Сompare and contrast the way nature is represented in the following Romantic poem and extract from a Romantic poem

Percy Bysshe Shelley's ‘Mont Blanc' and lines 452-542 from Book Sixth of The Prelude by William Wordsworth (Romantic Writings: An Anthology, pp.329-32 and pp.133-5 respectively) Both literary texts that we will be dealing with in this essay, Percy Bysshe Shelley's ‘Mont Blanc' and an extract from Book 6 of The Prelude by William Wordsworth belong temporally to the Romantic Period (1780-1830), with the former having been written in 1816, and the latter completed in 1805, although it was not published until 1926. Wordsworth belongs to the ‘first generation' of Romantic writers, whose Romantic literature was wartime literature. Thus he had lived through the Revolutionary period and had also witnessed the aftermath of it: the dissipation in a long war. Despite his initial sympathy towards the early ideas of the Revolution concerning man and human liberties, he came to abandon them, turning from a fervent progressist into a resigned conservatist. He began to argue against the received idea of poetic language as a refined mode of eloquence available only to those with an education in previous literary models, employing the ‘language of men'. The ‘second generation', however, in which Shelley is included, belong to the post-war period, and having lived neither through the Revolution itself nor the reaction, they saw this change of view as a betrayal. Shelley's writing can be characterized as a continuous rebellion aiming at the establishment of the reign of love and freedom in human society. ‘Mont Blanc' constitutes an impressive statement of his belief in a benevolent force in Nature and of moral activity in man. Likewise, Wordsworth's Book 6 from The Prelude, entitled ‘Cambridge and the Alps', aims at charting ‘the growth of a poet's mind', with particular emphasis on the importance of Nature, which is always a key notion in his philosophy and poetry. Having given this background, we will start comparing and contrasting the way Nature is represented in the two writings with reference to their characteristics in terms of poetic form and language. ‘Mont Blanc' ‘Mont Blanc' is a 144-line ode composed during the writer's journey to Chamounix Valley in South-East France and intended to reflect the scenery through which he travelled. It is divided into five stanzas, with diversity in the number of lines in each, and is written in irregular rhyme as well as rhythmic pattern. This abandonment of regularity of pentameter iambics expresses a sense of freedom which aims, in turn, at bringing about feelings of sublimity evoked by such a close contact with Nature. The point of view is of first-person, conveying, thus, immediacy. The poem begins with the claim: ‘The everlasting universe of things/flows through the mind.', with which Shelley states his response to Mont Blanc: to consider what the landscape before him can teach about the merging of Nature and the mind. In this first stanza, Shelley develops his understanding of the mind participating in Nature, comparing the human mind to a small stream surrounded by waterfalls and a river: ‘The source of human thought†¦such as a feeble brook†¦where waterfalls around it leap forever†¦' (ll.5-9). Later in the poem as well, several ways in which the mind participates in the creative forces evident in the landscape are indicated, as in Lines 37-41, where his mind ‘now renders and receives fast influencing†¦.One legion of wild thoughts†¦'. He realises that knowledge is a combination of sensory perceptions and the ideas of the mind. The river can then serve as a symbol for the mind, a conscious power and a source for imaginative thought when he finishes the stanza with ‘thou art there!'. Also, at the end of the poem, addressing the mountain, he states that ‘the secret strength of things/which governs thought, and to the infinite dome/of Heaven is as a law, inhabits thee!' (ll.139-141). However, at certain parts, this response is implied as impossible; this world of thought is too great for a human to comprehend (‘for the very spirit fails/Driven like a homeless†¦among the viewless gales', ll.57-59). By these means, the sublime of Nature is being foregrounded. The starting lines of the second stanza talk of the scene before him, the Arve, which is represented as the Power: the universal realm of thought, which surprises us by ‘bursting' into view like lightning (‘Thus thou; Ravine of Arve†¦Bursting through these dark mountains†¦', ll.12-19). The syntax of these lines is unusual; ‘Thus' probably confirms evidence for the previous claim, although it is not clear what is being demonstrated; then, we have sentence fragments, the use of dashes, even the word order of ‘dark deep', that reverses typical locution. This disrupted, unusual syntax denotes the pressure of this overwhelming experience, causing Shelley's senses to instantly break down. Finally, we have an animating metaphor: the Ravine, which is addressed as if it were animate (‘Thus thou'), and the Arve, which descends as Power from ‘his secret throne' (ll.16-17). This allows for the writer to later address direct questions to Mont Blanc, suggesting a presence in it that finds an answering response in us (‘Is this scene†¦once this silent snow?', ll.71-74). In this third stanza, Mont Blanc is presented as ‘piercing the infinite sky' (l.60), whose subject mountains have ‘unearthly forms' (l.62) and the deeps are ‘unfathomable' (l.64), introducing thus its connections to this higher power. The alliteration in Line 78 ‘so solemn, so serene' foregrounds the perception that Nature can be both benevolent and malevolent, depending on the relationship one chooses to establish with it. In any case, even though the power is too great for mankind, it can indeed serve as a teacher who ‘teaches awful doubt' (l.77), or a faith in human nature that will revolutionise the world. This language encourages us to conceive the mountain as a consciousness something like-if not superior to-human thought, leading imagination to expand itself to the dimensions of it. In Lines 139-144 the power of the universe is symbolised by Mont Blanc, denying thus the existence of a natural religion, but for that power to have any meaning, one must exercise the imagination. The questions with which Shelley ends the poem grant the reader freedom to ponder the ultimate question of what is Nature if it doesn't merge with human mind and imagination, reflecting perhaps the freedom that he has experienced. The Prelude, Book 6 Let's move to the extract from Book 6 of The Prelude now, which is structured as a narrative, telling a story which is complete in itself, as well as being part of The Prelude as a whole, and which forms part of Wordsworth's autobiography. It is also lyrical in that in recounts his feelings and actions at a unique or typical moment: during his crossing of the Alps. It is written in blank verse, which perhaps helps avoid monotony, and the rhythm is iambic pentameter. In Lines 453-456, Wordsworth expresses his disappointment in Mont Blanc: it is a ‘soulless image', which ‘had unsurp'd upon a living thought/That never could be'. A ‘living thought' is better than ‘a soulless image': it is better to ‘think' than merely ‘to see'. Here, political language is applied to nature and the working of mind (‘unsurp'd), which could imply his disappointment in the contemporary political events. However, the sight of the Vale of Chamounix is quite compensatory: it is a ‘book' from which the young and old learn (ll.473-7). He finds fascination in the landscape, which did ‘make rich amends' and ‘reconciled us to realities' (ll.460-1). The imagery of country life, such as small birds co-existing with eagles, a reaper at work in the fields, and the threat of Winter in the autumn sunshine, which is similed to ‘a tamed lion' (ll.466), are all experienced as edifying. The climax comes at Line 524, when it dawns on them that they have crossed the Alps without knowing. The element of surprise is prominent in this climax: ‘I was lost as in a cloud' (l.525), which is perceived as the ‘Power'. The writer experiences a spiritual catharsis by being revealed of the power of the mind and the free-flowing spontaneity of the language conveys to us this uplifting rush of exaltation. Wordsworth celebrates the way ‘that power†¦came†¦athwart' him' (ll.527-9). So, impotence in the presence is followed by a future of infinite possibility, which is achieved through imagination and moves the poet from the disappointing place to time. The ‘living thought/that never more could be' (ll.455-6) is succeeded by a reference to ‘something evenmore about to be' (l.542). He is lost in the realm of time along with imagination, which transcends the human senses. Nevertheless,'the light of sense/goes out in flashes that have shown to us/the invisible world' (ll.534-6). This image conveys a denial that the normal faculties of consciousness are adequate to discover ‘our destiny, our nature, and our home' (l.538). The repetition of ‘hope' in Line 540 strongly foregrounds Wordsworth's desire to reconstitute its grounds in a dark time of post-revolutionary reaction and despair. Conclusion On balance, these two literary works share an interesting similarity in their use of apocalyptic and millennial imagery to express the relationship of man to Nature and to higher powers; they are both successful in making their readers aware of the greater harmony of the universe, both within and outside the boundaries of time. However, where Wordsworth admitted his disappointment on the view of real Mont Blanc, Shelley's reaction was the opposite. Furthermore, while Wordsworth places great emphasis on the interaction of the human mind with its environment, Shelley emphasises the passivity of the mind in the ‘unremitting interchange' with ‘the clear universe of things around' (ll.39-40); Nature is the messenger and the imagination acts upon it only after having received it.

Effective Approaches in Leadership and Management

Running head: EFFECTIVE APPROACHES IN LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT Effective Approaches in Leadership and Management Marissa Krick Grand Canyon University: NRS-415V November 18, 2012 Effective Approaches in Leadership and Management Many healthcare organizations worldwide are striving to achieve magnet designation. Having the magnet title is essential because it recognizes healthcare organizations that act as a â€Å"magnet† for excellence by establishing a work environment that identifies, rewards, and promotes professional nursing (ANCC Magnet Designation, 2012).A magnet hospital is considered to be one where nursing provides excellent patient care, where nurses have a high level of job satisfaction, and where there is a low staff nurse turnover rate. This paper will discuss how nursing leaders and managers obtain magnet designation. Nursing leaders and managers play an important role in attaining magnet designation and take different approaches in order to achieve such status. Obtaining magnet status is essential and highly recognized in the nursing practice today.Nurses play a vital role in patients’ and families’ overall experience and are the primary source of care and support during the most vulnerable times in an individuals’ life. At magnet hospitals, nurses are attentive and knowledgeable, spending more time at patients' bedsides providing compassionate and upmost quality of care. Managers are constantly striving to maintain quality service and patient care through the use of patient surveys in order to plan short and long term objectives in order to take appropriate actions.With the use of patient surveys, managers are able to inform their staff on areas for improvement or where to keep up the good work. Managers provide direction and motivation to their nursing unit in order to carry out desired actions and are focused on making sure that their staff are following the correct policies and procedures in order to maintain a sa fe workplace. Leadership in nursing maintains proper policies and procedures, but the main focus is on influencing staff to accomplish goals. Feature article about  Production ManagementNurse leaders inspire others to work together in quest of a shared goal, for instance, improved patient care. The nurse leader is a critical thinker, sets goals, uses effective communication, and recognizes the emotional needs of others (Roskoski, 2012). Nurse leaders carry out any changes that are to be made that have been implemented by management. Scottsdale Healthcare is an organization of magnet status and is continuously striving to find ways in which to improve patient satisfaction and quality of care.As of October 2011, Scottsdale Healthcare implemented bedside report in order increase patient satisfaction providing the patient and family knowledge in regards to their condition and plan of care in order to set goals for the patients recovery and gives them the ability to ask questions. Prior to bedside report taking effect, management gathered all employees from the unit going over what is to be expected and how bedside report was not only taking effect on our unit alone, but hospital wide.Nursing leaders knew that they had a situation at hand due to the fact that nursing staff was so comfortable in giving report at the nurses station and did not want to wake the patient or deal with a family member, but they remained positive and encouraged staff that this would dramatically change our satisfaction scores. In maintaining patient satisfaction scores, the hospital would qualify for reimbursement from Medicare. The nurse leaders were the one’s who made the transition a smooth process, as the managers just informed staff how things were going to be.The nurse leaders give others the ability to understand the vision, informing those of why they are being asked to do things, and how it relates to the bigger picture (The difference between leadership and management, 2012). In order to maintain magnet status, managers and nurse leaders must work together in order to meet the necessary requirements. With imple menting bedside report, not only have patient satisfaction scores increased, the rapport between patient and nurse and quality of care has increased as well.Organizations such as Scottsdale Healthcare are recognized for treating their employees with respect and encourage educational growth in offering tuition reimbursement. With upholding magnet status, organizations are able to keep their employees when given the ability to offer such programs. This writer has been an employee at Scottsdale Healthcare for five years now and has seen many changes take effect on the unit implemented by the nurse manager striving to increase patient satisfaction. Changes that have occurred on the unit consist of edside reporting, hourly rounding, and updated white boards for patient information, just to name a few. Within the past couple of months, patient satisfaction scores have decreased and management is not happy. The nurse managers have informed staff that if hourly rounding, bedside reporting, and updating white boards are not being completed employees will be reprimanded. The nurse managers have been going into patient rooms asking the patients if their nurse has been performing the tasks as listed above, and take it upon themselves to tell the patient that if these tasks are not being performed, then the nurse could possibly be terminated.With all the negative feedback from the managers, nurses are becoming burned out. The nurse managers want to see an increase in outcomes, but drive to do so is lacking from constant negative feedback. At the last staff meeting, we were informed that if patient outcomes did not increase, then we need to start looking for employment because there are other individuals out there that would love to have our position. On the other hand, the nurse leaders acknowledge the irritation of decreased satisfaction scores, but go above and beyond to build up morale for a positive change.Those who take the time to listen to others and incorporate way s to improve issues on the unit are considered as participatory leaders. This leadership style includes the leader and one or more employees in the decision making process (Leadership Styles, 2010). As a team, the nurse leader and employees will be able to come up with a plan on ways to improve patient satisfaction, with the nurse leader having the final say. All in all, managers and nurse leaders ultimately have the same goal; it is just the difference in approaches and how one handles stress.A nurse leader wants to provide assistance in any way possible, they are creative and remain positive, whereas, nurse managers will stay completely focused on improving situations and are more controlling not providing any assistance. This writer believes that she is a better leader than manager. Participatory leadership is this writers way of dealing with situations at hand. Effective communication and taking into consideration the feelings of others along with providing a helping hand whenev er in need is of upmost importance to this writer.A way that patient satisfaction scores could increase on the unit that this writer works on is if the managers took a different approach in how they speak to their staff creating a different vibe on the floor rather than biting your tongue every time you see their face. However, it is very possible that due to the clientele we provide care to, a lot of them suffer addiction problems and often times request more medications than what we are able to give. These unhappy patients are more than likely the ones who return the patient satisfaction surveys, therefore, resulting in poor satisfaction scores.Leadership and management play an important role in the nursing process, but their focus is different depending on the situation. Nurse managers and leaders strive for doing the right thing and doing things right. With the dramatic and rapid changes in healthcare today, possessing critical thinking, active listening, and coping skills are e ssential in the nursing workforce. Together, leaders and managers need to imagine the future and lead the way to a productive and well-organized unit with satisfied employees in order to maintain magnet status. References ANCC Magnet Designation. (2012). Meridian Health.Retrieved November 16, 2012, from http://www. meridianhealth. com/MH/ForHealthProfessionals/NursingAtMeridian/ANCCMagnetDesignation. cfm Leadership Styles. (2010). Big Dog and Little Dog’s Performance Juxtaposition. Retrieved November 16, 2012, from http://www. nwlink. com/~donclark/leader/leadstl. html Roskoski, J. (2012). What Is Nursing Leadership?. eHow. Retrieved November 16, 2012, from http://www. ehow. com/about_6579387_nursing-leadership_. html The difference between leadership and management. (2012). Strategies for Nurse Managers. Retrieved November 16, 2012, from http://www. strategiesfornursemanagers. com/ce_detail/208037. cfm

Career ambitions

Career ambition This misconception ambition is the first thing you may crashing in front of the eyes of many of us when he finds himself after graduation without a Job or is suffering even find any work by plugging breath livelihood and then thought one of us that has stabilized and is believed to function is always from eight oclock to the second half in the public sector and others in the private sector and then interrupted it relates to his work every day so even comes last month arrested for his salary and so on , that goes to his age and referred to retirement. And sometimes some people feel that the job Kataiwq wraps around his neck and complain of work and felt that it weighs his shoulders are asked to retire early to rest and is still active and did not reach the age of sixty No need to stand one of us with himself and see with the passage of time and the years on his appointment to this post and look what happened? Skills and gain experiences and how his role AJtazha to develop his skills and whether he developed himself and invented something useful for his work in order to be an element product ? Or do you imitate any position sets it apart from others? Man thinks ambition is to develop and put himself in front of specific targets and think how to achieve these goals and uses several methods to strive and make solutions to achieve them. Unfortunately , many of us if he sat with himself and especially of their years in the career service will find himself after all these years has come forward and did not develop himself and got his service and the passage of the years, so you sometimes find director of his 15 years in the Job and preside over many of the staff and reached he higher echelons it is not known to run a computer or speak a single word in English and a smaller staff understand these things from him . Perhaps some say do not awakened in the course to learn computer and other shovel this failure with his work, and tell him this is not a Justification for it is possible for any one of us to develop himself outside of his term , even for an hour per day for a certain period , especially as the private institutes are available everywhere and at reasonable prices. ven if you lose a little money you earned to develop yourself and your interest in the atter so that you alone, and this is the skills and experience gained with yourself and you will feel that you have developed yourself and give you the incentive to develop your talents and increase your ambition career with this ambition must be to you the principle of positive in your life , and you know what The principle is what you mean

Extension of Time and Delay Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Extension of Time and Delay Analysis - Essay Example In the event of any extension of time, there are certain factors which have to be viewed before any claims for liquidated damages could be made. If no specific date for the completion of the project was set in the contract, it is known as â€Å"time at large†, and in such cases the Director of Budget and Fiscal Services specifies a realistic time period for the completion of the project in lieu of the current conditions. If dela i made, the contractor can argue against any charges as no deadline was set in the first place. If a specific date was set, then the obligations of the employer and the contractor have to be taken into account. It is the obligation of the employer to make a timely provision of any services and goods that have been specified in the express terms of the contract. If h fails and there is a delay, he is not eligible to make any deductions as liquidated damages. If the delay is due to any hindrance posed by the employer in the proper execution of the contra ct by the contractor, such as interruptions made by any sub-contractors hired directly by the employer, the employer loses his right for any liquidated damages. The obligations of a contractor are to finish the project within the deadline, with â€Å"efficiency and diligence†. This means that the contractor has to work continuously and in accordance with the approved plan towards the deadline. If he fails to do so, and there is a delay, the employer will be compensated through liquidated damages. ... If he fails to do so, and there is a delay, the employer will be compensated through liquidated damages. However, if the employer has been pressing for unrealistic acceleration, the contractor has a right to file a case against the employer on this ground, and the employer might lose his right toward the damages. If the contractor, due to any reason, refrains from exercising his right, he is denied any compensation and the employer will be eligible to carry out deduction for the damages. If the contract has a clause for extension of time, but it has been exhausted, or if there is no such clause in the contract, and further extension needs to be carried out, an approval by the Director of Budget and Fiscal Services is required before any such steps can be taken. However, it can only be done under certain conditions: the period of any further extensions can be no more than one hundred and eighty calendar days; the commanding officer of the contract assigned by the Director draws a written statement that any new contracts cannot be allocated at the time of the completion of the pertinent contract, due to reasons such as short- term need of the service, and limitation of the execution of the contract at he time of the completion of the current contract; there is an general consensus by all the concerned parties regarding the extension in time of the contract; and the price of the extended contract is the same as the original contract, or as changed in the contract before

Civil liberties Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Civil liberties - Term Paper Example The movement led to the irresistible transformation of the American political, social, and cultural life. Amendments on the prevailing notions concerning the citizenship rights of the blacks, for example, together with a redefinition courts and government’s role in protecting people’s rights, continued to strengthen the human rights of all American citizens, regardless of the color of their skin (Bryant, 2009, p. 1). The word civil-right often conjures people like Martin Luther delivering the soul-stirring â€Å"I have a dream† speech on the nation’s capital. The civil rights movements are believed to have started earlier in the 18th century when the blacks who were enslaved demanded their elementary citizenship rights. From 1955 to 1970, the blacks’ effort to bring their cause to attention met some success. The Congress approved the Civil Rights Act to create a civil rights partition in the Justice Department which would implement voting and other rights. In 1951, Thurgood Marshall and the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) resolved to fight for the rights of the African American children who were forced to join completely segregated schools yet considered to be equal as those used by the whites. They assumed that the segregation in schools dehumanized the African Americans just as slavery affected them. ... This court ruling sent a message that segregation was intolerable in the country (Spungin, 2007, p. 1). In 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a crowded Alabama city bus and sat near the front. Rosa declined the request to take the back seats and was arrested by the Montgomery police. Rosa’s actions stimulated the black community to support the civil rights movement by arranging boycotts. Their decision as a large group would make the bus companies incur losses and stress the point that segregation in busses was unjust and would not be endured. The protests were not only successful, gathering worldwide sympathy, but also attracted Martin Luther, an eloquent and inspiring leader, a clergy at the Baptist Church. Luther’s emergence as the movement’s leader using non-violent tactics such as those used by Mohandas Gandhi, an Indian nationalist, characterized the entire movement inspiring participation from many blacks as well as whites (Elliott, 2012, p. 1). As the blacks living in the South grew more confident with sympathy from the outside world, their protests increased. In 1960, four black college scholars staged ‘sit-ins’ at restaurants which served whites only. In the face of the arising challenges, the whites responded by arresting, and attacking the Protestants. However, the leaders of the movement refused to be deterred by threats of prison: Luther was jailed more than 12 times, but still fought for the rights of the people. Important People Associated with the Civil Rights Movement (Fairclough, 2011, p. 1) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Luther is one of the significant figures in the Civil Rights movement. Being a college educated preacher, he was an essential character in arranging the bus boycott in

International and Pacific Asian Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

International and Pacific Asian Business - Essay Example New Trade Theories The new trade theories address the area of competitive strategy in various ways, usually (but not always) relating to globalisation. Sloman (2005 p.307) identifies the following as reasons for organisations to expand beyond their home nation: access to new markets, new customers, new supply sources and new ideas and skills. They also have to deal with competition within their home nation from overseas organisations who can produce goods at a lower cost or with some innovative function or features. One of the main reasons organisations go overseas is to reduce their overall costs. Sloman (2005 pp.310-311) identifies the following as areas within which costs can be reduced by setting up operations overseas: Resource costs, including labour Skills held by workers, including entrepreneurial and management skills Cost reductions as a result of the learning curve Economies of scale Transport costs Government policies. Many of these areas are addressed by new trade theori es. Economies of Scale Economies of scale result from increasing production capacity to reduce the overall costs of production. Lynch (2009 p.801) defines them as â€Å"the extra cost savings that occur when higher-volume production allows unit costs to be reduced†. ... The presence of economies of scale can prevent new competitors entering the market if they involve large-scale production facilities or very specialised facilities requiring significant capital investment to replicate. Demand-Led Growth Setterfield (2003, p.25) identifies a counterpoint to the focus on supply-side driven growth in the form of demand-led growth. He outlines two effects on growth rates stemming from the demand-side of the growth equation: the potential for demand failures in the long run, and the impact of demand conditions on productive resources over time. The theory states that â€Å"there is no supply-determined equilibrium† (ibid) for output levels. Instead output levels are determined by relatively autonomous demand conditions coupled with supply-side conditions. Setterfield (2005, p.26) says that â€Å"the sequence of short-run outcomes associated with the demand-determined utilisation of productive resources traces out the economy’s long-run grow th path† and does not automatically to the output path of the economy. He further points out that â€Å"the potential growth rate of the economy depends on the growth of physical capacity, labour resources and factor productivity† but that â€Å"each of these is affected by the demand-determined actual rate of growth† (ibid). In short, demand-led growth requires attention to be paid to the demand side of the supply = demand equation. The Product Life-Cycle Every product has a life-cycle, starting with growth and ending with decline and obsolescence: Figure 1: The stages in a product’s life cycle (Source: Sloman, 2005, p.313) When considering the global situation, launch would normally take place in the country

Media Violence and Imitation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Media Violence and Imitation - Essay Example Media Violence and Imitation Susan Hurley’s article may not contain any definitive research or universally agreeable answers, and it may be victim of the same narrow partisan dogmatism that she decries (her constant derision of liberals as â€Å"outdated†, are a testament to this). But it does contain many valid points that can at least be debated if not accepted by anyone. It must also be noted that Hurley goes through great pains to distance herself from conservative demagoguery and manages to offer somewhat acceptable compromises by invoking tort instead of legislation to deal with the matter. De Bruin manages to address the issue of Tort effectively enough, by stating that a link between criminal violence and media violence may be too difficult to prove even in individual cases, rendering the entire process fruitless and a formality. Furthermore de Bruin also asks the question, how are we to decide which forms of imitative influences are good and which are bad, and one can assume that the logic al conclusion to a continuation of filtering imitative influences in the media can lead to another form of social engineering. The lines in this debate as they usually are in debates of the controversial variety are heavily blurred. The side which one takes on this issue is primarily subjective. We must decide for ourselves whether or not personal autonomy should be decreased for the greater social good and whether or not individual members of a society can decide what the greater social good involves.

Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Human Resource Management - Essay Example This results effective staffing decisions and processes which leads to better performance of the employees. The overall purpose of developing HR policies is to ensure that organization is efficiently able to achieve short term as well as long term goals through its employees rather than technology advancement. Many organizations believe that concentrating on the development of technology is more beneficial for the productivity of the organization rather to concentrate on the effective employee management. But effective use of technology is more important than adopting the same and it needs recruitment and selection of efficient people for the organization (Armstrong, 2006, p.9). Management of human capital is done through five different stages. Human resource policies is effectively designed so that implementation of the policies in these five stages of human management can be efficiently to better performance of the employees as well as for the better productivity of the organizatio n. These stages are planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. Planning is the first stage of human capital management and it develop the organizational structure and find valuable sources from where the organization can get efficient people through a cost effective process of recruitment (Barney & Wright, 1997, p.4). Effective design and application of policies in HR planning, recruitment and selections and their contributions towards effective staffing decisions and organizational effectiveness and decisions making- Critical Evaluation HR planning and systems can have a wide variety of implications in organizations and organizational effectiveness. In the modern society planning and efficiency accounts for some of the prerequisites for organizational effectiveness and performance. In fact all of the HR activities in an organization depend largely on HR planning which subsequently reflects through organizational performance and productivity. Researchers have provided with data and information with regards to the correlation between recruitment and selection procedure and candidates’ competence in organizations which leads to greater creative works, greater collaboration of activities and performance progress in the organization. Research scholars have out forth the fact that through the application of appropriate HR planning systems organizations can effectively influence the actions and contributions of employees and generate their social capital as the potential source of competitive advantage (Mossholder, Richardson & Settoon, 2011, p.34). However, HR systems have largely been restricted to their connections with organizational outcomes and not with individual level behaviors. That is why researchers have increasingly called for the need for understanding HR planning and its influence on employees, inter-relationships between them and performance (Mossholder, Richardson & Settoon, 2011, p.34). Researchers have specifically focused on t he role of HR planning on a firm’s competitive advantage. According to the views of Barney (1995), three basic resources can provide competitive advan

Credit marketed to cunsumers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Credit marketed to cunsumers - Essay Example Emphasis is given to the following fact: the marketing plans that promote credit have a series of severe implications for consumers. These implications are analyzed below aiming to highlight the need for setting barriers to the marketing of credit around the world. One of the most critical findings of the study seems to be the following: in the past credit was regarded as a tool used under exceptional conditions; today, credit has become a key part of daily life. Thus, the terms of its marketing should be thoroughly reviewed as of their effects on consumers. In order to evaluate the potential consequences of the credit marketed to consumers it is necessary to refer primarily to the methods employed by marketers for promoting credit. Commonly, marketers who design the marketing plans promoting credit use themes and issues related to critical social incidents or problems. For example, in USA ‘the credit cards that aim to cover medical expenses’ (Scurlock 6) are quite popul ar. Another issue quite important for marketers developing these plans is the marketing means used for communicating with the public, i.e. for promoting credit to consumers. ... In other words, the marketing plans promoting credit can appear almost everywhere. It can be quite difficult for consumers to resist to the dilemmas set through the relevant advertisements. However, consumers have started to face these plans with skepticism, especially since the image that these plans present in regard to credit-related products have been proved as unreal (Scurlock 12). The introduction of the concept of credit score is considered as an effort of marketers to control the concerns of consumers towards the credit-related financial products (Scurlock 127). The positive credit report has been set as a prerequisite for the extension of existing credit or for the provision of credit; the last case refers to consumers who borrow money for the first time (Scurlock 127). The credit report is based on credit scores: a high credit score denotes a consistent borrower while a low credit score indicates the failure of the borrower to respond to his obligations in regard to his deb t (Scurlock 127). Today, credit score is used for checking the overall financial status of a person, a fact that has caused strong criticism; for example, a candidate for a specific job may be asked to bring his credit report before signing the employment contract (Scurlock 128). The above practice violates human rights since it justifies the access to private data (Scurlock 128). Although it is widely used, the credit report hides a series of risks: a) by emphasizing on credit report and on the importance of credit score authorities and organizations seem to promote a specific trend: consumers are urged to put all their efforts for protecting their credit score. In this

The Quiet American by Graham Greene Essay Example for Free

The Quiet American by Graham Greene Essay The Quiet American, is more than a political statement about whether or not America or any other country for that matter should become involved in the affairs of another country; Greene makes the question human and personal. The novel can be read as a political and moral reflection on the opening stages of the United States’ involvement in Southeast Asia. Therefore, Greene’s novel becomes a commentary on the pointlessness of the United States’ later investment of men and material in a political action that could only end, as it did for the French, in defeat. The Quiet American is considered one of Graham Greene’s major achievements. The story is told with excellent characterization and sophisticated irony. The plot bears a resemblance to that of a mystery story. A crime has been committed. Who is the murderer? As in most mystery stories, as much needs to be learned about the victim as about the villain. Yet what is learned takes on political, moral, and religious significance. The story ends in mystery as well. Who exactly killed Pyle is not revealed, but the burden of the crime, like the burden of telling the story, is Fowler’s. The large-scale political thesis of the novel is that American interference in the internal affairs of another country can only result in suffering, death, and defeat, and is not morally justifiable because of abstract idealism. This is not the only meaning of consequence in the novel, and given the course of later events, its importance may be blown out of proportion. The lesson, however, is clearly explained by a French aviator with â€Å"orders to shoot anything in sight. Captain Trouin confides to Fowler that he detests napalm bombing: â€Å"We all get involved in a moment of emotion, and then we cannot get out,† he explains. Trouin understands that the French cannot win the war in Indochina: â€Å"But we are professionals; we have to go on fighting till the politicians tell us to stop,† he says with bitter resignation. â€Å"Probably they will get together and agree to the same peace that we could have had at the beginning, making nonsense of all these years. Greene’s political objective is clearly to make a mockery the notion of a â€Å"Third Force† in Asian politics, countering the threat of Communism and replacing the rationale of colonialism as an explanation for Western involvement. Because of Greene’s apparent anti-American bias, the novel was not popular in the United States. It is no wonder then that Greene’s warning about Vietnam was not taken seriously, even though later events tended to validate the wisdom f his political analysis. Thus Graham Greene summarizes the lesson of Vietnam fully ten years before the American government expanded its military commitm ent to fill the vacuum left by the defeated French. The Quiet American is a shocking novel of political prophecy. Its mystery story characteristics perhaps better define its interest to the average reader, as Greene’s unreliable narrator gradually provides the details leading up to Pyle’s death. The dramatic focus concerns the conflict between Fowler and Pyle over love and the politics of war, the contest between Fowler and Vigot, who knows that Fowler was responsible for Pyle’s death but cannot prove it, and, finally, Fowler’s internal conflict, his beliefs of noninvolvement transformed by circumstances and emotion to a position of murderous intervention. â€Å"Sooner or later,† the Communist Heng tells Fowler, â€Å"one has to take sides if one is to remain human. Perhaps Fowler finally â€Å"takes sides† because he understands how dangerous Pyle’s blind idealism can be, but his motives are not entirely clear because of his dependence on Phuong. Fowler does not idolize her, as does the more romantic Pyle, who sincerely cares for Phuong but is absolutely unfeeling about the rest of the native population. Pyle believes in the political theory of York Harding (a name that links a less-than-stunning American president with a patriotic war he ro) and the need for a â€Å"Third Force† (American intervention) in Vietnam. Yet Pyle’s naiveness is not entirely consistent with his intelligence, his training, and his Harvard degree. He is hopelessly innocent. In one of his strongest metaphors, Greene likens innocence to â€Å"a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world, meaning no harm,† but obviously bearing contamination and corruption with him. Fowler is a fascinating character and narrator because he simultaneously reveals and conceals so much about himself and his involvement in the story. On the one hand, he is openly contemptuous of Pyle. Like other Americans, Pyle is so obsessed with his mission to save the world that he does not register the reality around him. It is ridiculous for him to think that Phuong is an innocent he must rescue. She has stayed with Fowler because he offers her security. She leaves Fowler for Pyle because he offers her even more wealth and protection. Pyle is shocked because Fowler says he is merely using Phuong for his own pleasure and because of his need to have a woman beside him to stave off loneliness. It never occurs to Pyle that Phuong has acted just as selfishly or that Pyle imself is using people. On the other hand, Fowler is not entirely honest with himself. He claims to be disengaged, not only from politics but also from the sentiments of love Pyle professes. Yet Fowler’s passionate rejection of Pyle’s worldview and his defense of the Vietnamese, who he believes should be allowed to work out their own destiny, free of the French, the Americans, and any other intruding power, surely reveal anything but dishonesty. In this respect, Pyle is right to see good in a man who claims to be without sense of right and wrong. In fact, Pyle loses his life because of Fowler’s moral outrage. Fowler is so appalled by the bombing atrocity at the cafe that he determines to put a stop to Pyle’s activities. Fowler’s passion is hardly consistent with his habit of staying reserved. Actually, he cares deeply about Phuong and about the Vietnamese. He believes in self-determination, which ironically is the ideology that Americans claim to support. Americans think they are supporting freedom by allying themselves with the anticommunists. Thus, there are multiple ironies in The Quiet American. Fowler says he is a pessimist, but he acts like a wounded idealist. Pyle says he is an idealist, but his involvement with anticommunist thugs places him in disparaging and brutal situations. Phuong looks like a delicate, easily manipulated, and passive victim, and yet like many other Vietnamese she is a survivor who plays one side against the other and changes according to the current political issues. Fowler declares to Vigot that he is not guilty, then retells the story of his involvement with Fowler to clear his name, yet concludes by realizing that he is guilty. The novel’s title is also ironic. In one sense, Pyle is quiet—even unassuming. He patiently questions Fowler about his tie to Phuong and even declares his love for her to Fowler before he marries her. Pyle is the opposite of loud, vulgar Americans such as his boss Joe, or the noisy American journalist Granger. In another sense, however, Pyle is anything but quiet. He stirs up Saigon with explosions and he turns Fowler’s life into turmoil. An even greater irony is that for all their differences, Fowler and Pyle are alike in their moral earnestness. Fowler is the sophisticated European who has learned not to wear his heart on his sleeve. He denies any form of selfless behavior. Pyle is the naive American who is openhearted and believes he acts for the good of others. Yet both men cause great damage because they care about others. They are caught up in the evil that Fowler thinks he can avoid and that Pyle thinks he can remove. The political and moral divide between Fowler and Pyle is not as great as Fowler has supposed. His narrative ironically binds him to Pyle—a fate Fowler has consistently tried to avoid. The novel dramatizes Fowler’s fate in the scene where he refuses to call Pyle by his first name. He also refuses to let Pyle call him Tom and insists on being called Thomas. No formalities can really separate the two men however. Fowler’s own narrative shows them to strongly connected. The Quiet American is concerned with the effect the superpowers have when they intervene in the politics of the developing nations, in this case, Vietnam during the last days of French colonial rule. Greene himself is in an interesting position in that England, once a major colonial power, has increasingly surrendered that position to the United States since World War II. This weakened position makes Greene, like Fowler, something of an observer of the more active Americans. Fowler observes the covert actions of Pyle and finds them wrong. He thinks Americans are politically naive, dangerously idealistic, and too willing to hurt other people if they get in the way of their political goals. Greene has been accused of being anti-American but the novel and Fowlers judgment of Pyle were obviously very relevant. The novel was especially popular during the war in Vietnam, when many Americans came to share Fowlers opinions. Although the war and the controversies surrounding it still plague the memories of many Americans, the war and the novel itself are not quite so topical as they were in the 1960s and early 1970s. Still it might be worth stressing that the novel was written well before America became deeply involved in Vietnam. In fact, America is now involved as a â€Å"Third Force† in Iraq, where the political concerns of the novel are still quite applicable.

Satows Perception of the Meiji Revolution

Satows Perception of the Meiji Revolution Between 1853 and 1868, Japanese society underwent a profound and violent societal, economic, and cultural upheaval, the likes of which it had not seen in over 200 years. The ruling military government of Japan, the clan-pure Tokugawa Shogunate and its ancient feudal system of governance, disintegrated under internal pressure to reform to meet the challenges of the Industrial Age, embodied by foreign interests, particularly that of the United States and England, which used the threat of their military and technological superiority to force the Japanese to accept trade agreements. In doing so, the Shogunate wrote its final chapter and set the state for a return to power of the Emperor, a quasi-religious position which since the 1600s had been relegated to ceremonial duties as the spiritual godfather of Japan, while the Shogunate and its samurai warrior culture administered the country’s affairs. TheBritish Empire of the time was preoccupied initially with wars with Russia and China, but observed with keen interest the initial rumblings of discontent and reform within Japan, precipitated by the bold moves of the United States to establish relations with Japan. Once the British wars had been concluded and Americans had done the proverbial dirty advance work of opening Japan up, the British established their own presence within Japan as it underwent a rapid societal metamorphosis. Over time, various representatives of foreign governments, most notably the eminent British interpreter and diplomat Ernest Satow, went beyond active interest to active involveme nt in the internal affairs of the Japanese transformation from Tokugawa Shogunate rule to restoration of the power of the Emperor, known as the Meiji revolution. Some of this involvement was self-serving and destructive; some of it was noble, altruistic, and reflected a genuine appreciation and compassion for the Japanese and their unique, noble, and astonishingly complex culture. As with most chapters in history, it is often difficult to discern in retrospect where altruism and self-interest intersected and diverged; the history of Japan’swrenching introduction into the modern age is particularly messy, but only more fascinating for being as such. In order to explore this era, some chronological narrative is of course required, but a strictly linear structure is not necessarily the most effective way to approach the issues. Therefore, this dissertation will alternate between historical narrative and cultural explication, sometimes moving backwards and forwards in time, and indulging in anecdotal tangents as well as delvings into the personal histories of some of the players in question, all in hopes of painting a full and complex picture of the interlocking forces – Japanese, American, and British, which turned this tiny country upside down in the short space of 15 years and set the stage for its rise to global power. (A full investigation of the Japanese relations with Russia, China, and the Dutch could easily comprise a dissertation of its own, but we will limit most of our focus here to the often tragic, but often edifying interaction of the Japanese with the two aforementioned Western powers.) Lastly, it is importan t to note that no exploration of Japan’s relations with the West during the Tokugama Shogunate /Meiji Revolution era, or any era for that matter, is complete without dwelling occasionally in details of Japanese culture, which are alternately arcane and compelling. Such moments will be interwoven with the historical narratives and observations as required. In 1854, the United States and Japan signed the Treaty of Kanagawa, which opened up Japan economically and culturally to the West for the first time. Up until this point in time, ancient Japanese law forbade trade with any foreign nations other than China and the Dutch, the latter of which were allowed to visit Japan twice a year to do business solely at the port of Nagasaki; even then, the foreigners’ presence was confined to the small island of Deshima. The signing of the treaty was a momentous occasion for both the United States and Japan, but it was not necessarily an egalitarian or mutually beneficial agreement, nor did both parties come to the signing ceremony of their own free will.Commodore Matthew Perry, representing the United States, essentially forced the Japanese into signing the treaty by virtue of the threat of his heavily armed four-warship fleet which arrived in Edo Bay (Tokyo’sharbor; Tokyo was known as Edo during Tokugawa Shogunate dynasty) – a port forbidden to foreigners in July 1853 and refused to depart until the Japanese consented to enter into a trade and peace agreement between the two nations. Perry was acting under orders from the highest authority in the United States, his Commander in Chief, President Millard Fillmore. Perry arrived bearing a letter fromPresident Fillmore to Emperor KÃ…Â mei (who reigned from 1831-1867 and was the 121st imperial ruler of Japan). The letter was an eager one, and contained several passages full of obsequious language: I entertain the kindest feelings toward your majestys person and government, and that I have no other object in sending [CommodorePerry] to Japan but to propose to your imperial majesty that the UnitedStates and Japan should live in friendship and have cornmercial intercourse with each other†¦ The Constitution and laws of the UnitedStates forbid all interference with the religious or political concerns of other nations. I have particularly charged Commodore Perry to abstain from every act which could possibly disturb the tranquility of your imperial majestys dominions†¦ We have directed Commodore Perry to beg your imperial majestys acceptance of a few presents. They are of no great value in themselves, but some of them may serve as specimens of the articles manufactured in the United States, and they are intended as tokens of our sincere and respectful friendship.(Fillmore, 1852) However, the letter also contained notable amounts of braggadocioregarding the economic and technological might at the disposal of theUnited States: The [territories of the United States of America reach from ocean to ocean, and our Territory of Oregon and State of California lie directly opposite to the dominions of your imperial majesty. Our steamships can go from California to Japan in eighteen days†¦ Our great State of California produces about sixty millions of dollars in gold every year, besides silver, quicksilver, precious stones, and many other valuable article†¦ America, which is sometimes called the New World, was first discovered and settled by the Europeans. For a long time, there were but a few people, and they were poor. They have now become quite numerous; their commerce is very extensive. (Fillmore, 1852) The subtext was clear. Though polite and solicitous to almost comic fault, Fillmore made it clear that it was in Japan’s best interests to cooperate with the United States in opening itself up to foreign trade, or Japan might meet the same fate as Mexico, which the United States had obliterated and territorially eviscerated in a warning just four years prior to Perry’s visit to Japan. To punctuate the subtext of his letter, Fillmore did not send Perry across thePacific Ocean in a yacht armed only with flowers; Perry sailed into Yedo Bay with an unmistakable symbol of United States might, his state-of-the-art mini-fleet. Why the particular interest in Japan, a relatively small nation? Itwas strategically located, a gateway to the Far East, and influence over/in, and/or control of Japan would greatly expand American’smilitary and economic power. Japan was also a nation of important natural resources that could be used to feed the hungry monster of theWest’s burgeoning Industrial Revolution. As samurai scholar MarcelThach notes, â€Å"after the colonization of China, the Western Powers America in particular turned their eye towards Japan and saw a country rich with coal deposits, one which they could colonize and exploit as they had China and other East Asian nations such as India.†(Thach, 2002) The Japanese were initially unmoved by President Fillmore’s letter, leaving Commodore Perry to stew in the harbor with the expectation that he would simply tire and go home. This was not to be the case, however, as Perry quickly saw fit to turn up the proverbial heat on the Japanese by sending a letter of his own to the Emperor. In it, Perry reiterated some of the niceties expressed by President Fillmore, but then delivered some language of a level of candor to which the Japanese were not accustomed: [I] hope that the Japanese government will see the necessity of averting unfriendly collision between the two nations, by responding favourably to the propositions of amity, which are now made in all sincerity†¦ Many of the large ships-of-war destined to visit Japan have not yet arrived in these seas, though they are hourly expected; and the undersigned, as an evidence of his friendly intentions, has brought but four of the smaller ones, designing, should it become necessary, to return to Edo in the ensuing spring with a much larger force. (Perry, 7 July 1853) The Japanese remained unmoved, provoking Commodore Perry’s temper. Diplomatic subtleties were abandoned, and on July 14, 1853, he delivered an imperious admonishment accusing the Japanese of a sin against God, in effect, and threatened to fire upon the harbor:You have †¦ acted against divine principles and your sin cannot be greater than it is†¦ If you are still to disagree we would then take up arms and inquire into the sin against the divine principles†¦When one considers such an occasion†¦ one will realize the victory will naturally ours. (Perry, 14 July 1853) At this juncture, the virulent and ingrained xenophobia of the Japanese culture was forced to yield to common sense. The Japanese had no navy to speak of, and though Perry’s four ships were unlikely to comprise enough force to cause the Japanese to comply, the threat of an imminent arrival of a bona fide armada induced the Japanese to capitulate and sign the treaty of Kanagawa. (In the wake of the capitulation, the Japanese dispatched an order to their Dutch trading partners to commission the building of a warship, which was named theKanrin-maru and was 49 meters in length, with 12 canons and three masts. It was delivered somewhat belatedly in 1857, but was put to good use as a military training vessel.) It is important to pause here to explicate the amorphous term â€Å"the Japanese.† At the time of Perry’s arrival in Tokyo, Japan was indeed technically ruled by an Emperor, but he was largely a spiritual and traditional figurehead who wielded minimal political power. The locus of decision-making was controlled by a chief shà ´gun (which in Japanese means â€Å"great general†), a direct descendent of Tokugawa leyasu, who in1603 defeated rival warlords to bring a semblance of organizational coherence to a Japanese society dominated by the fractious conflicts between feudal warlords. (In fact, the Tokugawa Shogunate, as the organization came to be known, ruled in relative peace for the next 250 years in what was called the Edo Period, after the ancient name for the city of Tokyo.) From 1603 on, the chief shà ´gun henceforth always carried the Tokugawa clan title, and maintained power by executing rivals and replacing them with family members and trusted allies, w ho were forbidden to marry outside the Tokugawa clan and allowed to rule their individual local dominions with a relatively free and arbitrary hand as long as they loyally served the chief shà ´gun. Furthermore, all other shà ´guns and feudal lords were forced to attend a grand gathering in Tokyo / Edo every other year under the watchful eye of the Tokugawas hà ´gun, where loyalties were reinforced and tested, and suspected traitors ferreted out. Additionally, other lords were required to keep heirs or wives in Tokyo while they were administering to their duties in their respective feudal domains, which was another powerful tool of the Tokugawa clan to maintain its control. A strict hierarchical caste system had also established by the Tokugawa Shogunate; atop this pyramid was the infamous warrior class of the samurai, the subjects of much awe and reverence among Western cultures. Below the samurai were farmers, artisans, and traders. Meanwhile, the Emperor himself resided in Kyoto, accompanied by a few servants and bureaucrats to tend to his ceremonial needs, but he exercised virtually no governing power at all. It was under this repressive cloak that the xenophobic culture ofJapan was cultivated and its restrictive trade policies enacted into law. The third in the Tokugawa shà ´gun lineage, Tokugawa Iemitsu, established the rules forbidding almost all foreign trade and interaction. Only inbound trading ships were permitted, and of the visitors, the Dutch and the Chinese were the only ones allowed. This was not merely an exercise in preserving Japanese culture purity, however. Tokugawa Iemitsu was keenly concerned with maintaining his clans power over the opposing feudal warlords, and he knew that cultural, religious, military, and economic influences from other countries could destabilize the already precarious balance of power.The economic and cultural modernization and maturation within the large cities was, by the 19th century, starting to create conflict within the caste system, which began to teeter under the weight of its own stubborn antiquity. This was the complex environment into which Commodore Perry sailed his four ships in July 1853: a paranoid, secretive, and warlike culture steeped in Byzantine traditions but also militarily and technologically steeped in the past, and thus unable to defend its sovereignty. The forced signing of the treaty was the beginning of a long road of resentment towards the United States and the West that culminated in Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. In the immediate meantime, however, the Treaty of Kanagawa was finally signed on March 31, 1854 after Commodore Perry’s return toJapan. It stipulated that the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate would be opened to American ships seeking supplies, that American sailors who had been shipwrecked would be rescued and well-treated, and agreed that an American consulate would be established in Shimoda for the purposes of negotiating a further and more comprehensive trade agreement. This treaty was the beginning of a succession of agreements forced upon the Japanese that brought about a great influx of foreign investment, trade, and business into Japan, but the economic effects of this phenomenon were not all salutary. One such deleterious effect was massive inflation of the Japanese currency. The caste system under the Tokugawa Shogunate mandated a rigid system of taxation on the peasantry; the taxes were fixed and not fairly tied to inflation or other economic vagaries, and thus the taxe s gathered by the rulingshà ´guns fell steeply in the wake of the Treaty of Kanagawa, causing ironic clashes between the well-to-do working class and their rulers.Arguably better warriors than macro-economists, the shà ´gun were unable to curtail this inflation, and the resultant economic instability and hardships inflicted on the Japanese people caused a popular unrest that could not be quelled for very long, and fact led to civil war. By1867, the Shogunate had been overthrown in what became known as the Meiji Rebellion, which restored the Emperor to true power beyond the ceremonial, and brought about a thorough reform of the organization of Japanese government and society. One of the intermediary steps on the way to the weakening of the Shogunate and the restoration of the Emperor’s rule was another treaty between the United States, The Treaty of Amity and Commerce Between theUnited States and Japan, better known historically as the Treaty of Townsend Harris, named after the persistent American diplomat who persuaded the Japanese to sign it. As alluded to previously, the Treaty of Kanagawa had stipulated the creation of an American Consulate in Japan, which would open up negotiations on the specifics of trade negotiation. President Franklin Pierce, who had replaced President Fillmore in March 1853, dispatched Townsend Harris from New York in November 1855 to establish the Consulate and coax the Japanese into actual trade, not simply the intent to trade. Harris arrived in Shimoda in August 1856, having cannily brought along a Dutch-speaking secretary and interpreter named Henry Heuksen to facilitate the difficult and delicate nuances of discourse with the Japanese.However, the Japanese, in a typical stalling maneuver, asked Harris to leave and return in a year. He refused; the Japanese asked him to proceed to Nagasaki, which he declined to do; then, in a final – and rather creative – attempt to rid themselves of Harris, they asked him to write a letter back to the President James Buchanan (who had succeeded Pierce in the November 1856 election) requesting a cancellation of his diplomatic mission. The indefatigable Harris refused this request as well, and eventually the Japanese allowed him to set up an office at the port of Shimoda. Nonetheless, they continued to stonewall Harris by referring any request or question, whether trivial or consequential, to the Emperor’s palace in Edo.Harris demanded an audience with the shà ´gun in the capital, but over a year passed before Harris received permission to travel to Edo. Harris did not sit idly by, however; he used the intervening time to cultivate favor and good will with the powers-that-were in Shimoda, the local members of the Tokugawa bafuku. (Bafuku is a Japanese word loosely translated to mean â€Å"tent government† and is an arm, during this historical period, of the Tokugawa Shogunate) Harris was well aware that the British had paid a visit to the Japanese in 1854 that did not go well and left a bitter taste in the proverbial mouths of both parties. The British, mired in a conflict with the Russians that led to the Crimean War (1854-1856) had dispatched Sir James Stirling fromChina in 1855 to request that the Japanese deny Russian ships access to their ports and attempt to secure some sort of initial trade understanding with the Japanese. Stirling did conclude a treaty, but it was hopelessly vague and of limited utility, in part because of an incompetent translator (a hitch keenly noted by Harris) and was sent on his way. The British l urched from the Crimean War to the Second OpiumWar with China in 1856, distracting them from immediate focus on Japan,but Harris correctly surmised it would only be a matter of time before the British turned their attention to Japan again, and used it, albeit with some fictional license, as leverage in his negotiations against the Japanese. Despite managing to offend the chief shogun, the aged TokugawaIesada, and his Court by wearing shoes during his visit to the Palace in Edo in December 1857, Harris’ otherwise impeccable statesmanship impressed the Shogunate sufficiently that they gave their blessing for the treaty negotiations, and they gave permission for Bakufu GrandCouncillor Hotta Masayoshi, with whom Harris had been negotiating, to continue working with Harris to complete the treaty. Harris immediately set to work convincing Masayoshi with a combination of exaltations of American good intentions and fears of an inevitable British arrival on Japanese soil which would demand treaty terms far less generous than that ‘suggested’ by the American. Specifically, Harris preyed on the fears of the Japanese that the only thing standing between Japan and the imperial pressure of the British was their soon-to-be-concluded war against China. The Japanese had long heldChina in a place of cultural reverence in the Far East and had been profoundly shocked at the relative ease with which the French and British were defeating the Chinese in the Second Opium War. Aware of this, naturally, Harris used it to his advantage. In his December 12, 1857 audience with Masayoshi, Harris had this to say: On my way to Japan I met the English governor of Hong-Kong, JohnBowring, who told me that he was about to be appointed an ambassador to go to Japan, and I have received four letters from him since my arrival in Japan. Our conversation was of course private, but in his letters he discusses Japanese Government matters. He says he intends to bring with him a larger fleet than the Japanese have ever seen, and anchor at Yedo, {Edo] where the discussions will be carried on. He says also that Yedo is the only place to hold consultation with the Japanese; that his object is, first, to get permission for a minister or agent of England to reside in Yedo, and, secondly, to get permission to carry on free trade at several places in Japan. If these two things are not granted war will be declared at once. The sending of this ambassador he says is delayed by the war in China. He said he would be in Yedo in the third month, but he has been detained by the war. (Harris, 1857) In another dramatic touch, Harris also asserted that the British intended to addict the entirety of the Japanese population to opium: It appears that the English think the Japanese are fond of opium, and they want to bring it here also. If a man use opium once he cannot stop it, and it becomes a life-long habit to use opium; hence the English want to introduce it into Japan. The President of theUnited States thinks that for the Japanese opium is more dangerous than war. (Harris, 1857) What Harris neglected to mention was that in truth, the British were loathe to try to force an opening into Japan at this particular juncture in time. They had squandered vast military and political capital in pursuit of their war with China, and there was domestic unrest to contend with as well: Despite popular perceptions of British imperialism at this period, official British policy was in fact against the use of force in opening up Japan and British Ministers were mindful of humanitarian considerations that might lead to criticism in Parliament. They instructed British representatives to avoid provocative acts and the threat or use of force. (Cortazzi, 1999) Nonetheless, Harris then went on to claim that the United States had studiously avoided joining Britain in the war against China, despite the fact that newly elected President Buchanan was a veteran diplomat and former Secretary of State who, in his former diplomatic position,and now, as President-elect, was actively working towards mending old grievances with Britain. Harris suggested that if the Japanese come to mutually satisfactory terms with the United States, particularly with respect to the issue of opium trade – Harris suggested that the Japanese could burn any opium which American traders might bring to ports in the future – then in effect, the United States would form a defacto protective buffer between Japan and the European powers, and at the very least, treaty terms with Britain or France could be no worse for the Japanese than the benevolent terms of a treaty with the UnitedStates. In fact, the treaty proposed (in Article II) that in any dispute between Ja pan and European powers, the United States president would serve as mediator. Hotta Masayoshi was no fool, and despite the fact that the Shogunate had responded to Commodore Perry’s presence by commissioning military vessels from its Dutch trading partners, Masayoshi knew the Japanese had little choice at this particular juncture in time but to accede toHarris’ terms. Negotiations on Treaty of Townsend Harris were concluded in February 1858 and the treaty was signed on July 29, 1858.(Ironically, Commodore Perry died in New York City the same day.)Harris, never one to miss an opportunity for some patriotic public relations, ensured that the treaty was stipulated to take effect on July 4, 1859, on American Independence Day. Little did the Japanese know that they had taken another ominous step towards the erosion of their own cultural-economic independence. The treaty provided for the opening of four additional ports to American trading ships: Kanagawa and Nagasaki, on July 4, 1859;Niigata, on the January 1, 1860; and Hyogo, on the January 1, 1863; the port of Shimoda would be closed to American beginning in January 1860.Starting on July 4, 1862, Americans would also be allowed to take up residence in Edo. It provided for tariffs to be applied to American goods imported into Japan and exported to the United States, and forbade the trade of opium between the Unites States and Japan. The tariffs – unsurprisingly favored imported American products with a five percent tax on most goods and raw materials. The treaty stipulated that this tariff was fixed until the treaty came up for revision and renegotiation in 1872, sowing the seeds for the economic instability, alluded to above, that led to the downfall of the Shogunate. In particularly surprising concession, the treaty stipulated that Americans in Japan would be allowed free exerc ise of their religious beliefs, which extended to permission to construct places of worship. This was a significant break with Japanese tradition, which had long been steeped with animosity towardsChristianity. In fact, Christianity was essentially forbidden, andHarris had taken a considerable personal risk by making a show of his Christian beliefs when he visited the Shogunate in Edo in 1858.Despite a clause in the treaty that seemed to forbid Christian proselytizing (â€Å"The Americans and Japanese shall not do anything that may be calculated to excite religious animosity† (Article VII), the influx of Christianity into the Japanese homeland was deeply offensive to many traditionalist and contributed to the erosion of support for the Shogunate. Another interesting stipulation of the treaty is that diplomatic envoys from Japan would be sent to the United States for the purposes of cultural exchange and for a ‘formal’ treaty-signing ceremony. Three Japanese were selected for the journey: Shimmi Masaoki, the senior ambassador, who was only 35 years of age; Oguri Tadamasu, who carried the title of ‘official inspector’ for the diplomatic mission; andMurgaki Norimasa, who kept a detailed diary of the delegation’s visit.Each were samurai warriors, consistent with the ruling class from which they came, and knew next to nothing of American culture or the peculiarities of Western culture, much less the American government;for example, the Japanese found it bizarre that the Americans had gone through three elected leaders in a peaceful transition of power between the time Commodore Perry had paid his infamous visit and the Japanese delegation left to visit the United States. In an attempt to show stren gth and regal power, the three Japanese did not travel alone –their party numbered 77, including six cooks, 51 guards and servants, three doctors, and three interpreters. It was quite a showcase: On February 13, 1860, the ambassadors and their staff sailed from Yokohama with 50 tons of Japanese baggage (including the treaty in its special box), 100,000 readily negotiable Mexican dollars, and a large supply of Japanese food. Appropriately, perhaps, the vessel that carried them from Japan to San Francisco was the navy frigate Powhatan, one of the steam-powered paddle-wheelers Perry had employed inopening Japan. (Finn, 2002) The America into which the Japanese were received in May 1860, was teetering on the precipice of a civil war which would forever alter its destiny, mirroring the dark seeds of revolution which were germinating back home in Japan. To say that the Japanese experienced culture shock was an understatement; it was a precursor to the shocks that would reverberate through Japanese culture in their homeland due to the floodgates of external Western cultural influence that were being opened by the Harris Townsend Treaty that the Japanese envoys signed with President Buchanan on May 18. Upon their return home in November 1860, the Japanese delegation was greeted coolly, as the elements in the Shogunate that had approved the treaty had begun to fall from favor. Murgaki Norimasa and ShimmiMasaoki received promotions but were soon forced into retirement.Oguri Tadamasu went on to become a powerful military leader for theShogunate, but he refused to accept their downfall and the eventual re-ascension of the Emperor; he and his son were executed in 1868. The interior map of Japanese political and cultural power was a tumultuous mess by the time the delegation returned to Japan. The Tokugawa Shogunate had splintered into two warring factions due to the controversy regarding the signings of the two treaties with the UnitedStates and fears of imminent meddling by the British into Japanese affairs. Tokugawa Iesada had become an old and infirm man and was barely able to carry out his duties during the negotiations over the Townsend Harris Treaty. Compounding the fractious debate over whether or not to agree to the treaty was a struggle brewing over who would succeed Iesada, as Iesada had no natural heir. The two leading contenders were Tokugawa Yoshinobu (aka Keiki), and a 12-year old boy, the Daimyo of Kii. In an attempt to solidify the ebbing power of the Tokugawa clan and to end the debate over the the treaty signings, the latter of which he had brokered, Hotta Masayoshi broke with precedent and traveled to Kyoto to visit Emperor Komei to seek his approval for the Harris Treaty and for the ascension of the Daimyo of Kii to head the Shogunate. Unfortunately for Hotta, his gamble backfired. TheEmperor communicated his unhappiness with the treaties and refused to offer his support for Tokugawa Yoshinobu / Keiki. Hotta was humiliated and was replaced in April 1858 by Ii Naosuke, who was appointedTokugawa Regent, making him the effective military leader of Japan and head of the shogun council. Ii immediately approved the Townsend Harris Treaty, effectively snubbing the Emperor, which caused a widespread rebellion amongst Imperial Japanese loyalists who literally revered the Emperor as a god and who viewed action against his wishes to be a mortal sin.Undaunted, Ii then proceeded to arbitrarily appointed the boy Daimyo of Kii as the Shogunate heir, spawning a massive rebellion. Those who opposed his sanctioning of the Treaty and/or his appointment of theShogunate heir were executed en masse, in a bloodbath dubbed the AnseiPurge. Being of tender age, naturally, the Daimyo of Kii – who assumed the name Tokugawa Iemochi was unable to assert his sovereign will or assume his duties, leaving Ii firmly entrenched in power, or so he thought. His rule did not last long; he was beheaded by anti-foreigner, pro-Emperor elements in March 1860. After Ii was assassinated, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, who had been Tokugawa Iemochi’searlier rival for the position of Shogun, assumed eff ective control of the Shogunate by assuming a position of power similar to the one held by Ii and Hotta before him. After Tokugawa Iemochi’s death in 1866, Tokugawa Yoshinobu assumed the official ceremonial title and power of Shogun. He was to be the fifteenth and last Shogun in Japanese history. Certainly, the arrival of the Americans and the treaties they forced upon the Shogunate were a leading cause of their downfall, but the Shogunate was already weakening under its own antiquated weight by the time Commodore Perry arrived in Japan in 1853. Though very stable and consistent, the philosophy and structure of the Shogunate government was change-averse to a fault; it was 200 years old, and had simply outlived its usefulness: The simple concept of the division of classes into rulers, warriors and commoners had little relation to Japan of the 19th century with its teeming cities, rich merchants, restless samurai, and discontent peasantry†¦ Despite the division of the land into a large number of feudal fiefs, the people had developed a strong sense of national consciousness. The growth of nationalism and the development of a modern commercial economy had made Japan ready for the more efficient political forms of the modern nation. (Norman, 1940) To some degree, the nationalism of the Japanese was reflective of the psychology of isolation, i.e., the Japanese,

The Three Little Pigs (From The Wolfs Point Of View) :: essays research papers

The Wolf Who Wanted a Friend One day I was walking through the meadow, feeling very sad and lonely. I wanted a friend to spend time with. My mother sent me out to play, but I couldn't find anyone to play with. I looked everywhere until I came to a house made out of straw. I knocked on the straw door, and a little pig answered and told me to go away! I thought that was very rude of him. I told the little pig that I wanted to come inside and play. The little pig said, "Not by the hairs of my chinny chin chin!" I was so sad. Just as I was about to walk away my dumb allergies started acting up. I sneezed so hard that I blew the house down. The little pig ran away and I ran after him, trying to tell him I was sorry. He ran to his brother's house and I knocked again. This time they both told me to go away. I almost cried! I just wanted to play with them. They told me, "Not by the hairs of our chinny, chin, chin!" I turned to walk away and just then, I sneezed so hard that my hat blew off my head. I turned back to get my hat and sneezed again! This time I blew the house of sticks down. I was so embarrassed! My friends, the pigs, came running out of the rubble, and scampered away. I ran after them to ask if they wanted to play catch. They ran into another house. This one was really nice. It was made out of bricks. I knocked on the door and they told me to go away again! I started to cry. When I cry a lot, I sneeze a lot. I sneezed and sneezed and sneezed some more. I heard them laugh at me! I started to get mad and wanted to tell them to stop, so I climbed on to the roof of their house and tried to yell into their chimney, but I slipped and fell right in.

Free Essays: The Charater of Odysseus of Homers Odyssey :: Odyssey essays

The Charater of Odysseus of Homer's Odyssey      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The most admired classical hero is most certainly Odysseus, the mythological Grecian subject of Homer's epic tale, The Odyssey.   This legendary figure displays excessive amounts of brains and muscle, seeming almost superhuman at times.   He embodies the ideals Homeric Greeks aspired to: manly valor, loyalty, piety, and intelligence.   The popularity of Odysseus transcends time.   To this day he remains greatly admired as both a hero and an ordinary man who must deal with great adventures and retrieving the life he once had.   For twenty years Odysseus overcame each obstacle the gods handed to him.   He was always respectful to the gods, acknowledging their control of fate and realizing that he needed help if he was to ever get back to Ithaca and his beloved family.   He showed keen observation, instinct, and caution.   He is great at disguises, capable of concealing his feelings, and a fast, inventive liar: heroic qualities that got him through his adversities.   Odysseus is also very human, and the reader can see these many qualities as well.   He is often moved to tears.   He makes mistakes, gets himself into tricky situations, and loses his temper.   We see him play not only a hero but also a husband, father, and son.   He takes on the very human roles of athlete, warrior, sailor, storyteller, carpenter, beggar, and lover.   He vividly displays human qualities like brutality and boldness, while being sensitive and shy at the same time.   It is these human qualities that people can relate to.   While he is no doubt a hero, Odysseus is also viewed as a modern man, the pragmatic survivor.   He must struggle, suffer, and deal with the inescapable fate handed down to him from the great beings atop Mt. Olympus. The average human can relate to Odysseus' human qualities, while admiring him for the heroic traits they can only hope to attain, making him so popular.   Odysseus has the skills, strength, and intelligence to qualify him as a hero, yet he still possess the emotional constraints of a human, which together enable him to survive the chaotic disorder of his adventure.   His journey was rich with people and places and totally unpredictable, just as life is for everybody.   From ancient Greeks to today's reader, it is easy to commiserate with Odysseus while at the same time idolize him for dealing with life as it came at him.

Personal Leadership Philosophy Essay -- definition of leadership

In developing this idea of what leadership is, I examined what was most important to me in being a leader. Since leadership is such a broad term, this could not be a process whereby I could generalize leadership for everyone. Rather, the task is to determine who I am as a leader. I asked myself, what is it that shapes the vision? What are the factors that comprise a leader, and what makes these things add up to create something larger than ourselves as leaders? Thoughtful reflections on these things lead me to generate the following definition of leadership: Leadership is about more than simply having followers; it is not a title, and it is not achieved by just following a few principles. Leadership is complex, though at its core, it is having the courage to make the right choices – not just the popular ones, engaging others in a vision, and empowering followers to pursue a shared purpose of achieving a positive, lasting impact. My leadership philosophy has been shaped by several factors, the first of which is the knowledge of self. I am a firm believer that until you know yourself first, you are not able to meet your fullest potential as a leader. The greatest relationships exist when each person knows first themselves and what they bring to the table, impacting all leader/follower relationships. The leader approaches the relationship confidently, knowing that the leader and follower can mutually benefit from their interaction. One of the most important things that I have done in terms of my personal development is to identify my core values. Possibly the most critical step to becoming an effective leader is to determine and understand one’s core values. Many of my values are a result of my childhood; however, t... ...d is constantly changing, and to keep up, one must be prepared to take on opportunities that will result in continued growth and learning. Ultimately, these values are all inter†connected. It takes great courage to lead with authenticity and integrity. Integrity inspires service and respect for others. Living authentically and with integrity enables the leader to develop their passions, resulting in a commitment to hard work and dedication, as well as growth and learning. Pushing through the challenges of a full commitment to this lifestyle of leadership requires a sense of humor, and a willingness to re†align one’s life to one’s passions. I think that when we truly commit ourselves to understanding ourselves as leaders, as well as learn to understand our followers and the relationship that exists between leader and follower, there is potential for great change.

Osi Analogy Paper

OSI Model Analogy Trevor Crews Strayer University The OSI model is the model developed for computer-to-computer communications over a network. This model breaks down all the functions that occur into seven distinct layers. These layers are, application, presentation, session, transport, network, data link, and the physical layer. Each one encompasses a specific part of the process that occurs during the communication. In order to simplify this think of it like sending a package through the post office.It can be broken down into seven stages or layers for this example. We start with bringing an item or letter to the post office that is to be sent to a determined destination. This is essentially what happens in the application layer. This is the interface between the communication and the entire process as it is in how a computer works. Next the item is packaged and put into a box or envelope. This is similar to how the presentation layer functions. In this layer the communication is f ormatted, encrypted, and compressed; basically prepared for sending.Our package is then tagged with tracking information and tagging information that allows us to track it and verify if there are any other packages and if needed what order they go in. This is similar to the session layer. Next our package is put into a sorting device of some kind that sorts things based on size to see if it is able to be sent with other shipments or broken down to be sent different ways if it is to large. This is similar to the transport layer of the OSI model. The similarities go on over the next few layers as well.After packages are sorted they couriers inspect the packages and are given the specific routes they are to take in order to deliver the correct packages to the correct recipients. This represents the network layer in that the connections are established between the computers and the routing is also established. Next the packages are loaded onto the means of their transportation. This can include both truck and plane or whatever other method is needed to ensure delivery. This is how the data link layer works. The information is packaged generally in frames and sent via the proper transmission method via the designated route.The first of this process ends with the drivers getting into to their vehicles and driving towards the destinations with the packages. This is the physical layer in which the transmission takes place. After all this takes place it goes back through the same layers in the reverse order to ensure that everything that has happened was in the correct order and method. For example a package arrives at its destination, it’s then unloaded, inspected to make sure its intact and not damaged, signed for to verify the correct address and recipient, unpacked, and finally read.While the process as a whole can be overwhelmingly complex if it is broken down into layers as the OSI model does it can be viewed a little more simplistically and compared to mo dern day processes. Such as the post office as I have described. There are also many other similarities that if one looked they could make connections to. Works Cited Dean, T. (2010). CIS 175: Network + Guide to Networks: 2010 Custom Edition (5th Edition). Boston: Cengage Learning.

Managment Diversity

?WORKPLACE DIVERSITY Introduction In modern times, diversity management has been brought to the forefront of organisational issues due to factors such as globalisation and the emerging cultural and individual differences that emerge as a result of this diverse world. The purpose of this paper will be to explore the topic of diversity as it relates to the workplace by discussing perspectives from union groups and HRM practitioners and to investigate the barriers to workplace diversity. Through the discussion, the advantages of diversity will be discussed with an emphasis on the implications for the HR function of the organisation. Overview Workplace diversity relates to the presence of differences among members of the workforce (D’Netto & Sohal, 1999). By creating a diverse workforce organisations are able to tap the ideas, creativity, and potential contributions inherent in a diverse workforce (Aghazadeh, 2004). Diversity in the workplace includes culture, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, physical abilities, social class, age, socio-economic status, and religion (Sadri & Tran, 2002). These individual characteristics shape an individual’s perception about their environment and how they communicate (Kramar, 1998). Organisations can approach diversity is three differing ways: affirmative action, valuing diversity and managing diversity. Affirmative action attempts to monitor and control diversity in an organisation and in doing so senior management can affect the hiring and promotion of individuals (Sadri & Tran, 2002. ) An organisation assumes new individuals or groups will adapt to the norms of the organisation, and will not resist due to fears of reverse discrimination (Sadri and Tran, 2002). Valuing diversity can allow an organisation can focus of the benefits of the differences, therefore developing an environment where all individuals are valued and accepted (Sadri & Tran, 2002). Those members who feel valued to their organisation tend to be harder working, more involved and innovative (Agahazadeh, 2004). Valuing Diversity can affect employees’ attitudes positively, however resistance can be experienced due to a fear of change and individuals discomfort with differences (Sadri & Tran, 2002. ) Finally, managing diversity is when organisations build pecific skills and create policies which obtain the best values of each employee, which will create new ways of working together (Sadri & Tran, 2002). It will provide an opportunity for organisations to manage a workforce which emphasises both organisational and individual performance, whilst still acknowledging individual needs (Kramar, 1998). Although diversity has always existed in organisations, individuals tend to repress their diversity in order to conform to the norms of the organisation and fit into the stereotype of the typical employee (Kramar, 1998). Mismanagement of diversity as a result of unfavourable treatment can inhibit employees working abilities and motivation, which can lead to a lowered job performance (Aghazadeh, 2004). If an environment works well for employees, diversity will work against the organisation, hence the lack of an enabling environment (Kramar, 1998). These fundamental components of workplace diversity can be further viewed through the varying perspectives of union groups, HRM professionals and organisations. PERSPECTIVES AND RATIONALES ON WORKPLACE DIVERSITY From a union perspective Historically the role of unions concentrated mainly on the fight for higher wages, shorter hours and better working conditions. However in recent years a shift has occurred to fighting rights for a diverse workforce (Barrile & Cameron, 2004). Management aims to maximise the contribution of all staff to work towards organisational objectives through forming guiding teams for diversity, training to improve languages and celebrating success. Unions however, implement diversity differently (Barrile & Cameron, 2004). A feminine approach to leadership has been undertaken to broaden a diverse representation. For instance, under the management of CEO Brian Schwartz, Ernst & Young Australia has doubled the number of female partners to ten per cent, made changes to a ‘blokey’ culture and introduced a women’s leadership forum, among other initiatives (Robbins, Bergmann, Coulter & Stagg, 2006). Women union leaders tie diversity in leadership to long-term union survival, articularly in light of the impact that diversity has on organising successes and increased visibility of unions to potential female members. Most of these leaders expressed a â€Å"sense of urgency† about the need to advance women and saw continuing barriers that prevented women from entering and remaining in top positions (Mellor et al. , 2003). To overcome such barriers implementations such as commitment to advancing women in the work force and supporting internal structures to activate women have been undertaken by union’s worldwide (Melcher, Eichstedt, Eriksen, Clawson, 1992). Unions have officially recognised caucuses or other groups that permit people of different colour, including women, to discuss issues of concern within their union as well as in the larger workplace and community (Mellor et al. , 2003). Unions have provided mentoring and leadership training programs. Efforts undertaken by unions to foster diversity have resulted visible changes at all levels of leadership. The remaining task is to make those changes bigger and more permanent. The fact that there is more to do does not mean there is failure; it simply means reinforcing longstanding labour movement commitments to dignity, justice and equal opportunity for all working people (Melcher, Eichstedt, Eriksen, Clawson, 1992). Building on the rationale provided by different union groups, HR practitioners also recognise the importance of promoting a diverse workplace and recognise the impact on business goals. From an HRM perspective There are many HRM perspectives that relate to diversity management in organisations. Most of these HRM perspectives lead towards the contention that a successful diversity management policy can lead to a more competitive, functional organisation. In light of the perspectives and rationales discussed in the HRM literature, there a range of implications for HR managers concerning diversity in the workplace. Management of diversity relates to equal employment opportunity, but effective diversity management goes beyond the basic requirements of an equal opportunity workplace (Barrile & Cameron, 2004). It is important for HR to determine an effective diversity management policy to be able to encourage a more iverse workplace. The most important job for senior HR managers is to consider how diversity will benefit the organisation and how to define its role in the context of the organisation (Kreitz, 2008). An organisation’s diversity policy should aim to establish an heterogeneous workforce that is able to work to its full capacity in an environment where no member, or for that matter group of members, have an advantage or disadvantage based on their individual differences (Torres & Bruxelles, 1992, as cited in D’Netto & Sohal, 1999). In exercising their role, HR managers must constantly apply the principles of diversity in order to maximise and sustain the benefits of a diverse workforce. This means HR managers need to be able to link recruitment, selection, development and retention policies to the overall diversity policy of the organisation (Yakura, 1996). Furthermore, the aforementioned should be carried out with a direct link to the overall business goals, the various shifts in the labour market as well as the more contemporary effects of globalisation (Cunningham & Green, 2007). There are three initiatives that an organisation should utilise to increase the efficiency of its diversity policy. Firstly, there is a need for HR, when recruiting, to increase the representation in the workplace of historically excluded groups (Conrad & Linnehan, 1995). Secondly, the diverse workforce needs to have the necessary empowerment to influence, or at least have input to organisational decision making (Cunningham & Green, 2007). More strategic implications for diversity management exist that recognise the emergence of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM). Such implications include building diversity strategies into an overall future success plan, integrating diversity practices with senior management practices and encouraging career development opportunities for all employees (Cunningham & Green, 2007). Ultimately, managing diversity should promote competitive edge in the organisation by recruiting the most appropriate people for the job regardless of their perceived differences (D’Netto & Sohal, 1999). From an organisational perspective: ANZ and Westpac ANZ Bank has responded to the common trends of the Australian workforce with programs to attract and retain a diverse environment that reflects their customer base (ANZ, 2008). An organisation is focused on creating an inclusive culture where all employees are able to contribute, as they believe that diversity and inclusion are essential for high business performance (ANZ, 2008). By managing diversity within the organisation, ANZ is provided with the best talent and a wide variety of experience to achieve success within a global workforce. Similarly, Westpac is determined to enable a diverse workforce that reflects their customers (Westpac, 2008). Westpac has created a culture that understands values and utilises the differences within people, where people can achieve success without encountering bias or being harassed because of gender, race or disability (Westpac, 2008). Both organisations have made efforts to create a diverse working environment through varying HRM practices. For example, HRM within ANZ created the â€Å"My Difference† survey which surveyed more than 13, 500 employees (ANZ, 2008). Within this survey, HR is able to develop a demographic snapshot of the workforce and gather feedback on how their employees perceive diversity and inclusion within the organisation. ANZ also founded the Diversity Council, which introduces policies and sponsors events to create a more inclusive culture (ANZ, 2008). The council attempts to increase awareness by supporting events like International Women’s’ Day and Disability Awareness Week (ANZ, 2008). HR in both organisations has implemented a range of human resource strategies. Disability awareness, plans in both companies outline strategies to increase support and inclusion for customers and staff of the organisation, which include premises being wheelchair accessible (Westpac, 2008; ANZ, 2008). Westpac is also partnered with Disability Works Australia to recruit people with disability to remain a balanced environment (Westpac, 2008). Secondly, to promote age balance, mature age employees are offered flexible working conditions to suit their changing lifestyle (ANZ, 2008). Culturally both banks have planned to help indigenous Australians improve their wellbeing and money management skills. ANZ celebrates cultural diversity by holding â€Å"Annual Cultural Week† (ANZ, 2008). Westpac reflects different cultures by employing members who are able to speak different languages to better understand the customers (Westpac, 2008). To promote flexibility, Westpac has different job designs for individuals’ circumstances, including versatile working hours, job sharing abilities, the ability to work from home, to have career breaks and paid parental leave and affordable childcare at work (Westpac, 2008). On a wider rganisational level, ANZ and Westpac both face a number of popular trends that continue to change the Australian workforce. These include the Australian population becoming increasingly more ethically diverse with 23% of the population born overseas (ANZ, 2008). The population is also ageing and is predicted that in 43 years around 25% of Australia’s population will be aged 65 year or older and the number of women in the workforce has increased from 40% in 1979 to 53% in 2004 (ANZ, 2008). Based upon the actions taken by ANZ and Westpac in this regard, organisations are recognising the benefits of a diverse workplace. The strategies by both companies to increase the representation of women in the workforce, as well as increasing the representation of diverse others, corresponds with the views of both union and non-governmental organisations as well as the perspectives provided through the HRM literature. BARRIERS TO WORKPLACE DIVERSITY Diversity within an organisation can be difficult and expensive to accomplish. Substantial barriers exist in both overcoming laws related to workplace diversity, the actual process of implementing it within an organisation and also the internal characteristics of the individual. The current legislation related to workplace diversity essentially creates an environment in which employers cannot recruit purely on the basis of a desired attribute. The main acts concerned are the Racial Discrimination Act (1975), the Sex Discrimination Act (1984), the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act (1984), the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act (1991), the Disability Discrimination Act (1991) and the Workplace Relations Act (1996) (Williams, 2001. These laws essentially shape a scenario for employees where if a desired attribute is sought after, the job must be made appealing to that particular group of people without impairing the opportunity for any other group to obtain the position under the requirements of the legislation. An example of this is Westpac’s initiative to entice more women into their workforce by implementing training programs relating to gender differences in communication and career progression (Westpac, 2008 . ) However, once a company like Westpac overcomes these hurdles, there are still many practical ssues that need to be addressed on an organisational level. If a diversity program is unlikely to be profitable it will not be implemented (Bilimoria, Joy, & Liang, 2008). The monetary benefits (such as new customers, better culture and strategic advantage) involved in implementing such diversity need to outweigh the costs (gaining diversity at the expense of skill) involved in pursuing it. The HR department within the organisation has a difficult task in convincing senior management that a diversity program can be beneficial to the organisation (D’Netto & Sohal, 1999). The argument often provided by senior management against workplace diversity is that it is disruptive to productivity and causes imbalance in the workplace (D’Netto & Sohal, 1999). As a result, the HR function need to be able to present the many advantages of diversity, and provide strong strategic reasoning to ensure that an effective diversity management is implemented. An organisation may also have barriers imbedded in their practices, culture and policies (Bilimoria, Joy, & Liang, 2008). Resolving these issues has benefits for both the legality of the operating of the organisation and the multiplicity of their workforce. If senior management participated in only male orientated social events, such as attending the football, it may alienate women who generally may not participate in such events. Policy can also break both legality and potential for diversity by enforcing requirements such as 10 years continual service to an organisation in order to receive promotion into senior management. This continual service factor discriminates against women who are likely to have children, as it will exclude many from the opportunity to obtain the job. However, it is the individual differences within each person that provide the biggest challenge to achieving diversity. Individual differences amongst people are a major hurdle to workplace diversity, as most people feel comfortable when working in homogeneous groups (Kreitz, 2008). The presence of diverse others places employees outside of their comfort zone and makes people resist embracing the presence of others. Furthermore, research by Kreitz (2008) shows that humans, and organisations as well, are in nature highly resistant to change, further complicating the successful implementation of diversity. Another individual, and highly problematic, barrier to diversity is the language barrier that exists to culturally diverse others. This prevents, and in some cases discourages, the full integration of cultural differences within organisations (Kreitz, 2008). Diversity is clearly beneficial to the organisation. Managing diversity should involve utilising the cultural differences in people’s skills and embracing the diverse range of ideas and skills that exist in a diverse workplace in order to ultimately give the organisation a competitive edge. Benefits to diversity clearly outweigh the costs and evident advantages to workplace diversity are supported by various union groups and HRM practitioners. In order to be successful, diversity must be implemented within a strict legal framework and overcome hurdles relating to the practices and policies of organisations, as well as internal, individual barriers. REFERENCES Aghazadeh, SM 2004, ‘Managing workforce diversity as an essential resource for improving organizational performance’, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, vol. 3, no. 6, pp. 1-6 ANZ 2008, viewed 10 September , 2008, http://www. anz. com Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008, viewed 10 September, 2008, http://www. abs. gov. au Barrile, S & Cameron, T 2004, Business Management: Corporate management, people and change. Macmillan Education, Melbourne, VIC. Bilimoria, D, Joy, S, & Liang, X 2008, ‘Breaking barriers and creating inclusiveness: Lessons of organizational transf ormation to advance women faculty in academic science and engineering’, Human Resource Management, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 423-441 Cox Jr. T & Blake, S 1991, ‘Managing cultural diversity: implications for organizational competitiveness’. Academy of Management Executive , vol. 5, no. 3,pp. 45-56. Cunningham, DD & Green, D 2007, ‘Diversity as a Competitive Strategy in the Workplace’ Journal of Practical Consulting, vol. 1, no. 2, pp 51-55. D’Netto, B & Sohal, A 1999, ‘Human resources practices and workforce diversity: an empirical assessment’, International Journal of Manpower, vol. 20, no. 8, pp. 530-547. Konrad, A & Linnehan, F 1995, ‘Formalized human resource management tructures: Coordinating equal opportunity or concealing organizational practices’, Academy of Management Journal, No. 38, pp 787 – 820. Kramar, R 1998, ‘Managing diversity: beyond affirmative action in Australia’, Women in Management R eview, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 1-11 Kreitz, PA 2008, ‘Best Practices for Managing Organisational Diversity’ The Journal of Academic Librarianship, vol. 34, no. 2, pp 101-120. Mellor, Steven, Kath, Lisa, Bulger, Carrie, 2003: Bilingualism: Relationships with Willingness to Participate in Union Activities, Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 25 (1): 95-109 Melcher, D. Eichstedt, J. , Eriksen, S. , Clawson, D. , (1992): Women’s Participation in Local Union Leadership: The Massachusetts Experience, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 45, 267-280 Lepadatu, D &Thompson, T, 2008, viewed 15 September, 2008, http://www. allacademic. com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/2/2/8/6/pages22860/p22860-1. php Robbins, S, Bergman, R, Stagg, I and Coutler, M 2006, Management, 4th edn, Pearsons Education Australia, NSW. Sadri, G & Tran, H 2002, ‘Managing your diverse workforce through improved communication’, Journal of Management Development, vol. 21, no. , pp. 227-237 Westpac, 2008, viewed 10 September, 2008, http://www. westpac. com. au Westpac. (2008). Diversity and women in management. Viewed 21 September, 2008, http://www. westpac. com. au/Internet/Publish. nsf/content/WICREMCS+Diversity+and+women+in+management Williams, H. (2001). Guidelines on Workplace Diversity. Viewed September 20, 2008,http://www. apsc. gov. au/publications01/diversityguidelines. pdf   Yakura, E 1996, ‘EEO law and managing diversity’, in E Kossek & S Lobel (ed. ), Managing Diversity: Human Resource Strategies for Transforming the Workplace, pp 25 – 30