Free Essays on Marvell Coy Mistress

At first glance, Andrew Marvel's poem "To His Coy Mistress" is a fairly typical carpe diem poem, in which the speaker tells his beloved that they should "seize the day" and have sex now instead of waiting until they are married.. Marvell, however, isn't suggesting that unbridled lust is preferable to moral or ethical restraint; sex is the subject matter, not the theme of the poem. Marvell's actual point here is that instead of dividing our lives or our values into mathematically neat but artificial categories of present and future, we should savor the unique experiences of each present moment; to convey this theme, the poet uses irregularities of rhyme, rhythm, and meter to undermine the mathematically neat but artificial patterns of the poem. This is also an extremely interesting and enticing poem about love. Love is perhaps the most clichà ©d topic of poetry, but Marvell does an excellent job of making his thoughts unique and original. The poem divides up into three main parts! , each with a slightly different tone/main idea. The emotion and passion conveyed is ambiguous, and the overall tone is closer to melancholy than joy. He praises and plans, but the overarching reminder is of the temporality of our lives. The final part of the poem represents how the author and his mistress plan to spend this fleeting time and is the most interesting philosophical presentation of the poem. The poem contains many lines, which deal with seemingly happy and hopeful ideas, but several lines placed at intervals throughout the poem crush any chance of a joyful light pervading the poem. The mood of the poem is set with the very first couplet: Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime The first line is really the key. It will set the stage for the rest of the poem, no matter what the subsequent lines have to say. Marvell quickly establishes a mood of pessimistic realization of reality. In his apostrophe he states that his m... Free Essays on Marvell Coy Mistress Free Essays on Marvell Coy Mistress At first glance, Andrew Marvel's poem "To His Coy Mistress" is a fairly typical carpe diem poem, in which the speaker tells his beloved that they should "seize the day" and have sex now instead of waiting until they are married.. Marvell, however, isn't suggesting that unbridled lust is preferable to moral or ethical restraint; sex is the subject matter, not the theme of the poem. Marvell's actual point here is that instead of dividing our lives or our values into mathematically neat but artificial categories of present and future, we should savor the unique experiences of each present moment; to convey this theme, the poet uses irregularities of rhyme, rhythm, and meter to undermine the mathematically neat but artificial patterns of the poem. This is also an extremely interesting and enticing poem about love. Love is perhaps the most clichà ©d topic of poetry, but Marvell does an excellent job of making his thoughts unique and original. The poem divides up into three main parts! , each with a slightly different tone/main idea. The emotion and passion conveyed is ambiguous, and the overall tone is closer to melancholy than joy. He praises and plans, but the overarching reminder is of the temporality of our lives. The final part of the poem represents how the author and his mistress plan to spend this fleeting time and is the most interesting philosophical presentation of the poem. The poem contains many lines, which deal with seemingly happy and hopeful ideas, but several lines placed at intervals throughout the poem crush any chance of a joyful light pervading the poem. The mood of the poem is set with the very first couplet: Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime The first line is really the key. It will set the stage for the rest of the poem, no matter what the subsequent lines have to say. Marvell quickly establishes a mood of pessimistic realization of reality. In his apostrophe he states that his m...

The Invisable Man essays

The Invisable Man essays The novel, Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison explores the issue of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness through the main character. In the novel, Invisible Man, the main character is not giving a name. In our paper we will refer to him as the Protagonist. Ellison explores how unalienable rights cannot be obtained without freedom from the obstacles in life especially from one's own fears. In the novel Invisible Man, several major characters affect the Protagonist. One of the major characters is Dr. Bledsoe, who is the president of the school. Dr. Bledsoe had a major effect on the main character, because the Protagonist idolizes him. "He was every thing that I hope to be," (Ellison 99), but the Dr. Bledsoe degrades him when we says "Why, the dumbest black bastard in the cotton patch knows that the only way to please a white man is to tell him a lie" (Emerson 137) and calls him a Nigger. In addition, the Protagonist grandfather had a major effect on him. The ! Protagonist's grandfa ther last word, "Live in the Lions mouth" (Ellison 16) has a lasting effect on him throughout most of the novel. Finally and most important, Ras the Destroyer, whom the Protagonist fears whom along with Dr. Bledsoe in a separate encountering calls him "a educated fool" (Ellison 140). The first encounter of the Protagonist own fears is introduce when his grandfather' s tells the Protagonist to go against the white man by "overcome 'em with yeses" (Emerson 16). These words haunts the Protagonist when he is kicked out getting kicked out of college. When Dr. Bledsoe kicks him out of college, the Protagonist reflects on his grandfather last words "undermine 'em with grins, agree 'em to death^"(Emerson 16). For a moment, the Protagonist wonders if his grandfather might be right. However, due to the Protagonist fear of failure, the Protagonist doubts his grandfather wise words, because he does not want to believe that his role in life is to undermine the white ma...

How Poverty Causes Crimes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

How Poverty Causes Crimes - Essay Example Both theories are of great significance for designing social strategies and policies to combat crime. According to the research conducted by the United States Government Accountability Office (2007), individuals living in poverty face an increased risk of adverse outcomes such as poor health and criminal activity. American healthcare system itself can be a factor that makes people vulnerable to poverty. Among the industrial nations, U.S. is the only country that does not have a universal healthcare policy for its citizens. Although American healthcare service is believed to be the best, the dramatic increase in cost, high drug prices, fraudulent activities, healthcare abuse, and unfair coalitions have left the system extremely fragmented. For the majority of the population hospital bills have become unaffordable. According to Marilyn Elias (2009), for some families, just one added stressor is enough to push them over the edge into violence. Although hospitals are highly equipped with the advanced technology and modern facilities, majority of people do not have the access to adequate healthcare service due the escalating cost of drugs and services. To illustrate, the study proves that "as many as 195,000 people may well be dying in American hospitals each year because of avoidable medical errors, and as many as 1.5 million may well be misdiagnosed" (Coates 61-62). The recent economic recession has made the situation more complex. It has contributed to more frequent violence, more violent abuse, and more deadly abuse when the domestic violence already exists. For instance, there has recently been a 25 percent increase in felony-level domestic violence crimes in Rhode Island, and a three-fold increase in domestic violence related homicides in Massachusetts during the same period (Lauby and Else, 2008). Another argument suggests that crime is being promoted by certain social

The joy of life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The joy of life - Essay Example The characters in the painting vary from one to the other; the three characters on the foreground were painted using napels yellow-reddish extra colour. There are two obviously female characters in the middle ground, one with a reddish hair and the other a brunette they have a pale skin. On the left side of the paint, there are four characters, one with a yellow skin and the three have an emerald green skin tone. The painting is an elaborate yet brilliant use of an array of different aspects of art, and an intricate application of shadowing; this has the effect of dramatizing the characters in this piece of art. Matisse (1869-1954) is a celebrated and respected artist from Paris who initially began a career in law but eventually transited to art, where he started as an amateur artist and later studied academic painting from various artists in Paris, Australia and London. He also experimented on sculpting, using clay to create certain forms, and printmaking but his most notable contri butions are well known in the art works. Most of his paintings exhibit the character of extravagant and use of bold, bright and vibrant colors, and for this, he was known as â€Å"wild beast†. His bold usage of brilliant colours earned him a place in the list of greatest modern artist of the 20th century. His initial paintings, now mostly in St Petersburg Russia, were mostly inclined to innate subject matter, but his later work bore the inclination of impressionalism. He admired and adored several artists and these included Jean- Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, and he made copies of Chardin’s work. Henri Matisse applied several varied aspects of art in the painting ‘Joy of Life’ to put his message across. One of the most important elements that he applied is the careful use of space, which becomes very evident to the viewer at first glance. He was able to accomplish this through by the different sizes and distances between the subjects in the whole work as some o f the sizes seem entirely inconsistent generating marvelous scene to the viewer as to just how near or far the subjects are in relation to one another. The artist also applies color with creativity by using a very wide range of colors from extremely light to pastel purple with a thin outline of dark blue lines, to deep red landscape, which is in contrast with the pale yellow skin of a woman’s body to create an eye-catching impact on the viewer. Another outstanding element of Matisse’s artwork was the use of line in the whole paining of ‘Joy of Life’ to carefully outline the subjects that are lighter in tone, and to portray a general flow of the painting. The use of smooth, consistent lines in this piece conveyed the creativity of the artist, which greatly influenced the work and was adequately able to capture the exact effect that Matisse intended to show us. Matisse developed this painting out of the impressionists’ movement that was prevalent in t he late 19th century, a derogatory term coined by Louis Leroy in 1972 to refer to a work of art that is unfinished. Matisse’s painting had no sphere or boundary on rules, the painting purely reflected radicalism in light of the growing secularism at that time in France. French political system at that time had an impact on the painting, during that period, French political system was adapting to the secular society, this had an impact on

Power and Seduction Essay Example for Free

Power and Seduction Essay The gaze holds the contention of being an almost exclusively male property. Men look at women and women ‘watch themselves’ being looked at (Berger, 1972). This makes men the possessor of the gaze while women become double objects; object of the male gaze and object of their own gaze. 2. Per Wells, what’s the older anthropological definition of fetishism? It is defined as ‘an inanimate object that takes on special powers such as warding off danger and misfortune and is the centre of religious rituals’. 3. Per Wells, why is Freud’s concept of fetishism a controversial one? Freud relied on the male castration anxiety which in a way, coins the fetishist as male, making fetishism as an exclusively male perversion. 4. Per Bakhtin, what’s the difference between ‘carnivalesque’ and ‘classical’ body? Mikhail Bakhtin, a noted literary theorist referred ‘carnivalesque’ as the ‘grotesque’ body. It shows how bodies are linked together in a cycle that continually grows and changes. This representation was however displaced by the ‘classical’ body, the epitome of purity image. It is ‘smooth, orifice-less and self-sufficient’ (Bakhtin, 1984, 29) as it hides the chaos and humour collective to the carnivalesque image. 5. Per Freud, voyeurism and exhibitionism are what forms of looking? Freud identified voyeurism and exhibitionism in children as an auto-erotic looking; the object is the subject’s body. While the adult look is a component of the externally directed sexual drive to ‘objectify’ the other. 6. Per Burgin, what is the function of suture? Suture helps the subject construct or incorporate itself in the discourse. In film for example, the subject would be able to identify the audience and the character thus creating the ‘point of view’ and other photographic techniques to achieve its end. 7. Per Burgin, what is the primary instance of suture in still photography? Example is when the subject ‘identifies’ in a radically selective manner, the attributes of the object surveyed. This ‘selectivity’ is achieved by identifying the camera position and thus creating a conflation between voyeurism and narcissism. 8. Per Burgin, is this identification an either/or process? Yes. This identification is selective. 9. Per Burgin, how is a photograph like a fetish? A photograph freezes a fragment of time. Although one characteristic of fetishism is it separates reality from fantasy, the photograph can still arouse sexual tendencies no matter the disavowal of the perception. 10. Per Burgin, why is it frustrating to look at a photograph for too long? Photographs give us pleasure but after sometime, we would begin to notice the little centrality we have over the object. As the surveyor, it is important for our gaze not to be alienated or else, it will create an aversion. 11. Per Burgin, what recognition produces a tear in the suture process? When the subject recognizes that the object’s gaze belongs to the camera and not to him, the imaginary relationship is torn. 12. Per Burgin, what function does a caption serve? Caption supports the still image the way reverse shots do the trick in the cinema. So, as the surveyor gets alienated, his look will be displaced to the caption that when expires, finds itself returned back to the image. 13. Why does McGrath call modernism a ruse? McGrath called modernism a ruse due to the social suppression of knowledge in the issues of class, race and crucially that of gender. Amidst the modern concept of art as ‘universal’, the feminist art lacked contribution because of its inability to contend with the modern, yet still patriarchal world. 14. Would Weston agree with the terms of McGrath’s critique? Yes, given that Weston lived capturing women’s essence and sensuality and McGrath wrote to advance it, they basically are in the same platform. 15. What must the photographer and the voyeur maintain? They must always maintain a certain degree of distance from the object. This will not only keep the focus and mastery of the photographer but as well prohibit the exercise of other drives towards the object. 16. Per McGrath, how does the act of photographing relieve castration anxiety? The camera and photograph become ‘fetishes’. They both play as pleasurable props that give men the reverence of feeling and maintaining their erection. 17. Per McGrath, how is a photograph like a fetish? Like a fetish, photographs require a disavowal of knowledge. They contain meaning and stand in place of the real object’s absence. 18. Per McGrath, how does a maximum depth of field serve in the construction of a fetish? The maximum depth of field could be established using two techniques; the aperture which gives the sharpest focus, and the printing of the photograph. The first heightens the visual qualities, making it more invoking to touch while the latter’s use of high gloss paper gives it the closest original beauty. 19. Per Freud, what are examples of symbolic topography? Freud claims that things around exist in genital symbolism. Anything that stands represents the male genitalia; landscapes, hills, trees and rocks. With almost the exception of the cigar which, ‘is sometimes just a cigar’. 20. Per McGrath, what do Weston’s framing devices achieve? The cutting of the frame, the literal cutting of the head or the covering of the eyes ensure a more sadistic implication and thus more enjoyment of the nude. Print Source Burgin, V. , (1982). Photo; Power Seduction. Houndmills: Macmillan Education Ltd.

Free Essays on Homers Odyssey: Greek Values :: Odyssey essays

Greek Values and Homer's Odyssey "Look death in the face with joyful hope, and consider this a lasting truth: the righteous man has nothing to fear, neither in life, nor in death, and the Gods will not forsake him."-Socrates, a Greek philosopher and contemplative thinker. The above quote is the basis for Greek belief, demonstrating the respectable Greek citizen. It displays courage and obedience for the Gods in which the Greek world revolved around. Greeks had many traditions and ways of life. Greek cosmos played an important role in Greek life including the God's influence and personality, Greek military ideas, philosophers, and Greek poetry. The God's impact and personality had a direct influence on daily life in Greek society. The Gods can give things "A cruel turn, this. Never had I thought to see this land, but Zeus let me see it." (Book 5, Line 426-427 The Odyssey unabridged), however, they can also take things away and curse their people "Take yourself out of this island, creeping thing...Your voyage here was cursed by heaven" (Book 10, Line 82-85 The Odyssey unabridged). Greek citizens had to always be considering what the Gods were thinking of them. The Greeks knew that whatever the Gods gave them, they will just as easily take everything away. By knowing the nicknames of the Gods, readers are able to determine their personalities. Throughout The Odyssey, Athena, Roman name Minerva, is often referred to as the "Grey-eyed goddess". This explanation can account for her cleverness and her bright, scheming eye. Athena is constantly changing shapes and disguises, but the cunning eye, stays constant. Another example of one of the God's personalities, is in the myth of Athena's birth. The personality of Zeus shines. It displays Zeus' constant lust after female mortals. There are many other displays of Zeus' lust. Many half mortals are the offspring of Zeus, due to his flirtatious attitude. While the Gods were a very important aspect of the Greeks, so was war and militaristic power. These values can be seen in Thucydides The Funeral Oration of Pericles, which explains a battle of the Peloponnesian War. "And we have not forgotten to provide for our weary spirits many relaxations from toil".

A Futile Task- the Catcher in the Rye Essay

The teenager stands on a hill in complete solitude, watching the nearby football game, and contemplating if he should say a final farewell to the school. Ambivalent, the melancholy teenager leaves himself in a confused and vulnerable position to the lonely and corrupt reality of the world. In an attempt to endure the vices that alter the blissful spirit, he feels the need to make things right by saving what little recognizable evidence of purity that the world has not already desecrated. All throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye, author J. D. Salinger establishes Holden’s bizarre attraction toward particular places, objects, and experiences, past and present. The author concurrently sets out the subtle, tender concern that Holden has for the preservation of innocence and where life will ultimately end up. At essential points in the plot, Salinger embodies these two motifs, which metaphorically represent each other, in order to uncover the true sadness that lurks in an abandoned Holden. By doing this, the author reveals the greater theme that unlike artifacts of history, constrained the human spirit would severely stunt any opportunity of development for people. Salinger constantly highlights the motif of Holden’s endeavors to preserve innocence from being tainted by corruption. The author first presents this through the objects that Holden develops a bond with. To demonstrate that bond, Salinger produces a scene in which Holden visits his old teacher, Mr. Spencer, one of the few concerned about the boy. The teacher asks Holden to read his paper about Egyptian mummifying aloud. Salinger first demonstrates Holden’s obsession for the preservation of life when Holden divulges that â€Å"Modern science would still like to know what the secret ingredients were that the Egyptians used when they wrapped up dead people so that their faces would not rot for innumerable centuries† (Salinger 16). Implying the deep interest that Holden possesses for this subject, Salinger underscores that the teenager may have experienced a harrowing event relating to the matter. Because Holden would still dearly like to know the â€Å"secret† of maintaining life in such a state, the author also exposes Holden’s unawareness of the topic altogether. Leaving Holden in an unaware state, the author then inserts the minor motif of Holden’s younger brother’s baseball mitt to clear the confusion. When asked to write a composition for a classmate, of all the topics Holden decides to write about, the nostalgic adolescent distinguishes his younger brother’s baseball mitt. With this sacred object, Salinger links it to Holden’s goal for conserving the unharmed and the aesthetic, as the glove had poems scribed all over it in ink. The author represents the ink as the permanence in which the item endures. Similar to the beloved baseball mitt, Holden finds solidity in a Little Shirley Beans record that he purchases. Identifying the song eternally preserved on the record, the writer elucidates that Holden still preserves things in the state that they are left, never allowing them to change. Salinger also represents Holden’s remembrance of the innocence of childhood, the record reminding him of that period. In addition to the revered objects, the author exhibits a pattern in Holden’s experiences and anecdotes that motivate Holden in the direction of making events like those last for an eternity. One of Holden’s recollections that Salinger touches on briefly involves Holden playing checkers with a childhood friend, Jane Gallagher. At one point in the game, Jane cries, and sensing this, Holden drives his efforts to console with her, kissing her all over her face, avoiding her mouth. Symbolizing the need to protect Jane and her virginity, the author portrays Holden comforting her instead of violating her, revealing the tender empathy that Holden possesses. Prior to reflecting this memory, Holden underwent an instance of rejection at a bar, and seeing what little empathy people have, Holden tries to remember a positive memory to keep his motivation alive. One of Holden’s fondest memories stems from the remembrance of his younger brother. When given time to ruminate upon his past, Allie stands out as the ideal brother that Holden would never find in any other person. Salinger distinguishes Allie as â€Å"terrifically intelligent† and that â€Å"he was also the nicest†¦ he never got mad at anybody. People with red hair are supposed to get mad very easily, but Allie never did, and he had very red hair† (Salinger 50). Portraying Allie as the epitome of childhood innocence, the author juxtaposes this to Holden’s thoughts of preserving purity. Because his sibling passed away at an extremely young age, Holden’s sole coping strategy involves the thought of bringing back his brother, thinking that someone as magnanimous as Allie deserves to live on. Despite Holden’s naive point of view toward what troubles him, he finally begins to subtly realize something about his brother. Salinger weaves a scene of Holden conversing with Phoebe, his younger sister, and the teenager mentions that he loves Allie, thinking that he still exists. Following Phoebe’s comment that Allie is dead, Holden refuses to accept and reveals that â€Å"Just because somebody’s dead, you don’t just stop liking them, for God’s sake—especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that’re alive an all† (Salinger 223). Salinger highlights a rare moment: someone offering guidance to Holden, accepting that he is stuck. By displaying Holden touching upon Allie, Salinger expresses the adolescent beginning to address the connection with Allie. However, Holden still possesses the unawareness to come to terms with this. Salinger effectively amplifies the essence of Holden’s being in a thought of the teenager. The author illustrates a dream of Holden desiring to catch children who accidentally fall off the ledge of a cliff in the rye field, the adolescent defining himself as a catcher in the rye. The author resembles Holden as a selfless martyr in this thought, leaving Holden in bliss that he can save people if they fall; the author makes clear that, for Holden, danger should be avoided by all means and at all costs. Salinger stems the implication from Holden’s own dealings with losses Perhaps the most important category that Holden associates with conservation and longing consists of the places that he visits. One of the first locations that Salinger introduces pertains to the museum, a site of never changing exhibits. The boy favors that all the displays stay the way they are and that things are kept in fixed positions. By symbolizing the museum as a place where nothing changes, Salinger mirrors the setting to Holden’s opposition to growing up and change. Salinger initiates the beginning of a epiphany for Holden when the teenager travels to his old elementary school to meet with Phoebe. The writer describes the school as familiar to Holden While appearing to give up hope on the world, Holden sees yet another instance of chicanery. The author depicts an obscenity on the wall that appalls Holden, and in the act he makes of rubbing it out, Salinger reiterates Holden as a savior figure and that combating all of evil can be accomplished. The author furthers the learning experience for Holden when the teenager returns to the museum. Although feeling tranquil while all alone in one of the showcases, Holden observes yet another contemptible obscenity, defacing one of the glass cases. By repeating the obscenity for Holden, Salinger starts to affirm in Holden that he cannot keep everything clean and pure but must accept events like these once in a while. Finally pivoting Holden’s vague realization to the last crucial place, Salinger fleshes out the epiphany. Accompanied by phoebe, Holden views one of the carousels nearby, his attraction to it brought on by the fact that the ride always plays the same song. Holden again clings to a familiar tangent and what comforts him. Yet, the teenager watches Phoebe go around on the carousel and sees her and other children trying to grab for the gold ring. Salinger depicts Holden as â€Å"afraid that she’d fall off† but he does not react, as Holden realizes that â€Å"If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them† (Salinger 274). Paralleling and directing opportunity and danger close together, Salinger enables acceptance in Holden that if people stay the same way, there leaves no room for development, thus rendering them static, strayed from the dynamics of change, and this time, Holden does not deny Phoebe or himself the opportunity to mature.

Cultural Change

Organization Culture And Change Organizational culture – a popular but also a very complex concept – has been identified as an influential factor affecting the successes and failures of organizational change efforts. Organizational culture could be looked at as the pattern of shared valued, beliefs and assumptions considered being the appropriate way to think and act within an organization (Schneider, 1985).In other words, culture: the pattern of shared values, beliefs and assumptions considered to be the appropriate way to think and act within an organization. – Culture is shared – Culture helps members solve problems – Culture is taught to newcomers – Culture strongly influences behavior Generally, this shared culture is invisible to the employees and their interpretations are viewed as something unique to the individual—their personal opinions.People tend to surround themselves with others of like opinions and values, thus reinforci ng their common beliefs and expectations. Where does organization culture come from? It comes from the Organization founder, vision and mission statement, past practices, Top management attitude and behavior and through socialization – the process that helps employees adapt to the organization’s culture more quickly and effectively.People/ Employees of the organization learn culture through stories, narratives of significant events or actions of people that convey the spirit of the organization, rituals, repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the values of the organization, material symbols, physical assets distinguishing the organization, language, acronyms and jargon of terms, phrases, and word meanings specific to an organization. Keeling (1981, p. 8), who offers that culture refers to an individual’s â€Å"theory of what his fellows know, believe and mean, his theory of the code being followed, the game being played, in the society in to which he was born†. In a similar framework, Geertz (1973) views culture as a symbolic system (i. e. , shared codes of meaning) that reflects understandings shared by social actors. These definitions all imply that culture affects ways members think, feel, and act. According to Henry Mintzberg, â€Å"Culture is the soul of the organization — the beliefs and values, and how they are manifested.I think of the structure as the skeleton, and as the flesh and blood. And culture is the soul that holds the thing together and gives it life force. † There fore, culture is the social glue that helps and holds an organization together by providing appropriate standards for what employees should say or do. People who have worked in different organizations agree that each organization is different from the other organization. Things are not done the same way in everywhere in the organization. Even businesses within the same industry can be quite different from each other.Th e difference is what management scholars call â€Å"organizational culture† or â€Å"corporate culture†. Therefore every organization has their own culture according to which they carry out their day-to-day activities and act and behave accordingly to it. Do Organizations have uniform culture? Schein (2009), Deal & Kennedy (2000), Kotter (1992) and many others state that organizations often have very differing cultures as well as subcultures. Dominant Culture: expresses the core values that are shared by a majority of the organization’s members.Subcultures: mini cultures within an organization, typically defined by department designations and geographical separation. Core Values: the primary or dominant values that are accepted throughout the organization. Strong Culture: a culture in which the core values are intensely held and widely shared. Organizational culture is therefore different from national culture or ethnic culture. The national culture in which the business is based can however have some influence on that business’s organizational culture. Smircich (1983) has analyzed different conceptions of organizational culture in relation to the anthropological schools.Organizational culture has been conceived either as a variable or as a root metaphor for conceptualizing organization. The studies can be divided into two areas; organizations have been regarded as cultures (‘is’ approach) or having a culture (‘has’ approach). It happens all too often. A company introduces changes with high expectations of improving performance. When the changes fail to take root and produce intended results, the unfulfilled hopes lead management to introduce other seemingly promising changes. These, too, ultimately fail.The sequence repeats—an unending cycle of high expectations followed by failure and, inevitably, frustration on the part of management and cynicism on the part of workers. There are several possible reasons for these failures. One key reason is that changes introduced fail to alter the fundamental psychology or ‘‘feel’’ of the organization to its members, it is this ‘‘feel’’ that directs and motivates employee efforts (Guzzo and Shea, 1992). Without changing this psychology, there can be no sustained change. The main point is: organizations have people in them; if the people do not change, there is no organizational change.Changes in hierarchy, technology, communication networks, and so forth are effective only to the degree that these structural changes are associated with changes in the psychology of employees. The primary mechanisms for both maintaining and changing an organization’s culture includes: 1. What managers pay attention to, measure and control? 2. The ways managers (particularly top management) react to critical incidents and organizational crises; 3. Managerial role modeling, teaching, and coaching; 4. T he criteria for allocating rewards and status; and . The criteria for recruitment, selection, promotion, and removal from the organization. Managers should expect to encounter difficulty in clearly understanding situations that involve change. Analyzing a change problem can become quite complex because of the large number of variables that must be considered since there’s no way to stop change from happening, there are several positive steps to make a change program successful, including opening channels of communication, developing a learning environment, and providing training.Even with open communication, careful planning, and extensive training, new program or idea may still meet with resistance. According to Schein, culture is the most difficult organizational attribute to change, outlasting organizational products, services, founders and leadership and all other physical attributes of the organization. His organizational model illuminates culture from the standpoint of the observer, described by three cognitive levels of organizational culture (Schein, 1992).Culture change may be necessary to reduce employee turnover, influence employee behavior, make improvements to the company, refocus the company objectives and/or rescale the organization, provide better customer service, and/or achieve specific company goals and results. Culture change is impacted by a number of elements, including the external environment and industry competitors, change in industry standards, technology changes, the size and nature of the workforce, and the organization’s history and management. 3-Step Model This is often cited as Lewin's key contribution to organizational change.However, it needs to be recognized that when he developed his 3-Step model Lewin was not thinking only of organizational issues. Nor did he intend it to be seen separately from the other three elements, which comprise his Planned approach to change (i. e. Field Theory, Group Dynamics and Acti on Research). Rather Lewin saw the four concepts as forming an integrated approach to analyzing, understanding and bringing about change at the group, organizational and societal levels. A successful change project, Lewin (1947a) argued, involved three steps: . Step 1: Unfreezing.Lewin believed that the stability of human behavior was based on a quasi-stationary equilibrium supported by a complex field of driving and restraining forces. He argued that the equilibrium need’s to be destabilized (unfrozen) before old behavior can be discarded (unlearnt) and new behavior successfully adopted. Given the type of issues that Lewin was addressing, as one would expect, he did not believe that change would be easy or that the same approach could be applied in all situations: The ‘unfreezing of the present level may involve quite different problems in different cases (Lewin, 1947a, p. 29). Enlarging on Lewin's ideas, (Schein (1996, p. 27) comments that the key to unfreezing Ã¢â‚¬Ë œ. .  . was to recognize that change, whether at the individual or group level, was a profound psychological dynamic process’. Schein (1996) identifies three processes necessary to achieve unfreezing: disconfirmation of the validity of the status quo, the induction of guilt or survival anxiety, and creating psychological safety. He argued that: ‘. .  . unless sufficient psychological safety is created, the disconfirming information will be denied or in other ways defended against, no survival anxiety will be felt. nd consequently, no change will take place’ (Schein, 1996, p. 61). In other words, those concerned have to feel safe from loss and humiliation before they can accept the new information and reject old behaviors. . Step 2: Moving. As Schein (1996, p. 62) notes, unfreezing is not an end in itself; it ‘. .  . creates motivation to learn but does not necessarily control or predict the direction’. This echoes Lewin's view that any attempt to predict or identify a specific outcome from Planned change is very difficult because of the complexity of the forces concerned.Instead, one should seek to take into account all the forces at work and identify and evaluate, on a trial and error basis, all the available options (Lewin, 1947a). However, as noted above, (Lewin (1947a) recognized that, without reinforcement, change could be short-lived. Step 3: Refreezing. This is the final step in the 3-Step model. Refreezing seeks to stabilize the group at a new quasi-stationary equilibrium in order to ensure that the new behaviors are relatively safe from regression.The main point about refreezing is that new behavior must be, to some degree, congruent with the rest of the behavior, personality and environment of the learner or it will simply lead to a new round of disconfirmation (Schein, 1996). This is why Lewin saw successful change as a group activity, because unless group norms and routines are also transformed, changes to ind ividual behavior will not be sustained. In organizational terms, refreezing often requires changes to organizational culture, norms, policies and practices (Cummings and Huse, 1989).It is more difficult to change the culture of an existing organization than to create a culture in a brand new organization. When an organizational culture is already established, people must unlearn the old values, assumptions, and behaviors before they can learn the new ones. The two most important elements for creating organizational cultural change are executive support and training. . Executive support: Executives in the organization must support the cultural change, and in ways beyond verbal support. They must show behavioral support for the cultural change. Executives must lead the change by changing their own behaviors.It is extremely important for executives to consistently support the change. Training: Culture change depends on behavior change. Members of the organization must clearly understan d what is expected of them, and must know how to actually do the new behaviors, once they have been defined. Training can be very useful in both communicating expectations and teaching new behaviors. Other components important in changing the culture of an organization are: Create value and belief statements: use employee focus groups, by department, to put the mission, vision, and values into words that state their impact on each employee's job.For one job, the employee stated: â€Å"I live the value of quality patient care by listening attentively whenever a patient speaks. † This exercise gives all employees a common understanding of the desired culture that actually reflects the actions they must commit to on their jobs. Practice effective communication: keeping all employees informed about the organizational culture change process ensures commitment and success. Telling employees what is expected of them is critical for effective organizational culture change.Review orga nizational structure: changing the physical structure of the company to align it with the desired organizational culture may be necessary. As an example, in a small company, four distinct business units competing for product, customers, and internal support resources, may not support the creation of an effective organizational culture. These units are unlikely to align to support the overall success of the business. Redesign organization approach to rewards and recognition: needs to change the reward system to encourage the behaviors vital to the desired organizational culture.Review all work systems such as employee promotions, pay practices, performance management, and employee selection to make sure they are aligned with the desired culture. Hofstede (1980) looked for global differences between over 100,000 of IBM's employees in 50 different countries and three regions of the world, in an attempt to find aspects of culture that might influence business behavior. He suggested abou t cultural differences existing in regions and nations, and the importance of international awareness and multiculturalism for the own cultural introspection.Cultural differences reflect differences in thinking and social action, and even in â€Å"mental programs†, a term Hofstede uses for predictable behavior. Hofstede relates culture to ethnic and regional groups, but also organizations, profession, family, to society and subcultural groups, national political systems and legislation, etc. Hofstede suggests of the need of changing â€Å"mental programs† with changing behavior first which will lead to value change and he suggests that however certain groups like Jews, Gypsies and Basques have maintained their identity through centuries without changing.Hofstede demonstrated that there are national and regional cultural groupings that affect the behavior of organizations and identified four dimensions of culture (later five in his study of national cultures: Power dist ance (Mauk Mulder, 1977) – Different societies find different solutions on social inequality. Although invisible, inside organizations power inequality of the â€Å"boss-subordinates relationships† is functional and according to Hofstede reflects the way inequality is addressed in the society. According to Mulder's Power Distance Reduction theory subordinates will try to reduce the power distance between themselves and their bosses and bosses will try to maintain or enlarge it†, but there is also a degree to which a society expects there to be differences in the levels of power. A high score suggests that there is an expectation that some individuals wield larger amounts of power than others. A low score reflects the view that all people should have equal rights. . Uncertainty avoidance is the coping with uncertainty about the future.Society copes with it with technology, law and religion (however different societies have different ways to addressing it), and acc ording to Hofstede organizations deal with it with technology, law and rituals or in two ways – rational and non-rational, where rituals being the non-rational. Hofstede listed as rituals the memos and reports, some parts of the accounting system, large part of the planning and control systems, and the nomination of experts. . Individualism vs. collectivism – disharmony of interests on personal and collective goals (Parsons and Shils, 1951).Hofstede brings that society's expectations of Individualism/ Collectivism will be reflected by the employee inside the organization. Collectivist societies will have more emotional dependence of members on their organizations, when in equilibrium – organization is expected to show responsibility on members. . Masculinity vs. femininity – reflect whether certain society is predominantly male or female in terms of cultural values, gender roles and power relations. . Long- Versus Short-Term Orientation which Hofstede des cribes as â€Å"The long-term orientation dimension can be interpreted as dealing with society’s search for virtue.Societies with a short-term orientation generally have a strong concern with establishing the absolute truth. They are normative in their thinking. They exhibit great respect for traditions, a relatively small propensity to save for the future, and a focus on achieving quick results. In societies with a long-term orientation, people believe that truth depends very much on situation, context and time. They show an ability to adapt traditions to changed conditions, a strong propensity to save and invest, thriftiness, and perseverance in achieving results. Conclusion: Employees form an overall subjective perception of the organization based on such factors as degree of risk tolerance, team emphasis, and support of people. This overall perception becomes, in effect, the organization’s culture or personality. These favorable or unfavorable perceptions then aff ect employee performance and satisfaction, with the impact being greater for stronger cultures. Just as people’s personalities tend to be stable over time, so too do strong cultures. This makes strong cultures difficult for managers to change.One of the more important managerial implications of organizational culture relates to selection decisions. Hiring individuals whose values don't align with those of the organization is not good. An employee's performance depends to a considerable degree on knowing what he should or should not do. Changing the organizational culture requires time, commitment, planning and proper execution – but it can be done. References: Henry Mintzberg Cultural and Environmental School of Thought culled www. mbaknol. com accessed Thursday11th April 2013. Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of culture. New York: Basic Books.Keeling, R. M. (1981). Theories of culture. In R. W. Casson (Ed. ), Language, culture and cognition (pp. 42- 66). New York : Macmillan. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE Creating a Climate and Culture for Sustainable Organizational Change Benjamin Schneider Arthur P. Brief Richard A. Guzzo (1996) Accessed on Thursday 11th April, 2013 http://media. johnwiley. com. au/product_ancillary/64/04702605/DOWNLOAD/chapter41. pdf B. Schneider, ‘‘Organizational Behavior,’’ Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 36, pp. 573–611, 1985. R. A. Guzzo and G. P. Shea, ‘‘Group Performance and Intergroup Relations in Organizations,’’ in M.D. Dunnette and L. M. Hough (eds. ), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2nd ed. , Vol. 3 (Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press, 1992). Smircich, L. (1983): Concepts of Culture and Organizational Analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly: 28(3). Pp. 339-358. . . Cummings, T. G. and Huse, E. F. (1989). Organization Development and Change, 4th edition. St Paul, MN: West Publishing. Cummings, T. G. and Worley, C. G. (1997). Org anization Development and Change, 6th edition. Cincinnati, OH: South-Western College Publishing. . Deal T. E. and Kennedy, A. A. 1982, 2000) Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1982; reissue Perseus Books, 2000 . . Hofstede, Geert (1980) Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Values, Beverly Hills, CA, Sage Publications, reprinted 1984 . . Kotter, John and Heskett, James L. (1992) Corporate Culture and Performance, Free Press; ISBN 0-02-918467-3 . . Lewin, K. (1946). ‘Action research and minority problems’. In Lewin, G. W. (Ed. ), Resolving Social Conflict. London: Harper & Row. . . Lewin, K. (1947a). ‘Frontiers in group dynamics’.In Cartwright, D. (Ed. ), Field Theory in Social Science. London: Social Science Paperbacks. . Mulder, Mauk (1977) The daily power game, Martinus Nijhoff Social Sciences Division Parsons, Talcott, Shils, Edward (1951), Toward a General Theory of Acti on, reprinted as Parsons, Talcott, Shils, Tolman, Stouffer and Kluckhohn et al. , Toward a General Theory of Action: Theoretical foundations of the Social Sciencies, Transaction Publishers, 2001 Ravasi, D. , Schultz, M. (2006), â€Å"Responding to organizational identity threats: exploring the role of organizational culture†, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 433–458. Schein, E. H. (1996). ‘Kurt Lewin's change theory in the field and in the classroom: notes towards a model of management learning’. Systems Practice, 9, 1, 27–47. Shein, Edgar (1992). Organizational Culture and Leadership: A Dynamic View. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. p. 9. How to Change Your Culture: Organizational Culture  Change You Can Transform Your Culture With Conscious  Steps By Susan M. Heathfield, About. com Guide http://humanresources. about. com/od/organizationalculture/a/culture_change. htm

Free Essays on Revolutions 1848

The February Revolution in France gave impetus to a series of revolutionary explosions in Western and Central Europe. However the new French Republic did not support these movements. The stage was set when the unrest caused by the economic effects of severe crop failures in 1846–47 merged with the discontent caused by political repression of liberal and nationalist aspirations. In the German states, popular demonstrations and uprisings (Feb.–Mar., 1848) led to the dismissal of unpopular ministers and the calling of a national parliament to draft a constitution for a united Germany. While the constitution was debated at length, rulers of the German states were able to recover their authority. By 1849, the Frankfurt Parliament and the provisional government it established had collapsed and the old order was restored. The revolution within the Austrian Empire was one of initial success and subsequent defeat. In contrast to the situation in Germany, however, revolutionists in the Hapsburg domains demanded less central authority and a more autonomous role for the national groups. Lack of cooperation among the revolutionary movements and the loyalty of the armies to old authorities permitted the suppression of the insurgents by armed might. In Italy, the demand for expulsion of the Austrians and for national unification found a champion in King Charles Albert of Sardinia, but again Austrian armies put down the revolutions. The revolutions of 1848 failed notably because three kinds of demands- social and economic, liberal, and national- were not easily reconciled. This is illustrated in France by the Socialists Blanc and Albert on the one side, and the Liberal Republicans Marie and Arago on the other. Middle-class moderates like Lamartine gained control of the revolutionary movements and resisted the more radical demands of the lower classes, thus losing much of the popular support that was essential to their success. The results of the ... Free Essays on Revolutions 1848 Free Essays on Revolutions 1848 The February Revolution in France gave impetus to a series of revolutionary explosions in Western and Central Europe. However the new French Republic did not support these movements. The stage was set when the unrest caused by the economic effects of severe crop failures in 1846–47 merged with the discontent caused by political repression of liberal and nationalist aspirations. In the German states, popular demonstrations and uprisings (Feb.–Mar., 1848) led to the dismissal of unpopular ministers and the calling of a national parliament to draft a constitution for a united Germany. While the constitution was debated at length, rulers of the German states were able to recover their authority. By 1849, the Frankfurt Parliament and the provisional government it established had collapsed and the old order was restored. The revolution within the Austrian Empire was one of initial success and subsequent defeat. In contrast to the situation in Germany, however, revolutionists in the Hapsburg domains demanded less central authority and a more autonomous role for the national groups. Lack of cooperation among the revolutionary movements and the loyalty of the armies to old authorities permitted the suppression of the insurgents by armed might. In Italy, the demand for expulsion of the Austrians and for national unification found a champion in King Charles Albert of Sardinia, but again Austrian armies put down the revolutions. The revolutions of 1848 failed notably because three kinds of demands- social and economic, liberal, and national- were not easily reconciled. This is illustrated in France by the Socialists Blanc and Albert on the one side, and the Liberal Republicans Marie and Arago on the other. Middle-class moderates like Lamartine gained control of the revolutionary movements and resisted the more radical demands of the lower classes, thus losing much of the popular support that was essential to their success. The results of the ...

Executive Summary Essay Example

Executive Summary Essay Example Executive Summary Paper Executive Summary Paper As health insurance marketing is a highly competitive field, society is glimpsing the first indications that only innovative marketing techniques and tactics will win out over the competition. Of foremost importance to this situation is comprehending which segment of society prefers which marketing strategies. Because time is of the essence and an abundance of information can be found on-line, marketing agencies are seeing that the emerging health insurance marketing strategies must also use the web to obtain information about its potential clientele as well as provide information to users. B. Current Marketing Situation a. Market Description It is common knowledge that with skyrocketing health insurance costs, individuals seeking insurance recognize that it is vital to obtain it while ensuring that they do not get ripped off in the process. Marketing for health insurance attempts to show consumers that they can get a good deal for their money while having easy access to medical facility as they are needed. In addition, consumers who research on the web acknowledge that they are looking for insurance which has no gaps, allows you to pay for what you need with no frills or unnecessary extras, and you receive treatment as promised. For the elderly, receiving treatment is essential and often they are faced with â€Å"red tape† or have to jump through hoops while attempting to receive the benefits they are paying for. (amazon.com/Health-Insurance-Without-Getting-Ripped-Off/dp/0979478103/ref=sr_1_45?ie=UTF8s=booksqid=1238539157sr=8-45#reader) b. Product Review: Online health insurance marketing is a new frontier. It allows for feasible and easy access to information. As a platform for communicating insurance rates, premiums, co-pays, benefits, opportunities, referrals, and provider information, it gives an element of security for consumers wanting to research and see such information in clear writing (heartland.org/policybot/results/424/FreeMarket_Health_Insurance_Flourishes_Online.html). With online, consumers can also be provided with information which has been translated into their native language as well. For some cultures, they might feel intimidated calling health insurance representatives upfront because of language barriers. This new marketing tool will allow them to grasp at a new wealth of information at their disposal prior to reaching out to representatives who are fluent in their specific language.   They can get quick individual or group quotes or even requoted if they are looking to modify their potential plans to better fit within the plan rates that they are seeking. (sasid.com/products/Health/basic_health_insurance.htm) In addition, sometimes consumers find that information about insurance is diluted and thus causes ample confusion, which is why marketing strategies for health insurance predominately depend on using financial strategies like referrals, leads, and other such methods. Because we want to insure that consumers see added value to our online services we have had to reinvent the idea of marketing health insurance by focusing on specific market segments prior to branching out to others. For example, it is common place for the younger generation to lose coverage upon graduating from high school or upon reaching 18 yrs of age. This generation is also highly focused utilizing web-based sites such as facebook, linkedin, shutterfly, etc.. Our product will advertise on such websites in order to coax such individuals to hyperlink their pages into our website or delve further into our web-based site for specific fact finding information. We also advertise online via recorded radio broadcasters and weekly newsletters because if you don’t need or want insurance now that doesn’t mean that you won’t require it in the future.

Judicial Process Article Review Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Judicial Process Article Review - Research Paper Example Some states in the US define the juvenile-adult transition at seventeenth birthday, and some few states define the line of transition at sixteen years of age. Generally, states have laid down transfer procedure laws that govern or call for criminal prosecution of young offenders, even if they are considered juveniles under the jurisdictional definition. The laws are intended to reduce or deter further criminal activities. Research has not established any inherent fact that they are effective, questioning their efficiency. Are the laws efficient in deterring crime? Research on effects of the law on deterring crime has produced totally inconsistent results. Prompting the question of their effectiveness. Many studies have not realized a drop in juvenile crime rate that can be associated with the transfer laws. Nonetheless, much evidence demonstrates that transfer laws governing the states have a diminutive or no effect in deterring crime by the juveniles. Possible reasoning attributes it to general ignorance, tendency to ignore risks involved in decision making and low impulse control. A research comparing youths prosecuted criminally and youth processed under the juvenile system demonstrated a counter effect of transfer laws on criminal deterrence. Youths prosecuted criminally were also found to recidivate frequently and sooner into criminal activities. These negative results can be attributed to various causes, which include indirect and direct effects of conviction criminally, absence of rehabilitative means in the criminal correctional facilities, and the risk of association with criminal mentors in the adult correctional system. Studies showing the counter-productive nature of transfer system do not all agree that the effect is true in all types of offences, creating a possible assumption that criminal conviction may be effective on some juvenile offenders and non-effective on some offenders. A research conducted by

How People Make Economic Decisions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How People Make Economic Decisions - Essay Example This decision involved comparison of marginal benefits and marginal costs associated with it. Establishing the auditing firm would offer me a better chance to exploit and realize my potential in the real world as I won't be tied to very stringent policies as those of my firm can oftenly be amended at will and hence more flexible. In case the auditing firm became a success, it would generate profits that would surpass my previous income by far. This will create more time me to pursue my own ambitions including working extra hours. Being my own boss is more satisfying and assuring in terms of mutual growth as the firm grows. It was easier for me to grow up the rank in my own establishment to the post of a CEO as opposed to my previous employment. Large capital and other resource requirement required to kick-start the auditing firm. Conforming to the legal requirement s (rules and regulations) of the state and regulatory authorities required for the auditing firm to be operational. Losing the job security that was attached to my previous employment and starting an auditing firm whose success was not certain.