The First Modern War

Samuel Santiuste Ms. Engelken US History I Honors May 13, 2011 The First Modern War While reading history, we typically see that wars were typically fought with soldiers in close- order formations with a musket that would be fired in unison on command. Everything changed after the American Civil War, a conflict to determine the fate of slaves in the Union, erupted. Today many historians consider the Civil War as the first modern war because it depended on: heavy industry, fast communication and transportation. But this time all of these new technologies were used to its full potential. As a result new weapon technology was mass produced which inflicted heavy losses on both the Union and the Confederate sides and resulted in improved battlefield medicine. Years before the Civil War, soldiers would normally carry muskets that had a fire range of about 250 yards. But although this weapon had an amazing range, the musket only held and fired one bullet at a time and it hit random targets. The accuracy of the musket was from about 80 yards and this caused many of the battles to be fought at a close range. Then, in 1848 the French officer named Claude-Etienne Minie took the design of a bullet that expanded upon fired and â€Å"simplified and improved on earlier designs–including those developed by Britain's Captain John Norton (1818) and William Greener (1836)† to make the bullet that bears its name: the Minie ball (Minie Ball). This new bullet combined with the rifle made a terrific duo because the range of the weapon was from 200-250 yards with a terrific accuracy. To show the bullet’s power alone, during the Crimean War of 1853-56 â€Å"the bullet so improved the effectiveness of infantry troops that 150 soldiers using the Minie ball could equal the firing power of more than 500 with a traditional musket and ammunition† (Minie Ball). When this weapon was introduced to the Civil War, the old model of warfare became obsolete right away because the infantry along with the cavalry could not charge against the enemy as they used to. Other weapons that came into action in the Civil War were not as deadly as the Minie ball but had a big impact on surviving. Despite the fact that the Minie ball was easy to load, soldiers still had to pause in the middle of the action to reload their guns, and this made them easy targets. By 1863, there was a new weapon that solved this problem called repeating rifle because it could fired more than one bullet before the needing of a reload. The most famous type was the Spencer carbine. But like many other technology, this weapon was only available to the Northerners. Many Southerners thought that this weapon was unfair and one Union soldier once wrote: â€Å"they say we are not fair, that we have guns that we load up on Sunday and shoot all the rest of the week† (Civil War Technology). At the end of the war, the statistics showed that the Minie ball combined with the rifle did the most damage because â€Å"with more than 200,000 soldiers killed and more than 400,000 wounded, 90 percent of these causalities were caused by these weapons† (Minie Ball). On the same year that the Civil War started, President Lincoln ordered a blockade on the Confederates to stop their cotton trade and split the confederacy. So to counter attack the Union, many advances in naval warfare were flourishing which led to the built of the H. L. Hunley, which was the first ever effective submarine developed by the Confederates. This Confederate submarine was created to destroy the Union blockade wooden ships with the use of torpedoes that were attached along a long steak that exploded upon contact or by a timer. But before the submarine was ready to attack, it sank three times and on the fourth tried â€Å"it was sent out to attack the U. S. S. Housatonic, and detonated its torpedo, sinking the Housatonic and thereby becoming the first submarine to ever sink an enemy vessel† (Dutch). Despite the best efforts the submarine sank with the blast. Another incredible invention that changed the nature of warfare in the seas was when the ironclad warships came into action. This time both sides had their own version of the ironclad which was powered by a steam engine: Union had the U. S. S. Monitor and the Confederates the C. S. S. Virginia or Merrimack. Once again the Confederates tried to destroy the Union ships using an ironclad â€Å"built upon the charred remains of a burnt wooden warship, clad completely in iron plating down to the waterline and bristling with cannons† (White). This warship just went straight for the blockade in Virginia, and although it was hit by explosives and other heavy artillery the damage was minimal. And this is just a brief view of what might the battle would have been like by Professor J Rickard with the Virginia: On 8 March 1862 she steamed out of Norfolk to attack the Union blockading fleet. Her ten guns were opposed to 219 Union guns on five ships, but the Union ships didn’t stand a chance. First to go was the U. S. S. Cumberland (24 guns), rammed and sunk. The only serious damage inflicted to the Virginia was that her ram broke off and remained stuck in the Cumberland. All of this meant that the Union needed reinforcement, so they sent the Monitor to save the day. These ships battled for â€Å"several hours as their shells and shot bounced off each other's thick armor plating† and the match might have ended in a tie as there were no records telling who won (White). As the iron-clad demonstrated their power, the old wooden ships became obsolete. Even though there was fascinating technology being used in the Civil War, the only two â€Å"weapons† that President Lincoln that used the most were the train and the telegraph. Although the railroads were still a new concept because they were not used much for military purposes, they were still used to attack the enemy and replenish troops. The Union owned about 21,000 miles of railroad tracks while the Confederates only owned about 9,000 miles. Since the beginning of the war both sides used trains to transport ammunition and soldiers to the front lines faster than ever before. Because the trains played a very important role in the war, the enemy used â€Å"rail twisters and devices to blow up railroad bridges and other infrastructure and even some troops specialized in destroying railroad equipment as their sole-role in the war† (AE Aeragon) . Most of the time trains were used for transportation, but on special occasions they were used as rams. Sometimes troops would send trains at full speed to â€Å"damage an enemy train or railroad facilities, or to attack troops and even to destroy bridges† (Koenig). This experienced Confederates soldiers when they saw a train on flames aiming straight for them. Now, the telegraph was located along the railroad tracks and this meant that the North had the upper hand because they have the most railroad miles. The telegraph helped President Lincoln from the White House â€Å"to monitor battlefield reports, lead real-time strategy meetings and deliver orders to his men† (Civil War Technology). This turn out to be a great advantage for the North because they still required the technology and industry to carry out communication tasks. And by 1862 the U. S. Military Telegraph Corps â€Å"trained 1,200 operators, strung 4,000 miles telegraph wire and had sent more than 1,000,000 messages back and for† (Koenig). This alone can tell that during this war that the president was actually involved more than in past wars. Throughout the entire Civil War, diseases were killing more people than weapons because people had little knowledge about the silent killers called germs. Since the beginning of the Civil War in the spring of 1861 â€Å"medically, the United States was woefully prepared and scientists, meanwhile, had yet to come up with the theory that germs cause diseases† (Sohn). This meant that doctors did not know that they should always wash their instruments before operating and the hospital hygiene was very poor which led to disease breakouts. But problems led to many medical advances such as the protocol to treat the injuries. This system was created by Jonathan Letterman, a Union surgeon, who â€Å"created a well-organized system of care that began with triage close to the source of harm and was followed by rapid transportation to a series of clinics, hospitals and specialists† (Sohn). This medical protocol is still essential today. While there medical advancements, many improvements on neurology came about. Physicians began â€Å"the study of phantom limbs, the perception of a missing arm or leg as present and painful† (White). The American physician S. Weir Mitchell discovered phenomenon such as the shell shock and posttraumatic stress syndrome. One of the ways that physicians noticed these problems were when soldiers would freeze or started to shake wildly and many thought it was because that person was a coward. So Mitchell and his colleague, Jacob da Costa, â€Å"came into a conclusion which was that the soldiers were suffering from mental problems, stress and heart diseases† (White). To treat these problems, they said it was necessary the removal and rest from the source causing the stress. The Civil War, an event that could have or could have not being avoided, shaped the future of the entire world. The war had a great impact on anything that ranged from weapons to medicine. It also leaded to the creation of new technology such as the telephone and the improvement on the medical field. Although the war brought many innovations to the United Sates, it is still the bloodiest one in the American history because people from the same nation were being killed and it is similar to what the British Novelists Agatha Christie said about war: One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one. Works Cited â€Å"Civil War Technology. † 2011. The History Channel website. Apr. 27 2011, 11:04 . Dutch, Steven. â€Å"The First Modern War and the Last Ancient War. † University of Wisconsin – Green Bay. N. p. , 02 Jun 2010. Web. 27 Apr 2011. . Koenig, Alan R. â€Å"Railroad's Critical Role in the Civil War. † America's Civil War 1996: n. pag. Web. 27 Apr 2011. . â€Å"Minie Ball. † 2011. The History Channel website. Apr. 27 2011, 11:03 . Rickard, J (1 May 2006), American Civil War: The Blockade and the War at Sea, . Sohn, Emily. â€Å"How the Civil War Changed Modern Medicine. † Discovery News. N. p. , 08 Apr. 2011. Web. 27 Apr 2011. . Stevens, Anthony. Roots of War and Terror. New York: Cromwell Press Ltd, 2044. 212. eBook. â€Å"The US Civil War, the First Modern War. † AE Aeragon. N. p. , n. d. Web. 27 Apr 2011. . White, David. â€Å"Born in the USA: A New World of War. † History Today 60. 6 (2010): 12. Points of View Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.

The Different Styles of Narration

Narrators in Film and Novel In this chapter, Stam introduces the different styles of narrators in Novel. According to him, they vary from the first-person report-narrator to the multiple letter writers of epistolary novels, to outside-observer narrators of reflexive novels like Don Quixote and Tom Jones, to the once intimate and impersonal narrator of Madame Bovary, to the â€Å"stream-of-consciousness† narrators, on to the intensely objective/subjective obsessional narrators of Robbe-Grillet.What interests Stam is the fact that these different styles of narration cannot be really explained by the conventional terms that exist. That happens because language and grammar are the foundation of the traditional analysis of film and literature and in this context have leaded to a terminology based on them, a terminology such as first-person narrator or third-person narrator. This kind of grammar based terminology and approach, can create confusion and obscure facts like writers shif ting person and changing the relation between narrator and fiction.For Stam though, the most important issue is not the grammatical â€Å"person† as he says, but the control an author has over the intimacy and the distance and how he calibrates the access to a character’s knowledge and consciousness. Literary narration can be complicated through film because of the verbal narration (voice over/speech of characters) and the capacity a film has to present the different appearances of the world.Andre Goudreault says that filmic narration is more powerful than â€Å"monstration† (showing) and â€Å"narration† (telling) and that for him, editing and other cinematic procedures consist of the evaluation and the comments of the filmic narrator. This way films tell stories (narrate) and at the same time stage them (show). Stam explains that  «the film as â€Å"narrator† is not a person (the director) or a character in the fiction but, rather, the abstract instance of a superordinate agency that regulates the spectator’s knowledge ».In other words â€Å"le grand imagier† and the â€Å"meganarrator†, all names attributed to the narrator, can be considered as the conductor of an orchestra who uses the instruments of cinematic expression as musical instruments. The author (Stam) continues his chapter by explaining how a double play of forms can be made possible through sound cinema. Voice-over narration and monstration (showing) mutually reinforce each other like in Sunset Boulevard where the scene is supposed to be a visual manifestation of what Joe Gillis is saying. We will also come across that during my extract analysis.In more modernist films like India Song (1975) and Last year at Marienbad (1961) the two forms contradict each other, in a sense that what is told is not what is being shown. Since sound made its appearance in film, cinema has been as Chion says â€Å"vococentric†, it has an orientation toward the human voice, which, in the cinema, according to Stam can provide information and focus for spectatorial identification. A debate has started about whether a film can actually narrate. Film theorists believe that filmic â€Å"narration† is only a fiction of the human mind.They don’t argue of course about films being able to develop certain processes of â€Å"narration† but they state that these processes can only be considered as cheap copies of a â€Å"narrator†. This logic though can also be valid for novelistic narrators. Theorist like Christian Metz, consider film to be a deployment of â€Å"impersonal† narration in which case the narrator is both the one that provides the fictional world and the one that comments on this same world. Stam chooses to stand on another important matter of narratology, the relationship between the events told and the temporal standpoint of the telling.For example, whether the telling if the story is takin g place after the events of the story, which is called a retrospective narration, or prior, in which case, as he explains, we have an oracular or prophetic narration. In some cases, the telling and the events are simultaneous or even interpolated, meaning that they take place during the intervals between the moments of the main action. For Stam, the question is how all these different settings of time manage to be translated within adaptations. There is the case of â€Å"embedded narration†, where a story contains another story inside it, in a narrative mise-en-abyme.This is the case of the extract I have chosen to analyze. These substories go by the term of hypodiegesis. This occurs when a story contains a sub-story. For Genette, the term â€Å"diegesis† refers to three things, the time and space, the participants, and the events in a narrative. Around this term he creates terms such as â€Å"autodiegetic† (when the narrator generates and tells his own story), â€Å"homodiegetic† (when the narrator is part of the story but is not the protagonist) and â€Å"heterodiegetic† (when the narrator is not part of the story at all). â€Å"Autodiegetic† comes from the greek word â€Å" †, â€Å"homodiegetic† from â€Å" and â€Å"heterodiegetic† from â€Å" †. â€Å" † means â€Å"narrative† and â€Å" † has the meaning of â€Å"itself†. â€Å" †means it has a resemblance with something and â€Å" † that it is something different. So when the narrator is autodiegetic it means he is narrating himself, when he is homodiegetic, he narrating about something similar with him and when he is heterodiegetic he is narrating about something different that him. Stam adds that the narrator can be single or collective, a group narrator and that off screen narrators can be single, multiple or even contradictory like in the case of Citizen Kane.He also makes a distinction between living and dead narrators. A dead narrator would be when at the time the narrator is talking it has been known to us that he is already dead in the story. So the narration would probably take place after the events. Stam continues his analysis by referring to reliability. Narrators can be completely suspect (like Leonard in Memento, the movie I have chosen to analyze) ,more or less reliable, or serve as dramatized spokespersons for the implied author. The modern period has a taste for changing narrators and unreliable ones.This is the case of the bildungsroman, a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood and in which character change is extremely important. Sometimes, also, the reliability of a narrator as the governess in James’s Turn of the Screw can cause difficulty for literary interpretation. Cases of â€Å"lying narration† are also offered in the cinema. What is challenging for Stam, is to find a way to reproduce in a way all the ambiguity and readerly decipherment of the text, on a cinematic register.Self-obsessed neurotic narrators like Humbert Humbert in Lolita, tend to be relativized by adaptation in a severe manner. While the narrator in the novel is â€Å"autodiegetic†, in the film he switches to â€Å"homodiegetic†. The problem is that the discursive power an unreliable narrator possesses is drastically reduced by film because of the multitrack nature of the film. In a novel, there is only one track available and that is the verbal track, which is of course controlled by the narrator.In a film though, even if the narrator can partially control the verbal track by the use of voice-over or character dialogue, that same control remains subject to a great amount of constraints such as the presence of other characters, voices, objects etc. While it’s not impossible to portrait an unreliable first-person narration in the cinema, all the problems mentioned above lead us to understand that it would be extremely difficult and could only be succeeded by relentless subjectification in almost all the cinematic registers.Point of View This chapter of â€Å"The Theory and Practice of Adaptation† tries to answer questions concerning focalization and point of view which is a term that has been regarded as problematic. â€Å"Point of view† can either refer to an ideological orientation, an emotional stance or even to the angle from which a story is told. Unlike literature, this term in cinema is always literal because of the camera set-ups that are required. Nevertheless, it can be figurative too at the same time, through the use of cinematic means.For Stam, an authorial point of view can be sensed in films. He explains that the film’s multitrack and multiform nature are to be seriously considered if we want to understand the cinematic point of view since each and every filmic track and procedure can convey one. Next, Stam takes interest in the relationship between the knowledge of the character and that of the narrator, something that has been referred to as â€Å"focalization†. According to Todorov, three were the possibilities: narrators could either know more, less or as much as the characters.Of course, one might argue that quantity is not always the case, since the two can also know differently. Gennete chooses to make a distinction between narration (who speaks or tells) and focalization (who sees) and then separates this last term into three sub-terms. â€Å"Zero focalization† refers to narrators who know much more than the rest of the characters. â€Å"Internal focalization† occurs when events are filtered through a character and is subdivided into â€Å"fixed† for when it is limited to a single character or â€Å"variable† for when it’s passed from character to character.Finally, â€Å"external focalization† takes place when the rea der cannot access to point of view and motivations and can only be a simple observer of external behavior. Andre Goudrault and Francois Jost argued that the term of focalization can create problems when it comes to the visual medium of cinema since the sound film has the ability to show what a character sees and say what he thinks at the same time. They proposed a separation of these two functions by the use of two terms. The first term is â€Å"ocularization† and refers to the relation of what the camera shows and what the character is supposed to be seeing. Focalization† was used by the two narratologists to characterize the cognitive point of view adopted by the story. Stam also examines how â€Å"point of view† intersects with â€Å"style†. Adaptations have been considered less modernist than their sources but that is not the case with adaptations like the one of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando by Sally Potter in 1992 or Bunuel’s That Obscure Ob ject of Desire, where, in the contrary, the novel’s modernism is amplified. The author chooses to conclude this chapter not by answering questions, but rather by asking them.He is interested in the handling of temporality and wonders if instances of Genette’s â€Å"pause† take place in the novel and the adaptation, as montage sequences or as static close shots without action. He mentions Cristian Metz’s eight syntagmatic types in the cinema (one-shot sequence or autonomous shot, parallel syntagma, bracket syntagma, descriptive syntagma, alterning syntagma, scence, episodic sequence, ordinary sequence) and asks how these types are useful and wonders about the existence of any correlations with temporality in film and their nature.He questions the role of description in novel and film and wants to know if there is a possibility of pure (unnarrativized) description in any of these two mediums and finally sets the question of stylistic equivalences across the m. MEMENTO [pic] Memento is a film directed by Christopher Nolan and released in the year 2000. He wrote the story with his brother Jonathan Nolan, based on a short story published by Jonathan called Memento Mori. The whole film can be divided in 22 colored and 22 black and white sequences plus the opening sequence which runs backward and is shown in slow motion.In order to understand the analysis of the sequence chosen (1. 22. 58 – 1. 48. 43) a brief introduction to the movie’s plot is necessary: Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) is a former insurance investigator whose wife was killed during an assault in their home. During that assault he sustained a head trauma and now suffers from a memory dysfunction which makes him unable to create any new memories after the incident. He remembers of everything prior the incident though like who he is, what his job was and everything about his life with his wife.But each time he wakes up he can’t remember where he is, why he is there or what he did and who he met the day before. He cannot trust anyone and his whole life is one big constant puzzle solving. There is only one thing that motivates him and that is to hunt down and kill his wife murderer. To collect the facts needed to avenge his wife he has developed a strategy that consists of taking polaroid pictures of everyone he meets, of the place he lives in and so on while also getting tattooed on his body every important information he comes across. pic]Leonard’s tattooed body In his investigation he is helped by two persons, Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) and Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss). The viewers of Memento find out pretty fast that a mentally ill character like the one of Leonard Shelby is an extremely unreliable narrator. Nollan gives us hints about the unreliability of human memory . [pic][pic] We can also see Leonard being manipulated by others and making mistakes while collecting information on his wife’s murderer. [pic][pic] We can see here that he mistakes the I of the license plate for a 1What is very interesting in the revenge story In addition to Leonard’s revenge story is the embedded story of Sammy Jankis and his wife which we will encounter in the sequence I have chosen to analyze. [pic] EXTRACT ANALYSIS Introduction The selected movie extract (1. 22. 58 – 1. 48. 43) is a sequence shot in Scope like the entire film is and in black and white as half of the movie’s sequences are. Those sequences were shot that way in order to be separated from the colored ones. Black and white sequences are shown in a chronologically forward order whilst the colored ones are shown backwards and don’t have a linear narrative structure.In this specific extract, Leonard Shelby narrates part of Sammy Jankis’s story, probably the most important one because it describes how he killed his wife by giving her an overdose of insulin. As it is explained to the viewers earlier in the film, Sammy suffers of the same condition as Leonard. Leonard investigated his case when he was still healthy and working for the insurance company and refused Sammy’s insurance claim by proving it was a psychological condition rather than a physical one. Relation between Stam’s text and the Memento sequenceStam refers in his chapter Narrators in Film and Novel to the case of â€Å"embedded narration† and how embedded narratives generate hypodiegesis. Hypodiegesis occurs when a substory is embedded within stories. In the case of this extract, the story is the one of Leonard’s hunting down his wife’s killer while dealing with his condition , and the substory , the one of Sammy Jankis’s condition and how his wife tries to deal with it. In the sequence Leonard is speaking on the phone with someone yet unknown to the viewers who is supposed to be a police officer.During their conversation, â€Å"Lenny† talks about his condition while comparing it to Sammyâ €™s and decides to speak about what happened to him and his wife. This is when hypodiegesis occurs. [pic] Once this embedded narrative begins we are the scene is no longer situated in the same place and the characters have changed. As Leonard narrates the camera serves as a visual manifestation of what he is describing. We see him in a room with Sammy’s wife crying just after we hear him speaking about how she came to see him in his office.Then he talks about how, persuaded he could â€Å"snap out of† this mental condition, she put him through his final exam. [pic][pic] Then we are transported back to the Jankis’s home where Leonard does not describe the fact that she tricks her husband into giving her three consecutive insulin shots (as it is shown) but only talks about how she found a way to test him hoping she would call his bluff. As Stam says â€Å"a voice over narration gradually gives way to direct monstration, yet we somehow take what is monstrated to emanate from the initial narrative†.What makes this substory so interesting is the fact that the story of Sammy Jankis may in fact be the story of Leonard Shelby. Perhaps this whole parallel story wants to show the viewer that Leonard's own wife was killed not by a murderer but by Leonard himself. There are several hints that point out the lack of the character’s reliability and lead us to conclude that his substory is a fabrication of his own subconscious. Reliability is actually a very interesting issue for Stam and in this case our narrator belongs to â€Å"those who are almost completely suspect† as they are called in Stam’s text.There are three important moments in the sequence that help us understand Leonard’s unreliability. The first one is when he takes in his hands a picture of himself (which later we learn it was took the moment he killed his wife’s murderer) and turns it the other way so that he doesn’t see it anymore. At the same time he says â€Å"It’s completely fucked because nobody believes you, it’s amazing what a little brain damage will do for your credibility. I guess it’s some kind of poetic justice for not believing Sammy†. [pic][pic] The fact that he hides the picture shows the viewers that he does not want to see it.He does not want to see himself while he tells Sammy‘s story, because he wants to forget that it is actually his story. He is lying to himself and wants to believe his lies. His words have also great meaning. He says that nobody believes him and that he has no credibility. He is again talking about himself because it is he that does not believe himself and he knows that he is not credible. His subconscious is projected to the viewers, we can see how deep inside he knows he is lying and he is fighting to believe these lies.As he says he didn’t believe Sammy, or, maybe he didn’t believe himself? The second hint is given to the sp ectators when he looks at one of his tattoos which is â€Å"remember Sammy Jankis† and at the same time says on the phone â€Å"Like Sammy. What if I‘d done something like Sammy? †. [pic] In this case, a doubt is raised, both in our minds and in Leonard’s mind. What if he had done something like Sammy? What if he had killed his wife without knowing it? The ending will show that he actually did kill his wife exactly how Sammy is supposed to have.The tattoo reminds him of Sammy, he needs that tattoo, he needs to be reminded of Sammy, otherwise there would be no meaning for him to continue on leaving. He needs to mask the facts in such a way so that he’ll have a purpose to go on. Remembering Sammy Jankis means to forget about what he did. The last moment that points out to Leonard’s lack of reliability is the most visual one. While Leonard describes how Sammy was put in a home after the death of his wife, we can see Sammy sitting in a chair at t he exact home. The camera starts to zoom in on him, when, at a certain point, a doctor passes in front of him and we have a cut.When the action starts again, the doctor gets out of the way and we can get a glimpse (for exactly 2 frames) of Leonard sitting in that same chair instead of Sammy, just before the scene ends. It is obvious that Nolan wants the viewers to see that Sammy and Leonard are the same person and that Leonard is actually describing his own story. [pic][pic] Conclusion Memento is a film with unique narrative structure. The story behind it is rather simple but the narrative structure is extremely elaborate and constant attention from its spectators is needed.The lack of short memory of the protagonist and and the chaos following him and his attempts to put together the puzzle of his wife’s murder are linked to whole storytelling in a very intelligent way. The fact that the main plot’s narrative structure is backwards and that its conclusion is revealed in the opening sequence, along with the mix of color and black and white sequences, can sometimes confuse the spectators as much as the main character. The spectators are this way driven to identify themselves in Leonard, sharing with him the confusion and the feelings of each revelation, as well as those of the disappointing truth.

Project Management Academic Project Report Essay

Project Management Academic Project Report - Essay Example Enthusiasm about chances for success of this project is disagreed upon weakly (3). Support from top management another strong critical factor scoring an average percentile of 64.5 percent. Both the EMEA general manager and EMEA project manager indicated a 66 percent score, the head office engineers recorded an 83 percent score and EMEA engineers came in with the lowest score of 43 percent. It is moderately disagreed (2) that the management will support project personnel in a crisis (Pinto 1990, 173). The third strong factor in EMEA project is the technical tasks that, on average, had a percentile score of 82.25%. EMEA project manager had the highest individual percentile score in regards to technical tasks, 94% while head office engineers scored 89% on their ranking for technical tasks. The EMEA general manager was third, scoring a 77%, while EMEA engineers were last with a 69% score. There was, however, no disagreement on technical support. The average percentile score of 60.5% qualifies client acceptance as the other strong critical factor in the set of ten. EMEA project manager had the highest percentile score of 97% with respect to client acceptance and the head office engineers followed with a 63% score. EMEA engineers scored 51% on client acceptance while EMEA general manager scored the least with a 31%. It is weakly disagreed (3) that there is adequate presentation of the project has been developed for clients (Pinto 1990, 173). The average percentile score for monitoring and feedback as the other strong critical factor is 63.5%. EMEA project manager had the highest individual percentile score in monitoring and feedback, scoring 89%. EMEA general manager was second with an individual percentile score of 77% and EMEA engineers who scored 51% followed. The lowest scorer in monitoring and feedback were the head office engineers with a 37%. It is moderately disagreed (2) that the actual progress is regularly compared with the project

Employment Law Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Employment Law - Article Example They are the only ones who can file a complaint under this law. But, they are required to show proof of the alleged discrimination because in all cases coming under the jurisdiction of judicial or agencies exercising quasi-judicial functions it is necessary that there is proof to support any claim. Opinions or belief of discrimination are not accepted. There must be proof to show that discrimination did occur. Witness as to events or truth of contents of documents and the actual documents must be presented. A complaint by a person aged 40 or older demonstrating that he/ she was replaced by somebody younger than aged 40 is insufficient. He/ she must show that the younger person has less competence and experience than him/her to handle the tasks of the position as delineated in the office job description. Because it may be possible that the younger person is more knowledgeable, competent and experienced for the job, in such a case there is no discrimination. As in the case of Cerutti v BASF Corp., where the court ruled that there was no discrimination in the case filed by 10 workers laid off due to the restructuring of the corporation because the "employees (retained, though some of younger age) had the skills needed for future performance given the restructuring." Texas has its own Child Labor Law patterned after the Federal Law but some provisions were added or clarified to the needs of the State of Texas. The purpose of the Texas Child Labor Law is to ensure that a child is not employed in an occupation or manner that is detrimental to the child's safety, health, or well-being. Children aged 14 and above are allowed to work except for some tasks that the law either totally prohibits the child to do, or may be allowed at certain ages. There are also tasks that although are prohibited for a certain age but may still be allowed if the child is an Apprentice or a Student Learner. In such cases there are requisites that must be met in order that the task given to the child may be considered legal: For an Apprentice the child must be employed in a recognized apprenticeable trade; works incidental to training; works intermittently, short, and under close journeyman supervision; and registered or under written agreement about work standards. For a Student Learner the child must be enrolled in an authorized cooperative vocational training program; and employed under a written agreement providing that: (1) work is incidental to training; (2) work is intermittent, short and under close supervision; (3) safety instruction are given by school and employer; and a schedule of organized and progressive work is prepared. Guided by the explanations above and the Texas Child Labor Law, as the New Manager of Minyard's Grocery Store located in Texas I have assessed each child worker and found out that only the 16-year-old operating the cardboard bailer violates the Texas State Law for being a prohibited occupation or hazardous occupation (TWC 817.23, no. 8 and 12. Note that in both cases, if the child is an apprentice or a student-learner he/she is not covered by the prohibition.) The rest of the child workers are alright as long as they follow the restrictions as follows: A 14-year-old bagging groceries every Saturday for four hours is not contrary to Chapter 51 of the Texas State law as long as he/she is not assigned to work between midnight and 5 a.m. A 16-year-old slicing lunch meat at the deli counter

Customer Relationship Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Customer Relationship Management - Essay Example   Engaging in CRM allows company employees, who work in various customer contact departments such as customer support, marketing and sales, to become better placed and able to make rapid and well informed decisions on every aspect of the business ranging from competitive positioning tactics to up-selling and cross-selling opportunities. According to CRM Magazine, although it was once thought to be a type of software, CRM has gradually evolved and has now become a customer-centric philosophy that most organisations are adopting and developing various policies that help it permeate throughout the various organisations. CRM is seen to encompass a set of three key elements that play an important role in the success of a well formulated CRM program. These three elements are basically technology, people and process (destinationcrm, 2010). Customers have long been considered as being the biggest asset to any business enterprise and more often than not, this definition is seen to specially apply to those customers who will continue engaging with the business and hence remain its customers in the future (Rust, Lemon and Zeithami, 2004). Customers are usually perceived as the main reason for which companies as well as business enterprises exist. The value of a given customer can be calculated so as to show the customer lifetime value. The customer lifetime value (CLV) is commonly defined as the current value of the entire. The value of a given customer can be calculated so as to show the customer lifetime.

Health Care Reform Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Health Care Reform - Research Paper Example It was in this context that new health care reforms were introduced. These reforms have given America's people, lots of rights and benefits regarding their health options but also have brought in some inconveniences along with that. The need for reforms Ten years back, around 45 million Americans were still outside insurance coverage (Garson). Kronenfeld and Kronenfeld have observed that â€Å"health care reform, or modification of the US health care system so that affordable, high-quality health care services are available to every one, is a public policy issue that has received discussion in the United States off an on since World War II† (1). One major criticism that arose from the period of George Bush’s Presidentship was that, â€Å"once the events of September 11, 2011, and the war with Iraq in 2003 led to a greater focus on international concerns and terrorism, the prominence of health care issues became fairly low† (Kronenfeld and Kronenfeld, 1). It was i n this backdrop that public demand arose for a health care reform. The 'Acts' The health reforms comprise of two bills (The Economist). Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act became was introduced and adopted in March 2010 (Healthcare.gov). The second has been a â€Å"reconciliation† act which was added to the reform package to compensate some of the pitfalls in the initial act (The Economist). This reform has been termed as the â€Å"biggest reform of health care in the country for 40 years† (BBC). This reform has also been hailed as an act to end â€Å"some of the worst abuses of the insurance industry† (Healthcare.gov). The government sponsored web site, Healthcare.gov, has also described this act in terms of its benefits to the citizens in the following words: These reforms will give Americans new rights and benefits, including helping more children get health coverage, ending lifetime and most annual limits on care, and giving patients access to reco mmended preventive services without cost-sharing. These reforms will apply to all new health plans, and to many existing health plans as they are renewed. Many other new benefits of the law have already taken effect, including rebate checks for seniors in the Medicare donut hole and tax credits for small businesses. Advantages This new law has also extended â€Å"the life of the Medicare Trust fund at least 12 years† thereby benefiting the senior citizens (Healthcare.gov). This is supposed to be brought about by â€Å"reducing waste, fraud and abuse, and slowing cost growth in Medicare† (Healthcare.gov). The expectation is that, â€Å"this will provide [the beneficiaries][†¦] with future cost savings on [†¦] premiums and coinsurance† (Healthcare.gov). One ambitious declaration made by President Barek Obama has been that medicare fraud will be reduced by â€Å"50 percent by 2012† (Healthcare.gov). Another major feature of this act has been that i t, â€Å"starting in 2014, the Affordable Care Act offers additional protections for Medicare Advantage Plan members by taking strong steps that limit the amount these plans spend on administrative costs, insurance company profits, and things other than health care†

Ice-Fili .. Case Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ice-Fili .. Case Analysis - Essay Example In fact, many players are entering the market since it is very attractive. The economy of Russia has grown strong and cities such as Moscow is a very attractive position to start a business. It can be said that the Russian ice-cream market would evolve rapidly as many new players have gained entry to the market. Although the GOST was supposed to have created as a barrier for new players, existing foreign giants such as Nestle can dominate the market. Regional producers also pose as a threat to existing players since they can easily be flexible. In short, this means that the ice-cream industry is robust and dynamic. Despite the foreign players and regional producers coming into play , Ice-Fili has sustainable competitive advantage. For one, the company has the most number of brands. This gives the company advantage since it can penetrate many markets and create market segmentation of its consumers. Also, it has the largest production capacity which can easily cope up with production needs. These are internal strengths that the company can effectively use to capture the market .Although Nestle appears as a threat, its only edge of Nestle against Ice-Fili is its distribution channels which has strategically created a nice in the premium ice-cream market. There are also other factors such as pricing and cost which a company should consider when evaluating its competitiveness in the industry. Currently, Ice-Fili has placed its price as average, but as an Ice-Fili executive said, the slight 10% increase would not affect consumer behavior. This reveals a wealth of insight that the company can raise the price of some premium products. However, this move must be supported with a campaign to project to the Russians the uniqueness of these premium products. Ice-Fili has young managers who can creatively make a marketing program aimed at different segments. As for the cost-position, Ice-Fili must stick to its recipe since this is exactly what foreigners wanted

Civil rights play in Don Quixote Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Civil rights play in Don Quixote - Essay Example The role of civil rights is very strong in the work as Don Quixote can be seen as informing people about their civil rights and helping them to face the wicked. The first errand in which Don Quixote gets involved is the knocking down of the monks who are the attendants of a lady. Don Quixote considers them as attackers. Sancho, Don Quixote’s squire gets confused that they will face some adverse reaction from the lady’s attendants but Don Quixote informs him about their civil rights as knights. He matches himself with police officers who have the right to use some violence in order to maintain law (Presburg 56). According to him, knights can be aggressive at times for which, they won’t get punished as they are authorized to use their strength for the safety of common people. Don Quixote attends burial ceremony of Chrysostom who commits suicide for a lady named Marcela. Marcela rejects his love, which becomes a reason for his suicide. At the burial, Marcela appears and informs that she is not responsible for anybody. Don Quixote protects Marcela from the chasing men and threatens that he will kill anyone who will chase Marcela (El Saffer 134). He becomes a guard of the woman and asks her if he can be of any help for her. The protagonist of the work, Don Quixote shows interest in listening to the stories narrated by the characters with whom he meets in his journey and shows sympathy for them (Presburg 59). He meets several prisoners watched over by equipped men and asks the prisoners to inform about them. They all narrate their stories by showing them as innocent people who are maltreated. Don Quixote helps them in their freedom by fighting with the armed men. He shows sympathetic attitude towards each and every person who seems above suspicion. Don Quixote also shows interest in the story of the naked man named Cardenio whom he finds in his way and chases him in order to know about him. When he finds him, he asks

Electrical conductor Essay Example for Free

Electrical conductor Essay This would increase the resistance of the wire. Another reason why the 60cm wire the highest resistance is that the ammeter and the voltmeter could have been read incorrectly. One reason why the 100cm wire and the 80cm wire had a smaller resistance than the 60cm wire is that the coils of wire could have touched. If this did happen the length of the wire would be shortened. The current would take the easiest route, this being the shorter one meaning the current wont have taken long to travel along the wire. The more coils that touched the more the length of wire would have been shortened. There would have been less collision between the atoms of the wire and the electrons of the current. Also as the current wont have had as far to travel the electrons wont have had to squeeze together for as long as predicted. If this did happen I predict using the graph that the 100cm wire was decreased to an estimated 58cm, and that the 80cm wire was reduced to an estimated 55cm. I cannot prove that this is true, it is just a prediction. The sketch below shows what the graph looked like: The sketch below shows how I expected the graph to look: Evaluation I think that the 60cm, 80cm and the 100cm wires were all anomalous results. I think that all of these results are anomalous because the 60cm wire had a higher resistance than the 80cm and the 100cm wires , however the 80cm and 100cm wires had a lower resistance than the 60cm wire. I cannot tell which of the above statement is correct. The results could be anomalous because the ammeter and voltmeters were read incorrectly. Making the 60cm wire have a higher resistance than it should have had, or resulting in the 80cm and 100cm wires have a lower resistance than it should have had. The coils of wire on the 80cm and the 100cm wire could have touched, resulting in the length of the wire being shortened. This therefore would reduce the resistance of the wire because the current would take the easies route, which is the shortest instead of taking the longest route around the coil. This means that there would have been less collisions between the atoms of the wire and the electrons of the current. Therefore the current would have flowed faster than expected. Also as the electrons wouldnt have had as far to travel as predicted they wouldnt have had to squeeze together for as long, meaning there would have been less collisions between electrons and other electrons. The 60cm wire could have already been used. This means that it could have still held an electrical charge which would increase the resistance of the wire. Also all of the ice in the boiling tube could have melted meaning that the temperature would have increased, resulting in the resistance being increased. If I could repeat the investigation again there would be a number of changes that I would make. One of these changes would to decrease the lengths of the wire. The 100cm wire was too long and it was difficult to wrap the wire around the boiling tube without any of the coils touching. Also I could have used a bigger boiling tube that had a wider diameter. It would be easier to wrap the wire around the boiling tube without any of the coils touching. Also if more repetitions were done there would be less chance of anomalous results appearing. If I did the experiment again I would change the ice after each experiment. Therefore none of the ice would melt completely and the temperature wouldnt rise I dont think that the voltmeter and ammeter were read incorrectly because there are no massive changes in the two reading on the table. If I was to repeat the investigation I would make sure that the wire was new wire that hadnt been previously used and that the wire came from the same strip. I wouldnt change my graph because I fell that it is clear and easy to see where each length of wire is. Bibliography Below is a list of web sites that I used to fin out background knowledge for the investigation: www. essaybank. co. uk www. goggle. com www. sciencefinder. org www. sciencenet. org Here is a list of books that I used in my investigation:Â   Coordinated Science Physics Also I use Encarta 99 to find out information for the investigation.

A Positive View on Social Media and Facebook Essay Example for Free

A Positive View on Social Media and Facebook Essay Over one billion people worldwide use or have a profile on some sort of social media. Facebook is one form of social media that leads the charge. Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows users to locate and reunite with old friends, join groups of members that share your same interests, do research, and entertain themselves through the use of a variety of applications embedded within the website. Every so often we feel the urge to locate old friends that we have not been in touch with in a long time. We just type in their name and see what comes up. One day my wife looked up an old friend of mine, Paul Z. and found a man about the right age. She thought at first it was someone else because with age we all look different. Looking back at her was an older man with grey hair and a beard, something that neither Paul nor I had the last time we had seen each other. So she started to go through pictures and started seeing familiar faces, pictures from the past that was our past too. She immediately requested that they become â€Å"friends† on Facebook knowing that this was our friend from years ago. The request was accepted and our friendship was reunited again. After Facebook and my wife reunited two old friends I started to look at Facebook for other ideas on who to try and communicate with. Old classmates came to mind and it just so happens that Facebook provides a tool for reuniting classmates on the website. After about ten minutes or so of answering a few simple questions about where I went to school and when, I logged off and went about my business. About two or three days later I started getting responses. At first I didn’t recognize anybody, but then after a little research, yearbooks mostly, I started to recognize some of the names and memories followed. I have since been in touch with a couple of classmates from as far back as second and third grade, an amazing feat since second and third grade was in 1966 and 1967. I now get invitations to class reunions and other events that I never had before. Although I haven’t attended one yet, maybe someday I will. Another part of Facebook that I thoroughly enjoy, are all the groups that are available to join and hang out with. The Navy is just one of the many groups that I belong to. There I get to chat and share the many memories I have from my time in the service. Some are really great, like the time I got to ride a camel in front of the main Pyramid in Egypt, except when it spit on me, that wasn’t fun. Or the time I rode a Gondola in Venice down the waterways. And some not so great, like 1991 in the Persian Gulf or rescuing refugees off the coast of Haiti. But all are memories I love to share with old shipmates and Facebook makes it possible. Genealogy is a subject that has interested me for years. One of the greatest challenges I have found, is how to quickly and accurately research the information I need on members of my family. I even subscribed to an online genealogy website. Where, for $30.00 per month, I could do all the research I wanted. This soon became more than I could fit into my budget, so I started to look for another way. I saw an advertisement on Facebook for a new application called â€Å"Family Tree†, an online web app that allows family members to input their own family information and merge it into an existing family tree. It also allows each family member to visit and update their own part of the tree as often as they like. I signed up and started to enter information about my own immediate family and forwarded requests for other members of my family to join. The response was amazing. To date my family has placed 1,288 entries into the family tree and it continues to grow every day. Although groups, family history research, locating long lost friends takes up a lot of time, I still try to find ways to amuse myself on the computer. Facebook can do that too. There are literally hundreds of games that you can play either by yourself or with family and friends. CityVille 2 is the one that I am currently involved in socially. I haven’t started any individual games yet, but I will eventually. Games are not the only forms of entertainment provided by Facebook. The posts that all of my friends place on the site can be hilarious. I am constantly looking at all of the photos and videos that have been posted and at times they can be pretty entertaining as well. All things considered, there are many ways to communicate with family, friends and classmates. Newer forms of social media, like Facebook give us a significantly more effective and in most cases, less expensive way to stay in touch with the people that mean the most to us. It can also provide tools for exploring new and exciting ways to entertain ourselves, research your family history by starting a family tree, or join a group that shares your interests. The opportunities are endless.

Soft Versus Hard HRM

Soft Versus Hard HRM Established in 1964 under STO group, with its subsidiaries, JVs and associates, is a national leader in business. It has significant and focused interests in petroleum, cooking gas, construction materials (including cement and roofing material), medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, home appliances, electronic items, supermarket products and insurance. The company is geographically diverse with operations and developments throughout Maldives and operations in Singapore. The employees of the company should focus on the following aspects of the company; The company treats employees as valued assets and a source of competitive advantage through their commitment, adaptability, high quality skill and performance. If an employee gets late for the work, the employee will get a warning of not to repeat that, if the employee still does so, the company takes an action upon that employee, such as reducing salary or termination. The company has combination of both autocratic and democratic leadership styles. The company has a competitive pay structure, with appropriate performance related reward such as profit share. The company focuses on identifying the training and other employee development needs through appraisal systems. Practical application on Guests model of hard-Soft, Loose-Tight dimensions of HRM Soft versus hard HRM Storey (1989) labeled two approaches of hard HRM and soft HRM. The hard approach, rooted in manpower planning is concerned with aligning human resource strategy with business strategy, while the soft approach is rooted in the human relations school, has concern for workers outcomes and encourages commitment to the organisation by focusing on workers concerns. Soft HRM HRM and personnel/IR Practices with compares to 27 dimensions of Storys definitions Distinguishing between HRM and Personnel Management Personnel management is viewed as workforce centred and more operational in focus. Personnel managers recruit, select and carry out administrative procedures in accordance with managements requirements. They act as a bridge between the employer and the employee. As a result, personnel managers were seen as functional specialists rather than strategic managers and often had little power or status in the organisation. The personnel manager needed to understand the needs of the manager and the employee, and articulate those needs to both sides. HRM approach is in the management of people which can be seen as a radical new approach linked to strategy and viewing people as assets who need to be actively managed as part of the long-term interests of the organisation. HRM can be viewed as a radical integrated approach to the management of people in an organization and, as such, can be seen as a general management function. Where personnel managers can be viewed as specialists, HRM can be seen as the responsibility of all managers, particularly senior managers, and as such is proactive rather than reactive. Guest (1987) identifies the differences in his model The differences between personnel and human resource management Source: Guest (1987). Guest (1987) shows a model of HRM that is commitment based, which is distinct from compliance-based personnel management. According to Guest, HRM is: Linked to the strategic management of an organisation Seeks commitment to organisational goals Focuses on the individual needs rather than the collective workforce Enables organisations to devolve power and become more flexible Emphasizes people as an asset to be positively utilised by the organisation. Dimension Personnel and IR HRM Beliefs and assumptions 1 Contract Careful delineation of written contracts Aim to go beyond contract 2 Rules Importance of devising clear rules/ mutuality Can- do outlook; impatience with rule 3 Guide to management Action Procedures Business need 4 Behavior referent Norms/ custom and practice Values/mission 5 Managerial Task vis-à  -vis labor Monitoring Nurturing 6 Nature of relations Pluralist Unitarist 7 Conflict Institutionalized De-emphasized Strategic aspects 8 Key relations Labor management Customer 9 Initiatives Piecemeal Integrated 10 Corporate plan Marginal to Central to 11 Speed of decision Slow Fast Line Management 12 Management role Transactional Transformational leader 13 Key managers Personnel/ IR specialists General/business/line managers 14 Communication Indirect Direct 15 Standardization High (e.g. parity an issue) Low (e.g. parity not seen as relevant 16 Prized management skill Negotiation Facilitation Key levers 17 Selection Separate, marginal task Integrated, key-task 18 Pay Job evaluation (fixed grades) Performance-related 19 Conditions Separately negotiated Harmonization 20 Labor management Collective bargaining contracts Towards individual contracts Thrust of relations with stewards Regularized through facilities and training Marginalized (exception of some bargaining for change models) 22 Job categories and grade Many Few 23 Communication Restricted flow Increased flow 24 Job design Division of labor Teamwork 25 Conflict handling Reach temporary truces Manage climate and culture 26 Training development Controlled access to courses Learning companies Foci of attention for interventions Personnel procedures Wide ranging cultural structural and personnel strategies STO follows HRM process for their employees. The differences are as follows; The jobs were design according to the team work instead of Division of labour. Communication among employees was increased flow instead of restricted flow. Management role was transformational instead of transactional. So the decisions come from the top management. The speed of decision is fast because the decisions are done from the top management. Communications among line managers are direct, because of transformational hierarchy and the departments were connected through top management. Corporate plan of STO was centralize instead of Marginal. Training and development essential for the company, so it was based on learning companies. Role of Line Managers As a diversified company STO structure was made on 13 departmental managers. The main role of the departmental manager is to achieve companies goals. They should maintain all of things on behalf of an organisation. A line manager has become even a leader at their day to day behavior. Ensuring higher performance by the employees and finding ways to motivate the employees and make them efficient is also is a line managers duty now. Because of this the traditional tasks of line manages has been changed and now they have more important tasks on their hand such as, Create a friendly environment for the employees Advise the employees when needed Understanding the needs of employees Improving performance of employees and organization There are some roles of HR manager by which they run an organisation. Planning, resourcing and retention: A line manager should know the number of staffs is working in the department and who are busier, and which department need more people. For example pharmacists are very busy at Saturday and Sunday on the STO pharmacy. So managers of pharmacy need more staff for these weekend day. He will take decision for taking or recruiting people. This is the planning and resourcing role for line manager. Retention is a vital role for line manager. If there was a new recruited staff, the line manager have to monitor and know are they happy for their time being. Recruitment and selection: Recruiting a right people to the right place is a major duty of the line manager, especially the HR manager. He should follow the rules and policy of recruiting qualified people by checking their productivity and enthusiastic and good behaviour for achieving the companies goals. Training and development: In order to get the best from employees they need to be trained. Training is done to fill gap between the skills and knowledge they have at present and the skills and knowledge the organization wants them to have in order to fulfill set goals. Recruiting the right people for the STO, line manager should monitor the employees and have to check the performance in the department. According to the performance HR manager develop training programmes for the inefficient employees for achieving their goals. Reward remuneration: Employees work their organisation for mainly surviving their lives and interest. Manager has to pay adequate and equitable. Manger also has to manage reward system like pensions, healthcare, other financially. By introducing rewarding employee motivate and get more satisfaction to work. If employees are happier and motivated they will work hard for the company. The human resource functions of HRM Read more: http://www.ukessays.com/essays/business/hrms-connection-to-strategic-management-of-an-organisation-business-essay.php#ixzz2BLkiMuxt Task1 (Section B) As a HR manager of State Trading Organization (STO) I would like to say that this statement was absolutely true. Performance Management is a key building block of the human resources reform programme. It is based upon International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) performance management principles for the Civil service commission of Maldives common system, namely work planning, agreed upon objectives, ongoing feedback, a mid-point review, and an end-of-cycle appraisal. It is linked to other human resources systems and processes including staff and career development, mobility, and recruitment. Effective performance management improves overall organizational performance by encouraging a high level of involvement and motivation, and increased staff participation in the planning and delivery of work by: Potential benefits by using a proper performance management system (see Appendix 1) STO was a huge public diversified company including many departments, as a HR manager I have to manage and apply different human resource practices in the workplace environment. STO have foreign staffs especially for the technical staffs, so the role of human resource manager also changes according to the technologies and growth in the global market consequently. There are some practices that can help managers changing and evolving in the workplace. STO follows the following practices to manage their workplace environment. The impact globalization and information technology have had on each other has made work more mobile, capable of being performed in different parts of the world without the need to actually set up physical facilities in other countries. Globalization plays an important role in human resource planning. Foe an example by recruiting and selection of employees in the organization with the latest technologies we can recruit people from other countries, so it reduces the cost and more effective and efficient. With the impact of globalization big firms apply online recruiting, online interviewing, online application for the vacant jobs and new posts. When looking for a Maldives the government provides a website called Gazzette.gov.mv which is based on all the government job vacancies, so everyone knows the vacant jobs within as second. Another website called Iulaan .mv provides advertisements and job vacancies in the private sector, it helps the organizations and individuals to access easy and know the vacancies in the country. Globalization has its positive side as well as its negative side. For online recruiting and selection organization recruits employees based on professional qualifications, because of that sometimes the company select the unsuitable employee for the selected jobs. Other changes in the nature of work and workers are being brought about partly by globalization, but not entirely because of it. For instance, it is arguable whether globalization is solely responsible for the growing service sector, and it does not account for the rapid influx of women into the workforce. Diversity is not a liberal ideological movement, to be supported or resisted. Rather, it is a reality in todays business environment. Managed well, diversity provides benefits that increase success. STO always keep an eye on these issues, because the employees from different countries. For an organization to get its arms around the complexity of diversity culture change, HR manager needs to focus on three areas: (1) Individual attitudes and behaviors, The individual attitudes and behaviors component asks employees to do some intrapersonal work that involves identifying their attitudes and beliefs on a wide range of topics such as how they feel about multiple languages spoken in the workplace; attitudes toward whether coworkers can be openly gay in the workplace; conflicting union and management positions on any number of policies. (2) Managerial skills and practices, and The essence of this change is the recognition that one style of management does not fit all. Managerial practices must be tailored to suit a wide range of employees. Depending on ones culture, for example, feedback about performance may be delivered very directly, or it may also be given in a much more indirect and subtle way, sometimes with the help of an intermediary or cultural interpreter. (3) Organizational values and policies. This area is the most complex in which to make progress, and we have seen the least success here. Adjusting the promotional system, for example, or how people are hired and recruited to create a broader talent pool and a more equitable organization, requires complex work that has many steps. For example, how do you begin the process of selecting recruiters who themselves are diverse? And if they are diverse by the internal dimensions, that does not necessarily mean they are open to differences and are themselves objective about others. Workplace example of Religious and Spiritual Diversity in the Workplace The Event Areas to Reconcile à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ A newly hired Muslim receptionist in a Christian-sponsored healthcare facility was fired for refusing to remove her headscarf and sues her former employer for unlawful dismissal. (Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub. L. No, 88-352 (Title VII). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Dress and grooming accommodation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Corporate culture tolerance for diverse values and beliefs à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Hiring protocols à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ A Catholic worker in a retail store sues after being refused time off to go on a pilgrimage to Yugoslavia during the Christmas shopping season. (Office of High Commissioner of Human Rights. (1981). Declaration of the elimination of all forms of Intolerance and of discrimination based on religion or belief. (Resolution 36/55 of 25). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Range of tolerance for exceptions based on personal religious practice à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Cultural literacy for distinguishing core religious requirements from personal expression à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Flexible leave policy à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ A Christian in a large communications firm, who wore an anti-abortion button to work, sued her company when dismissed since coworkers threaten to walk off due to the visual trauma of the pins graphic. (EEOC v. Presbyterian Ministries, Inc., 788 F. Supp. 1154 (W.D. Wash. 1992). Dress, grooming, and religious discrimination and accommodation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Religious expression standards à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Unreasonable and hostile imposition of religious belief à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ After multiple requests for accommodation were refused, a Jewish professor sues her institutions dean and department head since they consistently rearranged departmental meetings and functions on days that conflicted with her Sabbath preparation. (Arthur, J. S. (1998, June 5). Religious rights not violated, court says. Human Resource Executive, 22. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Parameters for reasonable accommodation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Equitable work assignment processes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Warning and dismissal policy and Procedures à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ A manager in a municipal office frequently calls a subordinate a sinner, demanding that the person repent and attend prayer sessions in order not to go to hell. (Wilson v. U.S. West Communications, Inc., 860 F Supp. 665 (D. Neb. 1994), affd, 58F.3d 1337 (8th Cir. 1995). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Prescribed management strategies for escalating hostile work environment à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Religious expression norms à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Unreasonable and hostile imposition of religious belief à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Parameters of freedom of speech and hate language à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Warning and dismissal policy and procedures Task 2 Section A (Case study) Audit firms model of flexibility The Audit Commission is an independent body that is accountable to the office of the deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). The work of the Audit Commission is varied. An audit has two main elements. It involves: A formal examination of a set of accounts to see if they are true and fair A checking of quality and efficiency The Audit Commission is often faced with changing employment needs. Different types of contracts help the Audit Commission to deal with all of its varying needs and help it to be flexible. The Audit firms having three major types of flexibility Numerical flexibility In Numerical flexibility, fluctuations in demand for staff members (seasonal, cyclical, task- related and so on). It may vary according to the cases handling, so the workload will be less during off peak hours. It used for non- permanent, non- career labor: temporary staff, part time staff, short- contract staff, consultants and sub- contractors. Functional flexibility In functional flexibility, fluctuations in demand for particular skills- not necessarily related to staff numbers (since one person can be multi skilled). Functional flexibility reflects an organizations ability to adapt to changing conditions and requirements, and is affected by issues such as training, management, and outsourcing. This flexibility helps to developing their employees skills to deal with the different types of works. Place -of -work flexibility This Often called as Locational flexibility, opportunities presented by information and communication technology (ICT) to reduce office costs and create virtual employees (dispersed but interconnected). Its used in home working, Tele- working; use of ICT to facilitate mobile working. Ex: for sales and service staff. The Audit Commission is challenged with changing employment needs. They have developed a number of different patterns for employment needs to meet these requirements. These include: Full time employees Part time employees Job sharing arrangements Permanent and fixed term posts The use of temps or contractors from agencies These different requirements help the Audit commission to deal with all of its changing needs. With the types of flexibilities like; numerical, functional and place- of- work flexibility helps the Audit Commission to be flexible. According to the given case study the firm is implementing the correct types of flexibility to their employees. The firms believes that its ability to deal effectively with the need for flexibility strengthens its position as an employer of choice and enables the group to deliver levels of service that differentiate from its competitors. The advantages and disadvantages of flexible working practices for the employer Advantages Disadvantages Speed of work and more effective Theres no peer influence on the employee. Building Good relationship with the employees employees may lose the office culture in the office environment Recurrent expense will be less Health and safety risks (on the work ) Efficiency rate will be high Dealing with confidential files at home. Frees up desk space and accommodation can be used more efficiency Power failure or any problems with the computers will affect the work and there is a possibility of doing double work Less absence and staff turnover in the firm Dependence on the technology the relationships of employer and the employee become impersonal. More effective in time management Communication Cost will increase for communicating with others. The advantages and disadvantages of flexible working practices for the employees Advantages Disadvantages Save time instead of travelling two hours each way on the train Concentration of the work is less if they follow homework flexibility They can improve their work-life balance Professionalism is less in homeworking They can express their ideas on the work Risk of work finishing on time Less stress from work while their children are young Health and safety while they were on other places (while investigating the firms) More effective in time management Job sharing arrangements with others Can do part time jobs in other places Meet New contacts and good experience Section B (Essay) Equal opportunities within the workplace Today, equal opportunities management and reporting has real significance in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and socially responsible investment criteria. Internationally, business, government and non-governmental organisations acknowledge that effective monitoring of equal opportunities and diversity in the workplace is an important part of improved human capital management and equality practice. The drive for transparency and accountability for such issues including equal opportunities for women has perhaps never been stronger. At the beginning I would like to highlight different forms of discrimination in employment regarding the equal opportunities within the workplace in the United Kingdom. Workplace relations legislation has seen significant changes, and the Fair Work Act 2009 has introduced further significant reforms, including to the institutional arrangements for oversight of workplace relations. The new Fair Work Act 2009 commenced on 1 July 2009 and provides a range of support and protections for women in the workplace. The Fair Work Act expands protections against workplace discrimination which were available under the Workplace Relations Act 1996. Protections against discrimination contained in the Workplace Relations Act applied only to existing employees and were limited to termination from employment for a prohibited reason (for example, on grounds such as sex, race or family responsibilities). The Fair Work Act provides enhanced prohibitions against discrimination by providing that an employer must not take adverse action against an employee or a prospective employee for a range of reasons including the persons sex, marital status, family or cares responsibilities, or pregnancy. The Fair Work Act also includes caring responsibilities as a new ground for unlawful termination claims. While the expanded anti-discrimination protections in the Fair Work Act are intended to provide comprehensive protection from discrimination in the workplace, they also preserve the operation of Commonwealth, state and territory anti-discrimination laws. The main types of discrimination legislation are as direct, indirect discriminations and the regulations regarding the discriminations are highlighted as bellows. Firstly Direct discrimination (Regulation 3) Where an employer treats an employee less favourably than other persons on the basis of his/her age or his/her apparent age, unless that treatment can be objectively justified. ( CMS Cameron McKenna LLP (03/06). Indirect discrimination (Regulation 3) Where an employer applies a provision, criterion or practice, which the employer applies equally to other persons and that provision, criterion or practice puts an employees age group (or apparent age group) at a particular disadvantage and that employee suffers that disadvantage, unless the employer can objectively justify the use of that provision, criterion or practice. ( CMS Cameron McKenna LLP (03/06). Victimisation (Regulation 4) An employer treats an employee less favourably than it treats or would treat other persons by virtue of something done by that employee Instructions to discriminate (Regulation 5) If an employer treats an employee less favourably than he treats or would treat other persons in the same circumstances. Harassment (Regulation 6) Having regard to the circumstances (including the employees perception), an employer engages in unwanted conduct which has the purpose or effect of violating the employees dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the employee. Vicarious liability, Other than direct acts by the employer, an employer can also be responsible for acts of its employees which contravene the Regulations unless the employer can demonstrate that the employer took such steps as were reasonably practicable to prevent the employee from doing the discriminatory act, or from doing in the course of his/her employment acts of that description. Equal opportunities policies are often used within workplaces to guard against discriminatory practices and formalise what is acceptable in terms of the treatment of members of minority groups, or other groups which have been historically associated with discriminatory practice. The named classes may reflect current equal opportunities legislation covering sex, race and disability, or move beyond this to include additional categories. Two-thirds (67 per cent) of all workplaces in Great Britain with 10 or more employees had some form of equal opportunities (EO) policy in 1998. In some organizations, policies are also passed down the organizational hierarchy. The overall incidence of EO policies among workplaces that form part of multi-site organizations is 86 per cent. EO policies are almost universal among the 75 percent of these workplaces which say that they must follow EO policies/procedures that are set at a higher level in the organisation (92 per cent have an EO policy). But among the 25 per cent that dont have to follow higher-level policies or procedures, the incidence is appreciably lower at 68 per cent. The factors considered when making a recruitment decision can be numerous and may be of varying importance. Employers may also be interested in age if it is believed to have some bearing, rightly or wrongly, on the ability of an individual to do a job. For many vacancies, placing importance on the age of an applicant can be unfairly discriminatory. One may expect that workplaces which show an awareness of equal opportunities and discrimination to be less likely to view age as a recruitment factor. Workforce concentration which includes ethnic minority concentration and concentration of younger workers are important factors in equal opportunities practices in the workplace. Concentrations of ethnic minority workers were much more common in larger than in smaller workplaces. In 12 per cent of the largest workplaces (500 or more employees) at least a fifth of employees were from ethnic minorities. There were no clear differences between private and public sector. Individual industries, however, did show clear differences. High concentrations of ethnic minority employees were particularly common in other business services and health, while they were notably absent in construction, in electricity, gas and water and in other community services. There was no association between ethnic minority concentration and the presence of recognised trade unions. Workplace well-being reflects the level of contentment of the workforce. The treatment of employees at work is a contributory factor and can affect employees desire to remain in their job, their workplace behaviours and their health. Consequently the relative levels of absenteeism, injury and illness and numbers of dismissals, resignations and employment tribunal cases may be used to examine workplace well-being. Reference http://workplace.ezinemark.com/best-practices-in-global-human-resource-management-7d2e759f61fc.html Prof R S S Mani (2006) impact of globalization allexperts [online] retrieved from http://en.allexperts.com/q/Human-Resources-2866/IMPACT-GLOBALISATION-HR.htm [accessed on 20-10-2012] State trading organization( 2012) about us Stomaldives [online] retrieved from http://www.stomaldives.com/about/overview.php [ accessed on 20-10-2012] All Answers Ltd ( 2012) management degree essays [online] retrieved from http://essaybank.degree-essays.com/management/equal-opportunities-and-diversity approaches.php [ accessed on 25-10-2012] http://ucsfhr.ucsf.edu/index.php/pubs/hrguidearticle/chapter-12-managing-diversity-in-the-workplace/ Appendix 1

Use of Magical Realism in Chronicle of a Death Foretold Essay examples

Use of Magical Realism in Gabriel-Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold   Magical realism is clearly present throughout Gabriel-Garcia Marquez's novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold.   Magical realism is the juxtaposition of realism with fantastic, mythic, and magical elements. A secondary trait was the characteristic attitude of narrators toward the subject matter: they frequently appeared to accept events contrary to the usual operating laws of the universe as natural, even unremarkable. Though the tellers of astonishing tales, they themselves expressed little or no surprise.   Obviously the most concise definition of magical realism is that it is the combination of magical and real elements. The magical elements that exist in works of magical realism are; superstitions, exaggerations, dreams that come true, universal humor and the coincidence of bizarre events. All of these Elements are present within Chronicle of a Death Foretold.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Placida Linero, Santiago's mother is one example of superstition with is the book.   "She had a well earned reputation as an accurate interpreter of other people's dream, provided they were told to her before eating, but she hadn't notice any ominous augury in those two dream of her son's" (1-2) Santiago's character also represents this element of magical realism. The statement   " Nor did Santiago Nasar recognize the omen" not only reveals his superstition but also the common faith put in superstition. There must have been some sign of the, foreshadowing or coming of his death that he could have seen. It is funny how these omens are more readily accessible after it is too late. Marquez uses exaggeration in Chronicle of a Death Foretold more than any other element... ...on, which General Petronio San Roman was a hero of. The dialogue throughout the book stays believable, even though the reports were unordinary the characters responded as if they were ordinary. Such as the narrator saying that he believed that Pedro was awake for months. It is this reality-based core with real people and places, a recognizable setting and believable conversation that enables Marquez to twist in the magical details giving this novel the genre of magical realism. "What came to dominate the story and to leave a lasting impression was the view of man as a mystery surrounded by realistic data. A poetic divination or denial of reality. Something that for lack of a better word could be called magical realism."   -Uslar Pietri Works Cited: Gabriel Garcia Collected Novellas: Chronicle of A Death Foretold. New York[:] Harper Collins Publishers, 1990.

Essay examples --

Since the mid-1990s, the United Nations (UN) and other multilateral bodies have asserted authority for the administration of war-torn territories and shouldered the responsibility of placing them on the trajectory of political change (Knoll 2008: 2). In 1995, right after Dayton Peace Agreement, the UN assumed responsibility in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Chesterman 2004: 2). In 1999, following NATO’s armed intervention in Kosovo, the Security Council adopted Resolution 1244 establishing the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (Brabandere 2009: 37). Just a few months later, a transitional administration was created with effective sovereignty over East Timor until independence (UNTAET). These expanding mandates continued a trend that began with the operations in Namibia in 1989 and Cambodia in 1993, where the United Nations exercised varying degrees of civilian authority in addition to supervising elections (Chesterman 2004: 2). However, although the UN had assumed responsibility in 68 countries since 1948, the missions in Bosnia, Kosovo, and East Timor are commonly seen as unique in the history of the United Nations (Chesterman 2004; Doyle 2001; Chopra 1998; Wolfrum 2005; Stahn 2008). First, international administrations of these countries represent the most comprehensive missions ever deployed by the United Nations. Second, these cases also represent clear examples of democratic regime-building efforts on the part of international administrators. In the three cases, democratic regime-building has been an explicit goal, and international administrators have sought to oversee and involve themselves in a full process of regime change (Tansey 2009). Lastly, the three cases also display variation on both independent a... ...lack of interviews or surveys represents a limitation in this respect. These gathering-data techniques could enormously supplement the present paper in addition to primary documents, academic literature and non-academic materials published by think-tanks and NGOs. Second, following Przeworski et. al. (2000) and Mainwaring et. al. (2001), the present paper it leaves out substantive results such as social equality and economic development. Nevertheless, although these caveats are significant and may serve as the impetus for further research they do not overshadow the modest endeavor of the present paper. As Mainwaring et. al. (2000) suggests, by applying a trichotomous scale with a modest information demand, the number of coding errors significantly would be reduced and thus achieve greater reliability than would be possible under a more demanding measurement scale.

Role of Financial Institution in Economy

Role of Banks and Financial Institutions in Economy Money lending in one form or the other has evolved along with the history of the mankind. Even in the ancient times there are references to the moneylenders. Shakespeare also referred to ‘Shylocks’ who made unreasonable demands in case the loans were not repaid in time along with interest. Indian history is also replete with the instances referring to indigenous money lenders, Sahukars and Zamindars involved in the business of money lending by mortgaging the landed property of the borrowers.Towards the beginning of the twentieth century, with the onset of modern industry in the country, the need for government regulated banking system was felt. The British government began to pay attention towards the need for an organised banking sector in the country and Reserve Bank of India was set up to regulate the formal banking sector in the country. But the growth of modern banking remained slow mainly due to lack of surplus ca pital in the Indian economic system at that point of time. Modern banking institutions came up only in big cities and industrial centres.The rural areas, representing vast majority of Indian society, remained dependent on the indigenous money lenders for their credit needs. Independence of the country heralded a new era in the growth of modern banking. Many new commercial banks came up in various parts of the country. As the modern banking network grew, the government began to realise that the banking sector was catering only to the needs of the well-to-do and the capitalists. The interests of the poorer sections as well as those of the common man were being ignored. In 1969, Indian government took a historic decision to nationalise 14 biggest private commercial banks.A few more were nationalised after a couple of years. This resulted in transferring the ownership of these banks to the State and the Reserve Bank of India could then issue directions to these banks to fund the nationa l programmes, the rural sector, the plan priorities and the priority sector at differential rate of interest. This resulted in providing fillip the banking facilities to the rural areas, to the under-privileged and the downtrodden. It also resulted in financial inclusion of all categories of people in almost all the regions of the country.However, after almost two decades of bank nationalisation some new issues became contextual. The service standards of the public sector banks began to decline. Their profitability came down and the efficiency of the staff became suspect. Non-performing assets of these banks began to rise. The wheel of time had turned a full circle by early nineties and the government after the introduction of structural and economic reforms in the financial sector, allowed the setting up of new banks in the private sector. The new generation private banks have now established themselves in the system and have set new standards of service and efficiency.These banks have also given tough but healthy competition to the public sector banks. Modern Day Role Banking system and the Financial Institutions play very significant role in the economy. First and foremost is in the form of catering to the need of credit for all the sections of society. The modern economies in the world have developed primarily by making best use of the credit availability in their systems. An efficient banking system must cater to the needs of high end investors by making available high amounts of capital for big projects in the industrial, infrastructure and service sectors.At the same time, the medium and small ventures must also have credit available to them for new investment and expansion of the existing units. Rural sector in a country like India can grow only if cheaper credit is available to the farmers for their short and medium term needs. Credit availability for infrastructure sector is also extremely important. The success of any financial system can be fathome d by finding out the availability of reliable and adequate credit for infrastructure projects.Fortunately, during the past about one decade there has been increased participation of the private sector in infrastructure projects. The banks and the financial institutions also cater to another important need of the society i. e. mopping up small savings at reasonable rates with several options. The common man has the option to park his savings under a few alternatives, including the small savings schemes introduced by the government from time to time and in bank deposits in the form of savings accounts, recurring deposits and time deposits. Another option is to invest in the stocks or mutual funds.In addition to the above traditional role, the banks and the financial institutions also perform certain new-age functions which could not be thought of a couple of decades ago. The facility of internet banking enables a consumer to access and operate his bank account without actually visitin g the bank premises. The facility of ATMs and the credit/debit cards has revolutionised the choices available with the customers. The banks also serve as alternative gateways for making payments on account of income tax and online payment of various bills like the telephone, electricity and tax.The bank customers can also invest their funds in various stocks or mutual funds straight from their bank accounts. In the modern day economy, where people have no time to make these payments by standing in queue, the service provided by the banks is commendable. While the commercial banks cater to the banking needs of the people in the cities and towns, there is another category of banks that looks after the credit and banking needs of the people living in the rural areas, particularly the farmers. Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) have been sponsored by many commercial banks in several States.These banks, along with the cooperative banks, take care of the farmer-specific needs of credit and other banking facilities. Future Till a few years ago, the government largely patro-nized the small savings schemes in which not only the interest rates were higher, but the income tax rebates and incentives were also in plenty. The bank deposits, on the other hand, did not entail such benefits. As a result, the small savings were the first choice of the investors. But for the last few years the trend has been reversed. The small savings, the bank deposits and the mutual funds have een brought at par for the purpose of incentives under the income tax. Moreover, the interest rates in the small savings schemes are no longer higher than those offered by the banks. Banks today are free to determine their interest rates within the given limits prescribed by the RBI. It is now easier for the banks to open new branches. But the banking sector reforms are still not complete. A lot more is required to be done to revamp the public sector banks. Mergers and amalgamation is the next measure on the a genda of the government.The government is also preparing to disinvest some of its equity from the PSU banks. The option of allowing foreign direct investment beyond 50 per cent in the Indian banking sector has also been under consideration. Banks and financial intuitions have played major role in the economic development of the country and most of the credit- related schemes of the government to uplift the poorer and the under-privileged sections have been implemented through the banking sector. The role of the banks has been important, but it is going to be even more important in the future.

Preparing to Conduct Business Research Essay

The Fitbit Company is always in search of new ideas and products to develop to meet an ever evolving technology market. In order for the company to achieve success, there must be constant research, innovation, and market strategy. The Fitbit product is the flagship of the company and enjoys enormous popularity. However, in order to keep the product relevant, new ideas must be brought to the table. The designer Fitbit will be the newest product in a successful line of devices. In order for the product to be successful, a roadmap will need to be laid out showing how the company will prepare for the production and release of the product. Anytime a new product is planned to be marketed, business research is conducted to allow leadership the opportunity to make sound decisions about the device. The new designer Fitbit will reenergize the Fitbit line creating new buzz about the existing technology. It will also fill a space in the market for consumer who want the utility of the Fitbit with the style of a designer watch. Finally, it will help boost current sales by bringing in a new consumer base that was previously untapped. One of the most important ways by which the company can satisfy these objectives is through the use of strict and professional business research. Reference Cooper, D.R., & Schindler, P.S. (2014). Business Research Methods (12th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet Essay

Known as a minimalist and experimental composer, Richard Gavin Bryars unleashed an emotionally intimate constructed piece out from a lone old vagrant singing, Jesus’ blood never failed me yet, this one thing I know, for he loves me so†¦ Originally recorded from footage of a documentary by his friend Alan Power in 1971 (Grimshaw), this aged voice served as the focal point and backdrop for Bryars’ poignant yet challenging work unfolding and reiterating itself over the course of 74 minutes in length. Whereas music that falls under Minimalist movement, sometimes associated the emotional neutralization of repeated materials, Bryars’ has the reverse effect in which rather than numbing the listener’s sensibilities, he heightens them and instead of imposing postmodern indifference toward the subject matter, it forces confrontation with it (Grimshaw). The entire lengthy music might deflate the interest of its listeners as the lines simply repeated over the recording, but Bryars managed to extract the spirit of the tramp’s captive song as he slowly introduced an accompaniment. The first part was merely the sole voice of the old man then eventually enhanced by string quartet, followed by plucked bass and guitar. Moreover, as the instruments subsequently fade out, the tramp’s song continues and eventually underscored by a much richer sounding ensemble of low strings, then woodwinds, brass, and delicate percussion and finally full orchestra and choir (Grimshaw). The soul of the music originated from the compassionate nature of the old vagrant who sang the religious tune during the recording of Power’s documentary that was about the life of street-people around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo in London. Bryars’ recounted; while they are filming the documentary, some people broke into drunken ballad or opera songs, but there was a particular homeless old man sang â€Å"Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet†. When he played it at home, he noticed the exact tune of the singing to his piano, and, he discerned that the first section of the song that is 13 bars in length formed an effective loop that repeated in a slightly unpredictable way. Therefore, he took the tape to Leicester and copied the loop onto a continuous reel of tape having the idea of adding orchestrated accompaniment to it. During the act of copying, he left the door that lead to the large painting studios, and when he came back, he found people weeping and silently listening over the old man’s singing, at that point, he realized a great emotional influence from the noble faith and tranquil music (Howse), a merely accidental root behind this epic. This particular Bryars’ piece was a breakthrough as there were other versions made during the latter years. Tom Waits singing along with it in 1990 and Jars of Clay released their own version on their album Who We Are Instead in 2003, aside from the fact that it was also used for several theatrical presentations. Covering credits for its very straightforward message to the people, the unyielding constancy of the lyrics—repeated over 150 times—essentially keeps the music from achieving greater feats. It is said that no matter how many times you paint a house, it remains to be the same house. Still, that verse holds together the entirety of the minimalist piece, a factor that you cannot simply neglect. Focusing on keeping his music very simple yet haunting, this composer and double bassist is a native from Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, England and born on January 16, 1943. His first musical reputation was as a jazz bassist working in the early sixties with improvisers Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. He abandoned improvisation in 1966 and worked for a time in the United States with John Cage, until he collaborated closely with composers such as Cornelius Cardew and John White. He taught in the department if Fine Art in Portsmouth, Leicester from 1969 to 1978, and there he founded the legendary Portsmouth Sinfonia, an orchestra whose membership consisted of performers who â€Å"embrace the full range of musical competence† — and who played or just attempted to play popular classical works. He also founded the Music Department at Leicester Polytechnic (later De Montfort University) and served as professor in Music from 1986 to 1994. Meanwhile, his first major work as a composer owe much to the so-called New York School of John Cage—with whom he briefly studied, Morton Feldman, Earle Brown and minimalism. His earliest piece was The Sinking of Titanic (1969) and was originally released under Brian Eno’s Obscure Label in 1975 and the Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet (1971) both famously released in new versions in the 1990s on Point Music Label, selling over a quarter of a million copies. The original 1970s recordings have been re-released on CD by Virgin Records. A major turning point in his development was his first written opera Medea, premiered at the Opera de Lyon and Opera de Paris in 1984. He has written another two operas, both with libretti by his long time collaborator Blake Morrison: Doctor Ox’s Experiment, and G, commissioned by the Staatstheater Mainz for the Gutenberg 600th Anniversary. Aside from that, Bryars has also produced a large body of chamber music including three string quartets and a saxophone quartet both for his own ensemble and for other performers. He has also written extensively for strings as well as producing concertos for violin, viola, cello, double bass, saxophone and bass oboe. He has also written choral music, chiefly for the Latvian Radio Choir, with whom he has recently recorded a second CD, and for the Estonian Male Choir. From being a jazz bassist, composer, professor and opera writer, he also made a name as he collaborated with visual artists, worked with choreographers who have used his pieces, and written numerous Laude for the soprano Ana Maria Friman, to name a few. And to date, he recently completed a theatre piece, To Define Happiness, with Peeter Jalakas for Von Krahl theatre in Tallinn, and a project around Shakespeare’s sonnets, Nothing Like the Sun, with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Opera North. Gavin Bryars is an Associate Research Fellow at Dartington College of Arts and Regent of the College de ‘Pataphysique. And married to Russian-born film director Anna Tchernakova with three daughters and a son. He is currently living in England and British Columbia, Canada. WORKS CITED Howse, Christopher. â€Å"The Assurance of Hope†. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006. xix. ISBN 0-8264-8271-6 Mckeating, Scott. http://www. stylusmagazine. com/articles/seconds/gavin-bryars-jesus-blood-never-failed-me-yet. htm Grimshaw, Jeremy. â€Å"All Music Guide†. http://www. answers. com/topic/jesus-blood-never-failed-me-yet-orchestral-classical-work http://www. gavinbryars. com/ http://www. myspace. com/gavinbryarsmusic http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Jesus%27_Blood_Never_Failed_Me_Yet