Strategic Market Planning for Social Media Platforms

Over the past several years, social media marketing has been an addition to an increasing number of companies' integrated marketing plans. Firms of all sizes are employing various platforms of this marketing tactic. At the most basic level, social media marketing enables conversations between firms and their customers, as opposed to traditional marketing methods where the firm directs the message. Businesses are beginning to realize that they cannot control these ongoing conversations, but rather, influence them. This trend has resulted in the growth of SocialCorps, â€Å"companies that are learning to take advantage of the power of social media to reshape their relationships with customers and other important audiences.†1 Popular social media sites visited by Internet users include: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Wikipedia, Flickr, and Digg (Exhibit 1). Of those, the top four social sites used by marketers, in order of popularity, are: Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn, and Face book. Becoming a SocialCorp allows a company to gain benefits that are otherwise limited with traditional forms of marketing. Such advantages include: unparalleled access to market research, enhanced brand awareness and perception, better engagement with all stakeholders, increased control over the company's marketplace message, and a richer user experience. This paper will explain how various companies have used social media marketing differently to achieve these advantages. Social networking websites are visited by three-quarters of all Internet users2. With the growing popularity of social media usage, many companies believe Web 2.0 marketing is the future3. As social media marketing gains headlines in companies' strategic agendas, astonishing statistics are revealed about the use of this marketing tactic: * Dell estimates that through its various communication channels, the company has two billion â€Å"conversations† with customers every year.4 * 88% of marketers are using social media marketing for their business. Of these, 72% reported that they had been using social media marketing for a few months or less.5 * 79% of the Fortune 100 companies are present and listening, using at least of one of the main social platforms to communicate with their customers.6 * By 2011, online social media advertising in the U.S. will be approximately $2.5 billion.7 From these statistics, it is evident that companies of all sizes are actively using different social platforms to reach their target segments. However, a shift of focus to social media marketing will bring substantial transformation to a company's strategic planning process. As such, this paper will answer a question that companies should ask when engaging in social media marketing: will it be more beneficial to leverage publicly available social media platforms or to build a platform in-house? Will the choice differ between companies, and what are the benefits and risks of either solution? Benefits of Leveraging Established Social Media Platforms The advantages of using an established social media channel over one created in-house are lower production and maintenance costs, quick access to a large established user base, ease of use for the consumer and increased information credibility. Businesses create company-specific marketing campaigns on established social media channels to leverage these benefits in order to engage consumers, increase brand and product/service awareness, reduce customer support costs, and drive revenues. The Ford Fiesta Movement Campaign A successful social media marketing campaign which demonstrated the benefits of using established social media channels was the Fiesta Movement Campaign by Ford. Ford gave 100 participants Ford Fiestas for six months and asked them to complete a different â€Å"mission† every month. These â€Å"agents† delivered dinners from Meals on Wheels, eloped with the help of the Fiesta, and wrestled alligators8 among many other things. Agents were required to document their adventures on Youtube, Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter pages which Ford had created. The Ford Fiesta Movement was considered an extremely successful social media campaign. Agents produced 700 videos which generated 6.5 million views. Photos taken by the agents have accumulated more than 670,000 views. The campaign prompted over 50,000 U.S. consumers to request more information about the car, 97% of which did not already own a Ford vehicle. In the first six days of sales, Ford sold 10,000 units. 9 First, using established social media channels allowed Ford to gain quick access to a large established user-base. Ford's target market for its small European cars is Millennials, those born between 1979 and 1996. It is estimated that 75% of Millennials use social media sites and one in five have uploaded a video of themselves online.10 Ford therefore focused their efforts on the established social media sites, as a large majority of their target market is already using these sites. It was easier for Ford to leverage existing websites instead of working to direct consumers using an in-house social network. Second, Ford was able to benefit from consumers who were already familiar with popular social media websites to build awareness. Ford hand-picked â€Å"agents† in their 20s who had already successfully built an online fan community of their own and who were able to craft a narrative.11 Instead of pitching the idea to agents as the means to a free car, agents were incented to create content for their own benefit to feed their current networks and build their own profiles. In the process, the agents contributed to building Fiesta's brand by helping develop an image of glamour, uniqueness and excitement around the car. Third, Ford created a sense of credibility by using external social media channels on which the content would be harder to control or modify. Ford took a huge risk by taking a â€Å"hands off† approach, telling agents to be completely truthful and agreeing not to edit or censor any information that was posted. This showed consumers that Ford cared about what they had to say which was particularly important at a time when consumers were not happy to be bailing out Amercian automotive companies.12 Allowing agents to freely express their opinions about the car also helped Ford to fix any reported problems or improve functionality based on the agents' suggestions. Key Takeaways Ford used established social media channels to engage consumers and build brand awareness. Using Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube, Ford was able to gain quick access to its target market with consumers who were already users of these channels. Ford was also able to use specific consumers who were experts with these established channels to attract more viewers as well as raise awareness among the experts' large base of followers. Finally, Ford established its credibility by allowing agents to post whatever they wanted. While Ford took a huge risk by agreeing not to edit the agents' content, it ultimately worked in their favour. Risks of Leveraging Established Social Media Platforms Along with the many strengths of social marketing, there are also many risks that are associated with relying on third party platforms. For one, companies that engage in this medium often experience lack of content control. Second, information gets spread too quickly due to the large user bases of established social media websites. Third, the effectiveness of conventional social media marketing is limited, due to the sheer volume of companies already utilizing this mechanism. Molson Coors Dorm Room Campaign Molson Coors Brewing Company (Molson) is a classic example of how a company underestimated the negative consequences that are associated with traditional social media marketing mediums. Molson is Canada's oldest brewery and the world's fifth largest brewing company. Therefore, it is well-recognized within Canada and has a significant market share in the beer industry. In the past, Molson has experimented with blogs13 and a static corporate website, but has had very little social media presence overall. Recognizing that a large portion of their current target audience utilizes these mediums and wanting to catch up to its competitors, Molson initiated an online media campaign. On October 18th 2007, Molson officially launched its â€Å"Dorm Room† project on the fastest growing social networking site – Facebook. The campaign encouraged Canadian university and college students from ages 19 to 24 to post pictures of themselves partying on campus. The school with the most pictures uploaded would win a trip for five to spend spring break in Cancun, Mexico. An advertisement for this campaign read, â€Å"Be the #1 party school in Canada; show everyone how you and your crew get the party started.†14 According to Molson, the intention of the campaign was to show â€Å"school spirit and sociability;† however, these goals were not reached and the campaign placed Molson under public scrutiny. The nature of the campaign was highly criticized by universities, parents and students because they blamed the company for encouraging binge drinking. Even the front-runner of the contest, Memorial University in St. Johns, stated that the contest made them look bad. Within days, the company received numerous complaints. Several universities – including Queen's, McMaster and St. Francis Xavier – condemned the contest in the Globe and Mail as â€Å"glorifying excessive drinking.†15 As a result of the public backlash, the contest was shut down a week prior to the November 29th deadline. While there are advantages for Molson to engage their customers via social marketing, the message of the â€Å"Dorm Room† campaign was controversial. As a result, this exemplifies how marketing using established social networking mediums can bring significant risks to the brand. First, on Facebook and other traditional social media websites, companies cannot control how much freedom they give to their audience. Users have the freedom to post pictures, messages and videos. However, on in-house websites, companies have the ability to adjust the amount of power they give to the end consumer. Molson did not have the ability to control how much freedom they gave to consumers, allowing consumers to post whatever they wanted and consequently, violating the privacy rights of many individuals. Once a picture was posted, only Molson could remove the picture. Molson was unaware of certain individuals' resistance to having their pictures posted on the site and the campaign generated negative backlash. Even as Molson shut down the contest, they could not ensure that they erased all traces of the pictures posted on the Internet. Second, by using traditional social media websites, the established user base compounds the speed at which information is spread. In Molson's case, pictures spread quickly across Facebook, much to the dismay of many students featured in the photographs. Facebook has over 500 million users who all had access to Molson's pictures. Further, the pictures could be immediately viewed by the members of one's network with the â€Å"tagging† and â€Å"news feed† features. Finally, the effectiveness of conventional social media marketing is limited due to the sheer volume of companies who are already marketing to consumers on these websites. In 2006, U.S. companies spent $920 million on advertising on social media websites. Despite high spending, only 12% of Facebook users have added a brand to their page, and over 75% of Facebook users said they would not purchase a product or service from a brand via their profile page.16 Therefore, social media marketing should not be viewed as an infallible way for companies to promote. The Molson campaign was one of the many campaigns on Facebook and was popularized by the outcry of the public, rather than direct support from its target market. In total, only 200 pictures were uploaded onto Facebook and large universities such as the University of Toronto and Guelph University only submitted 15 photos each (Exhibit 3).17 Key Takeaways By using traditional social media channels, managers might be forced to give up control over the contents to the websites and to their users. In Molson's case, it passed the power to individuals who posted images onto Molson's Facebook campaign page. The company should be wary of the freedom which the users can have when it reengages itself in conventional social media marketing. Also, social media websites have large user bases; this implies that the information found within these sites can travel at an extreme speed. Photos posted on Molson's page were not limited to just Molson's examination but they were available for the entire network. Finally, even though social media websites have gained tremendous popularity and enormous adoption rates, every campaign should be redesigned for each medium in order to stand out from the competitors. Molson failed to capture a large audience with its campaign because Facebook is already saturated with many advertisers. Therefore, Molson needs to establish a creative method to market its campaign when it reengages in using conventional social media websites. In general, social media advertisement can be a phenomenal way to increase brand awareness when it becomes a company's integrated marketing campaign, as long as the associated risks are acknowledged and accounted for. Benefits of Developing In-House Social Media Platforms There are many benefits associated with creating and managing an internal social community. First, a company has the flexibility to display information in the way they intended. Second, keeping a social network in-house also helps bring legitimacy and credibility to the information available on the platform. Finally, creating a separate social media platform allows users to have access to a closed network. Pampers Village Campaign Pampers' slogan, â€Å"every step of the way†18 embodies their overall strategy. Pampers strives both to provide a high-quality product and a supply a service for women throughout their pregnancy and early child rearing years. The company has created and continues to host an online social community, Pampers Village, to facilitate an open network of communication between itself and its customers (Exhibit 4). On the website, parents have access to a breadth of information about the pregnancy process. They also have access to parenting tips and advice as their child ages. Parents have the ability to communicate with both other parents and also with Pampers' panel of â€Å"baby experts.†19 Pampers Village exemplifies many of the benefits associated with hosting an internal social community, as opposed to promoting their brand via established social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. First, Pampers Village ensures that Pampers has enormous flexibility in the way data is displayed and how communication is encouraged. On Twitter, or example, messages are limited to 140 characters. Although websites such as Facebook allows more flexibility than Twitter, the pages companies can create nonetheless have preset layouts and formats. Pampers Village is divided into five sections depicting a stage in a child's life. Each section is further divided into categories which discuss various issues a mother may face at that stage. Existing social media websites would not have been the appropriate medium to host Pampers Village on as the display and organization of data would be restricted by the inherent limitations of the existing platform. Second, developing their own social network brings legitimacy to their message. On traditional social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, anyone can share their thoughts and claim to be an expert. However, on Pampers Village, there are a variety of experts from the Pampers Parenting Network (PPN) moderating discussions and providing pregnancy and parenting advice. PPN members participate in Q&As, write blogs and articles and post video demonstrations. PPN experts include: Laura Jana, M.D., a widely recognized parenting expert; Lisa Druxman, founder and CEO of Stroller Strides; and Julian Claus-Ehlers, executive chef and expert in healthy eating habits for the family.20 Mothers visiting Pampers Village recognize that they have access to high-quality and credible advice from parenting experts and thus continue to return to the website. Finally, creating a social media platform separates the audience from their traditional network. Mothers have to register to use Pampers Village; however, they can register under whichever name they choose, bringing anonymity to the platform. If Pampers Village was hosted solely on Facebook, the forums likely would not be as active. Forum conversations include, â€Å"Actively trying to start a family,† â€Å"LGBT Parenting†21 and â€Å"Baby Basics.† Mothers would be less likely to be open and honest on these forums if their posts were in full view of their entire social network, as it would be difficult to ensure confidentiality of these discussion posts on traditional social media websites such as Facebook. Pampers Village provides mothers the opportunity to network with other mothers in a closed network. Jodi Allen, North American vice president and general manager for Pampers echoes this sentiment, â€Å"All moms share a common goal — to raise a healthy, happy child. And the great thing about Pampers.com is that moms can connect, bond and chat with other moms all over the globe in real time and share in each other's experiences.†22 Key Takeaways A strong online presence is critical to Pampers' success. â€Å"We leverage Pampers Village to maintain a constant conversation and relationship,† says Zeeshan Shams, category brand manager, baby and toddler care, Procter and Gamble, Canada. â€Å"Our online properties help to keep our brand top of mind.†23 Despite massive competition in the online parenting field, Pampers Village has been largely successful in accessing new mothers. In 2009, Pampers Village generated 20,000 unique visitors per month in Canada.24 It is likely that the Pampers Village concept would not have been as successful if it had been hosted on a traditional social network. The creators of Pampers Village correctly recognized that in order to gain an audience in the online parenting field and consequently learn more about their customers; they needed to create their own social community. The development of a brand new network allowed the company to distribute a wide variety of content in their own format, brought legitimacy to the platform and created a new community where mothers could connect anonymously. The success of Pampers Village illustrates the benefits of taking a risk and developing a new social network. Risks of Developing In-House Social Media Platforms Despite the many benefits that can be gained by developing a unique in-house social media platform or campaign, this approach presents a number of risks and challenges. First, it can sometimes be difficult to engage consumers and draw them to newly created social media websites. Second, in-house social media efforts are likely to require greater maintenance and monitoring. Third, in-house developments demand a greater degree of corporate responsibility than is needed when using publicly available social media platforms. GM Chevy Tahoe Apprentice Campaign In the spring of 2006, General Motors teamed up with Donald Trump's The Apprentice franchise to create a website that allowed contestants to develop their own commercial to promote the new Chevy Tahoe SUV. Their website, ChevyApprentice.com, encouraged participants to design a 30 second digital advertisement by selecting from a variety of pre-set backgrounds, video clips, and theme music that GM had constructed. These user-generated commercials could also include floating text over the images of the creators choosing.25 In addition to having their personal commercial aired on television, the winner and other top contenders had the chance to win a number of big-ticket items, such as a trip to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.26 Over the course of the contest, thousands of users took the opportunity to share their personal thoughts on the Tahoe. Not surprisingly, the ability to share one's thoughts freely created the perfect opportunity for the anti-SUV crowd to voice their discontent for GM's newest vehicle. Of the 22,000 commercials that were submitted, approximately 4,000 took a negative tone.27 The majority of these submissions were either anti-SUV, promoted a specific cause, defamed a particular group or directly attacked the product (Exhibit 5). For example, some critics pointed fingers at GM for contributing to global warming, as witnessed in an ad that featured shots of the Tahoe zooming through snow, mountains, and desert. Over these clips appeared the phrase â€Å"Global warming isn't a pretty SUV ad. It's a frightening reality.† In another clip, the words â€Å"Yesterday's technology today† appeared over a clip of pumping engine pistons.28 Many of these negative commercials went viral, and could be found everywhere from YouTube to Flickr to specific message boards, such as DemocraticUnderground.org. The Chevy Apprentice campaign highlights many of the risks associated with creating a social media website in-house. First, the biggest risk that companies face in attempting to create their own social media website is attracting traffic to their newly created websites. GM mitigated this risk successfully by launching their campaign on the popular television show, The Apprentice, and leveraged other forms of marketing to generate awareness of their social media website. Ultimately, over 22,000 people were enticed to participate in the campaign. ChevyApprentice.com generated 2.4 million page views, with the average visit lasting more than nine minutes.29 A truly unique platform has the potential to draw consumers if it is able to create a novel social media experience. Second, developing a unique social media website is a large investment, as the company is building a new infrastructure for social interaction from scratch. The company must devote significant resources to maintain the website, as they are solely responsible for managing and storing data, enabling security mechanisms, user identity management, and continual upgrades. A flaw in managing any of these aspects has the potential to hamper the overall success of a social media effort. Third, companies are directly accountable for what happens as a result of their personal social media efforts, as they have the ability to directly control content and how the public can view it. On publicly available platforms such as Facebook, companies can blame negative content posted by consumers on the open-ended nature of these platforms and the lack of control the company has over filtering content. GM did not explicitly state rules for contestants designing an advertisement, which gave consumers the impression that GM was not taking responsibility for the content that is being generated. Further, they did not screen any of the submissions before it became viewable by the general public. After negative submissions surfaced on the website (Exhibit 5), GM did not remove these commercials, specifically stating that they would â€Å"begin screening ads for offensive and inflammatory content but would not remove any material based solely on a negative tone toward the company.†30 Although GM was attempting to maintain their customers' freedom of speech, they did not account for differences in opinions when deciding what was â€Å"offensive,† and were criticized for not monitoring controversial topics in their campaign. Key Takeaways General Motors' Chevy Tahoe Apprentice Campaign provides an excellent example as to how using in-house social media can backfire and lead to negative consumer reactions towards the brand. The debate still continues as to whether or not the GM campaign should be deemed a marketing failure or success. The majority of reviewers have labelled it a social media disaster, based on the negative feedback generated. In contrast, GM and a select handful of reviewers believed that this campaign was a marketing success. GM was pleased that the website was highly trafficked and that over eighty percent of commercials depicted the Tahoe in a favourable light. Overall, the campaign generated significant buzz, which was precisely what GM hoped to achieve.31 Despite these apparent successes, there are certainly efforts GM could have undertaken to avoid some of the negative reactions. The company could have taken a more proactive approach to prevent negative backlashes by screening ads more carefully before they could be viewed by the general public. Perhaps a campaign intended to engage participants to create videos about â€Å"how much they love the Tahoe† would have been a better approach.32 Although this may not have generated as many entries, it would eliminate the participants' ability to demote the brand and introduce controversial topics. A handful of authentic, homemade video submissions would have been a better way to promote the vehicle and generate word of mouth buzz in a positive manner. Conclusion The paper examined campaigns that were successful and unsuccessful in utilizing both established social media platforms or developing platforms in-house. Ultimately, a consensus was not reached regarding which strategy is most effective, as there are numerous considerations to take into account given the context of a company's current position. In order to leverage existing social media platforms, the company's target segment should already be current users of these channels so that quick access to these consumers is gained. Additionally, these consumers must be active users of these platforms so that the company can leverage these users to raise awareness about a specific product or brand. However, managers today should nonetheless recognize that social network marketing is still a novelty. Thus, many companies hoping to â€Å"hop on the social media bandwagon† may opt for using existing platforms as these platforms are inexpensive and familiar to their existing customer base. As the number of companies using existing platforms grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to differentiate a product and brand on these platforms. Lastly, opting for this marketing tactic ultimately forces the company to give up control regarding the content that is being posted on these third party websites. On the other hand, creating and managing an internal social community allows a company to gain both flexibility with the way in which they choose to display information and bring credibility to those information that is being passed onto the consumers. However, if a company chooses to develop an in-house social media platform, attracting consumers towards this platform may prove more difficult since the in-house platform will not be as well-known as traditional social media sites. In-house social media efforts also require greater maintenance and monitoring and the company creating the site holds a greater responsibility for the content posted since they have the ability to control and filter content. For many companies, social media marketing should be used as an integral part of the company's strategic marketing plan. However, with so many strategic options available regarding social media, it is essential for the company to acknowledge that different social media tactics are suitable for different companies, products, and target customers. The most successful social media marketing campaign requires a thorough understanding of the company's customer base and online habits.

Romeo and Juliet speaking and listening

Shakespeare's way of writing stunned many people for decades and still to this day; we haven't fully grasped how powerful and how significant his writing style is. Many directors have pounced upon Shakespeare's plays to convert his excellence into a visual perspective that abuses all techniques conjured by the great man himself. The hall is full of people in their costumes, sipping their drinks intently and socializing; the mood is suddenly broken by a loud voice, ‘silence! ‘ people immediately bring their talking to a halt and look up in respect. Capulet, Juliet and other members of the house are perched atop a balcony looking down on the guests below to show superiority while also standing in a pyramid formation with Capulet at the front as I want show a hierarchy of power within the Capulet's. When Capulet continues to speak I want the camera to flick from the crowd to his bellowing mouth to capture the force he applies to his voice, Capulet should stand very up-right with his head held high and clasped hand's behind his back to portray his very formal and disciplined nature. Half way through, Capulet's welcome speech is interrupted by the music starting to play followed by the dancing of the crowd due to the encouragement of the music, at this point the camera should flick to a birds-eye-view of the guests then to a long shot of the hall to capture the excitement. Capulet's anger builds as he try's to restore order without succession, meanwhile Juliet and other members bury their faces in their hands at the whole ordeal, finally Capulet gives up and storms back to join the crowd along with the camera closely following behind his shoulders, his little tantrum triggers a ripple of laughter throughout the contented guests, the other Capulet's soon follow suit. After a few cut scenes of the guest's dancing; the camera flicks to Romeo wading his way through the crowd like a lost puppy, anxiously moving and depicting how he is an outsider to these people but is stopped in his tracks as he first lays eyes upon Juliet through a thin, porous, red curtain. The red symbolically representing passion and love and with it being in-between them; shows that it's making connection between them. His shoulders relax, his eyes blink incessantly and his anxiety goes away as he just stands there and watches while slow and romantic music plays throughout the hall, the camera then goes into an over the shoulder shot of Juliet on the other side of the red curtain showing her fiddling with a ring, then to look up and see Romeo slowly walking towards her, for a brief moment she blushes and let's out a long shaky breath. She then turns and walks away showing that she isn't that easy; Romeo then follows her like a dog on heat, Juliet weaves in and out of people and puts obstacles in-between her and Romeo to tease and test him to weigh if he is worthy or not, meanwhile the camera follows and focuses on them from a long shot as they move and talk. Finally she stops teasing him and he asks her for a dance, she flutters her eye lashes and reluctantly accepts as she takes his hand and they both slowly dance under dim glow of the hall. After a few short shots of the two of them dancing the camera changes to a shot that is filled by dark eyes and brow; the guests including Romeo can be seen in the reflection of his eyes, after a few second's the eyebrows slowly turn into a deep frown shortly followed by a deep and enraged voice as he spits out words to Capulet; asking for consent to stir up trouble with Romeo. The camera zooms out quickly to show the whole of Tybalt in a very stylish and slick tuxedo along with finely polished shoes, the corner of the hall where he is situated is darker in contrast to its merry surroundings; this is to immediately imply that this man is the evil one as that's the symbolic notion of darkness. Then I want the camera to focus on a candle up-close, with Tybalt and Capulet blurred out in the background, the flame should flicker when Tybalt speaks violently to show that he is almost connecting with evil and his anger is being expressed through the flame; further showing his wickedness. Capulet is gleefully clapping to the music and telling Tybalt in a firm voice, to restrain himself and leave the Montague alone, to not ruin this great day, Tybalt storms off back upstairs leaving behind strong grunt of frustration to the incapability of creating a fight with the enemy Montague, as he leaves, I want the camera to go back to the candle and as the shadow that is Tybalt slowly leaves; the flickering flame also slowly subsides to a still. After Romeo and Juliet's dance, they sit down on a nearby red sofa, Yet again red symbolising a deep connection of passion. They talk to each other romantically with the camera circling them slowly; Romeo then takes Juliet's hand and speaks in a very smooth and gentle voice. Juliet then leans closer to his face and they both kiss while harmonious music plays throughout the hall, as they kiss, the camera blurs out all the other people around them so only Romeo and Juliet are clearly presented in the shot and how they are so indulged and oblivious to the world around them.

Observing a four-month-old baby Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Observing a four-month-old baby - Assignment Example At four months, babies are able to express themselves, making themselves an active part of their social environment. Observation The focus of the observation was a male baby named Sean Darren from Pennsylvania. This baby boy is developing fast under the care of his mother. He was born with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PD), thus he was recommended to avoid certain foods like beans and soya. Some drugs or medications may also be harmful for him, thus he should not be given any medicine without the doctor’s advice. At his age, Sean is beginning to show funny tricks that make him look lovelier. He can recognize familiar faces of people around him; hence he calls the attention of his mother if he sees her around when he awakes. Similarly, he does not want to go with strangers and seems to choose people he goes with. He recognizes his own platter and jolts when he sees his mother holding it. He also takes his milk to his mouth and holds the bottle with the support of a cushion or pillow. Sean cries when he is hungry and wet. He feels uncomfortable to wear wet diapers so his mother makes it a point to change his diapers every 3-4 hours or earlier when needed. At the time of the observation, he was playing with his mother who was holding a rattle. Sean focuses his attention on the little toy, and grabs the toy from his mother and drops it on the sofa. His grip at this stage is not yet strong. He does this repeatedly, while his mother keeps on picking the toy and giving it to Sean. At times, Sean would hold the toy to his mouth and attempt to bite it but fails to do so because he could not place the handle of the toy exactly into his mouth. When he got tired, he turned to his mother’s ring and tried to take it but failed because the ring is in her mother’s finger. After a while, his attention was led to his feet, and he held his feet for more than three minutes while he laughed at his mother whom he thought was talking to him. Sea n smiles a lot when he is playing with colorful things. He has some colorful toys hanging above his crib. He tries to get hold of them by raising his hand while lying on his sleeping cushion. When carried by his mother, the little boy would grab anything, especially colorful things he sees around him. If he is successful in taking what he wants, he would usually take it to his mouth and chew. He drools while he plays with the object in his mouth. Age Based on his behavior and actions, Sean looks like a four-month old baby. Four-month-old babies are nice to hold because they can already react to stimuli in their environment. From looking at things and staring at them, four-year-olds are able to grab them and explore using their hands and mouth. Just like other four-year-old kids, Sean would take something and bring it to his mouth. At his age, he can roll on his side and sleep on his chest and crawl at short distances. With support from his mother, Sean can put his weight on his feet but is unable to stand on his own or even with support. Moreover, four-month-old babies can interact with people around them. They smile and giggle at people who are smiling at them. According to the Cooperative Extension Website, when tickled, these babies could laugh loud and babble. Additionally, four-month olds prefer sitting with support than lying on their backs. They can roll from side to side, lift their head forward, grab things around them, and put things inside

African Music (East Africa) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

African Music (East Africa) - Essay Example African music is an art that can be traced way back before the colonial period and has developed to the modern music production, which has been influenced by technology, as well as African and western cultures. These numerous languages come with their cultures in way of life and behavior. However, the dominant languages among them and their environment seem to influence the countries’ cultures and art. The highest percentage of the East African community comprises of Bantu speakers, majorly speaking in Swahili (in Kenya and Tanzania), Ganda in Uganda, and Kinyarwanda and Rundi in Rwanda and Burundi respectively. Swahili is spreading fast across the region, but English and French have increased in popularity among the societies. It has become easy for artists to compose music and poetry in these diverse languages to communicate with people in a much more familiar way; considering there are still native speakers who do not understand official languages of these countries. Vernac ular influence in music: Existence of music in historic times in East Africa can be proven through the evidence of line figure rock art, which showed people playing musical instruments, at least as demonstrated by the rock paintings estimated to have existed over 30,000 years ago, in sites of lake Victoria, Sigindia, and Kondoa districts of Tanzania (Nannyonga-musuza and Solomon 34). In most rural areas, people speaking one language are densely populated in one area, while in cities and towns, the population comprises of people speaking different languages and from different cultural backgrounds. The same thing applies to East Africa, taking an example of Kenya; kikuyu is spoken highly in central Kenya, Kalenjin in the rift valley, Luo in the western parts around L. Victoria, and Cushitic languages on the north eastern part of the country. Kenya has moved ahead investing on media stations that relate to the people in their vernacular languages. The broadcasting stations communicate the messages from the news table and music in the same language. There are broadcasting stations which use official languages (English, Swahili, French, Ganda, Rundi, and Kinyarwanda) for general public communication, but would eventually promote the different cultures and languages in their music, to harmonize these cultures within the society. This promotes distinct peoples’ cultures and artistic works of poetry and music relating to similar issues that the language speakers deal with. Often, the native speakers and their cultures identify themselves by use of certain musical instruments. For example, Ramogi FM and Nam Lolwe FM broadcast in Luo language and the people would want to dance and sing to their musical genre, which uses instruments like nyatiti, traditionally called ‘thum,’ (an 8 stringed traditional instrument played with fingers or plectrum) (â€Å"Prof. Charles Nyakiti,†13). Most of the ethnic groups around Lake Victoria in Uganda and north ern Tanzania use the instrument in traditional music and competition events. The common feature of nyatiti music dancers in East African region is dancing with pride, like an eagle, shaking limbs, shoulders, and fingers. Religion: Individual movements and community settlements in the past enhanced cultural adoption, growth of different faith, and conflicts in East Africa. Music and religion go hand in hand in any part of Africa. Christianity and Islamic religions have been dominant among others, and rely on music to lay out the history and teachings of the religions. During the pre-colonial period, Christianity spread fast in the main lands of East Africa,

Business plan Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Business plan - Term Paper Example Its operating hours would start at 5:00 o’clock PM until 5:00 o’clock AM of the next day. Three regular staff would be manning the cafà ©. The owner, as manager, would be in the cafà © during the week and can assist the staff on some tasks, especially is the volume of customers would need additional hand. The target gross income per month is $8,000 that would yield $96,000 in a year. Break-even point and return of investment can be attained in three to five years depending on the actual inflow of customers. With the start-up expense of $100,000 and initial month operational expense of $5,000 ($105,000), the current cash on hand of $80,000 would only require $25,000 that would be sourced out from relatives and friends. Bank loan is not a viable alternative at present since it will incur interest in addition to the burden of monthly amortization (which will not occur in the case of investors). An initial of 20 computer units will initially provide the internet services with a plan to add 20 more units after three years. After five years, there will be expansion in the area, lease another property with larger space or establish a second branch. Hang-out Cyber Cafà © is a one-stop shop business outfit that will offer product and services to customers during nighttime. It will be operating for 12 hours daily from 5:00 o’clock PM to 5:00 o’clock AM for seven days a week. It can offer its internet services and products continuously in a month without interruption. This will ensure continuous earning for the business. Hang-out Cyber Cafà © will offer snacks and drinks for users and shoppers. It will also offer office, school and computer supplies that consumers can purchase conveniently since most of the stores and malls will be closed at nighttime. The supplies would include bond paper, ball pen, pencil, stationery, notebook and pad paper, blank CD and DVD, printer ink, etc. Besides the internet services,

Trade Analysis between Brazil and the USA Term Paper

Trade Analysis between Brazil and the USA - Term Paper Example creation of Southern Common Market and participated in the formation of the G-20 as a coalition to represent developing countries in the World trade organization negotiations. Brazil works bi-laterally with the U.S due to her influence in the trade groups. She also co-chairs the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations as with the U.S. Indeed for the two countries, closer ties serve advantageously both economically and politically. There is mutual benefit when there are good trade relations and the partners have stable political governance. Political stability of any country greatly determines the economic performance of the country. This is evident from the economic recession experienced by the two countries during the Word War II. Economic ties in the U.S and Brazil are much dependent on the two-way trade that is far much empowered by the World Trade Organization. Additional resources and economic growth are the direct benefits realized by the countries in relation to ex port-import trade relations (Schott, 2003, p 2). US recorded the highest imports from and exports to Brazil in the year 1997. However, a sharp decline was noted in 2002 due to the financial crisis experienced in Brazil. A contrast was sited as US imports from Brazil rose in 2002 than in 1997. Bilateral trade between U.S and Brazil has grown rapidly since 1992. The US had commendable trade surplus with Brazil between 1990’s and 2002 when she recorded a drastic merchandise trade deficit with Brazil. United States’ basic exports comprise of industrial manufactured goods such as electric machinery, air crafts and computers. On the other hand, she relies on imports from Brazil that comprise of steel, iron, footwear and mineral fuels. Approximately about 70% of United States’ exports to... In Brazil and the United States, closer ties majorly brought about by the trade relations serve both for economic and political reasons. The two countries have common objectives in trade. Opening markets is beneficial to both boosting innovation and competition. They both have a role to play in order to deepen their trade relations especially bilateral. The success of trade negotiation in WTO and in the hemisphere largely depends on them. An increment in trade and investment in both countries will lead to boosted employment and income. This would also lead to greater cooperation politically, culturally and economically in the hemisphere. Brazil and the U.S both share a role to play in order to deepen their bilateral relations. They have a challenge to ensure better results for their citizen and entire trading block partners (Schott, 2003, p22- 23). Free trade is an essential emerging aspect in these countries’ trade. However, Brazil is still a way off to understanding the benefits associated to the trade and thus is yet to open up her boundaries for the trade. Countries adopt trade policies at will and this explains the difference in trade liberalization between the United States and Brazil. Bilateral and regional trade agreements have put the United States at an advantage in trade relation to Brazil. Prospects are good over future trade relations going with the current signing of trade agreements to enhance mutual trade. It is also crucial that these two countries maintains and develops the already established trade partnership for the well being of the two economies.

One page summary the attachment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

One page summary the attachment - Essay Example The team visits the program between September to December, while program is in session. The program evaluators then normally visit the campus on Monday and Tuesday. They conclude their visit my meeting the senior officials including the dean and give them a summary of the evaluation results. The institution can respond to errors, if any, on the evaluation information within a week which is then incorporated in the draft report that is provided to the institute. The institute is then given one month’s time to raise any objection or seek clarifications on the draft report. The final report is reviewed by the full commission at its annual meeting. The additional information deemed necessary by the committee members is then sought from the institution and considered by the commission before final decision. The final accreditation action is communicated to the institute by August

Good Leader Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Good Leader - Essay Example However, all leaders possess certain common qualities that help them to perform their role. If an organization has proper leaders with a vision that they can articulate and implement in various situations, their management is considered to be well-organized (Hesburgh, N.D). These are the essentials for an organization to succeed and reach new heights. The position of the managers, supervisor, lead etc. does not make a leader; it simply makes you the boss. A boss is the one who just assigns tasks for everyone; while a leader motivates each and everyone to achieve those goals and make them want to do a certain task given (Hakala, 2008). Leaders also do not restrict the employees or people working under them to follow the certain method prescribed by them; they give them a chance to brainstorm and use a method that is mutually beneficial for them and the organization. This augments the intellectual capabilities of the employees and the thrill of choosing to do whatever method they want, as far as it is appropriate, motivates them and increases not only their efficiency and productivity, but also their devotion and commitment to the organization. No doubt, a company is run by the company heads, CEOs, Managing Directors followed by general managers or department heads, but the work that is to be performed is to be carried out by the e mployees to a very large extent. Therefore, once their confidence and loyalty for the company is gained with enough stimulation within them, a company can run very smoothly and flourish in the future. The core functions of management are planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Planning is to develop and design the goals of the company depending upon the objectives; organizing is to divide and assign tasks to every worker depending upon his rank; leading is to monitor employees and motivate them in different capacities required; and controlling is to bring about the change required within the management for the improvement of the company's performance. Thus, we can judge that leadership is a very crucial part of management. A company can be well-structured and reap profits if proficient leadership is available. It is a concept that good management is to resolve problems; however, good management is to be able to resolve problems in such a way that they are prevented in the future (Reh, 2006). If each problem is tackled following this pattern, an unsuccessful business can surely transform into a successful one. A good leader is expected to have certain qualities that benefit the organization directly or indirectly. Integrity is an important quality of a leader - the inner values and the outward actions are the same, that is, there is no hypocrisy involved. This will result in honest dealings that will augment the goodwill of a company, making it popular. A leader needs to be dedicated to his company; his passion and commitment to the company will motivate him to make arduous efforts for the enhancement of the company. Magnanimity is critical because the leader tends to give the credit for a good performance to the deserving person. Such rewards and acknowledgements becomes and incentive for the employees to struggle and work harder, indirectly benefiting the company. A leader should be down to earth and should have humility - this will prevent him to self-centered and

Reading Response Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reading Response - Article Example For instance, in order to write a word that connote a plural of two in Arabic, individuals are supposed to add ‘een’ in that word. Look at this example, the word quiz in English it is going to be â€Å"quizeen† and an ‘at’ is added to ‘quiz’ to make it ‘quizat’ when there are more than two quizzes. This became a common trend and words like friendeen-friendat, teachereen-teacherat, sistreen-sistrat, and classeen-classat were commonly in use by both instructors and students. What’s more, the author is supporting Smith’s (1976, pg. 12) argument which state ‘any international language must serve both the local and the international needs by developing alongside other languages’. Subsequently, the author fails to elucidate to us the effects this assumption will have in causing more complications in the communication process between the natives and non-natives. Conversely, it is significant to note that English as one of the international languages is losing its monopoly to control the world socio-economic due to the emergence of the new translation technology. The emergence of new translation technology has risen concerned on how long English language, will continue to dominate the other local and international languages. Therefore, can we conclude that the emergence of the new translation technology will affect English as one of the predominant international languages? Additionally, Quirk et al (972 pg. 28) argued that for English language to serve the appropriate purpose of pedagogical, the instructors and academic administrators must get seriously involved in the exploration for appropriate policies that will determine the standardization. Global teaching of English language should be integrated. Besides this, individuals like Kachru (1997, pg. 10) argued that the spread of English in both inner circle, outer cycle, and expanding circle has led to development of many

Week9 journal entry Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week9 journal entry - Assignment Example This does not help creativity, which means that it does not provide opportunities to students that would be helpful in securing a job. The knowledge that is currently being provided is already saturated. This means that there are more similar skills in the society than there are job opportunities for them, which may explain why there are many unemployed educated individuals. This is in spite of the fact that there are numerous employment opportunities without individuals to fill because the correct and competitive skills have not been taught. Therefore, the education system especially the American system is offering the most basic knowledge leading to more unemployed but educated individuals in the society. As such, individuals only know how to think in one way, which inhibits creativity. To provide the correct skills, the education systems need to shift their modes of teaching towards specific technical skills. This implies that universities and colleges need to train the students h ow to think in a diverse manner so as to enhance their problem solving skills that are in high

Safeguarding Policy for Childminders Essay Example for Free

Safeguarding Policy for Childminders Essay Safeguarding refers to keeping children safe – protecting them from harm/abuse, unsafe circumstances and impaired health/development, ensuring that they have the best possible opportunities in their lives. As a childminder it is my responsibility to ensure the safety and welfare of all children in my care. In doing so, I must:- †¢ Keep a confidential written record of any warning behavioural indicators/changes, signs/symptoms giving cause for concern. I will use body maps to indicate locations of bruising or other injuries to children who arrive at my setting with existing injuries. †¢ Not question children, allowing them to tell me things in their own time and their own way, using their own words. †¢ Ensure confidentiality – not discussing with any other party, particularly the parents of a child I suspect may need safeguarding if that may put the child at risk. †¢ Contact the local safeguarding or Social Services if I have concerns regarding the safety/welfare of a child in my care. †¢ Seek support for myself if I find a safeguarding situation distressing, whilst maintaining confidentiality. Mobile phones and cameras:- Any photographs I take in the course of my childminding work (to be used for the purposes of observing the children and keeping records of their development/progress) will be saved securely (with passwords) on my computer and be unavailable to others to view. Once printed these photographs will be deleted from my phone/camera/computer immediately. Others living in or visiting my home will be informed that, in accordance with this policy, they should not take photographs/videos in my home whilst I have children in my care. Regulatory requirements for safeguarding children in home-based childcare:- To comply with safeguarding regulations, as a registered Childminder I have completed the following:- †¢ Child Protection training. †¢ This Safeguarding Policy which is to be reviewed regularly and shared with parents of all children in my care. †¢ Enhanced CRB Disclosure for all adults (over 16 years) living at the registered property. Signs, symptoms, indicators and behaviours that cause concern in the context of safeguarding:- Physical abuse – bruises in unusual places, of different ages in the same place, of the same shape in different places; outline bruises (hand/belt/shoe prints); bruising of non-mobile babies; fractures; injuries which have not received medical attention; burns; bites; inconsistent accounts of injuries; reluctance to change clothes or uncover parts of body (eg rolling up sleeves). Neglect – dirty skin/hair; untreated headlice; dirty, soiled, ill-fitting clothing or that which is inappropriate for the weather; left alone/unsupervised frequently; lack of medical care/treatment; frequent hunger; frequent tiredness; stealing food; withdrawn behaviour. Sexual abuse – allegations made by child; inappropriate knowledge/play/actions displayed (incl provocative behaviour); speaking/drawing/playing displaying sexual activity; recurrent urine infections; unexplained recurrent stomach pain; severe sleep disturbance with fears, nightmares; eating disorders. Emotional abuse – low self-esteem (incl commenting negatively about self); self-harm; attention seeking/obsessive behaviour; inability to mix with other children; sleep/speech disorders; aggression/depression/extreme anxiety; changes in mood/behaviour (esp becoming withdrawn/unwilling to be away from carer); extreme shyness; nervous behaviour. In the event that I believe (with good reason) that any child(ren) in my care is(are) subject to abuse it is my duty to report this to the Duty Social Worker in my local authority area’s Local Safeguarding Children Board. Under such circumstances it will be necessary for me to share confidential information regarding the child(ren) concerned with OFSTED, Social Services and the Police if requested, superseding any confidentiality agreements held between myself and the child(ren)’s parents. Protecting my own position – I will keep clear records of any injuries sustained by children in my care, as well as any pre-existing injuries they have sustained outside of my care. Unless exceptional circumstances indicate that this would put the child at risk of harm, a child’s main carer will usually be asked to sign my notes as an official record of the injury. This does not indicate any negativity towards or suspicion of the child’s family or personal circumstances, but is intended as protection for myself and my own family/household members against potential allegations made about our treatment of the children in my childcare setting. Carers will also be asked to sign any entry made in my accident book in the event of their child sustaining injury whilst in my care, as a record that I have made them fully aware of the incident and any resulting injury. Useful telephone numbers:- Childcare Services (Access and Referral Team): Duty Social Worker: Police (Pennines): The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage states that:- â€Å"Registered providers must inform OFSTED of any allegations of serious harm or abuse by any person living, working, or looking after children at the premises (whether that allegation relates to harm or abuse committed on the premises or elsewhere), or any other abuse which is alleged to have taken place on the premises, and of the action taken in respect of these allegations. Registered providers must inform OFSTED of these allegations as  soon as is reasonably practicable, but at the latest within 14 days of the allegations being made. A registered provider who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with this requirement, commits an offence.† Should any allegations be made against any member of my household I will report this to OFSTED as a matter or urgency within the prescribed 14 days.

Operating Systems Course: Reflection Essay

Operating Systems Course: Reflection Essay There are a lot of new concepts about Telecommunications and Networking that I’ve learned in depth in this course. It is one of the very interesting courses that I have done so far in IT. I feel it is worth doing this course online as there is a chance to learn so many concepts through our assignments. Wire shark labs were very interesting and we have gained practical knowledge on how networking works in real scenarios. There are so many topics that I felt interesting throughout the course, but there is this topic ‘Modes of Network Operation’ which was the discussion topic in the 6th week that left an ‘aha’ moment. In Infrastructure mode of Network operation, communications occur between a set of Wireless Adapter equipped computers and also between a wired networks by going through a Wireless Access Point (AP). Infrastructurerefers to switches, routers, firewalls, and access points (Aps). Access Points are responsible for handling traffic between wireless networks and also wired networks. There is no Peer to Peer communication in this mode. A wireless network in infrastructure mode which is also connected to wired network is called as BSS (Basic service set).A set of two or more service sets is called Extended Service Set (ESS). The BSSID is a 48-bit number of the same format as a MAC address. This field uniquely identifies each BSS. The value of this field is the MAC address of the AP. Advantages of Infrastructure mode: Wide areas are covered by utilizing the high power of an access point in Infrastructure mode which is the advantage. The learning curve will be less for knowing wireless strengths and weaknesses with Infrastructure Mode. Number of clients can be supported in this mode of operation as additional access points can be added to WLAN to increase the reach of the infrastructure and support any number of wireless clients. Infrastructure mode networks offer the advantage of scalability, centralized security management and improved reach. Disadvantages: The disadvantage associated with infrastructure wireless network is additional cost to purchase AP hardware. ADHOC Mode:  In this mode, each station is a peer to the other stations and communicates directly with other stations within the network. No Access points are required. Advantages: Because Ad Hoc Mode does not require an access point, its easier to set up, especially in a small or temporary network. Disadvantages: In Ad Hoc Mode connections are limited, for example between two laptops, to the power available in the laptops. Because the network layout (thenetwork topology) in Ad Hoc Mode changes regularly, system resources are taken just to maintain connectivity. In an Ad Hoc network with many computers, the amount of interference for all computers will go up, since each is trying to use the same frequency channel. In Ad Hoc Mode, chains of computers will connect to pass your data, if your computer is not directly in range. On the other hand, you do not have control over the path your data takes. The automatic configuration routines may send your data through several computers, causing significant network delays. Conclusion Based on the above various mode of operation both offer advantages and as well as disadvantages. Based on the necessity one many opt for Ad hoc mode where set up is easy and no access points are required whereas Infrastructure mode is suited well for wireless networks as it supports any number of clients and offers advantages such as scalability, security and improved approach. There are a lot of concepts of Operating Systems that are learnt in depth from the course Operating Systems, it being one of the most important courses to be known to end up in software industry. However, I feel, and have always felt that it’s important to understand where we came from and how we landed up here, to be able to understand where we are going. The technology on which the operating systems run on and the mechanics of OS have progressed more than that could have been imagined in the last 30 years. By understanding how that progress was made, we can apply it and make equal progress in the future too. There are so many interesting topics in the discussions and journal entries throughout the course, but the first discussion on â€Å"Microsoft Windows 8: One Size Fits All?† remained as my favorite topic. It being the first discussion topic, also made me feel how interesting the entire Operating systems course would be. This topic grabbed my attention all of a sudden as I have been using Operating systems mostly Microsoft Windows from so many years without even knowing what exactly is happening behind it. The pros and cons of Windows 8 are summed from the â€Å"One size fits all† discussion. This made me think of the practical application of an OS by comparing with the features of other OS. I felt it’s not possible to develop single OS which can be efficient on tablets and PCs and that was the first time I had to disagree/not satisfied with Microsoft’s invention. Microsoft has been ruling the OS platforms. Windows 8 has drastic changes in platform and user interface of the operating systems. It had a smartphone before the Apple iPhone revolution came along, and it was pushing tablet PCs before the Apple iPad made it cool. But, as long as Microsoft’s history with mobile devices is, so is its stubborn desire to make everything about its Windows OS. Nowadays we cannot even imagine the world without computer as they are a part of everyday life now. But many of us do not care about what is actually happening when we use a system. Though I had little knowledge about operating systems earlier, now even though I don’t know everything I’m sure that I have learnt a lot about the functioning of an operating system, many types of management techniques in various operating systems, scheduling algorithms, and Protection and Security mechanisms in OS. An Operating system is a program that manages computers hardware and knowledge about operating system is necessary to start a career in software industry. Operating system provides a basis for application programs and acts as an intermediary between users and computer hardware and optimizes the utilization of hardware. It must exist in order for other programs to run. I would definitely continue my career as a software developer after completion of Masters in IT as I have been a software developer earlier. As a developer I would be developing software applications and having in depth knowledge of Operating systems is always necessary. An Operating system provides a software platform on which other application programs can run. So in some scenario’s like asynchronous function calls in the program written, I would definitely understand the execution of program much better having knowledge of how operating system works. I am pretty sure next time when I buy a laptop or an electronic device, I would not be lost with technical specifications. Indeed I would be more interesting to know the features and discuss the specifications confidently. Finally, I would say learning about the operating system will help every IT professional in their career.

Athenian Democracy and Meritocracy

Athenian Democracy and Meritocracy To what extent did the Athenian democracy live up to its ideology of being a meritocracy, and to what extent was power still in the hands of the wealthy? Athenian democracy was an evolving process in the 5th century B.C. The concentration of power in the political establishment would change considerably from when the first seeds were planted until the voting citizenship was expanded and new leaders emerged towards the end of the century. Democracy was not instituted in the name of human rights but for pragmatic purposes and it is necessary that we look at it in this light when considering whether Athens was a meritocracy and whether the wealthy still held considerable power in Democratic Athens. It is certainly true that Athenian Democracy, like all systems, on paper differed considerably to how it was implemented. In this essay I will argue that Athenian Democracy was largely successful in implementing a state democracy in which, to a large extent, there were no obvious discrepancies over who was favoured in matters of society and the state. I will show that the Athenian constitution largely kept the city as a meritocracy, making its citizens equal before the state in matters of legality and political power. However, I will also consider the limitations of Athenian Democracy and to what extent certain functions may have limited its success. I will argue that the power of the wealthy was in most respects limited by the structure of the state but was held back to some extent by the inevitable advantages that come from wealth. I will mainly be arguing that whatever limitations there were, they were not enough to have a damaging effect on democracy as a whole. The Athenian Democracy allowed that only adult males of Athenian ancestry were part of the democratic system, which overall made up around 10-20% of the demos. Slaves, freed slaves, children, women and metics (foreigners in Athens) were excluded. It is obvious from this that to label Athens as a meritocracy in the modern sense is absurd. In this essay, I will consider Athens as a meritocracy in terms of the rights and opportunities of those who are citizens, not from those who aren’t and will therefore consider to what extent Athenian Democracy worked the way it was supposed to. The wealthy did not hold power to the extent that it harmed the democratic process. The wealthy certainly did have many advantages compared to the poor, but this is not necessarily any comment upon Athenian democracy simply an inevitability that those with wealth will be able to achieve more than those without. The wealthy had power but not to an extent that was greatly damaging to the state. When defining wealth, I will consider Aristotle’s definition as including money, land, real estate, furniture, livestock and a high quality and quantity of slaves (Rhet. 1361a12-16). There was most definitely a significant wealth inequality amongst Athens’s citizens whereby the leisure class (those who didn’t need to work as a result of family fortunes, nobility etc.) made up roughly 5-10% of the populace. This class barrier was certainly realised by the lower classes who often showed their resentment at the wealthy. However despite this inequality, they did not see this as particularly affecting when it came down to the political and legal powers of the people, as this inequality was grudgingly accepted. Wealth discrepancies were not seen as unjust as potential legal or political barriers that may have affected the citizens. (see Ober ch.5) Politically, wealth as a tool was restricted as a result of the various stipulations in the constitution. There was no longer any property qualification for the academy or for voting and the holding of political offices as well as juries received payment for these services, meaning that the democratic or legal process was not hinged on the use of wealth to buy political office or to serve as part of the legal jurisdiction. The constitution minimised any overt legal or political control by the wealthy, who still had economic power but this fact is only to be expected in a society such as Athens which thrived on the control of goods and services. This idea of the accepted separation of wealth inequality with legal and political affairs can be seen with the orator Demosthenes: â€Å"The rich have great wealth which no one keeps them from enjoying though they must not keep us from enjoying the security which is our most common possession – the laws† (Demosthenes, Against Meidias, (22.25-27)) Therefore, the wealth inequality was not viewed by the people as un-democratic or damaging to their political power and rights (Ober 199.) The wealth even often had a positive effect on the democratic process, benefiting even the poor. The various taxes imposed on the rich (liturgies, war taxes and fines given out by the courts) was often redistributed in a way that greatly benefitted the poorer in society, such as state projects, the upkeep of the city, the academy and also security from outside threats. Therefore, often the wealthy had a positive effect on both the city and the poor, with their money often acting as subsidies for the less wealthy instead of them exploiting the poor for their own benefit. (Ober 202) However, it is true that there were indeed many situations in which the wealth were able to use their money as leverages and to exert a certain amount of power over the lower classes. In legal matters, the wealthier would often get less punitive punishments for certain crimes such as theft. The wealthy could also dominate proceeding through the use of bribes – they could use money to buy silence from witnesses or make them lie, they could also try and bribe prosecutors and use their wealth to buy support from the crowd. Also, the dependence of the state on the money received from the rich could have damaging effects. The wealthy may try and hide their wealth from the state or even refuse to pay certain taxes that are voluntary. It is also true that the allegiance of the wealthy to the Athenian state was not as solid as the poorer citizens as they were less dependent on the state structure which was very beneficial towards the poor. These actions of the rich could potentially have very negative outcomes in situations where the state were in need of the wealth of the rich. Finally, in times of war the rich certainly had an easier time, whereby the rich could use their money in order to buy positions as horsemen which were less involved in the fighting than the frontline soldiers who were often composed of those soldiers who could not afford as expensive equipment as those less wealthy. The wealthy were limited in the power they could hold. While they held economic power, this did not have much of an impact upon the legal and political rights of Athenian citizens as economic inequality was not seen as having as important a role in democracy as other egalitarian principles – they was accepted. The occurrences of violations of democracy by the rich does not show the weakness of the state as a whole only the weaknesses of individuals in certain instances and the inevitability of those with wealth having certain advantages over others – these should not be seen as any substantial drawback to the ideals of meritocracy in the Athenian state. The Athenian Constitution largely justifies describing Athens as a meritocracy. It allowed for legal and political rights to become universal for all Athenian citizens where each man was considered justly under the eyes of the polis. Athenian Democracy was not perfect. Like all systems there were areas which were vulnerable to corruption and which were arguably harmful to a healthy state. There undoubtedly was a selection of the wealthy elite who would often use their wealth for self-aggrandisement rather than supporting the state – but this has to be expected in all societies. On the whole, the Democracy of Athens was largely egalitarian in political and legal matters where those who were citizens were treated with the same eyes. The wealthy in society were, to a large extent, prohibited from using their wealth to defile the workings of the state. The times in which the wealthy were able to exert a certain level of power were inevitable blowbacks to a society where there was a competition for money and a competition for power. The power that the wealthy had and used was not enough to taint a relatively sophisticated political system and where corruptions of that system occurred, personal power-grabbing was often shrouded in popular support and the use of wealth for personal gain was seen as an inevitable circumstance of self-preservation. Bibliography M. I. Finley (1962) ‘Athenian Demagogues’ Past Present 21: 3-24 Ober, J. Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens: rhetoric, ideology, and the power of the people, (Princeton University Press; US; 1989.) Ober, J. ‘Public Speech and the Power of the People in Democratic Athens’ in The Athenian Revolution. Essays on Ancient Greek democracy and political theory, (Princeton University Press; US; 1996) Raaflaub, K.A. ‘Equalities and Inequalities in Athenian Democracy’ in Ober, J. and Hedrick, C. (eds.) Demokratia. A conversation on Democracies, ancient and modern, (Princeton University Press; US; 1996) Hansen, M. H. ‘The Political Leaders’ in The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes (Blackwell; UK; 1991) Davies, J.K. Wealth and the Power of Wealth in Classical Athens, (Ayer Co; New York; 1981.) Sinclair, R.K. Democracy and Participation in Athens, (Cambridge University Press; Cambridge; 1988.) Aristotle – The Art of Rhetoric (Penguin; UK; 1991) Demosthenes – Political Speeches (Oxford University Press; London; 2014)

House Voices Essay -- Ghosts Descriptive Essays Personal Narrative

House Voices I will start with my new house. It is down the street from where my grandma and great aunt live. The house has two levels, the main floor and the basement. There are two bedrooms, the office, the bathroom, the living room with a fireplace, dinning room, and the kitchen on the main level. The basement contains the laundry room, the family room, a bathroom, and a large storage area. The house was for sale because the old woman who lived in it before us had died in the summer heat while her air conditioner was broken. Her neighbors found her in her house. It was later discovered that she had been dead for a few days. She was lying on the floor, in the only hallway in the house, just beyond the bathroom door. I have always wanted a bedroom in the basement, but there have been no basement bedrooms in any of the houses we have lived in. So I improvised by cutting the long storage room in half with a big blanket hanging from the central I-beam, making my own basement-bedroom with a pre-existing bathroom just three feet from my bedroom door. The only drawback is that the blanket-wall separates my bedroom from the storage room that is filled with boxes upon boxes of the "stuff" we just don't have enough time or space for. One of my presents for Christmas a few years ago was a brand new Talk Boy Jr. The Talk Boy Jr. is a small, palm-sized recording device that records one message at a time and will play the message when you press a button. Basically it is a small version of the Talk Boy, which uses a tape. As I got older, I stopped playing with it. One time, when my sister was on vacation from college, she recorded a small saying she often used, along with her distinct laugh, which was, "You're suck a dork, te he h... ...d walking, and a moment later, BOOM! The three pound glass baking dish exploded, shooting shards of sharp glass in every direction possible. Every direction possible, that is, with the exception of the location where Darren was standing. We have never stopped picking up shards of glass from small corners in the kitchen, but not a single sliver of glass touched him, even though he was standing right in front of the oven. He never thought the voice he heard to be anything less than a gesture of kindness. Many people believe in this ghost stuff, but many do not. I believe in ghosts, and not only because of my personal experience. So, is this all fact, or fiction to you? If you want to make up your own mind about my situation, ask me to play the tape for you. If just for fun, I at least have something new to say to my friends when starting a conversation, "Hey Pal."

Essay --

Teenage pregnancy is defined as a teenage girl, usually within the ages of 13-19, becoming pregnant. The term in everyday speech usually refers to girls who have not reached legal adulthood, which varies across the world, who become pregnant. (UNICEF July 2008). â€Å"We all know that teenage pregnancy is a blur on the vision of Antigua & Barbuda because it impedes the progression and the development of our people.† (Athill youth Director).When a young girl becomes pregnant it mars her chances of success. It is a multifaceted problem and there is no one reason why a teen may become pregnant, we know that there are cultural influences and home support for inappropriate behaviour,† the youth director added. The non-completion of school by many young people is a serious concern for our educational and economic system. By leaving school before graduation, many dropouts have considerable educational deficiencies that limit their financial and social well-being throughout their adult lives. In more than two decades ago, there has been an increasing number of teenage pregnancies globally, refle...

Graduation Speech: Its All About Us! :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Hello Class of 2012! I assure you that no matter what your parents are thinking—which is something along the lines of, "I did a great job with him or her"—their conceited thoughts are irrelevant to this occasion. It's not about them; it's about us. Contrary also to what the board members (who you'll see today for the first and last time) believe, that they've earned the right to hand us our diplomas due to their perfect decision making (comedic stare and pause), this moment is also not about them; but again, about us. Then, in opposition to what every lawyer and doctor, teacher, business owner, and worker in general is thinking—which is something along the lines of, "blah blah blah, I remember my graduation"—they're just daydreams. This is not about them either; it's about us. And when we leave this place to pursue separate ambitions, the attention will never fade, the hate will never subside, the mountains will increase without fail. No matter how many people have blazed a path, rivers will not part, expectations will not reduce and therefore it will still be about us. And though we continue to grow even after being handed the diploma, to understand life, and choices, the opposite sex, the pressure of here and now, the strain placed on us from long ago, and the demands that our future will fire upon us, there will be close calls, fatalities, elation, affliction, and joy. And thus, it will remain about us. When others see us they see half of us in jail, some of us unemployed, some pregnant currently or in a month or two. They see too many blacks or too many Latinos or too many whites or Asians or Native-Americans for us to make anything of ourselves. While these thoughts are derogatory, the fact is they are still about us. When we, however, see ourselves, we see doctors, lawyers, preachers, presidents, teachers, and outstanding members of their fields and society in general, and what we think has been and will be the only thing that matters; because what we think was created by us. And we break the statistics that say this many go to jail and this many become pregnant. And we reconcile stereotypes that encourage different members of society to refrain from interacting with other members of society, and we become the long awaited for female or Black president, the owners of this and the CEO of that. Graduation Speech: It's All About Us! :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address Hello Class of 2012! I assure you that no matter what your parents are thinking—which is something along the lines of, "I did a great job with him or her"—their conceited thoughts are irrelevant to this occasion. It's not about them; it's about us. Contrary also to what the board members (who you'll see today for the first and last time) believe, that they've earned the right to hand us our diplomas due to their perfect decision making (comedic stare and pause), this moment is also not about them; but again, about us. Then, in opposition to what every lawyer and doctor, teacher, business owner, and worker in general is thinking—which is something along the lines of, "blah blah blah, I remember my graduation"—they're just daydreams. This is not about them either; it's about us. And when we leave this place to pursue separate ambitions, the attention will never fade, the hate will never subside, the mountains will increase without fail. No matter how many people have blazed a path, rivers will not part, expectations will not reduce and therefore it will still be about us. And though we continue to grow even after being handed the diploma, to understand life, and choices, the opposite sex, the pressure of here and now, the strain placed on us from long ago, and the demands that our future will fire upon us, there will be close calls, fatalities, elation, affliction, and joy. And thus, it will remain about us. When others see us they see half of us in jail, some of us unemployed, some pregnant currently or in a month or two. They see too many blacks or too many Latinos or too many whites or Asians or Native-Americans for us to make anything of ourselves. While these thoughts are derogatory, the fact is they are still about us. When we, however, see ourselves, we see doctors, lawyers, preachers, presidents, teachers, and outstanding members of their fields and society in general, and what we think has been and will be the only thing that matters; because what we think was created by us. And we break the statistics that say this many go to jail and this many become pregnant. And we reconcile stereotypes that encourage different members of society to refrain from interacting with other members of society, and we become the long awaited for female or Black president, the owners of this and the CEO of that.

Surfacing-Margaret Atwood

Back at her old nature satiated homestead she begins to recall from her mind the clouded thoughts of a mime that was and the memories burled deep In her soul that will eventually surface. I believe the protagonist suffers from a combination of Inferiority complex and anxiety; and stemming from the fact that she has had several failed relationships only solidifies the belief that her Internal disorders magnify and rule her life, but she eventually comes to recognize this.Throughout the story she Intentionally looks for flaws In the people around, and uses this as an excuse for not giving herself to a relationship. She routinely correlates good & evil as a manipulative tool to ensure her isolation. She has suffered rejection, abortion, and the cold and not-so-pretty realities of the world and passes the blame to her parents for not preparing her. It began after her college Professor, a married father, paid for her abortion and left her alone in an ‘abortion house' so she could pa ss away the life of their unborn daughter.Snatched from her womb, she is haunted by the images. She wanted to conceive Joey's baby in order to replace the terminated seedling that she had destroyed. She talks in artful metaphors about that day throughout the story and I didn't fully realize the implications until after she surfaced from the bottom of the cake. As she lay there in the boat recalling the created lies and the distance she had created with her family in order to preserve her sanity I began to flip back toward the beginning correlating the vague and indirect innuendos from earlier in the story.The picturesque wedding at the post office, the daughter that never was, these were all a collage; layered memories, crafted and cleverly constructed in order to hide the ugly truth. Finally, her tattered and broken emotions are able to surface from the bottom of the lake, only to have them buried again as she receives the news of her ethers death from that liar David', and its as if the denial seed would grow new roots again, saving her from yet another brink of despair.She decides she will take the â€Å"Random Samples† of David and Joe with her and reels them out Into the lake, and In doing so I think she is freeing Anne from her life of pain with David. The mind Is a powerful place, and his was a powerful story. My only disappointment was at the end, for not knowing whether or not she and Joe reunited. Was, she really pregnant? Did she regain her sanity? I'd Like to think so†¦ Margaret Atwood tells a story In an absolutely magical way. She has such strong construction of words, blending and layering them effortlessly to construct raw emotion In the process.I'm keeping this one! Surfacing-Margaret Atwood By Marseille their two friendly antagonist acquaintances', Anne & David, have Joined her in the the remote summer lake house, situated on a private island. Back at her old nature time that was and the memories buried deep in her soul that will eventually surface. I believe the protagonist suffers from a combination of inferiority complex and only solidifies the belief that her internal disorders magnify and rule her life, but she eventually comes to recognize this.Throughout the story she intentionally looks for flaws in the people around, and uses this as an excuse for not giving herself to a relationship. She routinely correlates good & evil as a manipulative tool to ensure â€Å"Random Samples† of David and Joe with her and reels them out into the lake, and in doing so I think she is freeing Anne from her life of pain with David. The mind is a Did she regain her sanity? I'd like to think so†¦ Margaret Atwood tells a story in an layering them effortlessly to construct raw emotion in the process. I'm keeping this

Imperialism Dbq

Imperialism DBQ Before the late 19th century the United States had not expanded outside of the Americas this changed when wealth, population and industrial production increased. The demand for resources led to an era of imperialism. During this era expansionism in the United States kept the same principle but, it departed from previous expansions regarding to geography, politics and the economy. Americans kept the same principle, that God had given the U. S divine right to expand.The new† Manifest Destiny† was a continuation to the previous â€Å"Manifest Destiny†, except it extended to far away Islands that would not become states but instead become colonies. Many Americans continued to believe in Jackson Turner’s â€Å"Frontier Thesis†. They believed that if the U. S did not expand it would â€Å"explode†. In 1885 Josiah Strong wrote â€Å"Our Country, he advocated superiority of the Anglo-Saxons and urged Americans to spread their religion to the â€Å"backward† peoples (Doc. B).Americans had felt the need to take control of the Indians after the Civil War and they continued to exert colonial control over dependent peoples on the Islands. Previously the expansion movement had not gone overseas. The Monroe Doctrine had given the U. S control over the Americas and kept foreign countries from intervening. Germany and the U. S got into a dispute over the Samoan Islands and America kept half. In 1898 Hawaii was annexed. American expansionism also went to the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico. The era of Imperialism differed in politics from expansionism in the Americas.European powers were colonizing the world and America was being left-out (Doc. A), by 1900 Europe had taken over 20 percent of the land and 10 percent of the population of the world. The U. S felt the desire to compete with Europe for overseas empires. Before the United States had felt the need to expand and become a strong country, but now it was a c ompetition of world dominance. In The Influence of Sea Power upon History Alfred Mahan said that control of the sea was the key to world dominance and empire. Americans felt strong sea power was necessary to protect themselves from other countries ( Doc.C). When the Cubans rebelled against Spain the U. S became involved. Yellow journalism fueled the start of the Spanish-American War. The United States won the war when Spain signed the treaty of Paris as a result Cuba became a free country, the U. S received Guam and also gained Puerto Rico. During the Russo- Japanese War Theodore Roosevelt did not want either side to gain a monopoly in Asia, but also did not want to start a war. After Japan secretly asked him to help sponsor peace negotiations, Theodore ended the war with the Treaty of Portsmouth. Economically U.S expansionism was a departure because, foreign trade had become an important part of the American economy. When the McKinley Tariff raised Hawaiian sugar prices, American s ugar planters wanted Hawaii to be annexed so the tariffs would be eliminated. Cleveland refused to annex Hawaii, but later changed his mind when it was needed as a coaling and provisioning way station so supplies could be sent to Dewey in Manila Harbor. The U. S bought the Philippines from Spain but didn’t set them free because they were a way to China, businessmen clamoured for the new Philippine market and it had desirable raw resources (Doc.E). The Chinese market was huge and American manufacturers feared that it would become monopolized by Europeans. So America issued the Open Door Policy so every nation would have fair competition (Doc. G). During the Era of Imperialism the United States went from being a strong nation to becoming a world power. It keep the same principle, that it was the superior race and God had given them the right to colonize, but left behind its old was relating to politics, economy and geography.

Organization and Management Essay

Power and control are aspects which are common in many institutions. Organizations on the other hand are social institutions which operate to serve specific functions in society as well as their own development or growth and this makes it different from other entities such as the family (Eddy, 1983). Most organization’s concern is to expand in order to exceed other existing natural units as well as enhancing their performance through effective control (Bakke, 2005). As a result, these organizations require a formal and institutionalized distribution of penalties and rewards so that regulations, norms and orders that exist in these organizations are complied with. This also calls for control of participants so that these norms and regulations can effectively be carried out. In addition, different allocation of assignments of organizational tasks to various parties is required so that rewards on performance are granted to various deserving individuals and those who do not deserve these rewards on the other hand, are punished. This paper will focus on how power and control and operate at Engineering Product and the various possible implications that could occur on the part of employers and employees at Engineering Product. Power may also be viewed as a form of influence that an individual or organization may posses and the way that it is exerted on individuals and institutions in order to bring about desired results. These results could be positive or negative depending on the nature of power that an organization has. Power relates to the capacity of attaining the desired needs or wants as well as the stated objectives from organizations or individuals and in certain instances force may be applied. In addition, exercise of power may occur among individuals which could end up shaping or influencing the wants of an individual (Fairholm, 1993). It is evident that power and control exists at Engineering Product, a British Engineering firm. The firm has existed for a while how and since its restructuring in 1980’s it now posses three areas of business namely defense, automotive components and individual services. The restructuring also saw the expansion of the firm into other overseas business environments and as a result, the firm has majority of its employees working abroad with very few remaining in Britain. In other words, Engineering Product has managed to have its stronghold in international business by succeeding in the same. Its workforce is widely spread in Western Europe as well as North America. Majority of the workforce is seen in the automobile section of the firm which employs about 60% of the total workforce. This division is also involved with various multinational companies that produce cars. However its concentration is less in the UK than in any other country and this means that less sales are made from the division that exists in Britain since it has a small proportion of workforce employed in the division. Larger proportion of sales as well as the workforce is found in continental Europe which consists of France, Germany and Spain. Automotive division has mostly been shaped by the demands that are created by its customers and this has also affected the way it carries out its operations and management in the international business as well as its workforce. These customers have also standardized their means of working practices and production by means of carrying out â€Å"best practices† in various sites, hence forcing management to produce similar products for instance cars that are similar to others internationally. There are various forms of power that exist in organizations namely coercive power, normative power, utilitarian power, referent power, expert power, reward power among others. Coercive power involves forcing other people to comply with one’s rules and regulations. It also relates to the capacity at which an individual or organization is able to issue punishments to those individuals or employees who fail to follow demands or requests that are proposed (Sims, 2002). Kipnis notes that coercive power is mainly exercised by individuals who rely on their verbal facility, physical strength or in other circumstances being able to withhold emotional support from other people or grant it. As a result, an individual is provided with the probable means to issues such as bully, physical harm, or lack of love among others. In organizations, the most common forms of coercive power include the ability to demote, fire or transfer subordinates. As a result of coercive power, a dyfunctioning process in groups has been evident and these processes include reciprocal conflict and anger, reactions, self-blame, rejection and dislike, revolutionary coalitions just to mention (Streatfield, 2001). The most common outcome of coercive power on the past of employees is resistance. Reward power on the other hand concerns employee rewards based on their performances and de-motivation occurs in cases whereby deserving employees are not rewarded (Houser & Domokos, 2004). Engineering Product firm has acquired most of its power and control through the integration efforts that it has managed to create in the global business and this international integration has its origin from the demands that the Engineering Product’s customers present. The central task of integration mostly lies with the HQ of the firm’s division. The firm has also carried out its integration processes by creating various management structures mostly at the international level and this is mostly done with the aim of bringing together all the managers who work in various groups and branches as well as enabling effective information exchange that may exist between them. Therefore, it is the division at the HQ that exercises the central power as regards the various activities that exist at Engineering Product. Senior directors from the manufacturing sector at the Engineering products are brought together through ‘manufacturing councils’ that are operated by the division. This is carried out in order for these directors to be able to monitor and examine the various processes which might have been adopted in each of the existing plants. Moreover, the international college of Engineering which is based in Germany enables engineers to learn and develop on the new methods of manufacturing. International integration has also been enhanced by Engineering Product through the creation of cadre that involves international managers who are charged with the responsibility of carrying out various assignments in other countries besides their own. As a result, internal consultants have been established and they consist of managers responsible in the pioneering of new practices and these managers also have the permission to roam between plants as they attempt to adopt the practice. The firm also has a HR which has established a system that is able drive together various managers based at different sites in order to discuss and share common initiatives termed as ‘best practice’. As a result regular meetings are conducted by the HR specialists as they discuss the various implications that integration has on the personnel practice. In the past, the meetings have resulted in bringing about problem-solving techniques as means of establishing standardized results. The division of HQ ensures that plant managers are involved in sharing of the best practice by carrying out an operation in orders concerned with internal competition. The other form of power and control can be named in this case since the orders from customers are mainly placed at the division’s HQ and not the other plants. Again, it is the HQ that decides what orders should be received by what plants. As a result, the HQ has a little bit more leverage over the other actors that exist at the various plant levels and this means that these plants have to be dependent on HQ. Decisions that concern outsourcing are made at the division at HQ and it is them who decide what factors should supply their products to the various orders that are made by customers. Local customers on the other hand are supplied by local companies found in the various local markets. Concerning the various implications on employees and managers, the move that was established regarding standardization of production led to the generation of various opinions between plant managers and HQ focusing on the resulting in merits that may exist in a particular initiative for instance, performance-related pay (PRP) which has been established successfully in various plant divisions by the HQ. However, as per discussions from the meetings, it was found out that performance of the work force vary from one plant to another. However, he opted to use sanctions as a means of imposing it ma through in order to bring about equal performance. The internal integration of Engineering Product is mostly as a result of the powers that the firm gives to HQ as well as internal competition. Plant managers are at an obligation to comply with any wishes that may be established by HQ, such wishes may involve the means of labour management as well as nature of processes in production. Engineering products’ HR function has also been able to play both strategic and administrative roles hence increasing the level of profile function. In addition, the HR function has also been able to create several structures that enhance contact between plant managers who are based at various plant divisions. However, tension was encountered by the central function of HR concerned the creation of a balance between variation found in plants in order to reflect local factors as well as standardization of practices. As seen from the scenario, he was ready to impose sanctions so that standardization of products is enhanced across borders. The differences in the various practices existed mainly because of the various changes that occurred in the nature of institutions, law and the national cultures and this can viewed under the way the performance – related pay was conducted as well as employee representation. Another impact is that as a result of the central power that HQ posses, American plants do not have any formal structures since the law does not allow management to recognize various unions and the unions on the other have do not have powers since they are not influential as regards the recognition of management (Sinsson, Edwards & Ferner, 1993). Managers on the other hand experience positive impacts as a result of international integration since the hierarchy in management is widespread and not limited to one particular country. Senior positions are filled on merit and little importance is placed on nationality. Consequently mangers are faced with a lot of opportunities a head of them both domestically and internationally hence allowing managers to become geographically mobile. However, this effect may view differently since some managers may not find it suitable to perform assignments abroad (Miner, 2002). On the other hand, the autonomy of managers is greatly reduced since they are forced to company with the established rules and regulations of HQ and this could end up to resistance from these managers. The policy-making bodies at Engineering Product help in the formulation of policies by various plant managers. International integration has also impacted on employees shown by the increased competition among plants hence the HQ is able to establish comparisons in relation to performance. As a result, employees bargaining power is reduced in each plant hence creating resistance to change among unions and employees. Another implication is in relation to the way these employees are exposed to various working practices found in different countries. In conclusion, it is ended that the power and control that Engineering Product has is that of coercive power because the firm forces its wishes on various plants and people even though it has managed to establish a successful international integration.