Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Diversity of Group and Organization Management

Question: Discuss about the Diversity of Group and Organization Management. Answer: Introduction: The focus of the research is to demonstrate a detailed description of diversity in the workplace from the global perspective in order to gain an understanding of the breadth and complexity of diversity issues. The concepts related to workforce diversity and organisational performance has been the subject matter of decade over the past few decades. The research intends to develop an insight on the trends, which have evolved in the field of diversity along with information for developing unique methods to meet the needs of the global organisations. Henceforth, the global organisations are required to concentrate on diversity and find potential ways, as diversity possesses the capability to yield higher productivity and ensure competitive supremacy in the long-run. Concept of diversity: In the words of Barak (2016), workplace diversity is the planned and systematic commitment made on the part of the organisations for recruiting, retaining, promoting and rewarding a heterogeneous combination of employees. For instance, there is sharp increase in women, minority populations and disabled people are making entry into the global workforce. Therefore, having a diverse workforce and managing the same in an effective manner are two different complete scenarios. In addition, a single initiative is not sufficient to solve the various issues of diversity and managing the same ion organisations (Chrobot-Mason and Aramovich 2013). With the increase in complexity of diversity, diversity training would continue to be a vital component of the entire diversity strategy for organisations to reap the benefits of having a diverse workforce (Edwards 2013). Moreover, it would be difficult to develop a general guideline for programs of training diversity in order to meet the unique needs of the organisations. However, there are various practices available, which would help in assuring effective diversity management in the organisations. Some of these practices constitute of inclusion of diversity into mission statement, action plans of diversity, accountability related to business aims, employee engagement, planning and career development (Gotsis and Kortezi 2015). Therefore, it is inherent that some organisations are responding to the programs of workforce diversity for avoiding legal consequences, while others are reaping the benefits after adopting such program. The diversity case could be differentiated between social justice or moral diversity case or diversity business case. Therefore, from these perspectives, the organisations are involved in managing diversity for minimising the drawbacks, which are experienced on the part of minority groups and avoid discrimination claims from the same (Guillaume et al. 2015). However, as argued by Harvey and Allard (2015), conforming to the equality laws is not sufficient, the organisations need to realise the requirements of maintaining a diverse workforce. The global firms that use both these techniques would be able to reap the maximum benefits. Benefits of diversity in the workplace: According to Kim and Lee (2014), the organisations, which involve in diversity, experience enhanced synergy amongst the employees, increased network of contacts and the employees take on different roles and tasks. The following are the benefits, which could be realised from the workplace diversity: Enhanced productivity: With the help of diverse workforce, the organisations could provide additional solutions to the customers, as new processes and ideas are developed. In addition, workplace diversity boosts up the morale of the staffs and it causes the staffs to work more effectively. The organisational managers could bring new methods and skills to accomplish team unity (Klarsfeld et al. 2014). Enhanced creativity: The workforce diversity enhances creativity within an organisation, as heterogeneous groups are cross-fertilising each other. For instance, in a consulting organisation that specialises in workforce diversity, the staffs belonging to different backgrounds generate a wide range of solutions for accomplishing a specific goal. With the increase in suggestion of diverse ideas, the probability of finding a workable answer is improved. Positive brand image: As commented by Kokkonen, Esaiasson and Gilljam (2014), the potential staffs want to know that the organisations their staffs irrespective of race, gender and ethnicity. Therefore, such firms are able to bring in new talent as well as retaining them because they are able to increase the morale of the employees arising from workplace diversity. Challenges of diversity in the workplace: There are certain challenges of adopting diversity in the workplace, which are briefly demonstrated as follows: Communication: The cultural, perceptual and language impediments are required to be overcome for ensuring success of the diversity programs. This is because ineffective communication of major objectives results in low morale, confusion and ineffective teamwork. Resistance to change: There are some staffs in the organisation, who always adopt resistance to any changes implemented in the organisation. As a result, it might decliner the overall productivity of the organisations. Necessary tools for managing diversity: Workplace diversity refers to the process of minimizing various gaps among the organizational people like religious gaps, cultural gaps and others. It is necessary to establish diversity in the workplace for the smooth running of the organization. For this reason, organizational managers use certain tools that help them to create effective diversity in the organization. There are three major tool that the managers use. They are discussed below: The first tool is Planning and Implementation. It is utmost important for the organizational managers to make an effective plan so that diversity in the workplace can be maintained. Only planning is not enough until the plans are implemented properly (Landrito and Sarros 2013). It is the duty of the managers to properly manager and implements the diversity in workplace. The second tool is Conflict Resolution Skill. In order to maintain workplace diversity in the workplace, the managers need to resolve the internal conflicts of the organization in an effective way. For this purpose, the managers need to obtain the conflict resolution tools. The Third tool is Proper Communication. The presence of proper and effective communication between the managers and the employees make the process of implementing workplace diversity easier. Proper communication minimizes the scope and miscommunication and hence, there can be a cordial atmosphere in the workplace. Conclusion: From the above discussion, it has been found that employee engagement is the major need for the global organisations in maintaining their productivity level and ensuring competitive advantage. This is because workplace diversity helps in boosting up the morale of the employees to come up with new ideas and innovations. As a result, it helps in improving the overall business performance of the global organisations. However, there are certain challenges associated with workplace diversity, which include resistance to change and communication. References: Barak, M.E.M., 2016.Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage Publications. Chrobot-Mason, D. and Aramovich, N.P., 2013. The psychological benefits of creating an affirming climate for workplace diversity.Group Organization Management,38(6), pp.659-689. Edwards, M.R., 2013. Employees as a Focus of Branding Activities: A Review of Recent Contributions to the Literature and the Implications for Workplace Diversity.Equal Opportunities International. Gotsis, G. and Kortezi, Z., 2015. Workplace Diversity: A Resource or a Source of Conflict?. InCritical studies in diversity management literature(pp. 1-12). Springer Netherlands. Guillaume, Y.R., Dawson, J.F., Otaye?Ebede, L., Woods, S.A. and West, M.A., 2015. Harnessing demographic differences in organizations: What moderates the effects of workplace diversity?.Journal of Organizational Behavior. Harvey, C.P. and Allard, M., 2015.Understanding and managing diversity. Pearson. Kim, H.K. and Lee, U.H., 2014. Managing workplace diversity and employees' turnover intention: The mediating role of perceived organizational support.Journal of Digital Convergence,12(10), pp.145-156. Klarsfeld, A., Booysen, L.A., Ng, E., Roper, I. and Tatli, A. eds., 2014.9.78 E+ 12: Country Perspectives on Diversity and Equal Treatment. Edward Elgar Publishing. Kokkonen, A., Esaiasson, P. and Gilljam, M., 2014. Migration?based Ethnic Diversity and Social Trust: A Multilevel Analysis of How Country, Neighbourhood and Workplace Diversity Affects Social Trust in 22 Countries.Scandinavian Political Studies,37(3), pp.263-300. Landrito, L. and Sarros, J.C., 2013. Effective leadership and workplace diversity.BOOK REVIEW, p.3.

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Heart Of Darkness And Apocolypse Now Analysis Of Essay Example For Students

Heart Of Darkness And Apocolypse Now : Analysis Of Essay BookmovieHeart of Darkness and Apocolypse Now : analysis of bookmovieHeart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now Inherent inside every human soul is a savage evil side that remains repressed by society. Often this evil side breaks out during times of isolation from our culture, and whenever one culture confronts another. Joseph Conrads book, The Heart of Darkness and Francis Coppolas movie, Apocalypse Now are both stories about Mans journey into his self, and the discoveries to be made there. They are also about Man confronting his fears of failure, insanity, death, and cultural contamination. Heart of Darkness is about a man named Marlo telling of a trip he took into Africa to find a man named Kurtz for a company. During Marlows mission to find Kurtz, he is also trying to find himself. He, like Kurtz had good intentions upon entering the Congo. Conrad tries to show us that Marlow is what Kurtz had been, and Kurtz is what Marlow could become. Every human has a little of Marlow and Kurtz in them. Along the trip into the wilderness, they discover their true selves through contact with savage natives. As Marlow ventures further up the Congo, he feels like he is traveling back through time. He sees the unsettled wilderness and can feel the darkness of its solitude. Marlow comes across simpler cannibalistic cultures along the banks. The deeper into the jungle he goes, the more regressive the inhabitants seem. Kurtz had lived in the Congo, and was separated from his own culture for quite some time. He had once been considered an honorable man, but the jungle changed him greatly. Here, secluded from the rest of his own society, he discovered his evil side and became corrupted by his power and solitude. Marlow tells us about the Ivory that Kurtz kept as his own, and that he had no restraint, and was a tree swayed by the wind. (Conrad 209) Marlow mentions the human heads displayed on posts that showed that Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts. (Conrad, 220) Conrad also tells us his nerves went wrong, and caused him to preside at certain midnight dances ending with unspeakable rights, which were offered up to him, (Conrad, 208) meaning that Kurtz went insane and allowed himself to be worshipped as a god. It appears that while Kurtz had been isolated from his culture, he had become corrupted by this violent native culture, and allowed his evil side to control him. Marlow realizes that only very near the time of death, does a person grasp the big picture. He describes Kurtzs last moments as though a veil had been rent. (Conrad, 239) Kurtzs last moment of complete knowledge , showed him how horrible the human soul really can be. Marlow can only speculate as to what Kurtz saw that caused him to exclaim The horror! The horror, but later adds that Since I peeped over the edge myself, I understand better the meaning of his stare it was wide enough to embrace the whole universe, piercing enough to penetrate all the hearts that beat in the darkness he had summed up, he had judged. (Conrad, 241) Marlow guesses that Kurtz suddenly knew everything and discovered how horrible the duplicity of man can be. Marlow learned through Kurtzs death, and he now knows that inside every human is this horrible, evil side. Francis Coppolas movie, Apocalypse Now, is based loosely upon Conrads book. Captain Willard is a Marlow who is on a mission into Cambodia during the Vietnam war to find and kill an insane Colonel Kurtz. Coppolas Kurtz, as he experienced his epiphany of horror, was an officer and a sane, successful, brilliant leader. .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab , .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab .postImageUrl , .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab , .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab:hover , .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab:visited , .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab:active { border:0!important; } .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab:active , .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uf295b6e30f2dfe5da4664bc5606f9fab:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Trifles By Susan Glaspell Essay Like Conrads Kurtz, Coppola shows us a man who was once very well respected, but was corrupted by the horror of war and the cultures he met. The story Kurtz tells Willard about the Special Forces going into a village, inoculating the children for polio and going away, and the communists coming into the village and cutting off all the childrens inoculated arms, is the main evidence for this implication in that film. This is when Kurtz begins to go mad, he wept like some grandmother when, called back by a villager, he saw the pile of little arms, a sophisticated version of the escalating horrors. What Kurtz meant by escalating horrors is the V ietnamese armys senseless decapitation, torture, and the like. Kurtz is facing a new culture and has a terrible time dealing with it. This was the beginning of his insanity. The disconnection between the opening words of Kurtzs report By the simple exercise of our will, we can exert a power for good practically unbounded and the note on the last page, Exterminate all the brutes! illustrates the progressive externalization of Kurtzs fear of contamination. The personal fear of loss of self-which colonialist whites saw in the uncivilized, seemingly regressive lifestyle of the natives. Coppola makes a point to show us that the Chief of a boat armed to the teeth was killed by a native in a tree who threw a spear. Not even an advanced Navy boat can defend itself against some simple natives armed only with spears. This opens Captain Willards eyes to the horror of the situation he now finds himself in. We live our lives sheltered in our own society, and our exposure to cultures outside of our own is limited at best. Often, the more technologically advanced cultures look down upon those that they deem to be simpler. On the occasion that some member of one culture does come into contact with another, simpler culture, a self discovery happens. Both cultures realize that deep down inside, all humans are essentially the same. We all posses a good and an evil side, and no culture, not matter how advanced, is exempt from that fact. This discovery often causes madness as this evil side is allowed out. Only those who have completed the journey into self can understand the actions of people such as Kurtz. Works Cited Apocalypse Now. Dir. Francis Coppola. With Martin Sheen, Robert Duval, and Marlon Brando. Zeotrope, 1979. Conrad, James. Heart of Darkness and Other Tales. Great Britain, BPC paperbacks ltd. 1990. Music and Movies

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Sample Common App Transfer Essay

Sample Common App Transfer EssaySample Common App Transfer Essay. We can learn a lot from an exam test, and sample the Common App Transfer Essay is the best way to get to know the exam and learn the exam. The common exam is basically one-hundred questions taken from previous exams. Normally, students have a common syllabus, which is different from class to class.The syllabus may be provided to the students by the lecturer or by the college or university where they are going to the exam. Students are required to complete all the course syllabus by the specified date and then submit the completed syllabus to the college or university so that they can pass the exam. After some time, the student may be asked to complete some extra assignments for learning purpose of the professor in order to clear the exam.When the students go to the exam, the first thing they need to do is to study the syllabus thoroughly and understand all the rules of the exam. In order to get ahead and succeed, the s tudents should be familiar with the rules of the Common App Transfer Essay. In this essay, the student has to analyze the content of a market so that he can come up with the best conclusion and indicate it in his essay.There are various ways through which students can prepare for this essay. Some students may choose to prepare on their own. They may read some books or research for information. Some may do their work by writing a research paper or by writing an essay.They can even read the books or do research online, but if they want to prepare in a practical way, they may prepare at a tutoring center, where they may enroll for some of the tutorials. To prepare for the exam, students can start by planning the topic of their essay. Some sample Common App Transfer Essay can be found online and can be downloaded and used for preparing the essay.Before the start of the semester, the students should evaluate their own knowledge in relation to the subject and then they can write the essay . This way, the students will know what exactly they need to do for writing the essay. Students can follow the steps and ideas set by the tutor when they are writing a test.The students can also find an essay tutorial and they can be introduced to the various styles of writing the essay. By knowing the styles, the students will be able to come up with different types of essays. It is not difficult to write a good essay. Students can be familiar with the topics and they can even get feedback from the tutor, so that they will be able to come up with a unique and meaningful essay.Sample Common App Transfer Essay can be downloaded and used as the source for preparing the essay. Students can find various templates and sample essay, which they can use for writing the essay. They can also download an application to help them organize their essays. The students can choose to work with the Microsoft Word application, Excel, or the PowerPoint.

Monday, April 13, 2020

The Benetton Group Essay Example For Students

The Benetton Group Essay Benetton, the world famous clothing producer, once again dives into social issues that the United States may not be ready for. The Italy based group is well known for their shocking world issue advertisements that only bear the company logo. In fact, Benettons advertisements traditionally do not feature the clothes it sells; only the issues play the lead role. After years of controversy over ads such as AIDS, war, interracial relationships, and priests kissing nuns, it may be time for Benetton to campaign about something other than controversial social issues, like clothes. On January 1, 2000, Benettons new advertising campaign wasnt about sweaters or pants, but about convicted murderers that are on death row. The death row ads feature portraits of American death row inmates in prison uniforms with the slogan Sentenced to Death. The ads give the inmates name, date of birth, crime, and expected method of execution. Within the campaign, inmates also talk about topics ranging from their childhood to their dreams, everything except their victims. According to CNN, victims rights advocates are outraged as well as are the individuals that lost loved ones to the profiled inmates. Once again, Benetton is faced with another controversy that could perhaps worsen their already poor US market share. According to the New York Stock Exchange, where The Benetton Group is publicly traded, it seems that the company has lost over ten dollars per share since their peak of 50 15/16 in January.This decrease could be attributed to many things, but perhaps the most significan t was the February announcement that Sears would immediately pull Benetton designed clothes from all 400 of its stores that had been selling the Benetton USA line. The Benetton USA line was specifically designed for Sears when the two companies joined last summer to introduce a new line of juniors, kids, and mens apparel. Troubled by the campaign, Sears renegotiated its contract with Benetton to gain the right to preview future Benetton ad campaigns. A revised clause in the contract also gave Sears the ability to withdraw from the deal without penalty if the two parties were unable to agree on future campaigns, according to CNN. Regardless of these changes, the controversy was too significant for Sears to ignore due to the hundreds of consumer complaints that poured into the store after the campaign released. According to the February 21, 2000 article in Advertising Age, a Sears spokesman said the chain allied itself with Benetton because We thought they were past that and had come to a point where they were interested in selling merchandise. The whole episode is tragic, for the victims, for Sears and for Benetton. We will write a custom essay on The Benetton Group specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now However, Sears is not the only one taking action against the company. According to CNN, it was announced on February 10, 2000 that the state of Missouri was suing Benetton for ads featuring death row inmates that reside in Missouri prisons. Missouri claims that the company deceived the state when it used the death row inmates as part of its ad campaign. The state thought the inmates were being interviewed for a project sponsored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. In addition, according to the February 19, 2000 article in The Economist, a Benetton spokesperson in New York admitted that payment was made to two inmates for the rights to their likeness. The state accuses Benetton of fraudulent misrepresentation, trespass by deceit and trespass by exceeding the scope of consent. Although the problems with Sears and Missouri could have significantly decreased the overall value of Benetton, the fact remains that consumers ultimately decide the fate of a company by whet her or not they shop there. It seems that sources such as CNN, Wall Street Journal, and Advertising Age, among others, have touched upon US consumer reactions to the new ad campaign. Overall, it is not being accepted well in the United States and an already weak market will continue to weaken as long as Benetton refuses to change its US advertising techniques. According to the Washington Post, Benetton is standing by its campaign. In fact, its US director of communications stated, Once again, its very hard for people to see what were doing and understand that its

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

sugars and carbohydrates essays

sugars and carbohydrates essays Carbohydrates are present in sugars, starch, acids, and in many other nutrients that consist elements of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Having a ratio of 1: 2: 1 or written as CH20. A monosaccharide meaning monomer of sugar is a "simple" carbohydrate. Containing backbone of five carbon atoms that are present in ribose and deoxyribose, components of RNA and DNA. Glucose a six carbon atom that is common cellulose, starch, and glycogen are classified as polysaccharide, Known as a "complex" carbohydrate, with straight or branched chains of many sugar monomers. These categories of carbohydrates are tested in two laboratory experiments. It will allow us (my partner and I) to detect the presence of sugar or starch. The first test, using two different solutions to expose the presence of sugar or starch by color alteration. I hypothesize that both samples of the experiment will result differently in order to pursue the next test. The second test consists of 9 food items, identifying t he appearance of sugar or starch. I guess in identifying 75% out of the 9 items right. Conducting both experiments will test my hypotheses either right or wrong. The first experiment on simple and complex carbohydrates, several tools and liquids were obtained: two test tubes, spot plate, test tube holder, benedicts reagent, lugol's iodine, 10% karo syrup solution, 1% starch solution. In a test tube (holding it with a test tube holder,) my partner fills 1 cm from the bottom of 10% karo syrup solution. With the benedicts reagent I gently add four drops, then quickly placed the tube in 98 degrees of boiling water, at 3:17p.m. While waiting for 3 minutes, we noticed that before placing the tube in the boiling water, the benedict reagent in the 10% karo syrup was blue. After heating, we observed at 3:20 p.m. that the benedict solution activated and turned yellow. Which meant that sugar (simple carbohydrate) was present in th ...

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Marriage versus living together Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Marriage versus living together - Essay Example They would not have anyone on their head to do the chores and thus be responsible for their own acts, behaviors and just about everything that comes under the heading of cohabitating. There is the premise that knowing the other partner is significant since it will form up as an essential ingredient in the line of marrying each other. One finds the strengths and the weaknesses of the other person when he lives with the partner and thus finds what is going on within their own lives and how best they could share their own selves with their chosen partners. Furthermore, the significance of living together by the couples becomes apparent when the issue of rockier marriage arises. This is because men and women would cheat after they are married and hence there would be no looking back by the other partner. In a living together scenario, if a partner cheats the other partner, there is always room for leaving the other partner high and dry and moving out of the house. The relationship ends there and then – no room for legal procedures, no court cases and no litigations at all. Cheating after marriage is a trauma that can neither be taken by a man nor by a woman, no matter whichever society they belong to. Nearly every culture has had some negatives drawn against the element of cheating in a marriage and thus all endeavors must be made to address this issue once and for all. Also, the pros and cons of living together have been outlined in cultural settings and have usually been described in detail by the cultural understandings and interpretations. Some religions like Islam are totally against such practices and even the religion of Christianity at some places and more so within the sexual domains has abstained from cohabitating in essence. Marriage however is a totally different perspective that is on offer even in the present times. It asks for more

Friday, February 7, 2020

Improving One's Writing Skills via Mastering Literal Skills Essay - 2

Improving One's Writing Skills via Mastering Literal Skills - Essay Example The meticulously written articles in magazines and graphically vivid details illustrated by novel writers tend to be attractive, and challenging in willing me to write similar pieces of literal work but with my touch of originality. Writing began with writing letters to my friends back in Korea and informing them of the changes and differences in culture between the two countries. The intriguing part was the ability to capture the details and put them in a new language portraying my actual emotions and interests abut a new country. I also kept a diary and a journal to document the everyday occurrences in my life, as well as all my embarrassing moments. I find writing enjoyable as I can express that which I feel without any inhibitions of offending others or having to withhold my true emotions. This is achieved through keeping a diary and writing short stories, although not everyone gets to read them, except my close friends and family. In addition, writing helps to think clearly by putting my train of thought in sequential order for later reference. This way it helps organize my thoughts to come up with logical explanations and rational thought thus my love for writing. My writing ability is not that good yet, but I enjoy writing any works that I can think of. I believe I hold good potential in bettering my writing skills to a higher level of communication and interaction with the readers of my works. I think I lack the ability to draw and capture the attention of readers for extended periods. This is in terms of holding their attention and keeping them interested as most of my works tend to be a rollercoaster of interest and disinterest, all depending on the readers emotional and logical inclination. In this course, I hope to develop the ability to master literal skills so that my written works do not end up sounding bland, general or below par.Â