Communication 101 PowerPoint Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Communication 101 - PowerPoint Presentation Example People like to do many things: eat chocolate or ice-cream, ski, go hiking, fish, play football, climb rocks etc. Many activities, which people enjoy, may lead to health problems, injuries, other negative consequences. Everything can be dangerous, but people continue doing things, getting satisfaction from the process of doing. Thus, smoking is the same thing. People enjoy it, get satisfaction from smoking, and are not eager to give up this habit, just because someone thinks that it is bad and harms them. Smoking is a good way to relieve ones stress. Smoking a cigarette helps a person to feel relaxed, abstract away from problems, think about the problem while smoking, get energy to start working on the problem. Nicotine helps the brain to produce norepinephrine and beta-endorphin. These chemicals make an individual feel better and raise his mood ("A Guide To Remaining Smoke Free"). One of the pros for smoking is that it helps a person to start a conversation and make new friends. Every smoker can ask another person, if he has a cigarette or a lighter. This question is a usual one, and is not considered to be rude or inappropriate. People, who smoke together, are distracted from their problems, and tend to find common topics for conversation more often than those, who just stay in one place. Seeing, that a stranger smokes too, means that you and him already have something in common, which unconsciously makes us like the person. Thus, a cigarette becomes a bond between smokers and helps people to get new friends. Many smokers state, that they fill more concentrated after smoking a cigarette. The process of smoking helps them to calm down, think over the issue, and start working on it right away. The medical research proves the smokers statements. Nicotine helps to reduce anxiety and distraction, and has the same effect as some of the medicine, which is used to treat Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity

Diversify management team and coaching staff Assignment

Diversify management team and coaching staff - Assignment Example From this, there are increased chances of obtaining a mixed group of persons from all races and diverse cultures that helps to spur athletics in the college. In addition, the number of women should be increased abundantly to articulate women issues in the sporting sector. Through this, everyone is represented, and colleges become stronger in the sporting world. Colleges hire field Trainers in form of coaches who guide teams in major events to achieve college objectives. Nevertheless, the coaching staffs should be persons who understand the sector very well, must have performed and have enough experience to help the team to success. In addition, they should be people who are not bothered by issues of race or tribe in team selection, but ensure only talented individuals and hardworking folks are made to participate in the events. The process, however, should not discriminate in staff selections but ensure only qualified and approved coaches are given the jobs no matter the race, gender or any other cultural vice. This ensures that only committed persons are made to work thus enables colleges to benefit from their investments in athletics. Athletics is quite an important sporting event in the college and to the students. The department will be unique since our policies will be to employ only committed persons in management. This will make the unit to be stronger and eliminate any underperforming members (Lapchick, Costa, Sherrod, & Anjorin, 2012). In addition, athletes or management who supports negative behaviors such as doping in the sect will be discontinued from the system. This will make us set standard culture to the department that is beneficial to the college. As means of committing ourselves to above rules, the university stands a better chance to reduce mismanagement and improper spending and is only concerned with their target. Recruitment of more qualified staffs and

Effects of Globalisation on Operations Management

Effects of Globalisation on Operations Management Global operation management in financial institution has seen unpredictable activities in recent years due to global economic downturn and competition for market share. The key element which underpin global environment will be internationalisation and globalisation. Global operation refers to dynamics which affect the world economy and successful integration of global dispersed function or activities. According to Yip(1995) global operation can be refer to, among others global sourcing, to have manufacturing or service facilities world wide or to supply drivers of globalisation including global market, each of which increase competitiveness through increase sales by expanding into new market. On the other hand, Slack, et al (2001) argues that globalization is the opportunities for operation managers to develop both supplier and customer relation in different part of the world. Recent tactics in global competition among organisations require extension of trade internationally by the pattern of foreign direct investment which has resulted emerging newly industrialising nation. In a highly competitive global environment, companies need to set a well define operation objectives and plans to successfully compete in both domestic and global market. This assignment critically analyses the key global operation management techniques adopted by Barclays bank for its innovative process to distinguish itself as a unique global asset management firm offering tremendous service to institution and individuals. Barclays global investors are one of the worlds largest asset managers and the world largest providers of structure investment strategies. The company operation strategy should reflect its position in global, economic, political and social environment. (See Appendix one) According to this assignment there are 8 major key factors for global operation management to be considered below; Global Total Quality Management in service industries (TQM gurus) Global Inventory Planning and Control Management Strategies for Global Change Management Global Operation Design and Process Global Operations Planning, Scheduling Global Distributions and Supply Chain Management Strategy for Global Human Resources. Global strategy for operation Management Global strategies for operation management Operation management is a systematic approach to address all the issues pertaining to the transformation process that convert some inputs into output that are useful and could fetch revenue for the organisation. According to Slack, et al (2001) global operation management is the term used for the activities, decision and responsibilities of operation managers who manage the production and delivered of produce and service. The operation strategy should be part of the organisation total strategy to achieve global dominance. Financial service product faces unique challenges which need customers present during the production and service delivery. This requires Barclays to improve its operation process that will add value to achieve competitive advantage. Strategy for Managing Global Operation Effective operation through efficient use of resources world wide drive towards a globalize economic system. Global market imposes new standards on quality and time requires operation managers to think domestic market and penetrate the global market. To achieve its objectives towards globalization, there should be improve communication technologies and open financial system. The company strategy should achieve adequate utilisation of resource and adequate customer service. This strategy has prove success by positioning itself as customer-oriented organisation and empowering customers world wide to make different choices of innovative financial product to meet their needs. However, global strategy has the following draw backs; To manage multinational operation faces challenges of language and customs difference, different management style and different laws and regulation. The current economic downturn has affected consumer spending and confidence in the banking industries. Complex global operation by multinational faces ethical and environmental challenges. Operation Strategy contents In global operation content, the decision and action should be specific to achieve the objective. The content reflects the four perspectives; Operation strategy as top- down perspective Operation strategy as bottom-up perspective The market requirement perspective The operation resources perspective Global total quality management in financial service industries Total quality management The business leaders face immense pressure in todays turbulent competitive environment thats move forward by globalisation, macro-environment factors and advanced technological growth of internet. The strong market forces within this competitive environment have developed global customers who are more aware of changes in the global market. Total quality management is an important tool in any business to surmount future challenges within the turbulent financial service environment. TQM provides the financial business leaders with a formalised process in setting clear and achievable corporate objectives and at the same time guides the management in planning strategies to maximise resources and to achieve win-win partnership. Total quality management (TQM) is an organization-wide process that revolves around  the Total Quality Triad. It assumes that there is never a state of perfection (Kelada, 1996). Hence, in order to that plans are developed in an integrated manner, three important total  quality principles must be adhered to participation and commitment by stakeholders  and senior management team, employee involvement and continuous improvements to  meet customer satisfaction. Source: Bradford University Total quality management in global financial services environment In the global financial services environment, Total Quality Management (TQM) provides the overall concept that fosters continuous improvement in an organization. The implementation of a Quality Management System (QMS) does not equate to self-generated results. Continual improvement Continuous improvement of the QMS is of paramount importance for meeting and satisfying clients ever changing needs and requirements. The purpose of the project is to identify quality improvement through Kaizen program, performance measurements; benchmarking with appropriate key performance indicators; and essentially designing a balanced scorecard to achieve continual improvement. Practices by non-financial organisation Good practices implemented by construction organizations in strategic partnerships alliances and knowledge management was identified and developed recommendations for improvements to gain competitive advantage in the construction industry. TQM not suitable for financial services environment TQM is not really suitable for any service organisations but it really helps the service organisations to focus on the participation of senior management team, involvement of all employees and managing internal process towards achieving customer satisfaction. Long Term client relationship In global financial services environment business strategy is building on long-term client relationships. Over 90 percent of the work is repeated business from loyal clients. This strategy yields cost advantages, profits, and growth, allowing them to attract and retain investors and thus fuel further growth. Quality Gurus There are a number of writers whose work dominates the quality movement. Their ideas and approaches have stood the test of time and have come to from a body of accepted knowledge, to lead and advise their own movement in quality. They have become known as gurus Crosby Philip B. Deming W. Edwards Feigenbaum Armand V Ishikawa Kaoru Juran Joseph M Oakland john S Shingo Shigeo Taguchi Genichi All the above Gurus have presented their own work on quality management and have made a significant impact on the world through their contributions to improving not only businesses, but all organizations including national governments, public organizations, educational institutions, healthcare organizations, and many other establishments and organizations. Global inventory planning and control management What is planning and control? The purpose of planning and control is to ensure that operations are working effectively and the production of products and services as required. There is another purpose of planning which is to minimise uncertainty and risk and a clear view of future forecasting. Financial planning and control It is a well known fact that a successful business helps organisations to generate enough cash in order to cover costs and make some profit. The difference between sales and cost is profit. The businesses are not always expected to be profitable from the very first day but there should be an expected plan for them to become profitable. There should be proper financial controls for all the businesses. The records should be accurate and complete and should fulfil the legal requirements. The tight financial control always helps the financial organisations or any organisation to monitor their current situation and always predict the future environment. The information derived from financial statement analysis can be used to establish future operating goals (financial planning) and to determine how to meet established goals (financial control). Developing pro forma financial statements is an important part of the planning and control processes. Inventory planning and control in financial services environment Inventory planning and control in financial services environment is the method of organising the difference between demand and supply of financial products and services. Inventory control is not a small matter from a financial perspective way. Inventory is really important and major current asset for any business including financial services organisations.  As a result, there are always policies of businesses to keep the inventory as low as possible because too much cash hold up in inventory. The objective of reducing the inventory can be accomplished with modern inventory management processes that are working effectively. INVENTORY PLANNING AND CONTROL Supply The Operation Operations resources Demand The Market Customer requirements Global change management strategies in financial environment In todays world of economic and technological development, the organisations have changed significantly. The change had only been possible through restructuring, technological improvement and merging with other businesses. The most important challenge for the organisations is to implement such change to achieve the behavioural and cultural change that is most likely required to achieve the planned benefits. Behavioural change does not just happen in the organisation. Change will only occur if there is leadership, clear goals and planned benefits for its stakeholders. All of these should be properly communicated in a timely manner. Strategy for Change Three important principles to manage change are: Change management is not the goal in itself: For an organisation to be successful, change management plays an important role. Change management is all about managing the process effectively and leads to an environment where an improvement in performance are realised. The change targets must play an active role in realising the change: Change in projects will identify and successfully communicate the image, therefore letting the employees know that the planned benefits have changed and play an active role in realising those planned benefits. Employees are the greatest asset for any organisation: Employees are potentially the greatest challenge for any organisation. The image or goal of any purpose can only become reality if the employees believe in the project and have the desire to achieve it. Financial services environment In the last decade, financial services sector has undergone major changes. The financial sector is a rewarding field in which there is every chance to make or improve a career, particularly if staff is loyal, hard working and have given the correct back up support. It cannot be ignored that the current process of globalization and market deregulation has often led to restructuring within organisations. If these major changes have been mis-handled, then it would bring job insecurity and resulting increased pressure on work forces, which in turn can lead to higher work related stress, and a possible lack of commitment and motivation. Change requirement in current financial environment Capital, currently, is grossly overvalued. Company objectives are all about maximizing value for shareholders, the providers of capital. This can lead to companies adopting strategies that do not necessarily benefit stakeholders such as customers and staff. The same emphasis on capital, and shareholder value, breeds an unhealthy focus on short-term results. Shareholders of stock listed companies want better results every quarter, leading management to take decisions that are not necessarily in the longterm interests of the company and its stakeholders. This needs to change. Global Operations Design A global operation must be designed to enable efficiency and effectiveness. It must not happen by default. To design is to conceive the looks, arrangement and workings of something before it is constructed. (Slack, chambers and Johnston, 2007). Global operations design consist of process design, products or service design, process technologies and layout design. Process Design Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2007; defined process design as the overall configuration of a process that determines the sequence of activities and the flow of transformed resources between them. Process design should reflect process objective. Processes should be designed so they can create all products and services which the operation is likely to introduce. (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2007) The Volume-Variety Effect of Process Design Normally, the design of a process for a financial services organisation within a country is based on volume-variety. This also applies globally. Process type in service operations Process design will be determined by the volume and variety. When volume is low, there is the possibility that variety will be high. When volume is high, there is the possibility that variety will be low and so there will be standardisation. Professional services provide high levels of customised services based on customer needs. As a result may have high level of variety and low volume. Mass services process have a high number of transactions, often involving limited customisation, example gocompare.com. As a result there will be high volume and so variety may be low. Service shops process are positioned between professional services and mass services, usually with medium levels of volume and customisation. In global operations design, FSO falls within the Mass Services category. This is high volume and less variety. Therefore, there is standardisation. This is because; Uniformity Due to globalisation, there is more movement of people across the world. It is therefore important to create a uniformity of processes so that customers from different part of the world who have seen such a product or services at other parts of the world could easily identify and understand the processes. Cost Saving In FSO, it cost of money to create a process. Some of the cost are the amount paid to consultants and key management staff to design a process to achieve efficiency and effectiveness. Hence such a process is copied by other branches throughout the world to save money. Time There is also a lot of management time in process design. It is therefore better for other branches in other part of the world to copy so that management time will be saved and spent on other activities. Human Resource Management Globalisation has also lead to the movement of staff, especially senior and management staff across the world. To ensure that they fit into the system easily, process are standardised. Global Management Strategy Most FSO now see the world as a global village. For that matter, top management see the world global operation as one unit. As a result, they adopt similar processes across the whole global organisation. Products or Service Design Products and services are often the first thing that customers see of a company, so they should have an impact. A good design is to satisfy the customer. (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2007). As customer gets satisfied, the organisation can achieve its vision (Lynch and Cross, Performance Pyramid). According performance pyramid developed by Lynch and Cross (Advanced Performance Management, Essential text, 2007); Customers base their satisfaction on quality and delivery time. The organisation bases their satisfaction on process time and level of waste. This is known as level four. As level four is achieve, leads to level three. That is customers becomes satisfied, the organisation becomes flexible to meet customers needs and so productivity as whole increases. Level three leads to level two. The organisation then get market share and high profitability as a result of level three. Finally, the organisation finally achieve its vision. Aspects of products and services All products and services can be considered as having three aspects. (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2007). That is, concept, package and process. The concept, which is the understanding of the nature, use and value of the service or product. FSO may manage the three aspects mostly through both external and internal environmental analysis by using SWOT Analysis (strength, weakness, opportunity and threat), Porters five forces and Porters Diamond. Supply network design Supply network includes suppliers and customers. It also include suppliers suppliers and customers customers and so on. It is the network of supplier and customer operations that have relationships with an operation. (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2007). The network has a supply side. That is, network of suppliers, suppliers suppliers that provide resources to an operation. The demand side is, chains of customers, customers customers that receive the products and services produced by an operation. The supply network must be designed to reduce time and cost. The shorter network, the shorter the cycle time and so the delivery time to the customers may also reduce. Process Technology Sometimes, FSO outsource some activities to reduce the supply network to save cost and increase speed. Furthermore, information technology has also help to reduce the supply network by eliminating intermediaries. Example, e-procurement can enable FSO to access a pool of suppliers directly. For the demand side, websites like moneysupermarket.com can be accessed by a wide range of customers directly. Global Operation Planning and Control Most FSO fail because they fail to plan and control their resources globally. The situation of most banks in the current global recession is a typical example. Apart from HSBC and Barclays Bank to some extent, most banks nearly collapse. Northern Rock and Lloyds TSB are a example of failure to plan and control globally. This shows that planning and control are very important because global operation for FSO is a very high risk. Therefore, planning and control is important. This is to ensure efficiency and effectiveness globally. The whole world economy is interlinked. There is free movement of capital across the world. As a result, an economic downturn in one part of the world could affect the rest of the world. Example, the downturn of the housing market in U.S.A. nearly leads to the collapse of Northern Rock as a whole. Furthermore, the current recession in Dubai has affected the Lloyds TSB in the U.K. Some of the things that are planning and control globally are; Capacity Planning and Control This is the task of setting the effective capacity of the operation so that it can respond to the demands placed upon it(Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2007). That is how to deploy resources to able to meet demand. That can be termed as flexibility of resource utilisation. Globally, FSO must be flexible enough to cope with changing levels of operation. Failure in capacity planning and control normally lead to delay of delivering on time. As a result, customers get dissatisfied and the long term effect is lost of market share. Some of the factors that may affect global capacity planning and control are; Political Example are; political instability, government regulations Economics Recession, Exchange rate, Foreign exchange control. Social Culture, Religion, Availability of staff Technology Level of technology Environmental Activities of environmental agencies and international policies on  environmental issues. Legal Legislation like health and safety, anti monopoly laws Project Planning and Control A project is a set of activities with a definite start point and a definite end state, which pursues a defined goal and uses a defined set of resources. (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2007). It involves five stages. They are; Understanding the project environment Defining the project Project planning Technical execution Project control Global project planning and control is difficult and risky. This is because, it is very big, it covers wide area, time differences and it may involve a lot of resources. Poor planning and control of project can lead to failure. That is, more resources may be used than anticipated and the project may also not finish on schedule. A project can be planned and controlled by techniques such as critical path analysis and Gantt charts. The introduction of information technology has help to manage global projects. The most popular software for managing global projects is Groupware. Global Supply Chain Management Global operations managers of FSO have to look beyond internal view if they want to manage their operations effectively. This is because, an organisation depends on other organisations for survival and so there is the need to manage the supply and distribution of product and service. Decisions have to be made regarding supply and distribution, to ensure that the needs of end customers are met. That is, supplying customers with the appropriate products and services when needed at a competitive price. The objectives of supply chain management are quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost. Internet and mobile phone have helped most global FSO to make relationship between suppliers and customer work more efficiently and effectively. Through internet, global FSO has gained access to wide suppliers and also has used internet and mobile to deliver banking services to remote customers in different countries. STRATEGIES FOR GLOBAL HUMAN RESOURCES Human resources have got a key role in entering in to a new market to find out the risk and opportunity of the market. Human resources are concerned about staffing, recruiting and retain employees, training and development, cultural compatibility, communication and technology, and policies, procedures and structure. As organizations expand worldwide, human resource management has become increasingly more complex and challenging. The global business needs highly skilled and educated people for the operation and the HR management support these people to work as a team. Many companies have developed technological tools to address and overcome the HR challenges. In the global operation the HR managers struggled to communicate with the entire workforce effectively as they are spread all over the world. Many businesses develop innovative tools to communicate effectively to the workforce. Some years before the managers are sending from the headquarters to the overseas business. With efficient HR management many companies recruiting people from local area and employing managers without concerned of their origin. The HR managers have to understand the issues arise in the global operation. Global human resource management mainly focussed on recruiting key professional. By establishing ethical standards and maintain these standards HR involved in the new operation, mergers and acquisition. The human resource management should have a thorough knowledge of companies business strategy, product and services to be successful in global business development. If the HR managers have no business knowledge their role will be limited to administrating and staffing. If the HR takes initiative responsibility for developing resource plans and solution for staffing they will have a key role in global business development. When staffing for global operation the HR management should taken consideration of the timelines of establishing the new operation, the skills and expertise required the long term and short term staff requirement, the availability of local candidate and the position which need to be filled soon. The terms and condition of the employment includes payroll and compensations has to make clear before recruiting the employees. As in the global business many countries have different rules and regulations and its HR managers responsibility to change the terms and condition according to the country in which it operates business. The HR has to maintain a policy to all employees regardless of the place they work. There are four principle alternative between local adaption and global integration. They are international strategy in which knowledge transfer from head quarters. It is suitable for the when there is only few foreign business. The second one is multinational strategy which is local adapted. The next alternative is globalisation strategy which is centralised strategy for all the global operation. The final alternative is the transnational strategy. The HR manager should involve in the due diligence process before acquisition or merger occurs. The due diligence includes analysing the experience and expertise of the proposed merging management, the employment practices and the pay and benefit practices. The consistent HR strategy would improve the efficiency of workforce and can retain trained employees which will reduce the recruiting and staffing cost. The HR should establish a consistent HR strategy as well as a consistent localisation strategy. Without a consistent HR strategy it is hard to recruit, retain and train employees. GLOBAL OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENT All the operations have got scope of improvement regardless of how well they managed. The managers should know their business and need to know how well they are operating at the present. The five performance objectives- quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost can be measure how well they are operating at the moment. The customer satisfaction is other tool for measuring the performance. The performance measures should be compared with a target. The target can be historically based, external performance based or absolute performance target. It can be also done by bench marking which is comparing with own performance or some others in the similar industry. The priority for improvement can be assessed from their performance and importance. The important-performance matrix can be used for this, which is a technique to compare the relative importance and performance to prioritize the improvement. Some other methods are using for improvement, such as break through improvement which is innovation based improvement, and the continuous improvement method as the name says it following the gradual improvement method. The business process re-engineering process is another method of improvement which recommends redesign of process to fulfil customer needs. To improve the operation, it should know the cause of failure of the operation. There are many reasons for operational failure. It could be design failures, facilities failures, people failure like errors and violation, supplier failures, customer failure and environmental disruption. Most of the failures root cause is human failures. As the failures can be controlled and improve the failures are an opportunity. Once the failures cause and effect understand the next step is try to prevent the failure in future. By maintaining the operation with care will minimise the chances of failure. The Total Quality Management could be use to improve the operation, by inspecting, controlling and assuring the operation will lead to improve the operation. The companies are improving their operation and product by experience and learning from the world to be competitive in the global business. The companies have to innovate new product and service to win the world. The traditional operational functions have to be change with the demand of the global economy for multinational organisations. The new technologies and sources able the companies to discover and access knowledge before their competitors. Therefore multinational companies have to act up on quick to the new knowledge they gain to sustain in the industry. The companies need to practice to learn from wherever the knowledge is generated. Once the knowledge is brought together it should be turned as an innovative product service or process which will help in global operation. The globally successful companies have the ability to spread their innovation across the global market. The companies have to obtain wide range of technology and techniques to be successful in global operation. GLOBAL OPERATIONAL CHALLENGE The challenges of operational management are many, but the major challenges are the impact of the globalization of markets, the changing view of the social responsibility, the environmental responsibility of businesses, the influence of technology development on operations management and the emergence of the concept of knowledge management.(Nigel slack, Stuart chambers, Robert Johnston). The challenge for operation is that it has to understand the changes in the economy

Essay on Rewriting History in Henry IV -- Henry IV Henry V Essays

Rewriting History in Henry IV      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The master of historiography is, perhaps, Shakespeare as evidenced by his History Plays. Whereas most writers merely borrow from history to fuel their creative fires, Shakespeare goes so far as to rewrite history. The First Part of Henry the Fourth follows history fairly closely, and Shakespeare draws this history primarily from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicle of England, Scotland, and Ireland and from Samuel Daniel's verse epic The Civil Wars (Abrams 823).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The play opens shortly after Henry Bolingbroke has usurped the throne from Richard II, becoming the fourth King Henry, and changing the royal lineage from the House of Plantagenet to the House of Lancaster. In the opening sequence, Henry IV is in the process of vowing peace in England and promising a crusade to liberate the Holy Land. No motive for this crusade surfaces in 1 Henry IV, other than the fact that it is some unfinished business from Shakespeare's preceding play Richard II (Kelly 214). Henry's pledge of civil peace is ironic because during this first scene he receives word that his troops have been overtaken by Glendower in Wales, and Hotspur has met and defeated the Scots in the North (1.1.36-61). To the news, the King replies, "It seems then that the tidings of this broil / Brake off our business for the Holy Land" (1.1.47-8). Postponing the business in Jerusalem, Henry IV eventually leads England into civil war with Hotspur a t the Battle of Shrewsbury. These actions will ultimately ignite the War of the Roses between the Lancasters (Henry IV's family) and the Yorks (descendants of Richard II).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The play then shifts its focus to the younger Henry, nicknamed Hal. Shakespeare portrays the ... ... as king. Shakespeare the Historian is not so wonderful as Shakespeare the Playwright, yet through Shakespeare's History Plays many modern readers draw their knowledge of the history prior to Shakespeare.    Works Cited * Drabble, Margaret, ed. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th Ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1985. * Jacob, E. F. The Fifteenth Century: 1399-1485. London: Oxford UP, 1961. * Kelly, Henry Ansgar. Divine Providence in the England of Shakespeare's Histories. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1970. * McFarlane, K. B. Lancastrian Kings and Lollard Knights. London: Oxford UP, 1972. * Rowse, A. L. Bosworth Field: From Medieval to Tudor England. New York: Doubleday, 1966. * Shakespeare, William. 1 Henry IV. Ed. M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. 1, 6th ed. New York: Norton, 1993.   

How Computers have affected International Busniess Essay

The personal computer has become a near necessity in modern society; business and government have also become dependent on the computer for all manner of operations and operating their business. With new opportunities come new dangers, and there are concerns today both for ethical violations in computer use and crime making use of the power of the computer. The computers today are creating violation among the people due to the software which are created and this makes the person feel insecure and the person always stays in tension. Ethics is the art of doing what is right in a societal context, and the computer user is part of such a context in the virtual world, or the world of cyberspace. Computer ethics includes everything from proper online etiquette to respect for the privacy of others. Computer crime may take place through overt theft, confidence games, and new electronic means of capturing data, creating viruses that destroy other computers, and crimes not even thought of yet. Due to this increment in the number of computer crimes, important and confidential data of people have been hacked and misused in different places. Fighting computer crime requires a law enforcement community that is computer literate and constantly on the watch for criminal activity and new crimes. It also requires a legislature willing to change existing laws to match new capabilities. Computers today are part of our lives in ways we often do not even notice, not only in the more obvious personal computers we use at home and the larger computers we may use in such places as banks and libraries, but also in computer technology that is found in home appliances such as television sets, coffee makers, microwave ovens, videocassette recorders, and hand calculators, not to mention toys and games. Computers are nowadays used in every part of life and are easily accessible from anywhere. The world has become very close but it has also affected the international business to a great extent. The Act places restrictions on the ability of businesses to include in their distributed applications the capability of gathering user information and disseminating this information to the software company or some other third party. The legislation includes the demand that any business that uses information-gathering must make it clearly visible to consumers that such information is being collected. The legislation also mandates that consumers must be able to view a summary of all information collected that pertains to them. One of the most important features of the legislation is that it mandates that no company is able to collect personal information for such purposes without first gaining the consent of consumers. This type of software safeguard’s the rights of the company but the computer thefts have created such programs that are very powerful and can help in seeking information. The data in the computer is transferred at a very fast speed but the data through transferring can even be copied or lost. All the time the computer accession is not available and therefore the connection with the business is lost if the business completely depends on the computers. The reasons could be power failure, hard disk break down or many more. These reasons require time to be overcome and solved and the time which is required makes a person out of touch with the trade of the business and this affects the economy a lot as the sales are reduced. International trade requires services of the computer at all times but the computer having exceed in the development to a great extent still remains a machine and therefore a machine is a program based device which can get mingled up with any type of wrong instructions or many other things. The loss of property both physical and financial in nature through theft is a major problem confronted by management. The perpetrators of this illegal activity are found among the employees of the organizations, the customers of the organizations, and persons not directly associated with the organizations. It is a definite mistake to assume that white collar crime or white collar criminals are unitary in character. Both come in many forms. These crimes are committed by many people and this has created a small untrustworthy feeling on the computers. People are not sure that the data of their business is safe or not. The internet banking system is also a great facility for the people who are abroad to get things easily in just few clicks but this has also suffered when many accounts were hacked and the money was taken out. In the conclusion is can be stated that people have misused the facility of the computer and this has infected the society very much. The people have themselves created software which has made the data unsafe. Therefore this has made international business slow in progress.

Importance of Events in Popular Music Essay

‘How do we determine the importance of historical events in popular music?’ Why should we determine the importance of historical events in popular music? Whats important to one fan of an artist is completely different to the views from a fan of another artist. Its not just what makes the papers , magazines and tv that matters to fans. News about artists is broadcasted in many a way in todays world, mostly because ‘stars’ and their ‘goings on’ are more important to the general public than they have ever been before. people like to look up to artists or in most cases now look down on their drug abuse or outrageous behavior and bring back the reality that we are all the same and can all go through the same tough times. Music is the most favoured thing in alot of peoples lives today. Ipods and mp3 players are something that a vast majority of people carry around with them religiously and would feel empty without. Its only human that people are interested in what their favorite artist looks like, where they come from and their general background. This however has lead to artists lives being intruded and covered across various news feeds and social networks more than ever before. General public forget that there are infact 2 sides to an artist. The side that we see when we they are on tour and their natural human side. When they are on stage they are a musician. when they are not on stage they are classed as a celebrity whether they like it or not. Quote taken straight from the second line of wikipedia when the well known name ‘Amy Winehouse’ is searched – ‘Winehouse is best known for her powerful contralto vocals, substance abuse and mental health issues’ On a website such as Wikipedia its their job to write a biography on famous people. They have to include stories from each persona. The person they are writing about is a celebrity and they are a celebrity for a reason. It’s wikipedia’s job to tell everyone who they are and how they got there. After reading the article on Amy it would seem that in some instances the fact that she has been caught smoking crack and been wandering round high in public in just her bra outweigh the better points about her career. Having then come across a ‘Talk’ page that gets raised if people aren’t happy with the way something is written it would seem my points were correct about this article – ‘This article covers Winehouse being photographed bloody and bruised, high, wandering in public in a bra, drug overdoses, being recorded smoking crack; it covers her health issues, her brushes with the law, in fact, every thing that has occurred over last year and a half. That the article doesn’t denigrate or make judgments or pronouncements about her attests to its neutrality, not a bias.’ Straight away in this article the writer makes reference to Amy’s ‘downfalls’ making this a more noticeable point to begin with. If someone had heard a song by Amy on the radio and decided they wanted to know more about her as an artist they would be immediately switched off by the statement ‘ best known for substance abuse and mental health issues’ this leaving an even bigger dent in a ruined fan base when the fact she had drug issues could have been kept as a minor point and concluded with the fact that that piece of news happened quite a while ago and she’s doing alot better and back in the studio recording her third album. But there’s also the argument that people need to know everything about her with it being a biography about a famous person. It would be bias of wikipedia to not mention the troubled aspects of her life aswell as her achievements in the music industry. There’s more news about artists going downhill than the fact their album may have been at number one for a matter of weeks because its what the public are eager to hear about. Writers are always looking for negative points to make about musicians as it gains kudos for them, the public love to gossip about others that are in a bad way and going through hell rather than gossiping about the fact someones been at number 1 for 10 consecutive weeks. It’s like some peoples lives depend on wether Winehouse has had another drug outrage and been forced into rehab again. We only knew Miss Winehouse for a short period of time before she was swept off the our headlines to rehab. This thought pattern lead me to thinking of an artist that had been round for a longer period of time that had gone through a rough patch before their career crumbled. If we look back to a piece of musical news I found online from the 60’s the way the articles are worded sound like the writer is writing the article with respect to the artist. Talking about what is happening to the artist at the time of course but in a way that is respectful and shows that the writer appreciates the problems that the artist in question is going through and has an appreciation for the music they make. â€Å"These two cats seem to add that final dimension that was missing before in Hendrix’s live music. On the â€Å"Are You Experienced† album, he taped over his own rhythm guitar, so as to have some sort of melody to fall back on. Larry Lee now keeps it present all the time.† The writer makes reference to the good things that have happened. Things that have changed the way the certain musicians music is written and how it has come to benefit future material. The article in question is talking about Hendrix’s gigs and his backing band and does mention the drugs he was taking at the time. The writer consistently praises Jimi and his band and only makes reference to the drugs right at the end of the article of which consists of one line. ‘The drugs were found directly on top of clothes inside his luggage. Now who puts their stash right on top? Especially well-travelled freaks like Mr. Jimi, through border crossings. When he re ­ported to the Toronto medical exam ­ining board, his body was found clean and pure. Ain’t a trace a shit in Jimi; but the word-of-mouth-and-press was not so clean.’ Even when making reference to the drugs the writer details the happenings in a jokey way as if to say ‘Silly ‘Ol Jimi!’ like the writer was close to Jimi or really admired him. When relating this back to todays news about stars you can tell alot has changed in the way we really appreciate musicians. The public go through years of enjoyment from an artist and their music, relating songs to their personal experiences but as soon as the star does something even as minute as forgetting to put knickers on they are slated and the writer jumps to obsurd conclusions such as the star must have forgotten to put knickers on because they had been taking drugs or drinking copious amounts of alcohol. There’s no appreciation for the artist and no respect for the way the artist feels. Jimi Hendrix died of an apparent drug overdose on the 18th September 1970. It was the death of someone who had created the backbone of R&B and rock music that musicians still use today. He created so many different techniques on the electric guitar that musicians class as basics or must haves today. The drug overdose that killed him is what has urged me to talk about Jimi. I was intrigued to see how writers spoke about him once he had gone and how people still remember him today. I wanted to see wether people remembered his celebrity side more or actually did remember him for the musical legend that he was and still is today. Drugs in the psychedelic 1960’s were used by many people for recreational reasons. LSD was the drug of the century, lots of other musicians used it and fans used it to enjoy music to its full potential. That was a regular occurrence in the 1960’s but after Jimi died of a drug overdose it becomes that little bit more concerning and people wanted to start digging for reasons as to why he’d want to kill himself. â€Å"I don’t want to be a clown anymore.† â€Å"I don’t want to be a ‘rock and roll star,†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Jimi says, emphatically. The forces of contention are never addressed but their pervasiveness has taken its toll on Jimi’s stamina and peace of mind. Trying to remain a growing artist when a business empire has nuzzled you to its bosom takes a toughness, a shrewdness† Note the fact Jimi states â€Å"star† when he speaks. He had had enough of the stardom that being a good musician brings. His story relates to Kurt Cobains story in the way that them being celebrities and their lives being invaded all the time got far too much for them. The clown part of the quote could link to the fact that clowns are a form of entertainment and people watch their every move when they are around. Jimi Enjoyed being a musician but was sick of people consistently following him around and he wasn’t able to get time to himself. â€Å"Lest anyone forget, Lea ­cock – Pennebaker’s Monterey Pop has immortalized his pyromaniacal affair with the guitar. Rock media bedroom talk makes him King Stud of the groupies. Stories circulate that he is rude to audi ­ences, stands up writers, hangs up photographers, that he doesn’t talk.† The way the writer speaks about this problem is in a respectable way, saying pop has ruined his relationship with his guitar. They don’t slate him for wanting to just be one side of the coin. Today musicians have two personas because it seems right to be that way. Music to them is work and its a shame that they have to be followed when they’re not doing their work. When anybody else finishes work they leave and become themselves again. There’s no rules when you’re yourself. You can drink where you like, say what you want, do whatever you like, wear what you want but being a musician has its limits. The public eye is always on you, you have to be wearing the right clothes whenever you leave the house and you have to look good when you leave the house. Today you can’t just be a musician, you’re a celebrity aswell and once the celebrity lifestyle has a hold of you there’s no turning back. Looking at other articles from the 1960’s it seems that alot more was accepted at the time. Drugs such as LSD, heroin, amphetamines and cannabis were widely used in the fan world and in the musical world. In todays world drugs are much less tolerated and forces crack down alot more on them. People have generally grown up knowing that drugs are bad and not acceptable and that you should never go near them. Back in the 1960’s people were persuading others to use recreational drugs to have a good time with them. With the case being that drugs were alot more accepted in the 1960’s writers at the time had less to write about musicians lives and more about the way they perform and the way their music is put together. Jimi Hendrix’s death was a turning point for popular music. A massive gap had to be filled and for years other artists have pioneered to become the new Jimi Hendrix, a true guitar hero. His death was so shocking that people still write about him and his achievements today. The music in the 60’s was so much more important than the stardom that people seek today which is why we remember Jimi Hendrix for his Music and Not his Drug abuse like Amy Winehouse.

Tragedies and Tearjerkers - Top Ten Saddest Plays

Tragedies and Tearjerkers - Top Ten Saddest Plays The following list is a continuation of the Top Ten Saddest Plays Ever Written. You can read the entries #10 through #6 by checking out the beginning of the list. #5 - Medea Heres how Ancient History expert N. S. Gill describes the basic plot of Euripides Greek tragedy: Medea is a witch. Jason knows this, as do Creon and Glauce, but Medea seemed appeased, so when she presents a wedding gift to Glauce of a dress and crown, Glauce accepts them. The theme is familiar from the death of Hercules. When Glauce puts on the robe it burns her flesh. Unlike Hercules, she dies. Creon dies, too, trying to help his daughter. So far the motives and reactions seem understandable, but then Medea does the unspeakable. In the gruesome tragedy Medea, the title character, murders her own children. However, before she can be punished, Helios sun chariot swoops down and she flies off into the sky. So in a sense, the playwright creates a double tragedy. The audience witnesses a tragic act, and subsequently witnesses the escape of the perpetrator. The murderer does not get her comeuppance, thereby infuriating the audience all the more. #4 - The Laramie Project The most tragic aspect of this play is that it is based upon a true story. The Laramie Project is a documentary-styled play that analyzes the death of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay college student who was brutally murdered because of his sexual identity. The play was created by playwright/director Moisà ©s Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project. The theater group traveled from New York to the town of Laramie, Wyoming - just four weeks after the death of Shepard. Once there, they interviewed dozens of townspeople, collecting a wide array of different perspectives. The dialogue and monologues which comprise The Laramie Project are taken from interviews, news reports, courtroom transcripts, and journal entries. Kaufmann and his team of activists turned their journey into a theatrical experiment that is as innovative as it is heart wrenching. Learn more about this play. #3 - Long Days Journey into Night Unlike the other dramas mentioned on the list, no character dies during the course of the play. Yet, the family in Eugene ONeills Long Days Journey into Night is in a state of constant mourning, lamenting lost happiness as they reflect upon how their lives could have been. We can tell within the first few exchanges of Act One, this family has grown accustomed to harsh criticism as default form of communication. Disappointment runs deep, and although the father spends a great deal of time and energy complaining about his sons failures, at times the young men are their own harshest critics. Read more about Eugene ONeills dramatic masterpiece. #2 - King Lear Every line of iambic pentameter in Shakespeares tale of an abused old king is so depressing and brutal that theater producers in the Victorian Age would allow substantial changes to the plays ending in order to give audiences something slightly more upbeat. Throughout this classic drama, the audience wants to simultaneously slap and embrace King Lear. You want to smack him because he is too stubborn to acknowledge the ones who truly love him. And you want to hug him because he is so misguided and so easily fooled, he allows the evil characters to take advantage of him then abandon him to the storm. Why does it rank so high on my list of tragedies? Perhaps its simply because I am a father, and I cant imagine my daughters sending me out into the cold. (Fingers crossed they are kind to me in my old age!) #1 - Bent This play by Martin Sherman may not be as widely read as the other tragedies previously mentioned, but because of its intense, realistic depiction of concentration camps, execution, anti-Semitism, and homophobia it deserves the highest place among the saddest plays in dramatic literature. Martin Shermans play is set in mid 1930s Germany, and centers around Max, a young gay man who is sent to a concentration camp. He pretends to be Jewish believing that he wont be persecuted as much as the homosexuals in the camp. Max undergoes extreme hardship and witnesses obscene horrors. And yet amid the abject cruelty he is still able to meet someone kind, a fellow prisoner with whom he falls in love. In spite all the barrage of hatred, torture, and indignity, the main characters are still able to mentally transcend their nightmarish surroundings at least for as long as they are together.