Gene Therapy: Lab Report

The LIEU gene Is a linear fragment that does not notation an Autonomous Replication Sequence, so it could not replicate on its own and needed to be integrated by homologous recombination. The TRIP gene was a circular plasmid that contained an EARS, which allowed for it to act as an extra chromosome In the gene. The objective was to insert a â€Å"wild gene† and replace the defective genes and then grow them on a medium that does not contain TRIP or LIEU to prove that the genes had been cured.To help determine if recombination took place in the LIEU gene, and to compliment negative data from the 431 LIEU drop out medium, the â€Å"cured† LIEU gene was compared to the â€Å"diseased† ELISE gene. The expectation was that the â€Å"cured† LIEU gene would be a different size from that of the â€Å"diseased,† which would be proven through a PC run of the two DNA strands after they were replicated under the same in vitro conditions. The purpose of the PC w as to show what kind of mutation occurred in the mutant to cause It to lose Its LIEU function.Methods Yeast Transformation Procedure Both hands and bench tops were sterilized by 10% ethyl alcohol and were continually wiped down at various times throughout the lab. Gloves were also worn for the duration of the lab to help prevent contamination. The first step was to obtain doth strains of yeast, AY 235 and AY 431, with the fat end of a sterile tooth pick from an augur plate and place them into two separate Offender tubes.The Offender tubes were filled with poll of solution 1 (50 ml sterile water) before the yeast was added to them. The tubes were then spun in a centrifuge for four seconds to separate the excess water from the pellet that formed from the yeast. The supernatant were discarded and the pellets were suspended in poll of solution 2 (0. MM Lilac; 0. 01 M Tries, 8. 0; 0. MOM DEED). The solution was once again spun for four seconds in the centrifuge and the supernatant were d iscarded. The pellets were re- suspended in 1 Pool of solution 2.

Cupid Metaphors Essay

In Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, metaphors concerning the moon, flowers, and Cupid are prevalent and have a significant impact on the play. The play focuses on a romantic situation between four Athenians: Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius. As the story unravels, many comparisons are made to enhance the language and the messages that the characters try to convey. The moon is personified as a chaste woman who can be both gentle and fiery. Flowers are used as romantic symbols with the power to influence love. Cupid is personified as an armed child who strikes people’s hearts even if that love was not meant to be. Various events in the play are compared to the moon, which is constantly being personified as a woman. In the beginning of the play, Hippolyta and Theseus are discussing how they are to get married in four days. Theseus complains about how slowly the moon wanes. He compares the moon to a stepmother and a widow who keeps her stepson waiting for his inheritance because it takes so long for her to die (1:1, 1-6). Theseus is saying that the days are passing by too slowly and he wants to get married already. As the play progresses, Theseus tells Hermia that her life will consist solely of â€Å"chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon† (1:1, 73). Once again, the moon is personified as a cold and barren woman. Theseus warns Hermia that if she chooses not to comply with her father’s wishes, she will stay a virgin priestess forever, living her entire life without a husband or children, just like the moon. The moon is compared to things much more destructive and emotional later on in the play. Oberon and Titania, the king and queen of fairies, have been in a disagreement for a long period of time. Their constant fighting has affected nature adversely, causing spring, summer, fertile autumn, and angry winter to change places. Titania vividly describes their arguments as having caused the moon, the â€Å"governess of floods,† to be pale in anger, filling the air with rheumatic diseases (2:1, 103-104). The moon is personified as a female ruler who controls the tides of the ocean. It is also given the human emotion of anger when it turns pale. When Bottom and Titania are together, Bottom speaks about crying for mustardseeds being eaten by oxen. Titania states â€Å"the moon methinks looks with a watery eye; and when she weeps, weeps every little flower, lamenting some enforcà ¨d chastity† (3:1, 193-195). Titania says that the moon is â€Å"misty-eyed, and when she weeps, so does every little flower in grief for violated chastity.† The moon is again personified as a woman and she is crying because the mustardseeds have been wronged. When it is time for Bottom to sleep, Titania orders her fairies â€Å"to fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes† (3:1, 168). The first metaphor â€Å"to fan the moonbeams† is comparing moonlight to a solid substance that can be fanned away. The second metaphor is the sleeping eyes of Bottom. Bottom’s eyes are not literally sleeping. It is Bottom who is doing the sleeping, not his eyes. Flowers are associated with love and emotions throughout the play. Theseus attempts to convince Hermia to marry Demetrius so that she would not have to spend the rest of her life living as a virgin priestess of the moon goddess. He tells her that it is better to live a life with love in it even if it is not the love she originally desired rather than to live without love at all. Theseus says â€Å"thrice-blessà ¨d they that master so their blood to undergo such maiden pilgrimage; but earthlier happy is the rose distilled than that which, withering on the virgin thorn, grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness† (1:1, 74-78). He compares women who are chaste to unplucked roses who wither up and die. Married women are compared to roses that have been plucked and made into a sweet perfume (1:1, 76-78). Oberon desires an Indian prince that was given to Titania by the prince’s mother. In order to obtain the Indian prince, Oberon plans to make Titania fall in love with a beast by spreading the juice of a flower on her eyelids while she is sleeping. He tells the story of how this special flower came into existence. Cupid took aim at a beautiful young virgin queen, but his fiery arrow was put out by the watery, virginal moonbeams and struck a little western flower. The flower which used to be white as milk, turned purple from being wounded by the arrow of love (2:1, 155-168). The flower is personified and given the ability to be afflicted with love in this play. When Titania wakes, she is compelled to fall madly in love with Bottom, clumsy and grotesque with an ass’ head. When he goes to sleep, Titania tells Bottom to stay with her, saying â€Å"I’ll give thee fairies to attend on thee, and they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep, and sing while thou on pressà ¨d flowers dost sleep† (3:1, 150-153). The flowers are compared to soothing objects that can calm people and bring sleep. Seeing Titania and Bottom together, Oberon cannot believe how someone as beautiful as Titania can dote on Bottom, whose looks are repulsive. Before she fell asleep, Titania wove a wreath of fresh, fragrant flowers for Bottom and placed it on his hairy forehead. Oberon cannot stand to see such beautiful flowers rest on Bottom’s hairy temples. Oberon states that the flowers on Bottom’s head had â€Å"tears that did their own disgrace bewail† (4:1, 54-55). He says that the drops of dew that lay in the center of the flowers made the flowers look like they were crying in shame to be decorating the head of an ugly jackass. The flowers are personified as people who can cry and feel degradation. In love with Hermia, Demetrius pushes Helena away. Helena, heartbroken, complains about love and Cupid. She says â€Å"and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. Nor hath Love’s mind of any judgment taste† (1:2, 235-236). In modern times, we say â€Å"love is blind,† however, in this case cupid is blind. Helena personifies love as a child who does not have any judgment. Cupid is so often misled in making a choice because of his rash judgment. When telling the story of the flower, Oberon says â€Å"Young Cupid’s fiery shaft quenched in the chaste beams of the watery moon† (2:1, 161-162). The â€Å"fiery shaft† is a metaphor used for Cupid’s arrow which can cause fiery passionate love. Fixing the love damage that Puck created, Oberon spreads the love juice on Demetrius’ eyes while he is sleeping. While doing so, Oberon says â€Å"Flower of this purple dye, hit with Cupid’s archery, sink in apple of his eye† (3:2, 102-104). The first metaphor â€Å"flower of this purple dye, hit with Cupid’s archery† is comparing the purple flower to Cupid’s bow. By saying this, Oberon is saying that the flower can â€Å"hit† the same way a bow of Cupid can. The second metaphor of this line is â€Å"sink in apple of his eye.† The metaphor is referring to the â€Å"apple† of Demetrius’ eyes, comparing it to his passions and desires. Love is much talked about throughout the play. Hermia’s father is full of anger and he does not support Lysander and Hermia’s relationship. Lysander tells Hermia that â€Å"the course of true love never did run smooth† (1:1, 134). Lysander is saying that love is hard and it can feel like a long and rough road for two lovers. In Lysander and Hermia’s grief and despair, Lysander makes a speech about the transience of love. Love is â€Å"swift as a shadow, short as any dream, brief as the lightning in the collied night† (1:1, 144-145). Lysander compares the briefness of love to the quickness of a shadow, a dream, and a lightning. He means that with love comes many difficulties, such as pressure from parents, sickness, or death. Lysander goes on to say â€Å"The jaws of darkness do devour it up; so quick bright things come to confusion† (1:1, 148-149). He compares his love with Hermia to something bright but fades away quickly because of the confusion brought to it by time and nature. When asked to give up her child to Oberon, Titania refuses, telling him that this Indian prince was given to her by his mother, a female worshipper. She says â€Å"when we have laughed to see the sails conceive and grow big-bellied with the wanton wind† (2:1, 128-129). Titania is saying that when the sails filled up with wind, they looked like they had big, pregnant bellies. She is comparing the sails of ships to big, pregnant bellies of women. Due to Oberon’s unspecific details on whose eyes Puck was suppose to spread the love juice on, causes Lysander to fall in love with Helena. When Hermia questions Lysander, he treats her cruelly saying â€Å"Get you gone, you dwarf, you minimus of hindering knotgrass made, you bead, you acorn† (3:2, 328-330). Lysander is insulting Hermia, calling her a dwarf, a tiny little weed, scrap, and an acorn. In this metaphor, he compares Hermia to a tiny, unwanted plant, useless scrap, and an acorn. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is encased with many metaphors pertaining to the moon, flowers, and Cupid of the play. As the reader follows the Athenian lovers and the fairies on their journeys, various messages are conveyed through symbols and metaphors. The language and messages evokes vivid images in the reader’s head. The moon is compared to a woman who is capable of controlling time, controlling the seas, crying, and being fruitless. Flowers are symbols of romance, raw human emotions, and fairy magic. The flowers can metaphorically make people feel compelled to fall in love and are also capable of crying and feeling shame in this play. Cupid is portrayed as a controller of love. Just like love, Cupid is a young boy who is irrational. He is a child with a blindfold and wings, ready to take aim randomly, causing people to be afflicted with love. The moon, flowers, and Cupid are the main themes of metaphors presented in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare.

An Analysis of the Dramatic Impact of the Restaurant Scene in Death of a Salesman Essay

Death of a Salesman was first performed in 1949 and was seen to be a powerful and moving piece of drama. I will now be going through the appeal and the impact of the play. First of all, the book of Death of a Salesman can be said to be a universal book, in the sense that it has broad range of themes and is a book for everybody. It has all sorts of aspects, and real life situations that one has to take in mind. Lets first look at the characters. Willy Loman is an insecure and self-deluding travelling salesman. Despite him desperately searching through his past, he is not the typical tragic hero that we have come to depict. He is rather a man who doesn’t achieve self-realization and self-knowledge. He fails to realize his personal failure, and an emotional and spiritual understanding of himself. Willy’s crucial problem is the failure to understand the anguished love that is offered to him. This is the real problem, and tragedy of the play. In the end, he is forced to making the most extreme sacrifice to allow Biff to follow the American Dream. In the end, we remember him by his quote that he made to Charley, â€Å"after all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you’re worth more dead than alive†. Biff Loman essentially wants to seek the truth about himself. While the father and brother alike, are in their self-delusional selves, and are unable to accept the miserable lives that they have, Biff accepts failure and confronts it. Essentially, Biff’s discovery of Willy’s affair drains him of all the faith he had in Willy. Willy sees Biff as an underachiever, and a person that could rise to the top, but Biff on the other hand sees himself trapped in his father’s unrealistic ambitions. Biff’s general identity crisis is a major aspect in the drama. In order to find it, he must expose his father’s delusions. Happy Loman is seen as Willy’s incarnation but with all his worst aspects. He is a difficult character to emphasize. He is a one-dimensional and emotionless character in the play. His empty vow at the end, which says he will â€Å"beat this racket†, is the full embodiment of the lie in which is the American Dream. He has blind ambitions, and is swallowed up by his lies that he is the assistant buyer, when in fact he is just an assistant to the assistant buyer, and is a no body. He is also depicted in this quote, â€Å" My own apartment, a car, and plenty of women, and still, goddamit, I’m lonely†. This idea represents that in fact, Happy has not got such a delightful life, as we have come to conclude, but in fact, he has an inner-emptiness. He feels as though he is a failure, and knows it, just like Willy, but never admits it. Linda Loman is one of the more reasonable characters in the play. She symbolises the need for patience and reason, as well as being the most realistic. She is practically the emotional core of the play. Well, the analysis of these characters should give an idea of what the play portrays. Here is the impact and the appeal, along with the major themes. The play is very much a mix of all sorts of different things, tragedy, social commentary and family drama. The American Dream is one of the most talked about issues in the entire play. Essentially, Willy depicts the American Dream very well. He believes wholeheartedly in what he considers its promise. He believes that a â€Å"well liked† and â€Å"personally attractive† man in business will indubitably possess all the material wealth and possessions that the world has to offer. However, his constant obsession with the vision of a superficial man with the qualities of being well liked and personally attractive is farfetched. Rather, a more understandable man would have depicted the American Dream as being identified as, hard working and positive approaching that leads to success. Eventually it is this very denial of how life works that destroys Willy. He approaches Bernard as a nerd because he studies hard and tries for success. Yet when he finds that Bernard reaches promise and success, and when he looks at his own life, he is left in a disparity, as he realises what a blind and fake kind of vision he lived for. It is actually this very idea that can be very appealing. It teaches a lesson about life, success and failure. How a man, fixed on a blind vision, realises that it is not superficial values that create a successful man, it is the desire to be the best, to want to learn, to strive for success, rather than wait for it. It is this very concept, in which we see a man crumble to a grinding halt. It is actually a truly remarkable aspect, as in it makes you think about life’s goals, and it is the educated people that prosper, not the fake. Another major issue in the play is betrayal. In the play, Willy constantly believes that Biff has betrayed him, in the sense that Biff hasn’t followed his ambitions and dreams that he had for him. Willy believes Biff has to follow his dreams and his path, and the moment Biff tries to reject this, he takes it personally, and says it’s spite. Overall, Willy fails as a salesman, to ultimately, sell the American Dream to his son. Then, Willy assumes that Biff has betrayed him because of his discovery of his affair with The Women. Whereas, Biff, who called Willy â€Å"a phoney little fake† believes Willy, with his unending ego-stroking lies, betrays him. What interests here, is the relationship between father and son. Here we have, a son dying for the truth and being realistic about what and who he is, confronting a father, surrounded by his own self-delusions about the American Dream, and to force it upon his son. This is a very interesting concept, which puts up the idea that Willy has really betrayed Biff, firstly because of his affair, which hurt Biff so much, as he loved his father and mother dearly, and also the fact that Biff is not given the chance to be realistic about himself and his family. I think it is the relations between father and son that are most interesting here. Another issue in the play, that the audience will notice, is abandonment. When Willy is a child, his father, leaving him and Ben alone, abandons him. Ben eventually leaves for Alaska, and Willy is left pondering over his warped vision of the American Dream. Thus, he tries desperately to prove it to his family, and Biff, who Willy loves dearly and has great ambitions for, drops Willy with his dreams when he finds out his betrayal to Linda. Finally, in the restaurant scene, which will be mentioned later, Willy finally believes his American Dream is coming to light, but all his illusions are shattered, and he is left babbling in the washroom. It seems that every abandonment causes great despair over Willy. It actually quite saddens the audience when they see this lonely figure of a man, living up to his fake dreams, to be shattered and let down by those dearest to him. What is interesting, is that how we come about seeing this. His abandonment by his sons can be seen to be his incapability of being realistic about life, and that is one of the main reasons why Biff is uneasy towards Willy. The fact that he is always in unrealistic dreams. So generally, it can be interpreted in different ways. One interesting point I would like to make is that Willy has this tendency to mythologize figures. In the play he has a very important quote, â€Å" And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up the phone, and to be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people?† Willy speaks of Dave Singleman here, as a legend and the embodiment of the American Dream. Here is his mistake. His failure to understand his own life, leads to his demise. Willy fails to realise the loneliness, and hopelessness of Singleman’s job. It is that very failure to realise this, that sees both his sons abandon his fake Dream. It is also the fact that he mythologizes Biff and Happy. He is quoted as saying Biff is like Adonis and Happy like Hercules. This is because he believes Biff and Happy to be the absolute embodiment of the American Dream. He sees them as being perfect in every way required, but the reality is extremely different. Moreover, the fact that there includes many different types of symbols also makes you think. It can be said that the rubber hose is an important symbol in itself, as it constantly reminds us of Willy’s desperate attempts to commit suicide. Here, the rubber hose represents the attempts at killing himself with gas, which is, the supplier of his families basic needs. This very idea of inhaling gas is the concept that Willy thinks, is a crucial battle to afford such simple necessities. Diamonds are what I find, extremely puzzling. These diamonds represent two things to Willy. They are, the validation of ones labour, and the ability to pass actual material goods to children. They are both what Willy is craving for. On the other hand however, they are a representation of the discovery of Ben in Alaska, and Willy’s desperate failure as a Salesman. The mistake of Willy, essentially what he feels as well, is that he didn’t go with Ben to Alaska and peruse the American Dream for which he craved so much. Instead, he stayed for what the Dream promised, financial security. So, at the end Ben encourages Willy to enter the Jungle and obtain the diamond, thus, to kill himself for the insurance money to make his life meaningful in at least one sense. So, these ideas were the key concepts of the play. This is exactly what makes it a fantastically interesting and complicated piece of drama. The fact, that so many lessons are learned, so many ideas are played, so many themes and genres are come across. These are what make Death of a Salesman, a truly magnificent piece of writing. It is the fact that it takes the audience into a whole bundle of new ideas and aspects to consider that makes it remarkable. The fact also, that it is set in the 1980’s makes it even more interesting. It depicts the typical nature of the American Dream. Arthur Miller (the author) tries to get the idea across that the American Dream is nothing but an illusion; it is hard working that really matters. Maybe some time ago it was the case, but not now. This idea is clearly implied throughout the book. For example there is Biff’s struggle to get the concept of realism across to his father, there is Happy’s lies and failure, also Bernard’s excellent success, and also Charley’s success even when he was not well liked, and finally, Willy’s failure in life. It is all these ideas that make the play truly astonishing. Now, after describing the play as a whole, I will move on to the restaurant scene, one of the most important scenes in the entire play. It is the climax of the whole Drama. I will first describe the scene then explain and comment on it with quotes. It starts of with the scene in Frank’s Chop House. After Happy meets a particular girl, Miss Forsythe, Biff explains to Happy that he waited six hours to see Bill Oliver, and Oliver didn’t even remember him. He quotes after that, â€Å" I even believed myself that I’d been a salesman for him! And then he gave me one look and- I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been. We’ve been talking in a dream for fifteen years, I was a shipping clerk.† Biff asks where he ever got the idea that he was a salesman for Oliver, he was only a shipping clerk. However, it was Willy’s lies and exaggerations that led him to believe he was a salesman when he actually wasn’t. Then Biff accounts how he stole Bill Oliver’s fountain pen and was disgusted with himself. Happy tells Biff to go tell Willy lies, and say he is thinking about the preposition and then Willy will eventually forget the whole matter. When Willy arrives, he reveals the shocking news, â€Å"I’m not interested in stories about the past or any crap of that kind because the woods are burning, boys, you understand? There’s a big blaze going on all around. I was fired today†. After that he states he needs some good news to go back to Linda with, because he is essentially in disparity, and his life is wrecked. Then everything goes off. Willy says to Biff that he can’t blame him because he is the one who failed math. Young Bernard appears in Willy’s flashback, telling the news to Linda, that Birnbaum flunked Biff. Biff gets completely confused at his father’s crazy statements, and tries to calm him down and explain the truth to him, but it reaches a stage where Willy refuses to listen to Biff’s story. In an absolute frenzy, Willy goes into a state of delirium and has a semi-daydream about the discovery of The Woman in the Boston hotel. Biff backs down, and then desperately starts to lie in an attempt to save his father, â€Å"Oliver talked to his partner about the Florida idea. You listening? He-he talked to his partner, and came to me†¦ I’m going to be all right, you hear? Dad, listen to me, he said it was a question of amount!† Then, when Biff can’t lie anymore, because he is afraid that Willy will get hurt, Willy is insulted by Biff, thinking it is spite and lashes out at his son, he quotes â€Å"You rotten little louse, are you spiting me?† whereas Biff would never do that, because he loves his father and only wants to help him. Then Willy goes off into the washroom and talks to himself. Biff returns to Happy in the Chop House, and accuses Happy of not caring about his father. Essentially Biff reveals the real character that Happy is. Biff tells him in a crucial quote, â€Å" I sense it, you don’t give a goddam about him.† Happy says he should go out with the ladies. Biff leaves in guilt and anguish. Happy claims to the ladies that Willy is not his father, â€Å"he’s just a guy† and then he frantically asks for the bill, Stanley doesn’t respond, so they all leave, and Willy is left babbling in the washroom alone. So, before I get on to the scene with The Woman, I want to explain this. First of all, as Willy has encountered Howard, Bernard and Charley, and has seen their success, his dreams are seriously dented. His illusions and constructed reality is falling apart. Biff wants to essentially leave behind all the lies and fake illusions and start a new beginning, one with his father relating to honesty. Willy, however, wants his sons to aid him in constructing a false truth. One that includes reliving the American Dream for him. Willy takes Biff so far, as to produce a false report of the interview with Bill Oliver and Happy is very willing to accept. When Biff starts to produce a negative report, Happy jumps in with positive remarks to keep the talk going, he quotes, â€Å"Sure pop, sure, he told him my Florida idea†. He comes up with false information about the interview, and here, it is absolutely clear that he has only his own interests in mind, however the damning evidence comes la ter. After a moment of weakness and defeat, Willy’s ultimate fear is lived in the restaurant. He is in an emotional breakdown, and needs Biff and Happy to give him confidence, as he knows he is not liked anymore, and he knows it better than anybody. Eventually we see the state of abandonment as before, when Biff and Happy reject him. Willy’s dream is coming apart, and Happy and Biff have dented it more than any other. For Biff, the experience of finding out the truth about himself and the fact that he is not a salesman for Bill Oliver, makes him even more determined to crack the lies that surround him, at any cost. Willy refuses to hear out Biff because he wants to stay in delusions. He doesn’t want the truth, because he realises how bitter it is, and he knows it. Essentially it can be said that he can’t handle the truth. On top of that Biff doesn’t want to hear Willy’s lies because he is tired of them, he doesn’t want them repeated and repeated. He wants his Dad to realise him. Biff believes, that he must conquer the heavy lies put on him, and realise the truth about his personal degradation. Both Willy and Biff know the differences between the death of a salesman in Singleman and Willy’s own pathetic vision of death. The basis here is that Biff understands that behind the American Dream lies a lonely, and terrible death, one that Singleman himself had. Happy and Linda want Willy to die as he is, in delusions and false truth, but Biff is determined to reach the real truth. Now, this is essentially what is going on in this scene. Biff tries desperately to uncover the lies about himself and Willy, but Willy won’t let him explain. It’s as almost if Willy doesn’t want to hear. Another point to add is that before Biff tries to explain things, we find out he is slightly on alcohol and nervous, and it is essentially because he wants to say he is worthless, a no body, and a bum, something that his father will not accept. Biff tries to explain but Willy won’t let him. This implies Willy is saying, I want to stay in illusions, I’m empty, I don’t want to know the truth. Biff then quotes, ‘His answer was- Dad you’re not letting me tell you what I want you to hear!’ This is very interesting, because Biff is about to tell a half lie, but that’s not what he wants to do, because he wants to get straight. He wants to come out with the truth, and he also loves his father, and doesn’t want to hurt him. With the key line of ‘he’s just a guy’ Happy shows himself as a distorted, thinner image of Willy. However, Willy has a good side to him, his love for his family, and his sense of humour are his good sides. Overall, this scene where we see Biff and Happy, can be said to be the emotional climax of the whole play, as many different ideas and concepts are revealed. Now, I will be describing the scene where Willy is left alone in the rest room, and is in a flashback. When his sons have departed from the Chop House, Willy is left alone in his daydreams and flashbacks about Biff’s visit to Boston. In his daydream he is in a hotel room in Boston with his mistress. After telephoning repeatedly, Biff is knocking on the door. The Woman pesters Willy to go answer. We learn something new about her, as she quotes, â€Å" You know you ruined me, Willy? From now on, whenever you come to the office, I’ll see that you go right through to the buyers. No waiting at my desk any more, Willy. You ruined me.† She doesn’t ‘t actually mean Willy ruined her, but it is just a sort of joke. However, this means, that Willy met her in a buyer’s office and she was presumably, the secretary. Willy is clearly nervous about the surprise visitor, and he orders her to stay in the washroom because it might be a clerk investigating their affair. Willy answers the door and Biff is there. He tells Willy he flunked maths and asks Willy to persuade the teacher, Mr. Birnbaum, to pass him. Then Willy quotes, â€Å"Come on, let’s go downstairs and get you a malted.† Willy is clearly trying to get Biff out of the room quickly. When Biff imitates the maths teacher, The Woman laughs in the bathroom. Willy insists that it is nothing. The Woman suddenly enters the room. Willy quickly pushes her out into the hall way and says that she is a buyer staying in a room next door who needed to shower in Willy’s room, because her room was being painted. Biff then, astonished, sits on his suitcase, crying silently, and not buying his father’s lies at all. Willy says he will go talk to the math teacher, but in tears, Biff says he should forget it. The most harmful blow was when he quoted, â€Å" You-you gave her Mamas stockings!† Then he quotes, â€Å" You fake! You phoney little fake! You fake!† Biff leaves in tears, and Willy is left on the floor quoting, â€Å" I gave you an order! Biff, come back here or I’ll beat you! Come back here! I’ll whip you!† Stanley pulls Willy out of his daydream. Willy is still on his knees yelling and ordering Biff. Stanley pulls him back up, and Willy attempts to tip him, but Stanley sneakily puts it back into Willy’s pocket. Willy asks him frantically where a seed store is, he must plant something, he quotes, and â€Å"Nothing’s planted I don’t have a thing in the ground† So, what did this all mean? Well, Biff discovers the affair of Willy and calls him â€Å"phoney little fake†, so, this means that he suddenly, at that moment, realises what’s beneath Willy’s facade and despises the man behind it. This is what saddens Willy the most, to be exposed in that way. From then on, Willy decides that the reason for Biff rejecting his illusions and the reason for his failure in life is because of what he found out. Of course, in logic, Biff hated Willy for his affair, and therefore hated his ambitions and dreams as well. In this way, Willy mixes up professional with personal. Willy, in his understanding of the American Dream, believes that it has no need for professional success; rather, he thinks that one can derive happiness without these things. Essentially, he thinks success derives from immaterial and ephemeral concepts, of being â€Å"well liked† and having â€Å"personal attractiveness†. Willy believes, that because Biff doesn’t respect him anymore, as a father or person, he automatically rejects the American Dream. However, Willy is correct. This knowledge of the crime that Willy has committed tarnishes any emotional aspects, so therefore Biff rejects the whole idea of the fake American Dream, that Willy is so desperate to sell. Another aspect is the symbol of Linda’s stockings. Earlier in the play, Willy was preoccupied with the state of Linda’s stockings and her mending them. Until the restaurant scene, which is the most climatic scene where Biff tries to uncover all the lies surrounding the Loman household, the only subconscious trace of Willy’s adultery is the complete and utter persistence to throw away Linda’s stockings. These stockings are the ultimate symbol of betrayal and guilt, which overpowers Willy. When Biff then rejects his ambitions for him and the American Dream, his Dream also starts to crack. Willy’s delirious interest in the seed shop and the end reveals a lot about him. At that moment Willy is a failure. He is poor, unemployed and has nothing to give to his sons. He tries to give Stanley a dollar to portray to him at least that he does own something. However, it was a pretty pathetic and feeble attempt. Stanley though doesn’t accept it, because at that time he feels dear to Willy since both sons have left him. In addition, the failure to raise Biff the way he wanted means he has to plant some vegetables at least, to prove his labour and to raise something successfully. The quote at the end, â€Å"Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground†, is implying how Biff was able to break free of his American Dream, and the traditions of his family. Finally, the metaphor represents Willy’s natural preferences to do manual labour, and that being a salesman, was definitely the wrong choice to go with. So, I have come to an end and the only conclusion that I can make of the play, is that it is a fantastically good idea. The themes have an extraordinary range. These include betrayal, the American Dream, material success, commerce, truth vs. lies/fantasy, family, instinct, work, death and ‘dying well’. I’ll end with a quote made by Biff, which summed up Willy very well, â€Å"He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong.† Background Information: The whole play addresses many painful conflicts regarding the American national values. It offers a post war personal tragedy reading. I think mostly; Miller is concerned with America revolving around the false myth that is based on capitalism and materialism constructed by the post war economy. A type of view, which was held highly by the founders of America. The challenge of the American Dream was very radical at the time of World War II. Radical as it was, many of the artists and philosophers took up the idea of realistic views and personal meaning. At that time this was unusual, and the government didn’t like the idea, they had confusion already in the country. However, many people, even then, had so many conflicts, which included racial and economical, that they couldn’t take up the idea of a social reformation. Many people still kept their ideological interests in hand. However in this day and age, it is obvious that the ideas of people like Arthur Miller have been put into practise, and now, the emphasis is of the American Dream is that it only works if you want to succeed and get to the top by working hard and being positive that you will do well. So, as a final comment, I think that Arthur Miller’s ideas and concepts managed to change the way people think about how society and families work, and what are the values to keep in mind.

Aspects of happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Aspects of happiness - Essay Example One can expect little obstacles that life throws about since we cannot expect to live each minute with a smile. The upward trend, in this case, s advisable since it has long-lasting results that can be seen over decades if one decides to stay happy. Another premise used in the essay is that of empirical research. Another form of the survey carried out was to determine the effect that education has on happiness. The aim was to determine how it feels like when one thinks of educational achievements and if that can facilitate happiness. The survey-based the findings on both the amount of time taken in education as well as the levels attained. However, this empirical analysis yielded fewer instances of correlation between education and happiness. Argyle found out that even though certain levels of educational achievement made people happy, it also raised their expectations of better life with higher incomes, which tends to disappoint people if things do not work according to plan. So in the pursuit of happiness, the main point in which one can achieve it from success in education is when an individual gets a well paying job after finishing up with education. Another matter that was brought up for scrutiny of its effect on happiness is marriage.     However, most people start experiencing a downward trend when they get children, especially if these kids become teenagers, as that is the stage in their lives when they are quite hard to deal with, and that may lower the level of happiness previously witnessed.  Ã‚  ... d that the things that matter most to people in terms of happiness are practically not just what is felt at the moment but also involve the recurrent patterns of these items of happiness. The premise of experimentation further got results to indicate that people prefer sad situations that take long but get less sad with time than to experience sad moments that end abruptly but leave behind a mark. The conclusion arrived at indicated that from the experiment, the happy lives are those that end well or better yet, the ones that display an upward trend. The contradicting aspects to this finding indicated that a downward trend yields unpleasant outcomes. The speaker asks the audience the kind of life they would opt to have only to end up with enormous disappointments. It is, therefore, advisable to seek for an upward trend in pursuit of happiness if an individual wants an easy life that is sort of stress free. One can expect little obstacles that life throws about since we cannot expect to live each minute with a smile. The upward trend in this case is advisable since it has long lasting results that can be seen over decades if one decides to stay happy. Another premise used in the essay is that of empirical research. Another form of survey carried out was to determine the effect that education has on happiness. The aim was to determine how it feels like when one thinks of educational achievements and if that can facilitate happiness. The survey based the findings on both the amount of time taken in education as well as the levels attained. However, this empirical analysis yielded fewer instances of correlation between education and happiness. Argyle found out that even though certain levels of educational achievement made people happy, it also raised their expectations of

Cost of Healthcare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Cost of Healthcare - Essay Example This increase in cost of healthcare is most likely to impact the public in a number of ways. It is of crucial significance to note that the increase in cost of healthcare is good to the economy for a number of reasons. The increasing cost of healthcare is important in strengthening the economy. It is likely to result in increase in taxes thereby creating more money thus strengthening the economy (Pear et al, 2014). However, it is prudent to acknowledge that the increase in cost of healthcare may negatively impact the consumers in a number of ways. This may involve the increasing costs of medical insurance to such consumers. In this regard, it is prudent to note that the healthcare costs should be reduced. This is because the high healthcare cost is most likely to raise the cost of medication and hospital. This can be attributed to increased costs of living to the people. Renter, E. (2014). Health Care Costs Expected to Rise in 2015: Are You Ready? Retrieved on 9th June 2015 from http://health.usnews.com/health-news/health- insurance/articles/2014/10/21/health-care-costs-expected-to-rise-in-2015-are-you-ready Pear, R., Abelson, R. & Armendariz, A. (2014). Cost of Coverage Under AffordableCare Act to Increase in 2015. Retrieved on 9th June 2015 from

Emerging Viruses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Emerging Viruses - Essay Example Obviously, it is adaptation which ensures continuity of its kind. While the constituencies of human living cells have not evolved, men have learned how to boost their immune system. This is to maintain good health, and to avoid the dangers of pathogens, without necessarily altering normal physiology. Fortunately, increasing the body's resistance to dreadful diseases has become ordinary because of the intensified information technology as well as the new findings and concoctions in the field of pharmacy. Some may have precautionary vaccines to develop antibodies, and others may have resorted to proper medication when ill with identified pathogens (Engelkirk and Burton, 2007). Unfortunately, these created barriers to the normal multiplication of pathogens, and are the most likely switch factors to the evolution of either the DNA or the RNA, whichever is present in an animal virus that infect cells. Normally, animal viruses complete their customary multiplication cycle in six (6) stages (Engelkirk and Burton, 2007). Initially, viruses attach on recognized receptors, usually proteins or polysaccharides, on surfaces of their specific living host cells ("Transmission of Influenza A Viruses and People-Information from CDC" 81).

Women in Politics in the Progressive Era Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Women in Politics in the Progressive Era - Essay Example At the end of 19th century women were considered the moral guardians and the protector of the home. During the progressive era, female reformers used ideology that in order to fully protect the home, females should shift to the public scope where they could practice their ethical power over matters such as public hygiene and education which eventually had huge impacts on the homes (Schneide & Schneider 106). Before having the right to vote the women participated in the political arena by joining volunteering organizations to work for reforms in the country. Efforts began to develop at the grassroots level and extended to the state and national level. These women carried out research, executed program, and pushed for the legislature to look into social, political, and economic problem. Middle class club women and settlement workers were to organize and address issues concerning education, healthcare, and political corruption while working women got organized in their own and in partnership with middle class women to raise welfare wages and improve working conditions in America. African American women were in organization to fight racism and provide mutual support. The status of women was beginning to change rapidly in this era, for most part middle class white married women thou they still did not work outside their home. Working women were primarily young and single, widow or divorcees or poor married woman. Most women continued working in agriculture as domestic servants especially the African American women. However, new jobs were opening up and most women began to seek for occupations in department stores. Mid-class women were able to find jobs as clerical workers i.e. typist, clerk, telephone operator, and a few excelled as lawyers, doctors, journalists, and scientist (Schneide & Schneider 146). In the 1930s some reformed women in the era were already in

Nathan Forrests Monument Tribute to Selmas Defender or Wizard of Ku Essay

Nathan Forrests Monument Tribute to Selmas Defender or Wizard of Ku Klux Klan - Essay Example Nathan Forrest’s Monument – Tribute to Selma’s Defender or Wizard of Ku Klux Klan In my perspective, laws of justice and humanity conflict with dedicating a monument to a man whose name epitomizes America’s tragic history of racial prejudice and bloodshed. In order to comprehend this controversy, it is imperative to analyze the myriad of aspects surrounding it, such as first amendment, American history, political drama, and society’s reactions. The issue is that the Forrest Monument has always stirred drastically conflicting sentimental reactions amongst Americans. During the civil war, Nathan Bedford Forrest rose from a private soldier to the rank of lieutenant general in the Confederate Army. He was acclaimed for being a self-educated, valiant, and brilliant cavalry leader. Prior to the war, Forrest was an affluent planter, real estate backer, and slave trader. Despite lacking military education, Forrest rose to high ranks due to his innate strategic and tactical abilities. He pioneered novel policies for mobile forces, which earned him the title o f â€Å"The Wizard of the Saddle† (United Daughters of Confederacy 90). For some Forrest is a brilliant Civil War hero and quintessence of bravery and decisiveness. Todd Kiscaden, a friend and advocate of Forrest monument stated, â€Å"I recommend this man to model his life after. He always led from the front. He did what he said he was going to do. He took care of his people, and his people included both races (Allen).†... An extract from the letter of a confederate soldier, Achilles Clark, verifies these facts as he wrote that the slaughter was awful. He, with several others, tried to stop the brutalities of war and partially succeeded, but General Forrest ordered blacks to be shot down like dogs, and the carnage continued. Although some historians have glossed over his devious, inhumane crimes against negroes, the fact is that Forrest was not cruel, racially prejudiced slave dealer (Loewen and Sebesta 280). Likewise, Forrest is also infamous for being the Grand Wizard of Ku Klux Klan, a clandestine vigilante group that conducted a terrifying reign against African-Americans, Republicans and people who moved to south after the war (Ashdown and Caudill 39). Therefore, constructing his monument is â€Å"boldly racist† as Malika Fortier, a leading opponent in this struggle, quotes. In spite of the afore-mentioned facts, there are legal hindrances in preventing further work on the Forrest statue. Th e most imperative lingering question is that of land ownership. Proponents of the statue contend that the local authorities of Selma awarded the United Daughters of the Confederacy an acre of cemetery in 1877. As opposed to this, protestors argue that no legal documents exist to evidence the transfer of ownership to the United Daughters of the Confederacy (Brown 13). Although the question of land ownership is for now the most crucial, it constitutes only the basic queries and legal consequences that shall ensue. For instance, if the land were deemed as private property, passersby would not be aware that this cemetery contains Confederate Circle. In plain terms, the cemetery might be construed as public property even if it is

Women's and global leadership at bestfoods Case Study

Women's and global leadership at bestfoods - Case Study Example Ensuring that for each leadership position, a woman candidate must be present (Osland & Adler, 2007). Another method for promoting diversity include sending more women both of America and of non-American decent to senior management and development programs to shed a light on them on the possible leadership training offered to individuals. Understanding women and the barriers they face while at formal employment and support them. This is to be done by appreciating the effort that women contribute at work as well as the household needs they reach up to. At the same time, it is the look at work output in terms of delivery rather than time spent at work. Adding to that, many women at high levels to be selected for senior managerial positions at the company.Senior level management training offered to senior position holders promoted by companies could be beneficial to women if they had such positions(Osland & Adler, 2007). Brody is justified to hold the forum. This is because forums are an audience for all to be heard and the forum was to encompass women who are the sole victims in diversity at Bestfoods. The forum was to have 50% of women from outside the US, an enough indication of diversity. Possible alternatives that would generate the same agenda include holding seminars on gender diversity at work, pushing for bills that involve a certain limit in employment of women in each sector as well including women in the human resource departments of many companies (Osland & Adler, 2007). While pushing for the forum organization, Brody and Shoemate faced several challenges and programs. Brody and Shoemate’s ideas were not all met with a warm reception. Skeptical comments arose from some men and women who believed that the forum was not going to bear any results whatsoever. There was also the feeling of inferiority complex among some of the women selected to attend the forum. They felt that if in any case

Diversification Strategies Southwest Airlines Assignment

Diversification Strategies Southwest Airlines - Assignment Example Corporate Culture The case study clearly indicates that Southwest Airlines’ corporate culture greatly differs from that of other airlines. As Bermont (2004, p. 101) points out, when other airlines focus on profit maximization, the Southwest Airlines specifically tries to provide its customers with funny flight experiences at affordable rates. Since the company prioritizes customer satisfaction, it provides passengers with several financial benefits that other competing airlines hesitate to offer. To illustrate, when other airlines began to charge for customers’ checked baggage, Southwest Airlines stood firmly against those kinds of additional charges. Instead of charging customers’ baggage, the firm integrated taglines saying ‘We Love Your Bags’ into its advertising campaigns (Boone & Kurtz, 2011, p. 237). These operational policies of the organization greatly impressed customers and, therefore, contributed to customer loyalty. The most distinguishin g feature of Southwest Airlines’ corporate culture is that it attaches specific importance to humor and energy from the time of its founder Herb Kelleher. The company management holds the view that if it can keep its employees happy, they, in turn, will ensure high quality services to their customers. According to the president Colleen Barrett, â€Å"Southwest likes to think of itself as a customer service organization that happens to fly airplanes†; and as per the company’s corporate culture, â€Å"servant’s heart† must be a necessary characteristic that every employee must possess (as cited in Boone & Kurtz, 2011, p. 237). The company management conducts group interviews to evaluate how their employees would interact with a customer. In contrast to other airlines, Southwest Airlines provides its employees with a common platform so as to express their opinions, attain education and training, and ultimately improve their performance. Thus the organ ization greatly fosters employee creativity. The Southwest management encourages its employees to be proactive and take decisions from the heart. As Southwest’s middle level managers, supervisors, and frontline employees are allowed to take decisions, passengers would not face any difficulty in obtaining timely and quality services. According to employees and passengers, a key factor that distinguishes Southwest’s corporate culture from others is that the organization holds a ‘heart’ (Boone & Kurtz, 2011, p. 238). How the Southwest’s Culture has benefited its Growth? While analyzing the company’s extensive corporate history, it is clear that the firm’s unique culture has benefited the airlines and its employees. High level customer loyalty, low cost, and employee empowerment are the major three ways that aided the organization and its employees. Firstly, strong customer loyalty helped the company to survive market difficulties includin g global financial recession of 2008. The case study clearly reflects that the company offers only reasonable fares to its customers and refuses to charge for additional services such as baggage. As Lovelock, Wirtz, and Chatterjee (2004) point out, Southwest’s convenient flight schedules are really helpful for passengers, because most of other airlines do not provide such flexible time schedules. Furthermore, the organization always strives to maintain cheerful services and a genuine interest in its passengers. Such positive

Thomas Jefferson and Slavery in Virginia Essay Example for Free

Thomas Jefferson and Slavery in Virginia Essay At the bottom it was slavery that divided Virginia along the Blue Ridge Mountains. Most members of the convention have agreed with the opinion of the distinguishing delegate, James Monroe, that â€Å"if no such thing as slavery existed.. the people of our Atlantic border, would meet their brethren of the west, upon the basis of a majority, of the free white population.† But slavery existed, largely as an eastern institution; and it demanded protection from mere numbers both in the state and in the federal government. By-passed in the convention, the dreaded issue, swollen by the hopes and fears of a terrible torrent, soon locked Virginia in another great debate that ripped wide the seams Jeffersonian heritage. In the year 1831, a fanatical slave preacher, Nat Turner, and his band massacred about sixty white people, where most of them were women and children. This was by far the bloodiest events in the annals of American history. Jefferson once said, â€Å"And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only form basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gifts of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? In deed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.† Converting crisis to opportunity, many Virginians hoped for the realization of Jefferson’s cherished goal of gradual emancipation, trusting as well that Virginia’s lead would â€Å"impart a resistless impulse† to the whole South. Once again, Jefferson provided the moral justification for western interests, which coincided with emancipation. The House of Delegates referred the slavery question to a special committee dominated by the eastern conservatives. But before the committee could submit its report, debate erupted in the House on two resolutions which instructed the committee to contradictory courses of action. Thomas Jefferson Tandoph, for the liberals, asked the committee to report on the expediency of placing before the electorate a plan of gradual emancipation. Children of slaves born on or after July 4, 1840 would become the property of the state when they came of age, and would be colonized outside the United States when the return from their labor met the expenses of their removal. This was, in essence, â€Å"the plan of Mr. Jefferson,† as everyone recognized; the plan broached by him in the Notes of Virginia slavery debate was also a debate on Jefferson. Standing on the natural rights philosophy, the reformers argued that slavery was both an injustice to the Negroes land a curse to the whites. The principles of American liberty, they said, embraced the whole of humanity. Let the master debase the slave’s humanity, pervert his feelings, muffle his reason, still â€Å"the idea that he was born to be free will survive it all. It is.. a torch lit up in his soul by the hand of the Deity and never meant to be extinguished by the had of man.† The slave system weakened the moral restraints of Christianity. It made industry dishonorable. It retarded popular education and free inquiry. This was another example of how Jefferson’s striking language became â€Å"stereotyped in the public voice.† No other words from his pen, or perhaps from any pen, were more often quoted as gospel by anti-slavery men. Jefferson’s â€Å"false picture† of Virginia society, â€Å"has gone forth to the world as our true character as Benjamin W. Leigh complained in the press. The defender of slavery worked mainly with the ideas of their conservative predecessors in the convention of 1829; however, they introduced not important modification. They were forced to contend now not only for the supremacy of the master race. Defending racial inequality and slavery as laws of nature, attested by all history, the eastern delegates superimposed a still nebulous ideology of white supremacy upon the older conservative ideology of property. The slaves, they said, were happy with their lot, and the whites were more equal and more republican because of this labor system. Increasingly, throughout the South, racial inequalities would be substituted for economic ones, color would become the badge of aristocracy, and class issues would be smothered by the blanket appeal to racial solidarity. Pro-slavery ideology divided society not between the rich and the poor but between the whites and the black. Having assailed the natural rights premises of the reformers, the conservatives went on to argue that emancipation was impractical. What better proof was wanted that Jefferson’s own conduct – he never liberated his slaves, but â€Å"perpetuated their condition by the last solemn act of his life; which is sufficient.. to put to flight all the conclusions that have been drawn from the expressions of his abstract opinions.† His scheme of emancipation was only a day dream. He never went before the public as its advocate. Posterity could not venture what he dared not attempt: â€Å"The fragments of a great man’s thoughts are not only valueless but dangerous. The same genius which conceived them is necessary to fill up their details.. When Hercules died, there was no man left to left his club.† Many things foredoomed the Jeffersonian plan to failure; none, however, was as significant for Jefferson’s place in the southern imagination as the doctrine of state rights. Jefferson, as its champion, had often condemned federal intervention of any sort with slavery in the states. Finally realizing in 1824 that Virginia could never bear the financial burden of compensation and colonization, he put aside his constitutional scruples and proposed the diversion to the states of federal revenue from the public lands in order to effect emancipation. According to Thomas R. Dew wrote in his influential Review of the slavery debate the whole movement of emancipation, â€Å"is but too well calculated to furnish the political lever by which Virginia is to be prised out of her natural and honorable position in the Union..† The reformers hoped that the flood of light turned upon slavery in 1832 would result in its early extinction. But Carolina Nullification, not emancipation, was the absorbing issue of the succeeding session of the legislature, and from this state rights crisis the promising onto-slavery movement never recovered.

Issues in Human Resource Strategies That Improve Organizational Performance Essay Example for Free

Issues in Human Resource Strategies That Improve Organizational Performance Essay A rapidly changing economic environment, characterized by such phenomena as the globalization, and deregulation of markets, changing customer and investor demands, and ever increasing product market competition, has become the norm for most organization. To compete, they must continually improve their performance by reducing costs; innovating products and processes; improving quality, productivity, and speed to market; and more importantly by improving their individual performance within the organization. In order to do this, a set of distinctive human resource strategies, defined as internally consistent bundles of human resource practices (Dyer Reeves, 1995), is clearly essential. Sparrow and Marchington (1998) suggested that HR practices are the most advanced, the most sophisticated, and the most efficient basis for organizing and for obtaining high performance from employees since it seeks to strategically integrate the interests of an organization and its employees. In addition, a number of studies have also indicated that there is a positive relationship between effective HR strategies and organizational performance. Specifically, it is suggested that HR practices can improve organizational and operational performance when matched with quality manufacturing strategies (Stone, 2002). Nevertheless, despite the positive relationship found between HR practices and firm performance, there are a number of issues and questions surrounding them. One problem in relating HRM and performance is the lack of theoretical background; resulting in both terms remain ambiguous concepts. Other questions arise in relation with the link between HR strategies and performance are the inconsistent findings in regards to what constitutes a high performance HR strategy (Becker Gerhart, 1996; Cooke, 2001) and the problems with HRM and performance measurements (Guest et al. , 2003). The aim of this essay is to outline and explain the issues in developing human resource strategies that improve organizational performance. Specifically, the essay shall begin with presenting the issue of theoretical background of the concept of HRM and organizational performance. Subsequently, it shall discuss the issue about diversified strategies used to improve performance, and the problems in measuring HRM and performance. ?HRM and Organizational Performance: The Lack of Theoretical Background Guest (1997) pointed out that to improve our understanding of the impact of HRM on performance; we need a theory about HRM, a theory about performance, and a theory about how they are linked. Unfortunately, there has been a great deal of debates amongst leading researchers and practitioners about the concept and contributions of HRM practice in managing employees in overall organizational objectives (Loosemore, Dainty Lingard, 2003; Analoui, 1998; Sparrow Marchington, 1998). McCarthy and Stone (1986) argued that the concept of HRM is ambiguous and that its contribution to organizational performance remains unclear and is not well understood. In addition, Sparrow and Marchington (1998) pointed out that rather than adding value to the business through its strategic integration with managerial objectives, HRM can remain a disappointingly mechanistic function. Similarly, there is no universal theory about performance (Guest, 1997). It was proposed that the meaning of performance involves two dimensions; the types of criteria and the weight of each. Organizations have different interpretations of performance according to the sector of their industries. Service providers, for example, might consider customer satisfaction as their top performance indicator, while manufacturers might view inventory level as an important criterion to measure their performance level. In addition, some organizations put financial results on top of their performance indicator list and employee’s job satisfaction at the bottom, but others may view this in the opposite position. As a result, it is hard, if not impossible, to define the concept of performance that applicable for all organizations. The impact of HR practices on firm performance is without a doubt an important topic in the fields of human resource management, industrial relations, and industrial and organizational psychology (Huselid, 1995; Jones Wright, 1992). This literature, although largely conceptual, concludes that HR practices can help to create a source of sustained competitive advantage, especially when they are aligned with a firm’s competitive strategy (Jackson Schuler, 1995; Wright McMahan, 1992, both as cited in Huselid, 1995). Specifically, a large majority of published studies found an association between HR practices and firm performance, regardless of whether they are cross-sectional or longitudinal, whether conducted at establishment or company level, whether based on strong performance data or subjective estimates, whatever sector they are based on, whatever operational definition of HRM is used, and wherever they are conducted (Guest et al. , 2003). Nevertheless, despite the positive thrust of most empirical findings, Wood and de Menezes (1998, as cited in Guest et al. 2003) failed to find consistent associations between HRM and performance. Furthermore, Wood (1999) has also argued that the relationship between HRM and performance is relatively weak. One possible explanation lies in the various contingency factors, other than HR activities, that might contribute to organizational performance such as organizational culture (Kotter Heskett, 1992; Van der Post et al. , 1998), business strategy (Richard Brown Johnson, 1999), and political considerations (Ferris et al. 1998). ?Improvement Strategies: Is There One Best Way? Much of the research on the link between HRM and firm performance has looked at single HR practice such as compensation or selection, while others attempted to look on the impact of combining different HR practices to improve firm performance (Becker Gerhart, 1996). Pfeffer (1998, as cited in Tyson, 1997), for instance, put forward a seven-principle best practice which he believed is universally applicable. The seven best practice HRM elements include; employment security, selective hiring, self managed teams, high compensation contingent on organizational performance, extensive training, reduction of status difference, and information sharing. Theoretically, bundling several HR practices should produce greater performance effects than any of the individual human practices (Dyer Reeves, 1995). However, in reality, there is no single standardized bundle of HR strategies that is universally applicable for all organizations. Each firm might require different bundles of HR strategies to improve its organizational performance.

Economic Problem of Scarcity and Resource Allocation

Economic Problem of Scarcity and Resource Allocation TASK 1 1(a)Explain the economic problem of scarcity and resource allocation, and evaluate the role of opportunity costs in determining how economics make decisions All the problems which are associated with money are known as economic problem. It is also known as central, basic or fundamental economic problem. It state that there is scarcity that is, the availability of limited resources are not enough to satisfy the need want and demand of the society. So the question is that how to control and what to be produced, and how the capital and labor are utilized to remove this type of problems. The problems of economics appear mostly with two problems: Unlimited human wants Limited resources Scarcity Scarcity is one of the most important and basic problem in which human wants are unlimited so it creates difficulties to fulfill the satisfaction of human wants because resources are limited. Thus we have selected one option. We have to make tradeoffs. We have to use our resources with efficiently and well-mannered way. We are bound to do so because resources are limited and demands of our own are unlimited. Without scarcity, the discipline of economics cannot be presents. Economic is a field of distribution, production and consumption of goods and services. If the society fails to produce the goods according to the required demand and fail to distribute the goods equally between the societies and didn’t fulfill the wants and demands of humans, then the study of the economic problems become boring. In case of scarcity not appears, and then the goods and services would be free. Therefore the decision about scarcity would be made. Allocation resources problems occur due to scarcity of resources and give the answer of the question that what would be satisfied and which should be left unsatisfied. In other words we can say that what to produce and where it is produce and how much it is going to produced? Because production of goods in maximum quantity required more resources and resources are scarce. These two factors are run together if the productions of some products increased then the resources are also being increased because more productions require more resources. The problem of distribution contracts with the question of whether to products capital goods or customer goods. When the demand of some products are increase then the society take decisions of producing capital goods and the resources withdrawn from the production of consumer goods. So in that case both the capital and customer goods are significance 1(b)Explain how market equilibrium is achieved It is the state of the market in which the demand and supply are equal in the market. When the prices of the goods and services are involved in the supply and demand equality state, equilibrium price is achieved. Whenever a market is in the state of equilibrium and the prices of goods and services are not changed unless any external factors changes effect on it, it results in a distraction of the equilibrium. Market equilibrium can be best define on the help of below example and graphical representation For Example: let’s suppose the weekly supply and demand program of soft drink in Students at various prices (between 30p and PKR 1.10p) is shown Price Quantity Demanded Quantity Supplied 1.10 0 1000 1.00 100 900 90 200 800 80 300 700 70 400 600 60 500 500 50 600 400 40 700 300 30 800 200 Equilibrium As it can be seen this market will be in the state of equilibrium at a price of 60p as per soft drink. At this point the demand and supply of soft drinks is to be equal and will be the clear market which means that 500 soft drinks will be presented for sale at the price of 60p and same 500 drinks will be bought that result is no change in demand and supply at price 60. Price Quantity Demanded Quantity Supplied 1.10 0 1000 1.00 100 900 90 200 800 80 300 700 70 400 600 60 500 500 50 600 400 40 700 300 30 800 200 When the price is higher than equilibrium, supply will be more than 500 but demand will be less than 500 so in the short run there will be an excess of supply. Graphically we can say that supply extends outwards along with the curve and demand contracts inwards. Such a changes are called movements along the demand or supply curve in reaction to a change in price. Demands of product contracts due to higher prices therefore the substitution effect and income effect make a chain to dispirit demand as well as when demand extends at lower prices, the substitution and income effect make a chain to boost demand. In term of supply the supplier’s belief of higher revenue and profits when increase in prices boost up supply therefore increase in price decreses the cost of opportunity for supplying more and vice versa. The cost of opportunity of supply narrates to the probable substitutes of the factors of production. Similarly in the case of a college or university canteen that supplies soft drinks or other products become more or less attractive to supply when the price of soft drinks changes.In response to changes in prices, changes in demand and supply stated to as the signaling and incentive effects of change in price. If the information passing rapidly between the buyer and seller in the market efficiently, the excess of demand and elimination of supply will be achieved and the markett growth will rapidly accommodate (in the case between students and a college canteen). Simliarly in the case of supply superfluous, the price will adjust downwards and supply will be reduced by the seller with holding excess stocks. Whereas in the case of surplus demand, the seller will speedily neglect their stock that will generate an increase in price and improved supply. So to create a stable equilibrium price it is necessary and depend on the efficiency of market working and closer to settle the market. 1(c)Assess the importance of elasticity in market interactions In the market interaction the elasticity is important dimension of how the approachable and economic variable is to a change in to another. Elasticity is one of the most significant concepts in neoclassical economic theory. It is the valuable and consideration in the occurrence of unplanned assessment, negligible conception as they communicate to the theory of the firm distribution of money and different categories of goods as they communicate to the theory of customer excellent. Elasticity is also significantly important in any argument of the money distribution and most important in customer benefit, producer benefit or government benefit. Elasticity could be calculated as the ratio of the proportion change in one variable to the proportion change in another variable, when the concluding variable has a fundamental influence on the former. Commonly used elasticity eliminates price elasticity; supply elasticity, income elasticity and replacement elasticity between issues of production and elasticity of inter progressive replacement. Following are some important points which show the importance of elasticity in the market interaction. International trade It is important to keep information about the elasticity of demand of goods while exporting of fix price of products. An organization may fix high prices for the goods with inelastic demand. Thus if the required demand in the importing country is elastic, then exporting country will fix low price. Decisions of Monopolist: A monopolist deliberates the environment of demand whereas fixing price of his manufactured goods. If demand on behalf of the manufactured goods is elastic, at that time he will fix low price. But, if demand is inelastic, at that time he is in a situation to fix a high price. Guideline to the producers The elasticity concept gives the idea to the manufacturers of advertising the amount to be spent on. In case of elastic in commodity demand, then the manufacturer will have to be consumed more amounts on advertising by increasing the sale. Help to trade unions The trade union has the power of increasing the wages of labor where product demand is inelastic. It the demand is relatively elastic then the trade union never force for higher wages. Importance in taxation policy As respects its applied benefits, the idea has huge significance in the scope of government finance. When a finance minister levies a tax on an assured product, he has to understand whether the demand for that product is elastic or inelastic. In case of inelastic in demand he can use his power of increasing the tax and can gather huge amount in the form of revenue. But if the demand is elastic then he is the situation of increasing the tax rate. By doing so the total revenue reduced and demand for commodity is calculated. 1(d)Compare how prices are set in different market structures An industry compares its products with every one of those by whom its products are identify by nature or match with it and a company’s market strategies and structure reliant of that company which they compete. An organization or a company is confidential into four market structure. These are: Perfect competition Monopolistic competition Oligopoly Monopoly Perfect competition A market structure in which the five following condition are encountered. All the organizations sell an indistinguishable product. All the organizations cannot control the price of product into the market. All the organizations have comparatively minor shares in market. Consumers know each and every thing about the product price of sale and purchase. The organizations are categorized by independence of free entry and exit. Monopolistic competition this situation is created when the manufacturer sell out those products who are totally different from one another. This is also called imperfect competition. In the monopolistic competition an organization ignore the impression of its own price and charge heavy price as compare to its competitors. Oligopoly Oligopoly has its own market structure in which market industry is controlled by small numbers of suppliers. Oligopoly reduce competition and from numerous competitors and make principal to higher prices from customers. Monopoly Monopoly creates in the situation when there is no any other company or any competitor. Actually there is only one company is providing the goods and services to the customers and there is no additional company is available to fulfill the requirements of the customer’s needs and demands. Comparison of prices sets in different market structures The pricing strategy is very important in the market structure. This is in a impeccable modest that market will be obvious by the market demand and supply curve of the product in question. The supply curve presents the company’s ability of producing the price. On the perfect competition pricing strategy is show that there is only going to sell products for the consumer on which he demand and pay for it. This is complementary in price and demand. In this situation the perfect competition of market prices would be strong minded by the equilibrium of products and services in the question meaning in that the existent market will establish the price of the product in question. The organization in this situation will be the price taker and fundamentally sole its products on going market strategies. So the producer produces the product at low cost for making high profit. In a monopolistic competition the market structure is categorized by the company to sell their products at the pricing strategy of a company. May be a product that a company produce it is similar with another but a slit different from another then select a price strategy which may not affected to the market. As such, the company will effort to advance a modification in their product by using consumer segments, branding, advertising, and personal sales to set their product separately from other similar but different products. Therefore, there are a variety of prices of the different products as an alternative of a single market price. Due to numerous numbers of competitors in the competition of monopolist they have control over the price they have to set for their individual products. A company’s price strategy that is an oligopoly competition market structure is resulted by their straight competitors as strong and complex by pricing for each other. The company collections of its product price founded on demand. The additional demand, the advanced they can alteration the price but they are thoughtful not to determination the price too in elevation so they won’t interest challengers who would hunger to come into hooked on the marketplace and ambition prices depressed. 1(e)Evaluate the importance of different market systems As compare to the manufacturing of any goods or providing any services, the marketing system is more important. From the producer point of view, the wholesaler and the consumers are changed. But everyone is interested in his profit. From the manufacturer point of view it is also essential to know that the price in the market allow him to make continue to produce or not. This is also important that what to produce and where it is produce and at what time he should sell it. Customer watches in the market form the point of viewing of his buying power as he is able to purchase the goods or services or not. Wholesaler definitely wants to increase their profit by satisfying different market functions to the customers. Marketing has larger reputation and significance for the society as a full than for any of the separate receivers complicated in marketing system. Marketing system brought new ideas and information about quality advantages of goods to customers. It provides relationship between production and consumption. This system also gives to the manufacturers the useful tools and equipment’s, for the easy use of machines and other implements for taking more benefits etc. An efficient marketing system outcomes in lower costs of spreading and lower prices to customers, actually transports around an increase in the National Income. A lower cost of marketing is a straight advantage to the general public. Marketing system supports in become stable the price level. If manufacturer products what customers demand and customers have a extensive optimal of merchandises around are no variation in price. Marketing system changes dormant incomes into authentic resources, of requirements into activities and growth of accountability financial privileged and knowledgeable economic countries. One third of society is involved in the marketing segment and it is expected that one fourth of national income is earned by the profession of marketing. TASK 2

The Landscape of History Essay -- Book Review, John Lewis Gaddis

In The Landscape of History, John Lewis Gaddis makes a cohesive argument concerning about the debate over the objectivity of truth by stating â€Å"objectivity as a consequence is hardly possible, and that there is, therefore, no such thing as truth (Gaddis 29). The question for objective history has long been debated by numerous historians, and the differing viewpoints of history have led to a transition in our ways of thinking in the modern world. Ultimately, the question that this paper focuses on is: to what extent is history objective? Along with this, the relation to historical consciousness and the challenges of living in modernity will also be assessed. This paper will analyze the texts of John Lewis Gaddis, Nietzsche and the Birth of Tragedy, Modernity and Historical Vision, Living in Modernity, and Hermeneutics. Finally, the paper will argue that history is not largely objective, and is fundamentally shaped through the historian’s subjectivity. John Lewis Gaddis, in his book, The Landscape of History, generates a strong argument for the historical method by bringing together the multiple standpoints in viewing history and the sciences. The issue of objective truth in history is addressed throughout Gaddis’s work. In general, historians learn to select the various events that they believe to be valid. Historians must face the fact that there is an â€Å"accurate† interpretation of the past ceases to exist because interpretation itself is based on the experience of the historian, in which people cannot observe directly (Gaddis 10). Historians can only view the past in a limited perspective, which generates subjectivity and bias, and claiming a piece of history to be â€Å"objective† is simplistic. Seeing the world in a multidimensiona... ... in history. There is no real objective aspect to history, but a multitude of attitudes towards history can make history a discipline that allows for multidimensionality. The debate regarding whether or not history could be objective has been discussed and interpreted by many historians. The ways we think about history has allowed for the divergence of various perspectives in the world we live in today. In sum, the question discussed in this paper pertains to the extent of which history can be objective. This question has left room for several interpretations in the field of historiography and challenged our experienced in the era of modernity. This paper’s argument went for the subjective side of the argument with evidence for my argumentation from John Gaddis, Friedrich Nietzsche, Postmodernity and Modernity, Living in Modernity, and Heidegger’s Hermeneutics.

The Unwritten History of Cave Paintings Essay -- Art History

Religious stories and scientific theories have tried for thousands of years to accurately date the formation of man. However, in the 1860s, a new art was discovered that changed the view of human creation forever. This new insight was cave painting. Cave painting is a form of prehistoric art that dates back hundreds of thousands of years. Analysts are unable to specify the reasoning behind these paintings of objects on cave walls, but many theories have been formulated to surmise the rational behind the art. Questions arise like, â€Å"why did man find a need to paint the walls of caves† and is this part of the foundation of the origin of human life as we know it? (Beacon) The ecumenical belief is rooted at history, cave paintings are man’s unwritten story of evolution. In the Upper Paleolithic period, from 40000 B.C. to 10000 B.C., paintings were created in over 300 caves across the globe. â€Å"There are two types of cave art: petroglyphs, which are pictures carved in stone and pictographs, which are pictures painted on stone† (Cave Painting). The art is usually found in hidden caves that are difficult to locate. For this reason, scientists have taken great interest in discovering why man wished to go to such extremes to produce the artistry. The graphics include mainly animals, geometric figures, and signs but rarely depict any relevance to humans. The visual communication gives valuable clues to the culture and beliefs of that era. The degree of preciseness of the images, being at such a high level, suggests that the art was not merely decorations that covered the bare surfaces of the caves, but were created for purpose. â€Å"The tonal qualities, and the ingenious use of surfaces in the rock, suggest depth and even a kin... ... However which way you interpret it, it still provides us with one thing: history. It has taught us the lives of our ancestry and the society in which they survived. The evolution from that era to today is astonishing. We see it simply in the development from our society daily. Their ideas combined with that overtime have created a new perspective for us about our own history. And before we can learn the history of other things, we must learn about ourselves first. Even through interpretation, we learned immensely from the simple paintings and carvings on a cave wall. It will continue to teach us generation after generation. But in the end, the controversies shouldn’t arise from the ambiguous paintings. If interpretation is all we have to go by, then that is what we do. And isn’t that what all history is? An interpretation of facts versus opinion.

Leadership versus Management Essay -- Expository Essays

Is every good manager a good leader? Is every leader a good manager? Leadership and management are often used in similar perspectives, yet they do not share the same meaning. Leaders are exactly what the name says - they lead team members to success. Managers, like leaders, have the meaning referenced in the name. Managers manage over employees, striving for success. The two titles can be used simultaneously with one person, but this is a rare occurrence. According to MSN Encarta Dictionary, the term manage has several meanings. One of the explanations state that to manage is to â€Å"administer or run something - to be in charge†¦and be responsible for its smooth running and for any personnel† (Encarta, 2008). MSN Encarta Dictionary also shows the meaning for a leader. The first definition states that a leader is â€Å"somebody whom people follow - someone who guides and directs others† (Encarta, 2008). These two definitions are similar, but differ slightly. A leader nurtures and guides the employees. A leader helps them on the way to success. A manager is one who is in charge and is ultimately responsible for the outcome. A manager’s first responsibility is the outcome of a task. This outcome is detailed by rules and regulations. The manager must ensure that employees are adhering to company policies in order to be successful with the task. This task may be one that the manager is personally handling or one that has been delegated to subordinates. The manager is held responsible for the completion of the tasks regardless of the quantity. Sometimes, the manager completes the tasks personally, while other times require the manager to assign tasks to certain employees. Either way, the final results need to be successful. ... ....com/dictionary_/leader.html Encarta. (2008). Manage. Retrieved August 17, 2008 from http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861628098/manage.html Kotelnikov, V. (Dec-Jan 2008). Manager's skill sets.(MANAGEMENT)(managerial leadership and coaching). Today's Manager, p.27 (1). Retrieved August 18, 2008, from Academic OneFile via Gale: http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS Teik, T. C. (Dec-Jan 2008). Ideal bosses are scarce: in moments of frustration at work, we wish we had a better boss. We admire our friends who are fortunate to have cordial and understanding bosses. What are the characteristics of an ideal boss? Ideal bosses are normally found in ideal companies--firms that you are proud to work for. (MANAGEMENT). Today's Manager, p.11 (3). Retrieved August 18, 2008, from Academic OneFile via Gale: http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS Leadership versus Management Essay -- Expository Essays Is every good manager a good leader? Is every leader a good manager? Leadership and management are often used in similar perspectives, yet they do not share the same meaning. Leaders are exactly what the name says - they lead team members to success. Managers, like leaders, have the meaning referenced in the name. Managers manage over employees, striving for success. The two titles can be used simultaneously with one person, but this is a rare occurrence. According to MSN Encarta Dictionary, the term manage has several meanings. One of the explanations state that to manage is to â€Å"administer or run something - to be in charge†¦and be responsible for its smooth running and for any personnel† (Encarta, 2008). MSN Encarta Dictionary also shows the meaning for a leader. The first definition states that a leader is â€Å"somebody whom people follow - someone who guides and directs others† (Encarta, 2008). These two definitions are similar, but differ slightly. A leader nurtures and guides the employees. A leader helps them on the way to success. A manager is one who is in charge and is ultimately responsible for the outcome. A manager’s first responsibility is the outcome of a task. This outcome is detailed by rules and regulations. The manager must ensure that employees are adhering to company policies in order to be successful with the task. This task may be one that the manager is personally handling or one that has been delegated to subordinates. The manager is held responsible for the completion of the tasks regardless of the quantity. Sometimes, the manager completes the tasks personally, while other times require the manager to assign tasks to certain employees. Either way, the final results need to be successful. ... ....com/dictionary_/leader.html Encarta. (2008). Manage. Retrieved August 17, 2008 from http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861628098/manage.html Kotelnikov, V. (Dec-Jan 2008). Manager's skill sets.(MANAGEMENT)(managerial leadership and coaching). Today's Manager, p.27 (1). Retrieved August 18, 2008, from Academic OneFile via Gale: http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS Teik, T. C. (Dec-Jan 2008). Ideal bosses are scarce: in moments of frustration at work, we wish we had a better boss. We admire our friends who are fortunate to have cordial and understanding bosses. What are the characteristics of an ideal boss? Ideal bosses are normally found in ideal companies--firms that you are proud to work for. (MANAGEMENT). Today's Manager, p.11 (3). Retrieved August 18, 2008, from Academic OneFile via Gale: http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS

Cb Prepartions

Exam: 3hours, 19/50 =15. 2/40 (-31) Section A: MCQ (20m) Section B: Choose 2 from 3 Questions (15m each) 1. Describe the type of promotional message that would be most suitable for each of the following personality market segments: (a) highly dogmatic consumers, (b) inner-directed consumers, (c) consumers with high optimum stimulation levels, (d) consumers with a high need for cognition, and (e) consumers who are visualizers versus consumers who are verbalizers. Give an example of a promotional message for each segment.Social character traits have shown that inner and other-directed consumers may have different preferences in terms of promotional messages. Inner-directed people prefer advertisements that stress personal benefits while other-directed people seem to prefer advertisements that feature social acceptance. (a) HIGHLY DOGMATIC CUSTOMERS: It is a personality trait that measures the degree of rigidity (versus openness) that individuals display towards unfamiliar and towards i nformation that is contrary to their own established beliefs. Dogmatism: general tendency to be open or closed to new ideas and innovations.A person who is high in dogmatism approaches the unfamiliar defensively while the person who is low in dogmatism will rarely consider unfamiliar or opposing beliefs. * more receptive is Ads for new products or services that contains an appeal from the authoritative figure. Marketer uses celebrities and experts to their new product advertising for making it easier for the potentially reluctant customers. * Highly dogmatic consumers are likely to respond favorably to a new product when the advertising message is presented in an authoritarian manner (e. g. celebrity endorsement or expert testimonials). * prefer traditional or established products rather than innovative ones. close minded towards unfamiliar and untoward information that is contrary to their own established beliefs * approach such information with considerable discomfort and uncertai nty. promotional message most suitable would be endorsement or appeal from an authoritative figure. * New products need to be presented in an authoritative manner and that celebrities could be employed to reach dogmatic consumers who are more closed minded. For example: Colgate Dental Cream with Doctors and Experts endorsements. Anti-Polio Campaign featuring Amitabh and Sachin Tendulkar also useAuthoritative statements. The Cadbury’s brand took a beatng in sales after the worms were found in somepackets. Dogmatic Consumers stopped purchasing the Brand. Amitabh Bacchhanwas then used as Authority figure to reestablish Brand. b) Inner-directed consumers * tend to use their own values and standards in evaluating a new product * ads aimed at them should depict the attainment of personal achievement and satisfaction. ads that stress product features and benefits, which enable them to usetheir own values and standards in evaluating products * rely on their own inner values or standa rds in evaluating new products and are likely to be the consumer innovators. * other directed customers tend to look to others for guidance as to what is appropriate or what is inappropriate. * be prefer ads that stress product features and personal benefits ( enabling them to use their own values and standards in evaluating products whereas the other * For example: Surf Ad showing Shabana Azmi saving two buckets of water is an example of the same.The latest from Surf Excel is currently running on television. This is the ad where many people are seen walking with two buckets full of water. They then pour it into a large reservoir. At this point none other than Shabana Azmi informs you what a great thing thissaving of water is for the country and implores you to use Surf Excel. * manufacturer of cameras who advertises to inner-directed consumers should stress the ability to take better pictures and the resulting personal satisfaction. c) Consumers with a high optimum stimulation leve l * more open to risk-taking, more likely to be innovative have a greater willingness to take risks, try products with many novel features, and shop in new retail outlets. * likely to respond favorably to promotional messages stressing more rather than less risk, novelty,or excitement. * to seek purchase related information and to accept new retail facilities. * For example: The exciting and exotic Vacation Campaign of Malasia-Truly Asia is positioning of  Airways to sell the Asian Adventures. These enjoy thinking. They are responsive to that part of Ad that is rich in Information. The TATA-AIG Life insurance Ad showing Naseeruddin Shah giving informationthough Q&A will click for them. benefit of new product offering should not only consider functional features but also the risk, novelty and variety that the product offers. * place different promotional emphasis on particular age segments, as it may be worthwhile to reduce perceived risk for a market segment comprised primarily of older people, while it may not warrant it for a younger market segment. d) Consumers with a high need for cognition * ones who often crave or enjoy thinking. * responsive to ads that are rich in product-related information or description and are unresponsive to the auxiliary or contextual aspects of an advertisement. Need for cognition: stable individual difference in tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activity. Individuals high in need for cognition enjoy thinking abstractly. * high-NFC individuals are likely to express more favorable ad attitudes, brand attitudes and purchase intention. * more likely to use message content as a basis for judgments * high NFC leads to the generation of inferences about omitted conclusions ), to less memory decay and greater resistance to counterarguments about products), and to longer processing and superior recall for brands and claims individuals who are high in need for cognition would be expected to be critical thinkers, and t o not necessarily accept arguments found in media or elsewhere on face value. * should be more difficult to persuade, a phenomenon that can be investigated several ways. * high-NFC individuals did so only when the signal was accompanied by a substantial price reduction. * process information presented in the media more thoroughly than those who do not enjoy thinking as much, able to retrieve from memory more information * individuals with higher NFC, who are assumed to process information more extensively, would be expected to generate more thoughts. counterarguing and source derogations are prevalent in advertising and that support arguments are critical if persuasive messages are to have a chance of acceptance * high-NFC would be expected to engage in a wide range of media consumption activities, and would not necessarily be expected to differentiate between sources of information, such as news, advertising or entertainment. All would be stimulating. high NFC individuals are more likely to closely scrutinize the arguments contained in any message, campaign strategists must make sure that arguments are strong in order to cope with the higher resistance to messages by this group * appear to be the ones already predisposed to watch or listen to issue, image or financial advertising featuring long copy. The challenge for strategists thus is to enhance the already high motivation of high-NFC indivduals, by highlighting the relevance of messages, and to enhance the ability and opportunities to process such messages. Example: (e) consumers who are visualizers versus consumers who are verbalizers. * Verbal aggressiveness: tendency to insult and attack others' self-concepts to achieve one's objectives in an argument. * Visualisers (i. e. , consumers who prefer visual information, products that stress the visual) * Morning Dew Ad where there is a race with a Cheetah is a visual treat * detailed descriptions and explanations in targeting verbalizers (i. e. , consumers who prefer written and verbal product information). ‘Do the Dew†Verbalizers prefer verbal dimensions to the promotional message. * The Oye Bubbly Jingle of Pepsi is a Verbal treat to the ear, though it conveys nothing much about the product. 2. A marketer of health foods is attempting to segment a certain market on the basis of consumer self-image. Describe the four types of consumer self-image and discuss which segment would be most effective to target for health foods. In Self-concept theory personality is exemplified by the kinds of things with which people surround themselves.The self-concept has shown to be multi-dimensional and encompasses the way a person actually is, the way individuals see themselves, the way a person would like to be, and the way in which individuals think others perceive them. Theories of self-concept have generally focused on two areas in marketing research. In the one, self concept has been applied to the discrepancy between the self and the ideal self as a measure of personal dissatisfaction. In this instance, product use has been related to items that deal specifically with self enhancement.Consumers have four types of image. 1. Actual self image-how consumers in fact see themselves. In Everyday house hold products, they see themselves in Reality. For example,Washing powders Ads would be realistic. Nirma Powder focuses on Housewives ability to get more for less money. 2. Ideal self Image-how consumers would like to see themselves. In case of Fantasy Products, consumers desire to see themselves perfect, as in case of  Women, Fairness or looking Pretty is high on desire list. The fair and Lovely campaign for fairness cream sells this dream. . Social Self Image-how consumers feel others see them. Here there is an inherent fear factor also involved as to how they are being perceived by others. For example Products which position themselves on social front, showing appropriate behaviour at parties etc appeal here. 4. Id eal Social Self image-how consumers would like others to see them. For Example, Aashirwad ready to cook products and Sambhar Masala Product campaign show the desire of Wives to be seen as a great cook by others.However, since they are working or busy, they do not have time to cook themselves. That is when the Brandcomes to rescue. And finally they are seen as Ideal Wives. There are two more categories of Self-image: Expected Self image-how consumers expect to see themselves at some specified futuretime. The ABKING PRO Ad for machine to slim down people hypes this expectation of  individuals that they will slim down and look good in Future. 5. expected self-image (e. g. , how consumers expect to see themselves at some specified future time) . ought-to self (e. g. , consists of traits or characteristics that an individual believes it is his or her duty or obligation to possess). Ought to self image-traits consumer thinks he ought to have. The Ashrwad readymeal Adis a hit for the wiv es feel that good cooking is a trait they ought to have. The expected self-image is somewhere between the actual and ideal self-images. It is somewhat like a future-oriented combination of â€Å"what is† (the actual self-image) and what consumers would like â€Å"to be† (the ideal self-image).Moreover, because the expected self-image provides consumers with a realistic â€Å"opportunity† to change the â€Å"self,† it is likely to be more valuable to marketers than the actual or ideal self-image as a guide for designing and promoting products. In targeting consumers of health foods, the marketer can use the expected self-image to attract consumers who would like to enhance the quality of their lifestyles through better nutrition, and ideal social self-image to appeal to consumers who are likely to adopt health foods due to peer influence and pressure. Advertisers focus on components that make people feel better about themselves.Many decisions based on look ing glass and ideal self–ie. Aspiring to group not yet reached–image appeal Psychographic info enhances demographic info– people individuals 3. How can Toshiba use the diffusion of innovations framework to develop promotional, pricing, and distribution strategies for its computer notebooks targeted to the following adopter categories? a. Innovators b. Early adopters c. Early majority d. Late majority e. Laggards * In term of the nature, there are five major types of innovations: novelty, competence shifting, complexity, robust design and continuous improvement.While in term of the extent of change, innovations can be divided into incremental, radical and transformational models. Innovation deals with the change related to product, service and process, and the innovation management involve people, product, process and technology† * diffusion is defined as a process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members o f a social system * innovation as â€Å"an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as â€Å"new† by an individual or other unit of adoption. * company will usually sell the hardware at a relatively lower price to capture a share of the market, and then charge relatively higher prices for the software to maximize profitability * Based upon the time variable, individuals seeking new innovations are placed into adopter categories, according to the rate of adoption. Rate of adoption is the â€Å"relative speed with which an innovation is adopted by members of a social system. † * the rate of adoption is the relative speed in which members of society adopt an innovation. It is usually measured as the number of people who adopt an innovation within a specified time-line. Some companies have a defensive strategy and aim to follow the leader. Such companies hope to profit from the mistakes of the first-to-market company by devising incremental design and performance impro vements and cost reductions compared with the original product. In addition they hope to exploit the new market that has started to grow, so timing is important. * But it was the major Japanese companies (such as Sony, JVC, Toshiba) that captured a large share of the mass market through reducing the cost of these devices and improving their performance. (a) Innovators: Venturesome [1st group to adopt]Rogers describes innovators as obsessed with being venturesome. They have an interest in new ideas and innovation and have generally very cosmopolitan type social relationships. Innovators generally have communication patterns and friendships among a certain clique of innovators even though their geographic distance between each other may be very significant. Innovators must be very financially secure in order to absorb a possible loss from an innovation that doesn’t turn into fruition. Likewise, an innovator must have a sound educational background, in order to comprehend a comp lex technical terminology.Furthermore, an innovator must be able to cope with a degree of uncertainty whether the innovation will be adopted by society. Ultimately, Rogers believes the innovator takes risks in being the gatekeeper of innovations, but if the innovation is adopted the rewards are high. Early Adopters: Respect [2nd group to adopt] more integrated in the local society than the innovator. Where an innovator is considered a cosmopolite, an early adopter is a localite. Early adopters have the greatest degree of leadership in most localities. Most potential adopters look to the early adopter for advice and information regarding an innovation.Generally, early adopters are respected and considered successful by their peers. The early adopter is the main group that decreases uncertainty of an innovation by adopting it, and then communicating with potential adopters about the idea. Early Majority: Deliberate [3rd group to adopt] Rogers suggest that the early majority group adop ts new innovations just before the average member of society. Members of the early majority frequently interact with people in their society, but usually do not hold key positions of leadership. The early majority is the largest group and make up approximately one-third of members in a society.The early majority follows with deliberate willingness to adopt an idea, but are rarely leaders. Late Majority: Skeptical [4th group to adopt] Rogers states that the members of the late majority adopt innovations just after the average member of society. The late majority also makes up approximately one-third of members in a social system. Members of the late majority are cautious and skeptical about new innovations. Most of the uncertainty surrounding an innovation must be removed before the late majority will adopt the new idea. Laggards: Traditional [last group to adopt]Laggards are the last group in society to adopt a new idea. Generally, they possess almost no positions of leadership with in their community. Laggards’ point of reference is the past, they are very cautious and only make decisions based on what has already been done. Usually, laggards’ educational and financial resources are limited, forcing them to be completely certain the innovation will not fail before they adopt. These are the traditional categories of society members with respect to the adoption of new ideas and innovations. The diffusion of innovations follows a common life cycle. 82 However, the period over which this trend occurs varies greatly due to a number of factors. 183 By the end of the 20th century many of the following innovations were adopted by society at a much greater rate. 184 For example, the PC, Internet, and cell phone, which are all relatively new products, have steeper gradients when compared to automobiles, electricity and traditional telephones. Price is one of the most important factors involved in adoption of consumer products. This pricing policy pattern c an be used to predict the rate of adoption of new innovations.When it comes to consumers’ rate of adoption to innovations, new technologies succeed at a faster rate than replacement technologies. An early adopting individual may decide to adopt in anticipation that the innovation’s rate of adoption will take off in the near future when others adopt, although past diffusion research suggest that most individuals do not adopt an innovation until after learning of their peers’ successful experiences. † The diffusion of an innovation among the consumers can usually be presented by an s-shaped curve.On a frequency basis the adoption over time will normally follow a bell-shaped curve, but when plotted on a cumulative basis the adoption will form an scurve. 9 The s-curve reflects the acceleration of the adoption. At the early stage the curve is rising slowly meaning relatively few adopters pr. time-period (x-axis). At about the middle of the adoption period the a cceleration peaks and then fades as the percentage of adopters goes up. This course of events is typical for the adoption of new technologies. The logic behind this diffusion lies in the actual number of adopters.The early adopters will be a majority compared to the people who have not yet adopted the technology and therefore there are less people to preach the virtues of the new technology to potential adopters. At the point where the adoption process reaches 50 % the number of adopters equals the number of potential adopters, by definition, thus providing maximal acceleration of the adoption. In the last period, adopters outnumber the people who has not yet adopted, and there will be less people to convince to adopt the technology – slowing down the acceleration of the adoption process.The adopters are often divided into adoption groups. These groups are usually formed on the basis of innovativeness, meaning to which degree each individual is willing adopt new technologies, relative to other members of the social system. From this measure individuals can be placed into groups containing a certain range of innovativeness. The distribution is based on a mean and to which degree individuals’ deviate from the mean (standard deviation). Innovators are the first group of adopters and can be associated with the word venturesome.The individuals representing this group are adventurous and often related to entrepreneurial environments. The innovators run the risk that the innovation does not catch on, and thus subject themselves to a potential loss they must be prepared to absorb. Therefore innovators have to live with the uncertainty about the potentials of the technology, which can be viewed upon as the price to pay for being pioneers in a new field – catalyzing the diffusion of new technologies.The early adopters are ready to adopt a new technology when they observe that other individuals has started adopting, and sees the potential for being s ome of the first adopters of a new and promising technology. These individuals are often a more integrated part of the local society than the innovators, and their adoptions are crucial for the technology to take off and get hold of the broad public. For the early adopters the uncertainties about the merits of the new technology are strongly diminished, and can therefore adopt the new technology without running the risk of buying a young and untested technology.This group accounts for about one third of the total number of adopters, and provide the link between the progressive early adopters and the more skeptical later adopters. In the latter half of the spectrum the late majority also represent about a third of the adopters. This group is skeptical to new innovations, and is not willing to adopt, until a lot of other people have adopted before them ensuring the success of the technology and possibly massive network effects. The last 16 % of the adopters, the laggards, often focus on traditional values and base their decisions on past events.They are suspicious of any new inventions to change the way life are traditionally lived, and must be 100 % certain that the technology will prevail before they are willing to adopt. From a consumers’ point of view it is essential to think about the decisions of future adopters when choosing what technology to go with. The decisions of previous adopters are on the other hand a know factor and plays a role for the decision also. So does the structure of the market, i. e. which technologies are available at the time of adoption, compared to potential superior technologies that could be available in the future.Recent findings indicate that there is a lack of willingness to wait by the early adopters. 11 This high priority of being among the very first users of a new technology is said to inflict negative externalities on the later adopters. These later adopters can be forced to adopt an inferior technology to make sur e that they are compatible with the technologies of the early adopters, or they might be forced to give up compatibility to get a superior technology. That said the diffusion of new technologies is often strongly dependent on the choices of the early adopters.