Japanese culture Essay

1. Briefly discuss the Japanese business practices. Business traditions and practices are greatly influenced by the culture in which they function. The values of a culture help to define the underlying structure and philosophy of business. Many traditions and practices within a culture are often integrated into the country’s businesses.   Japanese culture greatly affects its business practice on all levels. It is a unique country with many distinct cultural traditions. As a result, cultural traditions tend to be uniform and community is central to daily life. Culturally, the Japanese are rather introverted in their ways, focusing on their own culture and traditions. A strong sense of community, family, and being part of a larger group and business family are central to the Japanese culture. The ritualistic traditions that are characteristic of the home environment typically spread to the social and work sphere of life. The Japanese culture maintains a very formal style of interactions. Even introducing oneself in Japan is formal in nature. Exchange of business cards is an obligatory custom at business meetings. The exchange of gifts is an accepted custom in Japan.   The Japanese bow is part of Japanese culture that expresses honor and greetings to a guest. Thus Japanese are well behaved in their business practices and try to do a lot of good stuffs which can influence the international relations. They believe in a business where trust exists. The do their level best to be recognized as nice people in the business market. 2. What is the appeal of the Japanese market for world business? The Japanese government and business leader’s marks deep changes in their market from closed to open while acknowledging its competitive nature (Shetty and Kim, 1995). They argue that all firms should understand their market and do provide the quality products and services demanded by the consumers. Large firms should offer lifetime employment, and employees may be reluctant to accept employment with foreign firms that do not. Furthermore, the firms must consider employment with a foreign company less desirable than employment with a domestic firm. It suggests that long-term relationships and mutual commitments in the market will encourage practices such as bidding and close parent company-supplier ties. â€Å"Japan appeals that the three factors to compete successfully in the world market is quality, followed by the ability to hire qualified employees and the attitudes of top corporate management.† (Shetty and Kim, 1995) Japanese focus on quality of products and services, keeping good personnel, hiring local staff, strong corporate head office with limited interference, reputation of the business, brand image, latest technology and strengthening value chain. These are some of the major deciding factors that help a firm to gain profits in the market. Besides, Japanese, have understanding of respect, they are persistent, they have perseverance and ability to develop strong global network. To increase the world business, the market should value advanced technology and innovation and should willing to try new products or technologies. Finally, establishing manufacturing and distribution facilities is a visible sign of a firm’s commitment. So the market must take care of it. But the main theme is that the market should value personal, harmonious, and long-term relationships with distributors, customers, suppliers, and employees. 3. Briefly discuss the major business trends and opportunities in Japan’s economy. Japan is the worlds second-largest and Asia’s largest economy. United States is the largest economy.   This is the only member of G8 from Asia. It is also a member of the UN Security Council on a temporary basis. In Japan the wages are highest in the world. From 1960s to1980s, there was a swift economic growth with a growth rate of 10%, 5% and 4%. The economy of Japan was in the state of turbulence in the late 1980s. The reason was falling stock and real estate prices.   By 1989 the situation turned worst. The Tokyo Stock Exchange crashed. During 1990s the country’s economic growth remained slow. The economy trend of Japan is a slightly uneven but it is continuously focusing on increasing the GDP. Japan has lot of business opportunities and it supports business activities. Eco-towns are being promoted in order to build a resource recycling-type economic society, which limits waste while encouraging recycling. Japan has developed a robust way of dealing with the pollution and completely self-sustainable industrial parks with zero emissions (JETRO). â€Å"The Kawasaki Foundation for Promotion of Industry (Kawasaki Small and Medium-Sized Business Support Centre) and KSP (Kanagawa Science Park) are providing various types of venture support, including assistance for businesses, help in establishing new enterprises, and educational research.† (JETRO)   Government is providing assistance from operations management consultation to assistance with publicity. 4.  Briefly discuss the different modes of entry to Japanese market. These are some common modes of entry in the Japanese market. A) It is possible to directly go to Japan and establish a firm. B) Local distributer and partners for the companies.   These are good way of entering to the market at the early stage of the business. c) Specialized business consultant can be hired. The market is matured. This forces the marketer to focus more on keeping the cost low and at the same time performance and features should be maintained. The quick increase in revenue is not possible in the Japanese market. Understanding of Consumer behavior is very important.   In approach ‘A’ one need to justify the stagnant revenue to the investors. After some years of experience in Japanese market, the revenue may grow with steady rate. Plan ‘B’ is a convenient way to enter the market. The reason is that here one is utilizing Japanese resources. However success largely depends on finding right distributor and partners, with good market connections, commitment on financial and operations. 5.  Ã‚  Compare and contrast the Japanese and the American commercials. The difference of American and Japanese advertisements appears to be in the degree and not in kind. The advertisement appeals of these two different countries are different. It is based on general employment of the traditional and respect of elders in Japan. Japanese appeal is based on moral values. The general usage of status is different. American advertisements have consumer based appeal. American advertisement is based on western values. The product merit appeals are higher in American advertisements as compared to the Japanese advertisements. The difference also exists in use of youthful or modernity appeals. Japanese advertisement is based on relationship model. 6.  Briefly discuss the Japanese way of product development The Japanese approach to product development emphasizes continuous technological improvement. It is also aimed at making a successful product and providing better solutions for the consumer needs. They have clear competitive vision of product development. They know what types of investments are required to maintain their market positions. Japanese manufacturers invest their resources into technology development, product development, productivity improvement and quality control and thus making the international market becomes more competitive. They focus on high-quality, high-performance products which are relatively inexpensive against those of the same level offered by European and American competitors and thus their products can be easily available to common man in the market. Japanese identify customer needs and develop new products and roadmaps for technological development on the basis of the same. They use modern technologies for keeping the cost low. They hire trained and skil led people and invest in technology and development of human resources. They emphasize on quality and minimization of the production cost.

Religion and Beliefs in Myanmar Essay

Burma is a predominantly Theravada Buddhist country. An appreciation of Buddhism and its history in Myanmar is a prerequisite for outsiders wishing to better understand the Burmese mind. There are no totally reliable demographic statistics from Burma, but the following is an estimate of the religious composition of the country: Buddhists: 89% Animists: 1% Christians: 4% Muslims: 4% Hindus: 2% Most Myanmar are Buddhist of the Theravada stream. Central to their religious beliefs is karma, the concept that good begets good and evil begets evils. The ultimate aim in life according to Buddhist belief is to escape the cycle of rebirth and reach Nirvana. Meritorious deeds that will help a person to achieve Nirvana include giving donations (especially to monks) and abiding by the Five Precepts and practicing Bavana (meditation). Some Myanmar people, especially those from the rural areas, have many superstitions. Astrology, palmistry and clairvoyance are sometimes relied upon to make important decisions. These may include marriage, going into a business partnership, naming a baby, and others. To offset bad luck, certain meritorious deeds or yadaya may be performed such as setting free some live birds or animals, building a footbridge, or mending a road. Religion and Beliefs in MyanmarBurma is a predominantly Theravada Buddhist country. An appreciation of Buddhism and its history i n Myanmar is a prerequisite for outsiders wishing to better understand the Burmese mind. There are no totally reliable demographic statistics from Burma, but the following is an estimate of the religious composition of the country:Buddhists: 89%Animists: 1%Christians: 4%Muslims: 4%Hindus: 2%Most Myanmar are Buddhist of the Theravada stream. Central to their religious beliefs is karma, the concept that good begets good and evil begets evils. The ultimate aim in life according to Buddhist belief is to escape the cycle of rebirth and reach Nirvana. Meritorious deeds that will help a person to achieve Nirvana include giving donations (especially to monks) and abiding by the Five Precepts and practicing Bavana (meditation).Some Myanmar people, especially  those from the rural areas, have many superstitions. Astrology, palmistry and clairvoyance are sometimes relied upon to make important decisions. These may include marriage, going into a business partnership, naming a baby, and others. To offset bad luck, certain meritorious deeds or yadaya may be performed such as setting free some live birds or animals, building a footbridge, or mending a road. http://asia.isp.msu.edu/wbwoa/southeast_asia/burma/history.htm http://asia.isp.msu.edu/wbwoa/southeast_asia/burma/history.htm

Akhism, Guild system in the ottoman empire

Akhism, Guild system in the ottoman empire GUILD SYSTEM IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE: FROM AKHISM TO GEDIK SYSTEM Akhism which is an organization founded by the Turkish people in Anatolia, is an important guild system for the Ottoman State when we take its regulatory role (of the social order) into consideration. In this paper, I will give detailed information about Akhism until its removal, including its origin, its importance, its guild organization, its norms and its roles in the society. Akhism; being an Arabic word which meant â€Å"brotherhood†, was the name given to the unions of artisans (esnaf) and craftsmen (zanaatà §Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ ±) between the 13th and 20th centuries. Akhi organizations were the associations which have been training their own craft members, which have been organizing and controlling the economic constitutions of the society (ÇaÄÅ ¸atay, 1989:1) and as in all pre-capitalist societies, in Ottoman State, production was organized within the guild organization which had four levels as â€Å"er rand boy† (à §Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ ±rak), â€Å"apprentice† (yamak), â€Å"qualified workman† (usta), and â€Å"master† (Belge, 2005:312). Western orientalists say that the origins of the Akhism go back to the Islamic Futuwah tradition. The Arabic word Futuwah means youthful qualities. These youthful qualities are courage, generosity, hospitality and being skilled in all kinds of physical exercises (ÇaÄÅ ¸atay,1989:2-3). Although some Western social scientists think that Futuwah and Akhism have the same meaning and the same role, Ã…Å ¾anal and which is existing within the society, not being separated from it. Akhi organization which is based on the rules put by Islam scholars tries to provide ethical and well-behaved lifestyle to the artisans; and to ameliorate their craft level to a certain degree to protect standardization. Akhism is seen as the consequence of the service lacks of the state such as supplying security to the individuals, to their proper ties and to their honor; altering communication and education system, and providing equality of rights where there is not a strong juridical system. It is said that in Anatolia, Turkish people shaped and developed Futuwah organization and formed Akhism which is more different than Futuwah and which is proper to Turkish people. Although Futuwah tradition was more authoritarian about religion; and was commanding to the artisans to obey to the Islamic authority; Akhis had a big deal at the issues of economy and politics besides the morality. While Futuwah tradition gave more importance to the individual virtues and military characteristics; Akhism was an organization which helped Ottoman State to put military and administrative institutions in order and which constituted artisan and craftsmen corporations (CaÄÅ ¸atay, 1989: 1). The contribution of the guild system in the Ottoman State’s foundation period may not be despised (Belge, 2005:312). In Anatolia, the foundation of the Akhi organizations was the result of political and socio-economical necessities. At the 13th century, Turks who arrived in Anatolia from Turkestan for escaping from Mongolian invasion formed craft and commercial organizations among themselves to protect their solidarity and to survive amongst the native Byzantine craftsmen. They thought that they could exist only if they sell high quality and standard goods, in a sense by improving their own craft and commercial organizations. The organizations adopted the futuwwatnamas’ religious and moral rules as their laws and this led to the foundation of Akhism with the leadership of Akhi Evran and Abul-Hakaik Mahmud. Later, Akhi organizations were divided into 32 main branches of trade or art and fixed 740 Principles in their futuwwatnamas to form the moral and religious life. Every Akhi had to know 124 necessary Principles (Cagatay, 1989:48-51).

Kant theory Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Kant theory - Assignment Example Kant belonged to a family background that was following the movement of pietism and he was even subjected to attend pietist school (Rohlf 1). During his school life he was educated to believe in the external forces that control human behavior or future. These schools were trying to make people believe that they should rely on the help of divine and should seek help from them. But Kant was not ready to accept these teachings and he believed the human beings and their behaviors are a result of the independence they have in decision making and their ability to think in a rational manner. Kant’s ethical theory of categorical imperative states that ethical decisions are those which have been made on the basis of the maxim (reason) that the individual taking that particular action or decision for another individual is even ready to accept the same decision or action being carried out against themselves when they are facing a similar situation or any other situation. Kant’s theory of categorical imperative is highly applicable in real world situations because human beings are rational decision makers and they may use the categorical imperative theory to decide what is wrong and what is right (Fieser 1). One of the criticisms of Kant’s theory has been provided by Hegel who believes that Kant’s theory is simply not applicable in the real world. He states that the problem with Kant’s theory is that it does not provides a clear guideline for identifying whether and individual had actually indulged in moral decision making (Schopenhauer X). Another problem with Kant’s theory is that the theory does not even help in clearly identifying behaviors and decisions that are moral or immoral. Furthermore Schopenhauer believes that Kant’s theory is incorrect because following his theory people will be involved in making decisions based on ego and not on the basis of sympathy. He states that thinking in a sympathetic manner is the main force that

Planning and conducting workshops Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Planning and conducting workshops - Essay Example arents with bruising that did not seem to staff to be the "usual scrapes and hurts" that children usually expose themselves too and a few of the children who used to be very happy, seem very sad. The parents explanations were suspect and some of the staff is wondering whether these children are being abused in some way. The staff is not trained in diagnosing child abuse and the CEO feels that it is important for them to understand the warning signs and what to do when they see something that looks suspicious. The CEO does not want to put the staff or the families into a panic, but they want to make sure that the children and families receive help where necessary. I first passed out questionnaires to the staff to find out the level of knowledge they had currently. I wanted to understand any myths they had about it and I needed to determine what type of training was needed to fit their needs. I also held individual and group interviews with the permission of the CEO. This allowed me to assess what each individual was hoping to learn from the training and how it would best fit into this particular environment. I gathered all this information together and it was clear that the staff needed a basic understanding of how to identify the signs of child abuse and what to do about it. All of the interviews a nd questionnaires basically came to this conclusion. I suggested to the CEO that we create a workshop that provides this information in an interactive format. We will create handouts hat explain the basic information and then use case studies created from actual situations the staff has seen that we will discuss during the workshop. The target market for this workshop is the staff and volunteers for XYZ Company. The staff and volunteers create a diverse group in ethnicity, gender and age. The target group is between ages of 27 and 65. They are primarily Caucasian and Hispanic, with a few Asian and African Americans on staff. Through the interviews I was able to get an

Mass media and communication in International Management Essay

Mass media and communication in International Management - Essay Example Some amount of imagery is associated in a language and communication and complex thoughts are communicated. According to Whorf (2011), language tends to create real and imaginary plurals and conjures up mental patterns. When an image is created or presented, some associations tend to form in the mind and create patterns of objectification. Kramsch (1998) argues that language is the main method where social lives and relations are carried out. It is used for different communication contexts and people express facts, events, ideas that are communicated through words and images. These reflect the culture, attitude and beliefs of the authors and hence language is used to express cultural reality. Therefore, language is a system of signs with a cultural value that is symbolised by social appropriateness norms and social conventions. Language, culture and social norms help people to identify themselves as members of a social group where common ways of viewing the world are acquired. In lig ht of analysing the Ad by Jamie Oliver, these associations become relevant since he is attempting to use the language of cooking to sell products to people. According to Agar (1994), words can have words have multiple meanings and these are connotative or denotative. Denotation refers to the explicit meaning and translation of the word as mentioned in a dictionary.3. DESCRIPTION OF THE ADPlease refer to figure 1.1, where the celebrity cook Jamie Oliver is showing adding vegetables and cooking a dish of chicken. Prominent in the Ad is the ad copy with the words 'Chicken. Jamie Style' and these words are expected to have multiple implications for the audience. He is shown adding leafy vegetables to a large platter containing potatoes and chicken. Another similar dish filled with chicken pieces and potatoes is placed on the right side. In the background, a cupboard is shown and the top is filled with leafy vegetables, potatoes and

Question answer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Question answer - Essay Example These two aspects can be looked at in the case of a business that is open to recruiting both locally and internationally for a required skills set. Should the company have a locally based project that is set for a short term period; it can consider recruiting internationally where expectations are on the labour force being more skilled and thus more profitable to the locally based jobs. The recruitment strategy in this case will consider the mobility of the international workforce. For a longer term locally based job, a more practical recruitment strategy would consider hiring locally and training staffs to the required higher standards so as to compensate for not recruiting internationally for the higher paid staffs. There however would be some costs for the company in terms of training costs for locally recruited staffs. On the other hand, should the business be looking at long term international expansion to an overseas location where still, the same high skills set are required, an appropriate recruitment strategy should be one that considers workforce in the foreign country where the new business location is. In this instance the recruitment strategy chosen must be in consideration of the mobility of the company’s operations. ... These among other variables that influence a recruitment strategy must most importantly be within the recruitment budget set aside for any company, be it locally or internationally based. Each organization is different, and where one recruitment strategy may work it may not produce the same positive outcomes for another organization. Nonetheless, a good recruitment strategy, however different it may be must clearly outline the resources, budget, timing, and availability of skills for vacancies in an organization. The implications of a recruitment strategy that has all these components can vary depending on the extent to which each component has been assessed as per the unique organization requirements both in the short-term and in the long-term. Business strategies in organisations are most importantly widened in the scope of the long-term goals and objectives thus the recruitment strategies used must also be set for the long-term. The recruitment budget should cover any forecasted r ecruiting costs for good employees. The budget basically determines how recruitment will be done say, if a head-hunter firm will be used or if recruitment will be done by internally appointed recruitment teams. The timing component of a good recruitment strategy should be set such that new skills are sought proactively rather than reactively. Where the proactive approach is used more time, at an advantage to an organisation, is put towards searching for the best candidates for a job. More sources of new skills can also be utilised in a proactive recruitment strategy. This approach; whilst working to meet expansion and new staffing needs for an organisation can also easily cater to abrupt and reactive staffing needs as a result of unexpected

Executive Compensation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Executive Compensation - Essay Example There is an ongoing public indignation over the idea that there are executives who are rewarded handsomely in firms that are experiencing financial losses, facilities closure and employee dislocations in the form of cuts in pay and benefits and forced terminations. At a time when the public is looking for someone or something to blame, is it correct to cap the current executive compensation in the US? This paper will explore this possibility and its impact on American capitalism, whether such a move would be beneficial or harmful to the economy. In the United States, the capitalistic system rewards high risks with high rewards and that executives are paid astronomical amounts for their skills and capabilities. The executive compensation in the US consist the total rewards received by the top-level executives of a corporation. These high-ranking officers include the chief executive officer (CEO), the chief operations officer (COO), the chief financial officer (CFO), as well as the other executives who hold the highest level of management in a firm. The total rewards, meanwhile, is generally consisted of salaries, bonuses, incentive payments, deferred compensation plans, stock options, and the direct provision of goods and services. The stock option for executives could surpass the worth the direct cash payments such as salaries and bonuses. Additional perks may include packages that consist housing, personal staff, transportation and other personal expenses of the top executives, which are normally shouldered by employees. A ccording to Alan Greenspan (2007), the former chairman of the US Federal reserve: A [US] CEO’s compensation has, on average, been tied closely to the market value of his or her firm†¦ CEO compensation at such large US corporations reportedly rose by 10 percent annually between 1993 and 2006, triple the 3.1 percent annual increase of earnings of private-company production or nonsupervisory workers. (p.

External Audit, Internal Controls & Management Information Systems Essay

External Audit, Internal Controls & Management Information Systems - Essay Example Most public companies have an internal audit function. The internal auditor generally consists of employees from within the organization, although at times this some or all of this function may be outsourced (ABA, 2007). For companies where internal auditing exists, it is important for the auditing committee to meet with the senior internal auditing executives regularly to discuss problems and issues regarding the internal and external audit programs. Annual audit plans should also be reviewed regularly. Even if the internal audit program has been outsourced the auditing committee should hold regular meetings with theses representatives (American Bar Association, 2007). The fundamental contributor to the failure of an organization is a weak and ineffective internal audit system (Hamilton & Micklethwait, 2006). An internal auditing committee is crucial for assuring that the internal controls are working adequately and to ensure that the company's financial statements provide a true and fair view of the company and its affairs (Hamilton & Micklethwait, 2006). The audit committee is an integral part of corporate governance because it has the oversight responsibility for a public company's financial reporting processes and external controls. ... the external auditor and the board, review the annual and quarterly financial statements with the external auditor and to review annual reports to shareholders, among many others (American Bar Association, 2007). The audit committee should meet with the corporate external auditor during the planning phase of each annual audit for the purpose of planning, staffing, scope and cost of the audit. Other areas that require special attention or emphasis should also be discussed along with special procedures that may be required during the auditing process. Once the audit is completed, the audit committee along with the external auditor is required to review any problems or difficulties that they external auditors may have encountered. Any significant issues which were highlighted in the audit, debates which took place with management regarding the audit, letters summarizing the audit and observation to management and the management response letter should all also be reviewed and discussed by the audit committee with the external auditor (American Bar Association, 2007). The audit committee should be clear about all significant accounting judgments made in the audit which would impact the company's financial statements. The committee should also discuss the quality of management's accounting decisions with the external auditor. The committee should also discuss deficiencies and weaknesses pointed out in the audit, with the internal auditors (American Bar Association, 2007). The purpose of external audits is to evaluate an organization's accounting procedures and to provide an opinion about the true and fair state of the firm's financial standing. These also verify the organization's compliance to the set rules and standards such as the General Accepted Accounting

Community Statistic Data Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Community Statistic Data - Research Paper Example The city is large with a local market hosting 6.37million residents according to the demographic report of the area in 2010. This paper provides useful information on the City of Dallas by investigating the community’s wellbeing such as the health sector and the living standards. Through analytical interpretation of subjective and objective data collected on the community this reports analyses this data and outlays a critical report that covers various segments of the community. These sections include the education background of the city, economic indicators, ethnic and racial mix-up and the city’s morbidity and mortality rate. The report also focuses on some of the factors that may be of concern to the residents of the community such as the crime rate and its frequency in the community. All this information is used to come up with a diagnosis of the community to determine its advantages and limitations on the overall health of the community. Subjective data Following t he Windshield survey and interviews conducted on the community, which involved talking to some key informants from the city of Dallas; there were two major health concerns that were of concern. The first major health concern in the area is the air pollution, which comes from them the activities of the Midlothian big Industrial firms. According to a government report released in November 2012, the main concerns from the pollution include children exposure to lead which lowers their IQ levels. The other health concerns from the pollution are heart and breathing problems especially for those suffering from Asthma (Loftis, 2012). The second health concern in Dallas community is the high rate of traffic accidents in the community. Dallas, as many would tell it’s a city meant for driving; each day there are more cars on the road with hundreds of people moving into the city and out (D Magazine , 2009). This phenomenon is a negative setback to the community as it increases the mortal ity rate, which negatively influences to the community’s economy. The findings from the interview process with key informants in the area such as the police indicated that around 40 percent of the accidents are a result of drunk driving. Reckless driving caused 33 percent and driving above the speed limit resulted in 30 percent of the accidents (D Magazine , 2009). Objective data support To clarify the subjective findings from the windshield survey and the notable concerns highlighted above; statistical work had to be incorporated to have a clear picture of the situation. Statistical data was drawn from various governmental departments of concern, and other relevant sources of concern such as City-Data and reports done on the community by experts. The objective data found concerning health issues was as highlighted in the following segments: demographic, economic, racial/ethnic, Education, Morbidity, and mortality statistics of the community as a whole. Demographic data In Da llas community, the demographics indicate that the population as per 2011 was estimated to be 1,223,229 compare to the previous year of 1,197,229. The majority of the community comprises of persons between the ages of 18 to 65. The ratio of women to men stands at 50 percent. Population change stands at 2.1 percent per

Psychological Perspectives of Understanding Essay Example for Free

Psychological Perspectives of Understanding Essay Introduction This booklet will introduce you to the main psychological perspectives to the understanding of a child’s behaviour development. Each perspective will be described in as much detail as possible, and the theorist that are linked to them. The main perspectives are; * Psychodynamic * Freud * Behaviourist * Skinner * Cognitive * Piget * Humanist * Rogers, Maslow, Cooley and mead * Social learning The psychodynamic perspective This perspective is very much based on the early work of Sigmund Freud. It is believed that behaviour is made from a child’s subconscious feelings, which all come from life experiences. It is viewed as a child’s problem as an outward and visible symptom of invisible conflicts. All the conflicts may come from trauma, loss, or from a strained/troubled relationship with parents or carers. Children do not have any inner resources that help them understand their feelings completely so they may be shown in inappropriate and difficult behaviour. Sigmund Freud said that â€Å"when a child’s too painful or too difficult feelings are left untalked about, they leak out in difficult and challenging behaviour or in neurotic symptoms.† The source of a painful feeling is buried under a defensive mechanism that is very hard to find in a child; because of this most children do not understand why they are behaving this way. A psychodynamic assessments are always carried out by psychiatrist as they use techniques that are designed to provide an insight into their past. To do this they use the response of the child to make inferences about sub-conscious motives for behaviour. Once they have understood the child’s behaviour the psychologists will start an intervention which will help the child express their feelings instead of it coming through their behaviour. These can be done through the following;  * Build a supportive relationship with a significant adult * Help the child to talk about what they are feeling in an secure environment * Express painful feeling through drama, storytelling, play or cartoons The behaviourist perspective This perspective is based from the work Skinner. It was said â€Å"Law of Effect† is the behaviour that leads to strengthened behaviour which is ignored or unsatisfying which is all weakened. Behaviourists claim that all behaviour of children are learned and can be changed by systems, such as rewards or punishment. There are two types of rewards behaviourists use, these are informal and formal. * Informal – acknowledgement or praise * Formal – clear targets for example stickers, tokens or points which all then lead to bigger rewards. The behaviourists also claimed that the behaviour requires a scientific approach which is completely based on objectivity and experimentation. The methods they were use were considered to be unscientific, so instead it was all placed on observations on their behaviour rather than a searches for the cause of the behaviour through the child’s past. Behavioural assessments in schools involve observation and recording of a child’s behaviour. When they are observing it is all taken down on an observation checklist, which includes the following titles; * Antecedent * Behaviour * Consequences All this is then used to form a baseline for a post-intervention can be assessed. The Cognitive perspective This perspective shows how a child’s develops understanding what is around them. This refers to different mental activities such as; * Listening * Speaking * Learning * Understanding All the theories of cognitive development concentrate on developments of  their intellectual skills. All the skills that we have are the ones that have been learnt through cognitive development. If none of the children have cognitive skills then they wouldn’t be able to put past experiences or plan future events, cognitive development is very much concerned with how the mental processes work and develop. There were two psychologists who studied cognitive development, there name was Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Jean Piaget was a psychologist who looked at a child’s developing their reasoning skills. Piaget carried out detailed observations of them and as his work started taking shape on how our understanding a child’s intellectual skills and as a result of this he has made changes in education. Piaget understood that cognitive developments occurred in stages, his research concentrated on how children learn and start to gain an understanding of their stage of development to be able to learn new concepts. He identified a four-stage process of cognitive development all the way through childhood. He stated that every child would go through each stage but not at the same time, but he also said that some children would sometimes never reach the later stages. The four stages are; * Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years) * Children at very young ages start to learn by their own activity and movement. Everything babies touch or see they put into their mouths or hold them tight and they examine them closely. A child develops an understanding through something called schema. Schema is a mental construction which contains all the information a child has about a particular aspect of the world. * Pre-operational stage (2-7 years) * At this stage children start to show evidence of thinking but it’s not logical thinking, they are not able to perform mental operations. Children will start to use symbolic behaviour such as pretend play, language and drawings. * Concrete operations stage (7-11 years) * At this stage children are able to understand any ideas in a much more logical way but they sometimes still find it hard to understand concepts. * Formal operational stage (age 12 to adult) * At this stage children are able to think in a way which is more abstract and logical way, they can use reasoning skills; they are applying a general principle to a particular situation. Children are more flexible in the way they think. There are two people who have been highly interested in cognitive styles of therapy. Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis, Aaron Beck has used methods of cognitive behavioural therapy to treat many people who have or are suicidal, depressed or may have personality disorders. Whereas Albert Ellis looked at the different ways to change their behaviour my using methods of Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy, he used this to show his patients that their feelings were results of different habits by conditioning rather than being realistic. Therapists that use this approach use training and role-play techniques to modify their behaviour. The humanist perspective This perspective makes positive aspects of development and growth, this emphasises a person’s unique experiences to a personal thoughts. There are four psychologists that are specialised in this perspective, these four are; * Carl Rogers * Rogers developed the concept on self-esteem. According to him everyone has an idea of what someone’s ideal self should be. He believed that if your image of your self is the same as your ideal self then you have good self-esteem. Rogers said that the development of self-esteem all depends on positive regard from others, the effect of a child’s self-esteem will come from their parents’ unconditional love and affection. Children will start to cope with different situations as they get older, for example a sense of achievement or failure in either sports or their educational skills. Rogers also considered cultural factors, gender and physical attributes to come to his conclusion. * Abraham Maslow * Maslow’s theory is based on individuals that are being motivated through seeking to develop through five levels of need. The most basic needs are physiological which are survival instinct, which is then followed by safety needs, belonging and loving needs, self-esteem needs and at the very top is personals achievements and growth. * Cooley * Cooley proposed â€Å"looking glass† theory, which means that the behaviour from children to others acts like a looking glass which gives us a reflection of ourselves. It raises people’s self-esteem. * Mead * Mead had the view that everyone has two aspects â€Å"I† and â€Å"me†. This means that â€Å"I† is the social responses of individual and â€Å"me† being the responses and attitudes of others. It was important of the communication with others for the development of self-esteem. The Social learning perspective Social psychology looks at aspects of development such as behaviour such as being in a group, leadership, non-verbal behaviour and aggression. The social perspective looks at the environment, interactions with others that have influenced the child’s behaviour and attitudes. Bandura theory emphasises on the environment and the social steps of learning. His view is that it would be part of a child’s self development, is what they have observed and imitated from people around them.

Unit 9 Final Project. Different methods of bookkeeping. Essay Example for Free

Unit 9 Final Project. Different methods of bookkeeping. Essay There are several different methods of bookkeeping. There are single entry, double entry, and online bookkeeping. Single entry bookkeeping is simple and not to complicated because everything is entered into a single column. Its almost like your checkbook register. This type of system is best for small businesses, and you can add more columns if needed. Disadvantages of this system is that financial information cant be included into the spreadsheet. Mistakes and errors can be only identified threw bank statement reconciliation. Double entry bookkeeping serves for large businesses that have lots of assets, several transactions and external suppliers of capital. Two entries are made for each transaction. Debit account and credit account. It will have the date, account, debit and credit. For each debit entry and equal and opposite and credit entry is duly entered. The sum of debits should equal the sum of all credits. Mistakes can be easily noticed. There are no disadvantages to this system. Online bookkeeping gives the customer an option to store their business documents, source documents and data in a web based application. This is done so that the offshore providers bookkeepers can remotely access these documents and update the accounts as needed. The advantages of this system is you can access you accounts anywhere. They have high standards of security. With 50% of cost savings compared to your present bookkeeper. Saves time and effort. All of these systems are good but I think the best one would probably be the online bookkeeping. You can access it no matter where you go and you can access it 24/7 not just doing business hours. It will save you time, money and paper. You will be able to be in control of your accounts. Who wouldn’t like that? Reference: http://financial-outsourcing.blogspot.com/2008/08/different-types-of-bookkeeping-systems.html

Do Mergers and Acquisitions Fulfil Desired Objective?

Do Mergers and Acquisitions Fulfil Desired Objective? Do Mergers And Acquisitions Fulfil Their Desired Objective? And How People Are Affected By the Result of These Mergers? Dissertation Table of Contents CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND Restructuring of a firm has become a major area in the financial and economic environment all over the world. A company may grow internally, or externally. The aim of the management is to maximize the profit. Most firms grow through internally which take place when firm’s existing divisions grow through normal capital budgeting activities.(S.Vanitha 2007) The industrial restructuring has raised important issues both for the business and for public moreover merger and acquisitions may be critical to the strong expansion of business firms as they evolve through successive stages of growth and development and most important for new product markets by a firm may require M and As at some stages in the firm’s development . The successful competition in international markets may depend on capabilities obtained in a timely and competent fashion through M As. (M Selvam 2007) Merger and acquisitions continues to experience dramatic growth. Record breaking mega mergers have become popular in the world. In the last ten years and onwards some of the largest mergers and acquisitions took place in Europe. This was underscore by the fact that the largest deal of all time was a hostile acquisition of a German company by a British firm.(Beena P.L 2000) Since the start of twenty first century the nature of merger and acquisition even more common in the economical growth. It becomes even more global especially in Asia, Latin and South America. Over the past quarter of the century we have noticed that merger waves have become longer and more frequent in between shrunken as well when these trends combined with the fact that MA has rapidly spread across the modern world, we see that the field is increasingly becoming as ever more important part of the worlds of corporate finance and corporate strategy. (Canagavally , R.2000) Merger and acquisitions are plays very important part in corporate strategy. They are the interesting and controversial tools if the firm do not want to grow internally by capital investment and it can affect the shareholders wealth of both the firms (Legare.1998). The management of the target companies is worried about their jobs that can be affected; the cost reduction strategies consists of reduction in labour force (Gould, 1998) the strategies at both local and national levels are important and concerned at transactions in their industries. e.g (defence utilities etc.) Customers and suppliers are interested , as they want to know who they will be dealing with in the future (Buono. 2003). All the big deals are therefore reported in the media, receive a large coverage, and get the attention of the public as well. People are very important part of any organization but due to the increasing numbers of mergers between the companies they are largely affected and most of them get caught up in a merger or acquisition-by chance, Many of the people after working four –to five years period are losing their jobs and facing severe reductions in status and responsibility and, in general, being confronted with major questions about their careers, As a result , at times we are unsure whether our own feelings about what is happening to these individuals are biasing our interpretation of what is going on. In this project the writer going to research on mergers between the professional services firms. According to Steven et al (2000) mergers and acquisitions decisions that are undertaken based on financial analysis, influence and legal positions , However , it has been proved by a number of researchers that factors like informal power, low productivity , poor quality , reduced commitment , hidden costs and voluntary turnover prevent the combined banks from reaching expected performance levels (Legare 1998). This is the reason that many companies face difficulties then they pass through their post-integration processes (Buono 2003) According to Catwright Cary (1995) that mergers and acquisitions should be seen like marriages where both parties will is very important for the success of new entity. At the time two different companies decide to come together as a result of MA activity, then the levels of instability in the macro and micro environment of both companies is challenged. So it is therefore been recommended that companies should chose the most appropriate merger and acquisition process and strategy. However Buono (2003) has suggest that each possibility has its own strengths and weaknesses and therefore context of MS and its main objectives play important role. Cartwright and Cooper has pointed out that MA depends upon combination of related functions like integration of people, systems, practices and culture. The critical review of the literature has recommended that most of research has been focused at studying single characteristics of MA in isolation. Moreover the dynamics of MA variables that impact on success and failures ratio has not been undertaken in the literature and there is a gap for research. This study will be focus to explore the major drivers and variables and their effect on the success of merger and acquisitions across industries from a corporate strategic perspective. 1.2 Rationale behind Research: Mergers and acquisitions is one of the common strategies in today’s business world. Gould (1998) has conducted a survey involving 12000 managers from different countries and according to the result of his survey more then 1000 companies were involved in acquisitions or a merger in two years between 1995 and 1997.moreover merger and acquisitions has become the leading strategic options. However, the performance of the combined companies has been lower than expected. According to Buono (2003) the basic drivers of MA only involved in financial, operational and strategic aims and objectives. So therefore my main area of focus of this research is to explore the major drivers and variables and their effect on the success of merger and acquisitions across industries from a corporate strategic perspective. 1.3 Aims and Objectives: The basic aim of this project is to understand whether mergers and acquisitions always fulfil desired objective. The aims specific areas are as follows. To explore the major variables that impact on the success of merger and acquisition different industries from a corporate strategic perspective To explore the corporate strategy in achieving desired results from MA activities To evaluate the impact of the mergers on an employees and examining the programmes for dealing with separation anxiety for employees. 1.4 Dissertation Structure: The official Structure of the dissertations is being applied which is provided by the university and analysis has been done which suit the theme and the objectives of the research. The structure of this report is summarized as follows: Chapter 1 Introduction of the research topic and lays the basis for the rationale of selection of the theme under scrutiny. It introduces the effect of MA on business and effects that they expected. The chapter also summarizes the rationale for selection of topic and states the aim and objectives of this research. Chapter 2 Consists of review of the literature that has been produced in the domain of mergers and acquisitions and their desired effects for companies. It has highlighted some of the highly respected literature in the field of aims and objectives of this research. Chapter 3 Provide the methodology and strategy adopted by the researcher to undertake this research. It points out the strength and weaknesses of using different data collection mechanisms and has shown how they fit in the larger context of aims and objectives of this research. Chapter 4 very important chapter consists of analysis and findings regarding the importance of strategic alignment within a merger or an acquisition activity with the help of a range of case studies. The chapter developed recommendations for companies under the light of macro indicators, theories and qualitative data gathered through this research. Chapter 5 provides a comprehensive conclusion from this research and gives a list of recommendations for companies that can be drawn from this focused research. Chapter 2: Literature Review In this chapter an attempt has been made to briefly review the research already undertaken and methodology employed moreover the study has been produced in the domain of aims and objective of the project and it has been divided into number of different sections so that reader understand with ease. 2.1 Overview: Concept of Merger and Acquisition: Over the last few years different companies have engaged in domestic and international mergers and acquisitions to match the macroeconomic trends operating on a worldwide scale in the market place. Up till now the ultimate success of a company’s global strategy may depend on how well it manages the dangerous human resource â€Å"fit† issue associated with strategic customer cantered decisions and strategies. The literature presents the understanding and resolving interpersonal management issues that result from organization, team, and individual misalignments. An actual merger and acquisition integration project is used to discuss the application of this approach (Thomas L. Legare in his paper â€Å"Understanding and Managing Human Resource Integration Issue†) M A defined by Arnold (2002) as â€Å"combination of two firms of roughly equal size on roughly equal terms and in which the shareholders remain as joint owners† M A activities in late 20th century: In 1960’s Mergers and acquisitions first became an important topic within the organization management meetings. It is usual to consider merger and acquisition in terms of the extent to which the activities of the acquired organization are related to those of the acquirer. The most common classification proposes four main types (Walter 1985; Hovers, 1973; Kitching ,1967). These being: 1- Vertical The process in which two organizations combined within the same industry. 2- Horizontal The process in which two similar organizations combined within the same industry 3- Conglomerate In this process acquired organization is in completely different field of business activity 4 Concentric In this process the acquired organization is in a different but related field in to which the acquiring company merge its business. According to Schweiger and Ivancevice, 1987 mergers and acquisitions can be considered to differ in terms of Motive and transactional type The envisaged degree of integration Common objectives behind M Activity According to Napier (1989), in a review of the literature, draws the distinction between financial or value maximizing motives, and managerial or non value maximizing motives. Mergers known as financial or value maximizing motives when the main objective is to increase the profit and decrease the risk involved in business moreover non value maximizing motives relate to merges which occur primarily for other strategic reasons ( Halpern, 1983). Moreover according to handy (1993) creation of shareholder’s value is the underlying aim behind any MA activity. However , there is a range of strategies involve to improve financial performances and consequently increase shareholder’s value. According to Marks, (1988b). There is lots of risk involved in activity like Mergers and acquisitions involving the collective annual investment of billions of pounds and affecting the working lives of millions of employees. It has been recommended in future that 50 to 80 percent of all mergers are considered to be financially unsuccessful (Marks 1988b), most probably in financial return, represent ‘at best an each way bet’ (Lorenz, 1986) The popularity of Merger and acquisitions is still strong despite of the fact that it has been frequently fail to achieve the financial growth (Hovers 1973 Farrent 1970; Jemison and Sitkin, 1986). Indeed there is lots of evidence that Britain and the USA are currently experiencing an unprecedented wave of merger activity (Morgan, 1988; Hughes, 1989). In the last 10 years , there have been over 23000 registered acquisitions in the USA , and before the end of this decade one in four of the Us workforce will have been affected by merger activity ( Fulmer, 1986) with the approach of 1992 , a similar trend is predicted for Europe. The Merger and acquisition is facilitated by number of factors. Market Conditions Market conditions are changing day by day and in this environment there is a need to consolidate or capture new market so strategic mergers and acquisitions become more attractive and expedient alternative response to the setting up new outlets, and at the same time provide a tool to finish the competition ( Meeks , 1977) Increasing Availability of Capital Mergers and acquisitions activities has been increased because the organization and financial institution may need of capital from outside countries because of low interest rate. More companies for sale. There are lots of companies come in to the market because of number of reasons like successful entrepreneurs of the post war years reach retirement age , because of families issues and there is not natural successor within the family. The Easing of Regulations. According to McManus Hergert, 1988. Gartrell Yantek suggested that acquisition activity is related to political climate in that right of centre administration stimulate activity. The Need to share Risk Mergers and acquisitions is very important if u need to share risk like new product development often results in the formation of joint ventures , mergers and other types of strategic alliance. The existence of complex Indivisible Problems All of these can be considered to be logical economic and marketing factors, which make possible the decisions to acquire, These conditions , particularly the need to share risk and problems solving, have also contributing to the increasing trend towards the formation of joint ventures and Mergers (Harrigan, 1988) (vii) Unrecognized Psychological Motives According to Levinson (1970) suggests one such motive to be fear of risk McManus and Hergest (1988) suggest that the decisions happens when ‘CEO is bored and wants to find a new game to play’ or to create some excitement amongst senior managers (Hunt, 1988) 2.2 Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions Merger and Acquisitions have the prime aim to maximise the firm’s profit and shareholders wealth like any other strategic growth option, but there has been a risk of failure so the debate in the literature among theorists and practitioners as to the real strength of the strategy in creating shareholder’s value worth the risk of failure. The review literature that surrounds different prospects like shareholders, acquirer , targets has been studied on short , medium and long term value creation through the MA activity . The following different categories of studies can be highlighted. Affect of MA Activities on People The Human Side of Mergers and Acquisitions is about to impact that mergers and acquisitions have on people in the workplace: the psychological difficulties that people experience, the culture clashes that can emerge in organizations that can emerge in organizations during the post –merger integration period, and the ways in which these problems can manifest themselves –such as communication breakdowns a â€Å"We-they† mentality between the component organizations in a merger, lowered commitment , drops in productivity , organizational power struggles and office politicking , and loss of key organizational members. We adopt primarily and organization development (OD) perspective on mergers and acquisitions: given the myriad problems (Thomas L Legare) The Existing evidence on the effects of mergers and acquisitions on efficiency or value comes from two basic types of large sample studies: event studies and performance studies Event studies consider the returns to the shareholders of targets and acquirers in the days before and after an acquisition announcement .These studies consistently find that the combined returns to acquirer and target stockholders are unequivocally positive .These positive returns imply that the market anticipates that acquisitions on average will create value. These studies and reactions do not, however, provide insight into the sources of the value changes in mergers or whether the expectations of value changes are ultimately realized. Furthermore, the combined returns cover a broad range of responses from very positive to very negative. Cross sectional analyses of event period returns provide some evidence that the broad range of combined announcement period returns reflects the market’s ability to forecast an acquisitions success. For example both Mitchell and Lehn (1990) and Kaplan and weisbach (1992) find the there is a relation between (1) acquirer and combined returns and (2) the ultimate outcome of the acquisition. Other studies examine a number of different determinants of the cross-sectional variation in returns associated with acquisitions. (see e.g Lang , Stulz, and Walkling 1991 . Maloney , McCormick , and Mitchell 1993; morock, Shliefer , and Vishny 1990)These Cross-Sectional analyses of event –period returns provide some understanding of the nature of the market reaction to acquisition announcements.They do not , however , examine whether the anticipated value creation or improved productivity materializes, Nor do they have a great deal to say about the organizational mechanisms and manage ment practices that drive acquisition success or failure. Studies of post merger performance attempt to measure the longer-term implications of mergers and acquisitions using both accounting and stock return data. Studies of accounting data fail to find consistent evidence of improved performance or productivity gains. (see e.g, Healy , Palepu, and Ruback 1992 and Ravenscraft and Scherer 1987) similarly , studies that focus on acquirers long term stock performance find mixed results abnormally negative stock returns after the acquisition ( agraqwal , Jaffe, and Mandelker 1992), no abnormal returns (franks , Harris , and Titman 1991) and negative abnormal returns only for stock mergers (Mitchell and Stafford 1996) Like the announcement period event studies, longer term performance and event studies document substantial cross sectional variation in performance , but do not study the sources of value changes in mergers and acquisitions. In sum , there are a number of questions that the existing economics and finance literature on mergers and acquisitions leaves unanswered , Existing work provides mixed results on the average impact of mergers and acquisitions More importantly , existing work offers little insight into the determinants of an acquisitions success or failures. Research on the basis of Capital Market Capital market is one of the research category used as central information point. According to Healey (1992), the stock market data reflects the effects of MA as it reflects future profits and dividends expected by the post integration entity moreover these researchers believe that the result has been found swayed by the researcher’s personal orientation an hypothesis. It is been analyse that majority among studies that have been covered lower then desired effects created through analyses based on capital market data. Event Study Methodology According to data et al (1992) have indicated that these studies are based on the hypothesis that markets across the industrialized world are highly well-organized and therefore soon after the MAn announcement moreover it depends on the future financial benefits or losses. The result of such studies have highlighted the majority of MA activities do create affects that can range from significant to normal (Sudarsanam 2003) but the people working along with the field and many other critics have argued that the methodology is only affective for small projects to obtain the desired affects and does not represent long term desired affects in the medium to long term. Short Run Objectives: A large number of organizations plan for financial gains within a short period of time when the merger date is finalized they are looking to achieve this objective, 30% and 10% abnormal returns have been found for the target shareholders Sudarsanam et al (1996) Long Run Objectives According to Agarwar (1992) the organizations long term desired affect through MA activity that has gained an increasing interests among researchers after the data is available for the last wave of MA in the 1990’s. There has been a mixture of results as- 10% abnormal returns over 5 years MA periods; Fama French (1993) showed positive 9% abnormal returns for the acquired and negative -4% abnormal returns for the acquirer; and sudarsanam Mahate 2003 showed a range of negative -18% to positive+1% abnormal returns in MA situation. Although it has been found out that many of these studies have used different models, benchmarks and organizational data, but there is a general consensus that MA abnormal desired affects in the long term. Operational Planning Research: The best way to analyse the affect of MA activity is to study the operational performance of the firms involved. The operational data consists of accounting data like cash flow and profit and loss statement are used by such studies (Healey 1992) Herman and Lowenstein (1988) used these technique on data gathered during 1975 to 1983 and found that no significant improvements in the performance of post MA entities. Healey et al (1992) found a meagre 3% operational performance among companies analyzed. However the same data was later analyzed under improved methods and found no operational performance. The results show large number of failures in creating substantial desired affects through operational analysis. Recent Merger and Acquisitions trends In the above table shows the recent trends in the field, let us being with our full dissertation of the subject of MA. This will be begin with a discussion of the basic terminology used in the field. 2.3 MAJOR STRATEGIC ISSUES: According to Cartwright and Cooper (1995) in order to get the desired objective during the MA activity the internal environment of firms should be synchronized. It can therefore recommend that integration of people, their systems, procedures, practice and organizational culture is extremely important in order to get the desired objective. Mr David (2007) suggest that the internal aspects of firms that are going to merge can be divided into two core competencies that can help to minimize the factors involved the failure of MA strategies. These core competencies lie in the field of corporate strategy which usually lack coordination during MA activities. The main limiting aspects of MA in terms of strategic importance that can play a vital role by using their core competencies have been highlighted as follows Organizational culture The cultural differences is the single largest cause of lack of proposed performance, achieving the desired target and objective and time consuming issues in the running of successful business ( Bijilsma frankema , 2001) according to him culture plays a important part in employees motivation in the development to new business he says that cultural clash is the most dangerous factors when two companies decide to combine moreover the things like styles , values and missions is the part of factor influencing the MA. According to (Covin et al, 1997) the employees required five to seven years after the merger to feel truly incorporated. Due to the multitude of these changes many problems arises like loss of job, also financial debt and fears of jobless.(Mirvis and Marks 1992) moreover he says that after merger the new team is also distressing and anxiety for the people other fear include the loss of effective and close team members, as well as the uncertainty about the new team members and supervisors to be inherited the employees when forced to deal with new team members and managers they may develop fears of taking risks and raising sensitive subject. This may adopt us verses them thinking, where trust for the new team members will be minimal (Mirvis and Marks, 1992).Management facing this kind of behaviour may have to pay the high price of loss of coordination and initiative among the employees of the new business combination. Moreover the issues and disagreement will be more difficult to resolve, so the time after the merger is the most difficult time for the management and new team members to move forward as a whole. Appelbaum etal, (2000) Stress According to (Datta et al , 1992) the process of merger and acquisitions consists of biggest change at the individual and organizational level in the history of organizations because of this the process is stressful. When one culture combines with another the employees feel as through they have lost control over important aspects of their loves, and in an attempt to regain control, they often withdraw. So it creates stress within individual , i.e reduced performance and job satisfaction . ( Berger and Ofec 1996) According to Schweiger Denisi (1991) the employees after the MA go through a time of increased anxiety uncertainty and stress. They are concerned about their new position it will create more stress in them so communication plays the vital role during the merger so that employees know what is going on and how they might be affected during and after the post integration period. Thus it can be suggested that while negotiations have been compared to flirting before marriages , and the closing of the deals to forming a new family , employees reaction can be associated with â€Å"bereavement† (Katinka , 2004) Organizational change and resistance Changes after merger announcement like stress, symptoms, work related factors, health status, and lifestyle. Personal characteristics were composed of age, sex, height, weight, and marital status in both surveys. Moreover stress related symptoms like anxiety, impatience and depression were dichotomized by either having a complaint or not so following a MA , a complex set of organizational , managerial and personal changes or inevitable. Jensen Rubock (1983) claim that in order to cope with the changes and resist with the changes there is a way to select a strategy and a set of specific approaches for implementing an organizational change effort. It is very important for managers to implement changes successfully in order to cope with the changes. The researchers have introduced six different strategies in order resist the changes after the merger and four major reasons why peoples resist changes. Image, Identity and confidence According to (Ravenscraft and Scherer 1988) image , identity and confidence of the human resource may reduced after the combination process it has been send that most of the employees will feel uncertain and will need some relaxation environment . It can be recommended that the peoples effected by this process can prove dangerous for the management they can change the ownership moreover the employees who are affected by the process tend to protect their identity and confidence through tolerance and humble and hence they try to maintain their status and confidence with experience that they are the part of new entity, if the cultural factor is not adequately taken into account at this stage of the merger , there will be so less time to contain it after the merger. Weston et al (2001) discuss the fear and stress associated with a merger. Schwert (1996) argue that when the objectives after the merger are not met , the managing teams of both companies are the employees of the acquired company enter a â€Å"cycle of escalating and distrust†. In other words, managers of the acquiring company press for increased control, while employees of the acquired company resist and demand their autonomy. Others view mergers and acquisitions as power games , which create some excitement fro bored CEOs. Communication Tompkins (1984) defined organizational communication as â€Å"the study of sending and receiving messages that create and maintain a system of deliberately corresponding activities or forces of two or more persons† Organizational communication is the exchange of messages through collective creation maintenance and transformation of organizational meaning. Members develop commonly understood patterns of expectations of organizational action through communication. Moreover communication with the employees is a very important factor throughout the entire MA process and creates a positive effect on employees through the trying time. According to John et al (1999) that communication plays a vital role in the combination of different and various cultures. The cultures can be at conflicting ends and therefore should be understood by the top management during integration period moreover according to Richard et al (1999) the human resource department should plan for the change in organization and they should know before this process that what going to happen with the company when two cultures combine as the result of merger. So in the process of merger only decision is not enough but the proper communication of these decisions among the company is very important moreover management works horizontally and vertically through leadership, control and organization.(Sudarsanam and Mahate, 2003) FLOW OF CASH Despite of the fact that many people loss their job in the process but the same time high rate of voluntary turnover linked with the process moreover it includes substantial outflow of talent and expertise. According to Ravenscraft and scherer, 1988) report executive turnover rates as high as 75% in the first three years of post acquisition period. Unplanned personnel losses are not necessarily confined to the more senior levels of the organization. Typically, acquired or merged organizations experience on overall rate of staff turnover of at lest 30% in the first two years post merger period (Cartwright and Cooper 1995) 2.4 Success and Failures A large number of mergers and acquisitions are unsuccessful .Over the last fifteen years, 23% of all merged firms worldwide reported lower profits than comparable non-merged firms (Gugler et al.(13)) Daimler Chrysler, the effect of the largest industrial merger ever, for example , has only posted low or negative profits since its birth in 1998-including the biggest loss in German business history in 2001. The disappointing results of mergers have been puzzling commentators and academics alike. In the management literature, poor merger performance has often been connected to unsuccessful addition of different corporate cultures. Cultural differences, however, are not enough to explain failures. First, firms seem to be aware of organisational difficulties when taking merger decisions. DaimlerChrysler, for example, anticipated post –merger Challenges. Second, mergers between partners with closer corporate cultures sometimes perform worse ( Morosini et

The Opening Chapters in Great Expectations and Jane Eyre Essays

How effective are the opening chapters in Great Expectations and Jane Eyre? In my essay i will be explaining and comparing the opening paragraphs of "Great Expectations" ang "Jane Eyre". The author of "Great Expectations" is Charles Dickens (1812-70). Dickens was a middle class man who was well known and wealthy. He had his own magazine, called "All the year round", in which he published "Great Expectations" over a period of 59 weeks; one chapter a week was published his magazine. He wrote it in 1860 and it was published between December 1860 and August 1861. "Jane Eyre" was published in 1847 and written by Charlotte Bronte but under the name of Currer Bell because it was hard for a women in the Victorian times to publish a book. She was born in Yorkshire but lived a short life of only 39 years (1816-55). It was not just her in her family that dies at a young age, she had two sisters who did not make it to adulthood. She also had a brother and two surviving sisters. Her father was a Vicar. She was not the only literate person in the family; her sisters also had books published. "Great Expectations" starts off with Pip all alone in a deserted graveyard looking at his immediate relatives gravestones. Then a man threatens him "...I'll cut your throat!" The man is an escaped prisoner and instructs Pip to help him by getting his brother-in-laws tools to get his shackles off. Pip agrees to help him so that the prisoner does not kill him. He says if Pip tells anyone that he has seen the man he is going to be killed by a "young man" Jane is an orphan living with the Reed family. She is being bullied by John Reed, and is scared of him. Mrs Reed ignores the bullying even though it happens in front of her ... ...n-laws tools to help the prisoner and how will Pip cope with the pressure of keeping a big secret. I think the cliff hanger in "Jane Eyre" is more sucessful because in "Great Expectations" we can almost guess what is going to happen next, we can predict that Pip is going to help the prisoner and the prisoner has made up the young man to scare Pip so he helps him. In "Jane Eyre" it is more of a cliff hanger because more questions have to be answered later on in the book. We need to know; what the red room is; how long will Jane be in there for; and is the bullying from John Reed going to get worse. I think that "Great Expectations" is more sucessful because it has more of an effective plot which would make us want to read on. I do not feel that "Jane Eyre" has a strong enough plot to keep the readers attenion and it would not make us want to read on.

Falling Behind by Robert Frank Essay -- Falling Behind, Robert Frank

Robert H. Frank’s book Falling Behind is a short, lucid, and compelling account of what is going on with the middle class†(Alexander Kemestrios Ben). That is what one reviewer on Amazon.com commented about Frank’s book Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class. In order to engage readers and support their ideas, most argumentative nonfiction books use statistics, logical reasoning, personal anecdotes, and real-life examples. While all of these strategies such as should make an interesting and compelling argument, the question is not of how interesting the book is, but rather is it or is it not a quality argumentative nonfiction book? Before answering that question, we must first consider what makes a quality argumentative nonfiction book. A quality argumentative nonfiction book should engage readers with entertaining and unique ideas and also have well-explained and simplified ideas that are easy for the audience to understand. By these standard s, Falling Behind is partially a quality argumentative nonfiction book because, although it fully meets the criterion of having entertaining and unique ideas, it only partially meets the criterion of having well-explained and simplified ideas. In addition to being â€Å"the Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Management and Professor of Economics at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management,† Robert H. Frank is also â€Å"the co-director of the Paduano Seminar in business ethics at NYU’s Stern School of Business†(â€Å"Faculty and Research†). He earned a â€Å"B.S. in mathematics from Georgia Tech† and â€Å"an M.A. in statistics and a Ph.D. in economics† from the University of California at Berkeley (â€Å"Faculty and Research†). Frank has written and cowritten many books, as well as various... ...zon.com. Amazon, 2014. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. â€Å"Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class.† Goodreads. Goodreads, 2014. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. Finn, Daniel. "Smart for One, Dumb for All." Commonweal 135.5 (2008): 22+. Academic OneFile. Web. 6 Feb. 2014 Frank, Robert H. Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class. Berkeley: University of California, 2007. Print. Gross, Daniel. "Thy Neighbor’s Stash." NYTimes.com. Ed. Andrew Rosenthal. New York Times, 5 Aug. 2007. Web. 6 Feb. 2014. â€Å"Herpangina† MedlinePlus. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 3 Feb. 2014. Web. 6 Feb. 2014 "Robert H. Frank." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. Whaley, Mary. "Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class." Booklist 1 July 2007: 15. EBSCO Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Feb. 2014.

All too often children are labeled as slow or stupid; they are put :: Economics

All too often children are labeled as slow or stupid; they are put aside into special classes for the slower kids and looked down upon by the smarter kids. All too often children are labeled as slow or stupid; they are put aside into special classes for the slower kids and looked down upon by the smarter kids. Teachers and parents look at them in disappointment for the great potential they once saw in their child’s eyes has gone to waste. Many teens that now believe that their stupidity is a truth were once as young children, praised for their quick learning and brightness. There must be an explanation for this. The explanation for me along with many other kids is the learning disorder called dyslexia. I would like to give them a combination of the next to definitions. â€Å"A complex neurological condition, the symptoms may effect many areas of learning and function and may be described as a difficulty in reading, spelling and written language† (Reid 2), as defined by The British Dyslexia Association in 1997. This is a common definition of dyslexia. The other definition of dyslexia is â€Å" an inherited neurological difference, resulting in language, perception, processing, and attention concentration deference’s† (Dyslexia Research Institute 1). Dyslexia is a serious disorder that effects an â€Å"estimated 5 percent to 15 percent of children† (UniSci 1). This number is extremely high; yet many do not know the effects that dyslexia has on the learning process and the emotional development of children, or understands what dyslexia even is. It has been found through research that dyslexia is a disorder occurring in the brain. On the UniSci WebPages, it was stated that â€Å"an issue of the American Journal of Neuroradiology provided evidence that dyslexia is indeed a brain-based disorder† (1). Many tests and researches have been done to prove and also further the discovery of how the dyslexic brain works so that we may better understand it. Researchers at the University of Washington found that â€Å"dyslexics were using 4.6 times as much area of the brain or five times the brain area to do the same language task as the other kids who were not dyslexic† (UniSci 1). That translated means that â€Å"the dyslexic’s brain works much harder and uses much more energy than that of a normal person† (UniSci 1). Also, the researchers found that the â€Å"difference between the dyslexic person and a normal person relates to auditory language and not to nonlinguistic auditory function† (UniSci 1). This was shown through a study using six dyslexic boys and seven normal boys. â€Å"All of the boys were fitted with earphones and asked to perform four tasks while their

Habit Is Stronger Than Reason Essay

â€Å"Habit is stronger than reason.† To what extent is this true in two areas of knowledge? Human beings have naturally found a way of wanting to discover, analyze and find out things. In more modern times humans have been taught to think in certain ways due to what they want to do in life or through their ancestors that passed down traditions that is carried on through them i.e. culture and religion. The two areas of knowledge I chose were mathematics and history. There is always an explanation in each area of knowledge; in mathematics we can say that there is always reasoning behind everything. But in an everyday life we use mathematics habitually, for instance if you woke up in the morning you had to take two vitamins, every human (unless given a diagnosed problem and or no education) can tell the difference of two, and knowing that you have to take two. Only because mathematics is in bedded within our lives from a very young age and in this case habit is stronger than reason. This all changes once you get to a higher and more difficult level of mathematics because there is no way that the quadratic equation is used on a daily basis as a habit (unless you’re some sort of super genius). So, in the case that mathematics at a beginner level, habit is much stronger than reason. Depending on how the individual grew up and was raised, the knowledge could be affected. It could be tradition to carry on the knowledge of their ancestors. In history there are many sides to the historical even which took place for example World War two, Hitler himself would have had different views and experiences throughout the war and he or someone else may have documented it different to a American journalist who was seeing the opposing side of the Germans, he could be writing his own views according to his country and not only the entire war itself. History is in bedded in the learner, and even the teacher could be accounted for, due to the fact that most of the knowledge i s learned in school at a young age so say if the example of world war two was given again; a German teacher could have a different view point than a American teacher. A good personal example is during the first year of secondary school, I was in history and slavery was being taught; note that I was the only white person in the class. We were learning about the transport and the enslavement off of West Africa and the teacher was so good at explaining how the white masters treated the slaves and was so enthusiastic in his descriptions. At the end of the class no one uttered a word to me just because I was white. This example can also relate to the race of the learner. Every race has its own history behind it, the reason why racism is currently still around is because of peoples history and how their opinions were changed through group knowledge. Reasoning could be stronger than habit through the beliefs and experiences of that individual. However the believes could have been forced against them through family, but looking at a different point of view, it could be because that the family was set certain rules and wanted to continues the family tradition. This could relate to history because it was what their ancestors taught them into believing, and if one of the family members spoke out they could be frowned upon. Religion could be used as this family tradition, for instance if a family who were Christians their entire life, had a family member who was an Atheist, spoke out and gave their opinion would not only be frowned upon by his family, but in the families eye let down by whom they believe in. Without the area of knowledge, answering that question could go both ways â€Å"is reasoning stronger than habit.† It all depends on which cases are matched to the reasoning and habit, because mostly people act differently, people have different views. There are ways though that habit is stronger than reason, due to the fact that people are altered in becoming addicted to something, whether it may be cigarettes and or drugs. The abusers minds are altered from the substance which makes the cigarette and or drug addictive, this means that whatever the substance may be, it has convinced the human mind and body that it needs it. Often the human body and mind changes if it hasn’t got that substance in awhile, for example in crack cocaine abusers, there body tends to crave and need the substance again after it has been taken. It makes the body and person depressed, anxious, irritable, and exhausted even angry of the drug isn’t consumed. This proves that habit is stronger than reason, only due to the fact that the mind has been altered in to believing that it wants that certain substance even though they know it’s completely bad for the body. The question is habit stronger that reasoning is a yes, but also a no due to the fact that the question can be altered depending on what the back ground of person is and what they’ve learnt and experienced, plus the influence of addictive substances. The question could be asked vis versa is reasoning stronger than habit? It could be answered as a yes and no as well because yet again most people are different.

Engineer Ethics Essay

The roles of engineers are respectively wide. Amongst the major responsibilities for engineers are design, construction supervision, consultation, project procurement, commissioning and management etc. Engineers are responsible to give the highest regard to his profession and conduct himself with integrity when executing his task. For example a good design solution would have to include two important aspects namely design adequacy and cost effectiveness. In addition, engineers have obligation to generate design solutions that are environmental friendly at the same time meeting the demanding requirements of client. Engineers have a duty of care to the environment, society and to their valuable customers or clients. They would have to generate design that fulfill the design clauses in the engineering codes of design, meeting the requirements by the various Governmental Departments and incorporate design solutions that are environmental friendly which induce minimum negative impacts to the surrounding environment and society. Besides, engineers would have to take into consideration the cost implication of their design solution to their clients. This has caused great dilemma in engineers, as they have to balance cost implication of the design solution with other factors such as quality, efficiency and various socio-economy factors. In the context of a developing country like Malaysia, in some cases, clients however have different mindset from that of the engineers. Clients are more concern about the cost implication of the generated design solution; they are more interested in design solution that is cost effective and yet fulfills the minimum design requirements by the Government. In this respect, clients would normally opt for design solutions that are cost effective, that stay within their budget. Some clients would incorporate project budget that is far inadequate which requires the engineers to sacrifice the quality and long-term efficiencies aspects in their design solution. This has obviously contradicted with the engineers’ interests of incorporating optimum design that would guarantee long-term efficiencies and easy maintenance. In addition, a not-up-to the standards design solution that obviously with an associated lower construction cost would mean that the engineer would be getting a much lesser consultation fees in view that the engineering fees are normally proportional to the cost expenditure of the project. However these two factors, namely the cost factors and quality are normally indirectly roportional to one another. This has made the engineers’ life extremely tough and difficult. Engineers are constantly wondering if they should go for expensive design solution that would definitely give both long-term efficient operations and maintenance and most importantly getting a higher professional fees, or go for an ‘ok’ design solution that might not be able to guarantee the quality aspects of the project and yet getting a lower professional fees. In view of the dilemma that engineers are constantly encountering in balancing capital expenditure with optimum design for efficient operations and maintenance, engineers should by all means combine both the design and cost aspects in the process of generating design solutions for their clients. Engineers should not produce a cheap design solution that does not comply with the relevant code of practices with the purpose just to please their valuable clients, hoping for more projects. Neither should they generate expensive design, ignore the cost implication of that particular design and with the purpose to obtain higher professional fee.

Dehumanization in Slavery based on Accounts from Clotel

William Wells Brown warns us that slavery does not only victimize the weak and blacks. In his novel, he points out that â€Å"no one is safe† from slavery, whether â€Å"white or black† (Schweninger 23). In the face of this fact, it seem ironic that the country that is now called the â€Å"land of the free† and â€Å"home of the brave† was once a country where slaves were sold and treated almost with cold blood (Schweninger 23). Indeed, no one is safe, for even a president’s daughter has been sold to be a slave. What could be more painful than to be parted from your beloved and your daughter and be sold as a slave, knowing that your daughter would be treated as ill as a servant? This is the Calvary that Clotel had to bear as a slave, though she was, by popular lore, a daughter of the president. And if it were true that she was indeed a daughter of the president (Schweninger 28), would it not be more painful on her part, knowing that she was the daughter of the most powerful man in country, yet she had to be a slave and a concubine? The very thought of this situation dehumanizes Gods masterpiece. There is a rich literature about Brown’s novel, both digital and printed. Most of them bank on the cruelty of slavery. Articlemyriad. com reminds the readers that the novel is fiction, but description of slavery with all its vividness in the accounts of the characters’ lives is true. It can be well understood how something fictitious can capture the truth behind every word and expression. The writer himself was once a slave, and in fact, the first part of the novel is a biographical account of how he escaped slavery (Analysis and Themes 1). Hence, we see slavery, not in the eyes of someone who has just seen it, but someone who had been a slave, someone who had as firsthand experience of the dehumanizing treatment to slaves. It is not, however, the hard work that Brown resents, but the fact that humans, free or slave are not to be sold (Schweninger 22). At this juncture, it is important to focus more on the historicity of the accounts in the novel. As Articlemyriad. com points out, the novel is fiction, but the accounts are real. No president of the United States would have had a slave daughter, but the experiences of the characters in the novel, from the most â€Å"optimistic† to the most â€Å"pessimistic† were not products of imagination (Analysis and Themes 3). As Clotel became a mistress, and was sold, later tried to escape and then commit suicide in despair, Brown was showing a concrete example of what happened to slaves. It was not their fault to be born as mulatto or black or yellow skin, but they faced the discrimination and social prejudice and stereotyping. One example of this stereotyping is stated in the website mentioned. Society does not frown upon the man who sits with his mulatto child upon his knee whilst its mother stands a slave behind his chair† (Brown 55). We can see from this statement that there is something bout being a mulatto child and a slave mother. A slave, though mother of the master’s child, remains to be a slave and does not seem to have the right to be wife, and only has the right to be a mistress, a whore. If a white were mother to child of a master, then the master would have to marry her in most cases, of the master would have to face suit, but slaves had no liberty to fight for their rights no matter how disgraced they have been. Though the article points out that the novel is fiction, it gives way to Brown’s claims that the novel is â€Å"no fiction† (Analysis and Themes 2), for it is â€Å"founded in truth† (Analysis and Themes 2). The truthfulness of accounts in the novel is what the other two articles by Schweninger and Giulla, although Giulla’s accounts are rather more focused on the language of the blacks. Schweninger puts forth that in as much as the events in the novel could have taken place to slaves; the accounts in the novel were not historically accurate as far as chronology of events is concerned. She mentions several inconsistencies in the chronology of events, one of which is the impossibility of Clotel’s birth in 1798 and â€Å"have her mother witness the 1842 burning when her daughter was only 16† (Schweninger 27). Therefore, according to Schweninger, the point of Brown is not to make a accurate historical account (although he told the readers that the novel is not fiction), but to stress the inhumane treatment to slaves, especially to African Americans and the mulatto. In fact, in the preface of the novel, Brown states â€Å"Were it not for persons in high places owning slaves†¦ Slavery would have long been abolished. (Schweninger iv). And who were these persons in high places? Brown identifies them as â€Å"professed Christians† who give the system (slavery) â€Å"a reputation† (Schweninger iv). Schweninger suggests that the â€Å"undercutting of the chronology of events stresses that it is not the chronology that is important in the no vel but the universality of the topic and slavery in any year or era would have been the same† (Schweninger iv). The people would have suffered just as much and the abusers would have abused the slaves just as much. And as Brown has said, slavery remained not condemned, because the people who had the power to stop it knew its evil but did not want to lose their slaves. They would be hurt in material loses. The battle cry of Brown is not for people to be freed from work. Everyone has to work, but no one deserves to be sold as a slave. Schweninger traces the story of Clotel to another popular lore called Child, where Clotel was originally named Rosalie. She attests that the story of Child was copied word for word except for some insertions by the Brown to express his political views (Schweninger 28). For instance, Scweninger narrates, when Clotel urged the master to move from one place to another, Brown inserted some statements that would highlight the anti-slavery theme of the novel. So, in the original text from Child, the line says â€Å"the slave mistress urged her master ‘to remove to France or England (Scweninger 64)†, but in the text of Brown, there is the insertion â€Å"where both her child would be free and where colour was not a crime (Brown 85). Horatio, the master responded to this suggesting her why not reamin her mistress even after he got married. To this, Brown added a text saying, â€Å"True, she was his slave; bones, and sinews had been purchased by his gold, yet she had the heart of a true woman† (Brown 112). Schweninger also points out that Brown inserted Clotel’s consideration of remaining as a mistress a criminal act (Schweninger 28). Another important matter about the novel is the choice of places to mention. Schweninger confirms the accuracy of the accounts in the place where Currer (Clote’s mother) was – Natchez (Schweninger 29). It was a place, according to Buckingham (from Schweninger 29) where gambling and all sorts of vices were rampant, but most especially, it was a place where people were cruel to slaves. Hence, it was also the site where a runaway slave was burned. Another place mentioned that can be noted for accuracy is Richmond, where Clotel’s daughter was sold. Richmond was, according to Marie Tyler-McGraw (in Schweninger 29) the center of slave trade. It was a powerful place, then, primarily because it was the center of slave brokerage. However, there was some mistake in Brown’s choice for the time when Clotel was caught in Richmond. According to Schweninger, Clotel could not have been caught during the time of the Turner uprising in 1831, because she was mentioning names of presidential candidates of 1839 (Schweninger 30). Yet, Schweninger argues that this â€Å"misplacement† is of no importance because what was being pointed out here was the she was accused of being a part of the uprising and that was why she was hiding in disguise (Schweninger 30. ). It clear here that Brown’s intention is to show that slaves, too, are humans, capable of upholding morality, and want to uphold morality. They want to do what is right and to be in a place where they can be free, but the people who hold them captives refuse to let them do what they believe is right. Slaves are capable of love and reason, but all that the people who own them see in them is flesh and blood, not human beings with a soul, heart and mind. They were treated as properties and not as members of the society. I believe it pays to go back to Brown’s own words that the institutionalization and rationalization of slavery stated with the people on top, so to stop slavery, then the â€Å"guilt† should be â€Å"fastened† to the people in the â€Å"higher circle† (Brown iv). When Horatio got married, his wife saw Clotel as a threat so she had her sold. She tried to escape by disguising herself many times. She so got caught by the slave hunters and later committed suicide. This is seen by Articlemyriad. om as the evidence of the idea that the novel does not present optimism or pessimism in whole (Analysis and Themes 1). There were optimistic moments such as those when she was able to escape, yet she still wound up dead by her own will. However, another critique sees the disguises done by Clotel in a different way. Berthold sees every change in costume as a representation of the adversities that Clotel had to face as a female slave (Berthold 19). Guilla argues that male s were connotative for slaves then, so any woman portrayed as a slave would be something new in literature. So, in Berthold’s explanations, he points out that each time Clotel changes costume, there was something to show about the society and something about her personality and slavery (Berthold 19), even making reference to Brown in the 1880 My Southern Home, â€Å"Extravagance in dress, is a great and growing evil with our people† (Brown 232). For instance, most of Clotel’s disguises were as a white male, just to get out of the situation she was in. It is shown here how people are also judged by their clothing, and so goes with the stereotyping, the gender roles and the power in the gender role. So, if we look into the disguises that Clotel had, she first disguised herself as Mr. Johnson, then as an Italian or Spanish. She actually faced more danger when she disguised herself because she was wearing the shoes of someone whose roles she was not familiar with. When she disguised as a Spanish or Italian, the tension must have been great for she had to speak Italian or Spanish if ever any Spanish or Italian spoke to her. It also, then put her life in danger. Yet, the dangerous attempt got her what she wanted. However, in the end, when she committed suicide, Berthold saw this as â€Å"undisguising† herself, one that ascertained freedom for her, for she died as herself, not as anyone else (Berthold 30). Giulla sees the arrangement of the plot as a product of the author’s effort to expose the life of a community of slaves and need â€Å"to structure the fictional text around the evolution of the individual fate (Guilla 639)† and in so doing, explain the shifts from romance to realism in a exhaustively detailed depiction of slavery and the made-up â€Å"re-unions of long lost relatives and lovers (Guilla 639). If we examine the novel, the members of the family were separated because they were sold to different masters and had different fates. They must have yearned to be with each other as a mother wants to be with her daughter and a daughter with her mother, but the cruelty of slavery kept them from being together, even to the point of their death. This brings us back t o the pessimistic ending that Articlemyriad is talking about. In fact, when one is a slave, what optimism can pone really expect, but a life of hard work and subhuman treatment unless, of course one meets an extraordinary master. But even in the case Clotel, she had romance with Horatio, but the man did not consider his affair with her as something valuable, for if he did, he would have agreed to take her to France or England. We now go back to what I said earlier that slaves were seen as flesh and blood but not as humans with soul and mind. Brown’s style in writing the novel presents and extraordinary mixture of fact and fiction. The story is based on a popular lore that the people then knew, yet he gave it a different touch that made the people understand what was going on. Instead of using male slaves as heroes in the story to enable them to engage in physical confrontations and rebellions, Brown used the female slave to show the beauty and morality behind the mulatto and blacks, that though they were slaves, they had good hearts, and they were good people capable of love and ion need of love, especially in need of love. A show of rebellion could have shown what the society would be if slavery continued, but that was something that was expected to happen (although he made a novel end with a civil war). Brown deemed it more important to show, not the violence that will rise if slavery does not stop, but the impact of slavery to the lives of the people who had been being treated as animals for decades and even centuries by people who profess that they are Christians. To this, it makes a reference to the situation when Clotel disguised herself as Spanish or Italian. These people are known for their devotion in Catholicism. Here, I want to point out that the people who profess that they love God are also the ones who have been showing cruelty to the weak. They were actually hypocrites in a time when religion was strictly followed. We can see from the accounts mentioned by Schweninger that Brown had good accounts in geographical locations, but seems to have had some problems with historical accuracy. However, whether he had problems with chronology of events or he intended them to be such to stress certain points (like in the case of Clotel’s capture during the Turner uprising), his work remains to be a living testament of what happened to the blacks and mulattos in the United States. His work remains to be a loud cry during his time, transcending the boundaries of time to portray the evils of slavery. After all that the blacks and mulattos have experienced, they only deserve to have a part in the land once said to be flowing with milk and honey. The land of opportunity belongs, not only to the whites but also the clacks, and their children. Clotel is a literary treasure, not only to the blacks, but also to the world. It is a legacy, which through it history-based narrative has shown the plight of people in a certain place at a certain point of time. It can be considered a dark age of history, but it is also proof that whenever there is something wrong, the right will also shine.