Learning Team Industry Averages and Financial Ratios Essay

Watch the Industry Averages and Financial Ratios video and use the industry classification from the financial services website to locate the company’s SIC code on the U.S. Department of Labor’s website. Find the industry ratios for the company using the Dun &  Bradstreet ® Key Business Ratios link in the Week 2 Electronic Reserve Readings. If your company’s SIC code does not appear in the dropdown menu, choose another company. Assume the inventory ratio is based on a traditional inventory system, but globalized markets and the supply chain make it critical to adopt lean principles to create a more efficient system. Calculate the 14 ratios (show your calculations) for the company using the two most recent annual financial statements found on the financial information website you used earlier. Be careful not to use quarterly information, and include ratios for both years. Note. You can access a downloadable Ratio Guide PDF by clicking the Help Guide link in the upper-right of the Dun & Bradstreet ® Key Business Ratios window. Compare the ratios for the company you selected with the appropriate industry ratios including profitability, solvency, and efficiency ratios shown on the Dun & Bradstreet ® report. Write a 350-word response about how the company you selected performed compared with the industry. Instructor Notes: Also upload the following: Formula and calculations of your company’s financial ratios for most recent two years (Excel) Dun & Bradstreet financial ratios for your company’s SIC code (exported to Excel) (Please delete the text in yellow-highlight above) Industry Averages and Financial Ratios Paper The purpose of this analysis is for our team to analyze how Amazon.com Inc. performed compared with the industry based on financial ratios. In Attachment 1, our team provides the industry ratios for the company using the Dun & Bradstreet Key Business Ratios. In Attachment 2, we provide the Balance Sheet and Income Statement information for the company’s most recent two years. In Attachment 3, our team calculates the company’s 14 financial ratios. In Attachment 4, we compare the financial ratios with appropriate industry ratios including profitability, solvency, and efficiency ratios. Analysis of Company’s Financial Ratios Compared to Industry’s Financial Ratios Xxxx Provide an analysis of the selected company’s 14 financial ratios compared to the industry’s financial ratios. Compare the most recent two years from D&B industry average to the same two years from your calculated financial ratios. Use the â€Å"Median† from the D&B industry average Remember to select financial ratios related to profitability, solvency, and  efficiency ratios. Note: the analysis includes interpreting the importance of the company’s vs. the industry’s financial ratios. 3 points out of 3 possible points (please do not delete these lines with point scoring) Conclusion References [Insert references here.] Attachment 1 Industry’s ratios from Dun & Bradstreet ® Key Business Ratios Solvency Ratios Solvency ratios measure the financial soundness of a business and how well a company can satisfy its short- and long-term obligations. D&B uses six key financial business ratios to measure a company’s solvency: †¢ Quick Ratio, also called â€Å"acid test† or â€Å"liquid† ratio, considers only cash, marketable securities and accounts receivable because they are considered to be the most liquids forms of current assets. A Quick Ratio less that 1.0 implies â€Å"dependency† on inventory and other current assets to liquidate short-term debt. Cash + Accounts Receivable à · Current Liabilities †¢ Current Ratio is a comparison of current assets to current liabilities, commonly used as a measure of short-run solvency, i.e., the immediate ability of a business to pay its current debts as they come due. Potential creditors use this ratio to measure a company’s liquidity or ability to pay off short-term debts. Current Assets à · Cu rrent Liabilities †¢ Current Liabilities to Net Worth Ratio indicates the amount due creditors within a year as a percentage of the owners or stockholders investment. The smaller the net worth and the larger the liabilities, the less security for creditors. Normally a business starts to have trouble when this relationship exceeds 80%. Current Liabilities à · Net Worth †¢ Current Liabilities to Inventory Ratio shows, as a percentage, the reliance on available inventory for payment of debt (how much a company relies on funds from disposal of unsold inventories to meet its current debt). Current Liabilities à · Inventory †¢ Total Liabilities to New Worth Ratio shows how all of a company’s debt relates to the equity of the owners or stockholders.  The higher this ratio, the less protection there is for the creditors of the business. Total Liabilities à · Net Worth †¢ Fixed Assets to Newt Worth Ratio shows the percentage of assts centered in fixed assets compared to total equity. Generally the higher this percentage is over 75%, the more vulnerable a business becomes to unexpected hazards and climate changes. Fixed Assets à · Net Worth Efficiency Ratios Efficiency ratios measure the quality of a business’ receivables and how efficiently it uses and controls its assets, how effectively the firm is paying suppliers and whether the business is overtrading or undertrading on its equity. D&B uses five key financial business ratios to measure a company’s efficiency: †¢ Collection Period Ratio is helpful in analyzing the collectability of accounts receivable or how fast a business can increase its cash supply. Accounts Receivable à · Sales x 365 Days †¢ Sales to Inventory Ratio provides a yardstick for comparing stock-to-sales ratios of a business with others in the same industry. A high ratio may indicate that sales are being lost because of low inventory and/or customers are buying elsewhere. A low ratio may indicate that inventories are obsolete or stagnant. Annual Net Sale à · Inventory †¢ Assets to Sales Ratio shows how efficiently a business is usingits assets to generate revenue. A high ratio may indicate the business is not aggressive or that its assts are not fully used. A low ratio may indicate a company is selling more than can safely fulfilled by its assets. Total Assets à · Net Sales †¢ Sales to Net Working Capital Ratio shows the number of times working capital turns over annually in relation to net sales. A high turnover rate may indicate that the business relies heavily on credit. Sales à · Net Working Capital †¢ Accounts Payable to Sales Ratio shows how a company pays its suppliers in relation to the sales volume being transacted. A low percentage may indicate a healthy ratio. A high percentage may indicate that the business may be using suppliers to help finance its operation. Accounts Payable à · Net Sales Profitability Ratios Profitability ratios measure how well a company is performing by analyzing how profit was earned relative to sales, total assets and net worth. D&B uses three key financial business ratios to measure a company’s efficiency: †¢ Return on Sales (Profit Margin) Ratio measures the profits after taxes on the year’s sales. The higher the ratio, the better prepared the business is to handle downtrends brought on by adverse conditions. Net Profit After  Taxes à · Net Sales †¢ Return on Assets (ROA) Ratio shows the after tax earnings of assets and is an indicator of how profitable a company is. Return on assets ratio is the key indicator of the profitability of a company. It matches net profits after taxes with the assets used to earn such profits. A high percentage rated indicates the company is well run and has a healthy return on assets. Net Profit After Taxes à · Total Assets †¢ Return on Net Worth Ratio measure the ability of a company’s management to realize an adequate return on the capital invested by the owners in the company. Net Profit After Taxes à · Net Worth Median Median is the value from the midpoint that falls halfway between the Upper and Lower Quartiles. Industry Quartiles Industry Quartiles are static values taken directly from the KBR database tables. The value from the midpoint that falls halfway to the top of the list is selected as the Upper Quartile. The value that is halfway between the median and the bottom of the list is selected as the Lower Quartile.

Computer

When your hard drive crashes from any of the correct selections in the question above, or from dropping It, it is known as head-to-disk interference, or HDL What tool s used to test serial and parallel ports? ESD would cause the most damage to which component? What voltage does a Pentium system use? How long Is an IPv6 address? What flavor of Network Address Translation can be used to have one IP address allow many users to connect to the global Internet? Which protocol does DHCP use at the Transport layer?Where is a hub specified in the OSI model? What layer In the TCP/IP stack Is equivalent to the Transport layer of the OSI model? You want to Implement a mechanism that automates the IP configuration, Including IP address, subnet mask. default gateway, and DNS information. Which protocol will ou use to accomplish this? Which of the following is private IP address? Which layer 4 protocol is used for a Telnet connection? What protocol is used to find the hardware address of a local de vice? Which of the following protocols uses both TCP and UDP?A numeric error code check A 17xx Indicates a problem with: Which provides the fastest access to large video files? You were installing an application in Windows 95, and the computer crashes, what do you do? RS-232 is a standard that applies to:: You Just installed a new IDE hard drive, but your system BIOS will not recognize the new drive, what should you check first. During boot-up, the memory test: What is the first thing you could do to check for damage to a printer after receiving it? You have a system that periodically locks up.You have ruled out software, and now suspect that it is hardware. What should you do first that could help you narrow it down to the component at fault? What tool is used to test serial and parallel ports? You have 10 users plugged into a hub running 10Mbps half-duplex. There is a server connected to the switch running 10Mbps half-duplex as well. How much bandwidth does each host have to the s erver? Which of the following is the valid host range for he subnet on which the IP Which protocol is used to send a destination network unknown message back to originating hosts? Computer Remote access domain can be assessed by requiring two credentials from the three something you are, something you have and something you know. This can impact the data stored on the network as well as the network itself. System and application domains can be assessed by removing unneeded software and patching regularly, this can impact issues with the software and unnecessary programs and usage. Executive management should review and consider the following issued within the domains. We can manage and mitigate these common risks with these practices.Failure to address these issues could result in data loss, outwork downtime and many more big issues. Our systems security should be a priority and these are the issues that need to be addressed. 1 . The aim of the risk assessment process is to remove a hazard or reduce the level Of its risk by adding precautions or control measures, as necessary. By doing so, you have created a safer and healthier workplace. 2. A qualitative assessment is based on opinion than actual fact, and IT risk assessments need to be based on a quantitative analysis. 3. The critical needs to be mitigated immediately. 4.By assessing how important the risk is to the infrastructure and how quickly the risk needs to be mitigated. The one's and two's need to be mitigated as soon as possible and the threes can be mitigated or left alone at management's decision. 5. -Restrict user access and set it up that a user has to get authorization for downloads. -Update software. -Increase WALL security using WPAD and AES encryption. -Strengthen firewall. -Strengthen firewall security; install PIPS and IDS systems to the infrastructure. -Make sure that the VPN is in place and secure. -Remove server, restore database from backup, and remove corruption from system. Computer Do you think this event was caused by an insider or outsider? Why do you t hint this? A An insider could have been included, tragically, but unintentionally, by joining g an individual USB streak removable commute to the workplace machine to the manager, w as contaminated somewhere else with an infection or worm.Be that as it may, all the more that n likely the guilty party was a pariah in light of the fact that it was expressed in account that the issues started when the clients clicked their email connections. Also most messages regularly origin neat from the outside. 2. Other than installing virus and worm control software, what can SSL do to p repaper for the next incident? A. They thought to introduce an understanding firewall into their framework KS. Really they should have had one effectively, overall this issue would not have happened.Be that as it may I guess they don ‘t have a strong security arrangement set up. Likewise, the way that they were putting in new infectio n programming lets me know that they either had a SSH baby one introduced before or that they never had one in any case. 3. Do you think this attack was the result of a virus or a worm? Why do you HTH ink this? A. Lat would need to be both. An infection can demolish your machine framework ark and a worm is used to spread it. Computer A hardware is something we can see and touch in a computer. What is a software? – A software is something we can see but cannot touch, it is usually stored in a computer system. Some of the examples of hardware are: – Mouse – Keyboard – Monitor – CPU -Speaker – Printer Scanner – Trackball – Joystick Some of the examples of software are: – Microsoft Words – Internet Explorer As of the moment, many trends come out in the business world to make human tasks more fast and easy. Information Technology plays a vital role in this part thus asking all necessary tasks more accurate and less time consuming.Nowadays, Information Technology holds a really Important role In our everyday life. Little things needed the work of IT to be completed. This chapter explains the wholeness of the project where in it explain the background of the company and the project. What is a hardware? – A hardware is something we can see and t ouch in a computer. What Is a software? – A software Is something we can see but cannot touch, It Is usually stored in a – Scanner Nowadays, Information Technology holds a really important role in our everyday life.

Alliance Boots Future Strategic Directions Organisation Business Essay

Alliance Boots Future Strategic Directions Organisation Business Essay It is a multinational company with strong recognition and reputation as one of the leading pharmaceutical and beauty companies in the world. Alliance Boots revenue is more than  £22.5 billion in excess; it also has various outlets in more than 20 countries. Alliance Boots core areas of business are pharmaceutical and beauty, formed in 2006 as a merger Boots Group and Alliance UniChem and recently a global merger with Walgreens. The company main purpose is to help its customers to look and feel better than ever, by providing exceptional customer and patient care with great value for its customer. Product brands Alliance Boots Pharmaceutical Wholesale Division is experiencing a rapid growth and global sales; the company believes that its product innovation and development competencies are some of the resourceful factors, which enable the company to develop new and existing products for global consumption. Some of these products are, No7, Soltan and Botanics, 17, Almus and Alvita tha t were successfully launched recently. Organisation Structures Alliance Boots have over 185,000 employees and numerous pharmaceutical outlets. The aim of the company is to work closely with manufacturer of pharmaceutical, beauty and health products and use experienced pharmacists to provide services to their customers. Alliance Boots headquarters is in Zug Switzerland. Alliance Boots Strategy Options It is important that when a global business organisation wants to adopt a sustainable development strategy for its products and brands, such strategy needs to be applicable across a wide range of different product types, also has to be flexible to cope with the rapid turnover of products. Alliance Boots also believe that: The company strategy is capable to cope with three main routes by which products are introduced at Alliance Boots (own manufacture, third party supply of Alliance Boots brands and proprietary brand). The company strategy is providing leadership on where and how to impr ove its products and such improvement must be commercially successful. Marketing strategy Alliance Boots believe that by putting its customers first for all its pharmaceutical and beauty products with outstanding quality and service at a competitive cost will help the company to achieve excellent profitable margins in the global competitive market. Ansoff’s Matrix Ansoff’s Matrix is a unique marketing tool, which provides strategic choices to business organisations in order to achieve the objective for growth. Ansoff’s Matrix has four main categories namely: Market penetration: Market penetration creates a good avenue for a company like Alliance Boots to sell existing products in existing markets. It is important for Alliance Boots to continue promoting its product with the new features and good quality .This is helping Alliance Boots to invest heavily and focus more on research and development in new market research creating more distribution channel. Market de velopment: Alliance Boots use Market development as a growth strategy to sell its existing products into new markets, including new geographical markets, for example product exportation to a new country. It also includes new product packaging new distribution channels (e.g. Boots Pharmacy stores across UK and selling via e-commerce and mail order). Its ability to target new market makes Market development a unique strategy.

Innovation and technology management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Innovation and technology management - Essay Example During the recession in 2008, the owners of different companies worldwide were focused towards growth and they predicted that technological innovation would be the main source of success for the companies. In such a situation, The CEOs of the companies employed technology to gain success and differentiation simultaneously (Orcale, 2012, p. 1-10; Jaruzelski, Loeher and Holman, 2012, pp. 16-24). According to the survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 2011, about 80% of the CEOs of the companies operating globally believed that innovation is main driver for organisational efficiency and aims at building competitive advantage. From the survey results, it was observed that about 70% of CEOs had invested in undertaking technological up gradation to reduce the cost of the companies and in return became more efficient (Orcale, 2012, p. 1-10; Jaruzelski, Loeher and Holman, 2012, pp. 16-24). However, it is also evident that even technological advancement cannot deliver success until and unless business goals and strategies are developed and focused. Thus, it is pivotal to understand the condition of the company before undertaking any innovation process. The role of innovation is evaluated so as to ensure that it will lead to profitable growth. The changes in the company operation are evident when technological innovation is required (Orcale, 2012, p. 1-10). Innovation can take place in a number of ways; in a technological change highlights the types of products and services that can be produced by the company or change in business model that aims at delivering the initial value of the company (Jaruzelski, Loeher and Holman, 2012, pp. 16-24). Hence, it is quite evident that the companies should recognise the type of innovation that is required for the development of their business so as to sustain in the long run. The types of innovation are incremental, radical and breakthrough innovations. These innovations are

Specialist Community Public Health Nursing Essay

Specialist Community Public Health Nursing - Essay Example rience depression and other health related issues that even cause death in later stage (Egton Medical Information Systems Limited, 2015; Musingarimi, 2008). Over the previous twenty years, the rate of obesity throughout the globe has increased by a considerable extent. Based on various researches, it can be ascertained that the rate of obesity among the adults has increased by three to four times since the year 1980. However, it has become a worldwide challenge for the government to combat the disease because of the complexities associated with the treatment procedures of the same (Guardian News and Media Limited, 2015). Notably, there are certain public health policies that have been formulated by the UK government in order to tackle with the disease. Apart from this, the health visitors of the UK are also playing a major role in preventing obesity by creating greater awareness about the implications of this health disorder amid the people (Waumsley, 2011). Thus, urgent global action and conduct of effective leadership practices are required to support the respective nations in coping up with such a life threatening health disorder (1BBC, 2015). Obesity has become a major global health challenge, as it is growing at an increasing rate throughout the globe. Based on a survey conducted, it is estimated that in excess of three million people of the world are suffering from this health disorder. The condition of obesity in a person is measured with the help of Body Mass Index (BMI) approach, which measures the proximity of this disorder within the individuals by measuring their height and weight. Specially mentioning, the people of the developed countries are mainly affected with this adverse health condition, but in recent times, the issue has become an increasing problem even for the developing countries. In the year 2010, about 3.4 million deaths were reported worldwide that caused due to obesity. Certainly, the rise in the rate of obesity has led the respective

An Investigative Study on the Book of Matthew Term Paper

An Investigative Study on the Book of Matthew - Term Paper Example By concentrating on the Jewish tradition, the writer leads to a conclusion that he must have been a Jew and that the book was written in a Jewish community. It is speculated that the book was written in the first century AD. Also, the writer concentrates a lot on the Old Testament prophecies of the coming of Messiah, and this, too, leads to the same conclusion, i.e. that he must have been a Jew. The chronology of the book of Matthew covers a vast spun of time. It dates back before the birth of Jesus Christ, as is revealed by the prophecies, dwells on the life and work of Jesus on the Earth and also touches on the future when Jesus would come again. Scholars have also noted that the book of Matthew borrows a lot from the book of Mark, the writings commonly referred to as the Q-source and Jewish custom material. The original language was Greek. Following the closeness between the book of Matthew and Luke, the conclusion follows that the book was written by Matthew, one of Jesus’ disciples, who was a tax collector (Freeborn 156). David Sim, in his article â€Å"Matthew and the Pauline Corpus,† shows that the writer of this book had much knowledge of the epistles written by Paul. He argues that not only do the scriptures rhyme, but also the scriptures in the book of Matthew speak defensively on various topical issues that are addressed by the Apostle Paul in the epistles. Matthew is portrayed in his writings to be a strict law-obeying Jew, unlike the Apostle Paul, who is depicted as a gentile, by and large arrogant and ignorant of the law. The close comparison brings much of inter-textual relation to the two scriptural contexts. Matthew closely alludes to the ideologies addressed by the Apostle Paul and also borrows a lot from Mark. This is clearly illustrated in the narrative mode of describing Jesus’ lifestyle, and this, to a large extent, supports the thematic concern of inter-textuality (Sim 403). As a matter of fact, the comparison of the book of Matthew and other books written by the disciples simply affirms the possibility that the book was written by a Jew and that this happened after the ministry of Jesus on the Earth. There is a great correlation between the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and much contrast emanates from the epistles of Paul. A close evaluation indicates that just as Mark and Luke, Matthew is a Synoptic. However, critics point out that Matthew happened to live and write before the other gospels were created as a lot is likely to be borrowed from the scriptures of Matthew by the other gospels. However, the gospel, according to the book of John, is clearly distinct and cannot fit in such a comparison (Constable 3-4). Cartel Warren, in his article â€Å"Matthew and the Gentiles,† elaborates further on the purpose of the book as having been meant specifically for the gospel. The book, thus, engages in a very detiled discussion on the contemporary gentile world alluded to in the gospel. The writer highlights some key indicators from the book of Matthew that suggest an already predefined mission of writing the scripture. To begin with, the story of creation found in the book of Genesis is clearly addressed in the opening scripture of Matthew. The sovereignty of God’s purpose for Jesus is clearly depicted here. He compares the purpose of Jesus to Abraham’

DHSNo-MachRules and Safe Harbor Provisions for Employers Essay

DHSNo-MachRules and Safe Harbor Provisions for Employers - Essay Example SHA) will have the right to file complain to OSHA free of any legal charges as OSHA protects the employers by investigating on the legal complains that has been filed by the employees (U.S. Department of Labor, 2007). Aside from the complying with the OSHA guidelines, employers are also required to follow the rules as set by the Social Security Administration (SSA) (Lian, 2007). Employment law is not limited to issues related to employment discrimination related to race, age, and gender or the minimum wage and work benefits that each employee is entitled to; the law also protects the welfare of the local employees from any forms of accident that occurs within the workplace due to employers’ negligence to provide a safe working environment for employees or in any forms of threat which prohibits the local citizens from being able to have an opportunity for employment. Over the years, the increasing number of immigrant workers is said to be threatening the employment opportunity of the local residents. Since thousands of employers submit a ‘no-match’ employees’ name and the corresponding Social Security numbers as provided on Forms W-2 do not match the records of SSA each year (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 2009), the District Court Judge Charles R. Greyer legally allowed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop a new harbor safety rules that will address the court’s concern regarding the case of AFL-CIO v. Chertoff, Case No. 07-CV-4472 CRB (N.D. Cal.) back on December 2007 (Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, 2007). As part of informing the general public regarding the new harbor safety rules, the DHS and SSA spread ‘a No-Match’ letter to those who are directly concerned with the issue (NAFSA, 2009). Aside from providing a brief summary regarding the AFL-CIO v. Chertoff case, the significance of spreading the â€Å"No-Match" rules and safe harbor provisions for employers will be thoroughly tackled in details. This paper aims to

School Attending and Academic Performance Hypothesis Testing Essay - 1

School Attending and Academic Performance Hypothesis Testing - Essay Example What is the alternative hypothesis? The alternate hypothesis is H0: ÃŽ ¼ = 75.62 (Performance on a test of social skills is same.) What is the null hypothesis? The null hypothesis is Ha: ÃŽ ¼ ≠  75.62 (Performance on a test of social skills is different.) What should the researcher conclude about this relationship in the population? The researcher should conclude that attending a private high school does not lead to higher or lower performance on a test of social skills when compared to students attending public schools. Are the results significant? Explain your response. The results are not significant. The Zobt value of 1.54 falls within the non-rejection region (-1.960 to 1.960), thus the null hypothesis H0 is not rejected. What is the probability of making a Type I error?   The probability of making a Type I error (ÃŽ ±) is 0.05, as the Zcrit value of  ± 1.960 refers to 0.05 significance level for a two-tailed test. If a Type I error were made, what would it mean?   Type I error refers to rejecting the null hypothesis when it is in fact true. Thus, if a Type I error were made, it would mean that attending a private high school leads to higher or lower performance on a test of social skills when compared to students attending public schools when in fact it is not true. What is the probability of making a Type II error? The probability of making a Type II error (ÃŽ ²) is about 0.6615. The power (1 – ÃŽ ²) of the test is 0.3385. If a Type II error were made, what would it mean? Type II error refers to not rejecting the null hypothesis when it is in fact false. Thus, if a Type II error were made, it would mean that attending a private high school does not lead to higher or lower performance on a test of social skills when compared to students attending public schools when in fact it is false.

Group leadership project reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Group leadership project reflection - Essay Example Then the similarities and differences between them will be illustrated, with special highlight on the importance of each towards the success of a team. The influence of a leader on a follower and what a follower expects from a leader will also be discussed. Furthermore, the factors which make a good leader will be dissected and then the problems leaders or followers might face in certain situations. What makes a leader efficient and how does he achieve these goals? What makes a follower efficient and what makes it easy for him to be so? Focus will be placed upon these questions as on how this efficiency is developed in each. Leadership and its many styles and forms will also be discussed and the effect of these varying styles upon a follower and his efficiency. This will all be done so collectively and in general but by focusing on the theme of each week, i.e. leadership in women, the power and importance of charismatic leadership, leadership challenges and failures, leadership trust and ethics, leading high technology organizations and global leadership and influence, and adapting on what has been learnt from each week. What is a leader and what is a follower? There can be a great number of definitions for both a leader and a follower. The simplest of course is that a leader is someone that instructs and follower is someone that follows these instructions. But it isn’t quite as simple as that because a soldier who follows the instructions of a general cannot strictly be considered a follower and a teacher who instructs a student on his homework cannot strictly be considered a leader. What then is the precise definition of each? According to Brosnahan (1998, stated in Lau 2000, pg 212) the definition of a leader and leadership vary from people to people but he goes on to define a leader broadly as, ‘†¦ a somewhat paternal figure, autocratic, wise and knowing, able to make hard decisions†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Gary Yukl (2006) defines leadership as â⠂¬Å"the course of having an influence on others to comprehend and be in agreement about what requires to be done and how it should be done, and the progression of facilitating individual and collective efforts to achieve shared objectives† (p. 8). Yet others define leadership as â€Å"a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.† Peter Northouse (2007). What does this actually signify? It implies that there is far more to a leader than just giving out instructions. A leader is someone who does not just give out instructions but rather someone directs and guides a specific group of people towards doing something and someone who unites the aims and intentions of that group such that they reach their own personal goals as well as the specific common goal. What then is a follower or followership? The former is a term very commonly used and given little thought. The latter is a term rarely heard and not fully understood. This is because ‘follower’ is a devalued term, where most people consider it as blindly following instructions. In truth, there can be no leader without a follower and good followership is what drives a team towards its ultimate goal. Once a far neglected area of research, research is now being conducted into the role and importance of a follower and followership skills are being developed just as leadership skill would be. Followership can be defined as ‘†¦ the ability to effectively follow the directives and support the efforts of a leader to

International business strategy report Vodafone Essay

International business strategy report Vodafone - Essay Example Vodafone is a British multinational telecommunication company headquartered in London. The company was formed 1984 named as Recal telecommunication Company which was a subsidiary of Rach Electronics Plc. In 1991 the company was fully demerged from Recal and named as Vodafone Group. According company’s disclosed data in 2009; it has a direct market presence in 52 countries with over 302 million of mobile customers. It is the world’s largest telecommunication company in terms of revenue and second largest in terms of customers behind China Mobile. Identification of strategic issues through analysis To analyse the current strategies that the company has been following, there need to analyse the different area of its business like external environment, internal resources and internality operations of the company. There are some important tools which need to be analysed with respect to the company’s business for analysis of market base values of the company’s external business environment. Past key successful factor of the company was its global networks. Since the early 1990s, after the demerge form the Recal, Vodafone started international expansion in the European countries. In 1995, it earned 20 % of its total turnover of billion from its international business only. The company’s expansion strategy was opportunistic and aggressive and it started acquisition of the leading foreign companies or some stake of those to start operation in different countries including Germany, Spain, Italy, France etc. The current key successful factors of the company are highlight by the company’s CEO Vittorio Colao’s on his interview to Financial Times on November, 2008. The company has emphasised on its shift from expansions growth to consolidation in the existing market. Due to the increased competition in the domestic market of UK, it has taken strategy to buy the rival companies in UK to stay in leading position. The most tangible element of the companyâ€⠄¢s current strategies is improving its bottom line performance i.e. is the local autonomy through effective regional coverage in the existing market. It also has concentrated on the packaged services i.e. fixed and wireless services for individuals as well as for the business customers. It has started development of its stores by collaboration with Softbank. Five forces analysis is the most important tool to analyse the company’s external environments. Capital intensiveness of the new companies, new advanced wireless technology and new regulations of the different government in foreign markets have been acting as moderate threat of new entrants for the company. Vodafone has emphasised on the internet services for mobile users which is facing a strong threat of its substitute, Wi-Fi services. The company has been facing moderate bargaining power of its supplier due to the influence of distinctive mobile phone producers like Apple and Samsung. Google has also integrated its su pply chain which also has an

Learning Styles Inventory Essay Example for Free

Learning Styles Inventory Essay Taking the Learning Styles Inventory Test was an insightful, informational, and introspective experience as a whole. It measures seven areas of standards or measure that clearly define an individual’s behavioral approach on learning – the visual, social, physical, aural, verbal, solitary, and logical learning styles. Each question within the test inquires about an individual’s leaning or inclination to harboring the outcomes of learning from each means or scenario indicated. The questions provide a learning situation where one will determine how he identifies with it, and one’s identification with each specific scenario determines how one learns through various situations. Putting oneself within each scenario allows one to review or evaluate one’s motivations in learning in order to understand clearly how one’s behavior and learning environment would and should be altered to facilitate greater learning. The result of the Learning Styles Inventory Test clearly indicates my personality or takes on the learning situation. Out of the seven learning styles, the Memletic Learning Styles Graph, as shown below, depicts that I am more inclined to learn effectively when I utilize my physical functions. The rating for each of the learning styles was remote that the bodily-kinesthetic learning style (18 points) stands out among the seven. (â€Å"Learning Styles Inventory – Results Page,† 2007) This piece of information I find true as I do tend to want or need to manipulate or experiencing things in order to learn or realize the structures or dimensions of objects, concepts, occurrences, and such. (â€Å"The Physical (Bodily-Kinesthetic) Learning Style,† 2007) Therefore, the result from the test did not surprise me at all. Next to the physical learning style, the aural learning style (15 points) follows as the second dominant one that applies to me. This is yet another factual information because I do find myself enjoying the learning experience when I work with music or sounds in the background. (â€Å"The Aural (Auditory-Musical-Rhythmic) Learning Style,† 2007) Music, as part of the learning environment, sets the mood or rhythm that motivates me to carry on and finish, not to mention enjoy, what I am doing. On the contrary, the least learning styles that I can identify my learning behaviors with is the verbal learning style (11 points), also including the visual, social, and solitary learning styles (12 points each). This means that I am not motivated enough to learn by reading or writing, looking at or watching visuals, socializing with other people, and even keeping to myself. The results of the test suggest that my strengths lie in my motivations and capabilities to do, or to become more productive by being actively involved during the learning experience. However, it might be difficult to become motivated within the learning environment as learning media such as visuals, written texts, the processes of socialization and independent learning are part of learning strategies or approaches being utilized in most cases. Moreover, the learning environment is balanced, such that it fosters various methods or approaches in learning; and my unbalanced learning styles suggest that I will not be able to keep up with the learning environment. Perhaps the most logical thing to do at this point is to try to even out or balance the learning styles that I should be accustomed to in order to draw out the advantages from it whenever the learning environment or situation calls for it. If it remains to be unbalanced, like my test results indicate, inflexibility will not facilitate learning but hinder the process of acquiring knowledge and skills as learning environments vary every time. Accomplishing this goal means that I would have to expose myself to varying learning situations, and understand the importance of each one in order to balance out my learning inclinations for the seven learning styles indicated. With this in mind, as the realization of the need to balance out these learning styles I have come to realize, I believe that taking the test allows one to understand the importance of being exposed to various learning situations and experiences which fosters creativity, flexibility, and competence in the workplace. References â€Å"Learning Styles Inventory – Results Page. † (2007). Retrieved November 26, 2008, from Advanogy. com. Website: http://www. learning-styles-online. com/inventory/results. asp â€Å"The Aural (Auditory-Musical-Rhythmic) Learning Style. † (2007). Retrieved November 26, 2008, from Advanogy. com. Website: http://www. learning-styles-online. com/style/aural-auditory-musical/ â€Å"The Physical (Bodily-Kinesthetic) Learning Style. † (2007). Retrieved November 26, 2008, from Advanogy. com. Website: http://www. learning-styles-online. com/style/physical-bodily-kinesthetic/

The proccess of assimilating Essay Example for Free

The proccess of assimilating Essay This essay explores the proccess of assimilating into the American society after a famiy moves to the USA from China in In The American Society, by Gish Jen. It also explores the irony in the title of the piece. In The American Society, by Gish Jen, is a lurid portrayal of an Asian-American family who immigrated to the United Statesaddressing both the struggles and fortunes that Americas opportunities have offered the family as they leave their old life in China. Now, the father must make something of himself and his family, in a time when America meant vast possibilities, but also being labeled as a foreigner. The mother in the story smugly declares, But this is the U-S-of-A! (542), proclaiming her pride in the opportunities accessible in her new home. Though, as the family begins to assimilate into the American society, they find that while success brings them respect and affluence, it may not automatically make them fit into the new culture. The title itself is a direct inference to the transformation the family is forced to undergo. The first half of the story is suitably entitled His Own Society, describing the familys journey towards coming to terms with the American society. When the mother is thinking of joining the country club she states, Your father doesnt believe in joining the American Society. He wants to have his own society (542). This line echoes the ever-present theme in the story of assimilation, and the fathers hesitation with adjustment. For people who come from cultures that are significantly different from the freethinking America, the process of acculturation can be awkward and even caustic. In the story, the father opens his own pancake house, and the family begins to encounter success. They then attempt to fit into their new society by buying a station wagon and recliner: typical American items. Throughout the rest of this first section of the story you see the actual internal core of His own society: His work relations, friends, and family in both America and China. His Society works well for himhes successful and happy. The second half of the storys title is fitting as well: dubbed The American Society(548). This section is where you really see the heart wrenching  depiction of the familys attempt to fit into their new society. A symbolic image found in the account, that most directly represents the familys integration into society is seen in the fathers clothing. It explains that the father, has no use for nice cloths, and would wear only ten-year-old shirts, with grease-spotted pants, to show how little he cared about what anyone thought(542). Yet, later in the story, he finds himself wearing an expensive suit to a country club affair. This sudden change shows the fathers eventual willingness to modify when left with no choice. Although at first he seems to blends in, one predicament sets off his insecurities and he launches his expensive jacket into the pool (550). With this gesture, he seems to give up on The American Society and resort back to his own familiar one with his familyit was good enough for him. In actuality, I think that is truly the best thing about America: There isnt really an American Society. We have so many diverse people and we are therefore free to choose our own society; the title of the story almost falsely suggests that there can be just one culture, while also satirizing the fact that some believe there to be one. The most interesting part of this story was that along the journey towards assimilation he finds that His Own Society was essentially the best one for him and his family to be members of, and that our country permits this because we have freedom, liberty, and justice for all! Through this story, you follow the Asian-American family as they encounter struggles as well as luck, as they assimilate into the American Society. You meet the same turmoil that the family stumbles upon as they enter a completely new world. The title suggests that there is an exact way to act while living in the American society, but as Jen depicts the fathers own society, readers come to realize that this unique society works just as well.

The Origins and History of Punk Fashion

The Origins and History of Punk Fashion The time and birthplace of Punk movement is debatable. Either the New York scene of the late sixties or the British Punks of 1975-76 can be given the honour. Conventionally, it is thought the New Yorkers invented the musical style while the Londoners popularized the attitude and the appearance. For our purpose, we will just watch over the British punk because it was just in the late seventies that the movement gained some importance and formalization. Punk in Britain was a movement essentially made of deprived working-class white youths. There is a strong connection between the punk phenomenon and the economic and social inequalities in Great Britain. The aim of this work is to show where the punk came from and how the movement developed its own style, quite different from any other else, up to making it a proper fashion recognized worldwide. In the fist chapter, it will be introduced the concept of subculture. The punk was in fact one of the many white youth subculture sparkled after the Second World War. It will be explained why youth subcultures emerged and they will be delineated the main features of some of them. A deep analysis of Punk movement origins will be carried out in the second chapter. Here it will be possible to understand the social reasons which led to the creation of punk and the many different sources of style which contributed to the formation of a punk aesthetic. The main feature of the punk aesthetic, then, will be exposed and commented in the third chapter. This chapter focus on the use of shocking and glowering clothes and accessories as a way of rebellion against the mainstream and the society. In the fourth chapter, it will be discussed the role of media in the spread and acceptance of the punk subculture. As we will see in this chapter, little by little media changed attitude toward punk. There was a shift from fear to integration of punks which can be explained through the analysis of two forms of incorporation, the commodity form and the ideological form. Yet in this chapter, it will be presented on of the main pillar of the punk ideology, the Do It Yourself (DIY) philosophy, which influenced everything in the punk subculture from the music to the fashion. In the fifth chapter, then, it will be drawn the story of what can be considered the real birthplace of the punk fashion, the 430 Kings Road, where Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren started their careers. It will be delineated the evolution of the different shops that followed each other at this address and, what is more important, the evolution of the styles proposed by these shops which became the point of reference for the most important punk fashion addicted. In the sixth and last chapter, finally, it will be pointed out how the commodity form of incorporation struck the punk made it fashion available and accepted by the vast public. The 1977 couture collection of Zandra inspired to punks may be identified as the final blow for a pure punk style and the beginning of its exploitation as a fashion trend. From that time on many fashion designers inspired to a punk aesthetic for their collections. Recently the whole fashion system seems to have rediscovered the punk: From Jean-Paul Gaultier to Moschino up to low-cost retailers as Zara or HM. Chapter 1 Youth subcultures:  The source of style The term subculture came up for the first time around the second half of the 1940s in anthropological and sociological writing. As early as 1950, David Riesman distinguished between a majority, which passively accepted commercially provided styles and meanings, and a subculture which actively sought a minority style (hot jazz at the time) and interpreted it in accordance with subversive values. Thus the audience [] manipulates the product (and hence the producer), no less than the other way round (Riesman, 1950). From that time on, many different studies were carried out and various interpretations on the meaning and the function of the subcultures were given by estimated personalities as John Clarke, Phil Cohen, Walter Miller, Matza and Sykes, Peter Willmott and Stuart Hall.   In particular, Dick Hebdige gave one of the biggest contributions to the study of subcultures in his 1979 book Subculture the Meaning of style which encompasses all theories from the above mentionated authors and uses them to analyze the youth subcultures. From hipsters to teddy boys, from skinheads to mods, from glitter rockers to punks, the youth cultural styles consecution is here reinterpreted, reposing on Gramscis notion of hegemony, as symbolic forms of resistance; as spectacular symptoms of a wider more generally submerged dissent which characterized the whole post-war period (Hebdige, 1979) The origins of youth subcultures are, thus, to be found after the Second World War when the traditional patterns of everyday life were completely upturned. The emergence of the mass media, modifications in the structure of the family and in the organization of school and work, shifts in the relative burdens of work and leisure, all contributed in fragmenting and polarizing the working-class community. In this contest, also the role and the relative importance of the working-class youth experienced a deep change: their purchasing power enormously increased (during the period 1945-50 it was estimated that the average real wage of teenagers increased at twice the adults rate) and, consequently, it was created a new youth market in order to take up the resulting surplus. From then on, the youth started to express and impose its own identity against the parental one. According to Cohen youth subcultures can be defined as a compromise solution between two contradictionary needs: The need to create and express autonomy and difference from parents [] and the need to maintain the parental identifications (Cohen, 1972). That is to say, the latent function of subculture was to express and resolve, albeit magically, the contradictions which remain hidden or unresolved in the parent culture (Cohen, 1972) As Hebdige pointed out, skinheads, for instance, undoubtedly reasserted those values associated with the traditional working-class community, but they did so in the face of the widespread renunciation of those values in the parent culture at a time when such an affirmation of the classic concerns of working- class life was considered inappropriate(Hebdige, 1979). But it is also the case of mods: in fact they were negotiating changes and contradictions which were simultaneously affecting the parent culture but they were doing so in terms of their own relatively autonomous problematic by inventing an elsewhere (the week-end, the West End) which was defined against the familiar locales of the home, the pub, the working-mans club, the neighbourhood (Hebdige, 1979). Nevertheless, we must be careful in stressing the importance of integration and coherence between youth and parent culture because one of the most relevant feature in the definition of a subculture is its dissonance and discontinuity with the most largely accepted culture. This is particularly evident if we take in consideration the punk subculture. As Hebdige writes in fact we should be hard pressed to find in the punk subculture, for instance, any symbolic attempts to retrieve some of the socially cohesive elements destroyed in the parent culture (Cohen, 1972) beyond the simple fact of cohesion itself: the expression of a highly structured, visible, tightly bounded group identity. Rather, the punks seemed to be parodying the alienation and emptiness which have caused sociologists so much concern, realizing in a deliberate and wilful fashion the direst predictions of the most scathing social critics, and celebrating in a mock-heroic terms the death of the community and collapse of traditional forms of meaning. Even if each subculture strives to be different and unique among other ones, they all share a common feature: they are all cultures of conspicuous consumption. This term indicates the practice of abnormally spending on goods and services with the main objective of flaunting the belonging to a social status, a particular group or, as in this case, to a specific subculture. It is through the distinctive rituals of consumption, through style, that the subculture at once reveals its secret identity and communicates its forbidden meanings. It is basically the way in which commodities are used in subculture which marks the subculture off from the more orthodox cultural formations. (Hebdige, 1979). The style can be defined as the self-image that a person creates representing his or her personality. Style, however, is not built at an individual level but it is strongly dictated by the subculture rules. Everyone identifying in a specific subculture is unconsciously constrained in the adoption, use, dissemination, and the rejection of a certain style of clothing or even acting. That because of the so-called social pressure: the behaviour of a single person is so much linked to the influence exerted by the social groups that the individual identity muddles up with the collective identity. Accordingly, the identity of the individual is recognized just as his or her membership to the reference group is recognized and accepted by all other members. In this contest, the apparel assumes a key role becoming the most evident sign of affiliation and, thus, one of the principal mean of social avowal. Considering the clothing in the sense of a common communication code, it becomes important to identify the symbolic value of different clothes. Actually, they always carry a message about the style of a group, and to a more precise analysis, they can tell us everything we need to know about norms and values of a specific group and even about its formation processes. Thus, the apparel adopted by a subculture should not be seen as a transient fashion but as a visual image of what are the values and norms characterizing that specific subculture and distinguishing it from parent culture and from the other youth subculture too, and inasmuch symbolic representation, it needs to be carefully analyzed to be properly interpreted. Chapter 2 The Punk: a Mix of heterogeneous youth styles I can play punk rock, and I love playing punk rock, but I was into every other style of music before I played punk rock.  (Travis Baker) This quotation from one of the most famed punk-rock drummer of the recent years well summarizes what was the punk movements background. Punks origins are blended and even conflicting, coming from a wide range of different musical and fashion styles. Influenced by David Bowie and glitter rock, combined with the main features of Southend rb rhythms, inspired by American proto-punk, twisted with northern soul and with reggae, the punk can be described as a patchwork made of distorted reflections coming from almost every previous post-war youth culture stuck together with safety pins. (Jon Savage, 2007) It is like punk unearthing and renewing entire wardrobes belonging to different ages with the aim of proposing them in revitalized cut-up form. Glam rock contributed narcissism, nihilism and gender confusion. American punk offered a minimalist aesthetic (e.g. the Ramones Pinhead or Crimes I stupid), the cult of the street and a penchant for self-laceration. Northern Soul (a genuinely secret subculture of working-class youngsters dedicated to acrobatic dancing and fast American soul of the 60s, which centres on clubs like Wigan Casino) brought its subterranean tradition of fast, jerky rhythms, solo dance styles and amphetamines; reggae its exotic and dangerous aura or forbidden identity, its conscience, its dread and its cool. Native rhythm n blues reinforced the brashness and the speed of Northern Soul, took back to the basics and contributed a highly developed iconoclasm, a thoroughly British person and an extremely selective appropriation of the rock n roll heritage. (Hebdige, 1979) However, the link between these so heterogeneous styles is to be found in the social contest in which the punk movement emerged. We are dealing with the late 1970s in Britain, with its massive unemployment, with its continuous warlike violence episodes (as ,for instance, the tragic one happened during the 76 Notting Hill Carnival to which the punk group The Clash dedicated the song White riot), with its changing moral standards and its rediscovery of poverty. It was exactly in this period that the race relations became fundamental. On the one hand, there was the urban black youths, living and working in Britain but dreaming and finding an imaginary refuge in an elsewhere (Africa, the West Indies, etc.) through the reggae and the Rastafarianism. On the other hand, there was the white working-class youth, placed at the same social level as the black ones but stuck in their present time, having no foreseeable future and no places or means to escape the reality. In fact, the model proposed by the glam rock made of literary influences (from Rimbaud, Burroughs, Lautrà ©amont and Huysmans) and underground cinema, focused on the concepts of polymorphism, perverse sexuality and obsessive individualism resulted too remote from the majority of working-class youth. They were imprisoned in a vicious circle. They felt as aliens, rejected not only by the rest of the world but also by the any existent music genre. They had no reference models, no hopes for the future and neither perspectives of improvement. Therefore, they started to act out alienation, to mime its imagined condition, to manufacture a whole series of subjective correlatives for the official archetypes of the crisis of modern life: the unemployment figures, the Depression, the Westway, Television, etc. (Hebdige, 1979) The awareness of this crisis led to the conversion of what was an inner malaise into tangible icons (the safety pins, the ripped clothes, the spikes, the hungry look, the combat boots, etc.) reflecting in an enhanced way the perceived condition of exile and alienation, which is, nevertheless, voluntarily assumed. Punks, thus, moved back to earlier, more vigorous forms of rock (i.e. the 50s and the mid-60s when the black influences had been strongest) and forward to contemporary reggae(dub, Bob Marley) in order to find a music which reflected more adequately their sense of frustration and oppression. (Hebdige, 1979). They saw in Rastafarian history of exile a point of contact and it was exactly for this reason it was the only accepted subculture alternative to punk. Richard Hell, a punk musician, interviewed in the popular music magazine New Musical Express declared, punks are niggers (NME, 29 October 1977). An inevitably feisty claim but it is indicative of what was the real situation at that time. As Hebdige writes, the punk can be seen in part as white translation of black ethnicity. (Hebdige, 1979) In addition, this unstudied identification with black British and the West Indian tradition was a way to oppose actively to teddy boys, their hated rivals. In fact, punks used to modify and wear elements from the teddy boys style and it was perceived as an outrage by the teddy boy revivalists because they felt as punks stealing and fooling their way of clothing and, in a sense, their ideals. Punk style was perhaps interpreted by the teddy boys as an affront to the traditional working-class values of forthrightness, plain speech and sexual Puritanism which they had endorsed and revived (Hebdige, 1979). Concrete evidences of this tension between the two subcultures could be found every Saturday afternoon in the summer of 1977 along Kings Road where punctually a throng of punks and teds met to fight. Therefore, Reggae, notwithstanding its apparent distance from punk music, started to be present in a number of repertoires of punk bands as The Clash, The Slits, The Jam, and many others. In the majority of punk clubs, they used to play regularly heavy reggae music between live acts and, moreover, the song Punky Reggae Party by Bob Marley The Wailers, is the evident and overwhelming proof of this contamination. Chapter 3 Punks rebellion through style Rebellion is the heart of the punk subculture. Rebellion against society, rebellion against social inequalities, rebellion, in last instance, against conformism. Everything the punks did, everything they wore, dance to, fight for, everything can be consider as punk has the only aim of convey a message of nonconformity. Conformity can be defined as a change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or a group of people. (Aronson, 1972) Therefore, punks rebellion was essentially against the prevailing modes of thought; what common people took for granted that is to say the necessity to have a good and certain job, the blame on homosexuality, the mistrust in other race, it was simply not accepted as the only and the best code of conduct. However, punks were young, poor, and completely helpless in effectively struggling for changing the reality. Therefore, the only weapon they found to react was to transform themselves in directly offensive and threatening beings. Punks, like previous post-war youth subculture such as teddy boys, the mods, the rockers, the skinheads, the beats, the zoot suiters, and the hippies created, a coherent and elaborate system of body adornment that expressed their estrangement from mainstream society and that horrified the general public. Having little access to dominant means of discourse, punks displayed their disaffiliation and their subcultural identity through such adornment, which was for them an accessible and direct channel of communication. By manipulating the standard codes of adornment in socially objectionable ways punks challenged the accepted categories of everyday dress and disrupted the codes and conventions of daily life (Wojick,1995) Early punks, probably unconsciously, used most of the rebellion techniques typical of the early avant-gardists: unusual fashions, the blurring of boundaries between art and every day life, juxtapositions of seemingly disparate objects and behaviours, intentional provocation of the audience, use of unstrained performers and drastic reorganization (or disorganization) of accepted performance styles and procedure (OHara,1999) In this contest, it is not surprisingly that the main features of punk fashion were so extremely impressive and shocking. Objects borrowed form the most sordid of contexts found a place in the punks ensembles: lavatory chains were draped in graceful arcs across chests encased in plastic bin-liners. Safety-pins were taken put of their domestic utility context and worn as gruesome ornaments through the cheek, ear or lip. Cheap trashy fabrics (PVC, plastic lurex, etc.) in vulgar designs (e.g. mock leopard skin) and nasty colours, long discarded by the quality end of the fashion industry as obsolete kitsch, were salvaged by the punks and turned into garments (fly boy drainpipes, common miniskirts) which offered self-conscious commentaries on the notions of modernity and taste.(Hebdige, 1979) Even the conventional ideas of beauty and attractiveness were refused. Hair was dyed with bright colours and straightened up in spikes and Mohawk. Body piercing degenerated in self-mutilation: studs and pins prinked eyebrows, cheeks, nose and lips. Make-up was used by both boys and girls in a massive and impressive way: cosmetics became as paint to be used in creating alien masks to hide behind. As Hebdige argued, beneath the clownish make-up there lurked the unaccepted and disfigured face of capitalism. Claiming to be anarchists and nihilists, punks felt free to offend as many people as they could. They wore terrorist/guerrilla outfits, directly offensive T-shirt covered in swear words or fake blood, along with desecrated religious object and sexually deviant accessories. The perverse and the abnormal were valued intrinsically. In particular, the illicit iconography of sexual fetishism was used to predictable effect. Rapist masks and rubber wear, leather bodices and fishnet stocking, implausibly pointed stiletto heeled shoes, the whole paraphernalia of bondage the belts, straps and chains were exhumed from the boudoir, closet and pornographic film and placed on the street were they retained their forbidden connotations. Some young punks even donned the dirty raincoat the most prosaic symbol of sexual kinkiness- and hence expressed their deviance in suitably proletarian terms. (Hebdige, 1979) For the first wave punks, each adornment used had a precise meaning: The safety pins and bin liners, for instance, symbolized a material and spiritual poverty in an exaggerated form, which could be really experienced or just acted out. In other words, the safety pins, etc. enacted that transition from real to symbolic scarcity which Paul Piccone (1969) has described as the movement from empty stomachs to empty spirits and therefore an empty life notwithstanding [the] chrome and the plastic [â‚ ¬Ã‚ ¦] of the lifestyle of bourgeois society. (Hebdige, 1979) One of the most controversial symbol used by punks were surely the swastika. This symbol was made available to the punks through Bowie and Lou Reeds Berlin phase. It evoked a decadent and evil Germany, an idea of no future strictly linked to the punks mood. Therefore, it had nothing to do with the Nazisms ideology in the punks vision. Quite the opposite, punks firmly supported the anti-fascism and anti-racism movement. In the punk wear, the swastika lost its classic meaning and it was worn just because it was guaranteed to shock. Conventionally, the swastika has always signified enemy and hate, and to be hated is exactly what punks wanted. Chapter 4 Role of media and DIY As it was showed previously, punk was surely a spectacular subculture and it would have been very difficult for media not to pay attention to it. Although many others groups had paved the way for punk through 1975, it was not until the advent of the Sex Pistols that punk began to take shape as a noticeable style for the vast public. The  New Musical Express  gave the  Sex Pistols  their first music press coverage in the 21 February 1976 for their performance at the Marquee. From then on punk rock began to attract critical attention of the specialized press, and criticism from all the rest of the world. Moral panic began emerging clamant after the accident happened at the punk festival at 100 Club in Soho in the September of the same year, when a girl was partially blinded by flying beer glass. Punks were angry, wore absurd and offensive clothes and openly claimed they wanted to fight the society and to be heated. It is not surprising that in few months all the British press was focused on this new subculture frightening the middle class. Punk was described as a big social problem and the deviant and anti-social act (as vandalism, swearing, fighting etc.) did nothing but worsen the situation. Their style was used as counter-evidence of the danger they represented: They infringed the sartorial codes in the same way they disrupted the civil and social codes; they dress in an inhuman way because they are beasts acting as animals without moral. Therefore, punks were demonized in the press and depicted as folk devils. They were a threat to adjure before it led to a degeneracy of all British youth: concerts were cancelled, the Sex Pistols song God save the Queen was banned by British radios, and moral barricades were raised by editors, politicians and other right-thinking people. However, nothing of the above could stop the punk movements diffusion. For the first time in the history, there was an attempt by a working-class youth subculture to provide an alternative critical space within the subculture itself to counteract the hostile ore at least ideologically inflected coverage which punk was receiving in the media. (Hebdige, 1979) An alternative punk press was created: the fanzines. Punk fanzines were non-professional and nonofficial journals edited by an individual or a small group consisting of reviews, editorials and interviews with the most important exponents of the punk scene. These publications were produced on a small scale as cheaply as possible and distributed through a small number of sympathetic retail outlets. The language in which the various manifestos were framed was determinedly working class (i.e. it was liberally peppered with swear words) and typing errors and grammatical mistakes, misspellings and jumbled pagination were left uncorrected in the final proof. Those corrections and crossings out that were made before publication were left to be deciphered by the reader. The overwhelming impression was one of urgency and immediacy, of a paper produced in indecent haste, of memos from the front line. (Hebdige, 1979) The fanzines are one of the most notable expressions of the punks Do It Yourself (DIY) concept. The  DIY ethic, in general terms,  refers to the ethic of being self-reliant by completing tasks oneself as opposed to having others who are more experienced or able complete them for you. The DIY ethic is tied to  punk ideology  and  anti consumerism, as a rejection of the need to purchase items or use existing systems or processes. Sniffin Glue, the first fanzine and the one which achieved the highest circulation, contained perhaps the single most inspired item of propaganda produced by the subculture the definitive statement of punks do- it -your self philosophy- a diagram showing three finger positions on the neck of a guitar over the caption: Heres one chord, heres two more, now form your band. (Hebdige, 1979) Nevertheless, the Do it yourself philosophy was not confined just in the press world. Emerging punk bands began to record their music, produce albums and merchandise, distribute their works and often performed  basement shows  in  residential  homes rather than at traditional  venue, in this way they could to avoid  corporate sponsorship and to secure freedom in performance. To be honest, these emergent bands had no many other choices because most of venues tended to evade more  experimental music, and so houses were often the only places at which they were allowed to play. Obviously, also punk fashion followed the DIY ideology: The clothes suited the lifestyle of those with limited cash due to unemployment and the general low-income school leavers. Punks cut up old clothes from charity and thrift shops, destroyed the fabric and refashioned outfits creating a very innovative way of clothing never existed before. This stylistic innovation attracted the medias attention provoking two different responses: In the fashion pages, the newness and the creativity of the punk fashion began to be not only accepted but also celebrated, while there was a big part of the British press still stigmatizing the punk as ridiculous and offensive. Starting from an initial acceptance by the fashion magazines, little by little all media began a sort of process of recuperation and incorporation of the punk: obviously, young punks still represented a deviant way of living but the medias attitude, and so of the whole society as well, slowly shifted from a demonizing approach to an exorcising approach. This was made, as Hebdige explains, throughout two different forms: The ideological form and the commodity form A Ideological form Through this form, media tried to neutralize the differences between punks and common people. Young punks family assumed a new role. The punks tended to be resituated by the press in the family, perhaps because members of the subculture deliberately obscured their origins, refused the family and willingly played the part of folk devil, presenting themselves as pure objects, as villainous clowns. [â‚ ¬Ã‚ ¦]. For whatever reason, the inevitable glut of articles gleefully denouncing the latest punk outrage was counter-balanced by an equal number of items devoted to the small detail of punk family life. (Hebdige, 1979) During the summer of 1977, several articles were published on punk babies, punk-ted weddings and on a lot of other common daily situations involving punks and with titles like Punks have mothers too: They tell us a few home truths (Woman, 15 April 1978) or Punks and Mothers (Woman s Own, 15 October 1977) All these articles served to minimize the Otherness so stridently proclaimed in punk style, and defined the subculture in precisely those terms which it sought most vehemently to resist and deny (Hebdige, 1979) B Commodity form This second form of incorporation is the most interesting for the purposes of this research. It is trough this form that subcultural signs (clothes, music etc.) are driven to the conversion into mass-produced objects. Therefore, it is here the key to understand how the punk way of clothing, born from the rebellion against the whole society and characterised from the beginning by an anti-fashion attitude, could be transformed and largely exploited as a proper fashion trend. But first to get to this, it will be necessary to draw the story of what could be consider the cradle of punk fashion The 430, Kings Road. Chapter 5 430, Kings Road Everything started in the October 1971 when Malcolm McLaren and his art-school friend Patrick Casey opened, here in the heart of the Chelsea district, a small stand in the back room of a shop called Paradise Garage. They sold at time original rock n roll vinyl records, specialized music magazines, vintage items from the 1950s and some garment. The young McLaren was convinced that music and fashion were two inseparable things and so, when in 1971 he obtained the proprietary rights on the store, he renamed it Let It Rock and transformed it in a clothing store stocked up with second-hand and new teddy boy clothes designed by his girlfriend Vivienne Westwood. The shop wavy iron facade was painted black with the stores name written in pink letters, while the interior followed the typical stylish period details, such as the so-called Odeon wallpapers. Westwoods designs sold in the shop were outrageous and outlandish, inspired by bikers, fetishists and prostitutes. Brothel creeper shoes, drape coats, and skin-tight trousers were designed by Vivienne Westwood (but also by McLaren itself) and then made up by an East End tailor and by a local seamstress.   One of the most representative example of the kind of garments sold in this first-phase Let It Rock is the Bones T-shirt: Using chicken bones acquired from a local takeaway, Westwood boiled and drilled the bones and attached them with chains and studs to spell keywords such as Rock and Perv. The idea originated in the skull and crossbones of the bikers, but it gave the garment a primitive, talismanic power. [1] Nothing similar ever appeared in the entire fashion world scene: the store with its creation attract the attention of the international press, from the Rolling Stone to certain Japanese magazines. It was a real success but McLaren was not completely satisfied with the style of the shop: their main customers were teddy boys and he had huge problems with them. For these reason the next year, he travelled to New York for a boutique fair where he met the emergent American rock band the New York Dolls. It was here he started to take his first steps in the rock music system. In fact he took over their management, he dressed them in red leather clothes supplied by his London store and promoted them using Soviet iconography. The Dolls broke up soon after, but served their purpose as a dry run for the management style he would soon deploy to spectacula

ACT I notes: King Lear :: essays research papers

Act I, scenes i–ii Summary: Act I, scene i Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave My heart into my mouth. -Cordelia speaks these words when she address her father, King Lear, who has demanded that his daughters tell him how much they love him before he divides his kingdom among them (I.i.90–92). In contrast to the empty flattery of Goneril and Regan, Cordelia offers her father a truthful evaluation of her love for him: she loves him â€Å"according to my bond†; that is, she understands and accepts without question her duty to love him as a father and king. Although Cordelia loves Lear better than her sisters do, she is unable to â€Å"heave† her heart into her mouth, as her integrity prevents her from making a false declaration in order to gain his wealth. Lear’s rage at what he perceives to be her lack of affection sets the tragedy in motion. Cordelia’s refusal to flatter Lear, then, establishes her virtue and the authenticity of her love, while bringing about Lear’s dreadful error of judgment. The play begins with two noblemen, Gloucester and Kent, discussing the fact that King Lear is about to divide his kingdom. Their conversation quickly changes, however, when Kent asks Gloucester to introduce his son. Gloucester introduces Edmund, explaining that Edmund is a bastard being raised away from home, but that he nevertheless loves his son dearly. Lear, the ruler of Britain, enters his throne room and announces his plan to divide the kingdom among his three daughters. He intends to give up the responsibilities of government and spend his old age visiting his children. He commands his daughters to say which of them loves him the most, promising to give the greatest share to that daughter. Lear’s scheming older daughters, Goneril and Regan, respond to his test with flattery, telling him in wildly overblown terms that they love him more than anything else. But Cordelia, Lear’s youngest (and favorite) daughter, refuses to speak. When pressed, she says that she cannot â€Å"heave her heart into her mouth,† that she loves him exactly as much as a daughter should love her father, and that her sisters wouldn’t have husbands if they loved their father as much as they say (I.i.90–91). In response, Lear flies into a rage, disowns Cordelia, and divides her share of the kingdom between her two sisters. The earl of Kent, a nobleman who has served Lear faithfully for many years, is the only courtier who disagrees with the king’s actions.

Entrepreneurial Revolution :: Business, Entrepreneurs

Kuratko and Hodgetts (2001) mentioned that â€Å"we are having entrepreneurial revolution in this twenty first century†. This is the period where entrepreneurs will grow like mushroom after the raining season. On the other hand in Malaysia, according to department of statistic (2009) the number of people who become entrepreneurs have shown a reducing trend since 1982 to 2008 where it had gone down to 20.9% from 25.1%. This shows that many people prefer to work with private sector or government rather than becoming entrepreneurs. To increase the number of the people to become entrepreneurs especially the Bumiputra(native people), the government has launched many schemes and mechanism to increase their numbers. Education institution has been use as one of the mechanism to promote entrepreneurship to the student in middle and tertiary education. The creations of entrepreneurs are important because they have been proven to contribute to economy wealth and job creation (Turker and Selcuk, 2008). In 1999, Audretsh and Thurik conducted research on past data from 1984 to 1994 regarding the relationship between entrepreneur and job creation issue. The result showed that there is a positive relationship between the two where the number of job rate increases when the number of entrepreneurs increased. In Malaysia entrepreneurship course was started to be introduced in some universities in mid 90’s (Cheng et al.d, 2010). Then in 2007, Ministry of Higher Education made a policy that entrepreneurship course became a compulsory subject to all students in the universities irrespective of whatever faculties ,to encouraged more development of entrepreneurs from the university(Ministry of High Education Malaysia, report 2010). With this policy, universities have become the center to foster entrepreneurship. However unlike the situation in the west, here in Malaysia the situation is different where the number of people who actually become entrepreneur is small compared to the number of people who have taken the course. This is totally difference in other countries. In the United States, for instance, many of the graduates form companies after and during their universities. In the west the impact of the entrepreneurship education have been well known as mention by Ayers (2004) where the â€Å"graduates from Massachuset Institute of Technology have created more than 4000 companies†. In Harvard more than 50% of the students have involved in venture business (Anjan,2005). Similar effect also ha d happen in early research in Europe (Harhoff, 1999) .All these situations indicate that entrepreneurship can be taught through education.

Restaurant Management Essay -- Running Restaurant Managing Essays

Restaurant Management   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Running a restaurant can be one of the most stressful jobs as well as the most fun and rewarding jobs. If the manager is a good leader with excellent leadership skills and has great followers the restaurant will be rewarded. If not the restaurant will plummet in sales and no one will be pleased. While developing a business. staff is important to running a successful restaurant, it is also essential that management focus on its public relations as well as its sales and marketing strategies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Staff developing is vital for restaurants to run smoothly. A restaurant is composed of two sectors; a Front of House (FOH) and theirs a Back of House (BOH). The front of the house is what is visible to the customers? eye. Customers can not see the back of the house. Back of the house is where cooks prepare the food and where the dishwasher is located. Manager Brian Aycock explained that if a manager develops his staff, it makes the restaurant run smooth. The store will profit, the employees and the guest will be satisfied (Aycock). If the staff is not getting along, a lot of tension will grow inside the restaurant and co-workers will not work with one another as a team. In return the customers will not be happy and the profit will not be as desirable. When customers are not happy with the visit they had at the restaurant, they will then spread the word to all their friends.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Each staff member of the restaurant should have nice and clean hygiene along with good manners. Having good hygiene is very important whether an employee is waiting tables, washing dishes, or cooking. If an employee does not shower friction will start to grow between the staff and no one would like to work or even be around that employee. Working in the food service industry with overgrown nails or dirty nails is against the health code and could contaminate the food being prepared by the employee. Being around a customer with bad hygiene could possibly hinder the customer from having a memorable time at the restaurant. Having good manners is also mandatory for every staff member so that no problems can surface between the staff and customers. Steve Marchetti explained that each employee are to meet the minimal standards set forth in the employee handbook and also deliver on the company?s commitment to their customers (Marchetti). A restaurants commitment... ...ded once they see that the sales will be increasing and tips will be larger. Good staff will increase good public relations which will result in better business. Marketing a restaurant is the most important part in running a restaurant. If a restaurant is not marketed, no one will know about the restaurant causing it to lose money to operate forcing it to close down. Prices on the menu should always be appealing to the restaurant target market and set towards the products on the menu. It is essential that a restaurant develops its staff to the fullest, for a strong staff creates better sales and the public is pleased .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Works Cited Aycock, Brian. Restaurant Management. Wilmington, NC. 10 February 2005. Marchetti, Steve. Restaurant Management. Wilmington, NC. 9 February 2005. Marketing Strategy. Internet Center for Management and Business Administration, INC. 24   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  January 2005, . Stone, Bob. Successful Direct Marketing Methods. Lincolnwood, Illinois: NTC Business   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Books, 1989. The Sample Business Plan. Kundo Inc. 27 January 2005.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  . Wasserman, Michael. 15 Techniques When Dealing With Customers. My Success Company.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  25 January 2005. .

Desdemona and Cordelias Love

Doris L Soto Prof Nadita Batra INGL 4025 802 07 8757 Desdemona and Cordelia’s Love The differences between love and tragedies are portrayed in Shakespeare’s Othello and King Lear. The complete relationship between father and daughter is corrupted by an external meaning, which plays an important role. How blind and deft can a father be to not understand? Is it that important for a daughter to die just to prove her point and her extreme emotional intelligence?One man that can provide an example would be a father like King Lear, who denied his daughter Cordelia because she did not use flattering words to make him feel better or out shadow her sisters. The heroines of Shakespeare are born is these plays, they can be great and intelligent for their age, but they were somehow young and naive. Love and sorrow are a part of these tragic relationships; whereas it is too late for denial and repent. Within their actions of love and understanding both of these women convinced their fathers they were completely right.Desdemona was married to Othello without the consent of her father Barbantio, this caused Barbantio to feel indignant and even more so when he knew that Othello, who was more of a friend than anything else, was the man who had courted and married his daughter without his consent. Indirectly, this is one way that Desdemona proves her true love, which is by confronting her father and declaring her love for Othello. Brabantio question her â€Å"Destruction of my head if my bad blame† (Shakespeare p. 38), where Desdemona responds, â€Å" but heres my husband, and so much duty and my mother showed to you, preferring you before her father, so much I challenge that I may profess due to the Moore my lord† (Shakespeare 341). This shows how as a daughter Desdemona admired her father, and felt compelled to explain her actions, although she did not regret them. Brabantio was grasp and put in the same position, he was put when younger. As a fathe r figure, Barbantio realizes this love even though Desdemona was in opposition to his ideals.It was ontly logical that Desdemona would choose Othello since he was the figure that most corresponded with her father, in reference to social status, etc. For what her father has taught her, she had high standards; Brabantio was a very intelligent man. Desdemona had for the two men most important in her life, the one that raise her and the one that completed her. Acting without forethought is what best describes the injustice that is done towards Cordelia by her father and her non-supporting traitor sisters.Cordelia was the daughter that never cared about putting her life at risk in order to prove her point to her father King Lear. Her character was put to a test of love, money, and truth. Cordelia had proven that her love is divided; she cannot love more, she had a greater philosophy, which was that love equals love; none was greater and none was smaller. This could have been because she was royalty and well taught; she understood the danger of dividing a Kingdom. Ironically an intelligent father disinherits her, with her soon to be husband.This action of his came back tenfold when his other two daughters betrayed him and he ended out suffering just as Cordelia, only worst. This king that has been so successful and intelligent was blinded by the love of his daughters and his deception in Cordelias actions. This may prove he did not have knowledge enough of the demon that existed between money, betrayal, and power. Cordelia’s relationship with the King was not acknowledged at that very moment since Lear had made his own pedestal.With Cordelia’s departure, she put Lear on an evaluation, a test where he was the only one that could resolve; she decided to give him the time. Cordelia was willing to make her father understand her love no matter what, but King Lear was to devastated and stubborn to realize that he was being betrayed by the daughters that pret ended to love him and loved by Cordelia, the rebellious one. The moment in which the King understood this was too late. The king reply â€Å"had I your tongue and eyes, I’d use them so that the heaven’s vault crack. She’s gone forever.I know when one is dead and when one live; she is dead like earth† (Shakespeare 704) By the time it came to him that she was the truly good daughter, he saw that the place were she was suppose to be from the beginning was with him. An ignorant father that could not realize his third child was the one with the more knowledge and understanding of life and love. Cordelia died to prove it. Desdemona and Cordelia made the impossible to acknowledge their importance of their existence throughout the play; they were both the heroines for their stories of being strong and liberal women.The ones that made reason within the power that were assigned for men. Desdemona was a very intelligent woman like Cordelia, they were assigned for th ose men to make them understand that love is pain and is not only love. These women tried to make their fathers understand with just words what they intended to do but could not. Cordelia did not lie to her father and Desdemona clarified that she was not stolen. Both of these great women did what they felt it was right.Desdemona’s overconfidence of the world and her own situation drag her to her own murder, she was too naive to understand the evil that her own father planted in Othello’s mind which was going to get her killed. The price that Desdemona and Cordelia had to pay was of silent and death, they had no more options, they both wanted to prove that they were right and that their truth was going to be relevant in some of the point of their situation. Cordelia was not going to rest until she save her father and Desdemona was not going to be complete unless her father approves her relation with Othello.Their father and daughter relationships seemed to correspond wi th one another in both of the plays. These women were from a high class and both had their father as an example of greatness and power, therefore they are as intelligent and powerful as their fathers, the difference between them is that they are women and somehow that makes them see things different and understand from another perspective what men would not. Women are actually stronger, and the both prove it when their love was enough to not want to quit and to prevail in their points. ‘ Work Cited Shakespeare, William. Four Tragedies Shakespeare. April: Bantam Dell, 2005. Print.

Case Study Analysis †Abc, Inc.

As a new worker you have finally landed that dream job, now what? You are excited about the possibilities awaiting you at your new dream job. As you prepare for your first day, you are told you will have to attend new hire orientation. Suddenly, the butterflies in your stomach return as you anticipate what to expect next. Then you ask yourself, â€Å"What is new hire orientation and what does it mean for me? † The goal of any successful onboarding program is to ensure that the investment in a new employee pays off by creating a sense of connection between the new worker and the organization. But what happens when company representatives lack organization and the new worker’s transition is traumatic? Take for example the Case Study for Student Analysis. In this selected paper, it is easy to immediately observe a lack of communication going on at ABC, Inc. between Carl Robbins, the campus recruiter and Monica Carrolls, the Operations Supervisor. Lagging communication skills at any organization can be catastrophic and ABC, Inc. is no different. As a first time recruiter with only six months experience, Carl will face very serious problems. This case study will illustrate the many problems that grew when he attempted to hire employees to work for Monica Carroll. Possible solutions available for Carl to resolve the situation will be explored as well as any alternative solutions he should take. Carl Robbins is not incompetent; he simply lacks experience. As with any new position that a person is involved in; he will face challenges. With some direction, Carl can easily overcome these challenges. Background In early April, Carl was tasked to recruit and hire fifteen new hires to work for Monica Carroll, operations supervisor for ABC, Inc. After successfully recruiting them, Carl scheduled an orientation session to take place on June 15. His goal was to have all new recruits working by July. Traditionally, new hire orientation programs have long been designed to help new hires quickly learn the important things they will need to know to be successful in their new job. Most orientation programs provide the new hire with: †¢an overview of the company’s history; †¢a description of the company’s organizational structure; †¢an overview of employee-related policies; and †¢details of employee benefit programs. ABC, Inc. ’s orientation should be no different. With only a few weeks left until the planned orientation, Carl still has lots of work to do. On May 15, Monica contacts Carl about several key issues such as the training schedule; manuals; policy booklets; drug tests; and other issues related to orientation. Carl reassures Monica that everything will be fine. Subsequently, shortly after Memorial Day, Carl pulled out his new trainee file to finalize things for the orientation scheduled for June 15. After going through his files, Carl becomes concerned. He discovers that some of the new trainees have not completed their applications and some transcripts are missing. He also discovers that none of the new hires have been sent to the clinic for their mandatory drug screens. Next, he searched the orientation manuals and realized that only three copies exist. He then discovers that those three copies are missing several pages. Carl is in big trouble as his first recruitment effort is not going as smoothly as it should. Carl’s problems however are just beginning. Upset and frustrated, he decides to go for a quick walk. As he returned to the office, Carl decides to check out training room for the upcoming orientation. To his surprise, he found Joe from technology services. Joe was setting up computer terminals. Carl decided to review the scheduling log and discovered that Joe had already reserved the training room for other training activities the entire month of June. Panicked, Carl returned to his office; put his head on his desk; and silently wondered, â€Å"What am I going to do? † Key Problems The first key problem that Carl faces is his lack of experience. Initially, Monica contacts Carl about the key items needed for orientation and he assures her that everything is good to go. This could not have been further from the truth. At this point, he is not aware of the problems he ill face in his new endeavor. Carl’s lack of experience is clearly exhibited when his assurance has not been tested. The next key problem that arises for Carl is when he checks the new trainee files and discovers that they are incomplete. All the new recruits have gone through the interview process and filled out their paperwork. Unfortunately, the paperwork is incomplete and missing lots of valuable data. To make matters worse, some files are missing transcripts, and no one has completed the required drug screens. Problems only get worse for Carl when he discovers that only three copies of the employee manuals exist. Of the three manuals that exist, they are all missing several pages. Unfortunately, he needs fifteen complete copies. As if the previous issues alone are not bad enough, Carl also learns that the training room he plans to use for orientation has been booked by another individual for the entire month of June. At this point, he is faced with a serious dilemma, and his lack of experience reveals that he does not realize the severity of his problem. Namely, he lacks leadership because he failed to prepare and assumed that his first project would go smoothly. Next, he reveals his lack of organizational skills because he failed to review his trainee file prior to guaranteeing Monica that everything would be ready for orientation. Alternatives A possible solution for Carl as a new recruiter is to use this onboarding process as a welcome mat for new hires as a means to display his potential talents as a top notch recruiter. To accomplish, this he must determine who will be affected by his failure to develop his first orientation. Next, Carl should analyze how these parties will be affected as a result of his failure to prepare. Then, he should evaluate possible alternatives to the dilemma he is facing. Unfortunately, Carl is not quite in a position to do this. Subsequently, he should have developed his project prior to promising results. Carl could improve his organizational and communicative skills by establishing the parameters for the project. In other words, he should have determined his needs and effectively communicated those needs to any other parties early on. This strategy would have granted him the opportunity to plan for alternative solutions without anxiety. Proposed Solution Many successful new hire or onboarding programs start with a checklist of typical new employee needs. Certainly, Carl could have used a checklist to help him determine his needs as a new recruiter. Since most new employees want to make a good first impression, Carl could have made this transition easier for himself and everyone else by seeking the assistance of a more seasoned professional. Monica Carrolls is also not exempt from her role in this fiasco. She could have ensured a more seamless transition by providing Carl with a detailed orientation program. This would have lifted the burden of him having to figure things out on his own. Not only would a detailed orientation program have comforted Carl’s anxiety; it would have also sent a positive message to the entire organization about their organizational skills. Since Carl had only been on the job for six months, Monica could have required that he produce a detailed checklist for the proposed orientation. In my opinion, Monica’s role for Carl should have been that of coach and mentor to ensure a successful onboarding process. This could have been accomplished by developing a simple framework and tailoring it to meet ABC, Inc. s specific needs. Clearly this was not done and ultimately disaster struck. Recommendations As previously noted, many problems surfaced when new recruiter, Carl Robbins attempted to hire employees to work for Monica Carroll at ABC, Inc. Many factors contributed to the downfall of his first recruitment effort. How could Carl have overcome the pitfal ls that he faced? Anonymous research provided by Workforce Management (2009) outlines and recommends the following guidelines for a successful onboarding program: * Start Before Day One – Clearly Carl should have prepared for the orientation from day one. Socialize – Carl could have been prepared by aligning himself with the accepted practices of the company and his superiors. Therefore, he would have exhibited less anxiety and been better prepared. * Extend Beyond Day One – Once Carl prepared for orientation, he should have extended beyond day one by analyzing any potential issues and preparing possible alternative solutions. * Assign a Mentor – Monica should have assigned herself as Carl mentor in this situation. Since this was Carl’s first recruitment effort, he certainly needed the assistance of a more seasoned professional. Keep in mind; it was necessary for Carl to have implemented these specific solutions. However these guidelines are a good place to start. Any guidelines would have relieved Carl’s anxiety and allowed him to create a successful onboarding process for his fifteen new recruits. Ultimately, all of this could have been avoided had Carl sought the advice of a more seasoned professional and displayed better organizational skills. Simply put, his failure to plan was a direct result of a botched first project. Hopefully, Carl recognizes his mistakes and uses them as a learning tool in his next recruitment endeavor. References Case Study for Student Analysis. Comm 215. University of Phoenix. Ecampus Course Materials. Retrieved from the website at: myresource.phoenix.edu Steps to a successful onboarding process. (2009). Workforce Management, 88(7), 1-S14. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/219780888?accountid=35812