Why I want to work in the Maritime Industry Essay - 2

Why I want to work in the Maritime Industry - Essay Example Therefore, skilled and experienced professionals are required to handle and operate these vessels. I am fond of travelling, hence want to build my career as a Seaman or a Seafarer in the Maritime industry. I enjoy meeting new people of different cultures. I have an interest in the field of electronics, art and mechanics and want to build a career in electronics. I have the excitement and eagerness to learn various types of trades and incorporate it in career. I have full dedication towards my work and do not fear hard work. The work of a Seafarers is to operate and manage the ships and deliver transportation services from one country to another country. Thus, if any problem arises in electronics and mechanical sections regarding repair and maintenance, I will be able to resolve it through my skills and experience. Therefore, I want to work in the maritime industry and make my presence felt, through my hard work, dedication and knowledge. Furthermore, Seaman is an essential body of maritime industry as well as the Navy. It provides engineering base support towards the seagoing elements. I will feel proud to be an eminent member of this industry as it supports the national security by building and repairing the ships of defense manufacturing base. Well-built maritime infrastructures such as shipyards, suppliers and seafarers are among the crucial aspect for a country to fulfil the requirements of navy with regards to protection. I have a strong working experience, which will assist me in developing my career in maritime industry. I have worked in the field of electronics and warehouse and have adequate knowledge in the given field. I want to utilize my knowledge, zeal and experience in the maritime industry as a seaman. This job will be a boost in my career path and help me in achieving my desired goal. There are career prospects in this industry as it provides training and education support to

Historical Context of the Remakes of The Phantom of the Opera Essay Example for Free

Historical Context of the Remakes of The Phantom of the Opera Essay The Phantom of the Opera has undergone subsequent remakes. This Hollywood film has undergone numerous remakes at different historical moments throughout the world. In Hollywood and the United Kingdom, it has spawned more than ten film and TV versions that differ significantly in selecting the settings for the horror-romance [Paris, New York and London] in accounting for the phantom’s disfiguration, in portraying the opera understudy, as well as Christine’s attitude toward the phantom. However, they all follow the male phantom-teacher and female opera-student structure so that heterosexual desire [manifested in two men’s competition for a woman] remains the prime move of the plot. My focus in this essay is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s version of the aforementioned text. My emphasis in this text will be how the phantom [including his image and voice] is represented within the film technology available at that time [in contradistinction to the manner in which the phantom’s image and voice is represented in different versions of the aforementioned text]. My working hypothesis is that since the phantom, by definition, exceeds visual representation in the silent and the sound versions, his voice, as a singer and a music teacher, emerges a primary site for representation and signification. To explore the representation and the significance of the phantom’s voice, I will focus on (1) how the phantom-teacher relates to his student through voice as well as visage, (2) how the teacher-student relationship differ from film to film [from Schumacher’s film in contradistinction to the other version of the film], (3) and how to read these relationships in allegorical terms, or in relation to their respective material-historical conditions. The last question leads me to map the teacher-student relationship onto the tension between an â€Å"original† film and its remake(s). In the end this paper will demonstrates the manner in which each remake strategizes its position vis-a-vis a historical moment and a prior film text hence it follows from this that each remake [specifically Schumacher’s remake] should not be subsumed into an echoing tradition in the corridor of the history. I start with the representation of phantom’s voice and its interplay with the shadow. The aural-visual dimension is crucial for our understanding of the issue of subaltern film remaking, which is ultimately an issue of power circulation and distribution. In the film diegeses, the phantom holds power over the student and other people for two reasons: (1) he eludes audio-visual representation and (2) he assumes the empowered teacher position. The 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera centered upon the triangular tension between Erik, The Phantom (Lon Chaney); Christine (Mary Philbin), an understudy in the Paris Opera House whom the phantom has trained and elevated to the diva position; and Raoul (Norman Kerry), Christine’s fiance. As indicated above, the phantom, by definition, exceeds direct visual coding. The problematic of representation is further compounded by the fact that the film, being silent [that being the 1925 version], cannot represent the phantom’s voice except through the theatre orchestra’s performance. This means that the voice and other diegetic sounds the audience hear do not [seem to] emit from the screen. This representational dilemma is alleviated through the use of shadow [an image that signifies the fusion of absence and presence, thus most appropriate for the phantom figure]. More specifically, this silent film mobilizes venues of representation before Christine sees the phantom. The first is the shadow, proffered exclusively to the audience who, according to Michel Chion, is â€Å"deaf† and cannot hear the phantom’s voice (Chion 7). The other, the phantom’s â€Å"angelic voice,† is heard only by Christine and other characters. The differentiated knowledge distribution leads to two modes of spectatorship, one being exclusively visual, and the other exclusively aural. In both cases, the phantom is omnipotent when remaining a mere shadow or a disembodied voice (Chion 19). When lodged in a physical body, a process the power is lost. This takes place in The Phantom of the Opera when Christine’s fascination with the acousmatic phantom turns into dread and disgust once the voice is embodied in a visual image [i. e. , the skull head that she has unmasked]. Thus, the phantom’s deacousmatization depletes his magic power over Christine. Not only does his horrendous visage drive Christine to cover her face [which may implicitly mirror a female viewer’s typical response to a horror film]. It also forces the phantom himself to cover his face. The implication is that to maintain his power, he has to remain invisible. In the same manner, for a horror film to remain horrific, it must not be seen in unobstructed view. As Dennis Giles observes, the more [the viewer] stares, the more the terror will dissipate to the extent that the image of full horror will be revealed (unveiled) as more constructed, more artificial, more a fantasy, more a fiction than the fiction which prepares and exhibits it. To look the horror in the face for very long robs it of its power. (48) By covering his face, the phantom symbolizes the horror film’s attempt to block the viewer’s vision. In other words, the power of the phantom, and by extension, of the horror film, consists in deprivation of visual representation. The problematic of representing a phantom in a silent film thus finds resolution in a paradox, namely, the possibility and effectiveness of representation consists precisely in a lack of direct visual representation. Acousmetre is also crucial for maintaining the teacher student relationship. Once deacousmatized, this relationship comes to an end, which in turn de-legitimizes the phantom’s proposal to Christine. After a long sequence of suspense, sound and fury, during which Christine is salvaged from the Opera House’s underground catacomb, while the phantom chased to a dead end, the film [initial version of the film] closes with a double shot of Christine happily married with her aristocratic fiance. Instead of a beauty and the beast story, in which the beast is transformed into a handsome nobleman by the beauty’s kiss, the monster in this film remains a monster and the opera actress gets punished for her scopic and epistemological drive [a â€Å"monstrous† transgression she must redeem by betraying the monster] returning to humanity [defined as white heterosexual normality] and succumbing to a domesticating marriage. The containment of the female deviancy is built into the film producer’s plan to reinforce what they perceive as the audience’s wish: â€Å"a movie about the love life of Christine Daae† (MacQueen 40). The film thus ends with a triumph of a bourgeois fantasy premised on the domestication of women, and the destruction of the monster. Joel Schumacher’s remake of the original Phantom of the Opera, did not come as a surprise, given the frequent practice of borrowing and adapting at the time. Schumacher’s version retains the powerful phantom figure whose self-de-acousmatization again successfully captivates the student, Christine. Nevertheless, it also displays far more intense interactions between the phantom-teacher and the singer-student. Briefly speaking, their relationship goes through four successive steps: ventriloquism, reverse ventriloquism or excessive mimesis, performative reiteration, and finally, the Benjaminian â€Å"afterlife† [which delineate Christine’s gradual usurpation of the phantom’s power while also contributing to the dialectical image provided by the phantom-teacher and singer-student relationship]. The phantom begins with ventriloquizing Christine’s in the latter’s reenactment of the former’s masterpiece, now titled â€Å"Romeo and Juliet,† replacing â€Å"Hot Blood† in Song at Midnight. During the performance, Christine falters at a tenor note, but is undetected by the theatre audience, thanks to the phantom’s backstage â€Å"dubbing,† visually represented through cutaways. The camera first holds on Christine’s bending over the dead â€Å"Juliet† then closes up on his slightly opened mouth and bewilderment, and subsequently following Christine’s puzzled look, cuts to the cloaked phantom in profile, hidden behind a window curtain in the backstage, emotionally singing out the tenor notes. Cutting from the front stage to the back stage area also echoes. In the aforementioned scene, it is important to note that the moment of ventriloquism gradually gives way to Christine’s agency. Indeed, Christine’s centrality in the film is evidenced in the predominance of the perspective shots that mediate the off-screen audience’s knowledge and sensorial experiences. This viewing structure contrasts sharply with The Phantom of the Opera’s 1925 version. Whereas Christine deacousmatizes the phantom, the audience actually sees the disfigured face before she does. Similarly, Christine’s knowledge [regarding the phantom] is one step behind that of the audience who hear the phantom’s midnight singing and see an enlarged shadow cast on the wall at the opening of the film after the initial portrayal of the opera house’s condition after the fire. The contrast between the two aforementioned versions of The Phantom of the Opera suggests two different ways of constructing history. One is to hide away the past [embodied by the phantom] that has transformed beyond recognition so as to reproduce its old, familiar image in a present medium, or the student. The other is to acknowledge what the past has become, in order to re-suture it into the present without reducing the present into a mere mirror image of the past. Thus, Christine’s agency and the Phantom’s revival become interdependent. The teacher-student hierarchy, as argued previously, is analogous with the hierarchy between the master and the slave. Furthermore, it can also be mapped onto the tension-ridden relationship between a film and its remake(s). These interconnected, parallel relationships allow us to situate the cultural production of a film in a dynamic socio-political field (Gilloch 17). Following Gerard Genette’s definition of â€Å"hypertextuality,† which designates that a hypertext both overlays and evokes an anterior text, or hypotext (Genette 5), I argue that a remake occupies the student position, and that its very existence testifies to and evokes its â€Å"teacher† or â€Å"predecessor. As a form of cinematic doubling, how the â€Å"student† film situates itself vis-a-vis the â€Å"teacher† and its own historical moment determines possibilities of remaking (Smith 56). The major divergences between the two versions of The Phantom of the Opera mentioned above suggest two diametrically opposite agendas. Whereas the former prioritizes domesticating and suturing women into white-oriented heterosexuality, the latter historicizes and politicizes the hetero-erotic relationship between the teacher and student. There are several ways in which one may understand the aforementioned divergence. It is important to note that the text adapted by Schumacher for the construction of his version of the aforementioned film is in itself a divergence from the original. In comparison to Lon Channey’s version of the aforementioned film [which is an adaptation itself], Schumacher’s version discarded most of the horror version aspects which have been associated with the film [as well as the original text by Leroux]. Examples of these are evident if one considers Schumacher’s choice for the depiction of the phantom himself [as a disfigured individual as opposed to a skull hiding behind a mask]. In a way there are several ways in which such a depiction [the change of depiction] may be understood. Initially, one may state that such a shift stems as a result of the shift from the operatic version of the film as opposed to the â€Å"Beauty and the Beast† theme associated with the film. Second, in line with the initial claim of this paper, one may understand the shift [in terms of the phantom’s depiction] as a means of mirroring the historical conditions of the film’s production. The process of mirroring the initial work as a means of showing the teacher-student relationship [in relation to the silent film version and Schumacher’s version] may be understood as a means of employing the manner in which the student has transcended the master to the extent that such a transcendence enabled the initial freedom from the heterosexual archetypal relationships which enables the submission of the female to the norm [that being the norm of female submission towards the male]. It may indeed be argued that Schumacher’s version also enabled such a submission since Christine chose Raoul over the phantom. It is important to note, however, that such a choice may be understood differently in relation to the original silent film adaptation of the aforementioned text. Note for example the depiction [as well as the characterization] of the phantom in the initial version of the film. As was noted at the onset of the paper, the depiction of the phantom in the initial version [silent film version] presented a horrible figure [i. e. a skull for a face]. Such a presentation may be understood, in such a way, that the phantom is presented as the depiction of the deviance resulting from the inability to adhere to the norm. Deviance from the norm, in this sense, may be seen [and in fact understood] as a horrible act itself. Schumacher’s version [with its depiction of the phantom as figure with a face [a handsome one in fact despite its minor deformities] may be seen as mirroring the manner in which deviance from the norm [that of the adherence to the heterosexual and in a sense highly patriarchal relationship] is more acceptable within the current context of the film’s production (McQueen . Schumacher’s version begins with a reel from the 1919 occurrence at the Opera Populaire wherein the old Raoul is depicted as buying knickknacks that serve as the reminder of the occurrences that led to the aforementioned opera’s demise. What follow this scene is a reconstruction of the Opera Populaire resulting from the flashback of memories to those who where in it during 1819 thereby providing the spectator with the truth behind the masked lives of those who lived within the opera at that time. What is interesting to note in Schumacher’s version [in relation to the reconfiguration or rather redepiction of the phantom] is the manner in which one is now given a new manner of understanding the means in which Christine gains her agency. In fact, agency in Schumacher’s version of the film is depicted as a manner of choice and not as mere adherence to a prescribed norm [in comparison to the original adaption of Webber’s text]. Dramatically, the story hinges on a series of conflicts which continually redefine Christine’s position in relation to her surroundings [as well as to the individuals around her]. Webber’s version [as adapted by Schumacher] depicted this process through a series of musical themes, motifs, and textures which portray the development of characters, attitudes, and emotions. Note that the materials in each of the musical themes and motifs are rarely modified except through instances of fragmentation. Although fragmentation occurs, it is interesting to note that when considered together, these musical themes literally play out the drama involved within the play (Snelson 110). In summary, in this paper I argued that the â€Å"teacher† text does not simply crumble when the â€Å"student† text arises in resistance, but rather experiences a revival. This is because the remake cannot fulfil itself without simultaneously evoking [not â€Å"imitating†] the â€Å"afterlife† crystallized in its textual â€Å"predecessor† (Mignolo 112). A film remake re-presents its â€Å"hypotext† not by turning itself into a submissive double, which simply reifies the â€Å"hypotext,† but rather by revalorizing the unique historical position of the â€Å"hypotext,† paradoxically achieved by the remake’s stress on its own distinction. In this sense, the various adaptations of Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera may be understood in such a way that both versions [that stand in a teacher-student relationship] present a challenge of the archetypal heterosexual relationships which stand as the pervading theme of the various versions of Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera.

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La à ©tica puede ser observada de diferentes formas y niveles, donde cada quien tiene una diferente percepcià ³n de lo que es la à ©tica para uno, ya sea desde un punto de vista acadà ©mico, social, familiar o laboral; el tema es tratado desde temprana edad, pero conforme uno va creciendo, el concepto que uno tiene de à ©ste puede que se vaya degradando o intensificando a causa de los à ¡mbitos en los que se desenvuelve uno. Ahora, vivimos en una sociedad en la que la corrupcià ³n es algo muy comà ºn entre nosotros y seguido escuchamos noticias sobre el tema, pues se hace fà ¡cil tomar una decisià ³n que traerà ¡ algà ºn beneficio aunque se tenga que hacer algo mal. Por lo que he decidido hablar de cà ³mo es que la à ©tica toma una parte en la vida profesional de un ingeniero civil. Para empezar, quisiera preguntar  ¿Quà © es la à ©tica? Pues bien, segà ºn la definicià ³n de la Real Academia Espaà ±ola, la à ©tica es una parte de la filosofà ­a que trata de la moral y de las obligaciones del hombre. La palabra à ©tica a menudo la usamos como sinà ³nimo de moral, es decir, el conjunto de principios, normas, preceptos y valores que rigen la vida de los individuos (Cortina & Martà ­nez, 2001, pà ¡g. 21). Ahora, la pregunta es:  ¿Cuà ¡l es la relacià ³n que tiene la à ©tica con la Ingenierà ­a Civil?  ¿Por quà © un Ingeniero Civil aplique la debe aplicar la à ©tica en todos sus trabajos como profesionista?, o  ¿a quà © se enfrentarà ¡ el ingeniero civil durante la prà ¡ctica de su profesià ³n? Con el tiempo se ha observado cà ³mo llegan a fallar obras que han sido diseà ±adas y construidas por ingenieros, incluso antes de que se pusieran en servicio, ya sea por un mal uso de materiales o un mal cà ¡lculo estructural, entre otras cosas. Pero quà © pasa cuando estos problemas se hubiesen podido evitar de no se... ...ncipios que cada uno como profesionista tenga y como los aplica en su vida diaria. Tenemos que conocer todas estas normas à ©ticas que existen no sà ³lo dentro de nuestra profesià ³n, tambià ©n en la de las otras con las que congeniamos en la vida profesional, ya que de estos conocimientos de la à ©tica y profesionalismo depende nuestro futuro no solo como buenos profesionales sino tambià ©n como buenos mexicanos. El ingeniero civil no solo debe manejar las ciencias y las tà ©cnicas que se le enseà ±Ãƒ ³ en un salà ³n de clase, tambià ©n debe ver por la integridad y el desarrollo del ser humano en su conjunto. Aquà ­ es donde toman parte los valores à ©ticos y morales de un profesional, donde el ingeniero debe respetar el marco legal y tomar responsabilidad por cualquier problema que llegue a surgir dentro de su supervisià ³n, actuando con respeto hacia su persona, a la sociedad y a su entorno.

Organizational Culture and Innovation Essay

Organizational culture is very important in the pursuit of innovation, which is the major source of competitive advantage in the world today. Organizational culture is central to a company’s pursuit of innovation because it refers to the beliefs, values, attitudes, tradition and overall practices within and without an organization (Hill & Jones, 2001). If the culture of the organization permits creative thinking and entrepreneurship, then innovation can certainly flourish. If the organizational culture, however, is very strict and adheres too much to its cherished traditions, routines and way of doing things, then innovation may be stifled and the organization will just rely on what has been tried and tested before. Such culture of adherence to past successes and ways of doing things will be inimical to the performance of the organization in the long run. As new factors, trends and issues in the market appear, the organization should continue to innovate and seek for ways to deliver better products and services that their clients will patronize. An innovative organization will always learn how to make best use of trends and emerging factors in its environment. There are several elements of organizational culture that can either encourage or hinder the pursuit of innovation (Johnson, 1988). The paradigm or the statement of vision and mission of the organization defines what it is all about and from there all activities in the organization are derived. There are also processes, structures and policies in place in the organization. These formal structures can enable innovation in the organization if it is not stringent and strict enough to stifle innovations. The power structures and the character of decision makers can encourage innovation. If there is openness in the leadership, this will trickle down to the grassroots level of the organization and will provide a rich backdrop where innovation can be cultivated. On the other hand, a leadership that puts a premium on seniority and too much authority fosters an adherence to established rules of conduct within the organization. In such a case, the pursuit of innovation may even be looked down as an act of insubordination. The symbols valued by the organization are also important in stimulating innovation and change. Is change and innovation valued in the organization? Are efforts to this end recognized and valued? This is also further exemplified by the rituals and routines in the organization. As innovation becomes praised and recognized throughout the organization, the members of the organization will be motivated to pursue innovation. As the formal structures encourage and praise innovation, so will it extend to the informal stories and myths of the organization. This way, ordinary employees and people at the bottom level of the organizational hierarchy will talk about the importance of innovation in the organization. Organizational culture can work for the pursuit of innovation in any given company or corporation. Organizations should deliberately work for the integration of innovation awareness in all levels. When this happens, the organization will become entrepreneurial, always looking out for means to improve and excel on their chosen niche in the market. With innovation, the organization can continue with its usual activities and it can even expand its operations to other areas where it can perform best. An organizational culture that fosters innovation is a must in this highly competitive world.

Grief in “Hamlet” Essay

Grief is a universal emotion felt by everyone at some point or another during the course of their lives. Its effects can be very diverse and adverse, causing different people to act in very different ways. It is very unpredictable because it is unique for each person, thus it is difficult to ease or even ascertain. It is accompanied by many other painful and confusing emotions and if not dealt with properly, it may prove to be cataclysmic. The theme of grief is quite prevalent throughout William Shakespeare’s â€Å"Hamlet†, as virtually every character in the play experiences it. In fact, all of the main characters experience this emotion before the play is through. Grief has many causes and as a result, many outcomes, but the one thing that remains the same is that it has a profound effect on each person it touches. Grief is sometimes caused by feelings of guilt or remorse, and in cases such as this, it affects the sufferer by making the burden of guilt even more substantial. Oftentimes, feelings of guilty grief are intensified by placing too much blame on oneself. For example, Ophelia, who is being used by her own father and her king, tries to do what she thinks is best to help her love, Hamlet. She is told that this is the right thing to do, but suffers as a result of doing it. Polonius and Claudius use her to spy on Hamlet, but when the plan miscarries, she is the one who feels â€Å"†¦most deject and wretched†¦Ã¢â‚¬  saying: â€Å"[I] that sucked the honey of his musicked vows† (Hamlet, III, I, 169-170). Ophelia already feels bad for having to lie to Hamlet, but this negative feeling is amplified by the fact that she completely blames herself for what happens. Although Polonius seems heartless in using his daughter in this situation, his grievous feelings may prove otherwise. He instructs his daughter not to see Hamlet, but if she must not to respond to his love. This is because he thinks it would be bad for his career, as the king does not like Hamlet. Nevertheless, Hamlet comes to her after seeing the ghost and truly frightens her. Being the obedient daughter that she is, she runs to her father, and he cannot help but feel in part responsible for not having protected her. He tells her that he was somewhat worried for her to begin with and that â€Å"[He is] sorry that with better heed and judgment / [He] had not coted [Hamlet]. [He] feared did but trifle / And meant to wrack [her].† Alas he was wrong, Hamlet does more than  trifle, and now Ophelia is full of dread. Polonius reprimands himself for this, saying: â€Å"†¦beshrew my jealousy!† (Hamlet, II, II, 124-126) He may not have been able to foresee Hamlet’s actions toward his daughter, but he blames himself anyway, intensifying his feelings of grief over what has happened to his daughter. Even the seemingly heartless all have hearts; no matter how evil one may seem one’s conscious always manages to plague one’s guilty soul and cause grief. Claudius, a man who murdered his own brother and stole his crown and wife, is a perfect illustration of this. Claudius finally has everything he wanted but he cannot fully enjoy it because of the guiltiness he feels. â€Å"The harlot’s cheek beautied with plast’ring art / is not more ugly to the thing that helps it / Than is [his] deed to [his] most painted word,† says Claudius in an attempt to explain how this lie he has built up now weighs upon his shoulders, â€Å"O heavy burden!† (Hamlet, III, I, 59-62) Claudius finds covering up lies and pushing them aside does not make them go away, it only makes the angst they cause worse. Hamlet learns this lesson too, not because he is hiding a terrible secret, but because he will not confront his father’s killer or do what he must to exact his revenge. He thinks about it too much and in doing so pushes his courage aside. However, his feeling of culpability continues to cause him more and more grief as the situation progresses. After seeing Fortinbras leading his army to Poland with such charisma and vigour, he wonders:  how [stands he] then, [he] that [has] a father killed, a mother stained, / And let all sleep, whil e to [his] shame [he sees] / The imminent death of twenty thousand men /†¦ for a plot / Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause.† (Hamlet, IV, IV, 59-66) He becomes so angry and ashamed of his lack of action; he even goes so far as to call himself a coward. This only serves to amplify the misery he feels over the murder of his father and speedy marriage of his mother. All of these people have a reason to grieve and a reason to feel accountable, but completely blaming themselves or dwelling on this remorse does nothing but deepen their grief. The death of a loved one also causes extreme grief, but in these cases, many  people look to blame another for this misfortune. In turn, one may feel that the only way to relieve the negative feelings is to seek revenge and kill the person whom one blames for them. Hamlet clearly shows a deep love for his father, and he is utterly heart-broken over his death, especially after seeing his uncle take his place. Therefore, when his father’s ghost informs him that it is a murderer, not a snake, who is responsible for his death, Hamlet immediately responds: â€Å"Haste me to know [who], that I, with wings a swift / As meditation or thoughts of love, / May sweep to my revenge.† (Hamlet, I, V, 35-37) He does not even know whom he has to kill yet, but he is already sure that he must avenge his father, no matter the cost. Hamlet is so lost without his father, he needs somewhere to place the blame for his death. Thus, when this opportunity arises he endeavours to seize it in an attempt to avenge his father, and alleviate his own heartache as well. Fortinbras, too, seeks revenge for his father’s death. However, unlike Hamlet, he does not have a ghost to incite him, only thirty years of hatred and anger toward the ruler of Denmark. He spends his whole life trying to win back the land his father lost to the Danes, take vengeance for Old Fortinbras, and regain dignity for him and his people. When, finally, he storms the castle to assume the throne and the â€Å"†¦ rights of memory [he has] in this kingdom, / Which now to claim [his] vantage doth invite [him],† (Hamlet, V, II, 432-433) he can finally rest. His feelings of grief can be almost completely forgotten as the Great Chain of Being is restored. The knowledge that he has retaken all that his father lost in war provides him with satisfaction and appeases his soul. However, sometimes revenge is not about the soul, in fact, certain people must completely disregard it to seek their revenge. For example, Laertes, after hearing about the strange death of his father bursts into the castle to demand his revenge of Claudius. â€Å"To hell, allegiance! [He] vows, to the blackest devil! /†¦ [He dares] damnation†¦Ã¢â‚¬  saying to the king: â€Å"Let come what comes, only I’ll be revenged / Most throughly for my father.† (Hamlet, IV, V, 149-154) Evidently, Laertes cares nothing about the consequences of his actions. His grief is so strong that he will have his revenge no matter what will happen to him as a result. In his mind, his anger and scorn over the loss of Polonius can only be assuaged when the person responsible for his death is also dead. Like Hamlet and Fortinbras, he does not care who he kills, as  long as someone pays for this heinous crime. This shows just how much personal grief plays a role in their desire for revenge. All three men want to kill someone, but none are sure who it is that they must kill when they make the decision to become assassins. As long as the desired result is achieved, and as long as they feel better for having killed the person they choose, e verything will be all right, or at least they hope so. True justice is not an easy thing to find, so they will settle for their own grief relief. The emotions and thoughts that accompany grief can be extremely overwhelming. These innermost feelings of sorrow, anger, and confusion can push one to the brink of insanity and sometimes even further. After seeing the ghost of his father, and hearing that Claudius murdered him, Hamlet decides to display an antic disposition as a trap for his uncle. There are both arguments for his true madness and against it, but either way the case is proved, Hamlet acts exceedingly abnormally. His sorrow drives him to act as though he is mad. According to Ophelia: †¦as [she] was sewing in [her] closet / Lord Hamlet†¦ / With a look so piteous in purport / As if he had been loosed out of hell / To speak of horrors – he comes before [her] /†¦And thrice his head thus waving up and down, / He raised a sigh so piteous and profound / As it did seem to shatter all his bulk / And end his being. (Hamlet, II, I, 87-108) Whether Hamlet planned an antic disposition or not, he must be very shocked and bewildered by the news given to him by the ghost, and this outburst with Ophelia is clear proof of this. His woe almost triggers him to go totally mad, causing everyone around him to believe he has lost his sanity. Laertes too suffers from a brief lapse in sense after seeing what has become of his beloved sister. Ophelia does not remember who Laertes is when he returns from France, but speaks to him as though he is someone else. Laertes is astonished, he cannot believe this; he lost a father while in France, and now that he is returned, he loses his sister to madness. â€Å"O heat, dry up my brains! Tears seven times salt / Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye,† (Hamlet, IV, V, 177-178) he cries aloud, displaying to all present his crazed frame of mind. He is already infuriated by the circumstances  surrounding his father’s death, and now this. It takes great effort from Claudius to finally calm him down and stop his thoughts of self-destruction. Because his emotions are so overwhelming, he seems to lose the will to live, if only for a short while. Ophelia, the primary cause of Laertes’ near madness, also seems to lose her will to live. She loses her wits due to many reasons, mainly her father’s death at the hands of her true love. Consequently, she is completely unable to restore order to her fragile mind. She babbles and sings mindlessly, and hands out flowers that are not really there to the king, queen, and her brother. She is driven completely berserk with grief, so crazy that she drowns shortly afterward. As Gertrude recounts: †¦she chanted snatches of old lauds, / As one incapable of her own distress / †¦Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, / Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay / To muddy death,†(Hamlet, IV, VII, 202-208) telling her audience just how lunatic this pitiable girl is at the time of her death. Ophelia is totally destroyed by the plethora of bad news she receives, so much that her rational mind is completely paralyzed and her mental faculties are truly lost. These three people feel grief so deeply that their minds are put at great risk. Pathos is created for all three, because of their innocence in these situations and their inability to control what has happened to them. They are victims, for the most part, of the malicious act going on around them, and the grief they feel because of this nearly drives each of them past their mental limits. Because grief is so overwhelming, it may cause people to do things they would not usually do. Many people act quite irrationally under grief’s powerful influence. It can be so consuming that oftentimes there is no room left for logic in one’s mind, so one acts without thinking. Hamlet does this in killing Polonius, who is hidden behind the arras. He stabs through the curtain before he even finds out who is concealed within it. When Gertrude questions Hamlet: â€Å"O me, what hast thou done?† he can only reply: â€Å"Nay, I know not, is it the king?† (Hamlet, III, IV, 31-32) because he is not really thinking when he commits this fatal crime. Hamlet is a strong-minded person and is able to control his emotions for the most part. However, the added grief of his current quarrel with his mother seems to cause a lapse in  judgment which in turn makes Hamlet do something that is very grave indeed, commit murder. Laertes, too, decides that murder is not out of t he question when he allows his pain to consume him. In fact, Laertes is so caught up in his fury and wrath that he would â€Å"†¦cut his [father’s killer’s] throat i’ th’ church† (Hamlet, IV, VII, 144) something that he obviously would not do if he was thinking clearly. During the Elizabethan Era, revenge is a commonly respected notion, but to seek revenge in a church is certainly not regarded with the same esteem. Laertes would undoubtedly go to hell if he were to go through with this rash statement, something he would decide against if he were not so frenzied by grief. Horatio also becomes taken over by his anguish, watching the whole story unfold and witness its gruesome and bloody finish. Seeing his best friend wounded and dying before his eyes makes Horatio â€Å"†¦ more an Antique Roman than a Dane† and he is about to take his own life proclaiming, â€Å"here’s yet some liquid left† (Hamlet, V, II, 374-375). Nevertheless, Hamlet, who is finally free of his grief and now thinking clearly, takes the cup and saves his companion. When one’s mind is full of grief it is very hard to think about anything else, like the good things in life or any reasons there may be to continue on living as usual. It is also difficult to foresee the consequences of one’s actions, or, moreover, to care about them because grief clouds the mind so. Many things that one would typically not even be able to conceive doing become viable possibilities, when grief is equated into the situation. Grief has the staggering ability to cause almost anyone to perform acts that one will surely regret later, making it a very dangerous emotion. Grief affects each person differently because each person possesses their own causes for grief and their own mechanisms with which to deal with it. When one is grieving because of guilt over past mistakes or a personal loss, one most often blames themselves wholly. This makes the guilt worse, and in turn misery only grows stronger and stronger. It is a vicious cycle of remorse and repentance that is difficult to stop once it is begun. Grief is also caused by losing someone that is very dearly loved. To the griever, revenge often seems like the only way to find release from this mourning. Most find that it is not justice they seek, but refuge, from the heavy feelings of sorrow and anger, which they believe they can find in the death of the  person responsible for this grief. These feelings of regret and resentment, caused by angst, often prove to be quite overpowering and sometimes too much to bear. Some unfortunate individuals lose their wits due to extreme emotional pain. Some go further and lose their will to subsist, even further still, their lives. Grief also has the ability to fully envelop a person’s mind and take away their ability to think about anything except for what they are feeling at the moment. It may cause the person to act in a way they are not accustomed to or to do something they would never dream of doing in any other circumstance. It can be very dangerous, in that it can cause one to do things that are absolutely irrational and devastating to oneself or others. As is demonstrated in the play, the effects of grief vary greatly, but to all whom they affect they are profoundly detrimental and destructive. Grief can cause the loss of one’s mirth in life, the incitation to do something rash and ill advised, even the key to one’s undoing. In all cases grief is difficult to avoid, and therefore must be dealt with, and it is how one deals with grief that determines how one’s life will be affected by it. Works Cited: Shakespeare, William, Hamlet, (New York: Washington Square Press, 1992)

Free Essays on The Olympic Games

It’s a test of strength. It’s a test of honor. It’s the Olympic Games. The Games are a long played tradition adapted from the early Greek civilization. Athletes come together to compete in athletic events, such as wrestling and javelin, for honor and grace for the country they represent. Today, the Olympic Games are just a little different than in ancient times. Now, athletes do not take as much honor in just competing and for love of the game as they do for winning. Some athletes resort to doping, which is using illegal drugs to increase the strength and capability of oneself. This is an increasing problem among athletes, and eventually will lead to serious health risks. Another difference is that today there are much more events, and anyone from a country can compete, not just free men who speak Greek. Also, in ancient times, the Games were always held at the city Olympia, as now they move to different cities every four years. Even though there are these differences, there is still honor in the Games today. The history of the Olympic Games reaches back very far. The first Games were held in the year 776 B.C. It was a very simple contest with the events just being the sprint. Later on, more events were added, such as discus, javelin, wrestling, and long jump. The Games became very important to the people. They would even stop wars so that they could compete in the Games. Soon, the games became very evolved adding sports such as boxing, pankration, the pentathlon, and chariot races. The first recorded winner was Koroibos (www.aafla.org). The Byzantine emperor Theodosius in 394 A.D soon abolished the Games. When the Games were revived, they were brought back as the modern Olympic Games in 1896. The person responsible for bringing back the Games is the Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Coubertin was involved in sports as a child and he felt the Olympics would promote understanding and friendship among nations (w... Free Essays on The Olympic Games Free Essays on The Olympic Games It’s a test of strength. It’s a test of honor. It’s the Olympic Games. The Games are a long played tradition adapted from the early Greek civilization. Athletes come together to compete in athletic events, such as wrestling and javelin, for honor and grace for the country they represent. Today, the Olympic Games are just a little different than in ancient times. Now, athletes do not take as much honor in just competing and for love of the game as they do for winning. Some athletes resort to doping, which is using illegal drugs to increase the strength and capability of oneself. This is an increasing problem among athletes, and eventually will lead to serious health risks. Another difference is that today there are much more events, and anyone from a country can compete, not just free men who speak Greek. Also, in ancient times, the Games were always held at the city Olympia, as now they move to different cities every four years. Even though there are these differences, there is still honor in the Games today. The history of the Olympic Games reaches back very far. The first Games were held in the year 776 B.C. It was a very simple contest with the events just being the sprint. Later on, more events were added, such as discus, javelin, wrestling, and long jump. The Games became very important to the people. They would even stop wars so that they could compete in the Games. Soon, the games became very evolved adding sports such as boxing, pankration, the pentathlon, and chariot races. The first recorded winner was Koroibos (www.aafla.org). The Byzantine emperor Theodosius in 394 A.D soon abolished the Games. When the Games were revived, they were brought back as the modern Olympic Games in 1896. The person responsible for bringing back the Games is the Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Coubertin was involved in sports as a child and he felt the Olympics would promote understanding and friendship among nations (w...

Free Essays on Appearance In Frankenstein

You’re Ugly, but We Can Still be Friends When the question of why we are such a judgmental and superficial culture comes about the answers seem to be everywhere. From day one we are unintentionally taught to label and categorize everything and everyone. It seems that human nature is to put things into groups and separate things, especially since the Greeks began to categorize and bring science into the world. Our culture has evolved into an appearance driven monster but the roots have grown stronger, when the ignorance of many has led to the enslavement of a race of people. If we continue to base our culture on appearance the downward spiral will continue and our culture will continue to regress; before we know it Arnold Schwarzenegger will be the governor of California....wait a minute. One word has been the cause of reversion and destruction of values, after years of great strides toward equality, â€Å"sex† has become a tool used by the media to get ratings and advertize. We are sold things by sexually appealing actors or models that tell us that if we â€Å"use MetRx† we can get buff, and if we â€Å"use Covergirl† we can be as pretty or strong as the people we idolize. I feel sad when I think about losing that job at Albertson’s because I wasn’t dressed in a suit. If they had possibly asked me a few questions about my qualifications they may have realized that I was more qualified to work there than 90 percent of their employees. Instead they saw that I wasn’t dressed in slacks and assumed that I couldn’t stock shelves as well as others, which is absurd, much like the idea of first impressions, and how people look. Although the characters in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein live in a different time period, their basis of ones character seems to be almost solely founded on how someone looks. Putting people into categories is not a new problem by any means because it has been rooted deep in human history. It seems as though it... Free Essays on Appearance In Frankenstein Free Essays on Appearance In Frankenstein You’re Ugly, but We Can Still be Friends When the question of why we are such a judgmental and superficial culture comes about the answers seem to be everywhere. From day one we are unintentionally taught to label and categorize everything and everyone. It seems that human nature is to put things into groups and separate things, especially since the Greeks began to categorize and bring science into the world. Our culture has evolved into an appearance driven monster but the roots have grown stronger, when the ignorance of many has led to the enslavement of a race of people. If we continue to base our culture on appearance the downward spiral will continue and our culture will continue to regress; before we know it Arnold Schwarzenegger will be the governor of California....wait a minute. One word has been the cause of reversion and destruction of values, after years of great strides toward equality, â€Å"sex† has become a tool used by the media to get ratings and advertize. We are sold things by sexually appealing actors or models that tell us that if we â€Å"use MetRx† we can get buff, and if we â€Å"use Covergirl† we can be as pretty or strong as the people we idolize. I feel sad when I think about losing that job at Albertson’s because I wasn’t dressed in a suit. If they had possibly asked me a few questions about my qualifications they may have realized that I was more qualified to work there than 90 percent of their employees. Instead they saw that I wasn’t dressed in slacks and assumed that I couldn’t stock shelves as well as others, which is absurd, much like the idea of first impressions, and how people look. Although the characters in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein live in a different time period, their basis of ones character seems to be almost solely founded on how someone looks. Putting people into categories is not a new problem by any means because it has been rooted deep in human history. It seems as though it...

Warning, This Post May Be Stolen

Warning, This Post May Be Stolen Warning, This Post May Be Stolen Warning, This Post May Be Stolen By Maeve Maddox A lot of writing sites link to posts on the DailyWritingTips site. We like that. Sometimes they run a brief quotation followed by a link to the rest of the article on our site. I see nothing wrong with that. Sometimes, however, they post an entire article on their sites, followed by attribution and a link to DWT. Apparently they are acting in good faith, imagining that including attribution makes it all right to reproduce the entire post. It isn’t. That’s copyright violation. This week I happened across a site that not only publishes our posts in their entirety, but does so without attribution: leestringer.net (not linked for obvious reasons). Some of my posts are attributed to â€Å"Sweet Jane.† There is a â€Å"Go to Source† link that appears after a Twitter icon at the far bottom of the posts. Perhaps that’s intended as a defense in case of being called on it. The way our material is integrated into the overall design of the poaching website, the site’s readers probably don’t even notice the buried â€Å"source† link. It took me a while to find it, and I was looking. Naturally this experience got me thinking about plagiarism. Plagiarism is theft. It’s from Latin plagiarius meaning â€Å"kidnapper† or â€Å"plunderer.† Inexperienced writers sometimes commit plagiarism unintentionally by paraphrasing badly, misquoting, or failing to attribute a quotation to its source. Unscrupulous writers do it intentionally, in order to profit from the work of others. Anyone who writes, or makes use of the writing of others, needs to become informed about copyright and fair use. An excellent discussion of copyright infringement is Brad Templeton’s 10 Big Myths about copyright explained. An academic take on plagiarism useful to students can be found on the University of Wisconsin-Platteville library site. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:70 "Home" Idioms and Expressions50 Latin Phrases You Should KnowThe Difference Between "Shade" and "Shadow"

The influence of the 2008 Olympics to China's sports tourism industry Essay

The influence of the 2008 Olympics to China's sports tourism industry - Essay Example sports facilities, an Olympic Park was built by the country with collaboration of foreign architects that will keep on contributing to local public for coming years. In addition, in order to host the sporting events in an efficient manner, more than thirty stadiums were constructed in Beijing alone, along with tens of Olympic venues in other Chinese cities. Beijing was reborn in a cultural and historical manner, as more than twenty historical sites of Beijing city were renovated. Another major sector that benefited from 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is tourism industry of China that influenced rapidly from this international multi-sport event. According to some statistics, more than 650,000 tourists visited the country from different countries before, during, as well as, after the Olympic Games until the year 2008. It is observed that this mega sporting-event has been able to transform the Beijing city into a high-tech and environmental-friendly city, and allowed China to prove itself a s one of the global powers of the globe. Since antiquity, sport has always been a significant and thrilling event that has played a vital role in the creation and development of sporting industry around the globe. History of Olympics goes back to 776 BC when ancient Greeks used to organize different athletic competitions in various cities of Ancient Greece. In present era, both summer and winter games are now organized under the banner of an international sport event that is referred as the Olympic Games. It is observed that Olympic is not only responsible for the development of sporting industry; however, it plays a pivotal role in the development and advancement of different sectors of the hosting countries. In order to understand the influence of Olympics on its hosting country, this paper will focus on the 2008 Olympic that was held in Beijing, China from August 08, 2008 to August 24, 2008. Its different effects will be discussed and analyzed with relation to the study of

Little house in the war zone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Little house in the war zone - Essay Example Even after the fall of Saddam, the house did not regain its status as it was in a dilapidated condition. In fact, Salbi indicates that the once warm and happy house that carried the hopes and dreams of a family became an execution center, a brothel, and even the Iraqi army used the house for its operations. It seems that the once warm house filled with happiness started having problems after the family welcomed and entertained politicians, no less than the late dictator Saddam Hussein. In my opinion, the family had it coming from the onset after they opened the door for Saddam. Indeed, the welcoming of Saddam and the consequent appointment of Salbi’s father to a position in the government led to the family’s subjection to a public life full of scrutiny from security agents. In effect, this denied the family a private life that they had been accustomed to before welcoming Saddam. Nonetheless, I think the family did not deserve this treatment since they were non-politico. However, a quiet and simple life full of happiness was wrecked with the hopes and dreams of the family wrecked. It is unfortunate to see a house filled with warmth and happiness, which the family extended to their visiting friends change and used in ways that the family could not comprehend. In this case, I think the family stood for all that is virtuous although their house was later used for reasons that were different from the family’s beliefs and principles. Salbi indicates that she could not come to terms with the fact that the house that housed her family’s dreams and hopes once became a brothel. Indeed, the family believed that respect for all human beings was paramount. In addition, I think the family could never imagine that their house would at any one time be a place where men took advantage of women forced into prostitution by

Air Force Careers and Benefits in Military Aviation of Canada Essay

Air Force Careers and Benefits in Military Aviation of Canada - Essay Example The air force also supports the Canadian interests in the foreign lands outside North America. This includes providing support to the organizations like UN, NATO and also other contingency operations where air force involvement is necessary. The military organization also provides assistance on humanitarian gronds to the other countries. Now the basic research question that remains is whether the military aviation of Canada and America should operate together or not. In the national level the military organization (Air Force) assists other government bodies in enforcing the Canadian law and regulation and also provides a national level air search and most importantly plays a big part in the rescue operations. Being one of the major military unit in North America as it is, the air force of Canada influences the domestic and international operations of the government in a huge way. For that reason when an individual gets into the system he or she has to undergo rigorous training schedu le. The primary training is the trade and technical training where the individual is informed about the technical complexities of the operations and gradually they get well acquainted with the technical details.

Personal Statement - Why Do You Want To Study Business Adminstration

- Why Do You Want To Study Business Adminstration and why carnegie mellon - Personal Statement Example As a child, I used to tell my father that I could wish to own a large business organization when I grew up, but he thought I was joking. My Interest in business and the desire to live a high-class life, and be independent was discovered when I helped my father in his business shop during holidays. I used to market his products through Facebook, twitter and other social networks, which I found hard to convince my father to join. As I was working with my father in his business, I realized I could not directly face people because I was shy. Moreover, to further my skills and knowledge in business, I worked in several business entities as an internee. During this time, I learnt many business related skills like marketing, balancing the cashbooks, attending leadership trainings and workshops. All these skills and knowledge plus excelling well in my class work business related courses increased my interest in the need to do business administration. In the current world everything has changed due to advanced technology; this has also increased my interests in pursuing a business course. This is because, as a business administrator; I can sell my products through the social networks, process clients requests and even prepare data without necessarily going to the office, shop or meeting clients face- to – face. Carnegie Mellon University is my number one preferred university because of the quality and professional studies it offers especially in the school of Business studies. In addition, another reason is that most people owning high technology companies studied in Carnegie Mellon University. It also offers entrepreneurship inspirational business courses, which make interested students, come out successful once completing their studies from the university. In addition, as a student who wants to pursue in Business Administration, I believe Carnegie Mellon University is the perfect place for me. Professionally, Carnegie Mellon University in general

Red Bull Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Red Bull - Case Study Example The responsibility for the success of the world's No. 1 energy drink is shared by the company's 7,758 employees around the world (compared to 6.900 in 2009). The Red Bull headquarters are based in Fuschl am See, not far from Salzburg, Austria† (Red Bull, N.D., par. 3). The case study hereby aims to proffer issues pertinent to a comprehensive evaluation of the marketing program designed specifically to enhance the brand image of Red Bull and to maintain and sustain market leadership. Conclusion The case study was able to achieve its objective of exploring the comprehensive details of Red Bull’s branding strategies. The highlights of the discourse would reveal that through Red Bull’s strategy not to select a specific target market, it was able to design programs pertinent to product, packaging, place, price and promotions that are applicable to diverse clientele. The need to maintain and sustain marketing momentum through brand extension and awareness of competitorà ¢â‚¬â„¢s strategies, coupled with extending to non-drink markets have been positively instrumental to reviewing its positioning and acquisition of an innovatively different marketing focus.

Education system in Japan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Education system in Japan - Essay Example The education system possesses great importance in the Japan because it has played vital role in determining the dimensions of economic and social progression of the country. Japan always strives to catch the western standards in science and education and for this purpose special emphasis has been given to the educational policies in the country (Hendry, 1987). Earlier the French and German models of educations were used for bringing reforms in the Japanese education systems. However, after the Second World War some special reforms were introduced into the system following the patterns of American education after which there were some major changes occurred within the Japanese education system. It has been regarded that the economic recovery and development of Japan became possible due to the effective management and policies of education system that not only emphasize upon providing formal education to the students but also focus upon developing and polishing their socializing skill s (Rebecca and Gerald, 2000). Japan is among the world best countries having the population with 100% enrolment in the compulsory classes due to which the illiteracy rate is zero in Japan. The education system of Japan follows the Japanese characteristics of group behaviour and heavily insists upon group interaction and peer connections. Unlike American education system Japan stresses upon controlled individual responsibility by observing the group rules. It is unveiled that the teaching culture in Japan significantly differs from the western countries. The Japanese education system has a different approach towards preparing the students to take place in the wider society. The education system widely insists upon maintaining cooperative relationship with the peers, to follow the routine of the school and to give critical importance to punctuality (Peak, 1992). Right from the beginning the students are trained to become responsible. They learn to focus upon management of certain task s starting from desks cleaning and classroom floors scrubbing. The education specifically insists upon developing loyalty with the social groups like class, sports teams, friends, after school circles etc. due to focus upon the maintaining strong social relationship the students become able to act as effective leaders in their future lives. They learn to play the roles of leaders as well as subordinates because their organization and socializing skills are well developed during their school life by performing the roles of monitors, class chairperson and lunchtime etc. The socializing skills of the students are further developed through different activities and events like class meetings and group discussions. Through these activities the public speaking skills of the students are polished and they become able to perform active role in their future lives. As the students move from the school to higher education they are further trained to take part is wider society through the develo pment and refinement of their socializing skills. The student school committees are generally established to train them about the organized and disciplined hierarchical work (Sugimoto, 1997). During the high school years the peer group culture reached its peak and the students are trained to become active members of the school committees, groups and class as well as the society. At this stage, they have been taught to learn about nature and ranking of high school because it has obvious impact upon their professional careers and future. The students are also prepared for different destinations so that they become able to adjust them is different type of circumstances and situation. The education system also insists upon fostering consensus and harmonious nature within the Japanese society for which the societal problems are also addressed by creating caring environment within the schools and other educational institutions (Hendry, 1987). The Japanese

Red Bull Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Red Bull - Case Study Example The responsibility for the success of the world's No. 1 energy drink is shared by the company's 7,758 employees around the world (compared to 6.900 in 2009). The Red Bull headquarters are based in Fuschl am See, not far from Salzburg, Austria† (Red Bull, N.D., par. 3). The case study hereby aims to proffer issues pertinent to a comprehensive evaluation of the marketing program designed specifically to enhance the brand image of Red Bull and to maintain and sustain market leadership. Conclusion The case study was able to achieve its objective of exploring the comprehensive details of Red Bull’s branding strategies. The highlights of the discourse would reveal that through Red Bull’s strategy not to select a specific target market, it was able to design programs pertinent to product, packaging, place, price and promotions that are applicable to diverse clientele. The need to maintain and sustain marketing momentum through brand extension and awareness of competitorà ¢â‚¬â„¢s strategies, coupled with extending to non-drink markets have been positively instrumental to reviewing its positioning and acquisition of an innovatively different marketing focus.

Strategic Human Resource Mangement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Strategic Human Resource Mangement - Essay Example s as well as in the implementation of those strategies through HR activities such as recruiting, selecting, training and rewarding personnel† (Lii, 2003). SHRM models work to promote learning and competitiveness of the workforce as the basic prerequisite for improved competitiveness and better efficiency in organizations. Cadbury and Craft are the two examples of how SHRM works in practical workplace environments. Needless to say, SHRM in these organizations is heavily influenced by national and corporate cultures, and is closely aligned with the social responsibility and ethical dimensions of workplace performance. The history of SHRM at Cadbury dates back to the times when there were no unions; yet, Cadbury’s owners clearly well realized the value of HR to their competitiveness and performance. Cadbury considered people as inherently valuable to the firm and thus a resource that had to be used effectively (Price 2007). Those were also the views promoted by Craft in its approaches to HR. Obviously, those were the roots of SHRM that positions effective utilization of human resources as the source of strategic competitive advantage (Bratton & Gold 2001). For both Cadbury and Craft, SHRM stands out as the cyclic combination of several different activities: organization’s direction, environmental analysis, strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation; these altogether exemplify Bratton’s model of SHRM which successfully works in dozens of modern organizations. Moreover, Craft and Cadbury realize that HR are valuable, inimitable, and rare – the view that goes in line with the resource-based view of the firm (Hall 1993). Finally, the success of SHRM in Cadbury and Craft lays in that both organizations were successful in linking their HRM practice to behavioral, performance, and financial outcomes the way they are discussed by Guest (HRM Guide 2005). As a result, HR stands out as the core of sustained competitiveness in organizations in the long run.

Video Gaming is Good For Everyone Essay Example for Free

Video Gaming is Good For Everyone Essay Video gaming is good for everyone because it is useful for rehabilitation, relieves stress, and helps the elderly. Have you ever played a video game? Did you get totally immersed in it, and it made you feel wonderful afterwards? There have been recent studies and tons of articles written which show that, indeed, video games are good for everyone! Not just your usual young players (ages 10-17), and not just the more hard-core gamers (ages 18 – 25), but now these studies link video games to success in more than just fun times, and show that these type of games can be beneficial for all types of people, from young to elderly, and from healthy to the impaired. Yes, video gaming is good for everyone! It used to be that only young people were associated with playing video games. That is no longer the norm, as studies are now seeing a surge of middle-aged people and even the elderly benefiting from these types of games. Interactive gaming is a hot topic of course, with the introduction of games like â€Å"Words With Friends† available on various platforms such as a smart phone or Facebook. This game is readily available to download as a stand-alone game on tablet computers and regular PC’s also. Households can get the whole family involved in this, just like playing the old-fashioned Scrabble game around your kitchen table. There is a whole source of video games that people of all ages can enjoy together (Weed, 2012)! Even stay-at-home mothers are getting into the gaming world more easily, with simple games that they can use to interact with their toddlers on their PC’s or video game systems to help them learn rudimentary things such as reading, writing and arithmetic. These type of games are great attention-getters to keep toddlers entertained while in line at stores (via cell phone apps), or just to keep them entertained while a mother takes a well-needed rest but doesn’t want to plunk her child down in front of a DVD or video on television like in past years. These children are actually getting engrossed and learning at the same time, while the mother does other tasks such as cleaning, cooking, or even taking a well-deserved break (Lopez, March 2012). Video games benefit the elderly, as shown in a study that most have not even thought about! Something to ponder is that back in the late 1970s and early 1980s there were many games in bars like PONG or PACMAN. This was the dawning age of the video game empire. And many of our parents at that moment in time were in those bars, enjoying the company of their peers. They played those games, spent their quarters, and had fun. In time, however, video games became more and more intricate and thus many older people tended to drift away from those moments of fun and escape. Perhaps they still longed to play those games, but were afraid to try the new formats. Those parents now are 30 years older and thought their gaming days were long gone. Video gaming has been shown to be very beneficial to the elderly retirement community through local senior recreation departments in many cities. Studies recently have found that the elder community of retirees over 65 do benefit from video game activities. These studies were commented on by Katharine Ross, the Director of an online Senior Magazine called Senior Guide Magazine. She states: â€Å"It’s clear that video games are becoming a popular addition to a large number of retirement community activity rooms and senior event calendars† (Ross, 2010, Paragraph 10). Some of the more popular games to play have been in senior living communities that have games like WII Bowling, where people actually feel that they are part of the game, because players make an avatar of themselves to play the game with, and their movements are recognized and played on the screen. This is known as â€Å"motion gaming† rather than the common â€Å"button pushing† of other game c ontrollers. The Nintendo WII and the XBOX 360 both have motion detection system games that do the same thing. After even just a few gaming sessions in these retirement communities, it has been found to have become a great success. There is a noted boost in balance, coordination and strength, which could help prevent an elderly person from getting the dreaded fall, where they break a hip or worse. This also makes them feel more involved and not just becoming a wall fixture in retirement homes. They are actually part of the community and part of the â€Å"in† crowd again, like reliving their past! This helps them both in the physical and psychological aspects of their lives (Zafar, Feb 2011). Not only does video gaming that involves movement help the elderly, but actually Allstate Insurance Company recently put out a new program for those aged 57 – 80, which challenges older drivers to upgrade and hone their skills in a video format. It improves their driving skills by offering a way to improve reaction time and memory. You drive on a virtual test track, and objects and different scenarios are thrust upon you to get through to the next level. Most who have taken this amazing course have gone on to be better drivers and driving longer. A strong point is to test the older driver’s field of vision, which can be done in a safe environment with this type of video game. Its fun, and helps keep clients for the insurance company also! (Potter, October 2008) Video gaming doesn’t end with just the pleasure part of it all, there are aspects to it that even benefit disabled persons! One of these important discoveries is the use in physical therapy. Stroke victims, whose limbs are not working in coordination with their brains, often have problems moving their limbs for simple tasks. In the past, this meant a long, drawn-out process of physical rehabilitation at a special facility. Nowadays, many rehabilitation programs include special video games designed to work with home video equipment to supplement a person’s rehab progress. The use of virtual reality gaming helps with arm functions (picking up a cup, using a WII controller on a WII game) or even doing word games, which involve memory, often a function lost when a person has a stroke. There are microphones in WII controllers, which recognize words, and special games are made where the person has to practice speaking these words over and over to become clearer in their speaking. This both saves time and money in the long run – freeing up the therapist to treat other patients, and less money spent on rehabilitation for the insurance companies. It’s a win-win situation any way studies look at it! The jury is still out on how well this really works, but from what experts can see, it is making a dent in the process and is more fun for the person going through it and they can do this in their own home surroundings (Anderson, April 2011). Lastly, the benefits of playing video games can be seen in all ages, by the reduction of stress! It has been shown that playing video games brings on a reduction of the stress-producing hormone called Cortisol. By reducing this hormone, stress is lowered and a calmer demeanor is produced and boosts people’s self-confidence levels. People that were in a depressed mood before playing a video game were given a game that was fairly easy to beat. Once beaten, these people had a huge boost in self-confidence, thus lifting their moods out of that sadness. For example, people at a call-center played a game, which involved choosing the singular smiling faces among many other depressing-looking faces on a screen as quickly as they could. After the game was completed, more employees felt that there was a more positive attitude in doing their jobs when they did well in the game ( Nauert, 2007). This reduction in stress was also seen in a study where children who have violent tendencies because of a stressful situation in their lives played certain video games. These children, usually aged from 12 to 14, were more likely to gravitate towards more adult rated â€Å"M† (for Mature) games, with more violence in them. But once they played these games, they tended to take out their aggressions on the characters they were playing against in the games, rather than their friends or peers on the street. Ultimately, the parents have the last word on how their children will be allowed to play certain games, but in this study, it did show that when given the chance to beat up a fictional character on the video screen, or beat up a real person, they chose to take out their aggression on the video screen, thus helping both the child and society with an ever-growing problem (News Staff Science 2.0, July 2007). Some people still might argue that video gaming rots your brain, but there is no doubt that video gaming can be helpful to people of all ages. One cannot dismiss the findings in studies on this subject. In the past 30 years, this has come a very long way, from the simple joystick controllers of the original Atari systems to high-tech versions played on your Apple I Pad today, with popular games like Angry Birds. From rehabilitation to stress relief, and from toddlers to the elderly, there are not many people around nowadays that can truly say that they have never played a video game of one type or another. Video gaming is good for everyone! References Weed, J. (2012, April 20). There are loads of video games that all ages can enjoy together. Retrieved from http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2018025676_ptteentween21.html Lopez, L. (2012, March 15). More moms turn to video games. Retrieved from http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/tech/Video-Game-Moms-142869815.html Zafar, A. (2011, February 13). Physical video games may help the elderly psychologically. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/02/physical-video-games-may-help-the-elderly-psychologically/71184/ Ross, K. (2010, July 01). Video games helping seniors stay young and healthy. Retrieved from http://assisted-living.benchmarkseniorliving.com/video-games-helping-seniors-stay-young-and-healthy/ Potter, N. (2008, October 27). Video games help elderly drivers. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=6121775page=1 Anderson, P. (2011, September 14). Video games may help stroke rehabilitation. Retrieved from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/749703 ( you have to belong to this website to view – or just google the title name ! I belong to it ! ) Earnshaw, R. (2011, April 17). Wii video games help rehabilitation patients. Retrieved from http://www.nwitimes.com/niche/get-healthy/fitness/wii-video-games-help-rehabilitation-patients/article_2bad04b4-313b-53d7-97c0-ac2f7b5d7257.html Nauert, R. P. (2007 , October 24). Video games lower stress hormone. Retrieved from

Corporate Budgeting Systems: Overview and Analysis

Corporate Budgeting Systems: Overview and Analysis Joo Hee Kim Accounting and Financial Management Budgeting is the Process of expressing quantified resource requirements (amount of capital, amount of material, number of people) into time-phased goals and milestones (BusinessDictionary.com, 2017). Budgets help decision makers to identify problems and to increase their understanding of the task environment (Ahrens 1997). For this reason, budgeting is still regarded as an organizational imperative if costs are to be controlled and financial performance to be achieved (Frow, Marginson and Ogden, 2010). The budget has historically entered the central stage of the management control system in most organizations (Otley, 1994). One of the main reasons that big companies get their budgets in the first place is to coordinate different parts of the business. By sharing accurate information publicly and based on a common set of decisions, ensuring harmonious interactions between units can lead to efficient processes, high-quality products, low inventories and satisfied customers (Jensen, 200 1). As such, traditionally, budgeting system has been considered to provide effectively four major benefits to the most organizations. (1) First of all, budgeting system provides the capability for managers to quantify the necessary resources and distribute these to the involved organizations prior to the beginning of the project. (2) Throughout the budget planning activities, the involved organizations will have a better interaction and communication to identify the problems, understand issues, pertaining to the tasks and then, finally allocate the necessary budgets to each organization. (3) Consequently it encourages each organization to conduct their task diligently and efficiently without wasting their resources. (4) Finally, It provides the persistent evaluation how the project performed under the budgeting planned and the great future index for the next budgeting plan. However, under the current increased competitive global environment, requiring more dynamic and imminent resource allocation have raised the concern that the traditional budgeting systems are inefficient and incapable to satisfy dynamically changing environments and suggested the myopic decision making and budget games in which they proposed (Hansen et al., 2003; Ostergren and Stensaker, 2011). Also, Welch has described the unnecessary wage increase due to the misguided performance evaluation, inherited by the incorrect budgeting planned (Welch, 2005). In addition to the inherited slow adaptive functionality and misguided performance evaluation. Jensen has described that the traditional budgeting process wastes time, twists decision making, consuming a huge amount of wasting executives time, due to the intentional false forecasts or manipulating critical information, consequently, twisting the resource allocation (Jensen, 2001; Jensen, 2003). In addition to these human and organizational barriers, genuinely, it takes lots of unnecessary time and resources to create a proper budget, prior to the beginning of the tasks. Statistically, organizations spend 20-30% of their time in the budgeting process. Also, budgeting generally limits the likelihood of achieving high growth or significant cost savings by setting an upper limit of the allowable budgets. At the same time, budgets can hinder high growth because overspending over budget would cut costs in the short term in order to achieve margin goals, consequently, hindering long-term goals (de Waal, Hermkens-Janssen and van de Ven, 2011). Recently, in order to overcome of the issues in the traditional budgeting system described above, a number of alternative methodologies have been proposed for the budgeting process, including activity-based budgeting, profit planning, rolling budgets and forecasts, zero-based budgeting, and beyond budgeting (Hansen, Otley and Stede, 2003). In particular, Jensen proposed a A Linear Compensation Plan to remedy the current budgeting process in which actual performance, regardless of budgetary goals, will be utilized to provide senior executives unbiased estimates for the planned achievable goal. However, later, Jensen described that it can be problematical for organizations to simply adopt or implement the proposed linear compensation system. It is because Target-based bonuses are deeply ingrained in the minds of managers and in the managerial codes of most organizations. More than that, if the measures and evaluation were not correctly performed, executives will have the more risk of distorting managerial decisions, even under a linear bonus system. In addition, the positioning and slope of the bonus line are based on the prior years performance. Of course, it would reduce the risk of overcompensating for the performance, but it can cause the reduction of incentives for the increasing performance, which results in dropping the motivational effects of the performance targets. Also, the increased performance compensation would require companies to increase bonus caps way beyond traditional compensational levels, which can make organizations discomfort (Jensen, 2001). In addition, more difficulties have described that the cost of changing the current budgeting process can be high due to the initial cost to implement the new system which requires the staffing time change, strategic planning, resource allocation, cost management (Neely, Sutcliff and Heyns, 2002), and eventually results in impacting on other unrecognized management processes, due to the lack of understanding of the current and future adopted systems (Waal, Jap Tjoen San and Zwanenburg, 2006). To overcome the raised issues on the linear compensation schemes, the curvilinear schedule methodology has been proposed which actually, reintroduces a strong incentive in terms of the budget. Jensen has also later agreed that the budget process itself is not the root cause of unproductive behavior. Rather, determining the compensation should combine the budget goals to have proper performance measurements. He has also point out that performance indicators should reflect the functionality of other business units, to align with the departmental performance measures. Management flexibility, decentralization and delegation can also minimize the risk of measuring performance (Jensen, 2001). Jensen criticizes managers for damaging their business because they lie to get more incentives. But currently, companies do not set incentives based only on manager reporting. Annual bonuses can be organized into three basic components: performance measurement, performance standards, and the sensitivity of the pay-for-performance relationship. Most companies rely on two or more measures of performance when evaluating manager performance, such as sales or revenue, earnings per share, operating profit or profit (Towers Perrin, 2005). Historically, accounting-based performance indicators are backward-looking and easy to lie, so firms can avoid cheating by using other measures such as operational or strategic performance goals, quality improvement, and scorecard-based systems. If managers were still cheating as Jansen criticized, the incentive system would not have spread like it does today. In recent, the percentage of SP 500 firms using multiyear accounting-based performance (MAP) incentives for CEOs increased from 16.5% in 1996 to 43.3% in 2008 (Li and Wang, 2016). There are many good reasons to explain why long-term incentives are an effective wage component. First, it provides the most direct correlation between company performance and wages. In other words, incentives can motivate directors to work hard and help them make shareholderoriented decisions. Second, long-term incentives can provide valuable human capital to the board and increase the loyalty of incumbent directors (Irani and Gerayeli, 2017). Furthermore, there is a way to hire a compensation consultant company to get rid of the possibility of any remaining lie. Compensation consultants such as Towers Watson, the Hay Group, and Hewitt Associates can assist the board in setting up wages with knowledge of industry and other peer groups compensation package design. In particular, they can give advice and assistance to the compensation committee (Bender, 2007). In the UK, virtually all companies show that they hire compensation consultants (Conyon, Fernandes, Ferreira, Matos and Murphy, 2011). The existence of an independent board is also important in the process of receiving incentives. Directors must have sufficient pay-performance sensitivity (PPS) for managers (Bruce, Buck and Main, 2005). Jensen insisted Corporate budgeting is a joke. and Corporate budgeting consumes a huge amount of executives time. But I disagree with him. Therefore, I strongly believe that instead of simply tossing off the budgeting process, the efficient budgeting system, combined with a proper performance measurements to determine the correct compensation, is necessary and essential for the company to achieve their goals in a rapidly changing 21st century international economic environment. In particular, from the Abogun and Fagbemis research, budgeting is still selected as a most effective and necessary tool for planning, controlling, communicating, making decisions and creating value (Abogun and Fagbemi, 2011). For instance, on the survey conducted by Libby and Lindsay, most managers have rated the budgeting as good value to achieve their organizational goals, regardless of budget games occurred to some extent in the organization (Libby and Lindsay, 2013). They have also agreed that the right u se of budgeting is of significant value to management. As an additional valuable evidence of the budgeting system, more than 150 organizations in North America uses frequently cost management tool to budget resources that can include everything from raw materials to human resources and facilities (Horngren, Sundem, Stratton, Burgstahler Schatzberg, 2008). In the same opinion, at a meeting on the traditional role of the budget in the organization organized by CIMA and ICAEW in 2004, the budgeting and accompanying process were indispensable and also noted that the traditional budgeting processing was widespread. Significant number of European companies has a budget and continues to use this process (CIMA-ICAEW, 2004). Most of current companies in Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States prepare budgets (Anand, Sahay and Saha, 2004). Is corporate budgeting really just a waste of time, as Jansen argues? If his argument was correct, now that more than 15 years ago, many companies would have to abandon the budgeting system. However, since the economic crisis that started in 2008, the survey and historical data have showed that the budget became more important in planning and resource allocation and companies emphasize specific budgeting features over other companies in response to economic crises (Becker, Mahlendorf, Schà ¤ffer and Thaten, 2016). In Case Study Evidence (Frow et al., 2010), the paper introduces the concept of continuous budgeting to emphasize how an organization can coordinate these potentially conflicting goals. By integrating the use of other budgetary controls with other management controls, the process of continuous budgeting encouraged management to exercise operational discretion when unexpected events occur in which it has placed a strict burden on managers to ensure that they continue to str ive to achieve their financial goals. Again, it has proved that Budgeting effectively contributes to the flexibility and financial principles to implement effective strategies. Therefore, its the right path to adopt alternative budgeting process rather than giving up entirely the budget. For example, continuous budgeting or traditional budgets can be supplemented by other management controls such as Balanced Scorecard (Frow et al., 2010) or Rolling Forecast (sandalgaard, 2012). For other management controls, according to a study by Choe, Dey and Mishra (2014), analyzing diversified companies in Australia by 2004-2008, companies that rely on long-term incentives for executives have achieved even greater progress. Long-term compensation consists of options, equity and other long-term incentive payments. Most of these compensation factors are based on company-wide performance. On the other hand, short-term rewards mainly consist of salaries and bonuses. In some cases, bonuses are targeted at company-wide performance, especially CEOs. For department managers, bonuses are often based on departmental accounting performance. Therefore, we need to develop some compromise schemes to set an upper bound of compensation, for instance, using the all department compensation difference and same time setup the ratio of long-term compensation and the short-term compensation ratio depending on the nature, scale, and profit of the company. Of course, as mentioned before, this compensation system depends on the previous years data to setup the compensation plan for the future potential growth. It may also be a necessary to evaluate company financial system regularly auditing from an independent accounting company that is not related to the companys incentive system. Corporate budgeting is like a knife. Knife would be a weapon when it is caught in the hands of robber, but it can serve as a tool for making delicious food in the hands of a cook, and it can save people when it is in the hands of a doctor. As Jensen argues, when corporate budgeting lefts in the hands of immoral managers, it is easy to become a weapon that damages the company for the benefit of the individual. But if a conscientious manager catches it, it becomes a tool for creating a happy company. If a wise CEO control it, it can also play a role in saving the company. Hence, I strongly believe that we should move toward improving the budget system by incorporating various suggestions described above. Question 2. Typical Executive Compensation Plan in a traditional pay-for-performance compensation plan, managers receive a hurdle bonus when they reach a certain level. The bonus will be improved until the maximum challenge is reached. When managers have a good year and performance is nearing the budget limit, there can be a desire to push the remaining profits into the future. Because they do not receive additional compensation even if they performance exceeds the cap, they will increase their chances of raising their expenses in current year or postpone their sale and gain to next year, in order to increase bonus next year. Suppose there is the organization named ABC, which has fiscal year end December 31 and Fiscal year 2016 budget goal for research expense is $100,000 and service contract revenue is $500,000. Fiscal year 2017 budget will be the same. Currently, ABC financial reports for fiscal year 2016 shows that research expense is $20,000 and service contract revenue is $500,000. ABC research department received a request from a research engineer to purchase $50,000 equipment for beginning of January 2017 and ABC sales department expects to sign on a two months service contract with a client amount of $200,000 in December 2016, but start date could be either December 2016 or January 2017. Because of timing issue of recording expenses and revenues, the managers are able to meet budgetary targets for 2016 and 2017, if they plan to expense more in current year and record revenues in the next fiscal year. The research department manager could record $50,000 equipment expenses for Fiscal year 2016 askin g a vendor to deliver the equipment and send out the bills to accounting departments few days earlier before January 1, 2017, unnecessarily, because research expense for the year 2016 already met budget goal, which means research manager still can get bonus for the year 2016 even though the research department recognizes $50,000 more expense in 2016. By doing so, the research department probably will exceed budgetary expense targets in 2017, because the department lower actual 2017 expense by $50,000. Also, sales manager could push revenue to the next fiscal year, by choosing the two months service contract start date as 1/1/17, instead of 12/1/16, because FY16 sales budget goal is already achieved. Even if the company ABC financial statement for FY16 can show more revenues if the service contract starts on 12/1/16, sales manager could take 1/1/17 start date, considering his FY16 bonus is guaranteed already, and it would be easier for him to achieve FY17 sales goal since he already achieved $200,000 out of $500,000. It is highly unlikely that any refinements to the budgeting process will ever enable budgets to be perfect because budget is plan for future. However, I think few refinements to the budget plan can prevent Jensons business scenario from real business world. First, senior management can set up their budget comparison method by adopting advanced IT budget system. In Jensons scenario, senior management set the budgets with limited input from line personnel. Because of limited input from same personnel, the budget could be manipulated for the purpose of getting more bonuses. If senior management set up IT budget system, such as uBase and add the procedure to their budget report review procedures, comparing generated report out of uBase to the prepared budget report by limited personnel, and researching the variances between two reports and fluctuation between months, senior management might identify what are the most common unfaithful ways used for management to consistently exceed finan cial targets. Second, the organization uses an incremental budgeting system for a full year. If an organization changes budget period from a full year to half year, and change distributing bonus from annual basis to semi-annual basis, the organization can reduce a lot of cut off issues management used to exceed financial targets. To avoid connecting budgets and sales goals to bonus, Jensen proposed Linear Compensation Plan is an incentive system that compensates for actual performance regardless of your budget goals. Administrators will receive the same bonus for some level of performance even if the budget target is set below or above that level. By eliminating kinks, the unit manager no longer collects cash beyond the target and would not need to make lower the target by putting false information into the budgeting process. As a result, senior management receives unbiased estimates of what they can achieve in the future, and the quality of planning and coordination is significantly improved. In order for Jensens proposed linear compensation scheme to be successful, we need to obtain the following refinements: First, when using multiple performance indicators for individual managers, companies must carefully set up a single, well-defined measure of overall business success, such as economic value added. Ratios such as sales margins or asset returns inevitably result in games. Second, management tends to concentrate in the short term. If you earn a high bonus within a year, it will be harder to get a higher bonus next year, so you will lose incentives to improve performance. A better way is to look at the future in more detail by setting a line of bonuses over the years based on long-term forecasts of growth and profitability. Finally, define the upper limit of compensation as a salary. Also, we need to set absolute objective criteria such as activity-based costing to determine performance by how many tasks have been done in certain time, rather than how many hours an employee worked. Question 1. (1) Answer is d. (2) If Sanjay Ltd sells all 1000 units, it needs not pay for scraping costs, so the minimum price is $ 2. But if it cannot sell all of them, it has to add $ 500 to its sales because it shoud pay for scraping costs. For example, if it sells 100 units, $ 5 is added per unit, so the minimum price is $ 7. However, if it sell 500 units, it will add $ 1 per unit, so the minimum price is $ 3. In the worst case, if Sanjay Ltd cannot sell any units, its better to give them away for free. (3) Total cost = DM(Direct materials) + DL(Direct labour) + OH(Overhead) $25,000 = $20,000 + DL + 1.5 DL $5,000 = DL + 1.5 DL = 2.5 DL DL = $2,000, $25,000 = $20,000 + $2,000 + Overhead As the result, Overhead is $3,000. (4) Total costs = Direct material + Direct labour + Overhead = $1,475 + $1,500 + {50(labour hour=$1,500/$30) $35} = $1,475 + $1,500 + $1,750 = $4,700 As the result, Total costs is $4,700. (5) Profits = Total sales Fixed costs Variable costs Profits ($100,00) = Total sales(Selling price 500,000) Fixed costs($400,000) Variable costs(0.75 Selling price 500,000) $100,000 = Selling price 500,000 400,000 0.75 Selling price 500,000 $500,000 = 0.25 Selling price 500,000 $500,000 = 125,000 Selling price As the result, Selling price should be $4. (6) Total Manufacturing Costs ($ 900) = Direct Materials ($ 455) + Direct Labor ($ 300) + Variable Manufacturing Overhead ($ 45) + Fixed Manufacturing Overhead ($100) Target Sales Price ($ 1440) = Total Manufacturing Costs ($ 900) + {Total Manufacturing Costs ($ 900) Mark Up 60% ($ 540)} It does not need to pay Fixed Manufacturing Overhead if Diamond Interiors accepts Mr. John Lees one-time only special order, because of Diamond Interiors has an excess capacity. In this case, Fixed Manufacturing Overhead should be excluded when calculating Total Manufacturing Costs. But Mr. Lee wants the cabinet in a metallic finish rather than laminate, so direct materials will increase by $30 per unit. Total Manufacturing Costs ($ 900) Fixed Manufacturing Overhead ($100) + additional direct materials ($30) = 830 Therefore, the minimum selling price is $830. (However, this minimum selling price did not include the mark up fee. Therefore, the actual selling price may vary depending on the sellers decision.) (7) The net present value (NPV) is the difference between the present value of the cash inflow and the present value of the cash outflow. NPV is used in capital budgeting to analyze the expected investment or profitability of the project.The following is the formula for calculating NPV: where Ct = net cash inflow during the period t Co = total initial investment costs r = discount rate, and t = number of time periods {20,000/1.1 + 25,000/(1.1)2 + 30,000/(1.1)3 +15,000/(1.1)4 + 12,000/(1.1)5 } 75000 = {18181.8 + 20661.2 + 22539.4 + 10245.2 + 7451.1} 75000 = 79078.7 75000 Net Present Value of the computer system is $ 4078.7 A positive net present value indicates that the projected income generated by the project or investment (in present dollars) exceeds the projected cost (also in present dollars). In general, investment with a positive NPV is a profitable investment, and investment with a negative NPV is a net loss. It is the basic element of the net investment value rule that a project or investment must be performed only if the NPV value is positive. Since the NPV of the computer program in question is positive, it is a wise choice for the mayor to purchase this computer program. (8) The cost of equipment is the items purchase price. Knowing the internal rate of return and the expected life of the equipment, the cost of equipment purchase can be calculated using the following formula. 15,000/1.12 + 15,000/(1.12)2 + 15,000/(1.12)3 + 15,000/(1.12)4 + 15,000(1.12)5 = 54071.7 As the result, Cost of the equipment is $ 54,071.7 (9) Return on investment is a simple rate of return without a concept of time. The IRR is calculated by compounding the time it takes to enter a profitable point. There is a limit to the evaluation by simple profit rate calculation that does not consider time. Internal rate of return (IRR) is the interest rate at which the net present value of all the cash flows (both positive and negative) from a project or investment equal zero. Internal rate of return is used to evaluate the attractiveness of a project or investment. If the IRR of a new project exceeds a companys required rate of return, that project is desirable. If IRR falls below the required rate of return, the project should be rejected (Investinganswers.com, 2017). When a minimum desired rate of return is 12%, the present value of project is calculated as $ 1,646. Because the IRR is positive, Imperial Airways Ltd. should accept this project. 75000/1.12 + 75000/(1.12)2 + 75000/(1.12)3 + 75000/(1.12)4 + 75000/(1.12)5 + 75000/(1.12)6 280000 50000/(1.12) 4 + 10000/(1.12)6 = 308355.6 280000 31776 + 5066.3 = 1645.9 As the result, Present Value of the Project is $ 1,646. When a minimum desired rate of return is 12%, the present value of project is over than zero (calculated as $ 1,646). Thus, the internal rate of return is more than 12%. (10) Year1 Inflow1 + Year2 Inflow + Year3 inflow = $22,000 Inflows from Year1 to Year 4 = $28,000 The payback period is between Year 3 and Year 4. Accurately calculated PBP = minimum period + shortage of inflows / inflows in event = 3 + 3000 / 6000 = 3.5 As a result, payback period is 3.5 years. REFERENCE Abogun, S. and Fagbemi, T. (2011). The Global Debate on Budgeting: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria. International Business Research, 4(4). Ahrens T. (1997). Strategic interventions of management accountants: everyday practice of British and German brewers The European Accounting Review 6(4), 557-588 Anand, M., Sahay, B.S. and Saha, S., 2004. Cost management practices in India: An empirical study. ASCI Journal of Management, 33(1-2), pp.1-13. Becker, S. D., Mahlendorf, M. D., Schà ¤ffer, U. and Thaten, M., 2016. Budgeting in times of economic crisis. Contemporary Accounting Research, 33 (4), pp.1489-1517. Bruce, A., Buck, T. and Main, B.G., 2005. 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Reflective Essay: Grief and Bereavement Reflective Essay: Grief and Bereavement This essay is a reflective journey through the loss I have experienced in my life. The essay will discuss two models of bereavement, dual process and continuing bonds. Towards not only understanding self in the process of loss, but also to understand some of the theories used to assist those who are grieving. Relevant referenced literature will be used to demonstrate understanding of the models of loss chosen for the assessment. The loss that has impacted my world most recently began with the wonderful knowledge of pregnancy. That beautiful piece of news set in motion a series of events beginning with the primary loss of membership within a band, which I had created and maintained for six years. The band was a manifestation of hopes, dreams and realisations I had carried since childhood and finally began actualising in my early thirties. The secondary losses were simple I thought, as in losing the social network associated with being a band member, and the loss of a portion of identity. However, a major friendship was also lost in the process and this in reality lay far deeper than the apparent primary loss. This friend and fellow band member M was actually my x partner and soul mate, with who I had shared my life and musical experiences from the age of nineteen. Even though we had separated as partners we were still very close as friends and involved musically. I had lost my x, my best friend, my band membe r, fellow song writer, and pain in the butt. I acknowledge that adjusting to motherhood and the happiness of my new family life overshadowed the losses I was experiencing, and also my resilience, spirituality and being quite differentiated contributed to my ability to cope, move forward and adjust to yet another segment of my very interesting, challenging and rewarding life. Attachment and meaning, family systems, social support, cognitive process in adjustment and coping, are all factors and terms associated with the theories of loss and bereavement which have preceded and assisted Stroebe and Schut (2007) to generate the dual process model. Their model perceives a person oscillating between loss-orientation and restoration-orientation. Loss-orientation deals with the process of having a good cry and experiencing and dealing with the emotion of loss, and restoration-orientation deals with getting oneself back into feeling okay to proceed with life emotionally, physically and psychologically. Within this process of oscillation it is important to understand the need for both negative and positive thought processes within both loss and restoration. Furthermore it is important that one experiences and adjusts to both aspects of thought processes in life, even when it appears that loss is not perhaps a prominent focal point. Stroebe and Schut (2004) discuss how attachment theory plays a role within the dual process model, by aligning loss-orientation with the experience associated through loss of a relationship where the bond of attachment is deep. Secondly their restoration-orientation process can align with cognitive stress theory by making use of tasks or coping strategies to assist a grieving person to find balance in their process of loss. The strength of the dual process model as Stroebe and Schut (2004b) explain is the ability to understand that people fluctuate between positive and negative thoughts and emotions. Additionally by applying certain aspects of cognition tools and the understanding of attachment, a balance between the swaying emotions and thoughts can be normalised and processed in a comfortable and personal manner as adaption takes place. In my experience of grief I certainly experienced the swapping of emotional positions such as sadness that our friendship had ceased, and feeling okay that M wanted to disconnect. I am able to reflect with both sadness and joy, when I ponder our shared love and experiences. However I also take great strength from my husband and son, my parents and siblings in an almost unconscious process of living and loving. Continuing bonds resonated with me in that it recognised attachment bonds dont disappear when one experiences loss or death, instead the connection and bonds change and continue. Klass and Walter (2004) explain continuing bonds as recognition that the human condition in both life and death is far more complex and unique than many theorists previously had argued. In addition research discovered that many diverse people carried on conversations and relationships with the dead. Klass, Silverman, Nickman (1996) relate that continuing bonds means that those left behind feel a real sense of the person they have lost, either unconsciously or on a conscious level, therefore their changed relationship with the deceased is a continuous process of adjustment. It is now realised people dont get over a loss of a loved one, they continue to have an internal relationship or tell stories to keep their meaning alive. From what I have understood of continuing bonds dealing with grief, is simply not a s simple as getting over a loss, but a process of mourning, grieving, adjusting and changing. Packman, Horsley, Davies Kramer (2006) cite Hogan and DeSantis who refer to attachment in connection with continuing bonds such as reaffirming relationships, search for understanding, checking in with deceased, reconnecting, asking for guidance, and seeking to meet again, it seems the process demonstrates once more that attachment and love does not cease with the death or loss of our loved ones. Nadeau (2007) discusses continuing bonds around how families make meaning via conversations and shared feelings through storytelling, family conversation or verbalising experiences of the person who has died. In addition to dreaming, comparing and experiencing interpretations of personality, joining or linking of events or perhaps considering fatalistic observations, through which these processes assist a person to deal and adjust to the loss and life without the physical presence of their loved one. It almost seems ridiculous in my mind to consider those Ive lost in life as being completely gone just because they died or have disconnected their friendship. In my personal culture of beliefs, values, and spirituality, death is but a single part of an enormous cycle where as human beings we experience the physical plane of existence, which is only a fraction of our total cycle of being and knowing. The process of writing this assessment has made me consider exactly what losses I have experienced. I began by making a time line of losses, and realised that through death I had lost four grandparents, friends, one x mother-in-law, and one current mother-in-law, nine cats, one bird, and one dog. The losses consisted of my heart at least three times, contact with aunts and uncles, and my cousins, jobs, dreams, my band, friends, even my respect at certain times, and the most significant friendship of my life prior to meeting my husband and my baby. Through contemplating my losses I can identify with certain aspects of poor self-esteem that has occurred in my life, and understand how feeling unworthy of certain considerations from friends is mixed in with the manner in which I handle loss in general. Being strong inside even though I feel alone is part of the coping mechanism loss in my life has taught me. For me being differentiated and resilient are the real keys to handling lifes my riad of experiences. Walsh (2006) suggests that beliefs and values build our cultural and family historical story that in turn builds resilience, which is strongly tied in with ones spiritual beliefs and life meaning. Weiten, Lloyd, Dunn, Hammer (2009) cite Gallagher and Chase who suggest that children benefit immensely from having their sense of resilience strengthened and nurtured by cherishing close relationships between children and parents. Resilience can help with the development of coping strategies, for example how to release anger, or help children be able to differentiate between risk assessment of traumatic event and management of possible danger. Furthermore the importance of relating and sharing of values and beliefs, not only in self, but also in a wider social arena, and encourage the ability to see and endeavour towards a positive future. My sense of myself as a differentiated and resilient person has also been a driving force behind my search of spiritual answers outside my birth religion. I live my life through my sense of spiritual knowing, which I align with the Buddhist concept of dharma, reincarnation and karma. My foundation of spirituality and knowing in God as my belief and value system is how I function through lifes loves and losses. I now understand how positive functioning is interconnected with a sense of differentiation. Corey (2009) discusses, differentiation is the process of becoming an individual with a positive sense of separateness from family of origin, able to live life with an ability to accept responsibility for ones own emotions, thoughts, feelings, perceptions and behaviour. I am truly thankful for the two strengths of resilience and differentiation, as in whenever I feel alone in my experiencing of loss, be it as simple as feeling I have no one to talk to, I can draw from inside myself the strength to escape negative emotional spirals. I also have an immense sense of connection to a higher spirit and find great comfort in lifes meaning and feeling of universal love. Since life, love, death, loss and grief all are experienced, affected, and expressed, in highly individual styles and approaches it seems logical there should be different methods and theories attached to grief and loss counselling. Therefore when I look at the two models of dual process and continuing bonds, I feel it important to understand attachment in life and loss. Machin (2009) discusses that the sense of self and independence is born out of the relationships of attachment we experience across our lifespan. These attachments are what allow a person to develop resources such as coping mechanisms, resilience, and the predisposition towards either positive or negative outlooks on life as well as death and loss. Sigelman and Rider (2009) refer to Bowlbys theory of attachment, concerning how a person copes through lifes challenges and stages, which can depend a great deal on the style of attachment they have developed, such as securely attached opposed to avoidant or resistant atta chment. These attachment styles play out through life in the manner of relationships beginning with family relationships, meaningful friendships, and marriage relationships, a person experiences through life and through their losses. Sigelman and Rider (2009b) cite Parkes who in conjunction with Bowlby constructed their theory of attachment model of bereavement, based on the simple fact that loss and love are counterparts that cannot be separated. Furthermore our interpersonal connections are built through attachment and centred on the conveying and sharing of love. Machin (2009b) also considers that attachment styles are also impacted through family culture, especially in how a person is taught the norms, values and beliefs surrounding appropriate mourning and grief, and life and love. As I reflect on how I seek and find support around my loosing M as a close friend, the cultural influence and norm my family advocates, is that of behaving as if nothing has changed. Almost like sayi ng, what are you worried about, and ignoring any deep feelings that need sharing to complete the cycle of grief. In relation to attachment within my family history I would say I have learnt secure attachment as a child, but as I grew my sense of attachment to my parents and siblings had a feeling of separateness, which funnily enough I feel was the grounding for my sense of differentiation and resilience, self reliance, sense of spiritual belonging and an ability to have a positive life mindset. On the flip side that separateness I felt when younger was the underlying force behind my poor self-esteem which was an enabling factor in the attachment style of relationship I shared with M. No matter the type of grief or loss one experiences or suffers in some way or another, love is at the heart of the felt experience. Even if the loss is as simple as the loss of a job, or perhaps a beloved cat, or friend, a partner, a mother or father, sister or brother, or sadly a child, it is love that binds us, it is love that makes life and death worthwhile. Kubler-Ross (1998) put it very succinctly when she wrote, you should live until you die, no one dies alone, everyone is loved beyond comprehension, everyone is blessed and guided, and the hardest lesson to learn is unconditional love, everything is bearable when there is love, and finally the only thing that lives forever is love (p288). To conclude this essay I would reflect on the importance of a counsellor taking the time to experience and deal with lifes losses and loves. Whether one chooses a particular model or process to assist the journey of self discovery, it is important to understand the underlying concepts of the attachment bonds that are formed over a life span. The bonds we form also bring the love that not only continues but also fluctuates between positive and negative emotional balancing and adjustment.