Saturday, November 30, 2019

Sports Supplements Essays - Dietary Supplements,

Sports Supplements Athletes are competitive. They go out there to win. But, at all costs? Why are athletes willing to sacrifice their long term health in order to have one outstanding season? Will it be worth it when they are hooked up to machines in order to stay alive? Many athletes do not think that taking a supplement will harm them. They are strong, tough athletes, nothing can harm them, right? So, they start taking creatine or andro, or both. For most, they lose body fat, gain strength and muscle. That sounds great, but that is not always what happens. The use of over-the-counter sports supplements is dangerous and the FDA should take them off the shelf. Supplements are supposed to be taken to make up for a deficiency in some aspect of a person's diet. For example, if someone does not like milk and does not eat any foods that contain calcium, they could take a calcium supplement. But, athletes use supplements to lose body fat and gain muscle and strength. Once favored primarily by gung-ho body builders, products that purportedly add muscle and increase strength are now being snapped up by weekend athletes hoping to stay in top form, as well as older adults wanting to stay toned and healthy as they age ("Drugs" 8). These sports supplements are not being used correctly, and this causes problems down the road for users. There are different types of supplements. Creatine monohydrate, generally known as creatine is a popularly used supplement. Creatine occurs naturally in muscles, but many athletes or body builders take it to increase their strength and size. When using muscles, a chemical called ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate) is broken down into ADP (adenosine DI-phosphate) and an inorganic phosphate. The release of the phosphate is what gives the muscles energy. Creatine, the naturally occurring kind, or the kind that comes in a jar, combines with phosphate and can restore ADP back to ATP. Theoretically, this means more energy. But it does not come without a price. The manufacturers and advertisers for Creatine tell people they should use the product because muscles contain an average of 3.5 to 4 grams of naturally occurring creatine per kilogram of muscle. They say the good news is that up to 5 grams may be stored. So, by using their product, you can use your full potential of muscle energy ("Creatine" 1). Basically what the company is telling you is to pay an outrageous amount of money to add 1 gram on creatine to your muscles. Also, taking creatine has many side effects, just as other supplements do. This is because this type of creatine is pure. The body gets its natural creatine from red meat. But, red meat is not one hundred percent creatine. The body cannot handle the potency of this supplement. Androstenedione (Andro) is a hormonally based supplement that is supposed to help weight lifters add muscle. Andro is taken orally and goes to the liver. The liver destroys most of what is ingested, but what does survive combines with various enzymes and temporarily boosts testosterone levels. This boost in testosterone allows an athlete to perform at a level above what he usually does. "Androstendione is an honest-to-goodness steroid and a precursor to testosterone" (Gorman 246). If an athlete takes andro before he goes to the gym, he will be able to lift more, and thus increase strength and size. Although it is not legally considered an anabolic steroid at this time, andro acts exactly as they do. "Many endocrinologists insist that the differences between supplements like androstenedione and traditional steroids (which are legal only for certain medical conditions) are trivial" (Zorpette 22). In Canada a prescription is needed to get andro, but in the US it is an over-the-counter drug (Sibbald 1). If they essentially have the same effects, then one should not be illegal and the other legal. "The American College of Sports Medicine says anabolic steroids such as androstenedione as well as other ?dietary supplements' should be reevaluated and considered drugs" (Sibbald 1). Taking steroids is known to cause many health problems. Yes, they do make people better athletes, but they are illegal and athletes should not use them. DHEA is a supplement in the same "family" as andro, called prohormones. DHEA also raises the testosterone levels in the body. There is very little scientific support of these prohomones. In fact, some preliminary evidence suggests that they may be counterproductive. In a well-controlled study just published in the American Journal of the American Medical Association, androstenedione failed to boost

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Developing Managerial Strategy in Recruitment and Selection Process The WritePass Journal

Developing Managerial Strategy in Recruitment and Selection Process Chapter 1  Ã‚   INTRODUCTION Developing Managerial Strategy in Recruitment and Selection Process McDonald’s aims to: â€Å"optimize and evolve their menu, modernize the customer experience and broad accessibility to their Brand† (McDonald’s Corporation, 2012). In particular, the following study will focus on McDonald’s in the United Kingdom. Currently McDonald’s has more than 1250 restaurants across the country. McDonald’s Company owns approximately 63% of them while the rest is franchised. McDonald’s hires over 67.000 people in the UK, including hours-paid employees, management team and office staff. Steve Easterbrook, Chief Executive and President of McDonald’s, postulates that Human Resources is a key priority at McDonald’s. He believes that â€Å"If you get the people part right, the rest will follow† (Fuller, 2006). McDonald’s, similarly as other global giants, aims to recruit employees that will be willing to develop and to become managers in the future. Hence, recruitment and selection process seems to be an interesting topic to examine. 1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT The hospitality sector has a bad reputation amongst the jobseekers. A number of businesses within a sector do not have an employment agreement or employment policy. The jobs within a sector are mostly part-time or temporary. Additionally they are low-paid. The managers often lack people skills, as they have no solid experience in management. Hence, the hospitality sector has been characterized by a high turnover of staff (Lye, 2007). McDonald’s reputation as an employer has changed over the past decades. In 1991, Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland postulated that McDonald’s jobs were â€Å"low-prestige, low-dignity, low-benefit, no-job in the service sector† (Fuller, 2006). In 2011, McDonald’s has been awarded HR Excellence Award for its Employment Engagement Strategy. Currently, McDonald’s is a significant employer in the United Kingdom, having 67.000 staff. In 2012 McDonald’s announced its plan of creating additional 2.500 jobs in the United Kingdom. As a reasonable actor, McDonald’s aims to recruit further right people that will support management team and contribute to the company’s growth in the future. Therefore, the dissertation aims to answer the following research question: â€Å"What steps have been taken by McDonald’s to select the best types of employees?† The research question indicates that the dissertation will consider recruitment process as a determinant of a successful selection of employees. Further, the dissertation will also analyze an employment policy at McDonald’s as a guarantor of low turnover of staff. Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Human Resource Management is one of key functions within a company. It includes attraction and recruitment of new employees as well as training, assessment and rewarding system within a company. The employees are perceived as a backbone of the organization, as they jointly contribute to the company’s success (Beach, 1980). As the business environment becomes highly competitive, the companies need to attract potential employees and to make sure that the employees will be willing to develop within a company and to contribute to its growth. While small businesses delegate HR issues to their senior officials or management team, large companies have a staff specializing in Human Resource Management or hand over a part of this job to the external bodies, recruitment agencies. In both cases, recruiters have to be very selective in order to prevent long-term negative consequences of hiring wrong staff such as poor performance, high turnover and failure to achieve company’s goal s (Evans, 2007). Not only do recruitment processes and employment policies become of keen interest to people working in HR departments, but they are also a subject of an ongoing debate in an existing literature. Considering first Human Resources Management in general, there is a number of scholars who analyzed the relationship between working incentives and worker’s productivity. Three scholars who gave solid theoretical basics to HR discipline should be mentioned. These are Maslow, Herzberg and McGregor. Maslow is a founder of a hierarchy of needs. Employment is regarded as a safety need, a next level after bottom basic needs. However, self-actualizations (i.e. climbing the career ladder) is at the top of the hierarchy of needs. It indicates that people need to be encouraged to climb the career ladder at the expense of other needs such as family or leisure (Wahba and Bridwell, 1976).   Herzberg, in turn, specifies two sets of factors that increase people’s productivity at work in his Two Factor Theory. The first group are motivator factors such as achievement, responsibility, growth, promotion, while the second group – hygiene factors such as pay and benefits, supervision, company policy and administration (Feder, 2000). Lack of hygiene factors leads to the dissatisfaction of employees. Good organizational hygiene, in turn, constitutes a good foundation for the development of the motivator factors. The following theory has two important implications. First, the employers should focus on the worker’s attitudes to the performed job rather than on their interest in the job.   Second, salary has been often wrongly perceived as a motivator while it has been a hygiene factor (Feder, 2000). McGregor developed Theory X and Theory Y. These theories divide employees into two groups, based on their job attitude and then, shape two different management styles. Theory X assumes that people are lazy and avoid responsibilities. Hence, managers should tightly c ontrol their workers. As the employees are not ambitious, a strong incentive program needs to be implemented in order to increase their productivity.   Contrary, Theory Y postulates that the employees are self-motivated and self-controlled. Managers should create the right conditions for self-development of their employees.   According to McGregor, Theory Y managers are more successful than Theory X managers in building mutual trust with their employees and hence, in HR development. As HR is a key function of the organizations, Theory Y managers are also more effective in achieving company’s goals (Steward, 2009). Considering the recruitment process, there is a little discussion in the literature on the selection criteria, as the companies have been recruiting on various positions and hence, selection criteria are entirely dependent on the vacancies. Instead, the scholars (i.e. Richardson) focus on the recruitment strategies that can generally be divided on internal and external recruitment strategies. Internal recruitment refers to the recruitment within a company (a promotion of existing personnel or hiring through a recommendation of friend or family member by existing staff). The main advantage of internal recruitment is that the insiders know company’s strengths and limitations, its employees and culture. The internal promotion also strengthens the employees’ commitment to the company. On the other hand, sometimes it might be hard to find a right candidate on a particular vacancy and hence, the position might be offered to the person that does not have possibly best qualific ations. Similarly, the company might not have a sufficient number of qualified staff to take newly created positions. Hence, it might lead to the promotion of people that did not get a full training and do not have a solid knowledge. External recruitment, in turn, includes informal and formal methods. Formal methods concern wide searches at the labour market for the candidates with no previous connection to the company. Informal methods regard searching company’s database for the retained resumes (i.e. rehiring former employees, hiring students who took internship programme within a company). The later method is faster and inexpensive compared to external methods (Richardson, 2000). Chapter 3  Ã‚   METHODOLOGY The following section will discuss the methodology used in the following research work. First, it will focus on the research design (research objectives, philosophy, strategy and approach) and then, it will consider methodology and its limitations. 3.1   RESEARCH DESIGN Research objectives The dissertation displays two main objectives. First, it aims to analyze the recruitment strategy developed by McDonald’s in order to demonstrate how McDonald’s attracts people to apply for a job as well as to reveal what employees McDonald’s is looking for. Second, it intends to examine an employment policy of McDonald’s in order to discuss the working incentives used by McDonald’s to ensure low turnover of staff. Research philosophy The research philosophy is based on research question, objectives and methodology. The following research considers recruitment strategy and employment policy as key elements of successful HR management. Hence, interpretivism is considered to be the most accurate research philosophy, as it focuses on social actions and their influence on people. Research approach The following research work will use both inductive and deductive research approaches. The deductive approach will be reflected in the review of existing literature on human resources management as well as in the discussion on the relevance of various recruitment strategies to McDonald’s recruitment concept. The inductive approach, in turn, will be reflected in the interview with McDonald’s Vice President. The interview will demonstrate the main values and principles of HR policy at McDonald’s in order to deliver a detailed understanding of the research context. Research strategy (methodology) As the recruitment strategies and recruitment processes are deeply researched elements of HR sector, the most accurate methodology seems to be the case study. It will focus on an in-depth analysis of the research topic on an example of a single company, McDonald’s. The following case study will have an explanatory character as it examines relationships between organization and its employees (In general, an explanatory research concerns relationships between variables i.e. the causes and the results). 3.2 DATA COLLECTION METHODS Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used in the following dissertation in order to collect data. First, the research will include the semi-structural interview (qualitative method) with David Fairhust, McDonald’s vice-president responsible for HR department. This interview will be based on the list of 15 questions on recruitment strategy and employment policy at McDonalds and will provide a reliable data from the company’s side. Further, the interview will create an opportunity to gain the additional information due to the open-ended questions and the new questions brought up while interviewing. Second, the questionnaire will be conducted amongst the McDonald’s employees (quantitative methodology). The questionnaire aims to demonstrate how employees perceive the recruitment process within McDonald’s (How easy was a recruitment process? How did they like the questions they have been asked? Did any questions concern their growth within the company and potential career in management?) as well as to present how willing they are to work for McDonald’s within next five years. In order to present reliable and objective information, the research target is to survey a group of 100 employees from five McDonald’s restaurants in London. The designed questionnaire will include twenty multiple choice, closed-ended questions, as it intends to provide comparable data. Nonetheless, it will also leave some space for comments so that the employee will have an opportunity to present any additional issues (concerns). 3.5   LIMITATION OF THE DATA COLLECTION’S METHODOLOGY The validity and reliability of gained information are crucial for the research purposes. Hence, the researcher is aware of the limitations of the methodology and aims to minimize them. Considering the interview first, the researcher is aware that too sensitive topic, inexplicit questions as well as behaviour of the interviewer can affect interviewee’s response. Prior to the interview, the researcher will guarantee that all information will be used exclusively for the research purpose. Further, the interviewee will be given a copy of his answers in order to confirm that the interview does not offend the company and that the interviewee agrees to use the information in the following research work. Considering the questionnaire, the questions might be imprecise or inaccurate and hence, the respondents might understand the questions differently than the researcher did.   Hence, the pilot study will be conducted first. They will include a group of 5 employees and they will check the level of difficulty and feedback by the respondents. The pilot study also helps researcher to obtain some assessment about the reliability of the questionnaire which will be very helpful in detecting the weaknesses and grey areas. This will also provide help about some ambiguous and vague queries so that they will be amended prior to final presentation. Further, the uncomfortable environment can also have an impact on the questionnaire’s results. Hence, the researcher intends to ensure that the questionnaire will be anonymous and it will not have an impact on the working conditions of the employees who agreed to participate. The management teams in the McDonald’s restaurants are expect ed to help in achieving this goal. TIMETABLE Prepare Proposal  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   MM:DD:2012 Literature Review  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   MM:DD:2012 Final Literature Review  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   MM:DD:2012 Pilot Questionnaire  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   MM:DD:2012 Final Questionnaire  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   MM:DD:2012 Results And Analysis  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   MM:DD:2012 First Draft  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   MM:DD:2012 Final Draft  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   MM:DD:2012 Presentation  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   MM:DD:2012 Final Report  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   MM:DD:2012 REFERENCES Andrews, Y., (1988). The personnel function. Pretoria: Educational Publishers. Armstrong, M., (1996). A hand book of personnel management practice. 5th ed. London: Kogan Page. Ary, D. Jacobs, C.L. Razavich, A., (1996). Introduction to research in education. California: Thompson Learning. Beach, D.S., (1980). The management of people at work. 5th ed. New York: Macmillan. Beatty, R.H., (1994). Interviewing and selecting high performers. New York: Wiley. Berman, D.R., (1997). State of local politics, 8th ed. New York: Armonk. Booi, S. , (2005). An assessment of the recruitment and selection strategies used in the sales department of Old Mutual Group Schemes in the Eastern Cape. Port Elizabeth: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Brounstein, M. and Visconti, R., (1992). Effective recruitment strategies. Menlo Park: Crisp. Cascio, W.F., (1998). Managing human resources. 5th ed., New York: Irwin/McGraw-Hill. Collins, J. and Hussey, R., (2003). Business research. 2nd ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Cooper, D.R. and Emory, C.W., (2001). Business research method. 4th ed. Massachusetts: Irwin. Decenzo, A. and Robbins, S.P., (2002). Human resource management. 7th ed. New York : John Wiley Sons. Freder, B.J., (2000). F.I.Herzberg, 76, Professor and Management Consultant. New York Times. 1, p.26. Fuller, G., (2006). The burger meister: McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook’s view from the top [online] Available from: personneltoday.com/articles/2006/10/10/37557/the-burger-meister-mcdonalds-ceo-steve-easterbrooks-view-from-the-top.html (Accessed on 19.04.2012). Lye, P., (2007). Human Resources issues in the hospitality industry [online] Available from: 4hoteliers.com/4hots_fshw.php?mwi=2205 (Accessed on 19.04.2012). McDonald’s Corporation, (2012). McDonald’s momentum delivers another year of strong results for 2011 [online] Available from: mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/Aboutus/Newsroom/news_pages/mcdonalds-results.html (Accessed on 19.04.2012). O’Neill, B., (1990). The manager as an assessor. London: The Industrial Society. Personnel Today. Richardson, M., (2000). Recruitment strategies. Managing/ effecting the recruitment process. Trinidad: Government of Trinidad and Tobago. Saunders, M.N.K. Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A., (1997). Research methods for business students. London: Pitman. Saunders, M.N.K. Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A., (2000). Research methods for business students. 2nd ed. Harlow: Financial Times. Schultz, H.B., (2001). Recruitment and selection, [In:] Nel, J., (ed). Human resources management. 5th ed., Cape Town: Oxford. Steward, M., (2010). Theories X and Y revised. Oxford Leadership Journal, 1(3), p.1-5. Wahba, M.A. and Bridwell, L.G., (1976). Maslow reconsidered: A review of research on the Need Hierarchy Theory. Organizational Behaviour and Human Performance. 15, 212-240.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Its New Feature December, And CoSchedule Has Launched 4 So Far

Its New Feature December, And Has Launched 4 So Far We want to make 2014 your best year of blogging yet, so were putting a bow on some of our most requested features and releasing them before years end. Its a little something that weve been calling New Feature December. Its a lot like no-shave November, but way less itchy. Its New Feature December for the @#editorialcalendar make 2014 your yearHere is a roundup of the features we have launched so far. Awesome Link Previews Now, for each social media message that you create, will provide you with a preview of the link information that will be sent to sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+. Not only are you able to preview the links (and delete them), but you are also able to customize them–including the image, title, and link description. LinkedIn Company Pages Connect your LinkedIn company pages to ! This makes for a completed roundup with LinkedIn. We fully support personal profiles, company pages and groups. Cool. Referral Program Share with your friends and get credit for doing it with our new referral program. With each friend that makes a purchase, you will receive 10% off of your subscription for the life of their account.  Easy, right?

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

NGOs are an effective force in processes of conflict resolution and Essay - 1

NGOs are an effective force in processes of conflict resolution and healing. Discuss using examples - Essay Example Types of NGOs In modern times, there has been the emergence of Non-governmental organizations also known as NGOs and these have played numerous roles in this modern society. This is especially with the registration and recognition, as well as integration of NGOs into the United Nations to assist in provision of services to marginalised areas and even serve the needs of minority groups (Crowe p.1796). Some of the roles that are played by NGOs include; provision of humanitarian services that would otherwise not be available to certain parts of the human population. In addition, provision of a platform for the population to air its grievances to the rest of the world and even leaders, and serve as a bridge between the rest of the world and local communities in which these NGOs work from and within. Because of this, there are different types and forms of NGOs that serve different purposes and in different localities for various populations. As such, based on the definition of NGOs as non-profit organi zation, they can be categorized into community-based organizations, which are small intimate organization that are run exclusively by members and based out of locally available resources. Another type of NGO is the intermediary NGO that involves the use of paid staff to provide social services to individuals and other organization, while there is another type, which is the intermediary NGO focussing on policy and advocacy which reflect the needs of both local communities and other NGOs, as well as organizations (Nesbit p.9). The last type of NGO is the one that deals in international relief and development, and consists of professional staff and is found in many countries through branches and chapters. Humanitarian Efforts With the above information, it simple to come up with different roles of NGOs as these categorizations spell out what each organization does and at what level. Consequently, in conflict resolution and healing, NGOs roles can be explained and illustrated following their structure. The first way in which NGOs are an effective force in the process of conflict resolution and healing is following their humanitarian services provision to populations that need them. With this in mind, the key role is the healing process and not on conflict resolution, although from a different perspective this is achieved. By providing humanitarian services such as medical supplies and health services, where those that are affected or affected communities are served with services that eliminate human suffering in both warring camps of communities in conflict. As such, the first category of NGOs is well versed in this by being the immediate source of these humanitarian services where th ey use only what they have to provide for their own people and even others form the camps in conflict. Through this, the warring population is brought together by human suffering especially concerning diseases and injuries, as well as wounds to make peace and cooperate for their own wellbeing (Clapham p.522). This is evident in cases of Sierra Leone, where community based NGOs came together and served to mitigate the effects or outcomes of the conflict in the country. This was through providing medical services to the wounded and even reusing service to those that came later until an amicable agreement was reached to

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Design Thinking Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Design Thinking - Assignment Example The analysis of such period aided in the understanding of the evolution of chief design process methods. Consequently, the analysis meant to discover from such evolution of design process methods the moment when design thinking got realized as an emerging approach as well as a framework of thinking that underscored all other prior methods of thinking. However, there was never a precisely framed linear progression of methodologies that emerged. Many methodologies were developed concurrently in various faculties as well as industries. The coining of the term design thinking date back to 1987 when Peter G. Rowe introduced the phrase in his book, ‘Design Thinking’. The design involves a call for conventional minds to change and collaborate. There are various approaches to designing thinking ranging from the participatory design, user-centered, service-centered to human-centered design thinking. The participatory design primarily focuses on user testing efficiency and end-user development. The user-centered design thinking stresses the significance of customers’ needs and paints user as central to the service or product development. The service-centered design focus on the importance of examining the user journey value and the stakeholder’s culture by stressing the need for a collaborative culture. The service design relates with the meta-design that advocates a collaborative, open source systems and holistic community development to ensure social sustainability. Therefore, service-centered design holistically engages the stakeholders and emphasizes on service sustainability. Finally, the human-centered design involves a collaborative and multidisciplinary social systems. There is also holistic engagement of the community development driven by empathy. The humanized approach applies those methods aimed at gaining direct audience understanding and thus

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Important Element in the Storys Significance Essay Example for Free

Important Element in the Storys Significance Essay In the two short stories, Little Things by Carver and The End of Something by Hemingway, both authors make the title significant to the storys message. The title Little Things is somewhat ironic in that the word little could refer to the baby or could in fact be calling their argument petty, even though the child that they are fighting over is a major issue. This irony is significant to the story because even though the parents appear passionate about their infant, the argument clearly lies deeper. The title The End of Something could also refer to a number of things. In this story many things are coming to an end. The end of the mill and the town at Hortons Bay, the end of Nick and Marjories relationship, the end of their fishing trips and the end of their day. Both stories are about the end of relationships however, in Little Things the breakup is angry and violent whereas in The End of Something the breakup is calm and brief. The story Little Things is about the violent breakup of two parents. It is implied that they are married but Carver does not explicitly state this. The opening paragraph describes the weather and the time of day, which reflects the mood of the piece, the darkness of the evening mirroring the dark mood inside the house, it was getting dark. But it was getting dark on the inside too. This shows that although the mood was dark, it was not completely pitch black outside implying that there may still be a slight glimmer of hope for the young couple that is soon introduced. As the fight and the emotions become more reckless and brutal the light begins to fade, showing that all hope is lost. The characters in the story are not named. This gives their predicament a deeper sense of urgency and immediacy. This is used to great effect as when we first meet the man and women, the absence of names throws us directly into the middle of their quarrel. In this piece there is no need to build up the characters with a descriptive foreplay as it is not important to the story, making it more urgent. However in The End of Something we feel more sympathy for the characters as we have learned about them in more detail. From the line he was in the bedroom pushing clothes into a suitcase when she came through the door, we can deduce from the subtext that these people are in some kind of long-term relationship, and the second line of the same paragraph draws attention to the fact that they are having a heated argument. It is extremely common that in short stories a lot of information is insinuated rather than being clearly stated and so the reader must draw a meaning from the subtext. The woman is the first to speak. Carver does not use speech marks at all during the story in order to draw more immediacy to the article. The first line of speech Im glad youre leaving! Im glad youre leaving! Do you hear? shows that although the woman appears to be angry at her partner and glad that he is moving out it is easily noted that she in fact feels exactly the opposite. This is illustrated by the repetition of the line Im glad youre leaving showing that she is trying to reassure herself that she doesnt need him. This shows irony. The woman continues to barrage the man with slurs, son of a bitch, obviously in an attempt to provoke his attention and convince him to stay. When she states you cant even look me in the face can you? it is blatantly obvious that the man has had some kind of affair. The woman fails in catching the mans attention and therefore when she spies the babys picture on the bed she takes it, out of spite. The man follows her; turning off the bedroom light as he leaves symbolising the end of their relationship, looked around the bedroom before turning off the light. The baby is also not named showing that although it is the child that they are fighting over, the battle about more and the baby is merely a pawn in their game of spite or revenge. The man states I want the baby. This immediately provokes maternal instincts from the mother who rushes to keep her child. The infant is continuously referred to as the baby or this baby showing that their child is solely an object that the couple are focusing their anger on. The mans request for the baby is not because he necessarily wants the child from love but more because he sees it as a prize that he can win over the woman. Gradually their battle becomes more physical and violent as the man tries to take that baby from the woman, in the scuffle they knocked down a flowerpot. The baby senses the tension in the room and starts to cry which adds to the anxiety and desperation in the mood of the text, the baby had begun to cry. Throughout the rest of the story Carver intensifies the atmosphere by using urgent and effective words such as screaming, red faced, gripped and hurting. Nearing the end of the story the light is involved again, the kitchen window gave no light, this line exemplifies that there was no hope left for the couple and the baby. The lines become shorter to add to the fierce battle that the couple is suffering. The man and the woman both grab the child and pull it in different directions in a hope that one will triumph but we do not know the victor. The last line in this manner the issue was decided, leaves us pondering a number of possible out comes. The man or the woman may have succeeded in snatching the infant for themselves or they may have pulled their baby in two. If so the story appears to be a parody of the biblical story The Two Women and Solomon, in which a man offers to cut a baby in half to settle a quarrel between two woman as to who the mother of the baby is. In this story we are left with an ambiguous end. It is very common in short stories that the resolution of the story is left undecided, again leaving the reader to make their own conclusion from the clues given. The second short story The End of Something is also about the end of a relationship, however it is handled in a calmer and less violent manner. The first paragraph sets the scene of a calm deserted bay, once a busy lumbering town, now reduced to a citizen-free ghost town. The couple, Nick and Marjorie, are rowing through this bay in a calm fashion they were trolling along the edge of the channel bank, but they soon head towards dark water which shows that they are heading towards trouble. They are rowing soundlessly until Marjorie breaks the silence and begins to talk about the old mill on the shore, describing it as our old ruin; this shows that their relationship stretches back a long way. Nick answers unenthusiastically. Marjorie tries to keep up the conversation describing it as a castle, which shows that she sees their ruin in a fairy-tale manner. However Nick is still distant which makes Marjorie have to work hard to keep their conversation alive. Marjorie appears to love everything about their fishing trips. She obviously loves Nick very much and is enjoying spending time with him, She loved to fish. She loved to fish with Nick. Clearly Nick is quite qualified at fishing and Marjorie tries to make him feel good by putting him in charge and asking him questions to boost his ego, Theyre feeding, Marjorie said. But they wont strike, Nick said. By this Nick means that he will not strike that night. The couple carries out their actions of fishing with scarce communication and we can tell that something is clearly upsetting Nick as Marjorie is trying to provoke conversation but to no avail. When Marjorie questions Nick Whats the matter Nick? he replies I dont know. The couple set out a picnic on the beach but we can tell that Nick is merely going through the motions as he says I dont feel like eating and all it takes is one line from Marjorie and he agrees.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Hobbes View of Human Nature and his Vision of Government :: Philosophy essays

Hobbes' View of Human Nature and his Vision of Government    In The Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes talks about his views of human nature and describes his vision of the ideal government which is best suited to his views.      Hobbes believed that human beings naturally desire the power to live well and that they will never be satisfied with the power they have without acquiring more power.   After this, he believes, there usually succeeds a new desire such as fame and glory, ease and sensual pleasure or admiration from others.   He also believed that all people are created equally.   That everyone is equally capable of killing each other because although one man may be stronger than another, the weaker may be compensated for by his intellect or some other individual aspect. Hobbes believed that the nature of humanity leads people to seek power.   He said that when two or more people want the same thing, they become enemies and attempt to destroy each other.   He called this time when men oppose each other war.   He said that there were three basic causes for war, competition, distrust and glory.   In each of these cases, men use violence to invade their enemies territory either for their per sonal gain, their safety or for glory.   He said that without a common power to unite the people, they would be in a war of every man against every man as long as the will to fight is known.   He believed that this state of war was the natural state of human beings and that harmony among human beings is artificial because it is based on an agreement.   If a group of people had something in common such as a common interest or a common goal, they would not be at war and united they would be more powerful against those who would seek to destroy them.   One thing he noted that was consistent in all men was their interest in self-preservation.    Hobbes view of human nature lead him to develop his vision of an ideal government.   He believed that a common power was required to keep men united.   This power would work to maintain the artificial harmony among the people as well as protect them from foreign enemies.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Character and Fate Essay

In the book â€Å"The Mayor of Casterbridge† written by Thomas Hardy, the character Michael Henchard experiences a dramatic rise to grace and even more dramatic fall from it. He tries to demonstrate how fateful coincidences, character, and temperament act together in life to determine the outcome of a person’s life. Fate plays a very important part in â€Å"The Mayor of Casterbridge†. Thomas Hardy uses the plot of the novel relies on number of coincidences. The key initial event in the novel is the arrival of Newson at the furmity tent as Henchard sells his wife. Farfrae â€Å"who might possibly have passed by without stopping† arrives in Casterbridge, just as Henchard is being criticized for the quality of his corn. Henchard brings his fate upon himself for after much persuasion he convinces Farfrae to stay and employs him which is an ironic twist of fate as one day it will be Farfrae who employs Henchard. Henchard, as a magistrate, is in the court on the day when the furmity woman is on trial. This event like so many others is a fateful coincidence that changes Henchard’s life forever. The cruel timings of fate occur many times throughout the novel, right up to the closing chapter when Elizabeth-Jane goes to see Henchard half an hour after he has died. Even the weather seems to be fatefully against Henchard. Henchard’s plans for the holiday are ruined by rain. Henchard jealous of Farfrae decides to ruin him financially. Henchard is not thinking clearly based on weather prophet’s predictions for rain and encouraged by Jopp, he buys all the grain in Casterbridge. Unfortunately for him, the weather improves and the grain prices fall. As a result, Henchard is ruined by fate and his own foolishness. The weather in contrast aids Farfrae who makes lot of money where Hardy mentions â€Å"Meanwhile Donald Farfrae prospered†¦..a large heap of gold, where a little one had been†. Here, Hardy tries to demonstrate the fate and character both acts together against Henchard which results his downfall. However, Hardy also tries to emphasize that it is not just fate that causes  his downfall. It’s also because of his character and temperament which lead to his downfall. From the first chapter Henchard’s rashness and impulsive character is visible throughout the whole book. He behaves impulsively when he sells his wife, when he dismisses Jopp and misbehave Abel Whittle. Hardy portrays him as a victim of impulsivity. He is man who is ruled by feelings, not thought and he acts on emotions. Hardy also characterize Henchard as a person who possesses very bad judgment and has a tendency to make the wrong decision, for example believing in Farfrae or selling his wife. The decisions he makes are normally spontaneous and irresponsible. Hardy also characterizes Henchard as a short-tempered person which is one of his character responsible for his own downfall. This temper causes him to overreact and lose control. Hardy writes â€Å"cried Henchard in a savage undertone†. This temper initiate Jopp into seeking revenge against Henchard. Henchard describes his trade with Farfrae as â€Å"a tussle of fair buying and selling.† When he loses his temper because Farfrae’s business is succeeding, whereas Henchard’s is declining, Henchard then says, we’ll â€Å"grind him into the ground – starve him out †¦ snuff him out†. Henchard is also very determined and proud man. It is because of this that he refuses to take a room in Farfrae’s house or to claim back his furniture. In many ways he is almost too proud which makes his own downfall seem much worse to him. Clearly, these characteristics contributed to his downfall. When things are going wrong for Henchard he does not act, he accepts the situations silently, at that time Hardy writes â€Å"I am to suffer I perceive†. Even if he had a good character, his ill luck could led to his destruction. If he had a different character, fate might still worked against him. Hardy tries to say that what happens has to happen because of fate and no one can stop that. He writes â€Å"Susan, Farfrae, Lucetta, Elizabeth–all had gone from him, one after one, either by his fault or by his misfortune†. Although, through out the novel, Thomas Hardy demonstrates the life of man who is suffered by his ill fate and character, he also portrays the life of  self-made man who rose from hay trusser to mayor. Despite his many faults, he must does have some admirable qualities. Henchard stay away from alcohol for twenty-one years as a form of self-punishment. When he became bankrupt, he face his creditors instead of ran away from them. Here one of his creditor remarks â€Å"I have never met a debtor who behaved more fairly†. When Henchard’s life crashes around him he accepts the situation and returns to being a simple hay-trusser. This is a very admirable attitude. Examples throughout the book also show Henchard to be gentle, courageous, hardworking, kind and fair but in many cases a very unlucky man. Finally, it is a fine distinction between fate and character and they are very often intertwined. Fate and character coexist in the novel. They are dependent on each other. It is a combination of character and destiny that cause Henchard’s downfall. After twenty-one years Henchard walks back along the same path he travelled many years before. Still alone and with nothing to show for all his pain and suffering. He makes mistakes but experiences great suffering as a result. He dies a lonely isolated man, a warning to us all, of defect in character and ill-fate.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Of Mice and Men Empathy Task

Empathy Task Well here I am again on the same old ranch, alone. My friend is being chassed!! I lost my dream, my friends and my dog. When I had all those, it made me feel kinda special, I s'pose, ain't too many guys around here who have friends; who have dreams especially these days. Most of them just dont care or they pretend they don’t, goddam depression, I wasn’t one of those guys, I had friends and dreams and hopes and†¦ . Anyhow, Lennie's gone now. They are gonna found him and kill him or he will never return, for sure i am not seeing him again!I gotta say even if he was a crazy bastard that shattered my dream, does anyone knows how bad that feels!! One day you are making plans and the other day you realize that it’s never gonna happen. I lost Lennie as well, he was someone to talk to and I hope he finds the damn rabbits he always wanted, in fact; he was the one that told me about the dream in the first place. I will miss him. I am so pissed off about a ll these things!! She did it, that bitch, Curley's Wife. Ever since I met her I knew she was bad.Never expected it to end the way it did though. I didn't expect to find her dead on the floor. I mean who did. I panicked at first but I knew what to do, I had to tell George before everybody else. It was all her fault. She was the one who came to Lennie, I mean; Lennie wouldn’t have touched her, poor bastard. Lennie was a good man and i know he didn’t do it on purpose! Thing aren’t going back though, I lost all of my dreams and hopes in that split second that I realized she was dead! She was responsible, i wanted to kill her, but she was already dead!!I hate her and that scum, Curley, I bet my life he was the one that told Carlosn to shoot my dog!! Bloody ‘hand fulla Vaseline' Still if it had to be done I prefer to have done it myself. He was my dog, my companion, my friend. I don't know how I am going to get through the last few years of my life without him. I shoulda done it myself. They would let me leave this ranch but where would I go. I can't go to the farm on my own can I. The thought of leaving my dog behind, is just too powerful so I've decided I'm not going anywhere.People leave, I am staying here alone until I rot in the ground. My dog just goes round and round in my head. If George leaves as well, life will be back to normal like it was before Lennie and George turned up. The same old people as before. Curley will still be cocky except that he will be single know and I will be the same old man with no friends at all know that my dog is gone as well. I don’t have many reasons to keep living after this, my friends are gone and my dream is shuttered!! I hate not being able to help in the fields.I miss it so much. I don't like being here in this place all day by myself. I have spent the best years of my life working in someone else’s ranch, only to lose one hand and end up with little money!! George and Lennie were my only chance of making my dream come true!! I was gonna spent every penny I had so that i could be a bit closer to the American dream which is now something that I will never succeed. I am at the end of a long hard-working career that offered me a crap life, I can’t fix the things know, i mean i would if i could but I just can’t!!I can’t get over with the fact that I could have made it!! We were gonna get a little place and we were gonna have a big vegetable patch and all kind of good things! No one was gonna throw me out of there when I was gonna be at my oldest!! I was so close! George also started to believe that it was coming true but all of a sadden everything went down! I can’t do this anymore, why did I not die instead of being left to feel all this pain. They should have let me die†¦

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Relective Paper on Counselling in Social Work essays

Relective Paper on Counselling in Social Work essays Social work values call for everyone, regardless of their beliefs, practices, or backgrounds, to be treated with dignity, given equal access to societal institutions, opportunities and resources, and supported in contributing their unique talents to their families, communities and country. (Sevel, Cummins, and Madrigal, 1999, pg. 11) I agree with this statement whole heatedly because I have always believed that all people are unique and should be treated with dignity and respect. I had a difficult time identifying what would be Shiela's value issues, and after much thought cannot identify any. My values are to treat client with respect and dignity regardless of my personal feelings. Sheila was an easy client to work with and there were no value conflicts for me. However I know there will be issues for me in the future that will challenge me and my values and I will need to be always on the lookout for why I may have difficulty working with someone. It will probably be because of a value conflict. -need for a computer for school was the issue she identified as being important for -frustration with family, friends, problem with conflict and being able to establish needs are what I identified as issues for Sheila even though she did not come to the interview with these being something she needed to explore. Prepatory empathy involves trying to imagine, on the basis of what limited information you posses, what the client may be thinking, feeling, and doing. (Cournoyer, 1991, pg. 95) I thought about what issue would be presented to me by Sheila at our interview and worried that I would not know what to respond, or that I would not be a helping person for her. I imagined how she must have been feeling about this exercise, as I myself was nervous about talking to her about my own issue. The contracting process follows integrally from the assessment and yields clearly identified problems, specific goals f...

Monday, November 4, 2019

A Research Of the Events Leading Upto World War II By Tuchmans Guns Of August.

A Research Of the Events Leading Upto World War II By Tuchman's Gun's Of August. One of the deadliest wars in world history, World War I, lasted from July of 1914 until November of 1918. This was one of the first wars to be defined as a global war. This essentially means that all of the world ‘s superpowers were fighting and consequently the whole world was affected. The world’s powers all gathered together and were part of either two groups. The first group was the Allies, which consisted of France, the British Empire, and the Russian empire. The second group was the Central Powers, which consisted of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany. In The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman examines the months leading up to the war and the first few months of it. Specifically, she focused her narrative on the military history aspect of World War I. Overall, Tuchman depicts an extraordinary prelude to World War I, such as the decisions of the superpowers involved and world events that affected the war. It has been described by the reviewer Samuel R. Williamson Jr. as â€Å"one of the finest works of history†¦[and of being a part of] the best sellers list for more than forty weeks†. Tuchman begins her book by illustrating her thought process behind her work and the methods that she used. She starts with an introduction that exemplifies the need for facts and connections in order to accurately depict World War I. In the Foreword, written by Robert Massie. In this foreword, Massie reflects on Tuchman’s writing process and how she describes her work. On page xi, Massie states that in regards to Tuchman’s work, she asked numerous questions and â€Å"[her] research was too find out†¦ what really happened.† In other words, Tuchman’s question would be ‘What really and factually happened in the prelude and first few months of World War I?’ On page xi, there is another question; Massie describes Tuchman’s efforts to get at â€Å"how it actually felt for the people present?† In other words, Tuchman’s question would be ‘how did World War I make the people involved feel like?’ In the author†™s note, Tuchman herself, once again reiterates this question and how she answered it throughout her book. In the authors note, Tuchman goes on to explain how she answered these questions. In seeking answers to these research questions, Tuchman gathered great amounts of information from various types of sources. On page xxiv, Tuchman states that the first question was answered based on evidence from documents she’s gathered and even that â€Å"all conditions of weather†¦in the following pages [of the novel] have documentary support†. Some examples of documents that she used to answer this question are primary sources of battle orders, telegrams, secret codes, maps, and weather reports. On page xxiv, Tuchman states, in regard to the second question, she had a â€Å"total immersion in military memoirs†¦[and] all†¦ thoughts or feelings, in states of mind public or private†¦ Have documentary support.† Similarly to the first question, this quest ion is also omnipresent throughout the novel. Therefore it is hard to pinpoint the documents used to answer this question down to one. Nevertheless some examples of primary sources she used to answer this question are letters, memoirs, dairies, and pictures. Nevertheless, Tuchman’s approach strays from the classic historiographical approach from here on out. Her study is more of a descriptive history than one of pure analysis. In one book review, Jeanne Lombardo states that Tuchman used â€Å"the historicist technique of combining documentary evidence with the powers of the imagination†¦ [which] she uses to paint a vivid, living picture of the events and individuals of August, 1914.† It is important for readers to understand that although Tuchman doesn’t come right out and say what her analysis is, it doesn’t mean it is nonexistent. Tuchman utilizes her documents in a way, which creates an eloquent story. Tuchman backs up this idea when she states that she believes â€Å"the very process of transforming a collection of personalities, dates, gun calibers, letters, and speeches into a narrative eventually forces the ‘why’ to the surface† (xii). It is also important to include the interpretation of Ulrich Trumpener. He states in his book review published in The Journal of Modern History that The Guns of August was a great narrative work, but â€Å"as a scholarly contribution to the history of World War I it is less than satisfactory†¦ [Tuchman’s] story is only partially based on the best available evidence†¦[and contains] oversimplifications.† Trumpener continues to discuss how The Guns of August increasingly left out information regarding certain countries’ contributions to the war. Nevertheless, Tuchman addressed this issue in her author’s note where she stated there was some omission regarding certain fronts throughout her book. In regard to these omissions, she states that they were â€Å"outside my chronological limits and it seemed to me there was unity without it is the prospect of tiresome length if they were included† (xxiv). Personally, I believe that her descriptions were all based on fact and the omission of certain aspects was essential. This is because it would have been detrimental to her interpretations and consequently her narrative descriptions. Overall, Tuchman’s sound research through both primary and secondary sources regarding World War I led to her study revolving around what she believed truly led to the war. She had numerous interpretations from her analysis of the documents. She specifically believed that there were roughly four reasons that this war started. The first reason she believes was due to a misconception regarding the free trade and the idea it would stop a war because people would want to avoid economic consequences. This idea can be idea can be shown on page 12, where Tuchman states: Lord Esher delivered lectures on the lesson of The Great Illusion at Cambridge and the Sorbonne wherein he showed how ‘new economic factors clearly prove the inanity of aggressive wars’. A 20th Century war will be on such a scale, he said, that it’s inevitable consequences of ‘commercial disaster, financial ruin and individual suffering’ would be ‘so pregnant with restraining in fluences’ as to make war unthinkable. In this quote, Tuchman illustrates the belief that the war was considered unthinkable due to the economic effects it would have. Tuchman uses a source that included the preaching’s’ by someone who was considered highly educated to prove this point. The Second reason Tuchman believed that the war happened the way that it did was due to ideologies regarding warfare. Tuchman thought there was too much of an emphasis of the countries involved on the idea of a quick war and staying on the offense. She demonstrated this idea on page 372, where she stated: Clausewitz [a German] had described terror has the proper method to shorten war, his whole theory of war being based on the necessity of making it short, sharp, and decisive. The civil population must not be exempted from wars the fax of estimate feel it’s pressure and be forced for the severest measures to compel their leaders to make peace. In this quote, Tuchman illustr ates her thought that the war happened the way it did because the leaders of the nations involved believed that the war was bound to be quick and short. This specific example revolves around the German peoples’ ideologies of a short war and the need to always attack. Tuchman used Clausewitz to prove the pressures of a short war and offensive attacks. The third reason Tuchman discussed revolved around the effects of the treaties. Tuchman emphasized how the treaties and alliances resulted in a type of domino effect, which resulted in more countries becoming involved with the war. Tuchman describes this idea on page 63: The government maintained the disingenuous position that the military â€Å"conversations† were, in Haldane’s words, ‘just a natural and informal outcome of our close friendship with France’. Natural outcome they might be; informal they were not†¦ the General Staff have ‘certainly committed us to fight, whether the cabinet likes it or not.’ In this quote, Tuchman explains her thought that the war happened the way it did because of how many intertwined alliances and treaties there were. This specific example revolves around the connection between the U.S and France and how their alliance essentially meant that if one of them went to war, they both had to. Lastly, another in terpretation she came across was the contradictions involved in the warfare, such as having technological advances but sticking to the traditions of wars in the past. She discusses this on page 457: Doumergue made a deep impression when he said, ‘it takes more courage to appear a coward and risk popular disfavor interest being killed.’†¦[This statement] provided a subject for further heated dispute. In this quote, Tuchman outlines a heated debate from this time. This debate was essentially one revolved around trying to overturn distiniguished ideals on the ethics of war. Previously, it was thought it was better to die in battle than to give up. Nevertheless, the use of that ideology in this war was detrimental to the militaries because of the invention of new weapons. Tuchman decided to write The Guns of August when a publisher, Cecil Scott of the Macmillan Company, invited her to write a history describing the events that took place during this war. In the preface, Tuchman described a concern she had about the idea that no one would be interested in such a topic or read this book. She stated, â€Å"In moments of depression during the course of writing, I had asked Mr. Scott [the publisher], ‘Who is going to read this?’ (xxi) The book was originally intended for an audience that had previous knowledge of World War I and wanted to see an interpretation of how it felt for those involved. Nevertheless, as a richly descriptive study with a blend of imagination and evidence, resulted in it becoming a widely read book across a variety of populations. The book turned out to be a great resource for those interested in studying the origins of World War I, but needed a captivating story to keep them entertained while learning. The feature that was often denounced by some, the writing style being a descriptive narrative with imaginative pieces based on fact, is what ultimately led to its widespread popularity. Tuchman’s writing style in this text matched the needs of the intended audience and this outreach included every day people. Making the compelling story based on the facts allowed people who would normally be bored by history to become captivated. An example of Tuchman’s ability to present fact with an interesting narrative can be shown on page 90: Meeting the censure of his comrades, Admiral Troubridge demanded a Court of Inquiry which order to his trial by court-martial in November, 1914, on the charge that ‘he did forbear to Chase H.I.G.M.’s ship Goeben, being an enemy then flying’. Tuchman is able to bring Admiral Troubridge to life. She captivates her readers through not only listing the facts but also using fantastic diction, such as the word â€Å"demanded†. Nevertheless, she is also able to give her readers the facts needed to understand the causes of World War I. In this instance, she was able to give a quote from a secondary source, an article on Troubridge. This use of captivation is done by one of the three types of historical writing, Narrative writing. This is because narrative writing is used when the author wants to chronologically tell an event; in this case it was the prelude to the war. Also this style is usually used when an author is telling a military history, which Tuchman is. The Guns of August is, ultimately, an insightful and rigorous work that describes the military history of World War I. Tuchman was able to coherently voice her interpretations on the reasons the war occurred through a descriptive narrative. Although, there are some differences in opinion revolving around Tuchman’s analysis, she does a great job utilizing her sources in a way to prove the economic and militaristic reasons behind the inevitable Global War. Works Cited Lombardo, Jeanne Belisle. The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman. Center for Future Consciousness.http://www.centerforfutureconsciousness.com/pdf_files/2008_ Essays/A Review of The Guns of August by Barbara W.pdf. Sewanee Review. Project MUSE Fifty Years On: The Guns of August, Always Popular, Always Flawed. Accessed November 18, 2016. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/497154. Trumpener, Ulrich. The Journal of Modern History 35, no. 1 (1963): 94-95. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1899184. Tuchman, Barbara W. The Guns of August. New York: Ballantine, 2004. .

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Cross-Cultural Perspective - McDonald's Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cross-Cultural Perspective - McDonald's - Essay Example During recent years, the company faced severe competition the United States of America (considered to be the home market for the organization. This severe competition led the company to focus on revenue being gathered from international market. Internationally, fifty percent of the company’s retail outlets are franchised to local people of that particular market/country in which the company operates. Hence the main revenue generated is from Royalties, Rents, etc. McDonald’s has followed a brilliant strategy by focusing on the smallest of details within the international market. This includes McDonald’s focus towards social, religious and cross cultural issues that the company faces in all the different countries in which it operates. One of the major cultural issues that the company has faced over the years of its operation is the fact that it is hugely criticized for adversely affecting local customs of eating and lifestyle in the area in which it operates e.g. the replacement of traditional teahouses in Japan by American fast food franchises. The company has expanded so much that it can be found in more than 120 countries around the globe. Individuals find McDonald’s retail store very easily because of the increased number of retail stores within any particular city e.g. Rome has more than 33 McDonald’s retail stores and it is because of such reason that people may get tempted to try out the products offered by the restaurant because of abundant retail stores at every corner. People who might not be fond of such food may opt for it because of the cleanliness and the environment that the offer within their different restaurants. McDonald’s offers different products so as to suit the differing cultural and religious perspective e.g. Hamburgers are not offered in Muslim countries because of a Muslim religious restriction towards eating Pork. To cater to the demand of these Muslim customers, McDonald’s have setup o utlets which offer food termed as â€Å"Halal†. In India, the scenario is totally different, the country is known for its vegetarian eating habit and it is because of this reason that the Indian market is served with totally different products such as the sandwich known as the â€Å"McAloo Tikki† (sandwich with a fried breaded potato and pea’s patty). These cross cultural differences do not restrict themselves to product only, the website being created for the different countries too have cross-cultural aspects addressed in them. The company has to focus on many ethical issues in order to maintain their standard of being a global organization. The company has taken many steps in order to prove to the world that the organization’s social responsibility towards the environment is properly dealt with. McDonald’s has completed a comprehensive sustainable land management commitment in order to ensure that the sustainability of the organization’s supply chain is maintained and improved. The company clearly shows that it cares for its customers and its environment by acquiring their unprocessed or minimally processed raw materials from legal and sustainable managed sources. McDonald’s care for the environment can be easily witnessed from their packaging