Gms Ch1

CH 1 – Introducing management Talent Intellectual capital is the collective brainpower or shared knowledge of a workforce that can be used to create value. (Competency x Commitment) A knowledge worker is someone whose mind is a critical asset to employers. Diversity Workforce diversity describes the composition of a workforce in terms of differences among people according to gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and capabilities. Prejudice is the display of negative, irrational attitudes toward members of diverse populations.Discrimination actively denies minority members the full benefits of organizational membership (ex: glass ceiling effect). Globalization – the worldwide interdependence of resource flows, product markets, and business competition Technology- technology is an crucial part of everyday business and helped with globalization communication. It has also added flexibility to workplaces through things like, telecommuting. Ethics â€⠀œ set of moral standards of what is â€Å"good† and â€Å"right† in one’s behaviour.Careers – skills should be portable and always of value. Portfolio workers are people who always have the skills needed to readily shift jobs and even careers. Some critical skills include mastering, networking, entrepreneurship, tech-savvy, marketing and passion for renewal Organizations in the new workplace What is an organization? Organizations are collection of people working together to achieve a common purpose. All organizations share a purpose of providing goods or services of value to customers and clients.Organizations as systems: organizations are open systems (they transform resource inputs from the environment into product outputs) that interact with their environments in the continual process of obtaining resource inputs and then transforming them into outputs in the form of finished goods and services for their customers. Organizational performance: When ope rations add value to the original cost of resource inputs, then 1) a business organization can earn a profit or 2) a non-profit organization can add wealth to society.A way to tell is through productivity which measures the quantity and quality of outputs relative to the cost of inputs. Performance effectiveness is an output measure of task or goal accomplishment. Performance efficiency is an input measure of the resource costs associated with goal accomplishments. Productivity = effective and efficient performance. Changing nature of organizations: Organizational trends and transitions: Renewed belief in human capital: demands of the new economy place premiums on high-involvement and participatory work settings that rally the knowledge, experience, and commitment of all members.Demise of â€Å"command-and-control†: traditional hierarchical structures with â€Å"do as I say† bosses are proving too slow, and costly to do well in today’s competitive environment. E mphasis on teamwork: driven teamwork which pools talents for creative problem solving. Pre-eminence of technology: new opportunities appear with each development in computer and information technology; they continually change the way organizations operate and how people work.Embrace of networking: organizations are networked for intense, real-time communication and coordination, internally among parts and external with partners, contractors, suppliers and customers New workforce expectations: a new generation of workers brings to the workplace less tolerance for hierarchy, more informality, and more attention to performance merit than to status and seniority. Concern for work-life balance: As society increases in complexity, workers are forcing organizations to pay more attention to balance in the often-conflicting demands of work and personal affairs.Focus on speed: everything moves fast, so those who get products to market first have an advantage, work is now expected to be done b oth well and in a timely manner. Organizational Environment Dynamic forces and the general environment: General environment of organizations consists of all external conditions (economic, legal-political, technological, socio-cultural and natural environmental conditions) that set the context for managerial decision-making. Economic conditions: some of these influence customer spending, resource supplies and investment capital that is crucial for managers to recognize.Legal-Political conditions: monitor changes to understand the trends that can affect the regulation and oversight of businesses. Internet censorship is the deliberate blockage and denial of public access to information posted on the Internet. Technological conditions: technology is only evolving, so you must be up-date with it. Socio-cultural conditions: these conditions take meaning as norms, customers and social values on matters like ethics, human rights, gender roles and lifestyles. All such changes have consequenc es for how organizations are managed.Natural environment conditions: going â€Å"green† is one of the impacts/changes we have seen in the past few years. Public concern to such matters changes the way organizations will run. Sustainable business is when firms operate in ways that both meet the needs of customers and protect or advance the well-being of our natural environment. Sustainable innovation creates new products and production methods that have reduced environmental impact. Stakeholders and the specific environment: Specific environment (task environment) includes the people and groups with whom an organization interacts and conducts business with.Members of the specific environment are often described as stakeholders, who are the persons, groups and institutions directly affect by an organization. Value creation is the creation of value for and satisfying needs of stakeholders. Competitive Advantage: refers to something that an organization does extremely well, a cor e competency that clearly sets it apart from competitors and gives it an advantage over them in the marketplace. Competitive advantage is linked with strategic positioning which occurs when an organization does different things or the same things in different ways from its major competitors.Competitive advantage can be achieved in the follow ways: Achieved through costs- finding ways to operate with lower costs and earn profits Through quality- create products/services that are demonstrably and consistently higher quality for customers Through delivery- finding ways to outperform competitors by delivering products and services to customers factored and consistently on time, and to continue to develop timely new products Through flexibility – finding ways to adjust and tailor products and services to fit customer needs in ways that are difficult for one’s competitors to matchEnvironmental Uncertainty: means that there is a lack of complete information regarding what exi sts and what developments may occur about the environment. There are two dimensions of environmental uncertainty: 1) Degree of complexity or the number of different factors in the environment – an environment is either classified as relatively simple or complex. 2) Rate of change in and among these factors – environment classified as stable or dynamic. High uncertainty environments require firms to have flexibility and adaptability.Organizational effectiveness: is sustainable high performance in using resources to accomplish a mission and objectives. Organizational effectiveness in different viewpoints: Systems resource approach: looks at the input side and defines organizational effectiveness in terms of success in acquiring needed resources from the organization’s environment Internal process approach: looks at the transformation process and defines organizational effectiveness in terms of how efficiently resources are utilized to product goods and services.Go al approach: looks at the output side and defines organizational effectiveness in terms of how to measure achievement of key operating objectives. Strategic constituencies approach: looks at the external environment and defines organizational effectiveness in terms of the organization’s impact on key stakeholders and their interests. Managers in the new workplace What is a manager? A manager is a person who supports, activates, and is responsible for the work of others. Levels of Managers: Top managers guide the performance of an organization as a whole or for one of its major parts (CEO, presidents, and vice presidents).They also create and communicate long-term vision, and ensure that strategies and objectives are consistent with the organization’s purpose and mission. Middle managers report to top managers and oversee the large departments or divisions. Team leaders report to middle managers and supervise non-managerial workers. Top managers guide the performance of an organization as a whole or for one of its major parts (CEO, presidents, and vice presidents). They also create and communicate long-term vision, and ensure that strategies and objectives are consistent with the organization’s purpose and mission.Middle managers report to top managers and oversee the large departments or divisions. Team leaders report to middle managers and supervise non-managerial workers. Type of Managers: Line managers are responsible for work that makes a direct contribution to the organization’s outputs ex: retail manager. Staff managers use special technical expertise to advise and support the efforts of line workers. Functional managers are responsible for one area such as finance, marketing, production, personnel, accounting, or sales.General Managers are responsible for complex, multifunctional units. Managers are sometimes called administrators in public or non-profit organizations. Managerial Performance: Accountability is the requirement to show performance results to a supervisor. Effective managers help others achieve high performance and satisfaction at work. Quality of work life is the overall quality of human experiences in the workplace. Changing nature of managerial work: Upside-down pyramid is a concept: operating workers are at the top, serving customers, while managers are at the bottom support them.Customers and Clients – ultimate beneficiaries of the organization’s efforts ^Serve^ Operating workers – Do work directly effecting customer/client satisfaction ^Support^ Team leaders and managers- Help operating workers do their jobs and solve problems ^Support^ Top managers – Keep organization’s mission and strategies clear The Management Process Functions of Management: management is the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the use of resources to accomplish performance goals. These steps don’t have to be accomplished in a linear fashion.Plannin g: the process of setting objectives and determining what should be done to accomplish them. Managers identify desired results and ways to achieve them. Organizing: the process of assigning tasks, allocating resources, and coordinating work activities. Managers can turn plans into actions by defining jobs, assigning personnel, and supporting them with technology and other resources. Leading: the process of arousing people’s enthusiasm and inspiring efforts to achieve goals (plans and objectives).Managers can build commitments to a common vision, encourage activities that support goals, and influence others to do their best work on the organization’s behalf. Controlling: the process of measuring work performance, comparing results with objectives, and taking action to ensure desired results and corrective action if it is needed. Managers can maintain active contact with people in the course of their work, gather and interpret reports on performance, and use this informa tion to make constructive changes.Managerial Roles and Activities Managerial Roles: The roles fall into three categories: informational, interpersonal and decisional roles. Informational roles involve the giving, receiving, and analyzing of information. Fulfilling these roles involve monitoring, the scanning for information; disseminator: someone who shares the information, and a spokesperson- acting as official communicator. Interpersonal roles involve interactions with people inside and outside the work unit. A manager fulfilling these roles will be a figurehead- the odelling and setting forth key principles and policies; a leader- providing direction and instilling enthusiasm; and a link coordinating with others. Decisional roles involve using information to make decisions to solve problems or address opportunities. A manager fulfilling these roles will be a disturbance handler- dealing with problems and conflicts; a resource allocator- handling budgets and distributing resources ; a negotiator- making deals and forging agreements; and an entrepreneur- developing new initiatives.Managerial Activities: they are always busy with many things like meetings, problem solving etc. They work long hours, intense work pace, work at fragmented and varied tasks, work with many communication media and accomplish their work largely through interpersonal relationships. Managerial Agendas and Networks: Agenda setting develops action priorities for accomplishing goals and plans. Networking is the process of creating positive relationships with people who can help advance agendas. Networking creates social capital which is a capacity to get things done with support and help of others.Essential Managerial Skills: Learning is a change in behaviour that results from experience. Learning in management is focussed on developing skills and competencies to deal with the complexities of human behaviour and problem solving in organizations. Lifelong learning is continuous learning fro m daily experiences. A skill is the ability to translate knowledge into action that results in desired performance. Categories of skills of managers: Technical skills: the ability to use a special skills or expertise to perform particular tasks.Human and Interpersonal skills: the ability to work well in cooperation with other people. Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage ourselves and our relationships effectively. Conceptual and Analytical skills: the ability to think critically and analytically to diagnose and solve complex problems. Developing Managerial Competencies: High concept is the ability to see the big picture, identify patterns and combine ideas. High touch is the ability to understand and enjoy others in the pursuit of a purpose. Managerial competency is a skill-based capability for high performance in a management job.Here are some high-concept and high-touch competencies: Communication: ability to share ideas and findings clearly in written and oral expressi on—includes writing, oral presentation, giving/receiving feedback, technology utilization. Teamwork: ability to work effectively as a team member and team leader—includes team contribution, team leadership, conflict management, negotiation, consensus building. Self-management: ability to evaluate oneself, modify behaviour, and meet performance obligations—includes ethical reasoning and behaviour, personal flexibility, tolerance for ambiguity, performance responsibility.Leadership: ability to influence and support others to perform complex and vague tasks—includes diversity awareness, global understanding, project management, strategic action. Critical thinking: ability to gather and analyze information for creative problem solving—includes problem solving, judgement and decision-making, information gathering and interpretation, creativity/innovation. Professionalism: ability to sustain a positive impression, instill confidence, and maintain career advancement—includes personal presence, personal initiative, and career management.

Film techniques

A shot Of a person landing to set a bomb in a building would for instance require the film maker to use a close up or better still an extreme close up to show the tense feeling in the characters' eye. Using a long shot in this scene will not clearly bring out the message since the long shot does not reveal details or emotions. Any motion picture is made up of basic elements of a sequence referred to as the shots. This paper illustrates how various shots are used in film making to form a sequence and to convey different messages.Extreme long shot It is usually referred to as an establishing shot. This is because it orients the ewer to the location. It is an opening shot that is used to tell the viewer the exterior environment that the film is taking place. It therefore describes the location of the scene that could be the outside buildings, a geographical landscape of a town or city among other locations. It normally reveals landscapes. Usually a viewer cannot clearly see a specific o bject in this kind of shot though he or she sees the environment.It answers the question ‘Where?. The extreme long shot can also be used to set the atmosphere of the scene. An extreme shot of an arid land with wind and dust blowing up into the air an tell the audience that the place is a dry atmosphere probably a desert scene. The shot can also be used to show a broad range of action. For example a battle of soldiers fighting each other can be captured using this shot so that no action is missed. Every action and element on set is to be seen since each MIS -en- scene tells a story.The actors on field fighting create suspense, the color on set could be used to relate the environment with a familiar one in the viewers' mind, the props could be used to effect the mood and so every miser-I-scene is captured using the extreme long shot. It is also known as the wide shot. Eng Shot (L S) It is usually taken with a wide-angle lens and at times referred to as the full shot. If the subj ect is a human being the shot usually display from head to toe without revealing much of the surroundings. This kind of shot usually establishes a relationship between the subject and its environment.In most cases it answers the question ‘Who' because it reveals the subject to the viewer. The shot identifies the character in the story. It is used to create an illusion of reality in the audiences' mind. It depicts an image in a manner that ill occur in real life. Take for instance when in real life a visitor walks in an office. The human eye just like the lens of the camera will first tale a wide look of the entire office, before looking at Mr.. X seated in the office chair then lastly the eye will start looking at small details such as the pen on the desk, files on the shelves and other tiny details.A long shot may at times be used to demean the subject because the subject appears smaller than the surrounding. Generally it sets in motion the audience's perception of time, plac e and logical action of the scene that is about to take place. Medium Shot (MS) A medium shot is usually used in conversations to establish the relationship between characters on stage. The shot does not demean the subject on the contrary it places the audience on equal footing with the subject. It therefore answers the question ‘what' because it shows the relationship between actors and events in the story.If the subject is a human being the shot shows from waist up to the head. A normal lens is used for shooting the medium shot. It is also used to smoothly bridge the jump between the L'S and the M. S so as to create an illusion of a mutinous Story in the mind of the viewer. A continuous Story depicts reality and leads to greater understanding of the story line. A two shot A two shot is a type of medium shot used in dialogue scene between two actors by having them both in the frame as they carry on their conversation. It is a common shot in interviews.It consists of two actor s standing or sitting next to each other or a variation of an over-dosshouses shot where one actor's back is closer to the camera than the other actor facing the camera. Close-up (CUE) It is the heart of the picture. This shot shows a part of the subject. For example, a close up of a hand of a human body or face or leg, or wristwatch on the arm. It is used to emphasize a character's emotion and can effectively be used to create suspense in the viewers' mind. This type of shot can also be used to show intimacy and warmth.The shot takes the viewer to the mind of the character and this way the audience is made to feel comfortable with the character on set. Extreme Close-Up (SEC) This shot is taken using a telephoto lens and is tighter than a close up shot. It shows a small detail that would otherwise be missed in a wider shot. It is armorial referred to as a detail shot that shows emotions to the audience. The SEC is also used to create some emotion in the viewer% eyes. For instance a scene of a person crying, this sad emotion will clearly be depicted if the viewer notices the tears falling from a subject's eyes.In most cases it answers the question ‘To what effect' because it depicts emotions. An extreme close-up can also be used to bring about the dramatic aspect of a story. For instance two characters quarrelling in a film, the editor might decide to use an SEC of a knife on the table to create anxiety in the viewer's mind. The viewer is left anticipating what will happen next in the conflict and how the knife will be used. The SEC can also be used to achieve the editing principle of duration and pace. It is used in creating high tempo in a story.For instance when the storyline is approaching end of its climbing action, the duration of the shots are usually short and the action is ramping up, this is the time when an SEC is effectively used. They set up the pace of the film. For example a scene that involves police chasing kidnappers, the editor would us e SEC combined with other shots but cut at a fast speed to intensify the action. In a film that's mainly a documentary focusing on nature, an extreme close up is used to show viewers even the tiniest of creatures such as crawling insects. This is because it tends to enlarge the image.A good example is The National Geographic documented series that uses the SEC to capture images that are out Of eyes reach unless one uses the telephoto lens. Reaction shot A reaction shot such as a smiling lady would depict emotions to the viewer during a conversation on set. This type of shots are also used to tell a characters' trait . Let can also be a cut away or cut in. A cut away is a shot that is not part of the main action but is related to the scene. For example a shot of a clock on the wall when people are talking in a room is a cut away.It can also be a cut -in which on the other hand is related to the main action. For example a shot that's a close up of a lady grin her face as she prepares a fish meal and another one of her hands washing the fish. These two types of reaction shots are used to add interest in the story and to kill monotony of action. The eye likes variety. They shot helps the viewer not to get bored as they add interest to the story. Arc shot A shot in which the camera is usually placed at a higher angle, and it rotates the subject in a semi-circle.This shot reveals new details about the background that the subject is standing on and is effectively used to glue the audience to the scene. The shot creates a dramatic feel to the scene while drawing the audience attention. Dutch shot This is a shot where the camera is deliberately tilted on its side, to create an oblique angle. It is often used to suggest disorientation, to create a dramatic effect, to portray uneasiness, to create a frantic mood or to show a harassers' intoxication. Was commonly used by German Expressionism.It is usually used to show the psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed. Camera angles can also be used to give a variety of shots that pass a message to the viewer. A camera angle refers to the relationship between the camera and the object being shot. They are used to draw emotional feelings to the audience, to help the audience in judging the character on set and even their personality. The Bird's-Eye view A scene is shot from directly overhead. The subject is made to look insignificant and very small.The shot creates an illusion in the viewers' mind that a character is powerless and out of control of the situation. Filmmakers use this shot in horror scenes to show a victims' desperate situation. For example a character running from murderers may want to hide in a basement of a building out of fear of being killed; the compression will take his/ her shot using the birds view shot to show the desperate state. A High angle shot This shot usually looks slightly down upon a subject. It is usually shot using a crane, a compression standing o n a hill, or on a raised surface.The subjects appear smaller than they actually are in real life or under normal eye level view. Just like the birds eye view shot, it is normally used to create an illusion in the viewers' mind that the character is powerless. For example a scene of a mum scolding a child, the child can be taken using a high angle to show the viewer that the mum is more powerful than the child. A low angle shot This shot looks up to a subject and it gives power to the subject. It is normally taken with a camera placed lower than the subject's eye or as low as the ground (The worms view).

Response to Progress Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Response to Progress Report - Essay Example Also I would like to see the questionnaire form, so please send it to me a.s.a.p. What exact periodicals have you chosen for your secondary research? And have you surveyed the representatives of government agencies? Taking into account significance of the analyzed problem, we are planning to invite directors of different organizations, public agents and independent foreign guests from Germany, who are able to be in our city on December 14th, 2002. Therefore, let’s put the date of presentation forward on 15th of December at 10 a.m. in conference hall. In this respect, I am waiting for your draft form of the report on December, 10th. Due to the importance of the impending event, there are some instructions, which I want you to follow. Please pay attention to health centers and hospitals and represent brief information about their performance and financial indicators. In addition, provide detailed analysis of statistical findings in our region compared to neighboring areas. Do not forget to explain the procedure of charity and main directions of its usage. Give instructions concerning agencies within our organization, which need charitable donations drastically. Furthermore, after the presentation it will be useful to spread business cards with contact information of our agencies to all guests. In addition, I would like to get some recommendations from you, suggesting how to solve the problem of decline in charitable donations. Please show me preliminary draft with any possible propositions by the end of the next week. Also in two weeks I would like to make a public action that will raise people’s awareness and propagandize charity. I want you to draw a plan of this event, displaying information about all requirements for materials, needed quantity of assistants and

Policy Sciences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Policy Sciences - Essay Example It was more often that the advisors did not have any 'consideration of intellectual underpinnings, honesty, cumulative knowledge or independent evaluations' of the political and social scenario. There were also no recordings of the decisions and the reasons for such decisions written down. Most of advises, according to DeLeon, remained 'particularistic, ad hoc exercises' taken up when something was needed by the prince or the monarch. Documenting the decisions and supporting ideas were done during the later half of the nineteenth century. Subsequent growth of the policy science was based on the foundations and concepts that stemmed from these days. During and after World War II, there were major upheavals that were taking place all over the world. The concept of the nation state had taken firmer shape in the world and so did the concept of independence or freedom. The political economy and the political science itself underwent major changes in the way decisions were made. ... The advisors had to change their color based on the rising trend in these nation states and those states that were coming up just then. The fight against and for separatism is another major change in the thought process to become an independent state or nation! This was a serious motivator for the change in policy sciences in line with the thoughts that entered the circle. Similarly, the changes in the economic scenario and the rise of the new economic and political power in the form of the United States also meant that the entire political scene has to be reworked. While there are some uprisings that were anti imperialistic and others socialistic, all that it meant was that the advisors had a different role to play4. The social requirements and the needs of the people, had to be reflected to the monarch or to the heads of the government through these advisors or duly elected members of the parliament or governing council. Immediately after the World War II, the impact on the advisory policy took a major turn5. With more stress on economic growth and industrial growth, the rights of the labor and the people became more pronounced. In all the nations, the monarchies gave way to socialistic and democratic systems that took its power from the people. The advisory policy made a complete U turn here and slowly but steadily moved away from the monarchy and the power center shifted to the ministers or the advisory boards. And the major turn in the policy is the twist that could be visibly seen in terms of ethics and humanitarian issues6. Equality of human beings, racial equality and equality of nations were the main thrust of most of the policy advisors in this period of the policy making history. War on Poverty up to late 1970s War on Poverty was again

Segregation along gender lines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Segregation along gender lines - Essay Example Horizontally, women are disproportionately clustered into a narrow range of jobs that are regularly regarded to be ‘ghetto occupations’. Ghetto occupations have been classified as those which are female dominated and of low status, poor pay, with narrow job content, and that have few prospects of promotion. Introduction Occupational segregation is an obstacle used in the workplace to prevent women from realising their full potential in the market. It can also prevent employers from finding the most qualified personnel to fill job vacancies. Occupational segregation negatively affects the national as well as global economy. In Britain, many female workers are affected by vertical as well as horizontal segregation. This basically means that female workers tend to hold different jobs from the male workers which are of lower status and have lower pay packets. Female workers also tend to be directed towards industries that have a huge demand for workers who only work part tim e. Occupations which are usually peopled by female workers, and which tend to have low pay are often referred to as ‘pink-collar’ jobs or even ‘ghetto’ occupations. Causes of Segregation in the Workplace Limited Access to Career Options Gender stereotyping experienced by women during their formative years can affect their choice of occupation (Van Langen, Bosker and Dekkers, 2006). Gender stereotyping includes implicitly and explicitly expressed social attitudes within a person’s community. ... Even in developed nations like Britain, these attitudes are still present. When women are socialised to take on the ‘helping professions’ such as teaching, nursing, and secretarial work, it affects their decisions about the type of university courses they choose (Tracey and Nicholl, 2007). There are other institutional as well as structural barriers like biased marketing which discourage women from taking advantage of measures such as vocational training programmes for traditionally male jobs. Corporate culture and practice Other realities that compel women to choose to work in occupations that may not afford them large salaries or even a chance for promotion is because of the lack of the implementation of female-friendly practices in many corporate organisations. There are many organisations today that have instituted the acceptance of progressive employment agendas as one of their main objectives (Wynarczyk, 2007). However, this is not often implemented in the corporat e culture. Many women working in corporate organisations have to handle the reality of long hours which leave the worker with no time for his or her family, for example. The abilities of women are also not often viewed as strengths but as good personal skills. For example, the role of teaching young children has traditionally been occupied by women. Pre-school teachers play a very important role in society and are virtually responsible for teaching children all the social skills that are necessary to function in society. However, their importance is downplayed and their salaries are not at par with their services. This means that female workers face constraints in being

Dramatic literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Dramatic literature - Essay Example The extent of the sin is reflected by the severity of the resultant fate. Both the plays explore the genre of tragedy in a very plausible manner. Following is a sequential comparison of both the plays. Sophocles: Oedipus the King In Oedipus the Kind, Sophocles emphasizes upon the inevitability of fate. A man cannot escape his fate notwithstanding his struggles. Even if a man sets out on a path to escape his fate, it may later be disclosed that the path was actually leading him to his fate. Same may be the theme in this play. The play represents that the lives of humans depend upon the choices they make in their lifetimes. If the choices are good, they will be rewarded with good fate; and if the choices are evil, they will be given a similar fate. However, in case of Oedipus, his fate was decided at the time of his inception (Frank, 5). He was never given an option to change his path. A prophecy was disclosed at the time of Oedipus’s conception and it was this fate that determi ned an uneven life for Oedipus with tragic consequences. The way the role of fate has been emphasized in this play is highly plausible. All the successes and failures of Oedipus’s life depended upon his underlying fate. The prophecy disclosed that he was bound to kill his own father and then marry his own mother, and his whole life led him to that one inevitable moment when he fulfills his destiny. Upon hearing the prophecy, his father attempted to get the infant Oedipus killed and he had several narrow escapes from death. His mother was supposed to kill him but due to her motherly love, she was unable to do so. The servant, instead of killing him by hand, decides to leave the infant at mountain top to die due to exposure to severe weather. After escaping death once already, Oedipus does it again when a shepherd finds him and saves him from the mountain top. This is where the actual tragedy of life decided by his fate starts to unfold. The shepherd takes Oedipus to Corinth wh ere he is taken by King Polybus. Oedipus is raised believing that King Polybus and his wife Merope are his actual parents. He remains unaware of this fact throughout his life. This is one of the ways of fate through which he is led towards his ultimate destiny of killing his own father and marrying his own mother. The way every single event of Oedipus’s life has been depicted in the play emanates his underlying fate. No matter how far he gets from his actual parents, he comes across them in the most unlikely of circumstances and fulfills his destiny without even realizing the truth. He ultimately kills his own father on his way to Thebes and takes over the throne. He marries the King’s widow who was his own mother and he bears several children. He remains satiated until the truth unfolds. He comes across the truth when he is teased by the following riddle:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Revealed at last, bro ther and father both   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   to the children he embraces, to his mother   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   son and husband both- he sowed the loins   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   his father sowed, he spilled his father’s blood. (1313). The full force of the underlying tragedy hits when truth is revealed. There is a mix of pain, grief, and loathing. The play touches the boundaries of tragic storytelling by

Discussion for African American study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Discussion for African American study - Essay Example Today, beauty values, as well as white European features over the others especially on women’s appearances. I choose to discuss the constructs with skin color, as well as the beauty discourse of women, as beauty concepts are usually directed mostly to the women. A lingering question on my mind is â€Å"Are white women beautiful or is it the society that makes them?† According to Gilman (2001), beauty is an appearance created for women to use as a mechanism to boost their self-worth (p. 255). Dark women are particularly exposed to the effects of Europeans standards of beauty because the European ideals emphasize on skin color and hair texture. This automatically excludes the black women especially the one with the dark skin (Bryant, Para1). This is noted because mostly in the United States, the main stream beauty ideal is exclusively white, making it difficult for women with dark skin. Although there are women with dark skin who have made it in the United States for example; Jennifer Hudson, the media and the culture of these women have been ‘white washed’ with lighter colored, straight hair, lots of makeup, and artificial eye contacts among others so as they would resemble the white women (Admin, Para 5). Even though a woman is recognized for something else rather than their beauty, the magazines, or the media still feel that they need to white wash her in order to feature her image. Pecolas insanity and obsession with blue eyes still is pertinent in the United States. According to Valdivia (2000), the people of the United States consider individual with blue eyes as beautiful. The society has always believed in the idea that the white are better than the dark colored, thus preferring the blue-eyed individuals (p. 146). It is known that only the white people can acquire blue eyes naturally. The dark colored people often are

Major Theoretical Perspectives Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Major Theoretical Perspectives - Assignment Example The main question which is put forward by functionalist sociologists is that how is a society kept close together at all times and how is its order maintained? To begin with functionalists concentrate upon two ideas that are closely related to their idea of how societies are held together. Firstly, how is order maintained in our society, and secondly, what are the major reasons behind the stability which exists in our society. Functionalists do not focus upon the differences found in different parts of the society. They in fact focus on how the shared norms, values and mores help create social solidarity and cohesion. (Browne, 2006) The ideas of functionalists are based on the concept of organic analogy. These ideas were initially discussed by patron sociologists like Auguste Comte and Emile Durkheim. They explained that the society was like a human body. If there was pain in one part of the body it will affect the functioning of the whole society. Therefore, it was necessary for the society to be in equilibrium. Durkheim ("The Rules of Sociological Method", 1895) emphasizes on two concepts. The first concept is of social solidarity. Solidarity is based upon such things as common culture, socialization, basic values and norms. It is these common ideas which bring about social cohesion in the society thereby, giving it the form of a human body. The second concept is that of collective conscience - the "external expression" of the collective will of people living in a society. This represents the social forces that help bind people together (to integrate them into the collective behavior that is society). It can be likened to the "will" of society. The most popular functionalist of America, Talcott Parsons (1951), focused on the behavior of the people while under the influence of social institutions. For Parsons, the key to the survival of the society was the shared norms and values held by its individual members. Deviation from those norms leads to

Human Resource Management - Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Human Resource Management - Case Study - Essay Example Complicating the problem is the problems faced in the continuing task of recruiting and hiring qualified and experienced workers out of a pool of individuals that are almost nomadic in their habit of moving around. The first step to effective recruiting is to fully understand the type of employees the store needs and what skills and knowledge the employees need to succeed. Skills are those abilities needed to perform the job while knowledge is what the employee needs to know to perform the job. The second step is to identify potential employees who have the necessary skills and knowledge. Here the store needs to draw people in from outside its traditional pools like former employees, volunteers, homemakers, students, family members of present employees, older workers, people with mental or physical disabilities, ethnic minorities, people new to the community, people looking for part-time work ,people currently on welfare or assistance. The next step is to how to reach the people in these groups and let them know about opportunities at the store. Traditional methods such as job postings or classified advertising should not be ignored but the store should be prepared to expand beyond this especially when the store is trying to reach groups of people who have not been reached through traditional recruiting techniques. Here are some creative ways to notify people about employment opportunities: Meet representatives from minority agencies within the community, post notices at youth centers, advertise on bulletin boards, at the supermarket, library, health club, child care center, family restaurants, etc. ,place fliers on car windshields in parking lots, distribute leaflets at immigrant settlement centers, have an older worker to speak at a senior

Weimar Constitution Essay Example for Free

Weimar Constitution Essay To what extent was the effective government of Germany in the years 1919–33 handicapped by the nature of the Weimar Constitution? It is for certain that the Weimar Constitution had an impact in the effective government of Germany in the years of 1919-33. However, it can be argued from both sides whether this constitution had a negative or positive impact on the effective government. One could say that the constitution was a dominant factor in the ineffectiveness of the government, while on the other hand it could be argued that ineptness of the government is due to other external factors such as defeat and the depression A major flaw in the Weimar constitution was the proportional representation electoral system, which was an attempt to become more democratic. Democracy comes at the price of a strong government as it is usually difficult to form a stable government in a democracy. This can be manifested by the fact that in the mere period of 14 years, there were 21 different governments and 13 chancellors. This shows that the Weimar government lacked stability and strength which would make it almost impossible for the government to be effective and tackle the problems. How could the government solve the difficult troubles that Germany was facing, when they could not even manage to cooperate and unite? Since, proportional representation is one of the fairest electoral systems, it was impossible to form a strong single party government who had a good hold in the Reichstag and only weak coalitions which could not agree upon a decision was formed. Weak coalitions meant ineffective and incompetent governments. On the other hand, it could be said that the Weimar governments were not as unstable as it is claimed to be. The Weimar constitution has produced effective and stable governments such as the grand coalition which was seen as a strong government and it stood for the longest amount of time. Also, despite the numerous changes in government, the base parties of the coalition has remained the same as the Z, DVP and DVP provide the foundation of the coalition most of the time. This exhibits stability among the governments as the coalitions do not go thr ough drastic changes in the parties. Therefore, it could be claimed that the Weimar constitution did not handicap the government from being effective. Fair representation of the votes meant that extremist parties thrived under the PR electoral system. Votes translated into fair representation of seats in the Reichstag which enabled the extremist parties such as the Nazi’s to have the majority of the  seats from the July 1932 elections. This made it almost impossible for the government to be effective as they could not pass legislation through the Reichstag as they did not have the co-operation from the largest party. However, it could be argued that the rise of extremism was due to the Wall Street crash in 1929. There is a key correlation between the economic crisis and the successes of extremist parties. Indeed the Nazis only achieved 3% of the vote in 1928 yet in 1933 they received the majority of seats in the Reichstag from any lone party, over 200. If the depression had not occurred, then extremist parties would not have thrived electorally which in turn, would mean that the government would not have been handicapped in the Reichstag. Hence it could be argued that the ineffectiveness of the government towards the late 1920s was due to an external factor as up until the depression, extremist parties were not a problem to the government. The Weimar constitution did not handicap the governments in the sense that it granted Article 48 which the president could use to pass through any decrees in an ‘emergency’. The governments used this to their favour and passed through many legislation and decrees. Since the chancellor had the support of the President as he was appointed by the President, the governments used Article 48 to be effective. This can be seen when Bruning used it to pass his finance bill in 1930, without him using the Article 48, he would not have been able to pass his finance bill or be effective. Henceforth it could be argued that the Weimar Constitution actually gave the governments a chance to be effective in a difficult situation. On the other hand this constant use of the emergency presidential powers in 1930-33 led to the rise of Hitler as the chancellor which spelled doom for the Weimar government. This extensive use of the emergency presidential powers also displays the ineptness of the government as they could not do anything on their own and had to keep relying on Hindenburg. To avoid this constant use of the Article 48 and produce a truly strong government, Hitler was appointed as his party had a majority in the Reichstag and so the government would be able to pass legislation through their own strength. So, the Weimar constitution could even be credited with the fall of Weimar Republic along with the government as it was unable to produce a string of consistent strong and stable governments. In conclusion, I think that the Weimar constitution played a significant role in the handicapping of the governments as under the PR  electoral system, it was impossible to produce a stable single party governmen t. The electoral system only produced coalitions with uncooperative parties which made dysfunctional governments. This meant they had to rely upon Article 48 too much which led to the rise of Hitler and end of the Weimar era. On the other hand, it could be claimed that the coalitions were not as unstable as they were claimed to be with the base parties almost always being the same. Also, I believe that the depression was the most imperative factor in the ineffectiveness of the government as their support was sapped by the extremist parties which led to the rise of Hitler and also it created an impossible situation to get out of for the governments. Without the depression, it is most likely that Hitler would not have risen to power.

A hybrid manager

A hybrid manager Introduction A Hybrid manager can defined as a person who possesses strong technical skills and adequate business knowledge or vice versa. He should have the required skills needed in the technical as well as the management aspect. Along with that, he should also possess the management competences like communication skills, negotiation skills and also he should be able to motivate others working under him. A Hybrid manager should be able to reduce the gap between the business and technical aspects of the organization and build it with his expertise. Researchers have time and again suggested that any organisation which has business and technical department working in tandom with each other has an advantage over other organisations whose technical and business department is not integrated. And this role of integration of the business and technical department is performed by the Hybrid managers. History In 1989 Michael Earl defined the term ‘Hybrid manager as ‘People with strong ethical values and adequate business knowledge and vice versahybrids are people with technical skills able to work in user areas doing a line or functional job but adept at developing and supplementing IT application ideas ( Michael Earl, 1989). In 1990 Colin Palmer [1], Chairman of the British Computer Society Task Group on hybrid managers, wrote: â€Å"The (hybrid manager) term was coined by Michael Earl, Director of OXIIM at Templeton College, Oxford, as a result of a number of pieces of research that he and his colleagues had been undertaking. They noticed that in all the significant cases of successful implementation of information technology for competitive advantage or for achieving major change in organisations, there seemed to be a person at the heart of the development who displayed certain experience and characteristics. These were: an understanding of the business and what was required within the business, combined with a technical competence that enabled them to understand what was required in technical terms, including the scope of what was being planned. In addition to this, they displayed two types of organisational skills. They knew how to get about the business, and this implied that they knew the busines s and the people around it well, and they knew how to get things done, possessing a set of excellent social skills to listen, understand, negotiate and persuade† (Colin Palmer,1990). Information Technology International technology (IT) is considered as one of major and important routes for competitive advantage in todays modern business world. Hence, any company which lacks in IT has a disadvantage in comparison to those who possess this advantage. It in todays world is a pre-requisite for any firm. But, there are issues which are faced by IT and this makes it risky as well. According to a recent survey it was found out that the three main issues which are faced by IT are : Integrating IT with business Delivery on time and within budget Cost. The biggest problem for any organization lies in the integration of IT and Business. In business, one has to meet all the requirement of its client right from the quality of the product to the delivery date , the cost factor etc. All these things should be taken into consideration . IT cannot stand alone. It needs the support of business management. There are many questions which needs to be answered. Questions like the failure of software development projects meeting the requirements of it users or the product being not delivered on time or the increase in cost . The problem lies in both the departments, technical and management. There is a huge gap between both the parties which does not allow them to work efficiently. The increase in this gap is a matter of concern for the companies. Hence, any company which wants to succeed needs to bridge this gap. The Hybrid managers , who have an understanding of business and IT, can help bridge these gaps and smoothen the path oh project management and software development. And herein lies the need for hybrid managers. Characteristics of a successful Hybrid Manager Self-motivated/like being challenged A successful hybrid is self-motivated person. He does not need any external factors to motivate him/her. His motivation lies within. Whenever any kind of problem or complication arises, they have the ability to make decisions. A successful hybrid manager is the one can take care of issues his own. They set high goals and always look to reach at the top. They have the confidence to step out of their comfort zone and try new ideas and strategies.They will never give up. If stuck somewhere, they will try for various options to get out of it. Intelligent in the broad sense A successful hybrid has very good technical skills. At the same time he also has a good knowledge about the business. He is intelligent in the sense that he has a very good understanding of of his job. Coping with conflicts He is not afraid of difficulties or problems. He is a self-motivated personality and hence he has the ability to cope with pressure. He can take care of any issues. Even if he is stuck at something, he will try and come out of it. Flexible Flexibility is another very important trait of a successful hybrid. He is open to change and new ideas. He adapts quickly to any environment, changing conditions or any other obstacles in his working. Adjusting to new and different conditions and situations is extremely vital for any successful hybrid. Energetic and persistent He is full of energy . He keeps the work environment very lively and makes it easy to work. Having a lively and relaxed environment is extremely important for any organisation in order to prosper. It helps the employees to work efficiently. Persistence is another important virtue of a successful hybrid manager. Along with being energetic, he should also be persistent so that it maintains a proper balance in the organisation. Good communication skills Good communication skills are the key for executing management skills. Good communication skills helps in having open conversations with the team members and avoids any misunderstanding within the group. It helps in conveying the correct message in a correct manner. And a successful hybrid possesses these skills. Leadership A successful hybrid manager is a very good leader. He possess the skills required by a good leader. A good leader is not only a self motivator but he also motivates others by his actions and words. A good leader is confident and supportive. He is always available to his team. He eludes positivity and leads by examples. Creativity A successful hybrid is very creative. He has a vision for the organisation and he strives hard to transform that vision into reality. Innovative Innovation is another very important quality in a successful hybrid. Along with creativity he also needs to be innovative in his approach towards the organisation. He needs to develop new and innovative ideas in order to help the organisation prosper and achieve its goals. Bridging the gap between Technical department and management This is the most important work of a hybrid manager. And a successful hybrid manager is the one who is able to bridge this gap and help maintain the balance between these two departments. Integration of these two departments is the virtue of a successful hybrid manager. The need for Hybrid managers With changing time, even the market is changing. The markets have globalised. It is the times of Globalisation. The competition has increased and the business has also become more competitive. The style of working has changed. Projects have become more critical, change programmes have become larger than before. The complexity of these programmes have increased. The company has to prove its viability of every initiative which it undertakes. Gone are days when people where included in the organisation for their vertical skills. In todays business environment, the company demands its managers to be allrounders. They should be more business aware. Todays managers have to be more competent than how they were 10 years back. It has become more complex. He has to get the best out of his staff either by developing their skills or by recruiting new employees any which ways. The staff has to be managed properly. Not only that, he also has to take care of the technical part as well. A lot of importance has to be given to the project and the team. This was not the case earlier. With changing times, as competition has increased, the managers have to use different techniques of managing the organisation. These responsibilities were not there 10 years before. There is also an increasing belief that the problems which the IT department faces are neither technical or fiscal in nature. Their main problem is organisational and managerial. Quality Output In todays highly competitive scenario, the quality of a product becomes the utmost important aim for any organisation. Now, companies cannot take the consumers or their clients for granted. They cannot take them for a ride. Today, people have lots of options which they can fall on. With the developing technology like the usage of internet, Just with the click of a button, the consumers can get what they want. Hence the focus on quality becomes extremely vital for any organisation in order to succeed. Hence, the role of hybrid managers becomes very important. The issue of quality is high on the companys agenda. The manager need to monitor the quality concern. His role is to examine the quality of the product while it is production. He should take the initiative to see to it that the quality of the product is maintained throughout. He should not wait until the product is developed completely and then check if there are nay faults or mistakes. He should check the products throughout unt il the development process till the product is completely finished. The hybrid manager should be responsible for the quality of the product .The hybrid should aim at creating a proper plan for assuring the quality of it product. Hence he needs to maintain the parameters of the quality. In business terms, quality could be defined as producing a business system on time, within budget, developed to agreed standards and providing the required degree of functionality. There are various verification techniques such as; Structured walkthroughs. Informal reviews/inspections. Quality assurance reviews. Quality audits. Hence , there is huge responsibility on the shoulders of the hybrid manager to ensure that the quality of the product is maintained when it reaches the consumer. Partnerships According to a research done by Henderson in IT projects he found out that personal relations was the reason for creating bonding in the organisation. According to him â€Å"You must have the ability to bypass the organization and go directly to someone who will . He insisted that, there is a need for building an effective building relationship between the line managers and the information system managers and the specialists. The gap between the line managers and the information system managers needs to be bridged. Miscommunication between any departments can have its effect on the organisation. Hence, the company needs to take appropriate steps in order to avoid any kind of faults. Hence, the hybrid managers come into the picture. They have expertise about the business management as well as the technical part. They can act as a link between these two departments. Thus, the hybrid managers play a very important role in the 21st century. Managing the change in business Change is the only constant. Whenever there is change in the business, there is always some kind of pressure on the manager to show results. The manager has to undertake lot of responsibilities. He has to manage and exercise a number of skills. He has to start making decisions. A solid foundation is a pre requisite for any kind of business. Hence, it is important for the hybrid manager to make a positive and controlled start. There are certain things which he needs to take into consideration like ; In brief, these initiation tasks can be seen as follows: Establishing Terms of references of the new programme The manager needs to understand the terms and reference of the new business. Proper structure A proper structure needs to be in place for any issue regarding the change in programme. Managing finances It is also important for the manager to take care of the new finances. Understanding the basis of program, how it changed, how it was established and how the finances. Change control procedures All the changes made should be handled in a controlled manner. All requests should be documented, impact assessed properly, priorities assigned and decisions made. If any procedure is left undefined then it will lead to loss of control. Determine/tune methodology The manager should be familiar with the structuring of change programmes and should understand what tuning is necessary to minimise the risk of failure. Job cutting less complications Hybrid managers can help the company in cost cutting as well. The managers are among the best paid employees. Therefore, having separate managers for the technical and management department will increase the expenditure of the company. In these times of recession, companies are looking to cut down on their workforce as much as possible. They are using different techniques to reduce their costs and total expenditure. All over the world , there are job cuts happening. Therefore having the same manager for the technical as well as the business management department will reduce the expenditure of the company to a certain extent. Also having a common manager will be less complicated than having separate managers. Having separate managers can become complicated as they have expertise in their respective fields but hybrid managers have skill and adequate knowledge in both the departments. Financial awareness : An hybrid manager literally means a person who looks after both the sectors in the business likely managerial as well as the technical aspect, here this financial awareness comes under the sector of the managerial were it is the duty of the hybrid manager to look after the sector of financial sector for the well being of the business. An hybrid manager should atleast have some knowledge on the basic accounting, simple cash flow statements, cash budgets, and things like that for the good functioning of the business. These basic knowledge on the financial sector will help the hybrid manager to understand the financial status of the business which gradually result in the development of the financial sector in the business. Knowledge in the financial will lead the hybrid manager to cover all the other sectors which are involved in the business because for every business financial sector is the main sector cause it is the place were the whole of the business is dependent on. If the financ ial sector of a business is not perfect then the whole business will collapse , at the same time if a financial sector of a business is perfect then the business can be brought high even from the level of mud. So it is the responsibility of the hybrid manager to look after the finance for the well being of the business. Hybrid manager should not only have an idea of the basic accounting but he should also have ideas on the day to day transactions which take place in the business, he should have known the details of the tangible and the intangible assets of the business, he should also be aware of the interest rates for the amount which is being lend to others and interest for the money which is being borrowed from others, overall he should have details on each and every single penny which is been spent, gained and invested in the business which is for the well being of the business where it is the duty of the hybrid manager to have all the details of the financial sectors and also the other sectors in the business. Risk Management: Risk is the key the word of every business where there is some or the other sort of risk involved in each and every business. There can be no business without the risk management. The only difference which might be there in every business would be whether it is taken on a small scale or the risk is taken in a large scale. As the hybrid manager it is the duty of him to take proper risk on the necessary time when needed for the development of the business. It is not advisable to take risk very often but it is the duty of the hybrid manager to take risk at the necessary times. It is easy to take risk and put the business under risk but the hybrid manager should have calculation on possible effects which may occur because of taking such risk in the business and should also have the calculation on how to overcome those circumstance and the possibilities to overcome those circumstances which should all be calculated before taking. He should act in such a way to minimise the chances of fail ure in the business because of taking such risks in the business. He should also have the estimation cost which would occur because of taking such risk in the business and he should also be capable of handling any situation in the business and should also be capable of handling pressure in the business which might occur because of taking such risks in the business. It is not that taking risk will always be successful for the business because there might be circumstance were it might also end up in failure where the hybrid manager should have the potential enough to manage those circumstance. The fear at those those circumstance will result in the failure of the business so the hybrid manager should have the potential to manage any situation which might occur in the business and he should have the capability of solving those problems. Effective and productive use of resources: The other important function of hybrid manager is effective and productive use of the resources where the hybrid manager should have the efficiency to utilize the maximum resource from each and every individual in the company which will result in the development of the business. There is a common saying which states that maximum utilization of minimum resources which means effective usage of the resources with the minimum level of source which is one of the most important functions of the hybrid manager where he should have knowledge of effective and productive use of the resources. A hybrid manager should be efficient enough to utilize each and every resource of the company for the well being and development of the company. He should have the efficiency to motivate each and every individual who works in the organisations for the development of the business. The ultimate aim of the hybrid manager is to increase the individuals productivity level in the organisation. it is the respons ibility of the hybrid manager to make use of each and every resources in the organisation for the benefit and development of the organisation. Coping with stress: Stress can easily be defined as pressure or demand on physical or mental energy which has an negative effective in it. There is a common saying which says that things can be properly done under pressure. Most of them think that stress and pressure are the same but it is not so pressure comes when there is too much of workload in the job or anything but pressure comes when there is too much of pressure in the job or anything, Being the head he can easily transfer his stress verbally or on nonverbal actions to other individual in the company but it is the duty of the hybrid manager to manager to cope up with the stress and solve the problems by himself because if the manager shows his stress on the other individuals in will naturally result in stress on other worker who work in the company which will result in lack of concentration and unnecessary fear which would end up in certain problems in the organisation so it is the duty of the hybrid manager to cope up with the stress and to ma intain it within himself to protect from unnecessary problems in the organisation. It is the duty of the hybrid manager to maintain peace and avoid pressure from the head of the other individuals who work under him, so that they can work properly without any pressure on him. Conclusion The role of a Hybrid manager is very complex. He needs to have knowledge about all the areas of the business and he also needs to exceed in them. He needs to make a difference to the organisation. A hybrid manager is a self-motivated person, a good leader, creative, has good communication skills, flexible and always there to help his staff and team. The ability of a hybrid manager is to showcase his all round skills. A hybrid manager can also be called as an all rounder. As the times are changing, the competition has also increased. With the ever increasing competition, every company is looking for different ways to emerge on the top. And in order to do this, having Hybrid managers is extremely vital. As the technology is developing, there is a need to go in hand in hand with it. And the hybrid managers are appropriate ambassadors to represent their respective organisations. Hence, as we have seen in this assignment, a hybrid manager is of great importance in the 21st century Global economy. There is a need to develop hybrid managers and enhance them for the growth of any organisation. Reference http://www.globalmorality.org/?q=content/hybrid-manager: last accessed 4 dec 2009 http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5U7o0FlH-AsCpg=PA436lpg=PA436dq=michael+earl+hybrid+managersource=blots=J2n0xjB8lZsig=9pMgjkR9GaQDjntX3sZkIxPpZQghl=enei=tuQgS4nxJdm5jAfLx-TiBwsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=1ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepageq=michael%20earl%20hybrid%20managerf=false: last accessed 4 dec 2009 http://itnow.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/38/6/22: last accessed 5 dec 2009 OConnor, G . Smallman, C. (1995). The hybrid manager: a review. Management Decision. 33 (7), 19-28. Homes, G. (2001). The hybrid manager. Industrial and Commercial Training. 33 (1), 16-26.

Redemption in Alice Walkers Color Purple Essay -- Color Purple Essays

Redemption in The Color Purple  Ã‚   Alice Walker grew up in rural Georgia in the mid 1900s as the daughter of two poor sharecroppers.   Throughout her life, she has been forced to face and overcome arduous lessons of life.   Once she managed to transfer the struggles of her life into a book, she instantaneously became a world-renowned author and Pulitzer Prize winner.   The Color Purple is a riveting novel about the struggle between redemption and revenge according to Dinitia Smith.   The novel takes place rural Georgia, starting in the early 1900s over a period of 30 years.   Albert, also known as Mr._____, and his son Harpo must prevail over their evil acts towards other people, especially women.   Albert and Harpo wrong many people throughout their lives.   To be redeemed, they must first learn to love others, then reflect upon their mistakes, and finally become courageous enough to take responsibility for their actions.   In The Color Purple, Alice Walker effectively develops Albert and Harpo throug h redemption using love, reflection, and responsibility.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Through the course of the novel, Albert is an appalling husband, father, and person.   He treats his wife, Celie as if she is his slave from the beginning of their arranged marriage; he expects her to cook three meals a day, and take care of his many children from his previous marriage.   Albert does not begin to realize the pain he is causing, or at least try to make himself change until Celie leaves him.   â€Å"You a lowdown dog is what’s wrong, I say.   It’s time to leave you and enter into the Creation.   And your dead body is just the welcome mat I need†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚   (Walker 207).   It took words as powerful as these for him to become aware of the fact that he did not love or resp... ...).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In The Color Purple, Alice Walker efficiently develops Albert and Harpo through three key aspects of redemption:   love, responsibility, and reflection.   Albert and Harpo are both practically forced to recognize how they were treating people; Albert with Celie’s speech, and Harpo with the way Sofia beat him up.   Next, the two reflect on their errors in life.   How they both mistreated their wives, and suppressed them.   Then they gain the bravery to apologize to the people they realized that they really do love, and be forgiven (Walker 231).   Albert and Harpo learn a valuable lesson throughout the years; one they will surely never forget.   Alice Walker proficiently shows the development of two new people, through redemption using love, reflection, and responsibility.   Works Cited: Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. 1982. New York: Pocket, 1985.

Reactions to Hooks’ Feminism is for Everybody Essay -- Essays Papers

Reactions to Hooks’ Feminism is for Everybody I am not a feminist simply because I was raised in a feminist household. I am not a feminist because I am an independent, educated woman. I am not a feminist because I am a bitter female, nor because I am a â€Å"woman scorned.† I am not a feminist because I hate men, nor because I am a lesbian nor because I like to listen to the Indigo Girls. To the contrary I love men and I am not a lesbian. While I agree with hooks that â€Å"feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression† (viii), I believe that her definition of â€Å"feminism† states the goals of the movement rather than actually defining the term itself. In my mind, feminism is a synonym for equality. I am a feminist because I believe in the equality between men and women, plane and simple. No hidden agenda, no gimmicks, no tricky explanations. Sounds like an easy enough concept to comprehend. So why then is feminism such a misunderstood and feared notion? Why has this â€Å"ismà ¢â‚¬  in particular become the new f-word of pop culture? Equality is a word commonly associated with American culture; it is a long-standing theme of our history. This does not make a great deal of sense to me. After all, America was established on the premise that all MEN are created EQUAL. The term â€Å"men† is very specific as is the rest of the wording of the Constitution. It is doubtful that the founding fathers of our country meant this to include men and women or else they would have stated exactly that. It is only in the latter half of the past century that this equality was extended to include the fair treatment of all peoples, regardless of race, gender, or ethnicity. America was first settled in large part by religious outcasts seeking a saf... ...y personal movement. hooks encourages her readers to demand alternatives to patriarchal, racist, and homophobic culture, and to imagine a different future. Her book literally speaks to everybody, asking readers, whether they are feminist or not, to take look at feminism in a new light, to see that it touches all lives. No longer will people (men or women) have the excuse that feminism is â€Å"too complex† to understand, nor will they be able to get by on third-hand knowledge (as hooks refers to on vii) of the topic. As hooks intended, I finally have a book to hand to all of my friends (both male and female) who gave me strained looks because I lived on Mt. Vernon last year or because I am more than willing to admit that I am proud to be a feminist. hooks shows that feminism—far from being an outdated concept or one limited to an intellectual elite—is indeed for everybody.

Technology Essay -- essays research papers

Technology is a knowledge of using tools and machines to do tasks more efficiently. We use technology to control the world we live in. Since the art of making fire and creating handcrafted tools, our civilization has come a long way. Science and Technology are making advances at an astonishing rate. From telephones to the Internet, calculators to computers, cars to rockets and satellites, we are part of a new world of discoveries and inventions made possible by Science. Fields like Medicine and communications have changed our cultures and our lifestyles. The technology that surrounds almost everyone in the modern society, affects both work and recreational activities. Technology is one of the principal driving forces of the future; it is transforming our lives and shaping our future at incomparable rates in history. Technology is constantly changing, and advancing. Many different elements affect how satisfied we are with our lives. The impact of technology on these elements can change how safe, healthy and happy people feel. Throughout history, people have looked for better ways to meet their needs and to satisfy their expectations. Technology has improved the way people feed, clothe and shelter themselves. Technology has also changed other aspects of everyday life, such as health care, education, job satisfaction, and leisure time activities. People have used technology since they first chipped stone blades to improve their hunting. Some people call this current age the "Technological Age" because of society's dependence on technology. For the first time in human history, almost all the goods and services people use depend on technology. The products of technology are available to almost everyone in society. The economy of a country influences how the people of the county live. Technology is often considered the key to a nation's economic growth. Many economists think that if technology sparks growth in one division of the economy in the form of increased productivity, growth will also occur in other division of the economy. Jobs may be lost in one industry, such as agriculture but new jobs may emerge in other parts of the economy. There may be more jobs or, in some case, completely new kinds of jobs. Technology may also be used to solve urgent problems. Our growing population is using up infinite supplies of natural resources. Innovations in te... ...king new ones. For example, when scientists went to Africa in search of a cure for a disease, they came back with monkeys that were contaminated with the Emboli virus. Today in Russia, there are military bases where Russian scientists are creating thousands of germs and viruses to use in germ warfare. These germs and viruses are capable of killing thousands of people instantly. Technology can be used against us as well, and everyday doctors and military personnel try to come up with ways to cure or destroy human life. As technology continues to advance and society moves "forward", people continue to aspire for more. In conclusion, technology continues to advance at a rapid rate. This quest to understand the ways in which our surroundings work has led to many scientific discoveries and innovations. The more we learn and develop the faster the rate of technology is. With these advances come more technological problems that arouse a demand for more new scientific knowledge. Because of all the advances in technology that have already taken place in our past we can now explore and research new ideas, cures in medical fields, in communications, and new forms of transportation.

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

For my paper I interview Brandie Stine. She has lived through many changes in her own family and had some great insight on how our family has changed so much over the past years. When she remarried in 1998, she went from a mother of five, to a mother of eight. She became part of a very big blended family.The adjustment of joining five teenagers (three of us had already moved out), was very hard for her and her husband. Trying to teach teenagers to get together is worse than having a group of 2 year old, telling them you have to share. They were able to make it through the rough times and now over the past 12 years, she and her husband have become the proud grandparents of 18 grandchildren. Her grandchildren are her new pride and joy, but she has also become a statistic, of a grandparent raising a grandchild. She says â€Å"it is hard and sad, when one of your own children is not willing or wanting to raise their own child.†She has raised Raven for the past five years, becoming her surrogate mother. She never thought that after raising her own children, she would be in these shoes again raising a small child. While a grandparent raising their grandchildren is not something new, the fact that older grandparents are raising younger grandchildren is on the rise. In the most recent Census Bureau statistics, 2.4 million of the nation’s families are maintained by grandparents who have one or more of their grandchildren living with them—an increase of 400,000 (19 percent) since 1990.These families comprise 7 percent of all families with children under 18. (U.S. Census Bureau, the Official Statistics, 1997) Some grandparents who have retried have to go back to work, just to be able to afford to take care of their grandchildren. The poverty rate is growing with this problem. Brandie said, â€Å"That when she was growing up you had grandparents in some homes but when you did this was to help take care of them and they would help the parents to raise their children.Children had respect for their grandparents and knew if they got in trouble with grandma, her punishment could be worse than moms, and then you also had to deal with dad when he got home.† If you did not live in the same home as your grandparents, then they weren’t but a short drive away and you spent most of your weekends with them. My mother has seen too many children being pushed to the side, and left to be taken care of by someone else. This is sad that  we have allowed our young adults to just throw their children away and not think twice. When did it become okay for a mother or father to not care about the well being of there children and allow someone else to raise them?

Modern Accounting Systems

For the past ten years I have been running my own business, Decisive Realty. I am a real estate investor that purchases apartment building and rent them out to tenants. This has caused me to manage my finances by creating my own accounting methods. My methods are effective but require a lot of brushing and polishing. In other word, it needs to be revamp. Taking this class has made me realize possibilities that I will implement to be more efficient. The accounting system that I have learn over the past five weeks will be applied to my business to make it more manageable, alleviate the guess works, and assist me in measuring success or failure. Modern accounting has assisted small business like mine and large corporations to organize their business and keep track of important details. In this paper I will present circumstances where modern accounting has contributed to the success of businesses. I will also present examples of modern accounting systems assisted modern organization in the business world. Accounting is the recording, tracking, and reporting of the finances of an organization. Having several apartments is a service that involves the managing of rent collection, maintenance, utilities, and repairs just to name a few. All of which includes financial aspects that need to be accounted for. Without accounting businesses would be at risk and susceptible to failure. Accounting can be traced back to the beginning of civilization. The history of accounting has participated in the development of money and banking which are essential to our livelihood. It has also saved many industries and entrepreneurs from bankruptcy. Large and small businesses depend on accurate and useful information. That is why accounting has provided businesses the ability to operate efficiently. Unless the practice of accounting is handled ethically then the information is useless and businesses could fail. The current world of business and accounting is based on the computer and the information revolution. The revolution has been on going for past decades and continues to advance. Throughout the periods the computer has proved to be suitable for accounting. Since computers works at high speed a number of routine accounting and other functions can be process. It can efficiently crunch the repetitive transactions of account receivable and payable, inventories, and payroll. The efficiency of the computer reduces errors when documenting these types of transactions. â€Å"The most important accounting use of the computer is the areas of decision making. Since the computer can process a lot of accounting information and can co-relate a number of variables, it is of big help in inventory control, production scheduling, market research and distribution logistic, etc. The accounting use of the computer is in such applications which could not be handled before the advent of computers. Therefore, the management of a modern business concern can plan its production, keep check on its inventories, work out the best method of distribution of products and reach the most optimum course action through the help of modern computers. † (Vataliya, K. S. 2008. P 19). The modern world accelerates towards new economic system and the means of manual functions has been replaced by computers and other devices; accounting is not excluded. The technology that is involved with accounting was developed to deal with complicated calculations involved with accounting in organizations. The technology facilitated routine work associated with accounting which made organization accounting department function efficiently. Some example of efficiency includes â€Å"the number of steps taken from posting vouchers to the preparation of final statement of account is fewer than those needed under the manual system. This is because the basic data does not have to be copied out again and again. This eliminates errors and makes for greater accuracy. The system followed, however, depends upon the type of computer used. (Vataliya, K. S. 2009. P 81). Information systems have to be effective by providing control, compatibility, flexibility, and a good cost/benefit relationship. (Horngren 2009 P 354). Modern organizations are responsible for internal control by first ensuring automated accounting procedures are optimum. Decisive Realty has what I would call a functional substandard accounting system. That is because it work but not efficient. System compatibility is necessary to en sure that it works smoothly with personnel and organization structure. One compatible awareness is ensuring that the correct software suites the size or structure of an organization. Decisive Realty has a land lady (my wife), she consistently complains that I am the only one that understand the functions of the excel program. Decisive Realty will use QuickBooks program in the future and ensure that the land lady is train. An organization accounting system must be flexible. Businesses sometime tend to grow or change, and flexibility assures the capability to accommodate changes. Decisive Realty has plans to expand but would be unwise until a legitimate accounting system is put in place to accommodate the complexity of accounting. Lastly, managers have to determine which method of accounting benefits a business financially. The determination can be made base on the size of the organization. Using a CPA to conduct my real estate accounting would not be an economical good choice when I can use a program like QuickBooks. After further investment and more properties are involve then need for a CPA would be necessary. Modern Accounting Systems For the past ten years I have been running my own business, Decisive Realty. I am a real estate investor that purchases apartment building and rent them out to tenants. This has caused me to manage my finances by creating my own accounting methods. My methods are effective but require a lot of brushing and polishing. In other word, it needs to be revamp. Taking this class has made me realize possibilities that I will implement to be more efficient. The accounting system that I have learn over the past five weeks will be applied to my business to make it more manageable, alleviate the guess works, and assist me in measuring success or failure. Modern accounting has assisted small business like mine and large corporations to organize their business and keep track of important details. In this paper I will present circumstances where modern accounting has contributed to the success of businesses. I will also present examples of modern accounting systems assisted modern organization in the business world. Accounting is the recording, tracking, and reporting of the finances of an organization. Having several apartments is a service that involves the managing of rent collection, maintenance, utilities, and repairs just to name a few. All of which includes financial aspects that need to be accounted for. Without accounting businesses would be at risk and susceptible to failure. Accounting can be traced back to the beginning of civilization. The history of accounting has participated in the development of money and banking which are essential to our livelihood. It has also saved many industries and entrepreneurs from bankruptcy. Large and small businesses depend on accurate and useful information. That is why accounting has provided businesses the ability to operate efficiently. Unless the practice of accounting is handled ethically then the information is useless and businesses could fail. The current world of business and accounting is based on the computer and the information revolution. The revolution has been on going for past decades and continues to advance. Throughout the periods the computer has proved to be suitable for accounting. Since computers works at high speed a number of routine accounting and other functions can be process. It can efficiently crunch the repetitive transactions of account receivable and payable, inventories, and payroll. The efficiency of the computer reduces errors when documenting these types of transactions. â€Å"The most important accounting use of the computer is the areas of decision making. Since the computer can process a lot of accounting information and can co-relate a number of variables, it is of big help in inventory control, production scheduling, market research and distribution logistic, etc. The accounting use of the computer is in such applications which could not be handled before the advent of computers. Therefore, the management of a modern business concern can plan its production, keep check on its inventories, work out the best method of distribution of products and reach the most optimum course action through the help of modern computers. † (Vataliya, K. S. 2008. P 19). The modern world accelerates towards new economic system and the means of manual functions has been replaced by computers and other devices; accounting is not excluded. The technology that is involved with accounting was developed to deal with complicated calculations involved with accounting in organizations. The technology facilitated routine work associated with accounting which made organization accounting department function efficiently. Some example of efficiency includes â€Å"the number of steps taken from posting vouchers to the preparation of final statement of account is fewer than those needed under the manual system. This is because the basic data does not have to be copied out again and again. This eliminates errors and makes for greater accuracy. The system followed, however, depends upon the type of computer used. (Vataliya, K. S. 2009. P 81). Information systems have to be effective by providing control, compatibility, flexibility, and a good cost/benefit relationship. (Horngren 2009 P 354). Modern organizations are responsible for internal control by first ensuring automated accounting procedures are optimum. Decisive Realty has what I would call a functional substandard accounting system. That is because it work but not efficient. System compatibility is necessary to en sure that it works smoothly with personnel and organization structure. One compatible awareness is ensuring that the correct software suites the size or structure of an organization. Decisive Realty has a land lady (my wife), she consistently complains that I am the only one that understand the functions of the excel program. Decisive Realty will use QuickBooks program in the future and ensure that the land lady is train. An organization accounting system must be flexible. Businesses sometime tend to grow or change, and flexibility assures the capability to accommodate changes. Decisive Realty has plans to expand but would be unwise until a legitimate accounting system is put in place to accommodate the complexity of accounting. Lastly, managers have to determine which method of accounting benefits a business financially. The determination can be made base on the size of the organization. Using a CPA to conduct my real estate accounting would not be an economical good choice when I can use a program like QuickBooks. After further investment and more properties are involve then need for a CPA would be necessary.

Deconstructing redemption in The Road

â€Å"There Is no God and we are his prophets†: Deconstructing Redemption In Corm McCarthy The Road. (paper under review: not for quotation) Stefan Skirmisher The University of Manchester Stefan. [email  protected] AC. UK 09/09/09 Abstract Despite its overwhelmingly positive reception, the apparently redemptive conclusion to Corm McCarthy The Road attracted criticism from some reviewers. They read in it an inconsistency with the nihilism that otherwise pervades the novel, as well as McCarthy other works.But what are they referring to when they Interpret redemption', the ‘messianic' and ‘God' In McCarthy novel? Some Introductory thoughts from apocalypse theory and deconstruction reveal a more nuanced approach that not only ‘saves' McCarthy from the charge of such critics. It also opens up more interesting avenues for exploring the theme of redemption and the messianic in contemporary disaster fiction. Introduction Justifiably effusive praise was heaped, by t he literary community, upon McCarthy multiple award-winner The Road (2006).But perhaps the most interesting reaction came in the form of critique of the allegedly â€Å"redemptive† and â€Å"messianic† tone of Its conclusion. Michael Cabochon's celebrated review of the book argued that McCarthy appeared to insert such a tone â€Å"almost†¦ In spite of himself',l that is, out of character with his usual nihilism. Another reviewer went as far as to suggest the novel â€Å"failed† the â€Å"modernist challenge: to write about a holocaust, about the end of everything†¦ What happens Is a redemption, of sorts, arguably absurd In the face of such overwhelming nihilism. 2 One wonders how McCarthy himself would respond. Perhaps we should begin by recalling the cautionary and prophetic injunction that Nietzsche appended to one of his last works, Ace Homo: â€Å"l have a terrible fear I shall nee day be pronounced holy: one will guess why I bring out this book beforehand; it is Intended to prevent people from making mischief of me†¦ My truth Is dreadful: for hitherto the Ill has been called truth. â€Å"3 Nietzsche feared the untimely nature of the truth he came to announce to a modernity whose ‘end' had only just begun.He predicted the unpreserved of us â€Å"murderers of God† to stand up in the ruins of the transcendent â€Å"old God† of metaphysics, and an unwillingness to create our own tragic pursuit of life. God, he would later write, would simply refuse die; the task of modern man was therefore to kill him again and again. He difficult and paradoxical redemption offered in The Road is very far from resurrecting the old God of metaphysics. Indeed, I would like to argue in the following that it interweaves themes both of resistance (the refusal to die) and mourning (the passing of irreversible loss).In doing so, the novel powerfully engages the reader with the very porous nature of redemption in the context of its post-apocalyptic environment. Engaging McCarthy text in this way invites a Adrienne, deconstructive reading of the narrative of redemption in contemporary disaster fiction in general. This is cause the conversations and thought-experiments employed by McCarthy attempt in many different ways to destabilize and provoke questions of the binary oppositions involved in that very discussion of redemptive ends (indeed, of the possibility of conceiving ‘ends' at all).There are oppositions such as the saved and the damned, the lost and the retrievable; the redeemed and irredeemable futures. McCarthy provokes the question, in particular, of what meaning we might possibly attach to human redemption and the â€Å"messianic† in an ostensibly irredeemable earth. What can be hoped for, sustained, and believed in? On the one hand, therefore, McCarthy pursuit of life and lives in the scorched wasteland bears all the hallmarks of Nietzsche tragedy – the â€Å"taming of ho rror through art†4 -as opposed to a comic rendering of the apocalypse (in which the righteous are spared the calamities of the end).On the other hand, the ambiguous sense of the messianic in The Road hints at more than lyrical or existentialist responses to tragedy. By tracing McCarthy exploration of redemption alongside developments in the continental philosophy of religion, first in the form of ‘death of God theology, and second, that of indestructibility of the messianic, I hope to open up some exploratory questions about the ambiguity of redemption in this highly influential piece of contemporary fiction.Ends of The Road Michael Cabochon states that for authors attempting a move into the futuristic post- apocalypse genre, â€Å"it is an established fact that a preponderance of religious imagery or an avowed religious intent can go a long way toward mitigating the science- fictional taint. â€Å"5 And so Cabochon believes that, in McCarthy novel, the father â€Å"f eeds his son a story'. By constructing the creed or injunction to â€Å"carry the fire†, the story is infused with a â€Å"religious sense of mission† that, incarnate in the hope given to the life of the boy, â€Å"verges on the explicitly messianic†. We would do well to pause in front of the implications of this word â€Å"messianic†. Who is saved: the boy? The promise of human community? And who or what comes to save? The boys saviors at the end present a hesitant, and uncertain departure: the guarantee only that others like him are alive. The messianic here would appear to take the form as much as a threat as a promise. And yet, taken from the Hebrew term for ‘anointed one', the concept of messiah in Jewish and early Christian literature is indeed bound up closely with the apocalyptic social upheaval. Certain expressions of the messianic thus anticipate both destruction (of the old world) and rebirth (of the new). In Jewish rabbinic thought what is crucial for messianic belief is its relationship with history and historic experience. It is visionary hope in the present for the way things could be, whether these are simply restorative or utopian. 8 The tradition that emerges is subsequently one of the announcement of such a promise of the future through the voice of the prophets.Anticipating Jacques Deride, the concept of the messianic announcement is the voice of the fringe, the outside of sanctioned, homogeneous discourse: â€Å"a call, a promise of an independent future for what is to come, and which comes like every messiah in the shape of peace and Justice, a promise independent of religion, that is to say universal. â€Å"9 Whilst The Road carries its own utopian and dyspepsia prophets, however, redemption is nowhere conceived or expressed as the restoration of peace. Nor is it infused with any hope in the renewal of the earth, or even of the narrative of new beginnings for the scorched landscape.McCarthy relentlessl y refuses reassurance that any return to a golden age is possible. The novel is an exploration of the irreversible, of â€Å"things which could not be put back†. 10 In what, then, consist its alleged religiosity, its messianic expectation, or â€Å"greater The clues lie in the relationship formed between a salvation to come (framed in the metaphor of the road itself: Mimi need to keep going. You don't know what might be down the road†12) and the ambiguous sense of endings running throughout the book. The father's own life represents a refusal of the simplicity of endings.His son must not lay down and die. Or, more precisely, he may not die of his own choosing, before the Father has calculated death's permeability on his behalf. The terror of the novel is thus generated within the narrative context of this slipping away of the control over the appropriate end. The son knows neither how to die alone, nor, symbolically, the function of the pistol in his hands: (â€Å"l d on't know what to do, Papa. I don't know what to do. Where will you be? â€Å")13 In relation to a search for the messianic, we must seek the sense of redemption only within this disestablishing sense of time.The messianic takes on a perverse sort of tension between the desire for end as closure, and the refusal to end, as the resistance of death, and finality. The boys terror at the task asked of him (to kill himself) is not complicated. But this struggle between ends and beginnings in The Road also expresses the paradoxical nature of the post-apocalyptic genre in general. If we accept James Burger's account of post-apocalyptic narrative as concerned essentially with â€Å"aftermaths and remainders†, then we must also follow his conclusion that it is always oxymoron: â€Å"the End is never the end†. The modernist assumption, in Frank Sermon's celebrated study, has been that the â€Å"sense of an ending† is what gives our living â€Å"in the middies†1 5 narrative meaning. But post-apocalypse means the very unsettling of those temporal frames. It â€Å"impossibly straddles the boundary between before and after some event that has obliterated what went before yet defines what will come after. â€Å"16 Indeed, we can see the influence of this scatological tension – a concern to much modernist and postmodernist literary exploration of the nature and meaning of narrative closure.Paul Fiddles' wide ranging study of such explorations suggests that if there is a malaise in the writing of closure into contemporary fiction, it simply reflects the more general environment of â€Å"constant crisis†, replacing the sense of completion and fulfillment of history, in which we live. 17 Such a paradox also partly reflects The Road as a study of the refusal of endings, and e ipso a refusal of the redemption normally associated with the narrative end. For our fascination is drawn not to those who are destroyed, but to those who refuse to die.If McCarthy style emulates, as some critics suggest, the biblical language of Revelation, they can't have missed SST. John's vision, borrowed probably from Job, that during the scatological calamities, â€Å"people will long for death and not find it anywhere; they will want to die and death will evade them. â€Å"18 A comedic articulation of this craving crops up in the Backbitten character of Ely, echoing precisely the post-apocalyptic dilemma: Things will be better when everyone's gone. They will? Sure they will. Better for who? Everybody. Sure. We'll all be better off. We'll all breathe easier.That's good to know. Yes it is. When we're all gone at last then there'll be nobody here but death and his days are numbered too. He'll be out in the road there with nothing to do and nobody to do it. He'll say: Where did everybody go? And that's how it will be. What's wrong with that? 19 McCarthy is arguably concerned, like Becket, to explore the experience of the death of God as instant paradox. That is, as a source of the death of hope for some, but also of an absurd affirmation of life by others, condemning them to a life of scatological suspension – of waiting, but for what?Our encounter with the ‘post' of post-apocalypse is, then, immediately one with the challenge of making narrative and ethical sense of the life that remains, rather than he purely nihilist gratuitousness of a death that won't come. It is more akin to Albert Campus' Rebel, 20 charged with the task of making an ethics of action in the absurd condition, without resorting to a leap of faith that removed the lucid reality of the absurd itself. It is the life of Sisyphus, who has made his rock his entire â€Å"universe† of meaning. 1 All talk of redemption and the messianic must take seriously this simultaneous presence of both the ‘end' and the refusal, or undesirability, of endings. The question that emanates from The Road is perhaps this one: what does nee do, given the knowledge of a certainty of the collapse of life, which might make walking possible along the remainder of the Road? How can this search operate within the traumatic experiment of post-apocalypse, of the never-ending? Dermis's interest in the concept of ‘apocalyptic time'.For Deride can be argued to echo the refusal of the security of endings that I have suggested lies at the heart of The Road. Deride refuses the scatological language of triumphal historicist (particularly in reference to Fuchsia's ‘end of history thesis), invoking Hamlet's fearful dictum, â€Å"the time is out of Joint†22 To express this refusal. Similarly, McCarthy frames the experience of this time of the ‘remainder' not as the aftermath of the singular catastrophic event. Rather, it is the perpetuity of catastrophe itself: the uncertainty of relationships, ecology, and the possibility for human community.The thought experiment becomes one of a tortuously open future, the absenc e of referents for forging new values, new rules, and new duties. The novel thus plays on the post-apocalypse genre by creating a dissonance of temporal perspectives. Time has already run out and is yet, for the boy, opening out inexorably: nothing has really knishes. For the father, the character of the time that remains is defined by the anxiety not only of the limited time allotted to him (who is really dying) but of the dubious gift of extending the time allotted the son into the future – and who's death he will not be able to oversee.Through the tender and contradictory relationship of the father and son, then, the genre of post-apocalypse is turned on its head. We grapple not so much with the post-modern fragmentation of endless traumatic symptoms,23 but the juxtaposition of these two impossible positions in the dialogue of father and child. On the one hand there is a protection of and desire for the end: the father's desire to secure the least tortuous conclusion to hi s son's life.And on the other there is the need for a beginning: the son's overwhelming concern for who and what must lie beyond: who exists? What are they like? Who looks after them? Who will guarantee their safety in the future? Apocalyptic Time Death, or limit, is thus explored in The Road as a painful loss of control over time. This resistance to the consolation of narrative ends represents the most unique and creative aspect of McCarthy apocalyptic style. But what can we say about ‘apocalyptic' literature in general that may shed light on the ambiguity of McCarthy redemptive turn?Literary apocalypses, in Jewish and Christian interdepartmental literature, intentionally sought to trace the limits of communicable discourse. It did this, crucially, against the political traumas of history, in which an old world was thought to be dying and a new one arising, which would completely overturn reality. Through visionary events bestowed upon favored emissaries or recipients, heaven ly truth revealed, through apocalypses, the â€Å"place beyond the limits of language†25 to unanimity. What is the function of this type of limit-discourse?Implicit to all apocalypses there is an ethically loaded injunction that the truth of the world is not all that is visible or conceivable by human means. 26 At its root, then, apocalypse claims that a deeper destiny and purpose lies underneath, and is here, through text and vision, disclosed. Revealed. It is this aspect of the coding of Revelation that so attracts Dermis's attention in his celebrated essay, On a Newly Arisen Tone in Philosophy. Dermis's fascination is with the figure of John and the complex symbolism of the fragmented, yard messages of the future contained in his vision.There is, believes Deride, something primal to Western thought in John's act as the messenger, this role of being the favored dispatcher of revelation and denouncing the false' ones, the â€Å"impostor apostles†. 27 Is there an echo of this cryptic prophecy in McCarthy – for instance, the language of God who is both announced and yet uncontainable, even within the friendly woman's talk of the â€Å"breath of God† that â€Å"passes from man to man through all of If so, the crucial lesson for an apocalyptic reading of McCarthy would be that apocalypse guarantees no certainties about future realities.On the contrary, it would be to resist the â€Å"temptation† of one apocalyptic tone, and to hear instead apocalypse as an â€Å"unmistakable polytonally'. 29 There is, in a deconstructive reading, only a deeper fragmentation and disestablishing of meaning and truth. And this is precisely the concern of Dermis's critique of an ontological and ‘contemporaneous' reading of history. As Fiddles puts it, narrative can be deconstructionist in the sense that, like the book of Revelation, â€Å"[the] ending deconstructs itself, and so disperses meaning rather than [completes] it. 30 This same ins tability and impermanence of discourse is prevalent within the illegal between father and son in The Road. The meaning of words and the possibility of language itself becomes shorn of its social or ethical grounds. McCarthy even poses the problem as one of the absurdity of text in the post-apocalyptic future. From the referent-less discussion of metaphor â€Å"as the crow flies†31 (to the boy, who has never known the existence of birds) to the man's memory of pausing in the â€Å"charred ruins of some library' and experiencing absolute dislocation between the value of words and the burnt remains of â€Å"the world to come†. 2 An attempt to speak in a world where words and meanings are disappearing mirrors ruefully the attempt to invoke faith in a world in which God is increasingly absent. The God of The Road is the impossible presence, the one whose name is invoked (by the father, and by the woman at the end) but whose very existence would pose only problems, not solu tions. To Ely, the possibility of the persistence of god or gods is a fearful prospect and impedance to the task at hand (of surviving?Or dying? ): â€Å"Where men can't live gods fare no better. You'll see. It's better to be alone. â€Å"33 But the existential struggle facing both the father and Ely is precisely the realization that, in he very act of their survival, something unshakeable of the trace of God (in the book it moves from â€Å"word†, to â€Å"breath†, to â€Å"dream† in that order) is incarnate. This appears, admittedly, as a curse to Ely, whose survival the father finds incredible.The fate bestowed on any unlucky enough to carry on down the road is to carry the remainder, the aftermath of this ineffability and this absence: â€Å"There is no God and we are his prophets. â€Å"34 It is, finally, in reference to the knowledge and memory of dying that any talk of the possible meaning of redemption must orient itself: hence hat must the remaining humans carry on being humans? The man questions Ely on this point: â€Å"how would you know if you were the last man on earth? † to which Ely replies â€Å"It wouldn't make any difference. When you die it's the same as if everybody else did too. 35 The framing of post-apocalypse narrative in this context reiterates the centrality of the question of remainders, of those who might remain to remember and to hold the consciousness of humanity and the possibility of discourse (and therefore of God? ) in their very surviving. God is Dead (again) The reference to God, and God's potential for solving the conundrum of the meander (perhaps, wonders the man, â€Å"God would know' that you were the last on earth) is typically McCarthy. He is concerned mostly to problematic belief rather than to reject it or affirm it entirely through his characters.The fragmented quasi- theological discussions echo the brilliant, extended account of the preacher who does theological battle with a dyin g faith in The Crossing. 37 But, once again, a deeper examination of what sort of theistic faith such references might imply goes some way to answering those readers unhappy with McCarthy redemptive conclusions. Ells sat remark bears similarities to attempts made in the sass to articulate a faithful religious response to the existentialist current, through a â€Å"Death of God Theology'. Alongside Thomas J. J.Altimeter, The protestant theologian Paul Italics famously argued for the language of modern theology to acknowledge not only the ontological inadequacy of speaking of God's existence (since the essence of God is a Being â€Å"beyond Being†). Theology must also acknowledge the failure of human experience to allow this access in the first place. For many of these thinkers the ‘God of the theologians' had died on the battlefields of Europe during World War l. To thus define God in negative terms was not only a semantic step. It was to couch Thee-logos as the discour se of absence par excellence.And certainly through the eyes of the other religious existentialists (Aggregated, Bereave, Dostoevsky, Auber) the search for God was the reaffirmation of the absurd, its crucifixion in the mystery of human suffering, not its resolution. Another exemplar, the Catholic convert Simons Well, had expressed it through the figure of Mary Magdalene on Easter Saturday: one moves towards the tomb motivated by death, an expectation of the corpse, not an optimistic pop in life. It is human suffering that motivates our movement â€Å"towards reality', and the mystery in which God (through his absence) is to be found.Likewise, influenced heavily by Nietzsche, Italics described the true act of faith of the believer as one who does not attempt to square the existentialist crisis of despair but who has â€Å"the courage to look into the abyss of nonbinding in the complete loneliness of him who accepts the message that â€Å"God is dead†. 38 A difficult God to f ind, to be sure, since for Well, Italics and others, the problem of nihilism was not to be squared by the gift of faith. It was to be lived in the paradox of human suffering – in the seeking, not the finding, of an answer to suffering.Perhaps The Road shares some features of these attempts to grapple with the death of God. But it is only really with Dermis's exploration of the messianic and time that deconstruction, to repeat, attempts to go beyond philosophy and society's obsessions with talking of the ‘end' of thinking, metaphysics, God, politics, Marxism, etc. Deconstruction tries to counterbalance this fascination with definitive ends by announcing the end of a â€Å"electronic† crisis rhetoric itself. Deride thus highlights the err possibility of crisis discourse as the last form of meaning that one clings to, and whose loss signals a truly existential death.The true crisis is that there may no longer be a â€Å"philosophy of crisis† : â€Å"there is perhaps not even a ‘crisis of the present world'. In its turn in crisis, the concept of crisis would be the signature of a last symptom, the convulsive effort to save a World' that we no longer in habit: no more kiosks, economy, ecology, livable site in which we are ‘at home†. 39 One recalls, in the light of this, the discussion in The Road of the possibility of both knowing, and not owing, preparing, and not preparing, for the â€Å"event†, the brief glimpse of which holds an elusive taint of horror over the narrative.Ely confides in the man: I knew this was coming. You knew it was coming? Yeah. This or something like it. I always believed in it. Did you try to get ready for it? No. What would you do? I don't know. People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn't believe in that. Tomorrow wasn't getting ready for them. It didn't even know they were there. 40 This intervention into crisis thinking problematical the very status of event – its u ndesirability, its uncertain definitiveness. It mirrors Dermis's critique of an Aristotelian, favored presence of the â€Å"event† itself.Ultimately, such a critique leads to Dermis's ability to pose a distinctively Jewish opposition to this privileging of the event: namely, the reassertion of a certain messianic, a therefore mystical, mysterious return to a revelatory messianic. It is, however, a messianic â€Å"without messianic†; â€Å"stripped of everything†,41 or in other words unbounded by the specificity of this or that dogmatism, religion, and metaphysics of salvation. In deconstruction, then, we can no longer speak of the privilege of the ‘contemporary. 2 What does that concept imply in the context of McCarthy narrative?It opens out the analysis to the concept of redemption without the guarantee of the ‘event' that would guarantee salvation in the manner of the promises of institutional religion. Such a sentiment recalls the â€Å"iconoclas tic† reformulation of hope that was prevalent in post-war Jewish critical theory (particularly in Ernst Bloch). This meant a redemption without reference to the face of God; only the notion of promise itself. 43 Deride expresses a notion of the future as being not a future-present' but as something perpetually out of reach.It produces, like death, the effect of interminable non-occurrence, perhaps in the manner by which the â€Å"event† of The Road is announced: â€Å"The clocks stopped at 1 Time itself, like discourse, and like belief, is suspended; shorn of its referent. The messianic impulse that survives even a book binding to the commitment of expectation: more akin, once again, to the suffering of the waiting Vladimir and Estrogen. The apocalyptic element of The Road, then, might not be the announcement of some catastrophic event in time either in the past (since this is never dwelled upon) or the future.It is rather the revelation of traces, of remainders and re minders, of the God who might also be dying since he â€Å"fares no better† than men when men can't live. 45 The apocalyptic always appears with a hidden face, in the impossible or inconceivable encounter with the end of all things, of death itself. The consolation offered to the boy by his father is that he has always been â€Å"lucky'. 46 Beyond irony, the word â€Å"luck† seems shorn of its associations with providence, destiny, and blessedness, and more like an unhappy covenant: an unspoken agreement that the boy is bound to continue, to keep going.The continuation of life is a brute fact for the boy as much as for Ely (neither apparently aware what keeps them going). And yet the boy is very unlike Ely, not because of his innocence, but because of his temporal language. What will happen, he asks of his father, to the other boy? To the man they abandoned? To the people imprisoned in the house? The conundrum for Ely is otherwise, and framed in the time that was. Wha t has happened; did we see it coming? What were we thinking? Even if we did, how could we have been expected to choose?If there is redemption in The Road, perhaps all we can say of it is the ability o ask questions of the future, as opposed to only those of the past, of mourning that which cannot be put right. Redemption without redemption The ‘event' is indeed problematic for post-apocalypse. But it is problematic not simply because finality is put off indefinitely (as Berger claims). It is problematic for its revealing, or disclosing, our lack of control over its arrival. Apocalypse is temporal catastrophe: a disruption of our chronic desires, time we possess, can control.The future is certainly terrible, but it is agonizing particularly for our thorniness into its uncertainty. Redemption, then, if it is relevant at all, must be seen as the ability to imagine that what one sees now is not all that there is. In the book of Revelation calamities are predicted that meticulously symbolism the passing of apportioned periods of time according to divine order, not those of powers and principalities. 47 In The Road, however, the father is possessed by his responsibility to Judge the ‘right time' of his son's end, and so spare unbearable life.The crisis recalls Abraham's struggle with God's command to act out the unthinkable, here repeated in the Father's own self-doubt: â€Å"Can you do it? When the time comes? When the time comes there will be no time. Now is the time. Curse God and die. â€Å"48 One passes over it easily, but by the end of the novel, the father's command to his son to leave him occurs by way of an admission of weakness; an apology for entrusting life with him: â€Å"l can't hold my dead son in my arms. I thought I could but I can't†49.Is this the conclusion thought to give some sort of redemptive lift to the narrative – a â€Å"fog leaf† to the unacceptable narrative of total disaster? 50 1 would argue cynical pe rspective, rather than the consolingly messianic one. In this view the ether's committal of the son to the future is not performed out of faith in the persistence of goodness. His commitment is, more simply, in the inability to cease suffering, to cease walking along the road. The father's sense of an open future is not hard to grasp in itself: it is the only thing left to offer his son.Yet what is the most significant imaginative turn in what follows? I would argue that it is not that the boy subsequently finds fellow travelers we are to believe are also the good guys who are â€Å"carrying the fire†. Nor even is it that they, like the woman, are also those that cosines the persistence of the divine in the world. Rather, it is an admission by all characters of a disestablishing uncertainty about that road that lies ahead. It is there in the implied pause of the man's response to the boy at the end of the novel: â€Å"He looked at the sky. As if there were anything to be see n.Yeah, he said. I'm one of the good guys. † 51 There is no evidence in what precedes this moment that any place the new community will reach can support life. Nor, I think, are we meant to intuit such a turn towards the future. One cannot ignore, in any case, the terrifying allusions that lie underneath McCarthy choice of the word â€Å"fire†. Cabochon is quick to point this out: the new hope for human community are people â€Å"carrying fire in a world destroyed by fire†. 52 But we can go further than this, since the irony recalls the central theme of another classic of the post-apocalypse genre.In William Miller's A Canticle for Leibniz, the scattered survivors of global nuclear war attempt to construct the new civilization by destroying all forms of scientific knowledge. They do this on the premise that such knowledge will lead inexorably to the same situation of nuclear terror. A secluded community of monks become the last guardians of ancient knowledge, pre serving it for such a time that knowledge will once again be responsibly applied. But the fear is vindicated by the recapitulation of humanity to a second wave of nuclear apocalypse at the novel's horrifying conclusion.