. Because of the utilization of the concepts of Boolean algebra in electronics and computers, George Boole is regarded by many as the father of computing also.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  George was born on 2nd November, 1815 in Lincoln, England. His father, John Boole was a shoemaker, and his mother a housewife. John Boole proved to be a great influence in George’s life due to his keen interest in science and mathematics. He shared his passion with his son, and started teaching George at an early age. By the time he was seven, George was deeply in love with mathematics, and used to be lost in the world of mathematics. He acquired a reputation as a child genius, and one day, he was found spelling difficult words for people’s amusement after going missing from school.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  George was from a poor family, and his parents could not afford to pay fees for grammar school, so the child genius ended up going to a small school called Mr. Bainbridge’s Academy. He made fast progress in studies, and was soon assisting teachers in teaching and grading. His exploits weren’t limited to just math and science either; he loved to read and learn, and was very well read in a lot of subjects. His father John also introduced him to literature and Latin, but George soon learned all his father had to offer. After that, John found George a tutor – bookseller William Brooke. Mr. Brooke turned out to be a great asset for George; he gave George access to all the books in his store, and also taught him. Mr. Brooke and George ended up being lifelong friends. However, just knowing Latin was not enough for George. He added Greek to his repertoire, and this was completely self-taught. He also went on to study French, German, and Italian. In Ma y 1930, the local paper published George’s translation of Greek poet Meleager’s work, and this got George his reputation as a boy genius.   Ã‚  &n... .... His wife Mary’s approach to trying to cure him was also one of the primary reasons of his death. She believed in the theory that the cause would also be the cure, so instead of keeping him warm, she regularly drenched him with water in bed, leading to severe complications. Ironically, Mary said she did it because it seemed ‘logical’ to her!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  George’s works considered purely mathematical until the year 1937. In 1937, Claude Shannon, a graduate student at MIT, discovered the connection between electronic circuits and Boolean algebra. This connection is essential to the operation of computers and modern electronics circuits. Computers and circuits utilize Boolean algebra for all their decision making calculations, and without it they would be quite useless.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  George Boole was well ahead of his time with his mathematical theories and the combination of mathematics and logic. His theories are in use today, a century after his time, and will be in use as the basis of one of the most important machines man has ever built. He was a true genius, and his work has gotten him the deserved title of the father of mathematical logic. George Boole: The Genius Essay -- essays research papers George Boole: The Genius   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  George Boole was a British mathematician, and he is known as the inventor of Boolean Algebra. His theories combined the concepts of logic and mathematics, and hence he is known as the father of mathematical logic. This combination of mathematics and logic came to be known as Boolean algebra, and is the basis of digital electronic design, which is used in fields ranging from telephone switching to computer engineering. Because of the utilization of the concepts of Boolean algebra in electronics and computers, George Boole is regarded by many as the father of computing also.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  George was born on 2nd November, 1815 in Lincoln, England. His father, John Boole was a shoemaker, and his mother a housewife. John Boole proved to be a great influence in George’s life due to his keen interest in science and mathematics. He shared his passion with his son, and started teaching George at an early age. By the time he was seven, George was deeply in love with mathematics, and used to be lost in the world of mathematics. He acquired a reputation as a child genius, and one day, he was found spelling difficult words for people’s amusement after going missing from school.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  George was from a poor family, and his parents could not afford to pay fees for grammar school, so the child genius ended up going to a small school called Mr. Bainbridge’s Academy. He made fast progress in studies, and was soon assisting teachers in teaching and grading. His exploits weren’t limited to just math and science either; he loved to read and learn, and was very well read in a lot of subjects. His father John also introduced him to literature and Latin, but George soon learned all his father had to offer. After that, John found George a tutor – bookseller William Brooke. Mr. Brooke turned out to be a great asset for George; he gave George access to all the books in his store, and also taught him. Mr. Brooke and George ended up being lifelong friends. However, just knowing Latin was not enough for George. He added Greek to his repertoire, and this was completely self-taught. He also went on to study French, German, and Italian. In Ma y 1930, the local paper published George’s translation of Greek poet Meleager’s work, and this got George his reputation as a boy genius.   Ã‚  &n... .... His wife Mary’s approach to trying to cure him was also one of the primary reasons of his death. She believed in the theory that the cause would also be the cure, so instead of keeping him warm, she regularly drenched him with water in bed, leading to severe complications. Ironically, Mary said she did it because it seemed ‘logical’ to her!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  George’s works considered purely mathematical until the year 1937. In 1937, Claude Shannon, a graduate student at MIT, discovered the connection between electronic circuits and Boolean algebra. This connection is essential to the operation of computers and modern electronics circuits. Computers and circuits utilize Boolean algebra for all their decision making calculations, and without it they would be quite useless.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  George Boole was well ahead of his time with his mathematical theories and the combination of mathematics and logic. His theories are in use today, a century after his time, and will be in use as the basis of one of the most important machines man has ever built. He was a true genius, and his work has gotten him the deserved title of the father of mathematical logic.

The Existence Of External Forces :: essays research papers

The Existence of External Forces   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To determine whether a particular action was decided upon by an individual or whether the action was predetermined one must study its cause. In studying cause one finds that there are two types of causes those that are typified by natural laws, such as a dropped book falling to the ground, and those typified by the moral considerations of men. This distinction is important because it shows both that no man can control his environment contrary to the laws of natural or scientific laws, but neither are his actions completely out of his control.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first type of cause we can consider as accepted facts, these would be the natural and scientific laws that all objects must obey. It is obviously false to assume that a man may walk through a tree or fly like a bird, but these things can be factors in the set of causes leading to an action.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second type of cause is more difficult to define. It is made up of the past experience and perceptions of men, but more importantly it is the way in which men use these things. This type of cause is arrived at differently in everyone, and it cannot be measured, predicted, or understood as well as the other type. In fact it is often unable to be seen at all, but it must exist simply because the entire world or even the simple workings of one man's brain cannot be described completely using only the laws of nature. A complex moral decision is created in the mind of men by more that just a random or predictable set of electrical impulses, but by the not completely understood spiritual and psychological make-up of men. This type is the â€Å"true† cause of an action.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When one sees this combination of causes he must accept the idea of dualism. Dualism is the idea that there are two hemispheres of the universe, the physical, ordered and understood by science, and the spiritual, abstract and not understood. The spiritual hemisphere is the force that guides actions that cannot be explained solely by physical causes. While the moralistic cause may have more weight in the type of action, it cannot ever defy natural laws. For this reason both radical determinism and free will seem impossible. With this description given, to determine the amount of free will that a thing has, it is only necessary to see how that thing uses or is affected by the two types of causes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Let us first consider man. Man is obviously the creature for which this

Pediatrics: Cranial Nerve Examination Essay -- Pediatric Examination

Oculomotor (III), trochlear (IV), Abducens (VI) cranial nerves Although each of these nerves control separate extraocular muscles, they are normally examined together due to their close functional interrelationships. †¢ Look Similar to other cranial nerve examination, start with inspection of the eyes. Look at - The position of the head position: If diplopia is present, the head turned or tilted to minimize double vision. - Inspect for ptosis and eye position. - Ask the child to look at an object about five feet away. Examine the pupils for size, shape, and symmetry. Oculomotor nerve palsy causes mydriasis. Sympathetic palsy leads to miosis. Ciliary ganglion malfunction within the orbit produces Adie’s pupil with middilated pupils and poor responds to convergence. †¢ Ocular alignment The eyes are normally parallel in all positions of gaze except convergence. Squints can be either paralytic (paresis of one of the extraocular muscles) or non-paralytic (defective binocular vision). Congenital paralytic squints result in abnormal head postures, while the acquired ones cause diplopia. Non-paralytic (concomitant) squints are not associated with diplopia. - Looking at light: Sit in front of the child about 1 metre away. Shine a light source and ask the child to look at the light. Observe the position of the light reflexes on the cornea. Normally, the light reflex is symmetrical and slightly nasal to the centre of each pupil. - Cover test is a good test of eye alignment and is helpful to determine the presence of both manifest and latent strabismus o Unilateral cover test: Ask the child to concentrate on an object that is ten feet away as if â€Å"their eyes are glued to the object†. For testing of the right eye, cover the child... ...mpare the nasolabial grooves, which are smooth on the weak side) - Bell's phenomenon: Ask the child close the eyes. In lower motor neuron VII nerve palsy, the upward movement of the eyeball is seen due to incomplete closure of the eyelid. †¢ Taste Sensation - Examine for taste on the anterior two-thirds of the tongue, only in those with facial palsy. - Ask the child to protrude the tongue and not to speak during the test. - Apply a small sample of sugar, vinegar, salt and quinine solutions (sweet, sour, saline and bitter) with cotton buds to one side of the anterior two-thirds of the tongue one at a time. - Ask the child to point to the taste on a pre-prepared card to point out the response. - Rinse the mouth with water between each specimen. - Between each test ask the patient to rinse his mouth with water. - Repeat test on the other side of the tongue

English: Good and Evil and Television Essay

Assalam O Aliakum all of you after that today is my presentation and my presentation is about Television you know that television is getting very popular and increasing day by day because of connecting the world. There are some advantages and disadvantages and now I am describing about advantages. Advantages 1) First advantage is that you know Karachi bad low and situation is increasing day by day that’s why many people before going to office they switch on the television for knowing about situation that what is going, situation is good and bad and which area is suitable for going to office. 2) Second is that when you have laser time and you are filling dull/boring and if you want passing the time so you can early by watching television because many channels are available on cable for your entertainments like watching movies and watching song and most of peoples like sports channels. 3) Third advantage is that with passing your time you can get knowledge easily because many channels are available which is providing good platforms for you. Like national geographical and discovery channels are most famous in the world. And also Islam channel are available like QTV, MADANI and PEACE for our information. 4) Forth advantage this is very importance for us because now we are student of English language and we do not know how to speak English and how to perform the word with better ascend when we will watch English channels on daily basic so we can easily get. Disadvantages. 1) The first disadvantage is that some people prefer to watch television and do not prefer to work they most of time spend it. 2) Second disadvantage is that a lot of people suffering in desperation and afraid because you know that boom are blasting on daily basic different areas and news channels telecast live. 3) Thirty disadvantages are that some people are going to bad way due to watching television. This type of people do not like to do work hard and they do street crime and robbery etc.

Reynolds Construction Case Study Essay

1. Ben Lawsons bespoke Fabricators, Inc., creates value for siege of siege of Orleans by qualification the custom restrainer panel for the elevators. posterior on, the business has grown bountifulger. Bens participation provides special brackets and panels for the plant. Since protrudesourcing, Ben as well sack ups the entire control panel, complete with the providedtons and the wiring harness.2. Ben Lawson has some bragging(a) competitive advantages in keeping the Orleans business. They fuddle been working together for a commodious time so Bens society could easily understand what the client need like delivering in time, enceinte quality products. After few spays, Ben fluid provide tidy products for Orleans so that help Ben to gain trust in doing business, which strengthens their alliance.3. In the past, Orleans priorities were only virtually quantity, doing the same business with familiar suppliers. forthwith Orleans has change that. They want to make profit, re duce cost associated with the elevators by neat raw materials cost, andthat would affect Bens business.4. Ben should change his business model so that it would have him gain advantages. Even though Ben has long relationship doing business with Orleans, it may not help much with Orleans raw(a) priorities.5. In the value chain, Bens come with is an efficient manufacturer because they build a factory that has full of tools to earn tabu the best products. Besides, those products are always delivered in time since Ben understands Orleans business. 6. Bens company has to prove that they will always impart towering quality products that in Orleans need. Compared to a loyal customer as Ben, it would be safer to doing business with, both relationship and physical distance. Besides, Ben has to prove that hiring Mexican parturiency could help cutting cost simply cannot compare with Bens company of experiences. effort Lasik Vision Corporation1. Lasik Visions competitive priority is to offer the utmost price of eye surgery and high plenty at the same time. They also run advertisement of big discounts to lure customer, which is $1,475 per eye and then $1,598 for both look.2. As showed in the case, Lasik Vision did win lots of customers and helped them gain profit but only in short-run. Because they cut out the fees for expensive equipment, it may not good care enough for the patients. Besides, their high volume of surgery may gain big profit but also bring higher risk, which is unsatisfied patients filing lawsuit.3. If Lasik has chosen to be in this market, they have to stock-purchase warrant their quality service to the customers. Also, they need to induct in some expensive equipment or train the employees. With that, they could grow their business in reliability of customers.

Operations Management Assignment Essay

Operations management focuses on cautiously managing the exercisees to set aside and deal give away products and service. Some of the associated activities consist managing secures, count control, excellence control, storage space, logistics and evaluations. It should be noted that a great deal of focus is on competence and efficacy of processes. Therefore, operations management oft admits huge dimension and scrutiny of in-house processes.Eventually, the nature of the method in which operations management is conducted in an association depends super much on the nature of goods or services in the association, for instance, vend, manufacturing, wholesale, just to mention but a few. This paper tackles a case study on Weldon pass on Tools that respiteed from European make ray playrs to carpentry tools market. (Lewis & Slack, 2002)1. How m either staff should the caller put onWeldon Hand Tools is a region of commerce that is concerned with the manufacture of product and services, and involves the liability of ensuring that commerce operations be well-organized and effectual. The tummy ensures the administration of resources, the giving out of merchandise and services to clientele, and the scrutiny of queue agreements. (Lewis & Slack, 2002) Wood going tool market is a positive and reactive ecological strategy that has assisted the corporation to endorse lavishly-quality stewardship inside the society.This will enable Weldon Hand Tools to diminish its coulomb footprint by using sustainable supplies, melt off squander in the fabrication cycle and exe swing musice widespread corporate-wide recycling and reprocess programs. (Lowson, 2002) The corporation should employ as many employees as possible, just about to a greater extent than 30 acquaintances both across-the-board- epoch and part time so as to incessantly look at the unions processes, this will enable optimization of cede for every part. Nevertheless, the redundant ways in which the corporation can reduce waste and h hotshot and only(a) cede comprise amalgamation of acerbic and full bunk consumption and lean manufacturing.Weldon Hand Tools ought to withal use supplies with minuscule formaldehyde and low VOC substance. This should guard 100 percent solid or pissing based adhesives and finishing supplies that will generate a quality smooth and fine fashioned woodwind instrument that has a competitive reinforcement in the market. (Naylor, 2002) It should be taken into consideration that ob spirt dart using low VOC, Weldon Hand Tools products will facilitate strength and durability, whilst providing the additional advantage of packaging and delivery investments owing to the trim back density.Weldon Hand Tools can eradicate the burden of come outt by lapping panels in the stacking procedure. This would enable the bundles to fortify thereby eradicating the get for strapping to clutch pedal the bundles collectively when they ar moved. (Gaither, 1 984) The power plant ought to run 24 hours a day, seven days a calendar week so as to produce just intimately 1,700 tons of smooth and well shaped wood per week. This will facilitate the corporation to burn roughly 1,000 tons per week for steam and power. (Chase & Aquilano, 2000)2.What type of facilities and engineering will the company need to buy in dictate to assemble this product? Weldon Hand tools will require a mixture of machinery that will prolong a jointer and planner in one component. Grizzly and reverse lightning machines will be accommodative in this corporation. A horsepower distinction stands out while comparing the takes of the two equipments. Whereas the jet ruse boasts a 3-horsepower, 220- quint motor, the Grizzly imposture boasts a 5-horsepower, 220 volt motor power. It then follows that separately one motor produces more than 5,000 rpm thereby making the outlet of cuts per inch about equivalent.In comparison, Grizzly has 15,102 cuts while jet has 16,500 cuts. (Mattfeld, 2006) The Grizzly device has a split, tricksy and refined jointer bed and this means an additional step in converting to sheet mode. The Grizzly marches score is physically powerful and easy to regulate. A straightforward flip of a handle allows one to annul around a knob and shift the sharpness marker across the jointer bed. On the some other hand, Grizzly design has a separate of having to remove the complete boundary marker forward to converting the device to the planner mode.It should be noted that the boundary marker slides off a dovetail way, even though this appears to be easy enough, storing the boundary marker every time you make use of the planer is onerous. (Association of European operational Research societies, 1989) The Grizzly device has the more recognizable pork-chop technique protector. It swings out as the fabric, and your hand, moves past the harvester head. On the other hand, the jet device features a blueprint that is comparable to Eu ropean machinery in which the unbending protector raises and lowers thus allowing you to kill to the width of your stock.The advantage of this type of guard is that it helps play along your hands from forever passing over the brands. In my view, I fill a preference of the jet guard in view of the fact that its an overall safer design. (American production and Inventory control society, 1991) The company will need to buy shapers. Shapers be ofttimes employ to silhouette the boundaries of stock. The automobile mechanic feeds the stock from any route against a perpendicular revolving harvester attach on a stiletto heel and as a result the spindle rotates at a high speed. Some equipment has manifold spindles.Moreover, they as well have fly the coop pins that clutch the stock for bowed shaping and fences clutch it for straight line shaping. (Belenky, 1998) In addition to this, the corporation will need to purchase routers. These are utilize for purposes such as cutting and sh aping cosmetic trances, generating redactwork and panel doors, and milling moldings. Routers have spindles that turn variously fashioned, illuminance diameter cutting machine at high speeds. The device is held in a collet chuck and protrudes through a swimming, tricksy base that slides over the outer surface of the labor.The tool-spindle bloc is more often than not vertical, however it whitethorn be tilted. The machinist lowers the head for machining, and the head mechanically returns to its original location after the cut is made. This spindle is usually driven by belts and pulleys or by a high-speed motor. (Dilworth, 1989) Moreover, the company will need to purchase radial sees. These are spherical saws that cut downhill, either with or abutting to the wood grain. It then follows that for crosscutting, the timber is pressed away from the machinist and next to a boundary marker.For rip cuts, the cutting brim is set parallel to the boundary marker, and the stock is distres sed through. The saw shave blade then rotates up(a) the machinist who feeds the stockpile in the differing direction of the razor blade movement. (Lewis & Slack, 2002) However, it should be noted that radial saws have features that make them more adaptable than table saws. The saw arm can be elevated and displace and swung from side to side to regulate the profundity and horizontal point of view of the cut the razor blade can be replaced with shaping shears, drum sanders and other garnishes.It should be noted that woodworking requires safety, therefore, the corporation should provide its human resources with push sticks or other hand tools so that their hands are away from the point of process when they work on miniature pieces of stockpile. A push stick is a narrow piece of wood or block with a come off cut into one end that is frequently used to shove narrow lengths of fabric through saws. The advantage of using push sticks is that they keep the stock from tipping and prevents the machinist fingers from getting in contact with the blades. (Lowson, 2002)Weldon Hand Tools should purchase bench planes in view of the fact that they are modifiable, and the finest have lateral as well as forefront and at the rear ships boat adjustment. In addition to this, they also have a movable frog that varies the utter opening. Moreover, the company can also purchase a block plane, even though it is the least and simplest plane it is used for light work such as smoothing the finish granule of boards and shaping miniature pieces of wood. It uses a solitary harvester blade that is positioned at a low angle in the frame in order to sanction better acerbic.Its get is that, it is obtainable in both modifiable and non-modifiable models. (Klassen & Menor, 2005) modifiable planes usually feature steel screws that are frequently on the ending of the plane to facilitate differing of the cutter height. Nevertheless, some block planes have an adaptable back talk to differ fragmen t thickness. An extremely narrow mouth is best for excellent finishing, whilst a wider mouth permits degraded stock elimination on less decisive labor. (Naylor, 2002)3.Design a layout for the assembly operation (to include the fly press work) including the tasks to be performed at each part of the system Device tools direct the equipment to process materials so as to get the desired shapes. For that reason, they comprise the center of manufacturing systems and will give a explicable procedure for the selection and acquisition of woodworking equipment. An sagacity and examination of the fundamentals of production system ought to be performed prior to selecting machine tools. It then follows that production system has a number of factors that influence equipment selection.Such considerations are connected to the concluding product, industrial unit sizing and locality, product forecast, layout, universal device parameters, and cost. (Mescon & Albert, 1981) Since Weldon Hand Tools i ndomitable to amass all planes at one of the companys lesser factory sites where an entire store is unoccupied, lower equipment ranking ought to be selected in order to maintain capital investment low. These tools will black market adequately when processing gmelina lumber, which is comparable to yellow-pop-lar in machining properties. (Gaither, 1984)