Business Studies Motivation Report Essay

1.1- The following report is selected to discover and explain the motivational theory know as Theory Z. Theory Z is a motivation theory which was discovered and created by Dr. William Ouchi and is known as the so-called ‘Japanese Management’ style. Dr. William Ouchi’s theory Z was based on Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s famous â€Å"14 points†. Deming was an American scholar whose management and motivation theories were rejected in the United States, he then went on to help lay the foundation of Japanese organizational development during their expansion in the world economy in the 1980s, from there on this is where Dr William Ouchi created the motivational theory ‘Theory Z’ 1.2Here I have created a timeline of the motivational theories to show how they have evolved. 1943 – Abraham Maslow – A theory of Human Motivation. This is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs where there is a pyramid, at the bottom of the pyramid there is the physiological things required such as breathing, food, water. At the top there is the self-actualization, such as morality, creativity, problem solving. 1960 – Douglas McGregor – Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X and Theory Y consist of two very different types of management. Theory X believes that no one enjoys work and employees are lazy and require force so their work it complete. Theory Y believes that people enjoy work and has a friendlier atmosphere. McGregor also combined his theory with Maslow’s in saying the bottom half of the triangle was Theory X needs and the top half was Theory Y needs. 1980 – Dr. William Ouchi – Theory Z. This theory is fairly recent and has developed from all of the theories. Dr. William Ouchi has combined all the motivational theories and crea ted the theory Z, this theory is what I will be doing my report on. In the 1970s and 1980s, many United States industries lost market share to international competitors, particularly Japanese companies. Concerns about the competitiveness of U. S. companies led some to examine Japanese management practices for clues to the success enjoyed by many of their industries. This led to many articles and books purporting to explain the success of Japanese companies. It was in this atmosphere that Theory Z was introduced into the management lexicon. 1.3Theory Z’s main attributes consist of combined motivational theories. This theory makes assumptions that the workers tend to want to build happy and intimate working relationships. Theory Z also states that theory Z workers need to be supported by the company and they highly value a working environment. These workers have a very well developed sense of order, discipline and an obligation to work hard. Unlike McGregor’s Theory X workers, Theory Z employees can be trusted and to work hard so long as their managers can be trusted to support them according to Ouchi’s Theory Z. I will be focusing on applying this theory to the workforce in the Holiday centre as the organisation’s communication is not of a good standard as well as the company being unorganised. 1.4This Theory fits the organisation I have chosen as the within this workplace there needs to be good working relationships as well as trust, yet there still needs to be discipline and an obligation to work hard. The organisation that I am fitting this theory to is a Holiday Park’s swimming pool located in a rural town. Application 2.1Within the workplace of the Holiday Park’s Swimming pool sector, there are issues between the pool managers and the staff (lifeguards) on poolside. The pool managers have adopted Douglas McGregor’s Theory Y motivation theory. The pool managers have built strong relationships with the staff so therefore making it difficult for the pool managers to come across as strict. William Ouchi’s theory Z motivation theory is suitable for this situation as it combines strong relationships between staff, like a ‘clan culture’ but the theory still retains some elements of bureaucratic hierarchies, such as formal authority relationships, performance evaluation, and some work specialization. Therefore the pool managers would still be able to have their relationship but still keep their authority over the lifeguards. 2.1.1 Pros – This theory would apply well to this organisation because it keeps the respect of the hierarchies within the business as well as keeping the relationships that have been built throughout work 2.1.2 Cons – The cons of this theory is that having this relationship between the pool manager and lifeguards existing at all could cause some problems to their relationship outside of work due to the lifeguards disapproving of being told what to do by their friend or by being jealous of their friend having a higher paid, more responsibilities job. Douglas McGregor’s theory X would be more suitable for the pool managers. 2.2The lifeguards within this company are unmotivated and have low morale, this then results in the lifeguards being upset and strict, stopping people from enjoying themselves. This is a big issue for the company because with unhappy staff comes unhappy customers. The lifeguards require motivation and need to feel more like a ‘clan culture’, they need job satisfaction; this is where Theory Z would be suitable. The theory would suit to this situation because Theory Z encourages and emphasizes individual contribution and responsibility. Theory Z also emphasizes communication, collaboration, and consensus in decision making. If the lifeguards had theory Z applied to them, they would feel more inclined to work. 2.2.1 Pros – The pros of this is that with the lifeguards having their own responsibility and contributions, they will feel more satisfaction and recognised by the company, it will give the employees self-confidence therefore resulting in a stronger workforce. 2.2.2 Cons – The cons of this theory applying to this situation is that the staff could get too much on their hands and take on to responsibilities and result in making a decision before consulting anyone else, the individual contribution and responsibilities could be taken advantage of. Conclusion The theory fits the situations well due to the theory applying relationships to the workforce yet still retaining the job authority so the respect is not lost from a lower staff member to a member of a higher job. The theory also applies individual contribution and creates a self of value towards the company by the staff as they feel their opinion is wanted, as well as their confidence within the workforce and company increases.

Cooper Industries Case Study Essay

OVERVIEW: Cooper Industries is a broadly diversified manufacturer of electrical and general industrial products, and energy related machinery and equipment. The company operates in three different business segments with 21 separate profit centers. These segments include electrical and electronic, commercial and industrial, compression, drilling and energy equipment. The product line is consisted of cheap fuses to $3 million compressor tribune sets along with products such as hand tools and light fixtures. The company bid a $21-a-share tender offer to acquire Champion Spark Plug, manufacturer of auto spark plugs, as a counter offer for the Dana Corp.’s $17.50-a-share bid. Also, in the mean time, Cooper Industries was considering a $700 million bid for Cameron Iron Works. Even though purchasing either or both companies will give operational and organizational advantages, there were high financial risks involved. Undertaking both acquisitions would result in a 55% to 60% debt to capitalization ratio. ANALYSIS: Cooper Industries acquired more than 60 manufacturing companies over a thirty year span in order to increase the size and the scope of the company. Most of the acquired companies made it possible for Cooper to be independent of the outside environment and giving full control of the manufacturing process concerning their business while avoiding anti-trust allegations. Cooper basically purchased every company that is vital to its energy industry and all the side industries that effect it. From tools to fuses to cables to the drilling equipment was manufactured and distributed by the corporation’s divisions. Each acquisition is decided from a wish list that was closely examined and studied. At the time of the take over, the Management Development & Planning division would implement the corporate strategy in a period of three to five years. This involves diversification and elimination of the products that are poor sellers. In some cases the production plant is relocated and the staff is reorganized for the best efficient set up. In time all these companies are turned into profit centers. RECOMMENDATIONS: One of my first suggestions will be to consider Cameron Iron Works first since all the valves and other natural gas and petroleum products will be more beneficiary. Apparently there is more demand for Cameron’s products than the Champions. Little adjustments in the production process along with the ‘Cooperization’ adjustment will have make the company efficient in a short period of time. In contrast, Champion is considered to have 1950’s production techniques and only one product line, spark plugs, which will require tremendous changes within the company. The other option may be to purchase both of the companies, regardless of the financial risks involved. By allocating all the departments such as Management Development & Planning in the process, Cooper may turn things around. Since the beginning, Cooper’s way of acquiring companies seem to create success stories in the end. Champion still has brand name recognition in Europe and Asia (personal knowledge) which maybe taken advantage of. Major changes for the American market may take place while the revenues from the overseas sales finance the process. And once the changes are made in here, according to the demand the product line maybe readjusted for those markets. One other option for the Champion acquisition maybe to consider other possible options in the automotive parts industry. There may be other companies requiring less adjustment, and maybe turned into profit centers in less time than Champion. If buying both the companies is not possible at the time, then Cameron seems like a better option giving independence to Cooper in the valve dependence. Utilization of this company seems more of a priority at the time. However Dana may end up buying Champion if Cooper delay the acquisition.

Corporate Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Corporate Strategy - Essay Example Strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long term, which achieves advantage for the organization through its configuration of resources within a changing environment and to fulfill stakeholders’ expectations. So strategic decisions are likely to be complex in nature and may be made in situation of uncertainty i.e. they may involve taking decisions with views of the future. It demands an integrated approach to managing the organization. Strategic decisions will very often involves change in organization, which may prove difficult because of heritage of resources and culture. They have to manage perhaps change relationship and network outside of the organization. So strategic decision-making requires special qualities of skills and knowledge. i) Corporate level strategy is concerned with the over all-purpose and scope of an organization. This could include issues of geographical coverage, diversity of products/services or business units and how resources are to be allocated between different parts of the organization. ii) Business unit strategy is about how to compete successfully in particular markets. The concerns are therefore about how advantage over competitors can be achieved; what new opportunities can be identified or created in the markets; which products or services should be developed in which markets; and the extent to which these meet customer needs in such a way as to achieve the objectives of the organization perhaps long term profitability or market share growth. So, whereas corporate strategy involves decisions about the organization as a whole, strategic decisions here need to be related to a strategic business unit (SBU). iii) Operational strategies is at the operating end of an organization, which are concerned with how the component parts of an organization deliver effectively the corporate and business level strategies in terms of resources, processes and people. Strategic management is the management of the

CLASS ROSTER PROJECT and Summary Grade by Artifact Coursework

CLASS ROSTER PROJECT and Summary Grade by Artifact - Coursework Example Analogous to the hierarchical model only there's no parent/child difference. Any record kind may be linked with any number of dissimilar record types. Data quality and operations on the attributes are summarizing inside objects. Objects can inherit properties, can be widespread to form new objects, and are reusable. The O-O model is a quite original way of looking at things. Just remember that these are universal policy. Common sense will constantly require to be applied to check the excellence of the relationship modeling. Again this step is supposed to be done extremely methodically. A relation in 4NF that does not have a unite dependency. A link dependency occurs when a relation cannot be alienated into two (or more) relations such that the ensuing tables can be recombined to form the unique table. By means of normalization entire we know move on to step 3, where we step back at our normalized relations and see of there's any way we can logical combinations we can make to simplify the set, decrease overlap, and/or increase competence. One of the major complaints concerning relational databases is the intricacy of the relations themselves. That is, how everything's split out into every these tables. This is where we effort to reduce that difficulty.

Risk Management in Logistics Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Risk Management in Logistics - Research Proposal Example Kathleen DesMarteau (2005) recognizes the following key points as being a component of the risks and logistics management, which function as internal and external risks: This project is to examine risk management in logistics technology as it relates to the business process of the automotive industry with the goal to produce a model for risk management. The project is descriptive in nature. It seeks to quantify the types of risks manufacturing management has experiences and models used to develop resolutions. This will be accomplished using experimental simulation models. The topic of this research proposal is to explore risk management strategies and options for logistics support technology within the automotive industry. Risk management strategy is an important concept that allows a business operating within an industry to explore its research, development, and product release stages to reduce loss in operational and financial capacities. Logistics support technology is important for the automotive industry to maintain supply and meet demand. The automotive industry was chosen for this research proposal because it has multiple journals, magazines, corporate financial and stock information as well as strategy easily available to the public. Therefore, this research proposal has three main aims. ... What are the impacts of risk management on the logistics supply technologies within the automotive industry Topic Aims and Objectives The topic of this research proposal is to explore risk management strategies and options for logistics support technology within the automotive industry. Risk management strategy is an important concept that allows a business operating within an industry to explore its research, development, and product release stages to reduce loss in operational and financial capacities. Logistics support technology is important for the automotive industry to maintain supply and meet demand. The automotive industry was chosen for this research proposal because it has multiple journals, magazines, corporate financial and stock information as well as strategy easily available to the public. Therefore, this research proposal has three main aims. The literature review will explore risk management, logistics support technology and the implications of these within the automotive industry. This will allow for a comprehensive look at the overall risk and product strategies employed by the automotive industry in general. The research methodology will have the objective of narrowing risk management strategy based on major manufacturing facilities. This will include international, national, and corporate stakeholder risk management. The second objective of the research is to describe logistics support technology including financial and technological information (as cost and return on investment) based on the major manufacturer's publicized information available from journals and corporate websites. The final objective of the research is to create a standardized model of risk management in logistics support technology using this information.

MFRD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

MFRD - Essay Example Further NB has earned 12. 88% on capital employed as against industry average of 18.5%. According the profitability performance of the company is quite inefficient when compared with industry averages. Liquidity is the strong point of NB and it can be said that the company is in a position to meet it current obligations as and when those become due. The current ratio of NB is 2.14: 1 and that is quite strong when compared with industry average of 1.9: 1. Similarly the company’s quick ratio of NB is 1.52 as against industry average of 1.27. It has established that current ratio of 2:1 and quick ratio of 1:1 is considered optimum for any industry, and in case of NB both the ratios are above the required standard. Therefore NB can be considered as a solvent company that will meet its current liabilities as and when those become due. For analyzing the efficiency of the company four ratios are considered in this assessment. Total asset turnover that analyzes the effective utilization of total assets in generation of sales is 3.13 times and that is marginally behind the industry average of 3.91. Stock turnover ratio reflects liquidity of the stocks of the company. The company has rotated its stocks during 2008 for 13.93 times as against industry average of 18.3 times. Therefore company lacks efficiency on the aspect of rotating its stocks to meet cost of sales as per industry standards. As far as credit period is concerned, the company takes 40.43 days in collection of credit sales as against industry average of 52 days. On the other hand suppliers provide 36.9 days of credit for purchases and the industry average is 49 days. In other words company is managing credit sales collection and credit purchase payments quite effectively, and probably that is the reason for its sound liquidity. Above all 44.55 % of total assets have been financed by debt capital. The industry average is lower than this of

Information Systems Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Information Systems Development - Essay Example In the second section, I have discussed the idea and the implementation of Ingen, the automation software. The third section deals with the challenges faced on road to making Ingen a success. The fourth section deals with the various factors affecting the cost estimation in a software project development. The next section describes the maintenance involved. When a resource joins the organization he is put in the talent pool. Under an organization there are various accounts and each account has a number of projects. When the requirement for a resource arises in a project, the account manager requests to the Resource manager, who is in charge of the talent pool. The resource who matches the skill set put forward by the account manager is allocated to the account. Now, the project manager allocates the resource to a project. As soon as the resource enters the project, his personal as well as technical information has to be updated and his manager keeps a filed record of all his information for a future reference. The whole process is no doubt a tedious one. Everyone, from the resource level to the manager level wanted a tool which could save time and ease the effort of manually performing each of these tasks and maintaining a record of the same. Taking a report for a time period was also getting difficult. So, the need arose for something which could do all tasks for the end users with much ease and precision. Ingen is a resource management tool developed to cater the need for an account management in a multi national company which consists of many such accounts. People work in an account from over various places in the world and at client sites. Though many generalized resource management tools were available in the market, since every organization has a different hierarchy and grouping method, it was difficult to use one already

The Twelfth-Century Renaissance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Twelfth-Century Renaissance - Essay Example According to Sreedharan, Henry Plantagenet is claimed to promote Arthurian romance, which formed the fundamentals of the English imperialism. It involved having access to written material of the Roman policy such as the Tacitus histories. Celtic romance stories had a significant influence too which depicted the revival of classical learning. A group that had learned and studied the classical literature with time transformed the society from the twelfth century way of life where survival seemed to involve less thoughtful and bloody fights. Latin classics were never wholly lost and were masked during the Iron Age and their emergence in the twelfth century brought in the renaissance. Innovation and inspiration in this time are the revivals that were enhanced by chivalric literature, which was also inspired by Arthurian legends. These developments in conventions of vernacular poetry resulted to key textual sources that notable poets of the time were influential then and still to the hist orians of the modern world. During this time, philosophy and science were not separable with certainty and so science and knowledge happened to fall under philosophy as a branch. Similar methods were used between them as philosophical issues, and arguments were reached and proved by means of scientific reasoning. This led to the encouragement of the educated class not just to memorize and pass the knowledge to others but also to keep widening the range of knowledge.7 The presence of incomplete philosophies allowed for disagreement and contradictions that the integration of these pieces with twelfth century level of understanding tolerated the expansion of original philosophies.8 During this time, Gothic architecture whose thought intention was shortening the distance between heaven and earth, and university were born in Paris.9 These resulted from the need to manage the knowledge in a systematic manner. There were also crusades that promoted trade and new ideas, therefore, making towns attract those seeking opp ortunities from the learned society.10 Beginning from early eleventh century, â€Å"the towns in Europe, so long stagnant or semi-deserted, began a strong revival.†11 The urban complexities demanded the revival of literacy and every form of learning that was possible and so there was the emergence of Cathedral schools and universities to accommodate the learning masses.12 During this time, Rome’s influence was not restricted to only literature and language but also their law survived beyond the Roman population. Their law was revitalized and expanded to the population of Northern Europe and later through colonization to other parts of the world. The law stimulated neglected texts as well as jurisprudence. In the early twelfth century, Roman law revival is linked with Bologna to whom it resulted to Bologna’s law school foundation and legal science renewal. Rome, Ravenna and Pavia were legal study centers before Bologna.13 The need to support Christianity during t he twelfth century resulted from the Ottoman’s Empire threats as well as the desire to create self awareness and reforms. â€Å"In the tenth century, Otto, the Great, secured stability again, and in the eleventh, the leaven of new thinking and distinct emergence of historical consciousness could be detected.†14 Hamilton Louis and Riccioni Stefano argued that,

Greek Mythology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Greek Mythology - Essay Example Everything the people do is monitored by the gods and any deviation or disobedience is punished. Human beings are also able to judge among themselves and punish whom they deem wrong. In the play, however, the most common form of punishment was death. Many cases arose from previous actions where an aggrieved individual took matters into their own hands and acted as they pleased. Agamemnon attacked Troy so as to avenge the kidnap of Helen. He was also killed because of his father’s role in the death of Thyestes’ children. In this essay, I will demonstrate the different cases of justice in the play and how they were carried out. I will also show how humans overcame the gods in the end when they decide to punish Agamemnon themselves. When the play starts, the chorus reminds us that Artemis had demanded the sacrifice of Iphigenia- it was her that was taken away their wind for the ships, and the priests Calchas stated to them what their goddess needed. As much as the decision was hard for Agamemnon to take, it was needed to appease the gods for the sake of his army. As the general, he did not want to disappoint neither his crew nor the gods. The decision, to sacrifice his child is very unpopular with the people as indicated in the chorus, clearly indicates that the gods were the final authority in terms of justice. When Troy is conquered by Agamemnon and his army, Clytemnestra as the ruler in charge, is quick to thank the god Hepthaus. However, she also prays that the passion of the Greek should overwhelm them and disrespect the gods. Moreover, she asks that their men not to plunder the gods alter or assault any of the women of Trojan. The fear Clytemnestra exhibits clearly show the gods are ready to punish anyone who disobeys them. After returning from the war, the king of Argos owes his success to both the soldiers the gods. In the end, the gods turned against Troy and the city was destroyed for the sake of Helen. The

Main place of work Essay Example for Free

Main place of work Essay Three key points of legislation that affect employers in a business are: 1. Health and safety at Work Act 2. National Minimum Wage Act 1998 3. Pension 2b) List three key points of legislation that affect employees in a business environment. Three key points of legislation that affect employees are: 1. Data Protection Act 1998 2. The Equality Act 2010 3. The Working Time Regulations 3. Identify a range of places where a person can find information on employment rights and responsibilities. You should identify at least two internal and two external sources of information. Internal sources of information: 1. Terms of employment contract 2. Organisation policies and procedures 3. Informed college 4. Line managers 5. Trade union representatives External sources of information: 1. Citizen Advice Bureau 2. ACAS (Conciliation and Arbitration Service) 3. Government agencies 4. Libraries 5. Legal professionals 4. Describe how representative bodies can support employees. Representative bodies are organisations that represent the interest and rights of the employees. They can offer support to employees by negotiating pay and terms of employment and providing information, consultation and legal services. They also can help employees with pensions and collective redundancy issues. 5. Briefly describe employer and employee responsibilities for equality and diversity in a business environment. You should give at least two employer responsibilities and two employee responsibilities. If possible, provide relevant equality and diversity procedures from your workplace (or place of study) to support your answer. These documents should be annotated to highlight the relevant sections. The employer has the responsibility to develop and apply policies and procedures reflecting equality and diversity latest legislation, make sure that the line managers promote fair treatment and train the employees in equality and diversity topics. The employees responsibilities are to understand and respect the policies and procedures of the organisation regarding equality and diversity and respect others regardless of disabilities , ethnicity, gender etc.

The Great Gatsby: An Analysis

The Great Gatsby: An Analysis In the 1920s many Americans began using credit, and buying and becoming very materialistic, and losing their spirit and identity. In F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby the characters are all engulfed in the world of materialism, and believe that that is what makes them happy. Materialism is defined as the devotion to material wealth and possessions at the cost of spiritual or intellectual principles. Spirituality is sensitivity or attachment to religious values. And identity is the set of characteristics that somebody recognizes as belonging uniquely to himself or herself and constituting his or her individual personality for life. Three characters that exemplify these traits are Daisy, Tom, and Gatsby. In this novel, materialism, spirituality, and identity changes or reinforces these three characters. Daisy Buchanan is an example of materialism vs. spirituality because of what we know about her from her younger days. She was a young lady that was in love with Gatsby, but didnt marry him because â€Å"‘†¦I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me† (137). Materialism affected Daisy and when she married Tom she wanted only the best things, but realized that she wasnt happy because money cant buy you happiness. After seeing Gatsby for the first time in over five years, it seems like Daisy has become that young lady she was before she met and married Tom. For a second she forgot all of her materialistic things and was looking up into the sky and GOD, saying â€Å"‘†¦Id like to just get one of those pink clouds and put you in it and push you around.†(99). Now we see her spiritual side and see that Gatsby could have possible reinforced her identity. Tom Buchanan is a character that shows a strong bond with materialism. He is an example of old money, and because he is so wealthy he decides that he can break all the rules and do whatever he pleases, like cheating on his wife. â€Å"‘Why - she said hesitantly, ‘Toms got some woman in New York.† (19). Materialism has gotten to Toms head and he believes just because he has so much wealth he can buy happiness with anything that he pleases. The last character, Gatsby, shows both materialism and spirituality. Gatsby is an example of materialism because of Daisy. All his wealth and status was only for Daisy, because he hoped that one day he would see her and amaze her. His house is an example of this dream because its a synthetic place and was only built for Daisy. â€Å"‘My house looks well doesnt it? he demanded. ‘See how the whole front of it catches the light.† (95) He realizes that Daisy didnt wait to marry him because he was poor, and he made it his life goal to become wealthy and maybe someday impress Daisy. In conclusion, these three characters in the novel show materialism, spirituality, and identity and how they changed or reinforced. Oroonoko Novel by Aphra Behn | Analysis Oroonoko Novel by Aphra Behn | Analysis In the theater things are always seen from somewhere. Here we have the geometrical foundation of representation: a fetishist subject is required to cut out the tableau. Aphra Behn, born on July 10, 1640 and died on April 16, 1689, was one of the main playwrights, poets, and fictionists of Restoration era. She was, as inserted in The Age of Milton, The first recognized professional woman writer in English, Behn was popular during her career, and her plays and poems represented the Restoration ideals of political expediency and sexual frankness (25). Behn was a well-educated person and access to high-ranking officials in the court of Charles II, may access a higher-class status, and is one of pioneer women who earn her live through authorship and her works were under a great influence of William Shakespeare. Her first play was a successful tragicomedy in the name of The Forced Marriage (1670), following with The Dutch Lover (1673) which was not received well; Abdelazar (1676) and The Rover (1677) was the other appreciated plays by Behn, which were performed before Charles II. A poem on Several Occasions (1684) was a poem by her that investigates the s exual relationship between men and women in pastoral setting. Her later works were Oroonoko (1688) and The Widow Ranter (1689) which emphasized on political pragmatism. Behn depicts the correlation between racial and gender oppression, female subjectivity, and female political and sexual agency in her writings and her consideration of gender and frank expression of sexuality made her as a target for male authors critiques. In her book A Room of Ones Own, Virginia Woolf praises her and says All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds. The reading of Oroonoko that follows concentrates on white female narrator (author-narrator). This novel is produces at the end of Behns life as a short realistic fiction which is a story of a noble prince, Oroonoko, who had been enslave, brought to Britain, revolted against British and prefered to die rather than bear the name of slave and his fatal horrible death. Written by a white female author and using a white female narrative voice, Oroonoko can be a story based on Behns experience as a young woman living in Surinam. What is different, most interestingly, in Oroonoko, is the narrative position. All descriptions on Oroonoko land, appearance, feelings, thoughts, events in his life, both in his native land and in Britain, and his revolution is narrated through a female word and world, the female author. Behn is considered to had a travel to Surinam between 1663-1664 with her family and as Alan Hager mentions in his book The Age of Milton Her presence in the West Indies and her espionage in Antwerp for the Crown have been documented. When Lord Willoughby was granted royal permission to explore Surinam in 1663, Behn may have traveled there with her father, the Lieutenant-General of the islands. Apparently he died on the voyage, but Behn stayed in the colony.( Hager,56) Therefore, as documented her traveling to West Indies, there is a possibility that whatever she, the author-narrator, explains and depicts in Oroonoko, especially her detailed knowledge of Surinam, is her own experience while abroad and should be considered as truth. Behn establishes her authenticity within the opening of the story and reminds her readers her position as a narrator as she wrote herself in Oroonoko that I was myself an eye-witness to a great part of what you will find here set down(2). Since this story is a memoire of Behns travelling to Surinam in past, probably she forgot some eaters and her memoir mixed with true events in Surinam so how much of this novel is fact and how much is true remains in shadow. No longer does the novel originate from a first-person recounting of the self, but, as Ferdous Azim said in his book The Colonial Rise of The Novel, from a first-person account of someone elses life(35-36). According to Elin Diamonds statements in the book Unmaking Mimesis that In the Western theater (Gr. theatron or seeing place), pleasure is never far from the market and its mystifications. The spectator sees what is not there- an illusion, a sign of an absent original-and fails to see what is there-a constructed series of images so polished and coherent that the ideological and human labor of their making is hidden from view.(Diamon, 56) Pursuant to Diamonds words, theater is not supposed to perform reality on the stage but an allusion, showing the presence of absent to its audiences. This paper intends to see whether the narrator is a reliable and authentic narrator and analysis to what extent this female white narrator can be reliable and considered her words as truth in this story; and examine if an author is contaminated by its dominated ideology of power in society or can be remain out of her white powerful world. Furthermore, it has a purpose to see what is shown in this story is real or only an illusion like theater as Diamond said. It should be kept in mind that the narrator is a woman, white, Britain, and author; a white female Britain author. This story presents in a mixture of first-person and third-person narrators which can be regarded as the memoires of a traveler narrative; narrated by an English white woman who travelled to colony in Surinam in past. At the opening of the story, first-person narrator, a female British colony, gives us a detailed account of Surinam, the native land of the prince Oroonoko and its peoples way of life as a prelapsarian world The beads they weave into aprons about a quarter of an ell long, and of the same breadth; working them very prettily in flowers of several colors; which apron they wear just before em, as Adam and Eve did the fig-leaves; the men wearing a long stripe of linen, which they deal with us for. This adornment, with their long black hair, and the face painted in little specks or flowers here and there, makes em a wonderful figure to behold. Some of the beauties, which indeed are finely shaped, as almost all are, and who have pretty features, are charming and novel; for they have all that is called beauty,'(Behn, 1-2) and then the narrator shifts to the third-person narrator and shows us the local life of Oroonoko who is enslaves and carries to Britain colony of Surinam and once more the first-person narrator appears when she meets Oroonoko. Narrator is a feminine, Alpha Behn, who sometimes observes Oroonoko passionately, explain him as an ideal man. When the narrator is describing the prince Oroonokos appearance for reader, It seems that her gender defines her description and Oroonoko is pictured by a woman as an ideal man; an ideal man from a womans perspective. The gender of this female narrator limits her fair depiction of Oroonoko since this man is beyond all report I found of him and maybe her fascination toward the appearance and manner of the prince Oroonoko makes an obstacle and prevents her from seeing the true character of him; anything in this man is as perfect as a Greeks gods. But though I had heard so much of him, I was as greatly surprised when I saw him as if I had heard nothing of him; so beyond all report I found him. He came into the room, and addressed himself to me and some other women with the best grace in the world. He was pretty tall, but of a shape the most exact that can be fancied: the most famous statuary could not form the figure of a man more admirably turned from head to foot. His face was not of that brown rusty black which most of that nation are, but of perfect ebony, or polished jet. . there could be nothing in nature more beautiful, agreeable, and handsome. There was no one grace wanting that bears the standard of true beauty.Nor did the perfections of his mind come short of those of his person.This prince, such as I have described him, whose soul and body were so admirably adorned, as capable of love as twas possible for a brave and gallant man to be; and in saying that, I have named the highest degree of love: for sure great souls are most capable of that passion.(Behn, 6-7) The first-person narrator seems to see her ideal man in prince Oroonoko and elevate her with white man. He is the man who addresses women in the best grace and no statuary can made a man as admirable as Oronnoko is; even she describes her face not as dark brown as other negroes, he is something special in their land. Firdous Azim wrote, It is in this context that Oroonoko is introduced. Seventeen years old and grandson of the King, he is at once simultaneously differentiated and brought on centre-stage. Immediately, Oroonokos physical beauty is described in great detail (48). On the other hand, her explanation of Imoinda only emphasis on her outward beauty and he presence is never shown in the story. Imoinda is pictured through old conventions of a woman as This old dead hero had one only daughter left of his race, a beauty, that to describe her truly, one need say only, she was female to the noble male; the beautiful black Venus to our young Mars; I have seen a hundred white men sighing after her, and making a thousand vows at her feet, all in vain (Behn, 7). Even when Oroonoko suggest her to be killed by him because of being in dangerous of the whites savagery in his absent, she accepts it immediately without any objection at least for her child and she scarifies both herself and her unborn child for him. She is an example of a complete respect woman for her husband; the ideal woman for a husband. Seemingly, the author-narrator, first-person narrator, intends to make a god and goddess out of Oroonoko and Imoinda and maybe she, herself, fall in love with him since in the other part, she said that she is the great mistress of the narrator as wrote in her book So that obliging him to love us very well, we had all the liberty of speech with him, especially myself, whom he called his Great Mistress; and indeed my word would go a great way with him(34). None of these characters have voices through the story and whatever is understood passed through narrators lenses and interpretation. the man is under the purview of the narrative gaze, according to Ferdous Azim in his book The Colonial Rise of The Novel, is being objectified and rendered visible through the machinations of the dominant European females voice, and being brought under the gaze of a European audience ( 49). All the portray of Oroonoko, as a black character, is in conflict with white European. It is obvious that she, as a woman, draws this prince through a constructed series of images which are so polished and coherent according to her wishes; as her ideal man. As Elin Diamond said, what she shows her readers about the Oroonoko does not exist in reality but is an illusion. Regarding the female narrator as a English settler of Surinam, she is the teller of a true history and should be unbiased and authentic in telling the truth on history of these black natives since I was myself an eye-witness to a great part of what you will find here set down(2). Although the female narrator told the prince Oroonoko that she will save him and will not let anyone torture him or behaves as a slave , she could not help him at all and Oroonoko die in a horribly way. Although she maintains her authority to save Oroonoko, she is unable to do so since there is a contradiction between the narrators assumed social position and her actual powerless as a character within the framework of power. At first, she resists against the British world but later on she failed to save him because it is revealed that she herself is a victim of ideological power of white world and takes their side. She is absent when the white are torturing and dismembering Oroonoko and like other whites the female narrator is afraid that Oroonoko cut her throat one day so she behaves like others toward the Oroonoko, which she once described as the best and graceful man in the world, and agrees with what they do in silent. Ferdous Azim continues that Aphra Behn, or the authorial voice, is unable to follow Oroonoko in his rebellion, and the text can only portray the disintegration and dismemberment of the Black subject, instead of examining the causes of his rebellion( 44), the narrator resistance fails and she does not follow the destination of prince Oroonoko and later on support what she once rejected; she submits to her inside world and narrates according to the dominant world of whites. This female perspective tried to stay out of white boundaries, saves the Oroonoko, and lets him live like a prince not a slave but she cannot perform what she wanted to do totally. As Joel Pfister declared in his essay Hawthorne as Cultural Theorist that the authors themselves are not only a part of discourse but also a way of performance of power through them so this female narrator cannot escape this discourse of power. This resistant narrator, according to Michel Foucault, is a part of power and this resistance is never in a position of exteriority in relation to power. She has to narrate her world of story within the omnipresent power, there is no way to move away from it, and she finally behaves toward the prince Oroonoko as the others. Author is the representation of the discourse of power. Narrator is surrounded by the dominant world of hers and can not steps out of this territory and whatever she did to keep the prince Oroonoko alive was in vain since she was controlled by the world oh the white she lives in. Although she can be titled as a traveler narrator and she is supposed to tell the reality of native land and reports her readers the true history of this land, she is incapable of performing what she is presumed because she herself is a prison of white world and their dominant superiority over black people. Her dominant world shadows on her thoughts, felling, and words and she has to live within this world and all narrator says is what is dictated to her unconsciously and she cannot stop it.

Television and Media Essay - TV, Violence, and Censorship :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Television, Violence and Censorship Society has been bombarded with violence from the beginning of time. These concerns about violence in the media have been around way before television was even introduced. Nevertheless, there have been numerous studies, research, and conferences done over the years on television, but the issue still remains. Researchers do acknowledge that violence portrayed on television is a potential danger. One issue is clear though, our focus on television violence should not take attention away from other significant causes of violence in our country such as: drugs, inadequate parenting, availability of weapons, unemployment, etc. It is hard to report on how violent television effects society, since television affects different people in different ways. There is a significant problem with violence on television that we as a society are going to have to acknowledge and face. First it was newspapers that were thought to cause juvenile crime. Then in the 1920's the movie screen rolled around, and its violent content alarmed many. Following World War II, violence and brutality in comic books was a huge concern in our society. Then came the television, a staple in American households around 1960. Once the television was introduced a lot of questions were raised over what effect this might have on children. Would it corrupt them, or make them more able to deal with the real world around them? Would it change their behavioral patterns? Would it help or hinder their development? As early as 1958 investigations were being conducted of the effects of television on children. During this time, the researchers found that most of the television content was extremely violent. In almost half of the television hours monitored, the programs main focus contained violence. The common theme that was seen throughout the programs were crime, shooting, fighting, and murder. The universal definition of violence used was, "Any overt depiction of the use of physical force, or the credible threat of such force, to intend to physically harm an animated being or group of beings." In this investigation, Wilbur Schramm concluded that under some conditions, some violent television could effect some children. For the most part, most television is neither helpful or harmful to most kids under most circumstances. As you can see this conclusion is quiet vague, and does not give a lot of crucial information for us to correct and improve. Schramm and his colleagues came up with a solution for parents to provide a warm, loving, secure family environment for their children, and they would have little to worry about.

Plutonium, Our Countrys Only Feasible Solution :: science

Plutonium, Our Country's Only Feasible Solution Abstract: Should we begin to manufacture one of the most destructive and infamous substances on the face on the Earth once again? The engineers say yes, but the public says no. The United States stopped making this element with the ban on manufacturing nuclear weapons. But with the continuing problem with our ever diminishing energy sources, some want us to begin using more nuclear energy and less energy from natural resources. This paper is going to discuss what plutonium is, the advantages and disadvantages of its use, and why we should think about restarting our production of this useful element. After the United States dropped "Fat Man" and "Little Boy" on Japan ending World War II, the public has had some type of understanding about the power of plutonium and its devastating properties, but that is all anyone heard. After WWII, Americans started to think about what the atomic bomb could do to the U.S. and its people. When anyone mentioned plutonium or the word "nuclear" the idea of Hiroshima or Nagasaki being destroyed was the first thing people thought about. No one could even ponder the idea that it could be used for other more constructive things like sources of energy or to kept a person's heart beating. Then we started to build more reactors and produce more of the substance but mostly for our nuclear weapons programs. Along with reactors, sometimes comes a meltdown which can produce harmful effects if it isn't controlled quickly enough. After such instances as the Hanford, Washington reactor meltdown and the accident in the U.S.S.R. at the Chernobyl site, no one wanted to hear about the use of plutonium. The United States government banned nuclear testing and also ended the production of plutonium.(Ref. 5) Now we are in a dilemma. We are in need of future sources of energy to power our nation. We are running out of coal and oil to run our power plants.(Ref. 7) We also need it to further our space exploration program. People need to understand the advantages to using plutonium and that the disadvantages are not as catastrophic as they seem. With the turn of the century on its way, the reemergence of plutonium production will need to be a reality for us to continue our way of life. In 1941, a scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, discovered something that would change our planet forever.

Monet Essay examples -- essays research papers fc

Monet   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Over the years there have been many respectable artists but one of the most famous of these artists would have to have been French impressionist Claude Oscar Monet.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Monet was born on Nov. 14, 1840 in Paris, France and started showing an appreciation for art at an early age. When he was nineteen Monet decided that he wanted to attend art school and soon after that he entered the studio of Charles Glegre. While he was there he met and worked with other respectable artists such as Frederic Bazille, Auguset Renoir, and Alfred Sisley.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Monet began working outside with the invention of portable tubes of oil paint in the 1840’s. Soon he began presenting his pictures of the outdoors sunlight with a direct sketch-like application of bright color. Many felt that would cut off any possibilities of him ever becoming a successful painter. Many of Monet’s paintings from this time are extremely loosely structured and the colors seemed to have been applied in strong, distinct strokes as if no   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   II reworking had been attempted. This type of art seemed to suggest that the a...

Ozymandias and Death the Leveller Essay

â€Å"Death is a leveller†, this statement implies that death makes everyone equal or ‘level’. In the poems, â€Å"Ozymandias† by Percy Bysshe Shelley and â€Å"Death the Leveller† by James Shirley, they each portray this in similar ways. Each refer to this statement by using the notion of a powerful figure, who would seem to be ‘invincible’, forgotten through time, hence forth, making them equal to people who would have achieved very little within their lifetime. In â€Å"Ozymandias†, Percy Bysshe Shelley relates a description of a mysterious land laid to waste. The speaker recalls having met a traveller â€Å"from an antique land,† who told him a story about the ruins of a statue in the desert of his native country. At the very beginning of the poem, Shelley creates a remote landscape, unknown by many therefore distancing the narration. The title â€Å"Ozymandias† refers to the great Egyptian King Rameses II. This unfamiliar name gives the impression to the reader that it will about someone anonymous though during his life, he would have been very influential on the world around him. â€Å"Half sunk, a shattered visage lies† denotes the face of the statue damaged and worn throughout time, metaphorically, like his power lost though time. Shelley then describes the face of the statue more, † whose frown and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command† implies that throughout this rein over Egypt, he was a forceful and merciless ruler and wanted to be known for that and sculptor himself, also makes show it is understood. â€Å"Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things† explains to the reader that even though part of the statue has survived the abuse from nature, it still means nothing as it stands in a desolate landscape undiscovered by many. This links back to his reputation’s destruction over time. However, Shelley adds â€Å"The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed† implying that even though he may have shunned those less powerful than him, in his heart, he did want them to survive in this ruling. â€Å"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:  Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!†Ã‚  In this quotation, Shelley emphasises greatly the irony of this message scribed into his statue. Within Ozymandias’ time, this statue would have represented the fear he caused to his people and the power he possessed over them. Yet now, it lies crumbled and forgotten in the middle of a desert inhabited by no one with his city in ruins around him. Shelley expresses how even the mighty have no power of death and how they are forgotten. The following line says â€Å"Nothing besides remains†, as if Shelley mocks his once mighty power with a simple yet painfully truthful statement, showing that it is inevitable that nothing will make him remembered again. â€Å"Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare  The lone and level sands stretch far away.†Ã‚  Shelley mentions the sand as level and stretching far away. Sand is related to hourglasses, used to measure time. He also says the sand is ‘level’ meaning that you could far around you and see nothing but the isolated environment around you. This links in with time making everything equal and making eventually forgotten, and how each piece of sand is indefinable from the other. Alliteration is used to create an effective rhythm within the last lines of the stanza. It creates a feeling of total certainty that this is how this statue, like Ozymandias’ reputation, will stand until it is worn away to become another grain of sand. This poem was written in the age when Napoleon Bonaparte was at his height of power, but Shelley believed this would eventually been his fate. ‘Death the Leveller’ was written by James Shirley the time when King Charles was reined over England. In that time period, many people did not wish to have a king; therefore, King Charles was eventually beheaded. The purpose of the poem was a warning to the King, showing that he had no escape from death, even with his courage a huge army. Shirley begins â€Å"The glories of our blood and state are shadows, not substantial things† denotes that how no matter how important your blood is or how powerful you are in life, death will make you as meaningful as a shadow, forgotten and neglected. Shirley then states how there is â€Å"no armour against fate† meaning that death is something you cannot escape, regardless of who you are within life. Shirley also makes death human like by saying it lays its â€Å"icy hand on kings†

Objectives of the Firm Essay

The standard economic assumption underlying the analysis of firms is profit maximization. Real world firms, however, might not, and many times do not, make decisions based on the profit-maximization objective, or at least exclusively on the profit-maximization objective. Other objectives include: (1) sales maximization, (2) pursuit of personal welfare, and (3) pursuit of social welfare. Although firms are assumed to make decisions that increase profit in standard economic analysis, real world firms often pursue other objectives on a day-to-day basis. Some firms set their sights on maximizing sales. For other firms the owners or employees are inclined to enhance personal living standards. And more than a few firms take steps that promote the overall welfare of society. In some cases, these other objectives help a firm pursue profit maximization. In other cases, they prevent a firm from maximizing profit. Profit Maximization Profit maximization is the process of obtaining the highest possible level of profit through the production and sale of goods and services. This is the guiding principle underlying the analysis of short-run production by a firm. In particular, economic analysis is assumed that firms undertake actions and make the decisions that increase profit. Profit is the difference between the total revenue a firm receives from selling output and the total cost of producing that output. Profit-maximization means that a firm seeks the production level that generates the greatest difference between total revenue and total cost. Consider how profit maximization might work for The Wacky Willy Company. Suppose that The Wacky Willy Company generates $100,000 of profit by producing 100,000 Stuffed Amigos, the difference between $1,000,000 of revenue and $900,000 of cost. * If profit falls from this $100,000 level when The Wacky Willy Company produces more (100,001) or fewer (99,999) Stuffed Amigos, then it is maximizing profit at 100,000. Alternatively, if profit can be increased by producing more or less, then The Wacky Willy Company is NOT maximizing profit at the current level of production. Suppose, for example, that producing 100,001 Stuffed Amigos adds an extra $11 to revenue but only $9 to cost. In this case, profit can be increased by $2, reaching $100,002, by producing one more Stuffed Amigo. As such 100,000 is NOT the profit maximizing level of production. * In contrast, suppose that producing 99,999 Stuffed Amigos reduces cost by $11 but only reduces revenue by only $9. In this case, profit can also be increased by $2, reaching $100,002, by producing one fewer Stuffed Amigo. As such 100,000 is NOT the profit maximizing level of production. Sales Maximization A reasonable, and often pursued objective of firms is to maximize sales, that is, to sell as much output as possible. Clearly sales lead to revenue, meaning that maximizing sales is also bound to maximize revenue. But as the analysis of short-run production indicates, maximizing sales does NOT necessarily maximize profit. So why do firms do it? Are firms unreasonable? Are they irrational? Do they NOT understand the basic economic principles of short-run production? For some firms, the answers to these questions could be yes. But for other firms, sales maximization is actually a reasonable, even better, alternative to profit maximization. Consider, the day-to-day production of Wacky Willy Stuffed Amigos. Suppose the President of The Wacky Willy Company, William J. Wackowski, issues a corporate directive to sell as many Stuffed Amigos as possible, to maximize sales. Is Willy Wackowski wacky? It might be that Mr. Wackowski has no knowledge of basic economic principles. Alternatively Wacky William might have more business sense than it appears. In particular, if the price received from selling Stuffed Amigos is greater than the cost of producing each one, and looks to remain that way regardless of the quantity produced, then a reasonable goal is to maximize sales. If sales are greater, then so too is profit. Wacky Willy does NOT maximize profit under these circumstances. That is, it does not produce the quantity that achieves the highest possible profit. However, with each Stuffed Amigo produced, profit increases. In fact, Wacky Willy might not KNOW the profit-maximizing production level. All it knows is that selling more Stuffed Amigos, increases profit. While sales maximization can serve as a means of pursing profit maximization, it can also prevent a firm from maximizing profit. The reason, of course, is that if sales become so large that the cost of production increases such that marginal cost exceeds marginal revenue, the maximizing sales does not maximize profit. Pursuit of Personal Welfare The people who make decisions for a business are, in fact, people. They have likes and dislikes. They have personal goals and aspirations just like people who do not make decisions for firms. On occasion these people use the firm to pursue their own personal welfare. When they do, their actions could enhance the firm’s profit maximization or, in many cases, prevent profit maximization. How about a few examples? Once again, consider William J. Wackowski, the president of The Wacky Willy Company. Perhaps Willy enjoys the finer things in life–a large house, fancy cars, and expensive vacations–which require a hefty income. As the primary stockholder of The Wacky Willy Company, when the business maximizes profit, then William J. Wackowski benefits with more income. In this case, the pursuit of personal welfare coincides with profit maximization. Alternatively, suppose that the Mr. Wackowski hates the color purple. He simply refuse to produce ANY purple Stuffed Amigos. However, market studies clearly indicate that buyers want purple Stuffed Amigos. Moreover, the purple fabric that would be used to produce purple Stuffed Amigos is significantly less expensive than other colors. Mr. Willy clearly is wacky in this case. His purple-phobia prevents profit maximization. William the Wackster might also decide to enhance his corporate lifestyle at the expense of corporate profit. He could, for example, give himself a bigger, more luxurious (but unneeded) office, a higher (but unneeded) salary, a company jet (also unneeded), season tickets to Shady Valley Primadonnas baseball team (clearly unneeded) and other (unneeded) amenities that are NOT needed to profitably produce Stuffed Amigos. These improve William’s personal welfare, but at the expense of corporate profit. Pursuit of Social Welfare The people who make decisions for firms also have social consciences. Part of their likes and dislikes might be related to the overall state of society. As such, they might use the firm to pursue social welfare, which could enhance or prevent the firm’s profit maximization. How might William J. Wackowski’s pursuit of social welfare enhance or prevent profit maximization of The Wacky Willy Company? Suppose that William wants a cleaner environment. As such, he might implement more costly environmentally â€Å"friendly† production techniques and materials. He does his part to â€Å"clean the environment,† but at the expense of company profit. Then again, Mr. Wackowski might feel that government environmental quality regulations restrict capital investment and economic growth. As such, William might have The Wacky Willy Company use part of its advertising budget to promote this view point. He might even use company revenue to set up the Wackowski Foundation for Policy Studies that is both a scientific think tank and a special interest lobbying organization with the goal of reducing environmental quality regulations. While the pursuit of social welfare is likely to reduce company profit, it could have the opposite effect as well. Such activities could give The Wacky Willy Company a likeable public image that motivates people to buy more Stuffed Amigos than they would otherwise. In fact, some firms use the pursuit of social welfare as one aspect of their overall advertising efforts. They enhance their public image at the same time they do something â€Å"good† for society. Natural Selection Whichever objective a firm pursues on a day-to-day basis, the notion of natural selection suggests that successful firms intentionally or unintentionally maximize profit. That is, the firms best suited to the economic environment, and thus generate the most profit, are the ones that tend to survive. The natural selection of business firms is an adaptation of the biological process of natural selection, in which biological entities best suited to the natural environment are the ones that survive. The concept of economic natural selection means that those firms that generate the greatest profit are the ones that avoid bankruptcy and survive to produce another day. While firms might pursue sales maximization, personal welfare, or social welfare, only those firms that also maximize profit remain in business. 2) The following   is from chapter one in the text   Financial Management and Policy, by James C. Van Horne, Copyright 1974 by Prentice-Hall. It is classic finance. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE FIRM In this [course], we assume that the objective of the firm is to maximize its value to its shareholders. Value is represented by the market price of the company’s common stock, which, in turn, is a reflection of the firm’s investment, financing, and dividend decisions. Profit Maximization vs. Wealth Maximization Frequently, maximization of profits is regarded as the proper objective of the firm, but it is not as inclusive a goal as that of maximizing shareholder wealth. For one thing, total profits are not as important as earnings per share. A firm could always raise total profits by issuing stock and using the proceeds to invest in Treasury bills. Even maximization of earnings per share, however, is not a fully appropriate objective, partly because it does not specify the timing or duration of expected returns. Is the investment project that will produce $100,000 return 5 years from now more valuable than the project that will produce annual returns of $15,000 in each of the next 5 years? An answer to this question depends upon the time value of money to the firm and to investors at the margin. Few existing stockholders would think favorably of a project that promised its first return in 100 years. We must take into account the time pattern of returns in our analysis. Another shortcoming of the objective of maximizing earnings per share is that it does not consider the risk or uncertainty of the prospective earnings stream. Some investment projects are far more risky than others. As a result, the prospective stream of earnings per share would be more uncertain if these projects were undertaken. In addition, a company will be more or less risky depending upon the amount of debt in relation to equity in its capital structure. This risk is known as financial risk; and it, too, contributes to the uncertainty of the prospective stream of earnings per share. Two companies may have the same expected future earnings per share, but if the earnings stream of one is subject to considerably more uncertainty than the earnings stream of the other, the market price per share of its stock may be less. For the reasons above, an objective of maximizing earnings per share may not be the same as maximizing market price per share. The market price of a firm’s stock represents the focal judgment of all market participants as to what the value is of the particular firm. It takes into account present and prospective future earnings per share, the timing, duration, and risk of these earnings, and any other factors that bear upon the market price of stock. The market price serves as a performance index or report card of the firm’s progress; it indicates how well management is doing in behalf of its stockholders. Management vs. Stockholders In certain situations the objectives of management may differ from those of the firms stockholders. In a large corporation whose stock is widely held, stockholders exert very little control or influence over the operations of the company. When the control of a company is separate from its ownership, management may not always act in the best interests of the stockholders [Agency Theory]. [Managers] sometimes are said to be â€Å"satisficers† rather than â€Å"maximizers†; they may be content to â€Å"play it safe† and seek an acceptable level of growth, being more concerned with perpetuating their own existence than with maximizing the value of the firm to its shareholders. The most important goal to a management [team]of this sort may be its own survival. As a result, it may be unwilling to take reasonable risks for fear of making a mistake, thereby becoming conspicuous to the outside suppliers of capital. In turn, these suppliers may pose a threat to management’s survival. It is true that in order to survive over the long run, management may have to behave in a manner that is reasonably consistent with maximizing shareholder wealth. Nevertheless, the goals of the two parties do not necessarily have to be the same. Maximization of shareholder wealth, then, is an appropriate guide for how a firm should act. When management does not act in a manner consistent with this objective, we must recognize this as a constraint and determine the opportunity cost. This cost is measurable only if we determine what the outcome would have been had the firm attempted to maximize shareholder wealth. A Normative Goal Because the principal of maximization of shareholder wealth provides a rational guide for running a business and for the efficient allocation of resources in society, we use it as our assumed objective in considering how financial decisions should be made. The purpose of capital markets is to efficiently allocate savings in an economy from ultimate savers to ultimate users of funds who invest in real assets. If savings are to be channeled to the most promising investment opportunities, a rational economic criteria must exist that governs their flow. By and large, the allocation of savings in an economy occurs on the basis of expected return and risk. The market value of a firm’s stock embodies both of these factors. It therefore reflects the market’s tradeoff between risk and return. If decisions are made in keeping with the likely effect upon the market value of its stock, a firm will attract capital only when its investment opportunities justify the use of that capital in the overall economy. Put another way, the equilibration process by which savings are allocated in an economy occurs on the basis of expected return and risk. Holding risk constant, those economic units (business firms, households, financial institutions, or governments) willing to pay the highest yield are the ones entitled to the use of funds. If rationality prevails, the economic units bidding the highest yields will be the ones with the most promising investment opportunities. As a result, savings will tend to be allocated to the most efficient users. Maximization of shareholder wealth then embodies the risk-return tradeoff of the market and is the focal point by which funds should be allocated within and among business firms. Any other objective is likely to result in the suboptimal allocation of funds and therefore lead to less than optimal level of economic want satisfaction. This is not to say that management should ignore the question of social responsibility. As related to business firms, social responsibility concerns such things as protecting the consumer, paying fair wages to employees, maintaining fair hiring practices, supporting education, and becoming actively involved in environmental issues like clean air and water. Many people feel that a firm has no choice but to act in socially responsible ways; they argue that shareholder wealth and, perhaps, the corporations vary existence depends upon its being socially responsible. However, the criteria for social responsibility are not clearly defined, making formulation of a consistent objective function difficult. Moreover, social responsibility creates certain problems for the firm. One is that it falls unevenly on different corporations. Another is that it sometimes conflicts with the objective of wealth maximization. Certain social actions, from a long-range point of view, unmistakably are in the best interests of stockholders, and there is little question that they should be undertaken. Other actions are less clear, and to engage in them may result in a decline of profits and in shareholder wealth in the long run. From the standpoint of society, this decline may produce a conflict. What is gained in having a socially desirable goal achieved may be offset in whole or part by an accompanying less efficient allocation of resources in society. The latter will result in a less than optimal growth of the economy and a lower total level of economic want satisfaction. In an era of unfilled wants and scarcity, the allocation process is extremely important. Many people feel that management should not be called upon to resolve the conflict posed above. Rather, society, with its broad general perspective, should make the decisions necessary in this area. Only society, acting through Congress and other representative governmental bodies, can judge the relative tradeoff between the achievement of a social goal and the sacrifice in the efficiency of apportioning resources that may accompany realization of the goal. With these decisions made, corporations can engage in wealth maximization and thereby efficiently allocate resources, subject, of course, to certain governmental constraints. Under such a system, corporations can be viewed as producing both private and social goods, and the maximization of shareholder wealth remains a viable corporate objective.

The Ups and Downs of the Cold War

Although no war between the superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union was ever declared, the leaders of the West and East faced off against each other in what is known as the Cold War. Even though there were attempts to discuss being peaceful together during the 46 years of â€Å"war†, these two nations fought overt and covert battles to increase their power across the globe. From the beginning to the end, the Cold War brought much fear and tension to the entire world.The Cold War is described as â€Å"the arms race between Germany and its neighbors as ‘a kind of â€Å"cold war† where there is no shooting but bleeding’† (Williamson). For my Cold War project, I made a chutes and ladders board game to represents the ups and downs of the war. I used 14 events: when the U. S. drops the atomic bomb, the Iron curtain, the Berlin Airlift, when China falls to communism, the Domino effect, when Russia drops their atomic bomb, hysteria, the launchi ng of Sputnik, Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Berlin Wall was built, the U. S. ets a man on the moon, the Berlin Wall falls, and the end of the Soviet Union, or the end of the Cold War. If the United States had a victory, the little person goes up the ladder, but if the Soviet Union won an event, the little person goes down the slide. There are eight slides, and six ladders, meaning that the Soviet Union overall had more wins, but the United States stole the victory in the end. The United States had a couple wins in the beginning, but the Soviet Union took control during the middle of the war, which means there are many slides in the middle of my project.But in the end, the United States takes it to the top, with a sparkly ladder to prove it. Immediately in the 50s and 60s, there were many short term effects of the Cold War. Communism was looked at as the â€Å"evil† government and the United States feared that it would spread from country to country. Because of t he increasing fear, many organizations and acts were started to put on end to the spread. One group, the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), began to investigate allegiances of communism in Hollywood. The committee believed that Communists were sneaking propaganda into films† (Danzer) and they accused people of working with communists, causing huge amounts of hysteria. In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed unknown communists in the state department, and eventually was calling everyone a communist. Not only were people afraid of being called a communist, but they also had to live in fear of having to eventually call someone they knew a communist.Panic was everywhere-having to always worry if a Russian atomic bomb was going to explode, not knowing if anyone was going to be called a communist, and always trying to compete with the Russians to try to be ahead in the race of war. Not only were there short term effects of the Cold War, but there were also long term effects as well. For example, the Berlin Wall, â€Å"a concrete wall topped with barbed wire that severed Berlin in two† (Danzer), stood as an ugly symbol of Communist oppression. Once it was torn down in 1989, it essentially ended all of the tensions that the hideous wall created.As well as the Berlin Wall, there were many problems with nuclear weapons. The Unites States and the Soviet Union were constantly racing to see who would use the atomic bomb first, and in 1945, the U. S. dropped the first bomb, starting the tensions of the Cold War that would last 46 years. The space race continued throughout the Cold War as the atomic bomb race did. In 1957, Russia sent Sputnik in space, making them the leader in the space race. However, in 1969, the United Stated sent the first man to the moon, which pushed them to be the leader.In the end, the super powers were both spending more than they could afford on the â€Å"bloodless war† (Williamson), which caused the Soviet Union to crumple, as the result to the end of the Cold War. Tensions, fear, and struggles filled the Cold War for 46 years. Even though there was no hand on hand contact, the events that shaped the war will never be forgotten. The Cold War had many ups and downs, but because of the perseverance and unity of the United States, they were about to steal the win of the long battle.

A Fairy Tale Christmas Essay

Once upon a time there was a very handsome boy. He was going on vacation with his family. The boy was called Sebastian. He was going to celebrate Christmas in Austria with his mom and dad, his grandmother, and his older brother and his older brothers wife and two kids. They were all very exited about it. They had been renting a big cabin 800m up, on a mountain. It was a skiing vacation, so the villa was in the middle of a big slope. The whole family was having a good time. They celebrated Christmas and ate some delicious food. But on the third day, something terrible happened. Sebastian and his big brother was skiing in an area were they hadn’t been skiing before. It was very exiting. The two guys knew about the famous and very dangerous tree-monster. Sebastian had heard some stories about the tree-monster. It was supposed to live in the area where they were skiing. But Sebastian didn’t care. He was very good at skiing and he was skiing very fast sometimes. He was fearless. Sebastian loved to ski off-piste. But Sebastian forgot that there is a lot of trees off-piste. And suddenly, when he was skiing very fast, something grabbed his leg. It was the dangerous tree-monster who had caught him. It tore his ski and helmet off. Luckily his big brother had heard him scream. So he was now running toward the tree-monster with a big axe. He chopped up the big tree-monster into many pieces. Sebastian was saved. The two guys skied back to the cabin where the family was waiting. They were very surprised to see that Sebastian had lost his helmet and skies. But when they heard was had happened. And they were very relieved that the two guys did not hurt themselves. So the family celebrated in seven days and seven nights. And they lived happy ever after†¦

Morgan Motor Company and the Key Challenges Essay - 1

Morgan Motor Company and the Key Challenges - Essay Example Regarding this issue, it is noticed by Greve (1998, 59) that change within any modern firm should be considered to be ‘an outcome jointly determined by the motivation to change, opportunity to change, and capability to change’. One of the most difficult tasks when implementing change within a particular organization is to identify the areas of the firm’s operational activity that need to be reviewed and possibly restructured. The above assumption is also supported by Poole (1998, 45) who noticed that ‘when change is needed in an organization it is likely the culture or identity of the organization will be targeted for change; the transformed organization, whether it be minor (first-order change) or major (second-order change), will not be the same as its predecessor’. In other words, change within a particular organization is often related to conditions of work and the skills of employees (possible thought of replacement should be identified in the re levant research). Moreover, other operational weaknesses should be identified at this stage. The responsibility for the identification and the evaluation of the problem belongs to firm’s central strategic management unit (in the specific case of Peter and his son Charles). The current paper examines the advantages and the disadvantages of implementing a plan of change to Morgan Motor. Moreover, the changes already applied to the above firm are going to be examined thoroughly and criticized as of their effectiveness in the firm’s performance especially in the long term. Changes were necessary for Morgan Motor. The production had been limited to a specific number of cars on an annual basis while the systems used for this production could be characterized as inappropriate in terms of the level of production (cars prepared on an annual basis). The time required for the completion of the relevant initiative is also considered as significant. However, the firm’s leaders managed to appropriately improve operational activities in all firm’s sectors implementing the required plans (in terms of the firm’s targets in the long term). It could be stated here that ‘change is a constant in modern working life; no matter how managers and employees struggle to control their lives, change is forced on them, reinforcing the feeling of being a pawn in someone else's game; since change is inevitable, managers must work to give their staff a sense of control over changing situations’ (Rosenberg, 1993, 21). In the case of Morgan Motor, the firm’s leaders managed to face effectively the obstacles appeared during the efforts for the implementation of change policies. In the long term, their initiatives had been proved appropriate for the particular market aligning existed business strategies with the demands of the particular marketplace. Â   Â   Â  

The Case for Health Care Reform Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Case for Health Care Reform - Research Paper Example The Medicare program is intended to cater to the healthcare needs of senior American citizens as well as disabled persons. There are four main parts that constitute the program. Part A and Part B cover hospital and medical insurance respectively; Part C offers flexibility whereas Part D covers the cost of Prescription drugs. The Medicaid program, on the other hand, was created to take care of the healthcare needs of those who are economically disadvantaged, but exceptions are made for special cases and circumstances. Put together, these two public healthcare programs give coverage to about 80 million American citizens, whereas the total population is more than 300 million. Moreover, the coverage extended by the two programs are for well-established medical conditions and well-entrenched treatments and procedures, thereby denying support for those patients who resort to emerging and innovative treatment regimes. Although these programs cost the federal government close to $800 billion and comprise 5.6 %of the nations GDP, they cover less than a third of the population and that too only for select medical conditions and treatments. It is a well-known fact that the United States healthcare system is one of the most inefficient among the advanced economies. Despite being the leading economic power, its ranks below Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway and Sweden and Western European countries such as France, Britain, and Germany The costs incurred, health outcomes, etc. This is a clear indication that the predominant role played by private business corporations (in the form of hospitals and insurance companies) has hampered our healthcare system from meeting its full potential. In a well-functioning system, the private involvement will be limited to the extent that it brings efficiency and innovation to the system.  Ã‚  

Theology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Theology - Essay Example However, due to the actions of their mother, the rich woman’s children perform so poorly in school while the children of the friend who is poor perform so well. What happens at this point is an example of a theodicy (Young 12). This occurs in a manner that cannot be influenced by any person as the children may be reading in the same class and being taught by the same teacher. According to the example above, it is prove enough on the existence of theodicy in the real world. The problem of theodicy is that the rich woman does bad things to the innocent children of her friend. In her view, she thinks that nothing will happen to her. However, the truth is that, bad things happen to her family for which she has no control over. On the other hand, her children suffer from the mistake of their mother without being directly related to the actions of their mother (Young 12). Looking critically at the problems of the young and poor children, the actions of their mother’s friend is too mean. Since the rich woman preferred to be unfair and mean to the children of her friend without thinking about what she was doing to them, the effects of her actions due to the theodicy come without any cure or defense criteria against her children. In this case, the effect of the theodicy was very necessary in order to give the rich woman a simple check for her actions. The effects of the theodicy act as the protector of the defenseless children of the poor woman. They make the rich woman to understand that, the effects of her actions must be critically looked at regardless of what she owns or the ability of the one who is at her mercy (Dembski 150). They help to stand firm against evil. On the other hand, they give blessings to the children of the poor woman. This is like a lesson to those people who think that because they own money and other earthly things they can do anything they feel like. The effects of the

Stem Cell Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Stem Cell - Essay Example Stem cells seem to be the only option available for leukemia patients. In my opinion, stem cell research should be allowed when we consider the terrible nature of leukemia and other diseases for which stem cell treatment seems to be the only option available at present. Medical researchers are of the view that stem cell therapy has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of human diseases. For example, bone marrow transplants are believed to be the only treatment option to counter the threats of leukemia. In order to develop more in treating leukemia with born marrow transplantation, stem cell research is necessary. Researchers believe that technologies derived from stem cell research can be effectively used in the treatment of many other diseases also. However, still there many controversies surrounding the ethics and effectiveness of stem cell research. Some people believe that the transplanted stem cells could form tumors in future because of the uncontrolled cell division. Stem cells have the ability to renew themselves even after long periods of inactivity. Moreover it can regularly divide to repair and replace worn out or damaged tissues. According to Goldstein, & Schneider (2010), the potentials of stem cell research is huge. It can find solutions for the devastating disease like cancer, Parkinson’s disease, diabetics’ heart diseases, etc (Goldstein, & Schneider, p.5). Many of the genetic diseases and other serious diseases like the ones mentioned above are threatening the sustainment of human life on earth at present. Irrespective of developed or developing countries, cancer is a big health problem everywhere in the world. Millions of people all over the world are losing their life because of cancer and other serious diseases. The discovery, isolation, and culturing of human embryonic stem cells has been brought glimpses of hope among the patients who are suffering

The Toys and Games Industrys Response to Globalazation Essay - 1

The Toys and Games Industrys Response to Globalazation - Essay Example The strategies used by this industry to effect globalization include a comprehensive marketing and online-selling of its products. This aspect enables the company to access many customers from diverse backgrounds of culture, race, beliefs and religion. According to Baker (2011, 82), the industry’s products and services get an international recognition and much revenue. Moreover, the management in the Toys and Games industry has learnt new management strategies through the recent access to large volumes of data. The access to volumes of data is a recent occurrence, which has greatly globalized many aspects of business (Butler, 2008, 41). For instance, the access to bid data has enabled the Toys and Games industry to gather crucial information with regard to global performance trends in various sectors and product lines. Mayer (2013, 46) asserts that new methods of product differentiation and diversification have been learnt after the acquisition of bid sets of data from a globa l platform. The big information has culminated in the restructuring of organizational structure for efficiency and effectiveness in the Toys and Games industry operations. According to Cerra (2012, 34), the big data have led to the realization of new ways of achieving global customer satisfaction, continuous improvement and total quality management within the Toys and Games industry. These principles are critical in the thriving of the industry. In the case of transportation of commodities, there is the use of sensors on trucks in order to streamline the delivery of goods through shipping. This contains the problem of stock-out cost and machine overhaul cost. The massive data have also helped the manufactures in tracking the trend of customer preference and taste (Gill, 2010, 56).

Child Labour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Child Labour - Essay Example the action is beneficial to everyone, the egoism theory states that morally right actions are those whose outcome maximises benefits to the person performing them. And finally the Altruism theory states that an action is considered morally right if the outcome of the action is favourable to every person except the person performing the action.4 According to utilitarian theory child labour is morally wrong in that it does not beneficial to everyone, the children suffer and in some cases they are not paid, further these children should be attending school or performing school related duties other than working, there is a need to educate and train these children in order to prepare them for the job market and employing them before they complete their education will mean that this is violating their rights. An example is the India gap kid clothing company where according to the UK reporters there was beating of children in the industry and further children were not paid for their work, child labour, the employers take advantage that children punishment is allowed in many countries and because children are not aware of their rights they are forced to undertake hard work.5 Employers prefer to employ children because they provide cheap labour and also they are easy to control, children are also seen to be more obedient than adults, they therefore employ the children for the purpose of cutting down costs and also because the children are easy to control than the adults because adults are related with initiatives which include protests and formation of trade union. The employers benefit in this case and this is in line with the Altruism theory states that an action is considered morally right if the outcome of the action is favourable to every person except the person... This paper stresses that employers prefer to employ children because they provide cheap labour and also they are easy to control, children are also seen to be more obedient than adults, they therefore employ the children for the purpose of cutting down costs and also because the children are easy to control than the adults because adults are related with initiatives which include protests and formation of trade union. The employers benefit in this case and this is in line with the Altruism theory states that an action is considered morally right if the outcome of the action is favourable to every person except the person performing the action. This report makes a conclusion that the theories of normative ethics do not support child labour, for this reason therefore there should be an increased effort to ban child labour in the whole world because it is not morally right, in most cases children are not paid for their work and are disciplined for not working hard, the employers know that they can pay less for employing children and also that children are obedient than adults and for this reason they will employ children, the employers therefore avoid trade unions and protests from workers in case they exploit their workers, for this reason therefore no child should be allowed to work and this will stop exploitation of children worldwide. In developing countries where children work to support their families the government should come up with policy measures to improve employment and standards of living, this will result into a reduction of child labour in most countries and a healthy working labour force will be evident in fu ture.

Anyhting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Anyhting - Essay Example In performing economic estimates, it is prudent to encompass both micro and macro aspects of economics. Economists in the recent past have expressed concerns over the persistent deteriorating economic performance of the rest of the world markets and not the United States (U.S). They are relatively sanguine about the US economic performance outlook . This is after an irregular first half of the year and most economists express confidence that the economy will improve in the second half. On the contrary, they express mixed attitudes towards the other global markets such as the Eurozone, China and Japan. The European market is hard hit by their broken banking system. These outcomes are comparatives based on micro and macro-economic factors in the respective economies. Therefore, as the second half approaches, there is need for economies to critically analyse the underlying macro and micro factors that are likely to slow growth. It is vital to appreciate the forecasts laid by economists and use them effectively in better management of economics events likely to occur. This will assist ensuring sustainability of economic performance not only in the US but rather across other markets. Nick Timiraos. American Exceptionalism. Economic outlook over the next four quarters. Wall Street Journal. 11 Sept. 2014. Web. 11 Sept 2014.

Field trip example for developing questions Essay Example for Free

Field trip example for developing questions Essay Listed below are some sample questions that were asked about a hand plow used in the 1800s that one group of students saw in a museum. These might give you some ideas for developing questions: †¢ What function do you think this object had? †¢ When do you think it might have been used? †¢ Who might have used it? †¢ What materials were used to make it? †¢ How do you think it was made/manufactured? †¢ Imagine using this plow all day. How would you feel? †¢ How do farmers plow their fields today? †¢ Do you think they feel any differently than the farmer using this plow did at the end of the day? Explain. †¢ Do you think there are people in the world today who still use tools like this? Explain. ACTIVITY TO BE DONE: FIELD TRIP TO A OLD-TIMECRAFT MUSEUM Questions: †¢ Are the crafts carefully made to show the culture and beliefs of the people who made them? †¢ Basing from the craft materials that you’ve seen, how might you describe the ancient generation of humans? †¢ How are you able to connect the past with the present through the crafts that you have seen? †¢ Are there any depictions of the past that you could identify to characterize the present human society today? †¢ Do you think these crafts could still be improved through the usage of modern technology? †¢ How would technology actually affect the presentation of the said crafts? Appendix 23. 07c Sample Pre-, During- and Post-Field Trip Activities for a Field Trip to a California Mission Grade Level: 4 Pre-Trip Activity: Who Built the Missions? I will read sections from â€Å"Missions of the Southern Coast† by Nancy Lemke (1996) to my students. After reading the story, we will record information learned about who built the missions on a wall chart. We will discuss how the life of many native Indians changed after the Spanish padres taught the natives Indians to speak Spanish, make adobe bricks, sing Spanish religious songs, and change their religious beliefs, etc. I will set up a computer station for students to explore the site: http://library. thinkquest. org/3615/index. shtml, which describes the layout of the missions and how the structures were built. Students will record their findings for later use in their creative story writing. During the Trip Activity: Mission Architecture At the site I will gather students around me at the entrance to the mission. Here we will take a close look at the basic architectural design of the building and compare it to the photos we examined in class, looking for similarities and differences. Students will sketch three architectural features that they see. As we walk through the mission building (using the mission’s map to navigate our route), students will make a list of the different rooms and make note of several objects or architectural design elements in each room that are similar to items in use today. We will also discuss items that are no longer used. Post-Trip Activity: Travel Brochure for the Mission After the trip, students will summarize their learning by working in pairs to design a travel brochure inviting tourists to visit the mission. Students will need to include the following information: mission name, date built, brief history about why missions were founded, a brief story unique to this mission, a statement that explains to the tourist why missions are an important part of California’s history. Brochures will also include students’ decorative artwork. Per-trip Activity: Sharing the Goals of the Trip with the Students This activity shall help the instructor outline the reasons for the fieldtrip thus guide the students with the necessary learning that they are supposed to receive from the activity that they are to encounter in the field. It is expected that through this particular activity, the students would have a logical understanding of how much they are supposed to be benefited by the said activity. During the trip activity. It is simply through the actual field trip that the understanding of the gist of the activity shall be realized by everyone involved in the project. Thus, through the activity itself, the students would realize the real impact of the process within their learning and personality as well. With the realization of the students with regards the benefit of the trip to their learning process, they are then expected to apply in themselves whatever it has been that they have learned from the trip. Post-Trip Activity Recollection of the things learned is a primary focus of the instructor after the trip is over. It is through this after activity meeting that the educators as well as the coordinators of the trip would naturally measure the success of the activity thus scale it for further pursuance during the following years of operation. Appendix 23. 07b Field Trip Planning and Implementation Form 1. Decide where you are going and record the pertinent information, including: †¢ site address †¢ relevant telephone numbers †¢ admission costs; group rates; group size limitations †¢ hours of operation †¢ content of the exhibits †¢ facilities (bathrooms, area to eat, etc. ). †¢ availability of food concessions, gift shops †¢ requirements for reservations †¢ availability of guided tours (Are they required? Costs? ) †¢ availability of curriculum materials for teachers †¢ special requirements (walking shoes, binoculars, warm clothing, etc. ) †¢ handicapped accommodations, and other relevant information (brochures, handouts) Enter Step 1 information here: 1. Craft Museum in Los Angeles: features the exhibit of the works of the families and cultures of both ancient and modern America. 2. Schedule of Tour: Wednesday or Saturday in the afternoon beginning 1pm. 3.time length of tour: 3hours 4. Exhibit Content: family crafts of the ancient and modern American civilization. 5. Facilities: With comfort rooms and lobby for resting purposes 6. Ground Rules: No eating within the premises of the showroom during the tour activities. 7. No Reservation Payment; but there is an enlisting process before the tour begins. 8. school uniforms for quick identification is required due to the continuous tours taking place in the museum. 2. Educational and other considerations for the field trip. †¢ How does taking a field trip relate to your classroom studies? †¢ What are your objectives for the field trip? †¢ What information will tell you if your students have achieved your objectives? †¢ Visit the museum/site before your field trip. †¢ Which exhibits would you like to use? †¢ Are there any special conditions you will need to accommodate? †¢ What are the rules and procedures for group visits? Lunch plans? †¢ Do you have a map of the museum/site? †¢ Do you have some pictures, slides or postcards of the site that you can use with your students? †¢ Do you know your way around the museum/site? Enter Step 2 information here: 1. The field trip is expected to enhance the knowledge of the students with regards how much ancient America connects with the modern generation of people of the country today. 2. This field trip is rather pursued to help the students see the actual display of intellect of both the ancient and modern Americans whether with the aid of technology or those others that were created without the said utilization of modern technology. 3. to ensure safety of the whole class, it is advised that the instructor sees the museum first for security measures and assessment of the place whether it would be feasible for the subject or the students the like. 4. Souvenirs are given to the students visiting there and several brochures which could later on be used for classroom discussions. The said brochures are accompanied by maps showing the interiors of the museum. 3. Make Advance Arrangements †¢ What are your school’s procedures for field trips? Do you need special permission? †¢ Have you made reservations at the site for your trip? †¢ What transportation arrangements do you need to make? †¢ Have you kept copies of forms, requests, reservations, etc.? †¢ Have you sent out and received permission slips from parents? †¢ Can you anticipate any student behavior problems? Do you have a plan to cope with them? †¢ Have you arranged for payment of field trip expenses? †¢ What is your policy about visits to the museum/site gift shop? Tell students in advance! Enter Step 3 information here: 1. Parental permission must be first received before a student is to be joined in with the group for field trip. 2. Hiring a bus is a necessary step for getting the students safe into the museum. 3. The transportation is supposed to fetch the students back and forth from the school within at least five hours time difference. 4. To avoid unruly behaviors, the instructor is to have three appointees per group who would serve as group leaders thus making the trip much more controllable and the students easier to accompany with. 5. Snacks are to be served to the students in the bus after the three-hour field-trip. 6. all ground rules are to be discussed during the pre-trip meetings with the students. 4. Pre-Trip Activities: Introduce Museum/Community Site †¢ What pre-trip activities have you planned to introduce your students to the field trip site? †¢ What pre-trip activities have you planned to enable your students to try out and practice perceptual skills? (touch-boxes, sounds, smells, same-different, matching, sketching, color) †¢ What pre-trip activities have you planned that pertain to the subject matter of your field trip? (vocabulary, experience chart, artifacts, speakers, research groups, developing worksheets) †¢ Design six questions to ask your students that will help them think about something that they will see on the trip. Enter Step 4 information here: 1. Each student is advised to bring short note pads where they could take down their notes for review purposes in class. 2. Questions: †¢ Are the crafts carefully made to show the culture and beliefs of the people who made them? †¢ Basing from the craft materials that you’ve seen, how might you describe the ancient generation of humans? †¢ How are you able to connect the past with the present through the crafts that you have seen? †¢ Are there any depictions of the past that you could identify to characterize the present human society today? †¢ Do you think these crafts could still be improved through the usage of modern technology? †¢ How would technology actually affect the presentation of the said crafts? 5. Plan Field Trip Activities †¢ Will your students be participating in a site-led program or tour? †¢ If so, have you talked to the guide about your students’ background and preparation for the trip? †¢ Will your students be using worksheets you’ve developed as a basis for their site activities? †¢ What other activities will your students do at the site (beyond a guided tour)? †¢ Have you planned the work in small sections (in case some children finish sooner than others)? †¢ Are the activities varied intellectually? †¢ Review field trip plans with chaperones. †¢ When will you meet with chaperones to review your plans for the trip? †¢ Have you recruited the chaperones you need? Do you have a back-up plan if a chaperone fails to show up? †¢ Have you prepared an information packet about the trip for each chaperone? †¢ Do the chaperones clearly understand what they can do to support the educational objectives of your trip? Enter Step 5 information here: Each group leader is assigned with a name of list in their groups who they would be appointed to check on time and again. Nevertheless, after the three-hour tour, everyone is expected to be intact in their groups as their grade on the said activity shall well depend on how well they behave during the tour activities. Making necessary pre-announced quizzes about the trip would also help the students more attentive and interested in the discussions presented to them during the tours and keep them safe with their groups as well. 6. Field Trip Day †¢ Review plans and schedule with students and chaperones. †¢ Give the bus driver a map, parking information and a schedule. Get the bus number. †¢ Bathroom stop before boarding the bus. †¢ Give a brief orientation to the site upon arrival; review what to do if anyone gets lost. †¢ Conduct at-site activities and adjust pace as needed. †¢ Finish activities and stop at the gift shop if planned. †¢ Move to the exit, do headcounts and board the bus. †¢ Notify the school office when you return. †¢ Discuss the trip with students. Enter Step 6 information here: Headcounts are to be performed, before, once during, and after the tours. The headcount is supposed to be a security check on the whereabouts of the students. If incase anyone gets lost, the enlisting before the entrance of the students in the museum shall be a great help thus alerting the museum securities of the said lost student. Once the trip begins to pursue, the administration should be notified as well as when it is already over. This would give the administration less frustration in handling activities as such in the future. 7. Post-Trip Activities †¢ What activities have you planned to continue your students’ learning back in the classroom? (murals, dioramas, newspaper, letters, tape recordings, posters, plays/skits, creative writing, travel brochure, museum memory capsule) Enter Step 7 information here: Poster making and role playing shall be the main activity inside the classrooms once the activity is over; so as to help the children recover about what they have learned from the touring activities held. 8. Evaluation of the Field Trip †¢ Does the kind of feedback you received from your students allow you to tell if you met your objectives for the trip? †¢ Did you meet your trip objectives? †¢ How did your students evaluate their trip? †¢ What were your students’ reactions to the trip? †¢ What did they learn from their worksheets or other activities? How do you know? †¢ Were there any problems you could avoid next time? Surprises? †¢ What improvements or changes would you make next time? †¢ Have you recorded your thoughts for future reference? Enter Step 8 information here: It should be understood that part of the activity is the assurance that each student is given the careful attention that they need, simply for them to benefit well from the activity. Through post-activity class discussions and presentations, the said matter could be then well measured as to how the activity applied well for the development of the students with regards their learning as considered within the curriculum that they are to discuss along with the integrated goals of the field trip within the development of the lesson. (Adapted from: â€Å"Teach the Mind, Touch the Spirit A Guide to Focused Field Trips† Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago) †¢ Describe your class, their interests, cultural backgrounds, SAT9 profiles, English language levels, reading abilities and special needs levels. The class to be dealt with is comprised of multicultural population that ranged from the fast and the slow as well as the average learners the like. This particular diversity on the part of the class make up actually makes the instruction of integrated lessons quite a challenge for the instructor. Moreover, the ways by which the instructor should deal with the situation should integrate both lecture and practical implication of the lessons as well. Seeing the cultural differences of the students, the instructors are rather required to have a quality that needs to be handled to the said specific types of students. It is understood that with a multicultural population in class, it is needed that the educational instructors utilize the different strategies to approach the learning diversity of all the students catered through the lessons presented in class. †¢ Profile your school culture, family involvement and home/school communication. Because of multiculturalism, the need for long understanding is required. For this reason, it is understood that the instructors could not be able to be expected to do the entire job. The cooperation of the parents and guardians of the students is highly regarded for the treatment within this particular situation. The communication between the parents/guardians and the instructors is to be treated as a primary source of success in this process. Thus it is encouraged that updating the parents/guardians with the development of their students as well as the extra needed attention that the young learners require be made known to the individuals needing the information. Doing so would give the instructors and the parents as well as the guardian of the students give full focus to the advancement of the young learners as primary receivers of the education that they are due. B: Learning Goals †¢ Select goals that are developmentally appropriate, culturally responsive, student-interest-based and drawn from the California academic content standards. There are numerous academic goals that actually outlines the need of increasing the capability of the students to deal with the challenges of life in a more practical process that would be most beneficial for their own good. Among the said goals is to teach them to become reliable at almost all the times needed. With regards this, it could be noted that understanding the primary issues that are related to life and the challenges that it offers shall give the students the real and right motivation to advance further with their learning. It is through this that they become motivated to hone their capability of being reliable at most especially during the times that their support and understanding are highly needed. Another goal is to help the students relate their school lessons with their real life situations. Being practical in dealing with real life situations could be stressed out during classroom discussions that are expected to be presented during class. Handling this particular responsibility is of utmost need for the instructors to consider during class operations. References: Shapiro, B. L. (1994). What Children Bring to Light: A Constructivist Perspective on Childrens Learning in Science; New York. Teachers College Press. Helm, J. H. , Katz, L. (2001). Young investigators: The project approach in the early years. New York: Teachers College Press.