Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Inter

Presentation Inter-optics plc is an organization situated in north Europe, which sells and fabricates a scope of scenes, contact focal point and eye-care items all through the European Union. It expects to structure and construct a joint endeavor producing plant in India. The key goal was to deliver a scope of great eye-care items and optical product in the locale, which could be sold all through India and into the neighboring nations Mooz et al(2005).Advertising We will compose a custom article test on Inter-Optics Plc Company explicitly for you for just $16.05 $11/page Learn More First we have to recognize if this is a program me or undertaking with the goal that we can without much of a stretch handle it. A program me is a between related arrangement of activities intended to accomplish a vital target and a task is an all the more unmistakably characterized, one of a kind, time compelled, tries embraced to satisfy a particular need or profit by a specific open door Mooz et al(2005 ). A portion of the attributes of projects are they are less very much characterized end date, some go on always, or until a characterized association state has been accomplished, the fundamental spotlight is on profiting the association, progressively perplexing; interface with the procedure contain numerous activities drive operational change lastly programs have a full scale see; need to consider the consolidated impact of an arrangement of ventures which should deliver synergistic advantages yet now and again strife with one another Mooz et al(2005). The best spot to this endeavor isto sort this endeavor as a program me since it involves numerous tasks in it. A portion of the undertakings that can be removed from this program me are the offering procedure, determination of the supervisory group to make reference to yet not many. Since we have sorted the entire endeavor it is a lot simpler to manage it Tavares (1998). Program the executives is the way toward dealing with a few re lated activities, as a rule with the expectation of improving an organization’s execution. There are three principle the board models which are program me the executives, portfolio the executives and venture the executives Tavares(2008). Program me Management Model Program the board involves vital arrangement, program administration, request the executives, prioritization, hazard the board and advantage acknowledgment. Vital Alignment This is the change of a goal comparable to different destinations with the goal that the course of action can prompt the improving of position or connection between the items or parts Tavares (1998). Smoothing out the outside variables to the organization needs understanding and taking proper actions.Advertising Looking for paper on business financial matters? We should check whether we can support you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Leadership and oversight is required in adjusting employees’ execution. Additionally joining and discretionary treatment of characters is required in adjusting various capacities and assets over the association Tavares (1998). Program Governance This is a mix of people filling official jobs and program oversight capacities composed into structures. These are the strategies that characterize the executives standards and dynamic Brown (2007). Hazard Management Risk the executives is the distinguishing proof, prioritization and evaluation of hazard followed by composed and practical use of assets to limit observing and control the likelihood and effect of lamentable occasions, or to boost acknowledgment of chance Brown (2007). Advantages Realization Benefit acknowledgment shows clearly what will happen, when and where the favorable circumstances will gather and who will be responsible for their flexibly. Advantages ought to be smoothed out with the task and should be extremely open according to singular obligations for current endeavors. Following procedure for checking accom plishment ought to be made and it must have the option to follow both hard and delicate advantages Brown (2007). Portfolio Management Project portfolio the board for the most part alludes to the way toward choosing the undertaking and organizing it to work. Venture portfolio involves bunching ventures, limiting worth, improving correspondence, authority and duty, asset distribution and legitimization Brown (2007). Venture portfolio the executives ought to likewise be directed to keep away from disappointments. Grouping Projects A bunching venture for the most part plans to devise a brought together, locale wide system so as to upgrade intensity. Bunch study shows that this sort of advancement program can be a fundamental model for the travel industry ventures that have issues with normal staying time and normal income sums Brown (2007). An expansion in normal time can be ascribed to the new items created inside the bunch. This achievement is generally because of participation among group individuals. For the most part travel offices and visit administrators structured new touristic items which pulled in individuals to remain for additional days in the locale Brow(2007).Advertising We will compose a custom paper test on Inter-Optics Plc Company explicitly for you for just $16.05 $11/page Learn More Minimizing Value The significance of significant worth limiting motivation program me is that it permits the temporary workers to advance at any phase of the venture to convey benefits by constraining presentation to chance. The worth limiting motivating forces system permits the contractual worker to work inside the task having security of thoughts and advancement and furthermore being granted a portion of the sparing created Gido et al(2008). As a rule the contractor’s esteem designing recommendations have been to oversee development hazard. Because of decreasing danger by esteem designing proposition the contractual worker has really esteem built time, cost and amount boundaries of the undertaking Gido et al(2008). Improving Communication Effective correspondence involves the choice of the right medium and structure to pass on the outcomes and to comprehend the perspectives on the customer. Appropriate correspondence brings about great compatibility and relationship with customers and partners Brentain (2004). Correspondence has the effect regarding opportune data sharing on the advancement and present and expected result of advantages that would accumulate to customers. The motivation behind viable correspondence is as a rule to build association by continuing the on-going work with most extreme effectiveness. Authority and Responsibility The purpose behind apportioning of a program is to decentralize authority, obligation and responsibility. Apportioning is accomplished by decentralization. Authority is power conceded to people by their situation in the organization so they can settle on choices for others. Duty people commitment in their jobs in formal association to adequately perform assignments and responsibility is having the option to respond in due order regarding a given task Brentain (2004). Asset assignment In portfolio the board asset designation is the circulation of the scant assets uniformly in an association. Allotment is done in two faces, first face, is the fundamental distribution of the choice and also there are the possibility systems Brentaini (2004). In essential portion choice of the decision of which thing is or isn't to be subsidized and what level of financing it ought to get is made while in the possibility component there is a need positioning of things that are avoided from the arrangement, demonstrating which things are to be supported assets should increment, and there is a positioning of certain things from the most critical to the rundown significant in the arrangement, Brentaini (2004).Advertising Searching for paper on business financial matters? We should check whether we can support you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Find out More Defense â€Å"Rationalization is when people manage passionate clash by disguising the genuine inspirations for ones own contemplations, activities through the elaboration of consoling or self serving however have off base explanations,† Kevin (2006). Program me Management Here we for the most part center around the accomplishment of the tasks. The accomplishment of a task fundamentally relies upon four things time, degree, cost and quality. This ought to be centered around during conveyance Kevin (2006).program administration is significant if any association is to acknowledge achievement. Task approach for stage two that will address the issues experienced in stage one and expand on the exercises learned. The issues experienced in stage two can be illuminated utilizing the Office of Government Commerce programs process. The Office of Government Commerce involves; program fire up, overseeing a program, dealing with the portfolio, shutting programs and overseeing benefits Kevi n (2006). Program fire up Some of the significant components that are either prohibited or not appropriately characterize in the program fire up are; Produce the program brief A program brief is significant if the task is to be finished on schedule. We are not appropriately educated about the program brief and this can likewise be considered as among the cases that caused the postponement of the undertaking Kevin (2006).  Checking potential achievement We are educated regarding a merger that would happen between optic and optical Industries however no strong proof of the investigation of potential achievement has been given which is significant for the business congruity Kevin (2006). Creating program administration system and plans This is additionally another significant region which Inter-optic neglected to underwrite. We are just educated or the arrangements of able staff yet nothing about the administration procedure and plan has been referenced. Absence of administration met hodology and plan will prompt a programmed more attractive of the hierarchical task since there is no since of course Kevin (2006). Administering a program This is the means by which the inward and the outer and partners communicate with an association to ensure that it runs as per the law in seeking after authoritative objectives. We are not appropriately educated on the association between I

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Budgetary planning and control and the evaluation of performance Essay

Budgetary arranging and control and the assessment of execution - Essay Example It speaks to an arrangement for the future communicated in formal, quantifiable terms. (Botner, Stanley, 1991). To be useful, a spending plan must be set up in adequate detail to educate all levels regarding the board of the specific desires. It isn't adequate to set up a staff financial plan for an establishment and breaking point the detail to an announcement of the general number of workers. This fills no need aside from, maybe, as a major aspect of a synopsis. Or maybe, a staff spending plan should detail the amounts and sorts of full-time counterparts by division or cost focus, maybe by move or by workstation. It should detail the pay rates to be paid and the segments, including schedule, additional time, move pay, average cost for basic items or legitimacy increments, etc. All positions - empty and something else - ought to be remembered for the financial plan. To gather the amount of information important to help a nitty gritty arrangement, a lattice association of lines and sections is fundamental. The network permits a lot of data to be shown in a methodical way and a restricted measu re of room. Whenever sorted out appropriately, interrelationships can without much of a stretch be seen, the information can be seen and seen rapidly, and the possibility of number juggling blunder can be decreased or wiped out. Figures 1-1 and 1-2 presentation two such grid style worksheets for a nursing division's faculty financial plan in PC spreadsheet structure. One other bit of leeway of a network style worksheet is that it can help guard against mistakes of oversight by determining certain information to be gathered in a specific arrangement of segments or columns. As opposed to compute a pay financial plan and erroneously discard charge pay or other premium installments, the worksheet can be set up ahead of time and necessitate that data about these premiums be incorporated for use in the counts. So as to limit the opportunity of forgetting about something, it is ideal to set up spending spreadsheets well ahead of time of the real spending readiness plan and cautiously think about real information prerequisites. Recall that since PC spreadsheets can hold so much information, it is smarter to decide in favor of gathering excessively, instead of excessively little, information. (Klay, Earle, 2003) Work force assets that represent a specific issue as far as enlistment or potentially maintenance can likewise be managed in the financial plan by consideration of an enrollment plan, a budgetary accentuation on human asset advancement and preparing, or Figure 1-1 XYZ Memorial Hospital Nursing Budget - Salaries, Fiscal Year 19XX Staff 2 2 3 3 4 Class North South North South North Complete Head Nurse Charge Nurse Clinical Specialist RN - II RN - I LPN Nursing Aide Unit assistant All out This framework association permits the pay information for five nursing units to be amassed and shown so that the dollar sums by type for each nursing unit can be contrasted effectively and those for the other four units. The dollar esteems are included both down and over; and since the aggregate from the lines must rise to the aggregate from the segments, the possibility of number-crunching mistake is diminished or wiped out. Figure 1-2 XYZ Memorial Hospital Nursing Budget-FTEs and Salaries, Fiscal

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Ode to Alma

Ode to Alma Oh! Alma, you illustrious figure, set in bronze, Your gentle hands poised, outstretched, Ready to call upon Those yearning to inscribe their names; etched space Into the University, its grandeur’d walls echoing with tales of old Only grown even sweeter with â€" lingering â€" time. Those who walk through, welcomed and told, “Learn, labor, love here with thee and thine.” space On a mild day, when you, dear reader, venture to wander, A warm, blanketing presence that nurtures Will offer her heart in meetings, space And leave you with her tender message to ponder; “To thy happy children of the future, Those of the past send greetings.” Alexandra Class of 2019 I'm an English major in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. I'm also minoring in Business. May my blogs help you with your searches toward finding what you love.

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Essay Critical Analysis of Blind Side Movie - 1089 Words

The Blind Side: Making All the Right Calls When asked to think of an inspirational drama in recent years, one movie comes to mind projecting lives of people that follow their dreams from a under privileged lifestyle to a well known role model. An inspiring movie has to give the audience that unique sense where they themselves have a different outlook on life. That outlook hits them right in the heart where some people leave the movie theaters with tears of joy in their eyes. In John Hancock’s â€Å"The Blind Side†, many young football players can relate to the lifestyle young Michael Oher once had. The Blind Side is truly a remarkable story shown through a movie with young Michael given a chance for success, a hard journey that experiences†¦show more content†¦Inspirational movies usually have some sort of complication throughout its story line. Whether people like it or not, a complication will usually arise within the main character that many in the audience can relate to in their everyday life. At a young age, Michael was faced with complications like his mothers drug addiction all the way up until he was 18 with his school grades. These complications are present in children’s lives across the world. When giving the opportunity to succeed like Michael had, many take the chance while others just throw it away. It’s never easy to accomplish anything in life, yet Michael Oher had a mother figure that structured his whole life. Mrs. Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) plays the role of a mother who chose to not overlook a hopeless young boy. Her generosity gave Michael Oher an education and also the chance to play football. Her drive to make him feel like someone and change his life made him fully functional with a promising future. Yet critics like Melissa Anderson still think this storyline is racism. She states that â€Å"The Blind Side peddles the most insidious kind of racism, one in which whiteys are virtuous saviors, coming to the rescue of African-Americans who become superfluous in narratives that are supposed to be about them.† While in a sense this statement can be truthful, why should viewers look at this topic as a complication ratherShow MoreRelatedSociology - the Blind Side Essay919 Words   |  4 PagesThe Blind Side   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the context of this extraordinary real life story a boy, depending on which society you come from he came from â€Å"The other side of the tracks† or â€Å"The wrong side of the tracks†. The story is about a young black kid who is shuffled between the welfare system, Foster homes that he runs away from and the mother (a drug addict) that has let him down. Big Tony takes him along I think as leverage to get his own son in to a Catholic school because they can both play sportsRead MoreFilm Analysis : Save The Last Dance2642 Words   |  11 PagesTherefore, I will use critical discourse analysis (CDA) to critically analyze a movie titled Save the Last Dance within the framework of race using the CDA tools utilized by Huckin (1995) in Discourse Analysis. Using CDA, this article aims to deconstruct the racial discourses represented in Save the Last Dance by directing attention to some of the ways the movie portrays popular discourses and social imaginations of race. I will discuss the implications that the images of race in the movie are generatingRead MoreLeadership : A Leadership Perspective At Yale Som And Far Beyond1641 Words   |  7 Pageschoosing to confront my blind spots head-on. I will be forced to constantly request for feedbacks and opinions in order to measure my â€Å"One Big Thing† progress. It is a self-reinforcing mechanism that allows me to utilize my analytical and performance driven personality to improve one of my key weak nesses. Even after only several weeks of choosing to embark on this task, I have become increasingly aware of the times when I dismiss others’ opinion, am abrupt in receiving critical comments and am exceedinglyRead More Native Son Essay: Analysis of Setting, Major, and Minor Themes1775 Words   |  8 PagesAnalysis of Setting, Major, and Minor Themes  of Native Son  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚           The major themes of Native Son are environment, racism,   black rage, religion, Communism, determinism and freedom.   A minor theme is the relationship between men and women.   Ã‚     One of the major themes of Native Son is the effect of environment on behavior and personality. Thus, setting is  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   especially important in the novel. The story takes place in Chicago in  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   the late 1930sRead MoreHow Do Airspeed Indicators And Altimeters Work?1704 Words   |  7 Pagesram air pressure from the small hole in the front as it moves through the air. The ram air is directed to the diaphragm (like a balloon) inside of the airspeed indicator instrument. Next, the ram air has to be compared to the static air. On the side of the aircraft there is a small whole that collects static air. The air is delivered to the inside of the instrument case. Now the ram air is being compared to the air density the aircraft is at. Rods and levers then move the needle on the instrumentRead MoreCritical Analysis On Spanish Horror Films1852 Words   |  8 PagesShannon Stone 12-11-14 FEA 460 Spanish Cinema Final Paper Critical Analysis on Spanish Horror Films From the late 1960’s to the early 1970’s Spain rose as one of the leading countries to dominate the horror film genre. Struggling under a brutal and confining dictatorship for much of the 20th century, the horror genre of Spanish cinema took awhile to come together. During the difficult and challenging days of General Franco’s regime a limited series of horror films were produced, mainly for theRead More Media Should Work on Showing an Objective Truth Essay2286 Words   |  10 PagesIt is clear that the surplus of information in our day-to-day lives has affected our social state in a way that we are slaves for the media. We have changed from keen viewers to blind imitators. The amount of images and visual information that is being sent to us every day is really vast. Many people have been influenced by the information that is given by the media. Their minds and souls have been falsely biased. Their actions, decisions, movements, and judgments are tied to what they see in theRead More The Perception of African Americans in the Media and How it Affects Their Self-Identity3877 Words   |  16 Pagespoint in time.† (p.305) This would lend credence to the fact that African Americans do, of course, have an identity, but it is dependent on the identity of the Caucasian race at that time. Alain Locke (1925) explains the progressive and upbeat side of African American identity: In the last decade something beyond the watch and guard of statistics has happened in the life of the American Negro and the three norms who have traditionally presided over the Negro problem have a changeling in theirRead MoreMasculinity in Chuck Palahniuks Work7062 Words   |  29 PagesMachiavellian and self-serving wars, have rendered men yearning for integral and worthy of emulation, male role models.2   Mendieta’s analysis of Palahniuk’s work takes a very direct approach in margining masculinity in crisis, directly blaming culture itself. I believe that Palahniuk’s characters are not victims of society’s emasculating effects, but subject to their own self-analysis.   What truly interests Palahniuk is the nature of man in response to this.   Palahniuk’s concern is not that men are no longerRead MoreAllegory of the Cave Plato6021 Words   |  25 Pagesknown for fostering a culture of group thinking. The danger inherent in group thinking is the object lesson that Plato tries to convey. When we refuse to engage in critical thinking, we are forced into a false sense of security, and create our own prison. The Allegory of the Cave is particularly relevant to corporate culture, and the blind obedience that is encouraged and often rewarded. There is an insidious power in organizational culture, which subsumes individualism for the corporate good. Like

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Common Application Essay Option Two Learn from Failure

The second essay option on the current  Common Application  asks you to discuss a time when things didnt go as planed. The question addresses difficulties in broad terms, and invites you to write about a challenge, setback, or failure: The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success.  Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? Many college applicants will be uncomfortable with this question. After all, a college application should highlight your strengths and accomplishments, not draw attention to your failures and setbacks. But before you shy away from this essay option, consider these points: Growing and maturing is all about encountering obstacles and learning from our failures.No college anywhere, ever, has admitted a student who hasnt failed at times.Its easy to boast about our accomplishments. It takes a greater level of confidence and maturity to acknowledge and examine the times when we struggled.A student who can learn from failure is a student who will be successful in college.Every single one of the thousands of applications a college receives will highlight successes, awards, honors, and accomplishments. Very few will show the type of confidence and introspection required to explore setbacks and failures. If you cant tell, Im a fan of this prompt. I would much rather read about an applicants learning experience from failure than a catalog of triumphs. That said, know yourself. Prompt #2 is one of the more challenging options. If you arent good at introspection and self-analysis, and if you arent comfortable with exposing a wart or two, then this may not be the best option for you. Break Down the Question If you do choose this prompt, read the question carefully. Lets break it down into four parts: The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. This text was added to the prompt in 2015 and revised again in 2017. We can conclude from this addition that the colleges and universities that use the Common Application really want you to show how your encounter with an obstacle fits into the big picture of your personal growth and later accomplishments (more on this in the fourth bullet point below).Recount an incident or time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. This is the exposition of your essay -- the description of the challenge or failure that you are going to analyze. Keep in mind that the action requested here -- recount -- is the easy part of your essay. Recounting doesnt require a lot of high-level thinking. This is the plot summary. Youll need clear, engaging language, but you want to make sure you do the recounting as efficiently as possible. The real meat of your essay that is going to impress the admissions officers come s later.How did it affect you?  This is the second most important part of your essay. You struggled with something, so how did you respond? What emotions did failure evoke? Were you frustrated? Did you want to give up or did the setback motivate you? Were you angry at yourself or did you project blame onto someone else? Were you surprised by your failure? Was this a new experience for you? Be honest as you assess your reaction to the obstacle you encountered. Even if you were affected in a way that now seems inappropriate or an over-reaction, dont hold back as you explore the way that failure affected you.What did you learn from the experience? This is the heart of your essay, so make sure you give this part of the question significant emphasis. The question here -- what did you learn? -- is asking for higher level thinking skills than the rest of the prompt. Understanding what you learned requires self-analysis, introspection, self-awareness, and strong critical thinking skills. This is the one part of prompt #2 that is truly asking for college-level thinking. The best students are those who assess their failures, learn from them, and move on. Here is your chance to prove that you are capable of this type of thoughtfulness and personal growth. What Counts as a Challenge, Setback, or Failure? Another challenge with this prompt is deciding on your focus. What type of obstacle will lead to the best essay? Keep in mind that your failure does not need to be, as my son would phrase it, an epic fail. You dont need to have run a cruise ship aground or ignited a million-acre forest fire to choose this essay option. Failures and come in many flavors. Some possibilities include: A failure to apply yourself. Did laziness or over-confidence make you under-perform academically or in an extra-curricular event?A failure to behave appropriately. Did your conduct in a situation insult or hurt someone? How should you have behaved? Why did you behave the way you did?A failure to act. Sometimes our greatest failures are those moments when we do nothing. In retrospect, what should you have done? Why did you do nothing?Failing a friend or family member. Did you let down someone close to you? Disappointing others can be one of the most difficult failures to come to terms with.A failure to listen. If youre like me, you think youre right 99% of the time. Many times, however, others have a lot to offer, but only if we listen.Failure under pressure. Did you choke during your orchestra solo? Did you bobble the ball during an important play?A lapse in judgment. Did you do something foolish or dangerous that had unfortunate consequences? Challenges and setbacks can also cover a broad range of possible topics: A financial challenge that made it difficult for you to accomplish your goals.A serious illness or injury  that forced you to curtail your expectations.A significant family responsibility that forced you to reevaluate your priorities.A disability that has made your educational journey difficult.A family move that disrupted your high school experience.A geographical challenge such as living in a remote location with limited opportunities for ambitious students. This list could go on and on -- theres no shortage challenges, setbacks, and failures in our lives. Whatever you write about, make sure your exploration of the obstacle reveals self-awareness and personal growth. If your essay doesnt show that you are a better person because of your setback or failure, then you havent succeeded in responding to this essay prompt. A Final Note Whether you are writing about failure or one of the other essay options, keep in mind the primary purpose of the essay: the college wants to get to know you better. On a certain level, your essay isnt really about your failure. Rather, it is about your personality and character. In the long run, were you able to handle your failure in a positive way? Colleges that ask for an essay have ​holistic admissions, so they are looking at the whole applicant, not just SAT scores and grades. By the time they finish reading your essay, the admissions folks should feel that you are the type of person who will succeed in college and make a positive contribution to the campus community. So before you hit the submit button on the Common Application, make sure your essay paints a portrait of you that makes a positive impression. If you blame your failure on others, or if you seem to have learned nothing from your failure, the college may very well decide that you dont have a place in the camp us community. Last of all, pay attention to style, tone, and mechanics. The essay is largely about you, but it is also about your writing ability. If you decide that this essay prompt isnt the best one for you, be sure to explore the tips and strategies for all seven Common Application essay prompts.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Miss Brill Free Essays

The selected passage is from the end of the short story Miss Brill, beginning where Miss Brill sees the boy and girl who sits down on the bench near her right to the end of the story. In â€Å"Miss Brill,† by Katherine Mansfield, we are introduced to the titular woman called Miss Brill who finds Sundays magical until she is forced to step out of her daydream and face reality. Every Sunday Miss Brill, who is presumed to be an English school teacher, goes to the Jardins Publiques and takes her â€Å"special seat† to look forward to listening to the conversations of others. We will write a custom essay sample on Miss Brill or any similar topic only for you Order Now This lonely older woman eavesdrops on others and starts to view everything she observes on Sundays in the form of a choreographed theatrical performance in which everything, herself included, plays a role. This is a place where she feels as though she â€Å"belongs†, in a sort of unreal drama that is conjured up in her own mind. However, one Sunday her fantasy is shattered by the inconsiderate and harsh remarks of a young couple. Mansfield shows us how hurtful the truth can be to people who haven’t realized or accepted the reality in which they live. The narrative is focalized through the character of Miss Brill and this allows the reader to see what the character sees and feel what the character feels. Katherine Mansfield exhibits a detailed characterization of Miss Brill. We see everything through the eyes of Miss Brill, and through dramatic irony we often see or comprehend situations differently and perhaps more accurately than she does. Through it, it can be seen that in reality, Miss Brill is constantly by herself, she sits alone on a bench with her old fur that she seems to treasure more than anything and watches the world pass before her. The furpiece can be thought of as a symbol of the owner. Both are of an age and the appearance of the thing itself is wearing down, just as the frail Miss Brill is. She sees other people sitting on benches Sunday after Sunday and thinks of them as â€Å"funny†¦ odd, silent, nearly all old†¦ as though they’d just come from dark little rooms. † Rather than see herself as one of them, she creates a fantasy world to escape facing the truth. The two minor characters that appear in the excerpt are the boy and girl who sits down on the bench. They appear to be the â€Å"hero and heroine† of Miss Brills imagination as they were described as being â€Å"beautifully dressed; they were in love. The hero and heroine, of course, just arrived from his father’s yacht. † Katherine Mansfield used the two characters to reveal the fragility of Miss Brill by having her â€Å"prepared to listen† to what they say, even though in the end thetruth that they talk about hurts her deeply. The young couple ridiculesand make fun of the â€Å"stupid old thing at the end there,† and in that instant her dream crumbles. They voice a reality that Miss Brill has been running away from and as they say â€Å"why does she come here at all – who wants her? † Through the minor characters, Miss Brill’s delusional nature is revealed as she has been rejecting reality all this time, trying to hold on to her illusions. Yet also exhibiting her fragility when in after she hears the couple’s conversation, she ceases to be able to carry on per usual. After her fantasy world is shattered, Miss Brill solemnly walks home, passing up things that she used to look forward to like the slice of honey-cake that was her Sunday treat. She sits on her bed, puts the fur back in its box, and thinks she hears something crying. The fur is symbolic of something old and lonely that has lost its beauty over the years. The symbolism of putting the fur back in its box is like placing dreams away. And in the end, it is not the fur that is crying, but Miss Brill. Her fantasy is over and the truth of her sad reality sinks in to her. How to cite Miss Brill, Papers Miss Brill Free Essays Mansfield did a really good Job at using theme through characterization. She first used Miss Broil’s attitude and appearance. Miss. We will write a custom essay sample on Miss Brill or any similar topic only for you Order Now Brills was a very classy old lady, â€Å"Miss Brills was glad that she had decided on her fur. † Back in the period that Miss Brills lived, it was very elegant to wear a type of fur around your neck, this usually symbolized wealth. The theme here would be acceptance, this connects to the world because there is always that one piece of clothing everyone wants or wears as a status symbol. The author also uses characterization through action or incident when Miss Brills is in her own world acting as if she is part off play when two young people pull her back to reality. † It’s her if-our which is so funny, â€Å"giggled the girl. â€Å"It’s exactly like a fried whiting. † This shocks Miss Brills because she has never experienced insult before, she’s always controlling what she wants to see and hear. When the young couple makes fun of her fur she realizes that she doesn’t live in a fantasy and she has a hard time handling that. The theme here is reality. All of us have that escape, we can think of something and our whole attitude changes like Miss Brills, and maybe hat’s what some of us need an escape from the harsh world that is reality. The author portrayed Miss Brills as a very detailed emotional character from the beginning. The section that most symbolized that emotion was â€Å"on her way home she usually bought a slice of honey- cake at the baker’s. It was her Sunday treat; sometimes there was an almond in in her slice, sometimes not. It made a great difference. â€Å"If there was an almond it was like carrying home a little tiny present. † This one simple thing impacted her whole entire day. That single almond determined either or not she was going to have a good day or a bad day. It’s really sad that all Miss Brills had to look forward to what may be the possibility an almond in her honey- cake. This relates to society because there are a lot of people who are introverts, and rely on a tiny piece of glory like Miss Brills does. Human society is so obsessed with what we have going on that we don’t branch out and interact with other people, which makes it hard for people like Miss Brills to fit in or feel important. Tibias Wolff used characterization through Hunters in the snow really well, with Tub, Frank and Kenny. Tibias used the theme reflection for Tub as well as physical characterization, â€Å"You ought to see yourself,† the driver said. â€Å"He looks Just like a beach ball with a hat on, doesn’t he? Doesn’t he, Frank? † People Judge people everyday because of their weight, what clothes they wear, what backpack they have and whom they hang out with, our society is based on prejudices, seen in the real world as well as the book. Jenny’s characterization would definitely be through his dialogue because he was just like every bully in the world, â€Å"Okay,† Kenny said. â€Å"l wont say a word. Like I won’t say anything about a certain babysitter. † He’s using the theme of power he thinks he has with something someone willingly trusted him with and using it against him, people do this when they want something or they are Just rude. As for Frank his characterization and theme was shown through his emotion, â€Å"l mean _really_ in love. † He squeezed Tub’s wrist. â€Å"With your whole being. † Frank was a very emotional person, you saw it through the way he treated Tub, and he was torn because if he didn’t act like Kenny, Kenny would have mistreated his deepest secret. Frank also had relations with a babysitter, which he thought he loved; this may have Just been a cover up, for his unwillingness to want to grow older. She possibly made him feel alive again. This happens in real life too people get to a certain age where they want to feel young again, so they make modifications to their body and their life style. These authors did a really amazing Job at using characterization through their stories I really felt like I understood the characters and what they were going through and how it related to my life or the world around me. How to cite Miss Brill, Papers

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Interventions and learning Human Resource Development

Question: Senior HRD management must understand the variety of individual learning demands of their staff before they can design effective training, learning and development interventions. Critically justify this statement using your conceptual knowledge of learning theories and case examples? Answer: HRD Management should understand the types of individual demands of development Interventions and learning. Introduction: The Development of Human resource in an Organization is a vital part which helps in increasing the productivity. It is a part of HR Management which majorly relates with development and training of the labor force in an organization. It is considered that human resource has infinite budding capabilities. The process of Human Resource Development is a structure which helps employees to opportunities such as career development, employee training and employee performance management. The main objective of Human Resource Development is to enhance the skills of Human Resource the employees, the workforce. With the help of Human Resource Development the quality of a superior workforce can be developed. This helps an Organization to reach its target with an efficient workforce as their main source of productivity. In an Organization the Senior Human Resource management requires to comprehend the various demands of an individual in order to design and effective development interventions, lea rning and training. Discussion: Learning and development is a necessary part of that ensures the employees of an organization to effectively carry out their present role. Certain trainings are necessary for the safety and health of the employees related to occupational issues (Saks and Haccoun, 2010). The organization considers the added value which they will receive form knowledgeable and highly skilled employees. Those organizations who are willing to improve their efficiency, profitability and productivity generally seeks to adopt diverse developing and learning activities that allows the employees to augment their potential and provide important supply to the Organization (Azulay, n.d.). Development and Learning can also be considered as the basis of competitive advantage, which enables the employees to gain new appropriate skills and knowledge. The provision for development and learning occasion alone does not necessarily mean that they will enhance an organization to be more effective and productive, it requires many more steps .There are certain reasons for which an employee development and training are necessary, they are: Increase in morale and job satisfaction among the employees. It motivates the exiting employees of an organization. The increase in productivity resulting in increased profitability of the organization. Enhanced capacity of the employees to adopt technological advancement. Increased innovation in product and strategies. Low employee turnover rate. Augmented image for the company. Ability to manage risk. These are the general benefits of development and learning of employees but in real it depends on the employees participation (Dejesus, 2012). Every individuals perception and perspective differs. Where one person loves to attend seminar there one person loves to do vocational training (Ordo nez de Pablos and Tennyson, n.d.). Training and development evaluates on an overall basis, but whether individually it had been a satisfactory activity for the employee or not cannot be determined easily. In organizations which has a good number of employees identifies the need of development only when a climatic change is going to happen or due to some technological advancement (Ehrhart, Schneider and Macey, n.d.). Various requirements like person analysis, performance analysis, content analysis, training suitability analysis, work analysis, organizational analysis and cost benefit analysis can be evaluated through development and training of employees . In order to understand the requirement of training the Human Resource manager must find out the urgency of learning and development (Aamodt, 2013). In small organizations where the number of employees is low may have more emergency requirement of training than nigger organizations. This happens when the organization recruits new employee who are not acquainted with the work culture of the organization (Woodside, 2010). But in cases like technological up gradation the Organizations who have a large number of employees, will need a course of development and training which will enhance the technological skills of the employees. For instance like if NAT steel is adapting a new technology in their day to day operations then special skilled employees are required to operate. Instead of recruiting or hiring the company can train few of its skilled employees so that they could operate the technology. But these few skilled employees could turn to be an asset for the organization. They could n ot only apply their techniques in their respective field but also train their subordinates for a collaborative operation. In order to train the employees it is important to take individual concerns for the human resource department (Werner and DeSimone, 2011). This marks the organizations and the Human Resource Departments fairness for maintaining a sense of equality among their employees (Mankin, 2009). If the learning and development are conducted after taking individual concerns then the individual willfully participates in the process. This also acts as a motivation for the employees participation (Chalofsky, 2014). The Individuals concern also helps in many ways, like it helps in getting innovative ideas for training, and even they confronts the issues that individuals have. For organizations that have a good number of employees it is not possible to go and collect the opinion of each and every employee. In that case surveys are conducted and a feedback is also taken from the representatives. Though for commercial giants maintaining a democratic style of operation is very hard yet with the help of survey they could get some idea about the employees concern. In Today, Manufacturing industries focus on enhancing the individual skills for their employees. Like Hyflux Ltd, which has around 2,500 staff all over the world, provides developmental opportunities to their employees (Mom.gov.sg, 2015). Their program of development is designed in order to sharpen the personal effectiveness and competencies along with some knowledge about the business. They mainly give stress to the point that individuals can also develop their skills by interacting with their senior management and peers. This is also a type of development and learning, which happens in an informal manner. This type of informal development happens when the employee considers learning to be a significant process in their course of occupation. There are different types of training in an Organization; they are coaching, on-the-job training, workplace projects, Mentoring, Secondment, job enrichment, further study, action learning and formal training. Among them mentoring, secondment, action learning and further study for the employee totally have to deal with the concern of the employees. A secondment refers to the temporary move of an individual from one field to another role or level in an organization (Hor and Keats, 2008). Here the individual concern will matter whether they agree to move or whether they are interested. If the individual has apathy towards the training then the money and the time that will be spent on him will go in vain (Office, 2008). Similarly in case of further study, this arrangement requires individual concern otherwise it would be an ineffective attempt (Yee, Yeung and Cheng, 2008). Suppose, in Medtronic the people appreciate the various opportunities for their employees to develop and grow. It he lps to develop towards their current role and also provide opportunities for move across borders and functions to develop (Medtronic.com, 2015). This kind of developmental opportunities needs to be appreciated by employees or else the growth of the individuals as well as the growth of the company would remain as it is. In case of Personality Development training, an organization decided to provide a personality development course to its de-motivated employees so that they could be motivated and work better for their organization. In this case it is necessary for the employees to consult regarding the time they will be allotted, the need for the course and whether everyone has to do this particular course. If the time decided for the course is half an hour after their working hour then many would have issues about the time. Similarly, certain people might think that training on personality development wont be useful to them. Training and learning frameworks: There are basically six frameworks in learning and training. They are categorized according to three stages, the assessment, the source, implementation and evaluation: Assessment: In this session of training at first the need for the training is observed. Like in personality development it was found that most of the employees of the organization are lacking motivation. Then consultation with the management and the directors of the organization are done. Only after their approval the training process gets started. Source: In order to conduct the training professionals or facilitators are consulted and offered to conduct training either within the premises of the organization or in appropriate place according to the facilitator. They can be expert within the organization or hired from outside. Implementation: the process of training is designed analyzed developed and implemented. here after the sessions held for training in personality development tests are conducted. For personality development psychometric and performance tests are conducted. Here the coordination requirements are met. Evaluation: after the training process is done the employees are evaluated. This is the most important part of training because it estimates the effectiveness of the training. After evaluation of this test it is seen whether the employees are motivated and is ready to increase their productivity level for the organization. Throughout the process of training the attendance and a regular evaluation of the attention of the employees should be kept. The attendance determines the interest o the employees. if the employees attend the session out of their own interest then they agree with the managements decision but if the attendance and attention paid in the session is poor then the training course becomes a simple waste of money and time of the organization. The importance of Employees: A very considerable fact is that majority employers hold the capability of training their new recruits for conducting need and training analyses and deemed with the amount of time and speed, workplace stands out to be a better venue for training (Grugulis, 2007). By providing opinion and viewpoint, stimulated research and realization of individuals it can be portrayed by an organization that the employers voice is not the only voice that should be heard (Faulin, 2013). Today apart from enhancing technical skills many organization has identified the importance of customer service and interaction (Moreland, Parente-Neubert and Simon-Walters, 2014). There are many Business Process Unit, who are dependent in effective customer service, like call centre (Grugulis and Vincent, 2009). The skill that is required here is known as soft skill, which enhances the communication and interaction skills. In order to grow the company requires training their employees, what kind of training is needed and whether it is necessary or not should be identified by the human resource manager. But whether the training is effective or not, whether it would help or not could be better explained by the employee themselves (Caligiuri, Lepak and Bonache, 2010). Conclusion: All employees deserve job security, decent working conditions, good pay and respect. These are the minimum requirement that needs to be satisfied so that the employee feels to be a part of the Organization. Hiring and recruiting an employee necessarily doesnt means that he belongs to the company and he would work just the way the company wants. The individual have their own ideas, it can prove to be effective if shared. If employees notion and ideas are not considered then their willingness to work would begin to decrease. That is why many companies are giving opportunities for their staff to participate in decision making. HR manager is considered as the mediator between the organization and its staff. Hence the decision of considering the voice of their employees rests upon the HR manager. He is responsible to see that the objectives of the organization is met having a satisfied and productive workforce. Hence while conducting training and development the senior management of Human Resource Development management must comprehend various individual learning demands of their employees before they can create an effective training, development interventions and learning. References Aamodt, M. (2013).Industrial/organizational psychology : an applied approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Azulay, H. (n.d.).Employee development on a shoestring. Alexandria, Va.: ASTD Press, c2012. Caligiuri, P., Lepak, D. and Bonache, J. (2010).Managing the global workforce. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Chalofsky, N. (2014).Handbook of Human Resource Development. Hoboken: Wiley. Dejesus, N. (2012).How to Land a Top-Paying Employee development managers Job. Dayboro: Emereo Publishing. Ehrhart, M., Schneider, B. and Macey, W. (n.d.).Organizational climate and culture. Faulin, J. (2013).Decision making in service industries. Boca Raton: CRC Press. GRUGULIS, I. (2007).Skills, Training and Human Resource Development. Palgrave Macmillan, p.240. Grugulis, I. and Vincent, S. (2009).WHOSE SKILL IS IT ANYWAY ? SOFT SKILLS AND POLARISATION. 1st ed. [ebook] Durham: : Durham Business School, p.31. Available at: https://www.esrc.ac.uk/.../7d1ff315-a0e8-466b-8bc6-f326eb0fd179 [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Hor, J. and Keats, L. (2008).Finders keepers. Sydney: CCH Australia. Mankin, D. (2009).Human resource development. New York: Oxford University Press. Medtronic.com, (2015).Employee Stories - Leo. [online] Available at: https://www.medtronic.com/careers/employee-stories/leo/index.htm [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Mom.gov.sg, (2015).NHRS Hyflux. [online] Available at: https://www.mom.gov.sg/skills-training-and-development/national-hr-capability/Pages/nhrs-hyflux.aspx [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Moreland, T., Parente-Neubert, G. and Simon-Walters, J. (2014).PHR/SPHR professional in human resources certification practice exams. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. Office, I. (2008).Skills for improved productivity, employment growth and development. Geneva: International Labour Office. Ordo nez de Pablos, P. and Tennyson, R. (n.d.).Strategic approaches for human capital management and development in a turbulent economy. Saks, A. and Haccoun, R. (2010).Managing Performance Through Training and Development. 5th ed. Nelson College Indigenous, p.250. Werner, J. and DeSimone, R. (2011).Human Resource Development. 6th ed. Cengage Learning, p.671. Woodside, A. (2010).Organizational culture, business-to-business relationships, and interfirm networks. Bingley: Emerald. Yee, R., Yeung, A. and Cheng, T. (2008). The impact of employee satisfaction on quality and profitability in high-contact service industries.Journal of Operations Management, 26(5), pp.651-668.

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Genetic Engineering Essays (654 words) - Molecular Biology

Genetic Engineering Should we use new genetic information to alter our own DNA to make ourselves more adept? Last winter, scientist made a major break through in genetic engineering. They finished a complete map of DNA of a complex organism. Although the animal that they broke down is a simple flat worm, over 40% of its DNA sequence match our own. This is an astounding leap forward for genetic engineers. Genetic engineering is the use of lasers and/or chemicals to alter the sequences of nucleotides, which are the bases of DNA. Many people throughout the world greatly oppose genetic engineering. Calling it "unethical", "anti-Christianity" and "dangerous". I feel genetics can help us so much, all these controversies are nothing when amounted to the utopian health of the entire human race that could be achieved. Many of the Islamic countries have laws prohibiting such research in genetics. The Islamic holy book, The Koran, forbids any man from changing himself. Allah, the Islamic god, made the Muslim people in his own likeness and cast away all people who change his work. Likewise, in Christianity, God made Adam and Eve in his likeness. He also makes it that any man that changes the body that the Father has blessed him with shall be exiled away to Hell. I counter this argument with the question, If God and Allah loved their people so much, then why did they let their people become sick and have pain? I believe as a Christian, God would not have given us the knowledge to use genetics if he did not want us to change ourselves. The exact same theory applies to all religions. We are only better suiting ourselves to please our God. Ethics are always a major factor in wars, medicine and politics. Ethics play the part in genetics by posing the question "why?" Ethical oppressors believe that the human race should be left as is. They fear a "super-human race" taking over the world and a new type of racism and discrimination would result between the new human race and the old human race. I believe such a theory is very foolish. Genetics can not be used to make one more intelligent or faster reacting. The genetics that scientist are researching the genes that cause genetic diseases, such as Down Syndrome, Turner Syndrome, hemophilia and color blindness. They are manipulating DNA to take away diseases that slow down progression and cause families to be hurt. Imagine a world without sickle-cell anemia, or Diabetes. A world where cancer is very little known of and when found can easily be treated by genetic therapy. Little disease would be tolerated in our bodies. Virus would be destroyed by genetically engineered white blood cells; AIDS would be cut down in a few years. Life expectancy would be almost 90 years old. Even the common cold would be gone, even with the viruses' constant mutations. One last fear of DNA manipulation is the fear of what if a bacteria or virus found a weakness? What if an epidemic started and spread fiercely that our great new genetically enhanced white blood cells could not handle? All of the human race would be susceptible to? True, it has happened in the past with corn that was genetically engineered. But such an epidemic is very highly unlikely. It did happen in corn, but that corn was merely an experiment. If we would do this to ourselves, it wouldn't be an experiment; it would be a medical treatment. Where all possible outside attacks would be known and could be stopped quickly. There is no fear that an epidemic would break out and it is unrealistic that the entire human race could be wiped out to the point of extinction in a matter of a few weeks. I feel genetic engineering can give us so much. There are some good reasons why we should not continue such research, but I think that the positive effects of making ourselves more perfect are dominant over little ethical issues. With DNA manipulation, we can lead better, healthier, and longer lives. A utopian life of health awaits us ahead and such criticism can only delay and hurt ourselves.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Moral Majority - Evangelical Conservative Movement

Moral Majority - Evangelical Conservative Movement The Moral Majority was powerful movement in American politics made up of evangelical Christian conservatives who felt their families and values were under attack amid the legalization of abortion, womens liberation and what they perceived to be the moral decline of society during the turbulent 1960s. The Moral Majority was founded in 1979 by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who would become a polarizing figure himself in the decades that followed.   Falwell described the Moral Majoritys mission as being the agent to train, mobilize and electrify the Religious Right.  In a speech at his own Baptist Church in  Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1980, Falwell described the Moral Majoritys enemy: We’re fighting a holy war. What’s happened to America is that the wicked are bearing rule. We have to lead the nation back to the moral stance that made America great. We need to wield influence on those who govern us. The Moral Majority does not exist as an institution anymore, but the movement of evangelical conservatives remains strong in American politics. The Moral Majority dissolved as an institution in 1989 when Falwell proclaimed our mission is accomplished. Falwell had resigned as the groups president two years earlier, in 1987. Falwell said in announcing the disbanding of the Moral Majority in 1989: I feel that I have performed the task to which I was called in 1979. The religious right is solidly in place and, like the galvanizing of the black church as a political force a generation ago, the religious conservatives in America are now in for the duration. Indeed, several other groups remain influential in carrying on the mission of evangelical conservatives. They include Focus on the Family, run by  psychologist James Dobson; the Family Research Council, run by Tony Perkins; the Christian Coalition of American, run by Pat Roberson; and the  Faith and Freedom Coalition, run by Ralph Reed. Public opinion has shifted on many of the issues that drove the formation of these groups following the 1960s. Policy Goals of the Moral Majority The Moral Majority sought to gain influence in national politics so that it could work to: Prohibit abortion and overturn Roe v. Wade.Require prayer in public schools.Oppose and ban gay marriage.Defeat the  Equal Rights Amendment, which guaranteed women the same rights as men.A return to traditional gender roles in American households. Falwells Family Manifesto declared the role of the male is most effectively that of provider and the role of the female one of nurturer. Bio of Moral Majority Founder Jerry Falwell Falwell was a Southern Baptist minister who rose to prominence as the founder of Lynchburg Baptist College in Lynchburg, Virginia. The institution later changed its name to Liberty University. He was also the host of the  Old Time Gospel Hour,  a television show that was broadcast across the United States. He founded the Moral Majority in 1979 to combat what he saw as the erosion of culture. He resigned in 1987 amid the groups sagging finances and poor election results in the 1986 midterm elections.  Falwell said at the time he was returning to his  first love, the pulpit. Back to preaching, back to winning souls, back to meeting spiritual needs, he said.   Falwell died in May 2007 at the age of 73. History of the Moral Majority The Moral Majority had its roots in the New Right movement of the 1960s. The New Right, eager to boost its ranks and hungry for a major election victory following Republican Barry Goldwaters loss in 1964, sought to bring evangelicals into its ranks and encouraged Falwell to launch the Moral Majority, according to Dan Gilgoff, the author of the 2007 book  The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War.   Wrote Gilgoff: Through Moral Majority, Falwell focused his activism on evangelical pastors, telling them that issues like abortion rights and gay rights required them to cast off their decades-long political inhibitions and to stop viewing politics as a dirty business unfit for church people. In the early 1980s, Falwell barnstormed the country, speaking to countless congregations and pastors breakfasts and logging 250,000 miles a year on a chartered plane. Falwells activism seemed to pay off early. While white evangelicals had backed Jimmy Carter - a Southern Baptist whod taught Sunday school in Georgia - in 1976, they broke 2 to 1 for Ronald Reagan in 1980, providing a major plank of support and establishing themselves as a lasting base of Republican support. The Moral Majority claimed some four million Americans were members, but critics argue the number was substantially smaller, only in the hundreds of thousands. The Decline of the Moral Majority Some conservative firebrands including Goldwater openly mocked the Moral Majority and portrayed it as a dangerous fundamentalist group that threatened to erase the line separating church and state by using the muscle of religion towards political ends. Said Goldwater in 1981: The uncompromising position of these groups is a divisive element that could tear apart the very spirit of our representative system if they gain sufficient strength. Goldwater added that  he was  sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in A, B, C and D. Just who do they think they are? The influence of the Moral Majority peaked with the election of Republican Ronald Reagan  as  president in 1980, but the re-election of the conservative icon in 1984 also sped the decline of Falwells group. Many financial backers of the Moral Majority saw little need to keep contributing when the White House was safely in their control.   Ronald Reagans reelection in 1984 led many supporters to conclude that further contributions were no longer as badly needed, wrote  Glenn H. Utter and James L. True in  Conservative Christians and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook. The decline of the Moral Majority was also precipitated by nagging questions about prominent evangelists including Jim Bakker, who hosted The PTL Club until a sex scandal forced him to quit, and Jimmy Swaggart also brought down by scandal. Eventually, Falwells critics began to ridicule the Moral Majority, it was neither moral nor a majority.   The Controversial Jerry Falwell In the 1980s and 1990s, Falwell was widely ridiculed for making a series of bizarre statements that made him and the Moral Majority appear to be out of touch with mainstream Americans. He warned, for example, that a purple character on the childrens show  Teletubbies,  Tinky Winky, was gay and  encouraging tens of thousands of children to be gay as well. He said Christians were deeply concerned about little boys running around with purses and acting effeminate and leaving the idea that the masculine male, the feminine female is out, and gay is O.K. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Falwell suggested gays, feminists and those who support abortions rights help create the environment for such terrorism. Falwell said: Throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools ... the abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. The pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way - all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say you helped this happen. Falwell also claimed: AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharaohs charioteers ... AIDS is not just Gods punishment for homosexuals; it is Gods punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals. Falwells influence in politics waned dramatically in the final two decades of his life because of such statements, which he made a time when public opinion was shifting in favor of gay marriage and womens reproductive rights.

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Trend letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Trend letter - Essay Example JUNK UNDERJEANS: After having a primary research about the company, I have discovered some relevant data. You company is producing a unique line of men’s undergarments with the latest and hottest trends made from highest quality fabrics and materials (â€Å"About Junk underjeans†). The distribution method is wholesaling with a selling capacity of 500+ pieces as a business apprentice. I have also discovered that Junk underjeans designs are credited to Mr. Sean Gregg as the fashion designer (â€Å"Junk†). The different styles and collections such as the rebel, urban and sleek have captured the interest and excitement of straight and gay guys as your target market. Your promotional strategies such as tradeshow, fashion show, magazine, online blogs, and company website are very helpful in delivering the product to the market. The most in-demand business today according to American Apparel and Footwear Association is the apparel manufacturing in which â€Å"sales for 2000 reached $315 billion, representing a 90% growth from its 1990 levels† (qtd. in Fulbright). Junk underjeans had made a good choice of business. OPPORTUNITY/TRENDS: Starting up a new business nowadays is not for seasonality alone, but it goes with passion and on what the person really believes. There is nothing wrong if the business gives more focus and priority on one product line especially if that product is doing well in the market. However, opportunities/trends should also be given consideration as it comes. The industry will only appreciate and understand the essence of the opportunity/trend if it has an open mind with a positive outlook (Khoo). It does not entails that because Junk underjeans is producing undergarments for men only, then it should be heading that way in the future. Definitely not, because change is a typical respond for every business which is either a desire or a necessity. Junk underjeans has proven its success in capturing the attention of

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

THE Chain of Command Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

THE Chain of Command - Research Paper Example However, the principles and theories formulated during the first quarter of 20th century are still being used as the base of each new management model. This paper mainly highlights the principle of chain of command which was first presented by Henri Fayol in 1916. The paper deals with the significance of chain of command, the historical perspective described by different writers, and its effectiveness in organizations. An intentional attempt has been made to generalize the concept of chain of command in all fields of life. Although the term is mostly used in military perspective, however, the paper is not found stuck to military organizations only. The application of chain of command and its effectiveness has been discussed in context of both military and civil organizations. In the concluding remarks, the concept of chain of command has been analyzed critically along with few recommendations. Change of Command In a military perspective, the chain of command is a specific communicati on and interactive procedure, in the line of authority plus responsibility in which orders are conveyed in a military unit and other concerning different units. Generally orders are disseminated out by a higher hierarchy i.e. a commissioned officer to the lower-ranked personnel who after receiving the orders execute the same to further lower personnel. Thus the orders are carried out to all those who are supposed to be executed. Generally, in military orders are given to instant subordinates in the chain of command while lower ranked personnel get the orders only from those who are their immediate seniors. No service member is allowed to appeal for any relief to a commander above his immediate officer and the failure is dealt with disciplinary action. Although, military officers are authorized to give orders to any of their under command subordinates, however, they are expected to communicate their orders only to their immediate juniors. In any organization, military, civil, or priv ate, chain of command is actually an official streak of authority, control, and responsibility. The chain of command is well described through a sorted out organizational chart which identifies the superior authorities and their subordinates as well as the possible ways of communications and relationships between them. The classical theory of organization highlights the importance of human relations, organizational effectiveness, and overall management. These aspects construct an organizational structure which allows one to ascertain the lines of authority and command and ensures lucid task of his responsibilities (Alajloni et al, 2010). The principle of unity of command is maintained by following the proper chain of command along with apparent interaction with specific authority. According to Fayol (1916), this principle means that each lower ranked subordinate must receive orders from one and only one person. This minimizes any kind of confusions, doubts, and conflicts as various bosses lead to divide the responsibilities. In military perspective, the rule of unity of command is very significant because violation of this rule leads to jeopardize of overall discipline and may also result in instability of the whole unit. In his historical book ‘General and Industrial Management’, Fayol also stated the scalar chain principle. This principle describes that authority and responsibility flow, one level at a time, in a vertical line from the highest level in an organization to its lowest level and thus establishes an organization's hierarchy. For Duncan (1979), the disregard of chain of command without proper disposal is a management error; however, he tolerates it provided the chain of comm

Monday, January 27, 2020

The Black Sea Region History Essay

The Black Sea Region History Essay On the south-western side of the hill surmounting Lake Ohrid, travelers will find oneof the architectural masterpieces of medieval Orthodox Christianity. The church, that was dedicated to St. John the Theologian, and also known as Kaneno, whose consecration dated back to no later than.1447, is usually known as a legacy of Medieval Slavic empire (whether one calls it as Bulgarian, or, Macedonian, depends on ones fancy). Taking into consideration, however, its unique style that reminds us a highly successful combination of Byzantine and Armenian architectural technologies, it seems more appropriate to calldt.as-a monument of the cultural integrity of the wider Black Sea rim. The Black Sea world, just like the church Kaneno, had been an artifact of cultural mixture, composed of various peoples of different faiths, vernaculars, customs and practices until the first decades of the twentieth century. They had been, moreover, living in a well-integrated and well-organized socio-economic entity that was tightly bound up by common water. Artisans of famous silver ornament in Trabzon would live on the Ukrainian wheat and Bulgarian wine, while the wealthy mercantile famnyin Odessa would enjoy their afternoon tea with dried figs from Anatolia. Life of the people around the Black Sea had been directly resting on the incidents at the opposite side of the water. They had kept watchful eyes on the course of event there. However, such a vivid image of the Black Sea region seems to be quite perplexing, if not alien, for us, people living in the twenty first century. Just like the record inscribing the name of the architect of the church Kaneno had been lost, our knowled ge on the Pontus world is too fragmented to envision a unified picture. The Pontus world also addresses us a perplexing question. Is it a mere accidental coincident that the three mercantile nations, Armenians, Greeks, and Jews, who had once been major lubricants for the organic mechanism in this world, suddenly disappeared from the Black littoral at the very moment when we lost the vivid image of this region? Armenians, Greeks, and Jews were all historical nations well-known by their conspicuous activities in commerce and financing. All of them had their residential centers around the Black Sea before the twentieth century. Armenians had been widely dwelling in the southern Caucasus and the eastern Anatolia, and displayed their strong presence in every commercial centre around the Sea. Greeks had densely populated in the Black Sea littoral as well, and often constituted plurality in major trade entrepots like Istanbul, Trabzon, Odessa, Varna, Constanta and Krasnodar. Until the last decades of the nineteenth century, majority of the world Jewry had lived in the Russian Black provinces and their hinterlands. However, it is an arduous work for us to trace out them on the contemporary ethnic map of the region. It seems as if they had taken away our memory of the region with them when they retreated to the backstage of history of the Black Sea. What kind of process of modern conceptualization prevents us from shaping integrated scenery of the Black Sea region in our mind? The easiest answer might be the one that seeks the root in the nationalization of history. By the word Cemomorski rajon, an ordinary Bulgarian will think of an area the word Karadeniz bolgesi. For both of them, cities like Kisinev, Akkerman, or Batumi are not the part of their Black Sea region, but some unknown foreign cities. The nation-state, as a model for historical thought, has obscured many elements. The area studies, self-styled inter-disciplinary science, seem to have overcome the narrowing views of the national history, as they claim to have adopted an approach that makes it possible to analyze more than one nation-state at the same time. However, they seem, to be suffering from the same type of shortcomings. As for the Black Sea studies, there are too many candidates for the possible frame work, Slavic Studies, Balkan Studies, Caucasus Studies, Russian (and Soviet) .Studies (or its new version Eurasian Studies), Turkish and Islamic Studies, or Mediterranean Studies, but none is enough to cover all aspects of the Black Sea region. In order to comprehend the Black Sea region, it might be necessary to mobilize several area studies, but at the same time, it would mean saturation of methodologies. Such inherent weakness of the area studies seems, partly; to come from their methodological ancestors. Disciplines like Slavic Studies or Russian and Eurasian Studies could not completel y cut off themselves with the tradition of Slavic philology. Both Turkish studies and Iranian Studies are, by and large, nd more than a dummy branch of the Orientalism (as its original meaning 6f the word). Area studies are still accompanying preconceptions that had been inherent to their methodological forefathers. Apart from methodological questions, it seems relevant to interrogate a primordial question: where, at all, is the destination of intellectual endeavors of the area studies, or more simply, for what purpose are they serving? Recent developments may suggest us a part of the answer. There took place a* drastic reshaping of the area studies after 1989. East European studies have already divided into Central European Studies and Balkan Studies. Former Soviet Studies have also transformed themselves into Eurasian Studies. As the change is apparently linked to the shift of geopolitical situation, the answer must be lying somewhere beyond the natural evolution of methodological thinking, or survival strategies of individual researchers. The recent change indeed bears marked similarities to the realignments of traditional disciplines and eventual crystallization into area studies after the World War II. Both of the cognitive processes went through strong impact of the hegemonic shifts that h ad reshaped geopolitical map of the globe. The shift inevitably brought the regions drastic changes. From economic point of view, each region had to modify its trade regulations, financial mechanism, monetary policy, and working practices to be fit into the new situation, thus, it precipitated changes in the structure, and even mode of production. Political systems were also required to accommodate themselves to the new relations. As these changes caused considerable stress to the society, social tissue had to undergo significant metamorphosis. The area studies analyze various aspects of these changes, and provide, as a whole, a systematic knowledge to cope with the new reality. Therefore, they are working, irrespective of the intension of individual researcher, for special concern of particular forces that have common interest in a certain form of regional division of labor. Indeed area studies seem to pay less attention to the phenomena that tend to slip out of the scope of their main concerns, especially those overlapping several areas. By reassessing historical narratives concerning three nations, this paper tries to demonstrate the significance of those phenomena that have been made invisible by the frame of cognizance which was formulated in the course of modernity. The Ottoman Conquest and the Black Sea regional economy The Black Sea and surrounding lands had been playing significant roles as a hinge that bound together the Mediterranean, Central Asian Steppe, and Indian-Middle East economies since antiquity. The economic wealth of the region was an important factor in the political and economic stability of the Macedonian, Roman, and. Byzantine Empires in the Classical and Medieval times. The Black Sea also formed one of the major arteries joining the Islamic world and north-eastern Europe, and served as an important commercial rout between the ninth to early thirteenth century. Within itself, the Black Sea region, together with the Aegean, had formed a closely knit economic entity, as the northern Black Sea region produced and exported grain, meat, fish, and other animal products, while the southern Black Sea and the Aegean exported wine, olive oil, dried fruit, and luxury goods in exchange [Kortepeter, 1966: 86; Peacock, 2007:66-67]. By the time the Byzantine control of the region collapsed at the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Black Sea trade had largely fallen into the hand of the Venetian and Genoese merchants. At first Venetians seemed to have taken upper-hand, but Genoa succeeded in gaining a t near monopoly over the Black Sea commerce after 1261. By the time, Genoa had been building up a network of its colonies covering all lands surrounding the Black Sea. The Genoese BlackSea Empire was, however, relatively short-lived, as there emerged a formidable power in the western corner of Anatolia at the end of the thirteenth century, and it was to bring the Italian hegemony in the Black Sea finally to an end in the course of fifteenth century. Starting as a small warriors state, the Ottomans followed a gradual, but steady course of territorial expansion during the first half of the fourteenth century. They were successful in intruding into the Balkans after crossing the Dardanelles in 1346. By the end of the century, the Ottoman sultans had established themselves firmly on the vast landmass lying at the both sides of the Straits. Although the Ottorrfans at first did not show much interest in controlling the Black Sea commerce, a clear Ottoman policy regarding the Black Sea began to emerge during the reign of the Mehmed II (1451-1481) [Kortepeter, 1966: 88]. Upon assuming the throne the throne, Sultan the Conqueror embarked on a series of campaign to destroy the Latin colonial empires in the eastern Mediterranean, as a part of his project to reassemble the former Byzantine territories. Especially after the takeover (ri AXrooTj) of the Byzantine capital in 1453, Mehmed II felt it necessary to establish a complete control over the resources of the Black Sea region for the reconstruction and development of his new capital. In 1459, the Ottomans first deprived the Genoese of Amasra, the most important port on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, as it formed, together with Caffa, the shortest route in the north-south communication in the sea. After the fall of Amasra, the Genoese colonies were confined to the north western corner of the Black Sea. The seizure of the main Genoese colony of Caffa took place in 1475. Caffa had long been the chief trade and manufacturing centre for the Genoese in the Black Sea. After the fall of Caffa, the Genoese gri p on the Black Sea considerably weakened and the Ottomans captured all of the Italian colonies in the Crimean and the Caucasus within a decade. The only remaining trade centers of significance were two Moldavian port cities, Kilia and Akkerman. Both of them fell to the Ottoman hand in 1484. In this way, by the beginning of the sixteenth century the Ottomans had turned the Black Sear into an Ottoman lake [Inalcik Quataert, 1994: 271-3; Kortepeter, 1966: 92-3]. i The Ottoman conquest brought about a new socio-economic system into the Black Sea region. Now, majority the coastal lands of the Sea were directly connected to the imperial capital, Istanbul, and a new regional division of labor was introduced in order to maintain this extraordinarily large city. Moreover, the Ottoman Empire employed a kind of command economy whose main purpose was to maintain its military predominance. Hence, the government put strong control over the transportation of manufactured goods and raw materials produced within its domain, imposing de facto ban on the export, while, on the other hand, it showed lavish attitude to the imported commodities that its lands could not yield. Under this regime, many parts of the empire constituted an autarkic economic entity. Hence, it was natural that the Black Sea region, along with other part of the Empire, constituted an integrated, but closed to outside, system. Non-Muslim Merchants as coordinating elements One of the most important changes that took place after the Ottoman conquest of the Black Sea region was the termination of the Italian predominance in favor of the native Ottoman subjects. Owing to the poor development of Muslim mercantile class at the beginning of the Ottoman-conquest in this region, it was the non-Muslims that took initiative in forming the: wider regional network. Already during the Italian rule of the Black Sea, the Greeks and other indigenous people, together with Jews and Armenians, played the role of middlemen and widely dwelled in the Genoese trade centers. Many of them were employed as apprentices in the Latin enterprises, and accumulated the knowledge of the business practices in the Levant trade. Even before the fall of Caffa, the Italians were losing their control of the oriental trade in the northern countries, and were being replaced by Ottoman subjects, mostly Armenian Christians, Greek Orthodox Christians and Jews. The Ottoman government found in them reliable traders and contractors as middlemen within the empire. Thus, non-Muslim merchants took advantage of the new opportunity of the closure of the Black Sea to the foreigners in the sixteenth century, and they made use of their privileged position to traverse the Ottoman domain, in order to organize trading networks across southern and western European cities [Kortepeter, 1966: 101; inalcik Quataert, 1994: 272, 209]. The first element that gained most from this new order seemed to be Greeks. The Greek merchants of this period widely operated in Ottoman inter-regional trade. They were in control of a significant portion of the commerce of the eastern half of the Balkan Peninsula. Greeks were particularly active in the Ottoman capital, as traders and sea captains, carrying grain from the Balkan coastal regions adjacent to the Black Sea. The Greek merchants, allegedly descendants of the Byzantine aristocracy, widely engaged in tax farming, large-scale trade and shipping both in international and domestic. However, after the execution of tfye great tycoon in the Greek community of Istanbul, Michael Cantakuzino  §aitanoglu in 1578, the predominant position of the Greek merchants in the imperial economy began to shake [Stoianovich, 1960: 241; Inalcik Quataert, 1994:517]. Instead of Greeks, Jewish bankers and tax-farmers surfaced as predominant elements in Ottoman finance and long-distance trade during the second half of the sixteenth century. The expulsion of the Marrano Jews from the Catholic countries especially contributed to the Jewish prosperity in the Ottoman economy. The Marrano Jews seemed to introduce into the Ottoman Empire the techniques of European capitalism, banking and the mercantilist concept of state economy, and played decisive role in the finances [inalcik Quataert, 1994: 212]. Jews also played a considerable role in the development of the Danube basin. As tax farmers, Jews were managing many Danubian ports and customhouses [Levi, 1982: 26-27]. But the Jewish domination of the Ottoman economy could not last long. Already in the 1650s, Jewish merchants had been less active in Ottoman territory than during the second half of the sixteenth century. The Jews were losing the functions that they had acquired in the sixteenth century, in cluding the farming of custom duties, minting, and the positions of money exchanger for the ottoman notables. Westward Jewish migration that occurred synchronously with the shift of the global economy to the trans-Atlantic trade was a part of reason. Another reason is the renewed expansion of activities of Greek merchants that forced many Jewish merchants out of Balkan trade [Panzac, 1992: 203; inalcik Quataert, 1994: 519]. The presence of the Armenian merchants in the Black Sea region had been strongly felt long before the Ottoman conquest. Armenians had settled in Crimea as early as the eleventh century [Panossian, 2006: 82]. They were important trade partners for the Nogays in the North Caucasus, and engaged widely in the transaction of slaves and large quantities of butter and furs [Kortepeter, 1966: 104]. They were predominant in the Moldavian [Lwow-Akkerman) route of trade during the fourteenth century, and obtained the trade privilege for all Ruthenia in 1402. The leader of the caravan on this route was always an Armenian throughout the fifteenth century. Until that time, Armenians had widely settled in the commercial centers in Crimea and Rumania. According to an Ottoman survey in 1520, there were 2,783 households in Caffa, out of which about 60% was Christian, mostly Armenian [inalcik Quataert, 1994: 280, 286]. The Ottoman conquest of the Black Sea region brought about more favorable conditions for the Armenian merchants. In the Ottoman Empire, Armenians, like Greeks, constituted a Christian community that was accorded with religious and judicial autonomies. Their religion also gave them easier access to the lands of Christian Europe. They had already firmly established themselves in southern Poland and Transylvania, and controlled local commerce. Making use of the Ottoman trade policy as the linchpin, the Armenian traders succeeded in building up their commercial network, extending as far as Venice and Central Europe. The Armenians could also make use of the rivalry between Ottomans and Russians in order to establish their new trade route. Several Armenian merchants played conspicuous role in the court of Ivan the Terrible, and further expanded their commercial activities as far as the northern end of the Grand Duchy of Moscow [Goffman, 2002: 15; Braudel, 1992: 155]. The Armenian merchants had another advantage, as they were going to expand their activities further in the east. The Armenian middlemen settled in Persia found in silk an eminently marketablecommodity. In the seventeenth century, the Ottoman Armenian merchants distinguished themselves by their association with an international trade network basing around New Julfa, a suburban city of Isfahan. Merchants from this city took an active role in the Iranian silk trade which spanned the globe from Narva, Sweden to Shanghais, China. In this way, the Armenian merchants had been successful in establishing their trading network stretching from China to Western Europe by the eighteenth century [McCabe, 2001]. In the course of their expansion, the commercial activities of three non-Muslim merchant communities widely transcended the Ottoman borders. It was, by no means, the loss of weight of the Ottoman commerce for them by the eighteenth century. The commerce on Ottoman territory continued to be crucial for the maintenance of these networks, as the goods they traded were often of Ottoman manufacture or had transited through the Ottoman state. The trade activities of Armenians, just like those of Greeks and Jews, remained intrinsic to the economic system of the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottoman wealth was central to their prosperity [Inalcik Quataert, 1994: 517-8]. As we have, hitherto, surveyed the significance of the non-Muslims merchants in the Ottoman Black Sea trade, it is necessary to emphasize that we should not downplay the importance of the Muslim merchants. Although they were late comers in this region, already in the fifteenth century, Muslim merchants had outnumbered the others at least in the southern section of the south-north trade over the routes of pursa-Istanbul-Caffa or Akkerman by sea and overland by Edime-Kilia-Akkerman [Inalcik Quataert, 1994: 278]. It seems probable that the role of the Muslim merchants constantly gained importance in the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, and eventually took over the non-Muslims, especially in the intra-regional trade. The position of the Muslim merchants in the intra-Ottoman trade was much stronger than the non-Muslims during the eighteenth century. The minorities almost always held only a secondary position in the domestic maritime trade. According to an Ottoman document of 1782 or a list of cereal ships to Istanbul provide us an interesting data that out of the total 56 names of merchants, 55 were Turks or other Muslims, only one was Greek or Albanian, and even he was associated with a Turk. The document also shows us that out of 158 ships captains, 136 (86%) were Turks or other Muslims, and 22 (14%) were Greeks or Albanians. Therefore, the Muslim merchants had secured almost total control over the supply of wheat to Istanbul by the Black Sea route [Panzac, 1992: 195, 203]. Socio-economic features of the non-Muslim merchant communities From historical point of view, merchants, especially those who engaged in cross-cultural- trade, possessed, more often than not, ambivalent characters. As frequenters in two or more distinct societies, they had to master several important knowledge and skills that were usually unfamiliar to those who lived inside a particular culture. So, they brought with them, not only a variety of foreign goods and wares, but new technologies and information. These cultural goods often catalyzed a transformation of the host society. In the case of the Ottoman non-Muslim merchants, they became major actors in a technological and cultural interplay between the Ottoman Empire and the rest of Europe. It wa,s their trading network that helped produce a uniform commercial method throughout ti?e Mediterranean and European worlds before the  ¦ nineteenth century [Goffman, 2002: 16]. On the other hand, every society that based principally on the production of use values would inherently harbor antagonism toward the merchant. Such hostilities were often boosted by the stresses that arouse in the course of cultural transformation. Therefore, the position of the cross-cultural merchants was constantly under the threat of eventual outburst of hatred against them. In order to avoid, or at least to alleviate, the tension with the host society, the merchant community had to be adaptive. In the case of the non-Muslim merchants in the Ottoman Empire, we can notice strong tendencies of compliance to the authority. Ottoman Jews and Greeks played major role in the finances during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and even later. They were the major players in the tax-farming, the most important means of capital formation at that time, and their accumulated wealth became indispensable for the state finances and the palace. In return for their service, the Ottoman government conferred them various privileges. Several Jews were appointed the court physicians and imperial treasurers. Greeks were employed as dragomans (official interpreter) and, later, rulers of Moldavia and Wallachia [Inalcik Quataert, 1994: 209], The Ottoman Armenians also played significant role in the palace. The upper strata of their community, often called as amiras, made their presence strongly felt in government as bankers or money lenders. In the tax farming, they provided the capital as sarrafs (bankers), and sold the commodities collected in kind as merchants. After the eighteenth century, they became instrumental in keeping the fragile Ottoman financial system functioning. It is symbolized by the fact that the prominent Dtizian family monopolized the position of superintendent of the state mint office from 1757 until 1880 [Panzac, 1992: 203; Panossian, 2006: 85]. Probably, the most important in this aspect was the role played by their religious authorities. The Ottoman government traditionally granted wide range of religious and judicial autonomies to its Christian and Jewish subjects, calling each of these congregations as millet. The Greek, Jewish, and Armenian mercantile class in Istanbul practically monopolized the posts of the highest priests of their millets, and did their utmost in preserving the imperial order, by securing the loyalty to the sultan among their coreligionists. Thanks to these endeavors, Jews and Armenians were often praised by the authority as millet sadakat, or loyal subjects. In the case of Greek Orthodox, they failed to win this title because of the several unruly elements like semi-nomadic mountaineers or provincial peasants with independent spirits, the upper strata of their community, however, generally earned high esteem among the Muslim authorities. In spite of such functions, non-Muslim merchants did not dare to go over a certain limit of the host societies, because over adaptation to the host society was suicidal to their existence. It would increase the tension with the other society where they made business at the same time. For example, the conversion to Islam might promise better position in the Ottoman society, but it would make very difficult, if not impossible, to earn by the international trade. Thus, probably the best strategy for the merchants was to blur the demarcation line with the host society by making their existence more and more vague and ambiguous. By doing so, they could expect more secure conditionsfor their survival. It was, therefore, no coincidence that the three non-Muslim merchant communities in the Ottoman Empire possessed marked characteristic of special multilingual!sm. As the other Jews in the Western Europe, Jews in the Ottoman Empire adopted the languages of the people among whom they lived. They could, usually quite fluently, communicate in Turkish and other majority languages, but they nevert fully assimilated linguistically to the host societies. The Romaniotes, who had long lived among the Greeks, adopted vernacular Greek as their communal language,.while the, Ashkenazi, East European Jews continued > to speak Yiddish in their home. The most influential element of the Ottoman Jews, the Sephardi, preserved medieval Spanish, where their ancestors had been living until the Catholic take-over. Moreover, all of these Jewish vernaculars contained significant portion of Hebraic expression. Thus, the dialect expresses the two contradictory tendencies: the integration to the surrounding soci ety and the isolation. The Ottoman Armenians shared the same characteristic. While they continued to use ancient Armenian as their spiritual symbol especially in their place of worship, almost all of them were either bilingual or, in some cases, monolingual speakers of Turkish. Turcophone among the Armenians was so strong that Vartan Pasa, an Armenian writer in the nineteenth century, in the preface to his History of Napoleon Bonaparte, justifies the fact that he had written this work in Turkish with the argument that the Armenians who knew ancient language (krapar) were very few and that the new literary language based on the vernacular was still not sufficiently developed thus, that the Turkish language was the best tool to the majority [Strauss, 2003:41, 55]. The case of Greeks was much more complicated, but it might show rather vividly the advantages of linguistic ambiguity for the prosperity of the mercantile community. During the Ottoman period, the word Greeks seldom denoted the linguistic community. Many Greeks in the Anatolian plateau spoke Turkish dialect, Karamanh, while the Greeks in Syria and Egypt used Arabic as their ordinary means of communication. The Greeks in the Balkans were more perplexing. There were many Greeks who spoke Bulgarian, Vlacho-Arouman, Albanian, and Turkish. The linguistic variety derived from the context that the communal identity of the Ottoman Greeks usually conflated with the Rum millet identity. Within the Ottoman Empire, the Greek Orthodox Christians, especially those who composed the urban strata, were collectively referred to Romans, members of the Rum millet, regardless of their ethnic origins. Such tendencies were strongly felt especially among the mercantile class. The notion of the Greek Orthodox Christian was indeed a social category. In many parts of the Balkans, contemporary denomination of nations, like Serbs and Bulgarians, denoted the peasants in particular locations. When Slavs moved into the urban space or became members of the middle class, they generally shifted their identity to Greek. The local Christian higher strata were Grecophone in Serbia. In the Bulgarian lands, the domination of cultural life by the ecumenical patriarchate led to the promotion of Grecophone culture in liturgy, archives, and correspondence [Roudometof, 1998:13-14]. The tendency became more conspicuous after 1750, when the prosperity of the Greek Orthodox merchants was reaching its peak. Owing to the predominance in trade, Greek became the primary language of commerce in the eastern Mediterranean, and Orthodox Christian merchants, regardless of their ethnic origins, generally spoke Greek and often assumed Greek names. The middle class Orthodox Christians were largely acculturated into the Greeks or under heavy Grecophone influences [Stoianovich, 1960: 291]. The ambiguity or ambivalency of the groups seems to have been felt stronger at such elements like new comers, lower members, and/or provincial elites, than at the centre of the community. For example, during the first half of the nineteenth century, the biiingualism, especially with the dialect spoken by the majority member of the surroundings, was more conspicuous among newly immigrated members from local villages than those who had lived in urban space for generations. It reflected in their identities that veteran urban dwellers were adamant in their Greek consciousness in contrast to the new comers with mixed identity with Bulgarian element [Markova, 1976: 43-54]. The same was true for the Greek ecclesiastic circle, where lower clergy tended to remain within the boundary of Metropolitan diocese, while the higher hierarchies rotated several dioceses of different Patriarchates. As a result, high dignities in the Church possessed deep-seated belief in the Hellenic nature of the Ortho doxy; ion the other hand, parish priests widely shared non-Hellenic culture with their parishioners. To summarize our discussion hitherto, the non-Muslim merchants in the Black Sea region bore the following attributes as groups. They were religious congregation as well as occupational category. As for the latter, they were, more often than not, engaged in external trade, or in other words, were agencies tonnecting different cultural, socio-economic entities. The members of these groups were usually quite proficient in special occupational expertise. They knew well specific business and social practices of various places, and they were multilingual for the most of part. They were generally more adaptive to the host society, and, at least on the surface, very compliant to the existing authority. The demarcation line between them and the other groups was vague, and often intentionally blurred. Their ambiguity or ambivalency was more intense, more strongly felt at peripheral or lower strata than at the core. Perhaps, this was the most important attribute that made possible the non-Musli m merchants to maintain their social and economic function, while preserving their identities, without provoking serious conflict with the host societies. The above mentioned characteristics of the Ottoman non-Muslim merchants might seem to fit well into a wider category of Diaspora merchants. But, at the same time, there arises an uncomfortable feeling to call those merchants who dwelled in their homeland as Diaspora, because, except for the Jews, many Greek Orthodox and Armenian merchants lived in the territory of their former Kingdoms or Empire. Moreover, there were many non-Mercantile members within the Greek Orthodox and Armenian communities in the Ottoman Empire (the Jews were exception in this case as well). It does not seem reasonable to separate the merchant groups from the peasant mass when we discuss them as ethno-religious communities. Taking into these inconveniences into consideration, it seems more pertinent to apply the old notion of people-class,1 proposed by Abram Leon, for the case study of the Ottoman non-Muslim merchants. In his work that examined the historical development of the Jewish communities in Europe, Leon 1 turned