The Application of Erik Eriksons Theories Essay - 2325 Words

Erik Erikson was a researcher of the Psychodynamic perspective who lived through the years 1902 to 1994. He developed a theory that dealt with the stages of human development and was referred to as a Neo-Freudian. A Neo-Freudian are those â€Å"who have revised Sigmund Freud’s theory† (Massey, 1986). His theory argued that â€Å"both society and culture challenge and shape us† (Feldman, 2011). Erik Erikson’s theory of psychological development does not specify specific ages, so the age categories can only be guessed upon. It is my personal thought that this was a smart move due to different age milestones for different cultures. The essay titled Erik Erikson: Ages, stages, and stories argues that the stages â€Å"are organized into a system of†¦show more content†¦If the individual’s needs are not met in this stage the individual will most likely develop a mistrust that will hamper relationship in the future. The relationship between pare nt and caregiver is vital. â€Å"It is during the first months of life that the baby comes to trust or not, to have faith or not. Whether trust and faith are developed has direct implications for identity formation† (Goodwin, 1998) The goal of this stage is to gain ‘Hope’. Our subject Belinda was born prematurely on May 23, 1990. During the early part of life the subject was very sickly as an infant. This did not seem to effect Belinda’s formation of Trust. According to the subject’s mother, Patricia Hickman, Belinda was â€Å"a very trusting and happy baby, besides being colic.† (P. Hickman, personal communication, May 29, 2011). Early Childhood: Autonomy v. Shame. Early Childhood is roughly from 18 months to 3 years. During early childhood, the second stage of Erikson’s theory manifests; this stage is called Autonomy v. Shame. In this stage, â€Å"the psycho social theme of autonomy-shame and doubt is manifested during toddlerhood and leads to self-will or will-power.† (Ginsburg, 1992) If all the needs of the individual are met at this stage they develop a feeling of self-control and power over themselves. If the individual’s needs are not met in this stage they tend to develop feelings of shame and doubt in themselves. â€Å"If individualsShow MoreRelatedErik Erikson s Psychosocial Theory On Child Development1388 Words   |  6 PagesErik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory on Child Development Erik Erikson, a well known developmental theorist, developed his theory about stages of human development from birth to death by using Freud s work as a starting point. According to Erikson, personality develops in a series of stages. Erikson found out that children experience conflicts which affect their development. He described the internal conflict which children go through in developmental stages using the term ‘crisis’ and are based onRead MoreApplication Of The Personality Theories Developed By Erik Erikson And Raymond Cattell1724 Words   |  7 PagesApplication of the Personality Theories Developed by Erik Erikson and Raymond Cattell â€Å"Personality is made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make a person unique. It arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life† (Cherry, 2014). My personality is influenced from my specific circumstances, my upbringing, and it is represented best through the theorists of Erik Erikson and Raymond Cattell. In specific circumstances my behaviorRead MoreIndustry Vs Inferiority Or Albert Bandura Social Learning Theory And Self-Adolency1444 Words   |  6 Pagesyou think is more complete in describing what it takes for the grade school child to develop mastery and competence, Erik Erikson Industry versus inferiority or Albert Bandura social learning theory and self-efficacy. Industry vs inferiority is stage four of Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. Industry versus inferiority is the fourth stage of Erik Eriksons theory of psychosocial development. If the child cannot develop the specific skill they feel society is demanding (e.g., beingRead MoreErik Erikson s Theory Of Development Essay1635 Words   |  7 PagesMany theories have been written on the subject of human development. Each theory has been further postulated and dissected to include: social, emotional, mental, and biological development. Many theoretical approaches and frameworks have been formulated to offer possible explanations for human behavior. It is paramount for social workers to have a working knowledge of these various theoretical approaches in order to identify and assess their client’s needs effectively. Theories provide basic hypothesesRead MoreLiterature Review On Adolescent Identity Development1141 Words   |  5 Pagesdevelopment models develop ed for LGBTQ populations. In this report, I will analyze the works of the Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development, James Marcia’s Identity Status Theory, as well as the products of other researchers, such as William James and James Cote, who took these theories even further (Adelson, 1980). I am particularly interested understanding what needs to be adjusted in developmental theories for unrepresented populations, in this case sexual minorities. The report is outlined byRead MoreAdolescence Is A Critical Time For A Human1405 Words   |  6 Pages Many theories have been established in regard to development focusing on the psychosocial, moral, and faith development of the human. These theories can simply be viewed as offering a lens to study human development and why the development is important for the outcome of a one’s mental health. The following is a comparison and contrast of Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory, Lawrence Kohlbergâ€⠄¢s Theory of Moral Development, and James Fowler’s Theory of Faith Development. Each theory emphasizesRead MorePsy/405 Klein vs. Erikson Debate Essay960 Words   |  4 PagesToler Roxanne - In this debate we are going to argue the applications of Melanie Klein’s Objection Relations Theory and Erik Erikson’s Post-Freudian Theory in regards to their describing of individual personality characteristics along with interpersonal relations. Team Klein will begin the debate: Jessica - On the positive aspects of Klein’s object theory on individual personality characteristics is how an infant’s experience can shape their future personalityRead MoreThe Theory Of Development Concepts And Applications By William Crain1076 Words   |  5 Pageschildren  that my wife had, and enjoyed.   I of course got the play-by-play from her, but in hind sight, I was deprived of so many beautiful observations.   Our text Theories of Development Concepts and Applications by William Crain  outlines human development by many theorists.   A few of those are  John Bowlby,  Mary D.S. Ainsworth,  and  Ã‚  Erik H. Erikson.   I couldn t help but reminisce about the stages of my own children’s  growth while reading the work of Bowlby, Ainsworth and Erikson.   I remember havingRead MoreErikson’s Psychosocial Theory of Development Report1750 Words   |  7 Pagespsychosocial theory of development was formulised by the German psychoan alyst Erik Erikson. His theory considers the impact of external factors, parents, and the society, on personality development from childhood to adulthood (Candida, 2010, p. 51). According to Erikson’s theory, every person must pass through a series of eight interconnected stages (split into general age ranges) over their entire life cycle. In this assignment, I will discuss these eight stages of development and how Erikson’s theoryRead MoreEcological Systems Theory By Urie Bronfenbrenner1556 Words   |  7 PagesEcological Systems Theory The Ecological Systems Theory was founded by Urie Bronfenbrenner. This theory focuses on the impact of the environment on a child’s overall development. The identifying characteristics of Bronfenbrenner’s theory are the five systems used to organize external influences within a child’s development. These systems are the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. Each system is aligned with specific interaction levels. The microsystem is considered

The Marxist Crime Perspective on Juvenile Delinquency of...

Introduction Countless studies from respected sociologists, criminologists, and psychologists have suggested several theories as to why juvenile delinquency exists. The theory this paper uses to explain juvenile delinquency is the Marxist perspective of the Conflict Theory. What this paper seeks to achieve is to show how this theory is conceptualized, how it causes juvenile delinquency particularly for African Americans, statistics on African American juveniles, and why it could lead to a life of crime as juveniles transition into adulthood. In addition to this, the government will be examined on how it uses the legal system, law enforcement, and certain officials to control most of the population and contribute to this problem. Lastly,†¦show more content†¦Jobs are the means used by the working class to acquire the basic necessary resources to survive--such as food, water, and shelter for their families. According to Quinney (1977), when the lower classes are unable to earn an honest da y’s work or lose their jobs, after a period of time, they finally break down from the pressure and resort to crime to support themselves and their loved ones. Children, seeing the struggles of their parents, then follow in their footsteps leading to juvenile delinquency and later these same children, as adults, become more susceptible to crime. Allen, Latessa, and Ponder (2010) state that a juvenile delinquent is a child that has committed a criminal act that if the same act were committed by an adult, that adult would be punished, but the child is rehabilitated instead. The child’s behavior, under the law, would subject that child to the juvenile court where the child would become a ward of the court, subject to its discretion. Allen et al (2010) propose that there were three categories of juveniles that are: status offenders, who are offenders that violated some regulation that an adult would not be punished for; children, who committed crimes who would be punished if an adult had committed them; and finally, unruly juveniles,Show MoreRelatedEssay on The Marxist Crime Perspective of Conflict Theory1895 Words   |  8 Pagespsychologists have suggested several theories as to why juvenile delinquency exists. The theory this paper uses to explain for juvenile delinquency is the Marxist perspective of the Conflict Th eory. What this paper seeks to achieve is to show how this theory is conceptualized, how it causes juvenile delinquency particularly for African Americans, statistics on African American juveniles, and why it could lead to a life of crime as juveniles transition into adulthood. In addition to this, the governmentRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 PagesE SSAYS ON TWENTIETH-C ENTURY H ISTORY In the series Critical Perspectives on the Past, edited by Susan Porter Benson, Stephen Brier, and Roy Rosenzweig Also in this series: Paula Hamilton and Linda Shopes, eds., Oral History and Public Memories Tiffany Ruby Patterson, Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life Lisa M. Fine, The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. Van Gosse and Richard Moser, eds., The World the Sixties Made: Politics and Culture

Dark Matter a Basic Understanding Free Essays

Dark Matter: A Basic Understanding Introduction Many people, from the inquisitive, to those involved in the astronomical sciences have questioned the existence of Dark Matter. While it is called many things today, I will continue to refer to this unseen substance by its original name, Dark Matter. As it is still a theory being researched today to validate its existence and make-up, the discovery of dark matter was first presented to the world some time ago by two very intelligent astronomers. We will write a custom essay sample on Dark Matter: a Basic Understanding or any similar topic only for you Order Now In coming to understand this matter, some of the most common questions we find ourselves asking are: What is it? And, How was it discovered? The most difficult question we all seem to face is â€Å"Does it really exist? † While quite tricky, this question is one that each of us have to conclude an answer to on our own. Therefore to start, I will address the more common questions first, and then I will provide my own answer to the question of its existence. Dark Matter: What is it? When first being introduced to Dark Matter, the first question we find ourselves asking is what is it? In and out of the scientific community dark matter is commonly referred to as â€Å"the source of extra gravity,† or the â€Å"mysterious form of matter that is unseen. A more refined scientific definition for dark matter is â€Å"a nonluminous, undetectable, invisible material in the universe that makes up about 70%-80% of its mass. † In short, dark matter is an unseen form of material that contains its own gravity which affects its surrounding materials; i. e. gases, stellar, and celestial bod ies. With truly dedicated astronomers and cosmologists focused on the structure and composition of the cosmos, this brings me to explaining how this invisible matter called â€Å"dark matter† was discovered. Dark Matter: How Was It Discovered? In 1932 and 1933, astronomers Jan Hendrick Oort and Fritz Zwicky were the first to postulate the idea of the existence of dark matter. In studying the stellar motions of stars within the galactic plane of the Milky Way galaxy, Astronomer Jan Oort observed that the rotational velocity of stars on this outermost part of the galaxy (galactic plane) was actually increasing versus decreasing. This in itself presented a reason to question this stellar movement further since, based on Newton’s law of gravity, the rotational velocity of stars should steadily decrease the further they are from the galactic center. Oort continued his observations on stellar motions, while astronomer Fritz Zwicky carried out his studies and observations on galactic clusters and how they remained gravitationally bound. During Zwicky’s observations, here is where dark matter was discovered on a much more massive scale. Through Zwicky’s research, he found that there needed to be 10 times as much mass as observed in the form of visible light in order to keep galaxies clustered together. This observation was clear to Zwicky, as it had been to Oort, that there was a large sum of mass existing within the cosmos that was simply â€Å"non-visible. At this point, astronomers simply referred to this material as â€Å"missing mass. † Being that the peculiar stellar movement counters Newton’s law of gravity, and occurs in the outermost part of the galaxy known as â€Å"galaxy halo’s,† both Oort and Zwicky hypothesized that this â€Å"dark matter† must exist in a spherical for m that enshrouds the outermost part of galaxies, thus keeping them from flying apart. In understanding how this matter was discovered, this brings me to the final and most important question, and that is determining if it really exists. Dark Matter: Does It Really Exist? The evidence supporting the existence of dark matter today is very convincing, yet in the scientific community, it is still a theory. Giving a definite answer as to whether it exists is solely up to the individual. Despite this, astronomers are continuing to find more convincing information that supports the dark matter theory. For instance, an August 2012 article published in â€Å"Science News Today,† discussed evidence of dark matter filaments (fibers or threads of dark matter) discovered by astronomer Jorg Dietrich and his colleagues. Dietrich and his colleague’s x-ray observations of a pair galaxy clusters called Abell 222/223, revealed a ribbon of hot gas between the clusters. This, along with the galaxies distorted shapes and how light was bent was the first hint of the presence of dark matter. Continued observation of the galaxy clusters revealed a thick cord of invisible matter with a mass comparable to that of a small galaxy cluster. Dietrich states that gas can account for only about 9 percent of that mass, dark matter appears to make up the rest. Conclusion: In understanding that dark matter is an unseen material which contains its own gravity, the theory alone provides a unique way of understanding the structure of our universe. Most importantly, the work of astronomer’s Jan Oort and Fran Zwicky set the stage for astronomers to seek out and understand possible unseen forces at work within our cosmos. This is exactly what astronomer J. Deitrich and his colleague’s did. While there is a host of significant evidence supporting the theory of dark matter, Deitrich and his colleague’s evidence was eye-opening. In concluding if it actually exists, in my opinion its presence is already confirmed. Works Cited Jones, Andrew, and Daniel Robbins. â€Å"The Universe’s Dark Matter and Dark Energy, String theory for dummies. † Dummies. com. Dummies. biz. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. NASA. What is Dark Matter? Washington: Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, 23 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. Powell, Devin. â€Å"Dark Matter Filament Illuminated. † Science News Magazine 11 Aug. 2012: 9+. Print. White, Mark. â€Å"Rotation Curves. † Berkeley Astronomy Department. University of California at Berkeley. 2011. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. How to cite Dark Matter: a Basic Understanding, Essay examples

Managing Motivation in a Difficult Economy free essay sample

â€Å"Organizational Behaviorâ€Å" Case Study â€Å"Managing Motivation in a Difficult Economy† Question 1: Based on the five management systems introduced by Claussen, the dependent and independent variables are as follows: Independent Variable * Age * Tenure * Management style * Area * Job satisfaction Dependent Variable * Turnover rate * Sales Profit * Employees productivity| From above it can be noticed that there are different independent variables that affect the dependent variables.Age has an impact on the turnover rate, sales and productivity; it has been perceived that older employees are more experienced, can provide better feedback, have a strong work ethic, commitment to quality, lower rate of absence, and are generally more satisfied of their work. But at the same time they lack flexibility and resistance to new technology. Tenure is positively related to both productivity and job satisfaction and negatively related to turnover and absente eism; when age and tenure are treated separately, tenure is considered a more stable consistent predictor of job satisfaction than age. We will write a custom essay sample on Managing Motivation in a Difficult Economy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Management Style has also an impact on our dependent variables, the more the employees feel engaged, empowered, participate in decision making (even if it is an indirect participation), and the more management is open, fair, transparent, supportive, shares information and provides clear communication messages, interacts with staff; the more the employees are satisfied with their jobs which will eventually lead to less turnover and more productivity. In addition to above Area as an independent variable contributes to the dependent variables; urban areas are most likely to have a younger force on average, whereas rural areas the workforce is older in average. Job satisfaction, could be considered either a dependent or an independent variable depending on the hypothesis. In our case we are considering job satisfaction as an independent variable based on the statement â€Å"increases in job satisfaction lead to reduced turnover and increase in productivity†.Question 4: a. Although program V has been selected by the majority of stores (87) followed by program I (83 stores), but still this does not influence our conclusion on the effectiveness of the five introduced programs, the more important factors that need to be taken into consideration are the average turnover and profit. When looking at the average turnover rate, program IV scored the lowest turnover rate 17%, followed by program V (scored 21%).Whereas when comparing t he weekly profit per month, Program V scored the highest profit $14,000, followed by program IV $ 13,000. Despite the fact that the monthly staff time cost for program V ($2,750) was much higher than the one related to program I, II and III, still program V managed to retain the highest net profit as shown in the below chart . B. Enabling Mangers to select their specific program, makes them feel more involved, engaged and participating in decision making which are considered as important elements for any job satisfaction.On the other hand managers may have different objectives views (bias) that could affect the intended results. If only one program has been chosen a clearer analysis could have been conducted, as for the current case the different variables are causing different results. C. Randomly assigning different conditions to the stores will omit any bias caused by managers due to their way of thinking that sometimes is not in line with their employees’ perspectives, benefits, etc†¦Question 5: The changing nature of the workforce at Morgan-Moe’s drug stores is known as Workforce diversity which addresses differences among people within countries. To work effectively with employees from different cultures, management needs to understand how their culture, geography, and religion have shaped them and how to adopt management style to their differences.To capitalize on diversity, comprehensive workforce programs needs to be implemented; such programs teach managers the legal framework for equal employment opportunity, how a diversity workforce will be better able to serve a diverse market of customers and clients, and they foster personal development practices that brings out the skills and abilities of all workers, acknowledging how differences in perspective can be a valuable ways to improve performance for everyone.Due to the Changing nature of the economy and the economic pressure management needs to focus more on issues like stress, decision making and coping. In the goods times understanding how to reward, satisfy, and retain employees was at a premium. The participation of a more experienced workforce helps these programs as it is associated with knowledge, better judgment, wisdom, lower rate of absence and a higher performance quality.The introduced programs might work differently in countries that are not doing so poorly, especially the programs related to meeting with employees and brainstorming as employees will have time to meet and discuss their performances and ways to improve, whereas if there is lack of staff they will be focusing more on keeping the stores running and leaving meetings and brainstorming sessions for management That’s what management is for as indicated by one of the store managers.

Microwave Oven Effects On Wireless Lans Essays - Wireless Networking

Microwave Oven Effects On Wireless Lans Microwave Oven Interference on Wireless LANs Operating in the 2.4 GHz ISM Band Abstract - Commercial microwave ovens as applied in restaurants have two magnetron tubes and compared to domestic kitchen counterparts they spread the higher RF power and radiated heating energy more evenly. The domestic kitchen or residential microwave ovens have only one magnetron tube. The interference from the commercial type of microwave ovens is more difficult to characterise than the interference from the residential ones. The commercial type of microwave ovens radiate a CW-like interference that sweeps over tens of MHz during the two bursts per mains power cycle. The residential ones give a CW-like interference that has a more or less stable frequency near 2.45 GHz occurring once per mains power cycle. The impact of the interference from the commercial type of microwave ovens on wireless LANs conforming the IEEE 802.11 standard for both DSSS (direct sequence spread spectrum) and FHSS (frequency hopping spread spectrum) has been evaluated. I. INTRODUCTION The release of the 2.4 GHz unlicensed band (2400 -2483.5 MHz) for ISM (industrial, scientific, medical applications) prompted a significant interest in the design of wireless LAN products. Interference from extraneous sources (unintentional radiators) impacts the reliability of communication in this 2.4 GHz ISM band. Sources of such interference are the millions of residential microwave ovens radiating at frequencies close to 2.45 GHz, and they have been described largely in the literature. Commercial microwave ovens, based on two magnetron tubes as used in restaurants, have been hardly described in the literature. Since commercial ovens are expected more often in the vicinity of office buildings with a high population density of office equipment and PCs, this type has been evaluated with respect to the nature of the interference signal and the impact on wireless LANs operating in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. At first, published material on residential microwave ovens, the reports from the NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration, in the US) - [1] and [2] - are discussed. Next, the commercial microwave ovens and the nature of their interference is considered. The characterization of the interference from such ovens requires a dedicated measurement set up. Then the robustness of wireless LANs based on DSSS and FHSS conformant to IEEE 802.11 against CW interference is discussed. At last, the interference from the commercial microwave ovens on wireless LANs based on DSSS and FHSS is measured with a dedicated set up and the impact of the interference nature is considered. II. NTIA REPORTS The NTIA makes [1] and [2] some pessimistic conclusions about the possibility of sustaining highly-reliable communication links in this band. The ubiquitousness of these ovens and the wideband interference picture that emerges from peak-power measurements using, for example, conventional spectrum analysers in max-hold mode and multiple sweeps, has led to these pessimistic conclusions. The NTIA describes measurement results for residential microwave ovens with a maximum EIRP for these radiators that lies lay between +16 and +33 dBm. Some shortcomings in the NTIA measurement methods are presented in [3]. The NTIA reports give results of frequency- and time-domain measurements. Spectrum analysers in max-hold mode were used to measure in the frequency domain, which resulted in traces that capture the peak emission, at each frequency sampling point, occurring during the time interval of observation. Spectrum analysers in zero-span trace mode were used to find how the signal power around the selected frequency varies over time. [3] mentions that the NTIA peak spectrum measurements and frequency-domain characterisation with time-domain plots show a pulsed III. RESIDENTIAL MICROWAVE OVENS Microwave ovens have become more popular over the last fifteen years and can be found in over two hundred million home kitchens. The heating source of these residential microwave ovens is based on a single magnetron tube mostly positioned in an upper corner. Without further provisions, such an oven would produce an uneven heating effect, because of static stable standing wave patterns inside the cavity of the oven. Therefore, the usage of a rotating disk results in such a heating process at which the different sides of the rotated food or drink are ?illuminated? more evenly. The power consumption is mostly in the 600 - 800 Watt range. 2445 MHz 2452 MHz 2459 MHz 2466 MHz # RES BW 10 kHz # VBW 10 kHz # SWP 15.0 sec Peak 10 dB/div 2.41 GHz 2.48 GHz Frequency Fig. 1. Max-hold spectrum for residential microwave oven. # RES BW 3.0 MHz #VBW 1 MHz # SWP 30.0 msec Peak 10 dB/div fcentre 2.456 MHz Time 0 30 msec Fig. 2. Zero-span spectrum for residential microwave oven. NTIA measurement approach. With a high speed digital oscilloscope it can be shown, that during the active period the emitted signal is a CW with a frequency that moves over a few MHz. The beginning of the burst looks like a pulsed CW

Agoraphobia essays

Agoraphobia essays Grocery Store Disease Agoraphobia is a widely misunderstood disease. Agoraphobia has a couple of definitions because it is very complicated and difficult to understand. It is the fear of open spaces. It is also the fear of being in situation where a person can experience anxiety and begin to panic. People with agoraphobia may also have panic attacks if they are in a situation they consider to be difficult or embarrassing. Agoraphobia begins to develop when people start to avoid situations that are related to anxiety. People sometimes become housebound because they are always so nervous and paranoid and are scared to get out and possibly be stuck in a situation that they relate to anxiety. Some people with agoraphobia try to go out and have a normal life but it can be very difficult because they are so busy trying to hide their discomfort. Agoraphobia is an extremely severe anxiety condition that leads to avoidant behavior. Agoraphobia was commonly known as the Supermarket Disease before people began to learn more about it (Sharon Matt). The reasoning for that was because many women were having these unusual panic attacks in the middle of grocery stores. There are many typical situations where people have theses attacks. Shopping, driving, traveling, leaving town, and social gatherings are a few of the situations that bother those people with agoraphobia. They also fear large places like malls, theaters, parks, and grocery stores. Visiting the doctor and being on a bridge can make a person feel trapped (Sharon Matt). People with agoraphobia will worry that they will not be able to get to a place that they consider to be safe. Some people experience nervous feelings so regularly that it is more a feeling of discomfort rather than a feeling of panic. They fear going anywhere or doing anything where they have had panicky feelings before. They avoid these situations and places and they sometimes get depr e...

Business Case Study

A report on investigation into Business Case Date: May 02, 2013 Acquainted with your Business situation. I see a few problems within your business. One of the problems is changes in economic environment, which lead to conflict between stakeholders. The other problem is change of business structure. A success factor for any business is to analyse and understand the external environment in which it operates. Understanding of different types of stakeholders within business is essential too. To analyse business situation various method can be used. To analyse your current business situation I have used SWAT analyse which will give you opportunity better understand external environment and how it can impact your business. And will help you better understand conflict between stakeholders. The most basic SWOT analyse will examine how threats and opportunities can be dealt with while allowing the organisation to utilise its strengths and weaknesses to meet its key success factors [objectives]. A basic SWOT analysis should include an assessment of where the company is at current time and where it wishes to be at some point in the future . The organisation also needs to decide how far away that future is-it will vary from a few month to many years depending on the organisation, the nature of the business and its current situation (B 120, Book 1). SWOT analysis for the The Lodge Bistro Chain Strengths New IT system Initiative management stuff Possibility to adjust to changes Name and business recognition| Weaknesses Informal structure High stuff turnover Inconsistency in standards | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Opportunities New consumers base Reinstate some formal structure and rules| Threats Complete loss of concept Lose of standards Competition External economic environment| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As you can see from analyse above that the strengths will be recognition of your business and possibility of the business to adjust to new economic environment as you have initiative management team as it is described in Business Case: As an example of these issues, the young manager of one of the cafes in a central urban location began to offer a range of less expensive snacks to cater for diners on low incomes and reduced packaging to respond to the environmentally friendly principles of many customers. Another, in an area close to an office complex, offered a range of healthy eating options. It clearly shows that you have opportunities to attract new consumer’s base. Reinstate some formal structure and rules will give you better opportunity to control business Weaknesses arise from high stuff turnover, as you spend time, recourses for educating stuff. I think it would be beneficial to investigate why they leaving and looking for benefits packages you can purpose to your stuff And main threats arise from losing standards, huge competition and economic environment. For future I would purpose you to use methods like SWAT, STEEP and analyse of stakeholders before making any changes. Would be beneficial to make SWAT analyse on the way business was in 80’s and use it as comparison to current situation. It will give you opportunity to reinforce some formal structure more successfully. References The Open University (2006) B120 An Induction to business studies, Book 1, What is a business? ’, Milton Keynes, The Open University, page 95.

Students Own Experiences of Digital Technology and Implications for Research Proposal

Students Own Experiences of Digital Technology and Implications for the Design of University Education - Research Proposal Example In the last decade, higher education in Saudi Arabia has undergone a major transformation. There has been a three-fold increase in the number of universities in the last ten years. Consequentially, postgraduate students have increased in number. Along with this, improvement in the quality of education and making Saudi education come at par with the education of technologically advanced countries in terms of quality has been the major goal of Saudi universities in the 21st century. Several events have recently occurred that have reflected the increased interest of the students in Saudi Arabia in e-learning. In the year 2009, an international conference regarding cyberlearning and distance education was held in Saudi Arabia for the first time in her entire history. This led to the establishment of the Center for e-Learning and Distance Learning. This center was developed in accordance with the plan prepared by the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education that was directed at cultivating a ro bust infrastructure for the promotion of technology led education in the Universities of Saudi Arabia. Taking a look at the recent advancements that have been made in the field of education in Saudi Arabia, it becomes evident that this is a very crucial time for understanding how students’ own experiences of digital technology use in their personal lives influence their perceptions of ideal university education. Young people have conventionally been the primary users of innovation information technology (Rheingold, n.d. p. 97) â€Å"remaining at the top of Internet usage statistics and distinguishing themselves as early adopters of features such as instant messaging, peer-to-peer file sharing, and social networking tools† (Xenos and Foot, n.d.). Thus, the matter fundamentally concerns the youth and hence the future of Saudi nationals. This research will generate this information so that educationalists may be facilitated in adjusting the university education according to the aspirations of students which is conducive to the students’ increased participation and better academic performance. Provision of digital media in Saudi universities will â€Å"enhance their civic engagement, which comprises political activism, deliberation, problem-solving, and participation in shaping a culture† (Levine, n.d., p. 119).

Obtaining Civil Rights. How have African-Americans worked to end Essay

Obtaining Civil Rights. How have African-Americans worked to end segregation, discrimination, and isolation to attain equality and civil rights - Essay Example Establishment of slavery in America: The early 17th century marks the start of slavery in the US. During the era of 17th century humungous numbers of slaves were brought into US from different areas of Africa. The life expectancy rate during that time period in the Brazilian regions was quite low so these slaves were brought to US where the level of life expectancy was better. Many historians claim that nearly 6 million highly competent slaves were brought from abroad especially from Africa to America in the 18th century (Griffin, 2009, 605). During the 18th century, most of the black slaves worked on the tobacco and rice plants, located near the southern coast. Many colonists claim that after the American Revolution, the black slaves in America were overpowered by the British in order to abolish slavery in the nation because they expected that this would end up in resulting in adverse effects. However, as the war ended, the new American constitution counted every slave in the country as three-fifths of a person with the intention of taxation and ensuring the right to seize ‘any person who is acquired for labor or other services’. Role of cotton gin: The number of slaves in America began to reduce in the late 18th century due to shortage of lands required for growth of tobacco. Due to this terrible exhaustion of tobacco plants, an economic crisis hit the South. During this period, textile industries were rapidly growing in the Britain and the demand for cotton reached its zenith. The textile industries in the Britain demanded the American cotton for speedy growth of these industries. Unfortunately, growth of American cotton was restricted in America due to difficulty of elimination of seeds from raw fibers of cotton by hand. This problem was sorted out in 1700s by a young school teacher, Eli Whitney, who invented a machine known as cotton gin for easy removal of seeds (Griffin, 2009, 598). This device brought a revolution not only in America, but in South Asia too as a rapid transition from production of tobacco to production of cotton was witnessed. A great number of businessmen benefitted by investing on cotton plants and this investment aided them in earning high levels of wealth. Almost all northern states put an end to slavery between the years 1700s to 1800s and the US Congress excluded the African slave trade from the benefit of the law, but these actions never really affected the growth of slaves in America. The population of slaves in the United States of America grew so rapidly that it had tripled over the next 45 years. By the year 1860, the population of slaves rose to 5,97,000 individuals, with most of the slaves dwelling in the cotton-producing southern states. Brutal behavior of slaveholders and the slave revolts: One-third of the southern population comprised of slaves in the Antebellum South. A good number of these slaves subsisted on either huge farms or plantations with most of the masters owning only less than 50 slaves. A strict method of restrictive codes regulated the lives of these slaves as the slave owners wanted the slaves to be entirely dependent upon their masters. The slaves we re strictly interdicted by their masters from educating themselves. The behavior as well as the movement of the slaves were also governed by the slave owners and were restricted. Slave owners took sexual privileges with slave

THE IMPACT OF MONETARY POLICY ON NIGERIAS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Essay Example for Free

THE IMPACT OF MONETARY POLICY ON NIGERIAS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Essay Monetary policy being an economic tool is used to stabilize the economy. It is a tool used by the government through monetary agencies like the Central Bank to control the supply of money in an economy. It is used to bring about economic growth and development through the control of inflation. It impacts the economy cannot over-emphasized. It has very positive impacts on the economy and helps in building a sustainable economy. Monetary policy is the process by which the monetary authority of a country controls the supply of money, often targeting a rate of interest for the purpose of promoting economic growth and stability. It is maintained through actions such as increasing the interest rate, or changing the amount of money banks has to keep in the vault(bank reserves). It can be used to increase or decrease the volume of money in circulation based on the situation at hand. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The intent of the proposed study is to critically examine the impact of monetary policies on the Nigerian economy. The focus will be on how monetary policies adopted in recent years have impacted on the Nigerian economy. How the federal government have strived through the use of monetary policies to stabilize and develop the Nigerian economy. The intent is to provide adequate information to readers on the roles played by monetary authorities and monetary policies in ensuring economic growth and development in the entity called Nigeria. An objective approach shall be employed in order to bring about valid arguments and conclusions. LITERATURE REVIEW Scholars in the economic and financial field have written articles on the proposed research topic. Professor Kunle Adamson in 2002 wrote an article in this regard.he placed emphasis on the then proposed re-denomination of the naira by the then CBN governor Professor Charles Soludo. He critically analysed how the re-denomination of the naira would have impacted the Nigerian economy. Another literature to be reviewed is the article written by Dr Okoro A. Sunday(Ph.D) of the Ebonyi State University. He critically examined the long-run equilibrium relationship between monetary policy instruments and economic growth in Nigeria. The intent  of the proposed research is to explore the various angles to the research topic. The poor implantation process would also be critically examined.

Communist Controversy over Film Salt of the Earth Essay -- Politics Mc

Communist Controversy over Film Salt of the Earth Salt of the Earth was released in 1954, during the anticommunist McCarthy era by a collection of blacklisted individuals, including screenwriter Michael Wilson, producer Paul Jarrico, and Hollywood 10 director Herbert J. Biberman. Salt is based on the Empire Zinc strike of Local 890 in Bayard County, New Mexico that took place from 1950-1952. In many ways, Salt of the Earth resembles the archetypal American dream by presenting the triumph of ordinary, working class Americans over the forces of discrimination, inequality, and injustice. Salt enjoyed widespread acclaim in Europe, and won prestigious awards in Czechoslovakia and France. Yet in the United States, its production encountered violent opposition from agencies such as the Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Labor and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. What particular element of Salt made it seem so threatening and subversive? According to film critic Pauline Kael Salt was nothing more than "shrewd propaganda for the urgent business of the USSR." (Kael, 331-332) She unhesitatingly asserts that Salt is "as clear a piece of communist propaganda as we have had in many years" (Kael 331-332). In short, Kael argues that Salt is fundamentally subversive, threatening and un-American. Yet what does it mean to be subversive in the context of the McCarthy era? The Oxford English Dictionary defines the noun subversive as wishing to "overthrow a regime" (OED). Kael’s argument seems to be congruous to this definition. Does Salt of the Earth intend to overthrow the existing political order and replace it with a communist form of government? Several scholars have responded to Kael’s communist reading of Salt. Lorence... ...d English Dictionary. Accessed 2. June.2003 9. Rosseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution. Hunt, Lynn & Censer, Jack. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press (2001) 10. Rosenfelt, Deborah S. Salt of the Earth: commentary by Deborah Silverton Rosenfelt and Screenplay by Michael Wilson New York: The Feminist Press, (1978) 11. Salt of the Earth. Dir. Herbert J. Bibberman. Produced by Paul Jarrico. Screenplay by Michael Wilson. Video recording. Independent Productions Corporation and the International Union of Mine. (1954) 12. Wilson, Michael. Salt of the Earth: commentary by Deborah Silverton Rosenfelt and Screenplay by Michael Wilson. (The Screenplay) New York: The Feminist Press, (1978)

Character Analysis of Aminata: Book of Negroes Essay

The Book of Negroes by Lawerence Hill started as a story of the capture of a West African girl and her journey to become a slave. Her traumatizing experience was written with a desperate tone that was achieved through the use of literary devices such as metaphors and alliteration. Emphasis was put on the conflict between Aminata and society which helped to develop her as a hopeful character. â€Å"We walked for many suns, growing slowly in members, lumbering forward until we were an entire town. Each time, people swarmed out to stare at us. Initially, I believed that the villagers were coming to save us. Surely they would oppose this outrage. But they only watched and sometimes brought out captors roasted meat in exchange for cowrie shells and chunks of salt. Some night when they had us lie down in fields, our captors paid village women to cook for us-yams, millet cakes, corn cakes, sometimes with a bubbling peppered sauce. We ate in small groups, crouching around a big calabash, spooning out the hot food with the curved fingers of our right hand. While we ate, our captors negotiated with local chiefs. Ever chief demanded payment for passage through his land. Every night, our captors bartered and bickered well into the evening. I tried to understand, in the hope of leaning something about where we were going and why† (p. 34, Hill). In this quotation, Aminata’s journey is described with a bleak and demoralizing tone. The journey of Aminata and her hostages lasted â€Å"for many suns† and wore down their hope for freedom and their faith in humanity. The hostages continued â€Å"lumbering forward† as â€Å"an entire town of kidnapped peoples,† with no hope of being saved. When â€Å"people swarmed out to stare at us †¦Ã‚  we initially believed that the villagers were coming to save us. † Eventually the captives realize that the people are only interested in making exchanges with their captors. This leaves the hostages with the forlorn realization that no one would make an attempt to liberate them. The captives were demoralized further when they â€Å"crouched around a big calabash, spooning out hot food with the curved fingers of our right hands. † As captives, the native West Africans were treated as less than human. Like animals, they were forced to gather around a bucket of food and eat without tools. The lack of respect and dignity given to the captives corrupted their sense of self-worth until there was little left but the instinct to survive. Literary devices are a key element in setting the tone of this novel. As the captives were continuing they were â€Å"slowly growing in number†¦ until we were an entire town of kidnapped people. † This metaphor emphasizes the number of prisoners the captors have taken hostage and that the group goes far beyond Aminata. It also emphasizes the amount of power the captors have other the captives. Even though the captives outnumber the captors, the captors are still capable of preventing any rebellion and power within the hostages. Another literary device that highlights the hopeless situation of the captives is parallel structure. On their journey they â€Å"passed village after village, and town after town. † The us of parallel structure creates a sense that the journey of the slaves is perpetual and induces the feeling that the slaves are stuck on a ceaseless journey. This also contributes to the hopeless mood of the novel; with no end in sight the slaves find little to look forward to. Although the captives lose hope in their future, Aminata manages to keep a part of herself hopeful and this is essential to her characterization. Aminata knows that there is a very small chance of escaping, but she also knows that if she has more knowledge of the captor’s plans, she has a better chance at freedom: â€Å"Every night I heard the captors barter and bicker well into the evening. I tried to understand, in the hope of learning something about where they were going, and why. † This also demonstrates her thirst for knowledge. Growing up Aminata strived to learn reading and writing and any other skills she could. She does not let go of this part of herself even in her futile situation. As well as being hopeful and clever, Aminata proves to be innocent and naive. While travelling through villages she believes â€Å"the villagers were coming to save us. Surely they would oppose this outrage. † But Aminata eventually realises that the villagers are not interested in freeing the captives. The only concern the villagers have is to make deals with the captors. Her ideals, that the people of her country would band together to bring a stop to their exploitation, are crushed and strips her of her innocence on her journey to slavery. Aminata finds herself in many conflicts with many different elements. One example is the conflict between her and society. Society viewed Aminata and her fellow prisoners as less than human and with little value. The slaves were treated like animals, â€Å"people swarmed out to stare at us†. They are seen as another species and not as people with intelligence and skills. But contrary to the beliefs of the society, Aminata is an intelligent and skillful girl whose thirst for knowledge is never put to rest. She continues to try â€Å"to understand the chiefs, in the hope of learning something. † She also knows how to read and write which is considered extremely valuable in her culture. But because society views slaves as non humans who are not capable of being intellectual, Aminata’s capabilities are not seen by others and she is continual seen as an inferior. The Book of Negroes tells a story about the degrading experience many had to go through because they were seen as inferior. This degradation is apparent through the demoralizing and bleak tone. But Aminata manages to keep hope and a clear head and provide a beacon for herself and others around her. She continues to expand her horizon of knowledge and aspire to better herself. Although she is faced against the power or society, Aminata holds strong to herself and carries on. Her story is told with the use of literary devices such as parallel structure and metaphors to emphasize the desperation and inadequacy of her journey. She manages to look past all the horrors that surround her and hope for a better future, and perhaps with her strong will and knowledge she will achieve this someday.

Because I could not stop for death

â€Å"Because I could not stop for death† Emily Dickinson reveals about accepting death as a next chapter of her life. In Verse 1 and 2 she describes herself as a bride and death as her spouse. Welcome death as her partner in the eternal life. She embraces it with open arms that death is no more frightening into her. It also indicated in the 1st verse about her burial march. Dickinson created the poem showing three stages in her life time. In her 3rd verse, the school represents her childhood.The fields of gazing grain represent her maturity towards life. And the Setting Sun represent her old age preparing for her death. Another explanation to this verse is describing her burial march passing to â€Å"the school†, â€Å"the fields† and her last sentence â€Å"Setting Sun† can be the time of her burial. In her 4th verse, she talks about her burial dress. The definition of her garments are more appropriate for a wedding that a funeral dress. Her dress is for mal that the author knows her death. She prepared her dress like she is marrying death.It’s like a beginning but an end of life. In her Final moment she talk in her 5th verse of a house the represents her grave were her body lay in the solid ground. The author feels comfortable to pass away that in her heart, it’s a peaceful death. The author also talks about a â€Å"house† that represents her grave that she describes a grave as a home for eternity. The last verse, Dickinson talks about the â€Å"Centuries† which means that even century bypass she is happy in her death no worries and no more loneliness to feel.This describe that her dead body will be in earth for eternity. Emily Dickinson’s poem at first you will ask is this person is death? How did she write her own death? It is an amazing poem that she predicted her death. She embraces death with no fear and tears. She defines her death as another stage of cycle of life. In another point of view she was confident about her fate. She also defines death as her partner to the next stage of her life.In our days, this poem gives us a lesson that we have to appreciate death what ever happen because death will not wait for us. Most of us don’t expect our death or thinking our own death but this amazing poem gives an idea to accept what ever faith we may have. We don’t need to be scared but gives opportunity to be grateful for life and death. We maybe living for today but death will be the next chapter of our life. So take time to think for yourself and appreciate everything in your life so like Emily Dickinson we can accept our death.

Free Essays on The Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban missile crisis was almost the start of a third world war. There were many events that influenced John F. Kennedy’s decisions. The reactions and results lead to a resolution. The United Stated learned that the Soviets were building nuclear missile bases on Cuba. The Soviet Union promised that they wouldn’t attempt to put nuclear weapons in Cuba, but they put them there anyway. They thought that the United Stated wouldn’t find out. They were wrong. The closest the United States ever came to a nuclear war was under President John F. Kennedy. The Prime minister of the Soviet Union was Nikita Khrushchev who secretly ordered the nuclear warheads to be placed in Cuba. Khrushchev had promised, revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, the protection of Cuba at all times of need. The United States feared that Fidel Castro would establish a communist regime in Cuba and because of this the United States implemented an embargo that cut off all forms of trade between Cuba and the United States. Cuba got aggravated with this and turned to the Soviet Union for aid. Before any of this happened, the United States placed several medium-range nuclear missiles in Turkey. The missiles were across the Black Sea from the Soviet Union and were in sight to Khrushchev. President Kennedy was told not to place them in Turkey, but did it anyway. In July of 1962, the United States found out that nuclear missile shipments were being made to Cuba. Khrushchev thought that the United States wouldn’t take any action towards them. Kennedy warned the Soviets about it. United States U-2 spy planes flew over the island and took photographs. They brought back reports and pictures of ballistic missiles and missile bases. The CIA found out that there were thousands of Russian military technicians that were in Cuba. As the days passed, the U-2 planes brought back more reports and photographs. The missiles that were photographed were placed within range of maj... Free Essays on The Cuban Missile Crisis Free Essays on The Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban missile crisis was almost the start of a third world war. There were many events that influenced John F. Kennedy’s decisions. The reactions and results lead to a resolution. The United Stated learned that the Soviets were building nuclear missile bases on Cuba. The Soviet Union promised that they wouldn’t attempt to put nuclear weapons in Cuba, but they put them there anyway. They thought that the United Stated wouldn’t find out. They were wrong. The closest the United States ever came to a nuclear war was under President John F. Kennedy. The Prime minister of the Soviet Union was Nikita Khrushchev who secretly ordered the nuclear warheads to be placed in Cuba. Khrushchev had promised, revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, the protection of Cuba at all times of need. The United States feared that Fidel Castro would establish a communist regime in Cuba and because of this the United States implemented an embargo that cut off all forms of trade between Cuba and the United States. Cuba got aggravated with this and turned to the Soviet Union for aid. Before any of this happened, the United States placed several medium-range nuclear missiles in Turkey. The missiles were across the Black Sea from the Soviet Union and were in sight to Khrushchev. President Kennedy was told not to place them in Turkey, but did it anyway. In July of 1962, the United States found out that nuclear missile shipments were being made to Cuba. Khrushchev thought that the United States wouldn’t take any action towards them. Kennedy warned the Soviets about it. United States U-2 spy planes flew over the island and took photographs. They brought back reports and pictures of ballistic missiles and missile bases. The CIA found out that there were thousands of Russian military technicians that were in Cuba. As the days passed, the U-2 planes brought back more reports and photographs. The missiles that were photographed were placed within range of maj...

Economy Situation In The USA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Economy Situation In The USA - Essay Example The main problem looming around the economy of USA is that of a deteriorated trend in the economic growth rate. Noted economist Ragu Rajan revealed that it will be wiser for the national authorities to focus more upon long-term structural issues such as unemployment and income inequality. In addition, it will also be wise for the national administration to arrange for some vocational training for the national youth as well. In fact, it could easily be realized that unemployment is the reason behind a rising rate of income inequality in the nation. Observers researching this aspect have figured out certain areas which need to be emphasized upon by the national authorities while framing their respective fiscal policies.These measures have been described as follows. Firstly, it has been realized that the national population or rather the labor force is suffering from a lack of productivity which the reason why the creation of economic value in the nation has been poor. This is the reaso n why it has been stressed that the finance committee must lay some emphasis upon investing more and more funds for industrial innovation. The higher the incorporation of technology into the production process, lower will be the efforts that a labor needs to put for the production of a single unit; hence he will be left with more energy to produce excess units within the same time period. In fact, this is the method being followed up in Europe that concentrates upon a stable innovation path so as to stick to a stable economic growth.

Charles Manson and his family murdered several people in California, Essay

Charles Manson and his family murdered several people in California, including pregnant young movie star Sharon Tate. Sinc - Essay Example Sharon Tate’s family has done everything in their power to keep the individuals convicted in the Manson murders behind bars. Their efforts have paid off, even after their deaths. Patti created the Tate Foundation after her mother’s death. After Pattie died, Debra Tate continued the Tate Foundation. Although this group has made major changes in California laws concerning victims’ rights, Mason and his followers still seem to be a more popular story. Charles Manson, Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins, and Charles ‘Tex’ Watson were all sentenced to death row. However, when the death penalty was struck down all death sentences were commuted to life. Manson and his followers were given life sentences with the possibility of parole. When Van Houten came up for parole first, Doris Tate was incensed. She petitioned the California legislators to allow victim impact statements. Before this law was passed, victims’ families could not sp eak during a parole heahring. This law that Doris lobbied for gave the victims’ families an opportunity to relate how the crimes impacted their families. While alive, Doris attended every parole hearing for Charles Manson, Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins, and Charles ‘Tex’ Watson. As a result all of them are still in jail with the exception of Susan Atkins. Susan Atkins died of cancer.

Human Resources Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human Resources - Assignment Example ACAS encourages employees to appeal against unfair dismissals and employers can only lay off workers if there is an existing contractual agreement between he employer and the employer. Accordingly, the redundant temporary employees are entitled to statutory guaranteed payments that include up to five days pay in any three-month period (CIPD 2013). ACAS advocates for an ad-hoc approach, formal policies or formal agreements with trade unions as the possible approaches of implementing redundancies in the organization. The fixed term employment contracts than naturally end will be excluded from the obligations to engage in collective consultations (ACAS 2013). The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) require fair selection of employees to be put on redundancy and collective consultations before the redundancy (CIPD 2013). According to CIPD, redundancy rights and obligations are governed by the employment rights act 1996, the Trade union and labour relations (consolidat ion) Act 1992, protection of employment regulations 1995, collective redundancies and the transfer of undertaking (amendment) regulations 1999 and finally collective redundancies (amendment) regulations 2006. ... The concerned employees are eligible for certain rights such as redundancy pay, a reasonable notice period, discussions with the employer and some time off to seek alternative employment (Gilmore and Williams 2012). The redundancy must be fair and discriminatory practices such as age, disability or gender cannot be utilized as the criteria for redundancy (Gilmore and Williams 2012). The redundancy entails more than 20 employees thus Dan Findale must adhere to the redundancy procedure outlined in ACAS code of practice on redundancy consultation process. Accordingly, protection of employment Act 1977-2007 requires the employers to enter in to consultations with the employees at least 30 days before the first redundancy occurs. In addition, the employees (provision of information and consultation) Act 2006 requires the employers with at least 50 employees to enter in to consultations with employees before any changes in workplace including the proposals for collective redundancy (ACAS 2 013). According to the case study, Dan Findale intends to make the 23 employees redundant thus, redundancy is just a dismissal that is not related to the individual employee or the capability of the individual employee, but an overall reorganization of the staff without recruiting new staff. Dan will have to justify his intentions of cost reduction in order to ensure the survival of the charity operations. Dan Findale must follow fair criteria in determining the employees to be made redundant. Some common criteria include last in, first out method that aims at preserving knowledge, skills and experience, staff appraisal rankings and asking for volunteers (Gilmore and Williams 2012). Unfair selection methods such as previous participation in industrial activities,

Coffee and Key Potential Group Essay Example for Free

Coffee and Key Potential Group Essay Starbucks – Going global fast: Case study Identify the controllable and uncontrollable elements that Starbucks has encountered in entering global markets. Uncontrollable elements The uncontrollable elements that Starbucks has encountered in its entry to global markets are: volatility of market, decline consumption of younger generation, and rising dairy costs. Volatility of market Starbucks is heavily reliant on the supply and on the prices of coffee. Although Starbucks has supply agreements with suppliers in advance, the company could still face problems due to fluctuating coffee prices. Other factors, such as weather and economic conditions in coffee producing countries, also affect Starbucks operations. Decline consumption of young adults. The 20-30 year-old age group of coffee consumption is decreasing now, and this group prefers other drinks, such as soft drinks. These young adults will be the key potential group for Starbucks future market. The declining consumption of this group will bring further problems to the companys future development (The market for hot drinks, 2004). Rising dairy costs. According to Starbucks record, dairy costs rose about 40% year on year and this might affect the companys cost of goods. Milk and other dairy products account for around 3% and 5% of companys sale. Now Starbucks might carry out its first systematic price rise on beverages in the next four years. Since the prices of Starbucks products are more expensive than other similar products, further price rising might affect the companys operations so the company might lose some customers. The controllable elements that Starbucks has encountered in its entry to global markets are: strong competition and labor issues.

Examining The Business Sectors Of Projects Information Technology Essay

Examining The Business Sectors Of Projects Information Technology Essay This project is done individually and it is a research project. In this project we will look at two different large organisations and compare them with each other. The two companies I have chosen are part of the SATRIX top 40 on the JSE list. I have chosen the two most popular Cell phone providers in whole South Africa, VODACOM and MTN. Over the past years, these two companies became very successful and they grow more and more everyday. They both have been fighting against each other on who is the better and more successful provider in South Africa. I have researched a lot about the two companies and they both have a lot of differences. I made research on the shareholders of each business, the Corporate Social Responsibilities and Environmental Sustainability, the BBBEE Compliance and the Companies Performance of each business. This project will also show you which company complies more with the King 11 Report and Triple Bottom Line Reporting as well as the company which will be the best proposition for a prospective investor. CSR related Issues in South Africa The needs of our society in South Africa are called the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Social Responsibilities are not only important in South Africa but also in the rest of our world. Social Responsibility is a very important part in many spheres of any business; examples are poor working conditions, dumping of waste or abuse peoples savings to enrich them. CSR addresses the legal, ethical, commercial and other expectations society has for business. The CSR needs to deal with shareholders, customers, suppliers, employees and other communities. Major issues are: Human rights Labour conditions Environmental impacts Operations Products and services In South Africa, growing demands are imposed on any type of society. Business needs to contribute to a huge extend to solve any problems which accrue in the business. In South Africa, CSR refers to operate and organize everything in a good manner. It can be measured be performance indicators, which include: less operating costs, advanced brand image, higher salary and employee retention. Environmental Issues In South Africa Environmental issues in South Africa are mainly caused by us humans who dont look after our environment and just do what they want to. People like that, dont really care about our nature and they just dont follow the rules which help our country to be cleaner and healthier. Most of those issues have a huge impact on us humans. Issues like that include; safer water supplies, population explosion and depletion. The problem with South Africa is that it is to over populate and the population needs to be cut down by quite a lot in order to have a better environment. There are many types of issues which we have in South Africa. Issues like climate change, land use, farming, nuclear issues and pollution are the most common issues in South Africa. But you get many other issues which affect our environment everyday. Stakeholders Stakeholders are the most important people in any business. Without them, its not possible to run any type of business. Every business has to have stakeholders. Stakeholders are the members of a business. You get 2 different types of Stakeholders, namely internal and external stakeholders. Internal Stakeholders: Employees Manager Owners External Stakeholders: Suppliers Society Government Creditors Shareholders Customers Social CSR Issues Different forms of CSR have been found in South Africa over the couple of years. Apartheid played a huge role in it to shape these programmes and to run them successfully. After the 1990s, South Africa ranked into the global economy and new dynamics and programmes have been added to the CSR. The CSR works its way though many policy debates and corporate agendas. The CSRs issues are very important to any type of business, because it helps you to be more successful and improve the working condition of each member. Major issues are: Human rights Labour conditions Environmental impacts Operations Products and services Yes, there are many more issues but those are the most important ones I have found and chosen. These issues are very important for each business doesnt matter what type of business it is. It helps to make your employees happier and make them feel comfortable at their working place. Environmental CSR Issues An environmental issue is the way how a human treats and looks after our environment. Its the humans who dont look after our environment and because of that; our environment is not in a great shape at the moment. Nature dies and animals are starting too die because us humans dirty the nature and environment. Environmental issues in South Africa are mainly caused by us humans who dont look after our environment and just do what they want to. Issues like that include; safer water supplies, population explosion and depletion. The problem with South Africa is that it is to over populate and the population needs to be cut down by quite a lot in order to have a better environment. More types of issues are; Climate change Dams Energy Land use Farming Nuclear issues Pollution If most of the people in South Africa would look after our environment a lot, we would have a great environment and the nature would be cleaner. But unfortunately, most of the population in South Africa dont care about their environment. They destroy our environment more and more day after day. BBBEE BBBEE (Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment) is a form of empowerment created by the South African government in order to make it even for blacks and whites. As you know, in South Africa we have Whites, Blacks, Coloureds and Indians. Most of the people in South Africa think that the white people should be supported more in getting a job. They think whites are the highest race in South Africa; they are at the top and think they better than the blacks or Indians. But its so not true. Every human, doesnt matter what colour their skin has every human should be treated the same in any way. Thats why the BBBEE plays a huge role in South Africa and its very often used by a lot of companies around South Africa. Every year, the country sets a vision statement by reaching some goals. Some of the goals include; 50% of management is black 40% of the total staff are woman I think that the BBBEE plays a huge role in South African businesses and it helps the business to have an equal amount of employees. They should have different races and genders and I mean a business is only going to be successful when there are different types of people in it. More ideas will come and the business will be more successful. Stakeholders The companies I have chosen are very large and they have a lot of stakeholders which work for the company. Vodacom Stakeholders Employees Shareholders Communities Business partners Regulators Customers Government Shareholders analysis Shareholder No of shareholders % No of shares 1-100 65798 69.14 2334687 101-1000 26016 27.34 7631889 1001-10000 2553 2.68 7206854 10001-50000 409 0.43 9814621 50001-100000 148 0.16 10787017 100001-1000000 204 0.21 59739289 1000001 and over 35 0.04 1390439643 Totals 95163 100.00 1487954000 The price of a share changes a couple of times per day. Share Current price % Change Time 5465 1.20 4.March The dividend a shareholder will receive is 36.00 cents per share. MTN Stakeholders Employees Regulators Shareholders Customers Communities Government Business partners Shares Current price % Change Time 11510 -0.77 3.March The dividend a shareholder will receive is 65.00 cents per share. Comment: Ive researched the different stakeholders the 2 companies have and the shares they each charge. At the end, it was MTN who sells his shares for much more money. The dividend MTN shareholders will get is more than double the amount you get from Vodacom. So, it is better at the moment to buy shares from MTN rather then from Vodacom. Responsibility towards Stakeholders Vodacom: Communities: Vodacom plans to improve the engagement processes further this year. Suppliers: Vodacom improved its BBBEE score from 55.2% to 68.0%, according to DTI Codes. Employees: Vodacom invested over R70 Million on training employees only. Vodacom tries his best to make it the most comfortable for their employees by improving the working conditions. HIV tests are regularly done. MTN: Employees: Created an awareness training 5 years ago, this improves year by year. Makes sure the employees are comfortable at their working place, so they will be able to work the best they can. HIV tests are made every month. Government: Government focuses on creating small groups to make it easier to work. Annual interviews conducted. Communities: Press conferences are held every week. Annual interviews conducted. Good education. Most Credible Policy Both companies, Vodacom and MTN, have very good policies which they follow all the time and try too improve them as much as they can. A big role in both companies is HIV/AIDS. They both test all their employees nearly every month and thats good to hear. It gives other workers more confident to work now that they cant get sick or infected by any viruses. But when I go more into detail, Vodacom has impressed me more. Theyve spent so much money on training employees and making their working place comfortable for them. Policy Projects of each Company Vodacom: Education project Health project Security project Penryn Mobile Lab Schola Amoris School Committee for Crime prevention Mahumani Empowerment centre Reagona Disability Unit SAICA NMMU Scholarship Cities of Africa Wits centre of Excellence Vodacom Education Project- the Company invests money to equip and educate young people with the skills they will need when they go out to the big world. Vodacom Health Project- the company invests quality health initiatives to develop to their full potential. It focuses on surgery, HIV/AIDS and feeding schemes. Vodacom Security Project- security is the secondary focus of the whole Vodacom foundation. Projects like Men against child abuse or committee for crime prevention were created. MTN: Yello Care South African Red Cross Fifa World Cup Cancer Research Centre Yello Care programme- a volunteer campaign that involves every employee in community building projects in addition to the MTN Foundation initiatives. Fifa world cup- MTN supports the fifa world cup 2010. A lot of money will be donated to the cancer research centre. At the last years qualification, every goal a team made, R10000 were donated to the cancer centre. Cancer Research Centre- MTN has made an agreement with United Nations Development programme to fight against cancer. Most Sustainable projects: Vodacom and MTN, both have a lot of projects created and most of them were really successful. But again, Vodacom has better projects and all of them were successful. Vodacom helped South Africa a lot more than MTN. Vodacom helped kids to have an education and get work. They also have created a health project which runs since 2008. BBBEE Policies Vodacom: Equity ownership Management control Employment equity Skills development Enterprise development Socioeconomic development Preferential procurement Management control- Black representation rose very high. More black people have joined the management team. Employment equity- Vodacom are adding hundreds of employees to their team every month. Year after year, more black people come and work at vodacom with the right education. Skills Development- over R90 million has vodacom spent on training employees only. R68 million were spent on Black Designated Groups. MTN: Increasing access to MTN procurement for blacks Increasing human resource and skill development Encouraging partnerships between Black enterprises Promoting economic transformation MTN has a license to promote Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment within South Africa through its procurement procedures. Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment was integrated with the tender rules and policies to assist disadvantaged communities. Companies Performance Vodacom: Group highlights: 16.5% growth in group customers to 39.6 million 10.5% growth in group EBITDA to R18.2 billion 28.8% growth in group data revenue to R6.4 billion BBBEE transaction completed in South Africa in October 2008 Acquired Gateway on 30 December 2008 Listed on the JSE Limited on 18 May 2009 R500 million spend by Vodacom Foundation in its first ten years Financial Information Summary of Vodacom MTN: Highlights: 90,7 million subscribers up 48% from December 2007 R102,5 billion up 40% from December 2007 R43,2 billion up 36% from December 2007 R904,4 cents up 33% from December 2007 Financial Information Summary of MTN Vodacom: Balance Sheet of Vodacom as at 31.March.2009 MTN: Balanced Sheet of MTN as at 30.April.2009 Conclusion The 2 companies I have chosen are South Africas biggest cell phone providers. Ive done a lot of research and came to a final conclusion. Both, Vodacom and MTN have positives and negatives but for me Vodacom is a better provide between the 2. Vodacom is more reliable, I can trust it more, it has many more projects done than MTN and its more successful. For me, Vodacom is the best cell phone provider in whole South Africa.

Patriotism and Its Meaning Essay -- Definition Patriot National Essays

Patriotism and Its Meaning In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States we are seeing many forms of Patriotism. I was suprised to find when I researched this word that it had a negative feeling associated with it. I believe that patriotism is actively showing your support for your country, standing up for what you believe in, and fighting for our individual free will and independence. I am proud of my country and I am not ashamed to fly the American Flag. Many men and women have died to give me the freedoms that I take for granted. I applaud their patriotism, and I thank them for giving me my way of life. I will support them in protecting my country. I will try to elect officials who believe in the issues I do, and who work for the better good o...

Long or Short Vacation

Name: Phan Thi Thanh Giang Email: [email  protected] com ESSAY 1 Topic: Some people believe that students should be given one long vacation each year. Others believe that students should have several short vacations throughout the year. Which viewpoint do you agree? Use specific reasons and examples to support your choice. No one can deny that a vacation has many benefits for students. In Viet Nam, it has long been a controversy whether give a vacation should be long or short. Most of students think that is great if they have several short vacations each year while others disagree. Both opinions have their own advantages and disadvantages.From my point of view, it is better to have several shorts vacations throughout the years. The reasons are as follows. In my personal experience, almost people like vacations especially students. Short vacations can help students decrease pressures or depressions from their overloaded study, hard examinations and parents’ desires had better than a long vacation. Speaking of study pressures, students always live in a tense state in which they have to cope with a plenty of continuous problems; a series of required knowledge they must study and a chain of examination they must take are ruining children’s pure mind day by day.To deal with this, one short vacation will be capable of giving a hand to the children who are in need of help to decreases these stresses. The students will have enough time to adapt to occurrence and balance their daily life, their academic study after sorrows. If there’s only one long vacation per year, the students will only have one chance to face one stress while continuous matters happen steadily during the terms. In addition, students can regain energy easier and better by several shorts vacations. Shorter vacations are more rejuvenating.During the year, I am able to take several short trips to smaller towns, beaches, mountains in the surrounding area of where I live and I feel so much more refreshed when returning to study after one of these short vacations. Similarly, with short vacations I am able to sometimes go by myself or take friends, so there is always a sense of variety with each trip. By contrast, one long vacation can be tiring and at times quite boring. Indeed, after a long vacation, it is so difficult to restart my studying with highest efforts. In almost cases, it takes long time to adapt to study environment.Finally, short vacations make both students and their parents arrange plans for entertain or travel easier than one long vacation. The parents can send their children to short-term holiday camps or just have them travel. Likewise, the students in university can take short tours to domestic vacation spots. Such travels cost less money and are more available than long tours. Take my relationship for an example. Last summer holiday, my uncle sent my cousins to my grandmother because he did not have time to care of them in approximated 2 mo nths. On the other hand, for one-month vacation, my aunt sent her son to â€Å"Army-term summer trip†.He said to me that the trip is the wonderful experience. The issue whether students should be given one long vacation each year or they should have several vacations throughout the year is the one that is open for debate. Although a long vacation has also some advantages, I think short vacation is better in many ways. Students have more chances to decrease pressures or depressions from their overloaded study, hard examinations and parents’ desires. They can also regain energy easier and better. In addition, short vacations make both students and their parents arrange plans for entertain or travel easier.

Introduction to Myth

Introduction to Myth: Mythos – Greek word for story (not necessarily true or false) Mythology – the study of myths Primitive people needed to make stories/myths in an effort to understand what was going on in their world. Humans are the only beings with a need to understand things; a dog doesn’t think â€Å"why me †. Primitive people, when scared, hurt, depressed, created myths to explain their pain or discomfort. All cultures make myths in their early development. Around 1200 B. C. , ancient Greeks began to take written history and to make rational and logical stories. Myth-making came to an end once this began.Myths â€Å"illustrate† the truth, much as Jesus did in his parables. He did not give an exact point, but told a story that showed what he meant. Myths may not tell the literal truth, but they illustrate human nature and human experience. Theories: Max Muller – concluded that all ancient myths are about nature and natural phenomenon. Carl Jung – noted that same kinds of myths turn up in all different cultures, such as each culture having their own version of the Great Flood. He developed his theory of the Collective Unconscious – that all humans are born with these same ideas in their brains, lying deep and unconscious.He said that myths explore these deep ideas of the collective unconscious. Claude Levi-Strauss – research on human brain, that different sides were responsible for different functions. Noted that the body is binary (2 arms, 2 ears, 2 legs†¦) and says that we think in pairs with ideas (on & off, right & wrong, good & evil, yes & no). They are pairs of opposites in conflict with each other. Levi-Strauss says that man’s entire experience is based on conflict, and that myths present the conflicts, then resolve them within the story. The 20th century was in ways spent examining and interpreting the ideas of the 19th century.Despite technological strides, it has been sai d that no ideas came from the 20th century. For example, 20th century scholars spent their lives working on the 19th century ideas of Darwin, Marx and Freud. Sigmund Freud – all human nature is driven by sex. Freud started psychotherapy. He turned his focus to myths and concluded that all myths are about sex and are a way of revealing sexual fears and desires without having to confront them every day. Characters: Zeus, Semele, Hera Zeus – lord and king of the gods. Constantly making love to females of all kinds. In this story, Zeus is making love to Semele.But Zeus is married to his sister, Hera, who always finds out about his infidelities. Hera disguises herself as an old human woman and visits Semele, who confesses that not only is she making time with Zeus, but that he love her more than his own wife! Hera says that no, he doesn’t, because with his own wife, he appears to her as he really is – as an almighty god. Usually, Zeus appears as a human â€⠀œ tall, strong, distinguished, a little bit of gray. So the next time Zeus comes around, Semele asks him to appear as he really is. Zeus denies her, saying that she doesn’t want to see that.So she bitches and moans until he gives in, makes love to her, and appears to her as the god that he is – at which point she is immediately destroyed by a bolt of lightning. That story can be analyzed by the four theories listed above. Is any single theory correct? Are none of them correct? 1. Muller’s Nature Theory – because primitive people are in constant contact and conflict with nature. Zeus is the ultimate god, even over the god of thunder, and they find thunder frightening. Lightning is Zeus’ weapon, and experiencing a lightning bolt is the closest that they could get to Zeus. So to them, a lightning bolt IS Zeus.Getting struck by lightning is getting hit by Zeus. That’s where nature comes in. Zeus is frequently depicted with a lightning bolt. 2. Jung’s Collective Unconscious – two of his ideas – Anima and Animus. Anima is the male idea of the ideal woman, the universal woman, who makes men crazy and keeps them off balance by nagging and manipulating. Animus is the idea that all women have of men – violent, destructive, aggressive, rapists. So myths provide an expression for these ideas, which lie deep in the unconscious. Both appear in this Zeus story – she nags him like crazy and he destroys her. 3.Levi-Strauss – humans are obsessed with conflict and resolution. Each of the three characters in this story are in conflict with every other conflict. But as soon as you get rid of Semele, all conflicts are resolved. 4. Freud – it’s all about sex; Castration Anxiety – a boy has one, a girl doesn’t. The boy thinks she must have cut hers off and worries that she’ll cut his off. Penis Envy – the girl looks, he has something she doesn’t, she k nows she’s never had one, and she wants one. In this myth, Semele insists to see Zeus â€Å"as he really is†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦or naked. She’s obsessed about it (penis envy).But when he stands there naked, he has to kill her (castration anxiety). Creation Know that myths conflict and contradict each other, and the Greeks did not have them in a logical order. One does, through, give a story of creation, which we compare to Genesis from the Bible. Genesis – God is already in existence at the beginning of Genesis, then he creates the universe; the creation order matches the evolutionary order. The climax of the story is when god creates the first man. But then, man complains that he needs a companion, so woman is created. Greek – starts with chaos, which in Greek means â€Å"emptiness† or â€Å"nothing†.So you start with nothing. Then five beings come into existence: * Ge – (pro. ‘gay’) – the earth (feminine; any word that ends in ‘e’ in Greek is feminine) * Tartarus – dark terrible prison located beneath the earth * Eros – passionate love * Erebus – darkness * Night – night Of the five, three are frightening and dark. It’s scary because 90% of human animal information comes from sight, and human animal has poor night vision. So night was scary for primitive humans, because their predators had either excellent night vision or great sense of smell. Night is a time when we’re defenseless.Only one of the five was imagined by Greeks to be in human form. Eros was an adolescent boy. They knew a 16-year-old boy could impregnate more women at that age than at any other time in his life. When Romans took over Eros, they turned him into the five-year-old boy we know as Cupid. Next, Ge gives birth, with no help from a man, to Mountains, Seas and Heavens: Ge does this without the help of any male. It was assumed for a long time that women made babies all on their own, with no help from men. This gave them a position of importance and prominence in society, while the men were unimportant.After all, sex was just for fun, and there was no immediate effect. No one put it together until man learned how to count – that was a bad day for women. They figured out the solar year, then the months, then that 9 months after sex, the baby came along. So it was the man involved after all. And eggs were inside and invisible, while the male secretion was obvious. So it was the man that actually parented the child, the woman was just a carrier. So now men were the most important. So later, Ge needed a husband, since men were necessary after all.She married her son Heaven, or Uranus (Ouranos). Since Uranus was the man and Ge was the woman, Uranus got all the credit. After a long dry spell when the rains came and the land became green again, it was Uranus up in the heavens that fertilized his wife Ge and gave them crops. Also, heaven must be male b ecause he’s on top and above Mother Earth. Primitive people, like children, saw the world in terms of themselves – they thought rain from the sky was male sperm impregnating the earth. Anthropomorphism – the process by which we give human form to things that are not really human.His current example was Barney, but the Greek gods had the same range of emotions (hatred, jealousy) that Greek humans had. This is man making god in man’s image, since it was the only form they knew well. (i. e. marriage of heaven and earth – putting a human occurrence to the supernatural) (True of Greek gods) So we’ve got Ge and Uranus. But Uranus hated his children – he thought they were ugly. So he stuffed each one of them back into the body of Ge (earth). Ge was in pain so she asked the kids inside of her for help, but only Cronus (youngest child) would help her.She got some iron from inside herself and formed a sickle (common instrument with curved blade to cut grain), and gave it to Cronus. Cronus hid in the evening until Uranus came back to sleep with his wife, then Cronus jumped out, grabbed Uranus’ genitals, chopped them off, and threw them into the sea, where they floated. A foam formed around the genitals, and out of that foam came Aphrodite, the goddess of passionate love. (Remember: god of love is Eros) How does Cronus get out? Does he stand on his mother Ge, since she is the earth? Is Uranus the heavens or is he a man with genitals?The Greeks weren’t concerned with realistic details (didn’t think that way) – the more bizarre, irrational and violent the story, the older and more primitive it is. Now, the male is the only real parent, since he provides the visible sperm and the woman is just a carrier. So the male is the head of the family, and a male king rules over all families. So since baby-making was the important part, a castrated male could not be in charge. So Uranus was no longer chief â €“ Cronus, his defeater, became the chief god Once, he became the chief god, Cronus let all of his siblings out of Ge.And he needed to marry so he could make babies. So he married his sister Rhea. They had kids, but Cronus knew from his own experience that kids could endanger his power. So he swallowed each child whole. Rhea was distressed, him swallowing the kids and all, and went to Ge and Uranus for advice. They said to give him a rock wrapped in baby clothes next time, that he’d never know the difference. So she hid the next child, Zeus, and Cronus swallowed a rock instead. Rhea took Zeus to Crete and hid him in a cave to grow up safely away from Cronus.Once grown, Zeus tricked Cronus into spitting up all of his brothers and sisters, and there was a war between Cronus and Rhea’s generation and Zeus’ generation. Cronus’ generation (his brothers and sisters) were called the Titans. Zeus’ people chose Mt. Olympus as their war base, and after w inning, he and his siblings lived on Mt. Olympus (a mountaintop, where primitive Greeks would expect their gods to live). Zeus and crew were called the Olympians. Zeus used lightning bolts as his weapon to lead the Olympians to victory over the Titans, and Zeus took over as god of the universe until the end of mythology.Zeus hurled most of the Titans (his aunts and uncles) down to Tartarus (the deep prison) so that they could never challenge his power. But he couldn’t bring himself to do that to Cronus, his father. Cronus was sent west into exile (traveled west because it was the direction of death), never to return to Greece. Cronus went to Italy and hid there, where he used the Latin name Saturn, which â€Å"Saturday† was named after. (Hiding place of Cronus: Lateo, Latium, Latini). Cronus was still a god and presided over a golden age in Italy.Then we went further west , but the Italians recalled the golden age with a mid-winter festival called Saturnalia, in which the high point was December 25th. On that day, no one worked or went to school, and families exchanged gifts with each other. When the Catholic church took over Rome, the took over existing festival days (smoother transition), and Saturnalia was changed to celebrate the Mass of Christ (Christmas). Generations: Ge & Uranus Cronus & Rhea Zeus & Hera Creating People: The creation of the first man (male) was very unimportant.Myth is not even clear as to who did it. Some versions say Zeus created man out of dirt. Others say Zeus’ cousin Prometheus (son of one of the Titians) created man and had sympathy for humans. But male human life was pathetic and weak and helpless and inferior to animals – humans can only walk better. So Prometheus went to heaven and stole fire and gave it to man. Now, every human had fire for warmth, light and protection. When Zeus found out, he was so angry that he wanted to offset the gift of fire, so he gave man something very terrible – wom an. The creation of woman was a big deal.Hephaestus, the craftsman, constructed the first woman and handed her over to Aphrodite, the goddess of passionate love and the most beautiful. Aphrodite gave woman irresistible beauty and charm, then handed her over to Athena, goddess of wisdom. Athena taught woman important and useful skills, then handed her over to the god Hermes, who among other things is god of the practical joke. Hermes gave woman the character of a thief and the mind of a bitch. Then all of these gods – Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, and Hermes – brought woman before Zeus, who named her â€Å"all gifts†, or Pandora. Zeus had a gift for Pandora – a big jar (not a box!! , ceramic, 4 or 5 feet tall. She asked what was in it, but Zeus refused to answer – just take it with you, he said. Zeus took her and her jar down to earth and the society of men. Prometheus had an earthly brother, Epimetheus. Prometheus means â€Å"forethought†, and thinking before speaking or acting. His brother Epimetheus†¦well, not so much. Afterthought. Prometheus had warned his brother not to accept any gifts from gods, but he took one look at Pandora, she of irresistible beauty and charm, and took her and her jar in. Life was good for a while, but Pandora was so curious about the jar.She’d go and listen to it, shake it, smell it. Finally, one day she opened the seal, and out came all of the ills that we face – sickness, death, disease, pain, famine, drought – only hope was left in the jar, and it remained there when she finally got the lid back on. So, hope was left in the jar – what was â€Å"hope† doing in a jar full of evils? The Greeks were deeply pessimistic and felt that life was hard and cruel, with no â€Å"happy ending†. Note that most myths end unhappily and violent. So to them, hope was the greatest evil of all – hope makes you think none of the evils would happen to you .But the certain future is that we’re all going to die, so the Greek pessimism is based in reality. But hope makes us think that none of that will happen to us. Second Creation – The Great Flood: In the Old Testament, God wipes out horrible man and saves only Noah’s family. God tells him to build an ark, and despite sure ridicule, Noah does. He puts a male and female of each animal on the ark with his family, and survive when the rains come and flood the land. He sends out doves until one returns with an olive branch – a sign of dry land. The ark sets down on Mt. Ararat and Noah and his family reproductively recreate the human race.Every culture has a flood story. Were the Biblical stories made up as the myths were to make sense of the world around them? But there are flood stories all over the world – proof of a great flood? The earth goes through warming and cooling periods – did a warmth come through and melt the glaciers, flooding all in habitable land? Many ancient cities were built in river valleys – at some point or another, every river will challenge its banks and flood, which would create a version of the same story all over the world. So some myths may well be based in reality. The Greek Flood version:Zeus went down to earth disguised as a human to check out human society and found it disgusting, corrupt, evil and treacherous. So Zeus returned to Mt. Olympus and told the other gods that he was going to flood the earth to get rid of the evil human race. The other gods provided an answer to the question â€Å"why does man exist? † If Zeus destroyed all humans, there would be no one left to worship the gods. That are how humans were perceived in greek myth; they were only there to worship the gods. So Zeus goes back and finds a husband/wife worth saving, Deucalion and Pyrrha.They were pious and just – they had the right relationship with the gods and they had right in their dealings with othe r humans. (This parallels Jesus’ two great commandments – love only one god and love thy neighbor). Usually, Greek myth is not concerned with human morality, but here it mattered to Zeus. So Zeus puts Deucalion and Pyrrha in a boat and flooded the land. After the waters subsided, Deucalion and Pyrrha saw that they were the only people left, and they were terrified. Being pious, they prayed to the gods for advice. They were told â€Å"Take the bones of your mother and throw them over your shoulder. You often see strange answers when people talk to gods. This was even weirder because the Greeks prioritized proper burial, so digging up bones didn’t sound appropriate. So Deucalion and Pyrrha tried to figure it out, and came up with ‘mother’ was Ge, Mother Earth. So they threw rocks and stones over their shoulders, and where they landed, the new human race formed. But why did they have to throw it over their shoulder? That parallels Lot and his wife lea ving Sodom and Gomorrah. She looks back over her shoulder after being warned not to, and is turned to a pillar of salt.She wasn’t supposed to see the supernatural. So that’s why they threw ‘bones’ over their shoulders – so they couldn’t see the supernatural event. You can’t watch – you’ll destroy yourself (Zeus destroying Semele) or you cancel out the event. Greek religion was not a monotheism (one god), or a polytheism (many gods), but a form of polytheism, henotheism – belief in one god most powerful, but other gods exist. Zeus is the powerful one here, over other gods and humans. Now, Zeus was sleeping with any woman he could get his hands on – human, goddess, nymph – because his power came from baby-making.Unsentimentally, â€Å"father† is like a dog that sires, just a baby-maker. Morality didn’t matter, Zeus was the great father god up in heaven, a carouser (but that’s due to anthropomorphism as well). So Zeus marries his sister Hera and appoints two of his brothers to control parts of the universe, under his command and authority. Poseidon, god of the sea, and Hades, god of the world of the dead. Zeus has control over heavens and the earth Hera is the goddess of marriage – she understands marriage, she’s not nice or sweet, but cunning and cruel, with sexual jealousy being the worst.Her Latin name is Juno, so June weddings are traditional and girls wanted to marry in her month to gain her blessing. Poseidon – god of the sea – Latin name Neptune, often shown as jolly, but he’s not. Poseidon was associated with horror, sea monsters, tidal waves and earthquakes. He also constantly was having affairs, one with a human girl named Scylla. Poseidon’s wife (no name given) finds out about the affair, waits for Scylla to get in the bathtub, then poisons the water. When Scylla stood up, she had a ring of wolves heads growi ng out of her waist.Poseidon came back to make love to her – no way, wolfie. She begged him to hide her, so he put her in a cave near the edge of the Mediterranean sea, where she waited for sailors to come too close, where she’d capture them and feed them to the wolf heads. Poseidon is an example of gods being more than just gods. Poseidon is god of the sea, but Poseidon also is the sea. The Mediterranean is violent, like Poseidon. Gods always have the character of what they’re god of. Hades is god of the dead. There were no temples built to Hades to honor him with statues and sacrifices.Every human makes his individual sacrifice to Hades by their own death. The earth had three layers – the top layer which Greeks walked on, the land of the dead (underworld), and Tartarus, the deep prison in which the Titans were kept. Dead people go to the underworld. The Greeks believed in immortality of the soul, and that the souls of all people go to these dark, unhapp y caverns for eternity. Odyssey – Homer – told the stories of the travels of Odysseus, who goes to the entrance of the world of the dead and looks in (the west’s oldest account of death).He saw that the ghosts of the dead were transparent, recognizable, and too weak to talk or to touch, and they shrieked like bats. Odysseus kills an animal and drains its blood, which they drink to give them the strength to talk to him. This makes sense – the body rots away when you die, leaving only bones and eventually dust. The Greeks knew to love live, because the afterlife had none of the pleasurable experiences of life in the body. To the Greeks, the afterlife had no place of reward nor punishment – all souls went to the same gloomy place, longing for physical life and the pleasures of the body.Alternatively, Christianity teaches that the pleasures of the soul are better than of the body – that the body is somehow dirty. Gymnasium literally means to tak e off close in the gym. The Greeks, though, praised nudity. They figured that God made the body, so every part of it, down to the armpits, should be considered beautiful. So the Greeks imagined gods in beautiful human forms, thinking there was no form any higher or more beautiful. Cronus & Rhea Hestia —– Hades —– Poseidon —– Demeter —– Hera —– Zeus Hestia is one of the oldest children, the goddess of hearth (fireplace).She is elusive in Greek myth. She just stayed home and kept the fire going – never married, just stayed home. The Temples to Hestia always had fire going for people who needed it. Her Roman name was Vesta, as in Vestal Virgins. No real stories about Hestia. Demeter – Zeus’s sister, goddess of Agriculture; recall that the father is the only real parent, but if the mom/female doesn’t feed and nourish the child, it dies. Therefore, the earth, which provides food to people, i s female. So Demeter is also the goddess of Motherhood. Anthropomorphic form of mother Ge.Demeter’s daughter is Persephone, whose father is unclear, maybe Zeus. The father is irreverent between the mother and child relationship. Demeter completely loved her child (an anthropomorphic transference of emotion). Hades was Persephone’s uncle, but he fell in love with her. Being god of the dead, he knew he could not persuade her to love him, so he opened up the earth, rose up in his chariot, swept her up, and took her back with him to the underworld as the earth closed. So Demeter comes back and can’t find her daughter. She goes nuts. Searched and searched.Finally, the sun, who sees all, tells her that Hades had abducted her. Now, gods cannot interfere with other gods – only Zeus has that power, so she knew there was nothing that she could do, and couldn’t get Persephone back. Demeter disguised herself as an old human woman and went to work for a family with a newborn baby. She transferred the love she had to someone else’s child. She loved the child, and wanted to give the human child a divine gift. So every night, she’d hold him in the fire to make him immortal. One night, the real mother walks in and sees her holding her baby in the fire.She screamed madly and rushed toward Demeter. Demeter became very angry and threw the child on the floor – angry because the fantasy she had built up to battle her own grief had been shattered. Now she had to face the fact that her child Persephone was gone. The family of the baby found out she was a goddess and were very frightened, and built her a temple on that very spot. Demeter walked into the temple and started to grieve. The Earth went barren and would give no fruit, responding to Demeter’s grief. Recall that the goddess of earth IS earth. Without food, people started dying in droves.Eventually, the other gods went to Zeus to get him to do something – if all the people died, there’d be no one to worship them. Zeus sent a messenger to Hades to give it up. Hades stood before Persephone and handed her a pomegranate. She took one bite and handed it back to him. He then took her in his chariot and brought her back up to earth and set her down next to Demeter’s temple. Demeter saw her and was overjoyed, and the earth bloomed and grew. But because she ate part of the pomegranate, she must go back to Hades for part of each year, and during that time, Demeter grieves for her and the earth does not give food.This fits into Muller and nature – it explains the seasons and why food does not grow during certain parts of the year. Putting the story in such human terms made it easy for the Greeks to understand that season. In some societies, a man and woman sharing a meal (the pomegranate), especially in his home, means that they’re married. This is still continued with the bride and groom sharing cake, the oldest part of the modern ceremony. New story: Orpheus was the best musician in the Greek world. â€Å"Orpheum† theatres are still named after him. He was so good that wild animals would come to listen to him, such as the lion in the statue.He played a lyre, a stringed harp-like instrument. Trees would also uproot themselves and move closer to him when he played, and rocks would roll over toward him. This shows the power of music – it has no physical benefit, yet it has a tremendous effect on us. On Orpheus’ wedding day to Eurydice, his bride stepped on a poisonous snake, was bitten, and died. So Orpheus went to Hades and pleaded for him to send his dead wife’s soul back to earth. He brought his lyre, and got ready to play to persuade Hades. Orpheus appeared before the court of Hades and began to sing about how much he missed Eurydice.It was so moving and powerful that even Hades, god of the dead, wept. So Hades allowed the soul of Eurydice to return to earth, but Or pheus was told he must walk back up to earth the way he had come and Eurydice would be sent after him. But – Orpheus could not turn around and look behind him to see if she was indeed following him. Remember, you can’t look at the supernatural, such as the dead coming back to life. So Orpheus starts walking back up the dark, gloomy corridors, excited about getting his Eurydice back. He tries to listen for her behind him – he tries to look peripherally at the walls to detect her shadow moving.He sees nothing, and begins to doubt. After all, the gods had never allowed the dead to come back to life before – maybe Hades had just told him that to get rid of him. He became convinced he would never get his Eurydice back, and grief overtook him. It seemed so simple when Hades agreed, but now he simply could not believe it was true. So he turned around – and there was Eurydice, right behind him, beautiful as ever. But as soon as Orpheus looked, she was snat ched back to the land of the dead – he had cancelled the miracle and had lost her again, but this time it was entirely his own fault!He ran back down to Hades to beg him to let her return, but Hades said he would not grant it a second time. So Orpheus had to return to earth alone. He became a hater of women – not because they had wronged him, but because Orpheus was afraid of getting hurt again. So now he became famous for two reasons – his music and his hatred of women. He was singing in the woods one day, alone he thought, when a group of women came upon him and killed him, tearing him apart. He then joined Eurydice in the underworld.The Greeks made this myth to show that, theoretically, it was possible to survive permanent death in some joy, if you did exactly what the gods or priests said. The Great Greek Gods of Olympia: Aphrodite – name means â€Å"born from the foam†, that being the foam of her father Uranus’ genitals when they were c ast into the sea. Her Roman name is â€Å"Venus†, and she is the Greek goddess of love, being the most beautiful of all gods and goddess. But it’s not hand-holding warm and fuzzy love – it’s uncontrollable sexual desire that makes you crazy and not concerned with the risks or consequences of such passion.Now the Greeks through the powers of the weather came from heaven, that the sea’s power was from the gods, and even the earth can feed or starve – they personify the powers of nature in gods. So why sex? They thought that inside you there are also powerful forces, and Greeks needed to understand why sexual wantonness was so powerful, so there’s a goddess for it. Now since gods are what they represent, Aphrodite is sex – a real slut. Humans are not instinctively monogamous – promiscuity was instinctive, and Aphrodite is the goddess of the promiscuity. She did sleep around a lot, with human and with god.But Aphrodite was m arried to Hephaestus, the god of craftsmen who crafted Pandora. Hephaestus is the only physically imperfect god, having crippled legs. So the only imperfect god is married to the most perfect goddess. The Greeks that only a disabled person would stay inside all day (outside good to Greeks! ) and make things with his hands. Manliness was defined by fighting and hunting, but Hephaestus cannot fight. Now Hephaestus had a brother, Ares (Roman – Mars), the god of war, and because war was hated, Ares was the most hated god, even among the other gods. But he was a perfect physical specimen.As soon as Hephaestus would leave for his shop, Ares would sneak in the back door for a little lovin’ from Aphrodite. Eventually, the sun, who sees all, told Hephaestus about the affair. So Hephaestus made a giant, strong net and concealed it above the bed. The next day after he left for work and Ares came in, the net came down and held them in place, so tightly that they could not even mov e out of their lovemaking position. So Hephaestus comes in, but gods cannot harm one another – so he went out and invited all the other gods and goddesses to come in and take a long look.The goddesses were too modest, but the gods came in. They laughed, pointed, measured, discussed what they would do if they were in Ares position, which many of them probably had been. So there was no physical violence, but lots of laughing and humiliation. Hephaestus freed them, and Ares never entertained Aphrodite again. So sexuality was beyond the Greeks control – that’s why they had to have a god for it. Pygmalion – a rare Greek happily-ever-after myth. Pygmalion (a guy) was a sculptor, but he was very lonely. So he carved a statue of a beautiful woman and eventually fell in love with the statue.So he went to the temple of Aphrodite, made sacrifices, and prayed for the statue to be a real woman. So he gets home, and the statue comes alive. They lived happily ever after . So how does this parallel Greek life? The man who finds the perfect woman is the man who creates her himself. This reflects the frustration that the Greek people had in finding someone to love. This myth was a fantasy – not of coping with reality, but of escaping from it. Cybele – not a Greek myth, but a Near-Eastern legend on which a Greek myth was based, but changed and adjusted, as we’ll see.Most Greek culture was adapted from ancient near east. The story is violent and bizarre. Cybele was the great mother goddess, who was both male and female. She decided that she’d be much better off just being female, so she cut off her male genitalia and threw it away. Where it landed, the first almond tree grew. Along came Nana, a nymph (Greek for â€Å"bride†) – nymphs are half-human and half-divine, they live forever and are always young and beautiful, but they have no god-like power and cannot leave the area where they’re assigned. Nana t ook a white blossom off that first almond tree and put it between her breasts.It disappeared there and she turned up pregnant. She named her son Attis, and he was a perfect example of a young man. So much so that Cybele, mother goddess, fell in love with him. But Attis loved someone else, so Cybele’s love drove him insane until finally he castrated himself and died from the wound. Cybele was so distraught that she asked the other gods to bring him back to life. They agreed, but with the condition that he’d have to be castrated and die every year. The Greek version: Myrrha – Myrrha was a human girl whose only real parent was her father, since her mother died when she was very young.She loved her father dearly and deeply – too much, because she realized that she wanted to sleep with him, even though she knew it was wrong. She eventually became physically lovesick and depressed over it. When the nanny who raised her noticed that Myrrha was sick, she asked wh y. Myrrha tried to hide it, but eventually blurted out the truth. Well, the old woman nanny was only concerned with Myrrha’s happiness, so she went to the father and told him that a young girl in town wanted to sleep with him – but the girl was shy and wanted her identity to be concealed, so there must be no lights.He agreed. So the old woman told Myrrha that she had arranged it, and Myrrha was horrified! She had wanted it, yes, but now that it was possible†¦. Eventually, she decided to go ahead with it. So she started to visit her father repeatedly in his dark room. She got pregnant. In the meantime, the father was getting curious about who his lover was, tried to recognize her around town and couldn’t, so one night he hid a lantern in the cupboard and closed the door. While his lover was in his dark room, he took out the lantern, saw his own daughter, and realized what he had done.He was furious that he had been tricked and tried to kill Myrrha, who praye d to Aphrodite. Aphrodite transformed her into a myrrh tree (which is where the name came from). Myrrh trees give off an aromatic sap that was used in embalming – the symbolism of Jesus getting a gift of myrrh signified that he would die. This myth helps explain why myrrh sap is used in embalming – death is associated with sadness, and the sap is the sad tears of Myrrha. But Aphrodite saved Myrrha’s baby – a boy child named Adonis. Adonis was a perfect young man, and Aphrodite herself fell in love with him.It was a dangerous world, and Aphrodite was concerned about Adonis, but he didn’t care, and he went boar hunting. Boar hunting was very challenging and dangerous because the boars are smart and would hunt their hunters. So boar hunting was done in groups – they’d use dogs to track and corner a boar into a cave. The hunters formed a semicircle around the cave and the dogs would drive the boar out. The plan was that when the boar came out and saw all the hunters, it would freeze for just a second – long enough for the hunters to kill it. But some boars didn’t freeze – they just charged out and killed a hunter or two in the process.Charge – bye Adonis. Aphrodite grieved and asked the gods to bring Adonis back. They agreed, but once a year Adonis would have to be killed by a boar and come back again. Both Attis and Adonis are called ‘resurrection gods’. With a woman loving both of their dead bodies, we saw a statue of how that resembles Mary holding the body of crucified Jesus. A whole religion grew out of Adonis. Now, for a god to fall in love with a human was considered disgusting to the gods, much like a human falling in love with a chicken. But Aphrodite delighted in making gods fall in love with humans for her amusement.So Zeus decreed that Aphrodite would fall in love with the next human she saw. That human was a shepherd named Anchises. It was summer, and in the summ er shepherds worked naked. So she transformed herself into a beautiful human girl and approached him – told him that she was under a spell and the only way to break the spell was for him to sleep with her. Anchises became uneasy†¦he could tell she was a god because 1) gods were tall, where Greeks were short, 2) gods were blonde, where Greeks were dark, and 3) gods smell good, not like meat-eating Greeks who stank.Anchises thought it was too good to be true, but still he agreed. Afterward, he rolled over and went to sleep. Aphrodite didn’t care about him any more – she had conquered and the novelty was gone, so she decided to tell him her real identity. She woke him up and told him and Anchises was filled with terror – thinking she had used him up and that he’d be impotent. She laughed at him and assured him it would still work. So she went back to Olympus, and he, like any other guy, went to the nearby city of Troy and bragged that he had made love to the goddess Aphrodite.Bad move, he should’ve kept quiet. Zeus was angry with him and struck him with a lightning bolt which crippled him. Aphrodite, on the other hand with it being revealed that she had slept with a human, was mocked, ridiculed and humiliated. Test 1 info: Need a sheet of paper 25 short answer questions (fill in the blank) 1 extra credit question (from book) Zeus’ generation was named from ___? Name one of â€Å"Heaven† daughters? Greek name for â€Å"heaven† was Uranus Rhea Who said that myth resolved conflict? Levi struass