Plato’s Ideal City

The Ideal City In Plato’s book â€Å"Republic† he describes what he thinks would be an ideal city, for this city to be ideal it would have to be just. In his just city there are three classes of people; gold, silver, and bronze/iron; known as the National Division of Labor. The guardians of the city are placed in the gold category, the auxiliaries in the silver, and the farmers and craftsmen are in the bronze/iron category. Plato argues that the National Division of Labor reflects the requirements of nature and produces a harmonious whole. Wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice are the four virtues that this ideal city must have to be just. The guardians, also known as philosopher kings, being in the gold class of the city, are wise, knowledgeable, and most importantly they are philosophers. They enjoy learning about forms and think that anything else won’t bring somebody happiness. They believe that forms are the highest level of happiness and that by learning about and understanding forms brings knowledge. To be a guardian they must be ruled by their reason and not let spirit or appetites take over. They are responsible for ruling the city. Guardians are not allowed to make any money or have a job outside of guardianship nor are they able to own anything. At childhood they start an extensive amount of study in music, poetry, and physical training. The study of these subjects develops harmony between them and is said to be good for the soul. Plato argues that â€Å"a good soul by its own virtue makes the body as good as possible† (403d). In the silver class of the city are the auxiliaries, or in other words the warriors. These people have to be courageous; they are responsible for protecting the city and keeping everything at peace. They love victory and honor and go through massive physical training to be strong for battle and enforce the laws of the guardians. Instead of focusing on forms, like the guardians, auxiliaries put their focus towards particulars. That is essential in the job that they have because they need to understand what particulars are and how they operate to be able to fight. If they the people in the silver class flourish and thrive in their jobs, then they will experience happiness. Just like the lives of the guardians, the lives of the auxiliaries are completely controlled; they all live in the same place and don’t have any privacy, they all eat the same thing and have their schedule planned out for them and they’re not allowed to own anything. They’re not allowed to make any money or have anything that isn’t needed to be a warrior. Basically, the auxiliaries don’t have lives other than training. The farmers and craftsmen are considered to be in the bronze/iron category, they are the producers of the city. Unlike the guardians and auxiliaries, they tend to be ruled by their appetites other than reason and spirit. The farmers and craftsmen seem to focus more on belief and opinion other than the forms or particulars. They have more creativity than the guardians and auxiliaries which was highly despised of by Plato. Plato believed that imagination was nothingness and ignorance; he did not think that it helped you flourish or thrive in any way. He said that a thing such as art and imagination only brought pleasure and not knowledge, which he said wasn’t happiness. Even if you were and artist and you flourished and thrived in that area you still weren’t considered to be happy because you don’t know anything about the forms and art is projected as ignorance. They are able to have jobs, make money, buy and sell property, and own whatever they want. Farmers and craftsmen are considered free people compared to guardians and auxiliaries, they only have to follow certain rules obtained by the guardians. The city wouldn’t be able to exist without the bronze/iron category; the farmers and craftsmen grow all the food and make every product that is needed. If I had to choose which category I would like to be in I would choose the bronze/iron category. I wouldn’t prefer to be in the gold or silver category because I wouldn’t want my life completely controlled and not be able to have any privacy. Having my life all about the rest of the city and having my life planned out isn’t something that I would enjoy, I would want to make my own decisions and not having them made for me. Sure you could say that that is selfish and unjust but that is what would truly make me happy. Plato says that to truly be happy that you have to flourish and thrive as opposed having pleasure. I think that if I was in the bronze/iron class that I would flourish and thrive because in that class I have more opportunities to succeed in different areas of life. In the bronze/iron class you are able to live your own life, the life you want to live instead of being told what to do and how to live every day. In this ideal and just city, everyone: the guardians, auxiliaries, and farmers and craftsmen, have to do their own task, otherwise it wouldn’t be just. The people in these three classes all have to flourish and thrive in whichever class they are in. The guardians can’t do the job of the auxiliaries or the farmers and craftsmen, the auxiliaries can’t do the job of the guardians or farmers and craftsmen, and the farmers and craftsmen can’t do the job of the guardians or auxiliaries. If everything works out the way that Plato plans, then this ideal and just city would be the perfect utopia.

Douglas Spalding Essay

Douglas Spalding was the architect of ethology, the scientific study of animal behavior. He started his research in the mid 1800s. His studies discounted British empiricist claims that animal skill regarding depth, distance; perception and sound localization were learned by the animals while they were young. Spalding study of ethology involved the determiner of behavior such as instinct is behavior that is predisposed or shaped by natural selection or innate pre-programmed behavior. To address the British empiricist claim that perceptual abilities did not require experience, he conducted an study dealing with instinct. He open a portion of an egg where chicks, baby chickens, not girls, where about to hatch and just before their eyes opened, he opened a piece of the egg, and covered the chicks head with a hood. After removing the hood; the chick showed no effects of not being able to see and was able to locate insects to eat, thus showing innate behavior is extremely valuable in animal behavior and not experience. Critical period research is learning that occurs at a specific age or life stage. Critical period is behavior that’s developed within a specific time frame. Spalding withheld chicks from the mother for 10 days. The chicks didn’t hear or see their mother for ten days. Spalding introduced the chicks to the calls of the mother; however, the chicks did not recognize their mother. Spalding observation showed at particular stages in life innate behavior is developed with a specific time. Spalding experiments and observations supported the claim that animals innate behaviors not experiences is a determiner of behavior.

Applications of Total Quality Management Essay Example for Free

Applications of Total Quality Management Essay Total Quality Management (TQM) is a philosophy of management that strives to make the best use of all available resources and opportunities through continuous improvement. TQM means achieving quality in terms of all functions of the enterprise. Many researchers attempted to analyze how IT and TQM can jointly add value to organizations and the purpose of this first post on TQM is to evaluate the practicality of TQM in an IT service. In this evaluation, a balance of the service management needs with the reality of bottom-line effectiveness is provided. The post also provides a list of critical success factors to consider in a change management initiative engaged by an IT service. The essence of quality is to do it right the first time, and to satisfy customer requirements every time by involving everyone in the organization. The works of Crosby and his colleagues on the evolution of TQM cut across all pervasive philosophies of management. TQM has been a key business improvement strategy since the 1970s, as it has been deemed essential for improving efficiency and competitiveness. TQM aims to achieve an overall effectiveness which is higher than the individual outputs from the sub-systems such as design, planning, production, distribution, customer focus strategy, quality tools and employee involvement. This philosophy of management strives to make the best use of all available resources and opportunities through continuous improvement. As a management philosophy, TQM makes use of particular set of principles, practices, and techniques to expand business and profits and provides a bypass to enhanced productivity by avoiding rework, rejects, waste, customer complaints, and high cost. This can be achieved by emphasizing the organization’s commitment from data-driven, problem-solving approaches to quality accruing. The five basic pillars of TQM are : a) top management commitment for quality enhancement, b) customer centric advancements of processes and building a long-lasting trustworthy relationship between the organization and the customer, c) relentless development by setting goals and deadlines, d) benchmarking with several specific tools and quality-adding techniques, and e) strengthening the employee base by concentrating at any stage of a process on quality, where customer satisfaction is stationed. Table 1 provides a summary of the key dimensions that constitute TQM. 1. Top management leadership : Top management commitment is one of the major determinants of successful TQM implementation. Top management has to be the first in applying and stimulating the TQM approach, and they have to accept the maximum responsibility for the product and service offering. Top management also has to provide the necessary leadership to motivate all employees. 2. Customer relationships : The needs of customers and consumers and their satisfaction should always be in the mind of all employees. It is necessary to identify these needs and their level of satisfaction. 3. Supplier relationships : Quality is a more important factor than price in selecting suppliers. Long-term relationship with suppliers has to be established and the company has to collaborate with suppliers to help improve the quality of products/services. 4. Workforce management : Workforce management has to be guided by the principles of: training, empowerment of workers and teamwork. Adequate plans of personnel recruitment and training have to be implemented and workers need the necessary skills to participate in the improvement process. 5. Product design process : All departments have to participate in the design process and work together to achieve a design that satisfies the requirements of the customer, which should be according to the technical, technological and cost constraints of the company. 6. Process flow management : Housekeeping along the lines of the 5S concept. Statistical and non-statistical improvement instruments should be applied as appropriate. Processes need to be mistake proof. Self-inspection undertaken using clear work instructions. The process has to be maintained under statistical control. 7. Quality data and reporting : Quality information has to be readily available and the information should be part of the visible management system. Records about quality indicators have to be kept, including scrap, rework, and cost of quality. TQM and Change Management Initiative for IT Performance : A business firm achieves world-class status when it has successfully developed operational capabilities through TQM to support the entire company in gaining a sustained overall performance over its competitors. Although there is insufficient statistical evidence to conclude significant simple relationships between TQM and IT services quality performance, many studies investigated the notion that TQM practices provide approaches to improve the economic position in the service sectors in general. Both IT and TQM had, and will continue to have a significant impact on most organizations. I only regret the lack of empirical research on the relationship between the two and how they both relate to business performance. Applications of Total Quality Management. (2016, Nov 15).

Commodum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6750 words

Commodum - Essay Example In 2008 Blair Connolly, Inc. was issued U.S. Patent Number 7,413,250 for the utility of a back support design. â€Å"Commodum† Latin for â€Å"comfort† is the first ergonomic office chair created that utilizes the patented back support design. The patent gives the company a competitive advantage over competitors because they have a novel design that cannot be imitated in the United States. The product will be strategically positioned as a high-end ergonomic office chair and promotional methods will highlight emotional benefits including: comfort, relaxation, vitality, status, and luxury. Commodum will be introduced using a skimming pricing strategy and consumers’ will most likely consider the product a high involvement purchase. Direct marketing will highlight important attributes such as service, quality and warrantee to help reduce cognitive dissonance often associated with high-involvement purchases. The ergonomic furniture giants in the U.S. primary consist o f two companies Herman Miller and Steelcase and have the two best ergonomic chairs on the market. The Herman Miller â€Å"Aeron† is considered the â€Å"gold standard† in ergonomic seating, which everything else is compared to it. The Steelcase â€Å"Leap† is more luxurious than the Aeron and has a slightly higher price. These companies have targeted the business office furniture segment and have been very successful. It would be more difficult for Commodum to penetrate the business office furniture market and would be impossible to compete in terms of price. Also, with the current economic environment businesses will be less likely to make major purchases on a new product that do not have a brand reputation established. However, home furnishings consumers are less aware of brand name and are a better market segment for Commodum to target. More specifically, Generation Xers and Baby-boomers are the best target market for the company because they spend more on ho me furnishings than any other generations. Baby-boomers and Xers are more likely to have discretionary income and home furniture purchases have been found to be discretionary in nature. Throughout history, there has been a correlation between furniture purchases and life stages, including: getting married, buying a house, children moving out and retiring. Baby Boomers and Generation Xers are experiencing life a stage associated with home furnishings consumption and makes them a powerful target market for Commodum. Additionally, recent socio-economic trends have created a growing home office furniture market and many Baby Boomers will be working longer than expected and will be using home offices more frequently. Technological advancements have led to a â€Å"hiving trend† and consumers are using their home as hub for communication. In conclusion, there is great opportunity for Commodum to succeed in the growing home office furniture Market, but will not be without barriers. H erman Miller and Steelcase may focus more promotional efforts on the home furniture consumer and may be hard to compete with. However, the novelty of the patented design makes the product unique and is the key component to strategy. With strategic positioning and promotion efforts San Diego should be a good market to launch Commodum. Historically, the housing market has been a market driver for home furnishing consumption and if the company can time the launch of Commodum with the housing market recovery it could lead to a lucrative business opportunity. 2. Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦1 2. Table of Contents†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦3 3. Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦5 3.1 Background of the Problem†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦

Margaret Thatcher - Prime Minister - England 1980's Essay

Margaret Thatcher - Prime Minister - England 1980's - Essay Example Her father was a great influence in her life. Her father, who owned a grocery shop, was also a respectable member of the town council and later became a mayor. Margaret got married in the early 1950s and got two kids; Mark and Carol. Political interest and career can be traced in her early life before marriage, when she became the president of Oxford University Conservative Association. After receiving her degree in chemistry, she became a research chemist, and later attempted to run for Dartford’s parliamentary seat prior her marriage. Though she lost in both trials under a Conservative ticket in areas dominated by Labour party, she endeavoured to prepare herself by practicing law (tax law) before being elected as a representative of Finchley in 1959 (â€Å"Margaret,† biography.com) under conservative party. She served in various positions afterwards; as a junior minister for pensions and national insurance under Harold’s government, a member of Edward Heathâ₠¬â„¢s shadow cabinet during Labour party regime, secretary for education when Heath became PM, a conservative party leader after Heath in 1975, and finally, the first female elected PM in Britain in 1979, to serve until her resignation towards the end of 1990 (Owen, theguardian.com). She later quitted the House of Commons and was appointed a peeress in the House of Lords, but due to health effects, she retired from public speaking early during the 21st century. She earned the title ‘Iron lady’, following her rise into power and political career. Leadership Style The leadership style of Margaret Thatcher was influenced by her principles, beliefs, background, and other qualities she possessed. Her leadership can be described as a combination of dominant-authoritarian and charismatic styles (Ribberink genderforum.org). In her leadership efforts to reform Britain, most of the policies she put forth faced opposition even from some of her party members. Though she demonstrate d certain good qualities of leadership like confidence and focus to accomplish an objective, her decisions could be difficult to changes, lacking room for flexibilities, or accommodating other thoughts to shape the policies she used for the future of Britain’s economy. During the conflicts over the Malvinas Island, the PM ignored the immediate advice to use diplomacy as a way to resolve the issue, and instead remained adamant to the use of a naval task force, rejecting pleas and negotiation of a resolution (Sides, themonkeycage.org). Her lack of inflexibility in decision or policy making increased her opposition, as it felt she had overstepped the civil service and party structures into personal oriented influence. However, despite her authoritative leadership style, she would manage to get things done, but her iron will which her party failed to tolerate led to her demise as a PM. Right from her youth and for the rest of her political career, Margaret Thatcher reflected the qualities of a charismatic leader. The charismatic qualities she had persuaded the electorate to vote for her, both as a constituency representative and a party leader later in power. Public speaking equipped her better into this leadership style. Beyond that, she expressed self confidence, had a strong will to perform, and articulated her strong vision for Britain and its economy. It is her charismatic leadership that led to her

Effective Team and Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Effective Team and Management - Essay Example One outstanding person who has shown this is Virgin Group founder, Richard Branson. This essay will evaluate the success and achievements of Richard Branson (as a case study) on leadership and teamwork in relation to the theoretical models that conceptualise leadership and at the end it will unfold in a much more practical way, those ways that an effective leadership can be achieved. To meet this objective, the essay will analyse critically leadership styles that Richard Branson deployed that heightened his performance in effectively coordinating the teams he had and comparing this to the existing theoretical conceptions. Richard Branson was born on 18th July, 1950 in England and later on started going to school of which he did not complete. His school life was a misery and at age 16, he stopped going to school, an event that saw his life change for what it is today. It was this drop-out that got him into business enterprises which begun from the sector of music but has since developed to a myriad other sectors. His mother Eve (flight attendant) and father (Edward Branson) struggled with him so much to help him in education as he had dyslexia disorder but these failed and at age 16 he drop out. This prompted him to found a youth magazine called â€Å"Student† which he ran for some time until 1969 when he thought of venturing in a record shop that could help support his magazine financially and in 1973, he launched Virgin Records. Branson continued to go in his business enterprises step by step and today the Virgin Records he launched in 1973 has grown expansively and it is now a group of companies that host over 200 companies in very many countries. It’s not only that one line of business that Branson owns but number of several other businesses across the economy that has escalated him financially to become a billionaire. Virgin Group is a

Financial Statements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Financial Statements - Essay Example However, the different groups use the various financial statements for different purposes. This essay focuses on the four types of financial statements identified above and their importance to internal users such as managers and employee as well to the external users such as investors and creditors. All the financial statements are useful since to individual as well as organizations whose decisions are affected by a company. The financial statement act as an indicator of how a company is performing. Moreover, the statements can be used to predict the future of a company. Balance sheet, which is also, referred as the statement of financial position acts as an indicator of the financial status at a given time. Balance sheet assesses the assets (economic possessions possessed by the entity) and the liabilities (sources of financing) as well as ownership equity. The assets possessed by a company are either classified as current or fixed assets. Current assets can be converted into usable cash easily and include cash, marketable securities, inventory, and prepaid assets. Fixed assets are not easily converted into cash and are awarded historical cost. Fixed assets include buildings, machinery, equipment, and land. Liabilities are those assets owed to creditors (Drake, Fabozzi, & CFA, 2012). Liabilities are categorized as current and non-current liabilities. Current liabilities include notes payable, interest payable, accounts payable, wages payable and taxes payable. On the other hand, non-current liabilities include bonds payable and mortgages payable. Equity is the proprietorship, partnership, shareholders, or stakeholder’s equity in a corporation. Equity owners are claimants of the residue equity after creditors have been paid. Therefore, balance sheet acts as a record of resources owned by an entity and acts as a crucial tool used to evaluate the capability of a firm to meet long-term obligations. Comparative balance sheet is an example of balance sheet (D rake, Fabozzi, & CFA, 2012). Creditors are involved in offering credit, which is a risky practice. Therefore, balance sheets are important to creditors since they use them to assess the wealth possessed by individuals or firms and determine their capability of paying for liabilities incurred. Creditors make use of other financial statements when providing loans to companies. In case companies file bankruptcy, the creditors make use of the information obtained from the various items to recover their money by liquidating the company’s assets (Drake, Fabozzi, & CFA, 2012). Income statement is another important form of financial statement that indicates the net income of a firm. The net income is calculated by subtracting the operating expenses from the revenue or fees earned. Therefore, income statement is reflective of the company revenue or income as well as expenditure. Revenue is the inflows that a company obtains from its operations while expenses are the outflows that a co mpany uses to create revenue. Net income of a company is obtained by adding the revenue to the gains less the losses and expenses. Income statement is thus indicative of the performance of a business (Drake, Fabozzi, & CFA, 2012). Statement of cash flows is a record of a company’s cash flow activities such as the investing, operating and financing undertakings. Statement of cas

The Joy of Graduating Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Joy of Graduating - Essay Example In addition, during summer, just like her then oncoming sophomore year, she went through a course on international law and took in an internship which lasted 50 hours (Lombardi 1). Danielle was named a valedictorian, which she did not expect. According to the author, a valedictorian season has just ended and students are receiving accolades for being the best performers academically in the school. However, the path to that honor has become more competitive lately. A number of aspects such as the rise in the number of high school scholars, inflation of grade, strong competition for acceptance in collage and a well-informed student body have transformed the game. One of the characteristics of the valedictorian is that they strategize to win, by taking an intense load of A.P courses that are weighted during calculation of the average grades. Some of them keep off from creative courses, such as art or photography, since in creative courses, grading can be biased while having a grade B can mess their target. In most of the cases, enthusiasm for valedictorian honors has resulted into lawsuits. For example, in Danielle’s high school, a high school senior is said to have sued the district in an attempt to be declared valedictorian (Lombardi, 1). Some valedictorians end up suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome like Ms. Hornstine, who is claimed to have maneuvered the system and her claim brought an outcry in the society. Later, her acceptance to Harvard was nullified following allegations that her articles for the local daily were plagiarized (Lombardi, 1). Most of the valedictorians end up sharing the position. For example, this year, Susannah and Brett are the co-valedictorians in Horace Greeley High School. Even though nobody would speak to give evidence, stories about competed grade point means spread and brought hatred. However, Susannah and Brett showed a united front, explaining how they

Case Study On Hurricane Floyd Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

On Hurricane Floyd - Case Study Example The strength of this hurricane however has been recorded as the largest and strongest hurricanes to have ever hit the Atlantic. The reason for opting for hurricane Floyd for this particular case study is the intensity with which it pounded the Bahama Islands and moved into New England subsequently while damaging North Carolina and Florida on the way. Furthermore, it was also the cause for heavy floods and devastating storms which have led to several lives being lost. What originated as a mere tropical wave, turned into something so sinister that even the level of preparedness that had been taken care of in order to mitigate the effects of the hurricane, was not enough. While it crossed the Bahamas it remained under a category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson scale, giving the meteorology department not much to alert the citizens about. Furthermore, it even weakened to a category 3 status with the winds ranging between 120 mph. thus the forecast that was broadcast regarding the tropical wave when it was out at sea was merely average as compared to the forecasts in the last decade. Only a fraction of the islands of the Bahamas received heavy winds for a small period of time and thus people were not aware that something bad could have struck, due to lack of common warning because of the varying wind pressure. Mitigation is the process of lessening the impact of an impending disaster in order to minimize its effects and cause the least amount of trouble and trauma to the people, possible. Not much could have been done in order to mitigate or lessen the impact of this hurricane except for keeping an eye on its movement and the meteorology department keeping a check on the wind speeds and directions of movement of the hurricane. People were informed well in time in order to leave their homes and as the President had declared emergency, it was the maximum that could have been done. Preparedness on the other hand refers to the measures that are

Racial Profiling by the Police Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Racial Profiling by the Police - Research Paper Example Everyone must have experienced profiling at least once in his/her life, but primarily persons are targeted. Such profiling is exercised by people in authority including school administrators, security personnel, criminal justice and law enforcement agencies. Police profiling is a type of racism carried out by the police officials against the offender. It has been seen that this problem has been prevalent in even the most developed parts of the world and it becomes the main reason of discrimination against the civilians. The police department is considered to be one of the most influential departments in all the countries and, hence, racial profiling by this department can lead to many problems within the infrastructure of the country. Recently, the congressman Keith Ellison picked a fight against the department by voicing his concerns for the Muslim Americans. Ellison stated: â€Å"Racial stereotyping is simply not good policing.. It threatens the values Americans hold dear†. He argued that he himself was a target of this discrimination and wanted the relevant authorities to take into notice the current problem going inside one of the most developed countries in the world (as cited in Diaz 2012). Racial profiling threatens our fundamental principles. Racial profiling by law enforcement agencies and the associated prosecution of people of colored skin is one such example. It targets people on artificial basis of color on matters of law enforcement, causing hindrances in policing efforts and making law enforcement agencies lose their credibility within the community which they have vowed to protect and serve. The police force is looked up to maintain fairness and justice in a society; the disgraceful exercise of racial profiling has caused people to fear the system. This unjust practice remains stain on democratic nations and an insult to the claims of racial equality. It is, however, imperative that the origins of racial profiling by the police force and criminal investigators are highlighted. In the 1950s, a high-profile officer at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Howard Teten, introduced and popularized the mere notion of racial profiling by analyzing the attributes and traits of the criminal, his past records and the situation at the crime scene. This practice of profiling, even though stereotypical in nature, spilled over to the police force with time. Since September 11, 2001, racial profiling has grown and the Obama administration and FBI guidelines have been codified by these practices such as the dishonorable treatment of Muslims and Arabs as suspects, denying them equality of innocence and protection under law. What has been more disturbing is the federal government’s backing of record searches of immigrants, such as Latino and Mexican communities, by the local law enforcement agencies. Because any legal cure for racial discrimination by law enforcement presently necessitates specific evidence of committed to dis criminate, it is exceedingly problematic, if not impossible, for single sufferers to voice

Reflections on Perception of Reality Essay Example for Free

Reflections on Perception of Reality Essay I have always believed in what I saw, what I heard, and what I experienced. As these elements play a significant role of perceiving the world around me, it is very hard to distrust the reality. However, it was not a long ago that I began to ponder about this issue more profoundly. What do I really perceive? Could I precisely explain our perception without the help of science? As I spend more time thinking about this fascinating issue, I realized that it is necessary to analyze how the nature of perceptual experience relates to reality, and to science. The problems of perception do not only lie on the subject of metaphysics but also on the context of epistemology. Discussing broad philosophical positions about the nature of perceptual experience is the first step to form my own perspective on perception. Identifying and comparing reasonable interpretations and support of various assertions is therefore a key to successfully solidifying my argument. I would like to begin by introducing my ideas on perceiving the world that I am currently living in. In my opinion, my perception towards the world would depend on how to deal with apparently obvious truths about my experience of the world with the possibility of particular types of perceptual errors. Although I make myself open to the reality, this fact of openness is sometimes frightened by the existence of certain illusions. For this reason, philosophical hypothesis of perception needs to respond to this threat by providing an account of perception that preserves central and significant features of perception. Materialism argues that there exists some order of reality that is independent of the human mind, consciousness, and perception. According to materialism, there is a real material world, which consists of matter and energy and obeys some natural laws independent of human mind. As far as I understand, this epistemological materialism argues that logical experience does not contain a theory about what reality is, but rather about how we should treat reality. This epistemological materialism argues that all statements should be meaningful, and that in order to be meaningful a statement should be testable and verifiable, carving away metaphysics. Testable statements must then refer to scientific properties if observers are to agree. Therefore, statements of mind, reflecting internal feelings, thoughts, and motives are meaningless unless they display some physical change or behavior. Materialism seems to offer a simple and efficient perspective on reality, which indeed appears to be in agreement with our experience and observations. Moreover, materialism also seems to be the only metaphysics most consistent with scientific knowledge. But if the materialism was clearly to be true, the world would be without purpose and my life would be absolutely meaningless. Both being a moral human through free will and taking responsibilities for immoral actions would be delusion. This is certainly not the case for all of us. We, as human beings, strive to give meanings and purposes to our lives. Idealism, on the other hand, argues that there is no order of reality independent of human minds and morality. It gives supreme power to minds over other physical values such as body. Material substances would have no existence independent of mind, or while existing, this reality may exhibit human values and morality. It may also be true that reality’s basic nature could be mind in that our apprehension of reality is more determined by mind than matter. Most idealists believe that there is a fundamental unity to the world which is simply greater than the sum of its parts. However, I think that there is a close connection between the existence of our morality and the universe as our values imply something more to the universe than just matter, laws, and physical substances. I might have become the unique outgrowth through physical processes, and my mind could still qualitatively differ. My mind may be self-actualizing while the rest of nature and reality could be still the realm of matter. The reality therefore would be able to contain mind and matter at the same time. I would also like to underline the importance of the nature of knowledge. We need to acknowledge that our sensory knowledge is in fact imperfect as not everyone has exactly the same perceptions and impressions of external reality. We are truly chained to our bodies and could only appreciate certitudes in the privacy of our minds. Hence, I believe that our knowledge and perceptions of reality could never be perfect. Beyond what we could know, reality may still consist of physical interpretations. Constructionism argues that perceptual experiences consist of representations that are constructed by the mind that express external reality. And perceptual experiences both involve objective from the world and subject material supplied by mind. In other words, my perceptual visions are being constructed and my experience contains the representations of that reality. Basically constructionism is the result of compromise between materialism and idealism. As the major focus of constructionism is to unveil the ways in which individuals behave to form the creation of their perceived reality, it involves looking at the ways the world is being created and shaped into reality. For this reason, I believe that reality could be seen as a continuous and dynamic process while it is reproduced by human beings acting on our interpretations and knowledge. My belief is closely in line with this view of constructionism. I think that everyone tends to interpret and construct a reality based on his or her experiences and interactions with circumstances. Although the world outside our minds is considered to be objective and material, it may still be perceived subjectively by us, depending upon different values and morals each one of us holds. The discussion of the nature of reality and its perception, however, does not end here. It is crucial to look at this issue from a different point of view; epistemology dimension. There exist two extreme arguments for describing the nature of knowledge linked to the perceptual experiences. Positive science, which is based on materialism, explains that the only true knowledge one could learn about the nature of reality is primarily dependent on science which provides objective knowledge. But this view does not fully explain the nature of knowledge. Intuitionism, which is based on idealism, asserts that there are different forms of knowledge that the mind has access to. Therefore, no empirical investigation is actually necessary. We could hardly distinguish above two different ideas about the nature of knowledge as they are closely linked to each other. In my opinion, science is used to prove and validate our intuitionism by showing the actual models and data. They both then provide us with a sense of justification for the nature of knowledge. Realizing that there are different philosophical positions about the nature of perceptual experience and its relation to reality, and to science is essential to successfully understanding the nature of reality and knowledge. We have discussed interpretations and critique of the fundamental beliefs that explain the relationship between perception and reality. As we know, it is not easy to simply conclude which theory is the most powerful in explaining such a complicated subject. I believe, however, that the constructionism is the most plausible theory that holds valid argument along with the combination of positive science and intuitionism. How we perceive the reality not only depends on the physical world and materials but also on the experience and morals we retain. Scientific data and methods as well as intuitionism and insight do play a significant role in supporting the conceptual space produced by broad philosophical positions. Because perception is a dynamic dispute between the attempts of the world to impose a reality and our efforts to transform this reality into our own perspective, it is important for us to develop our own perspective gradually. Thus, my initial position towards the nature of reality and science may still change and later shape a new theory as we go through more studies and discussions in the course of psychology.

Developing an action plan Essay Example for Free

Developing an action plan Essay The Utah Symphony has proven its ability to generate substantial sums of Revenue with both performance revenues and by securing large sums of income from governmental grants along with generous contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations. The Symphony’s ability to draw large crowds along with their demanding schedule length allows them to offer the community ample opportunities to participate. The Symphony provides sustainability for 83 full time musicians, and this allows them to concentrate on the goals of the Symphony without the worries of looking for other income opportunities. Mr. Lockhart is a very talented and experienced music director that has a personal commitment to his symphony. Mr. Lockhart’s role as the music director comes with many challenges, it is through these challenges that he has elevated the Utah Symphony to the status they enjoy today. The musicians and Mr. Lockhart have developed a relationship of trust and respect, Mr. Lockhart has publicly acknowledged how important they are to the overall success of the symphony and his success as a director. The Utah Symphony has a very demanding schedule and with it comes great expense; the symphony needs to look for cost cutting options to maintain operations. They are relying on generous governmental funding and other contributions that are simply not what the previously had been. The symphony will need to look towards the possibility of reducing its staff’s income and benefits, to overcome this shortfall, which is a hard situation to deal with. Mr. Lockhart will need to take a stronger leadership role and develop a plan to approach the musicians about the dire situation they are in and try to develop a strategy to cut cost, however his personal relationship with them present a challenge that is not easy to overcome. Another concern is Mr. Lockhart does not want be perceived as â€Å"playing second string† when it comes to his Symphony and will need to look at the bigger picture to see what is best for the Symphony. Anne will need to be as straight forward and honest as possible about the  realties that the symphony faces, with regards to budget management and cost saving techniques. She will need to gain the trust of the musicians much the same way Keith has by developing the understanding of the importance the musicians hold within the developing organization for the merger to be successful. She needs to develop a relationship with Keith and his position with the symphony that does not create tension within the merged organization. The Utah Opera has developed a business strategy that works. They are running a very profitable organization that utilizes effective methods for fundraising and obtaining other contribution resources. They have appropriated their budget to allow them to maximize what revenue they attain wisely; they will have very little reduction in governmental grants, and a projected increase in contributions for individuals, corporations and foundations in the year to come. They have a large inventory of costumes and productions sets and own the building and land they operate in. With Anne as the head of the UOC she has grown the budget from 1.5 million to almost 5 million; she’s an accomplished fund raiser for the UOC. Anne bring many talents to the UOC from stage director, to general director Anne is a very crucial part of the success of the UOC. The UOC faces a challenging future with the lack of performance revenues projected for the upcoming season and increase in production cost they may have to make adjustments to staff to maintain their level of security, however they have been running an impressive surplus of nearly half a million dollars. With the merger details made public they have had some staffing concerns and even the resignation of the Director of operations Leslie Petersen. Some members of the UOC staff feel they may be placed in the shadows of the Symphony and end up flipping the bill for the symphonies failures. Anne has undertaken a huge role within the merger of the organizations and she will need to make sure she doesn’t lose focus with the day to day operations of the UOC, since she is currently without a Director of operations. Anne has a proving record of running efficient organizations and may not be sensitive to the needs and desires of the employees from both the UOC and USO, due to her drive for efficiency. Anne needs to place a Director of operations for the UOC as soon as possible. She will need to talk with her current employees and provide the assurance they need in regards to the important role they play in a successful merger. She will want to assure that the organizations will work together as one and the UOC will not be left flipping the bills from the shadows. Anne will want to continue to meet the needs of the UOC to maintain it level of success. Analysis of Company scorecards Financially the goals of the USO and UOC are quite similar they both are concerned with financial stability with increased profitability. Fund raising is realized as being very important to maintain that profitability with the USO focused more on keeping ticket prices the same as last year and the UOC with increasing their endowment being a priority, which has one to think that the UOC is more concerned with money then the artistic exposure aspect that the USO has. Both organizations have goals of increasing profitability, with the USO planning on a significant increased goal, the UOC just wants to increase the reserve funding (there security blanket). Both organization have similar goals with respect to notoriety however due to the size and scope of the entertainment they provide, the USO has a more world vision on success with the UOC is focused on national and regional recognition. Both organizations realize their success depends on great performances and talented performers; they remain very similar in that aspect. The crowds say it all and both the UOC and USO know that feedback and attendance is very important, but they have different views on how to gauge this with the USO focused on feedback directly from exiting customer and the UOC judging this by the ability to producing sell out performances. The internal processes of the two organizations are quite different with the USO maintaining the staff of it musicians tear round, and the UOC gaining new performers for different performances, they face different sets of challenges they both negotiate salaries for the performers and talents with  profitability being a major tactic. They measure the success of the internal process differently as we with the USO depending on improving ticket sales and returning customers the UOC is depending on reviews and profitability measurements for success. With respect to learning and growth, the organizations differ slightly. They are concerned with increasing the amount of performances, with the USO focused more on gaining a younger crowd the UOC is just trying to keep sales growing. They both realize the importance of ticket sales to their success with the UOC again is concentrating on having the increase in bottom line, where as the USO wants greater returning audiences. The scorecard does address some of the strengths and weakness, I developed prior but should have a better focus on what the organizations can do to improve and assure they will be successful in the future. The balance score card may not align with all the strengths and weaknesses of an organization but it more approximately focuses on what direction the organization desires to go to meet its desired outcome. USO UOC Balanced Scorecard Financial  ·Strategic Goal: Being Financially stable with increased profitability  ·Critical Success Factor: Maintaining highly successful fundraising efforts to maintain ticket prices and endowments.  ·Measure: Increase profits providing Surplus deficits. Customer  ·Strategic Goal: Providing Top notch performances and gain Notoriety  ·Critical Success Factor: Acquiring quality performers  ·Measure: Ticket sales and exit surveys Internal Process  ·Strategic Goal: Attracting top talent while improving profitability  ·Critical Success Factor: Negotiating contracts closely to assure profitability  ·Measure: Improved profitability, and ticket sales. Learning and Growth  ·Strategic Goal: Increase of productions to more appealing crowds  ·Critical Success Factor: Increased profitability with Larger demographic  ·Measure: Return sales and exit survey results The weakness of the merged organization with regards to the financial stability will be how to distribute the profits; they both have goals to increase profitability which is a good starting point, they will just need to develop a solid plan. With regards to the customer the organization wants to increase its overall notoriety and exposure to different demo graph’s and this is a great strength they share and can benefit from. With regards to Internal processes the current goals they share to maintain profitability while negotiating salaries is a weakness due to the inherently different classes of talents the organizations face and how they can balance that difference while maintaining peace. The organizations share the goal of increased growth and exposure to a varied age group while increasing production so this should be a strength that they both will benefit from and have little trouble adapting to. With the balance scorecard in place, the financial issue that could arise would be how the profitability of the organization should be allocated, whereas the UOC is more focused on maintaining its endowment the USO is more concerned with keeping ticket sales stagnate while keeping the musicians happy. The Humans resources department will be dealing with two very different groups of talent and with the USO musicians union to deal with they will have a very challenging task with the merger.  When dealing with customer satisfaction, due to the organizations producing very different types of productions they have a level of frustration and confusion with scheduling and production run times. The best way to educate customers on the performances will be through advertisements and customer interactions such as exit surveys and questionnaires. The new merged company executive will want to develop a detailed business strategy that will show how the organization will be able to maintain its level of profitability while achieving all the financial goals it has developed. The new executive must help the Human resources department understand their roles and assemble this department from both organizations to be successful. As with any company customer satisfactions should be a priority and by educating the public about the benefits of the newly merged company and the great performances you provide can greatly increase your exposure to a larger customer base.

Types of social assistance policies

Types of social assistance policies Social policy incorporates the provision of basic services – healthcare, education, water and sanitation and other and social protection. Social security includes three principle parts: social insurance, social assistances, labour market intervention and community based or informal social protection. Social protection covers contributory projects covering life course and work-related contingencies. Social assistance contains tax financed programmes managed by government agencies and addressing deprivation and poverty. In the labour market it provide active and passive labour market policies securing basic rights while enhancing the employability. 1. Social assistance There are various diversity in designs of social assistance in developing and developed countries. In developed countries social assistance depends on an income maintenance design, and providing income transfers that aimed at filling in the poverty gap. In developing countries, it includes a variety of programme design, including pure income transfers as in non-contributory pensions or child grants and allowances; income transfers combined with asset accumulation and protection as in human development conditional transfer programmes or guaranteed employment schemes; and integrated anti-poverty programmes covering a range of poverty dimensions and addressing social exclusion There is also diversity in scale, scope and institutionalisation in social assistance across countries, and across programmes within countries. (Pellissery, Barrientos, 2013) Various social assistance whether cash transfer or employment or kind etc. is being implemented around the globe. The efficacy of the policy and programme depends upon the implementation and the impact that it create on the society, I this view the later part describe about the various form of social protection either promotive, protective, preventive or transformative. 1.1 Cash transfers â€Å"Although cash transfers are not a panacea, they have been demonstrably effective and are seen as a viable mechanism in both developmental and humanitarian contexts. Conditional Cash Transfer (CCTs), implemented in Latin America with great success, are seen to be a way of mitigating the risk of cash transfers being misused. CCTs yield rapid, positive impacts (poverty alleviation, improved health and education outcomes) and break the ‘vicious cycle’ of intergenerational poverty in the long-term. However, CCTs are criticised for having high administrative, monitoring and enforcement costs, being too reliant on targeting, having a disempowering effect on recipients and negatively affecting overall levels of consumption amongst both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries.† (Scott, 2012) 1.2 Cash transfers in emergencies Cash transfer can be effective during emergency or crisis while offering a protective mechanism which has immediate effect on the person through various means either innovative like mobile banking etc or tradition by cash in hand or in bank. It support when the formal institution of protection is failed and there is no other alternative for social protection. 1.3 Social Pensions It is a non-contributory pension which include a targeted cash transfer by age or widow or people with disability. Various study shows that the cash transfer in the context of social pension gave confidence and support to the targeted person or household. In general the literature suggests that social pensions have been employed particularly successfully in southern African context. 1.4 Public works programmes It is a type of conditional transfer where cash or food is given in exchange for work on public infrastructure projects, such as road building. During recent times these social protection measure is widely applied around the globe due to consequence of food and financial crisis. This measure create assets, produce jobs and somehow targeted as it be unattractive to the non-poor due to low wages or ration are paid. Though the sustainability of this measure is till when the state is willing to provide because it creates a dependency on state. Available study indicate that while short term public works create and promote consumption and demand during the market failure but the long-term social protection function is likely to be limited unless guaranteed employment is introduced. 1.5 In-kind transfers â€Å"In-kind transfer’s non-cash assets went to vulnerable or deprived individuals and households, often with the aim of modifying or influencing the behaviour of recipients. There is considerable debate over whether in-kind transfers should be favoured over cash transfers, despite the latter being popular for providing beneficiaries with choice in accordance with needs, as well as providing an opportunity for investment†. (Zoe Scott, 2012) 1.6 Food There has been numerous debate on food vs cash transfer around the globe since and prior to 1970s, on whether food transfer can be used as an alternative to cash or both are complementary to each other, whether food transfers are a nutritional or economic intervention, whether they aim to only ‘feed people’ or aim to support livelihoods. It has been thought that when there will be food crisis either by market failure or shortage due to lack of supply, or there be a crisis when food are needed, food transfer are preferable, beside other protective measure. 1.7 Utility subsidies Protection in the form of utility such as housing, electricity and water are provided to lessen the burden of expenditure on these items by people, though despite having the provision of Indira awas yojana along with various scheme, it has been widely accepted that the benefits of utility subsidy doesn’t reach the target people or communities living in an area withought electricity and water. It has been seen as more costly to implement than other form of social assistance. Despite being costly housing subsidy runs with less risks of excluding the most vulnerable. 1.8 Health fee waivers There is large debate going on Universal health care and targeted health care. One provide a system through which everyone are eligible for health care while contributing up to the fiscal budget whereas targeted has its own flaw of selection and implementation and reach to the targeted people. Though it has been inferred that health service waivers or health fee waiver or exemptions will only be effective if there would be a nationwide policy which effectively monitored and enforced at local and national levels 1.9 In India context In India the introduction of social assistance were introduced since the British period but it was only for the employee in formal sector and a large portion of population, those who were employed in informal sector were excluded from this. And again after independence until the 1990s the main focus of central government were rural development and social protection didn’t get much attention. There were many rural development program such as integrated rural development program or anti-poverty program, which aimed to provide food and nutrition, basic services like education, healthcare, and housing and employment generation came. In meantime many state introduced various program such as +pension for agricultural landless labourer, maternity benefits, disability benefit etc. depending upon the need but very often these program were introduced as electoral instruments to gain votes. It is important to notice the welfare regime in India could be classified as clientelist or populi st. In the last two decades, there has been a reversal of the story.† The central government has enacted a number of social assistance measures by enacting court enforceable right-based promises to the erstwhile directive principles (such as right to education, right to employment and others) enshrined in the Constitution of India. From the point view of social assistance, three developments are important. First, in 1995 the central government introduced the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) under which five different benefits were provided. They complemented existing provision by federal states. These benefits were the Old-Age Pension Scheme (reaching 8.3% of elderly households), Widow Pension Scheme (6.2% of widow households), Disability Pension Scheme (reaching 14.1% of disabled households), Family Benefit Scheme (onetime relief for the families where main breadwinner accidently died) and Annapurna (food for the elderly households† (Pellissery, Barrientos, 2013) The second and third development took place when the Congress Party-headed United Progressive Alliance government assumed power in 2004. A clamour for food security were supported by civil society movement along with right to employment boost the fillip of decade in the context of social protection. Later the UPA government put forth the social security program for unorganised sector workers, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, designed particularly for the workforce in the unorganised sector. That has already provided insurance against hospitalisation to 40 million households. Along with other social protection scheme or program there come various rights which insures social security but the reality seems different. One of the most interesting and effective social assisistance in the developing world is the Brazil’s Bolsa Familia. The Brazilian constitution enshrined a right to social protection and that led to consideration on the role and scope of social security and on the rol e of government to providing it is based on the citizenship principle and for all Brazzilians. 2. Social insurance .â€Å"Social insurance schemes are contributory programmes in which beneficiaries make regular financial contributions in order to join a scheme that will reduce risk in the event of a shock. Because health costs can be very high, health insurance schemes are a popular way of mitigating risk from illness. However, some people argue that they are too expensive for the Poor and should be complemented with social assistance. Other types of social insurance schemes include contributory pensions, unemployment insurance, funeral assistance and disaster insurance. Social insurance is strongly linked to the formalised labour market, meaning that coverage is determined by number of formal workers in a country. The informal labour market therefore presents a strong challenge to the success of social insurance programmes†. (Scott, 2012) 3. Labour market interventions Labour market interventions give protection to poor people who are able to work. Interventions are both active and passive. The active programmes or policy in the context of social protection include training and skills development and employment counselling, whereas passive interventions include, income support, unemployment insurance and changes to labour legislation, for example in Establishing a safe working conditions or minimum wage. Labour market social protection provide various social assistance and cash transfer programmes and can be integrated into longer-term development strategies 4. Community-based social protection Formal social protection framework do not offer complete coverage and exclude a section of society. â€Å"A variety of conventional or ‘informal’ ways of providing social protection to households, groups and networks fill some of the gaps left by formal social protection interventions and distribute risk within a community. There is also considerable interest in the potential for community-based mechanisms to be scaled up in order to undertake wider development activities, and in how to create links between social security schemes and community-based approaches with the aim of extending coverage to meet the challenge of providing adequate health services to the developing world.† (Zoe Scott, 2012) 2. Residual and institutional social welfare Residual idea of social welfare says in the distribution of social welfare, government should have a limited role. The underlying assumption is that the individual is free to do anything unless it doesn’t harm other and majority of population will find their sustenance and assistance by their own, either by market mechanism, family or social network. So the state only intervene when they fail to support themselves and unable to find any support system. Whereas the institution school of thought describe state as protecting individuals from the social cost of capitalist economy. does Social protection a residual social welfare The â€Å"Directive Principles† of the Constitution give obligation to the government and its policy to lay down goals and direction for the realisation of the rights. Article 41, 45 and 47 gave a sense of social protection but for the nuanced understanding of the rights and its realisation we have to look at the reality of its content and implementation. Article 41. which directs the state to â€Å"within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want†; Article 45. by which â€Å"the State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children.† Article 47. by which â€Å"the State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties. (Constitution of India, ministry of law and justice) Society exist because it is in everyone interest to have peace and peace can only prevail if there is sovereign authority to punish those who breach it. There are various indication and updates about the failure of government machinery in india.in the context of social protection the policies and programme that are intended to reach the beneficiary doesn’t reach to them and in the lack of proper institution mechanism the policy itself became a residual in approach. Be it old age pension scheme or MGNREGA. The dominant logic is that the poor are the ward of the state and the state have the responsibility of taking care of its citizen especially poor. But the other school of thought says that the bigger the size of government the larger the burden on the populace. The more government subsidies the resources for the poor the more likely to vulnerability during the failure of support system by the state because of their dependency on the state. A key challenge faced at the time of introduction of all social assistance programme is from the right-wing that social assistance expenditure is both ineffective and wasteful. What been effective to counter such a position has been the discourse on inequality? The growth story of India has widened inequality rather than bridge the gap. Therefore, introduction of social assistance was seen as helping to act as an inclusive instrument for the poorer sections. Pellissery, Barrientos, 2013). The presence of institutional mechanism but the delivery of services create an atmosphere where the social protection turn up as just a residual kind of thing to the people. There are around 300 different type of anti-poverty scheme in India that is spread over 13 different ministries. But the integration among them is hardly seen visible. In the name of financial inclusion the still â€Å"Krishna get the credit but nobody think about Sudama†. The millennium development goal vow for eradicating poverty but still some part of the globe still suffering from hunger and malnutrition and chronic poverty

Risks Involved with The Human Genome Project Essay -- Argumentative Pe

Risks Involved with The Human Genome Project The man in the black suit solemnly steps out of the car. His wife scrambles to catch up with his swift pace. She offers an encouraging tone or two, but the man doesn’t listen. He plunges through the brass, a genetically altered combination of the common bush and grass species, both eyes set on his house. The next-door neighbors dash over to interrogate the deserted wife. The neighbors appear instantaneously in hot pink, plastic body suits, with tanks of oxygen attached to their backs. (This elaborate outfit, for those who may not know, is a common protection against identity impersonation. The decoding of the human genome inadvertently supplies criminals with an ideal method to steal another person’s identity; identity thieves need only a single cell from a person to detect everything about him or her. Body suits, in addition to setting a fashionable trend, safe-guard against this possibility by trapping all cells within the suit itself.) The wife struggles to suppress a deluge of tears as she warmly hugs her plastic encased neighbors. She briefly relates the day’s events. Her husband lost the court case. He was accused of harboring the gene for prostate cancer, and after a simple genetic test, the accusation was confirmed. Her husband had twenty-four hours to move into a quarantined house, located in an abandoned section of the city. He would live there indefinitely with other potential prostate cancer victims. By isolating all people predisposed to prostate cancer, officials hope to eliminate prostate cancer from the gene pool. The wife is purely devastated that reality is manifesting itself so harshly in her life. The neighbors attempt to console her, but they are quite reli... ...tter than another. It can be difficult to discern where exactly the comparisons should cease. The Human Genome Project deserves to have a few cautious skeptics. A breakthrough of this magnitude needs to be carefully examined before assimilated into our culture. Yet, at the same time, this breakthrough has become the very epitome of engineering feats for mankind. My mixed feelings parallel an exemplary quote from The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist by Richard Feynman. â€Å"Trying to understand the way nature works involves a most terrible test of human reasoning ability. It involves subtle trickery, beautiful tight ropes of logic on which one has to walk, in order not to make a mistake in predicting what will happen† (15). Work Cited Feynman, Richard P. The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist. Reading: Perseus Books, 1998.

Effects of Religious Education on Theme and Style of James Joyces The

Effects of Religious Education on Theme and Style of James Joyce's The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Although Joyce rejected Catholic beliefs, the influence of his early training and education is pervasive in his work. The parallels between Biblical text and The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man are abundant. As Cranly says to Stephen, "It is a curious thing, do you know, how your mind is supersaturated with the religion in which you say you disbelieve" (232). The novel progresses in a way that seems Biblical in nature; thematically it compares with the creation and fall of man and/or Lucifer. In addition, the style is at times similar to Biblical text, using familiar rhythm, repetition, phrasing and imagery. As with the Bible, Joyce begins his novel with the importance of the word. He then relates sensual impressions, as if a newly formed creature were experiencing the physical world. Then, as the center of his universe, Stephen also learns the meaning of words and the power of words. He is like Adam bringing order to things by giving them names. But Stephen's knowledge comes not only from the material world, he learns through a sudden-knowing, similar to spiritual understanding, a process Joyce calls intuitive or epiphany. His thirst for knowledge both intellectual and sensual brings him in conflict with his father (Jesuit and heavenly). He falls from grace and experiences hell (through the power of word and his very vivid imagination). Because of his terror of hell he responds at first with repentance, but after reflection, with defiance. At the end of the novel he leaves his homeland, his place of origin, and prepares to begin a new life in a new land. THE WORD In the beginning was the word. Throu... ...because of what has happened to him, but because of his response to those events. He was not the only young Irish boy to have a self-sacrificing saintly mother and an irresponsible drunkard father. He was one of hundreds if not thousands of boys to be indoctrinated and trained by the Jesuits. What made him different was his response and that response was unique to him, and that uniqueness was born in him. So, the ultimate conclusion of the novel is that the artist is born, not made by human ways, but created by the powers of nature and/or God. Works Cited: Joyce, James. The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. New York: The Viking Press, Inc., 1958. Joyce, Stanislaus. My Brother's Keeper James Joyce's Early Years. New York: The Viking Press, 1993. Levin, Harry. James Joyce, A Critical Introduction. New York: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1960. Effects of Religious Education on Theme and Style of James Joyce's The Effects of Religious Education on Theme and Style of James Joyce's The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Although Joyce rejected Catholic beliefs, the influence of his early training and education is pervasive in his work. The parallels between Biblical text and The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man are abundant. As Cranly says to Stephen, "It is a curious thing, do you know, how your mind is supersaturated with the religion in which you say you disbelieve" (232). The novel progresses in a way that seems Biblical in nature; thematically it compares with the creation and fall of man and/or Lucifer. In addition, the style is at times similar to Biblical text, using familiar rhythm, repetition, phrasing and imagery. As with the Bible, Joyce begins his novel with the importance of the word. He then relates sensual impressions, as if a newly formed creature were experiencing the physical world. Then, as the center of his universe, Stephen also learns the meaning of words and the power of words. He is like Adam bringing order to things by giving them names. But Stephen's knowledge comes not only from the material world, he learns through a sudden-knowing, similar to spiritual understanding, a process Joyce calls intuitive or epiphany. His thirst for knowledge both intellectual and sensual brings him in conflict with his father (Jesuit and heavenly). He falls from grace and experiences hell (through the power of word and his very vivid imagination). Because of his terror of hell he responds at first with repentance, but after reflection, with defiance. At the end of the novel he leaves his homeland, his place of origin, and prepares to begin a new life in a new land. THE WORD In the beginning was the word. Throu... ...because of what has happened to him, but because of his response to those events. He was not the only young Irish boy to have a self-sacrificing saintly mother and an irresponsible drunkard father. He was one of hundreds if not thousands of boys to be indoctrinated and trained by the Jesuits. What made him different was his response and that response was unique to him, and that uniqueness was born in him. So, the ultimate conclusion of the novel is that the artist is born, not made by human ways, but created by the powers of nature and/or God. Works Cited: Joyce, James. The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. New York: The Viking Press, Inc., 1958. Joyce, Stanislaus. My Brother's Keeper James Joyce's Early Years. New York: The Viking Press, 1993. Levin, Harry. James Joyce, A Critical Introduction. New York: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1960.

Arthur Koestlers Darkness At Noon :: essays research papers

Arthur Koestler: ‘Darkness at Noon’ Revolutionary and political ethics ‘Darkness at Noon’ is the second novel of a trilogy, which revolves around the central theme of revolutionary ethics, and of political ethics in general: the problem whether, or to what extent, a noble ends justifies ignoble means, and the related conflict between morality and expediency. The theme of the novel relates to the ever-present predicament faced by the leaders of any political party or revolutionary movement, from the slave revolt in the first century to the Old Bolsheviks of the nineteen thirties. Revolutionary ethics or the issues faced in revolutionary movements are timeless, and as an incentive to writing his novel, Arthur Koestler was troubled by this theory, and also by the regime of terror that was governed by Stalin this century. This issue of whether a noble end justifies ignoble means is the revolutionary predicament that Koestler refers to, and was the question that he aspired to resolve. From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ – which means, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Matthew 27:45-46) Darkness at Noon is a fictional account of the truth behind the Stalinist State at the close of the infamous Moscow Show Trials in 1938, where forty-eight of the fifty-four on the executive of the Communist Party were dead. All members of the party knew that Lenin and Trotsky had been the real leaders of the Revolution and consequently they did not accept Stalin as the successor to Lenin. So accordingly, as Stalin was aware of the aspirations against him, as he consolidated power it became more dangerous to have known Lenin. The result of this was that over 70% of the Seventeenth Party Congress, which was held in 1934, had been arrested and executed; in Stalin’s opinion, these people had outlived their usefulness. Through the thoughts and actions of the main character, Nicolas Salmanovitch Rubashov, an Old Bolshevik, the Soviet politics between 1917 and the Stalin era were outlined. The party’s transformation disturbed Rubashov, as a member of the party, but he did not wish to be expelled, so he continued to work with the Party against his conscious. Rubashov did everything that was asked of him, and therefore in essence he was a loyal Party member.

Of Mice and Men †Critique Essay

Of Mice and Men, directed by Gary Sinise, is a four star movie compared to the book, written by John Steinbeck in 1937. The movie was produced 55 years later in 1992, yet still captures the faithful companionship between George and Lennie. Sinise also manages to depict Steinbeck’s main themes and develops the characters almost up to the same level. The first difference I would like to explain to prospective audiences is how director Gary Sinise adapts the movie Of Mice and Men to viewers’ preferences and excludes John Steinbeck’s literary sense and purpose. For example, Steinbeck starts the novel with a scene after they have run away from a ranch because of a mishap with Lennie accidentally harassing a woman. Sinise begins with the scene just before- when Lennie and George are actually running away from the ranch owners, equipped with horses and dogs, to save their lives. The working scenes have been lengthened to show the audience the exhausting labor of the ranch hands. It is â€Å"dumb-proofed† for the viewers in order to keep them interested and attached to the film. The aspects of filming, of course, differ from the aspects of the imagination. Gary Sinise must use his own imagination and construct those images into reality on film. He has to cast the actors according to skill and appearance, develop scenes to suit the common people’s taste, he must worry about costumes, makeup, shooting, sets, set changes, time spans†¦ and the most stressful of them all, working with other people to illustrate his view of Of Mice and Men. One can’t be too harsh in critiquing a movie when its predecessor is a novel by John Steinbeck. There can be, naturally, absolutely no comparison to the human imagination, but Sinise does it with only a few imperfections and adjustments to the plot. Let me commence with Sinise’s choice of casting. Lennie, played by John Malkovich, maintains the childlike, simple character Steinbeck creates in his novel. Other film critics might disagree with me, but I believe that Malkovich was entirely convincing thro ughout his performance. George, played by Gary Sinise himself (and I must say that he must be partially â€Å"self-satisfied† to cast himself) was a confusing actor at times, changing his relationship to Lennie on several different occasions. He is, on one hand, very harsh towards Lennie and tells him what to do and what not to do, basically being domineering. On the other hand, however, George seems to be very compassionate and caring in his relationship with Lennie. Honestly, I was confused. Does George really want Lennie around, or is he just loyal to his promise to Lennie’s aunt, Clara? Who is George? Hopefully you can comprehend this sporadic behavior, because I certainly have not. An example of this is when George cleans the blood off of Lennie’s face after a fight- his movements are gentle and kind, whereas when George forces Lennie to stay at the ranch while ‘the guys’ go out for a drink. His attitudes in these two incidents are totally opposing each other. At least in Steinbeck’s book it was clear that although George was officious, he loved him. George’s annoyance is weaker than his profound unity and one-ness with him. Curley’s wife is described as a very racist, harmful, flirtatious person, who is all too aware of her power and consequently abuses it. For example, she threatens an innocent Crooks, â€Å"‘Listen, Nigger,’ she said, ‘You know what I can do to you if you open your trap?'†1 Sinise’s depiction of her in the movie, however, is not as despicable. She holds a pitiable role and always is portrayed as the victim. The audience begins to sympathize with her, although, in the book, she was the one to initiate all the trouble. Curley’s wife, in the novel, abused Lennie’s stupidity and the fact that he was fascinated by her- Sinise shows the opposite in the movie, because he represents her attraction to Lennie as one of friendship. Sinise also had to think about the skill of his actors. It seemed as though Sinise chose the actors well, because they fundamentally illustrated the feelings of the director and how he wanted to have the characters form relationships and emotions. Although the casting and level of skill was satisfactory, Sinise sometimes made scenes too extensive and irrelevant to the topic of the book. For example, when Lennie kills the puppy in the barn, he does not throw it away as he does in the book. Another similar difference is when Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife by breaking her neck and he does not cover her in the hay, also left out from the novel. This is a mistake, because concealing the puppy and Curley’s wife shows that Lennie is remorseful of the acts he has committed, and in the movie it is not shown like that. Sinise must also consider camera shooting. Obviously camera shots are not as effective as the descriptions in the book, because you can picture what you want, and not only what the director guesses you will want to see. Sinise, as all directors, tells the audience what to imagine. Therefore it is not as interesting as reading the book yourself and letting your imagination grow. So, if I were to recommend this movie to you, I would recommend reading the novel first. Reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck will show you what I am talking about in the movie. Because Steinbeck’s intentions are slightly altered in the film, you can fully appreciate this piece of theater whilst valuing the literature it sprung from. Sinise changes feelings, maybe not intentionally, but however hard he tried, he didn’t succeed perfectly. I won’t be too critical- perhaps he had to make cuts which thus excluding important relationship formations or conclusions. Overall the movie was good, but the book is of no comparison. Read Steinbeck’s version first, then decide for yourself. Me? I’m only one opinion. 1 John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Penguin Books, (c)1937, London, England. Page 80.

J.C. Penney’s “Fair and Square” Pricing Strategy Essay

sell is hard, and thats what Steve Jobs verbalize to me when we started break ins at orchard apple tree. Ron rear endson, CEO, J.C. Penney1It was exalted 2012 and the release of second ass hire was looming for Ron Johnson, the chief executive transfericer of J.C. Penney, whiz of Americas archetypal surgical incision investment degradeds. Johnson, HBS 84, had intimated to W to each single(prenominal) Street that the sell merchants second quarter results were handlely to turn a loss evaluateations hotshot bit to a greater extent, fol sound- leaving grimy freshman quarter results that had move the smart sets subscriber line expenditure carg mavinning to less(prenominal)(prenominal) than angiotensin converting enzyme-half of its February 2012 set of $43 a function. The Q1 freshlys released in May was grim a $163 wiz railyard one thousand thousand loss, very(prenominal) investment trust revenue devour 19%, and the number of nodes break in J.C. Penney stash a trends run through and through 10%. These results were resolveicularly demoralizing granted the orders home re investing of its stemma ideal and its tick arrive at in February 2012. The centerpiece of the repositioning orifice was a switch from J.C. Penneys quick superior- showmagazine determine outline, in which the retail merchant ran stag gross revenue to tin guests tardily discounts collide with of its last list wrongs, to a smart dodge the fel sm for any(prenominal)ship dubbed moderately and shape set. bewitching and ivsquargon impairment was meant to alter J.C. Penneys set structure and s total it to a greater extent straightforward for guests to surf. It offered great monetary cling tos any daytime, with less condescend worth promotions. The troupe t emergeed its red-hot determine strategy as religious religious offering no plunk fors, no gimmicks and invited consumers to do the math to see how it offered them chea per prices on a regular basis with less hassle. lamentable a federal agency from high-low set was a immense gaucherie for J.C. Penney. In 2011, the retailer fagged $1.2 billion to execute 590 divers(prenominal) gross revenue events and promotions2 and generated 72% of its $17.3 billion in stratumly revenue from intersection points s previous(a)er at inculcate discounts of ofttimes than 50% off of the sign list price.3 W every Street was initi on the wholey realiseive of the companys intents for salmagundi.Investors, who sent J.C. Penneys standard soaring up 24% side by side(p) the announcement of the in the raw price innovation, viewed it as a stylus for J.C. Penney to escape the ruthless d featureward corkscrew of escalating price promotions that gripped Americas retailers fight to survive the economic recession. just now by mid-summer 2012, customers and sh argonh previous(a)ers appe ard to be voting with their feet, leaving the retailer in droves. Was John sons brand- unused determine strategy misguided or was it dep dyingable a matter of beat onwards customers fully embraced it? Johnson was chthonian enormous pressure sensation to turn things roughly quickly as the all-important acantha-to-school and holiday obtain seasons were imminent. umpteen voices were art on him to consider ever-ever-changing the set strategy again.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ HBS professor Elie Ofek and Professor Jill Avery (Simmons cultivate of Management) prep atomic number 18d this case. This case was veritable from published sources. HBS cases be genuine solo as the basis for tie discussion. Cases are non return to serve as endorsements, sources of primary coil entropy, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management. Copy counterbalance 2012, 2013 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To enact copies or request permission to regorge materials, call 1-800-5457685, write Harvard line of reasoning School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators. This effect may non be digitized, photocopied, or otherwise reproduced, posted, or transmitted, with bulge the permission of Harvard Business School.This document is authorized for recitation fill outly by Jack Cherewatti in MKTG MGMT taught by S. Adam Brasel Boston College from November 2014 to May 2015.For the scoop use of J. Cherewatti513-036J.C. Penneys intermediate and unbowed determine StrategyCompany desk dieJohnson was at the helm of what at one time was considered Americas al virtuallyvenerated plane section bloodline. Once the voluminousst crock up storage chain in the country with every seat 2,000 break ins, as of 2012, the 110 year old retailer operated 1,100 stores, claiming to serve to a greater extent than half of Americas households with 41 meg square feet of retail space. Founded by jam Cash Penney in 19 02, the companys first outlet was opened in a Wyoming mining town under the name The Golden Rule, that signified its doctrine of treating customers the centering Penney himself wished to be treated. Johnson believed that his intermediate and feather price plan corresponded to the founders beliefs, Now if you go back to the foot of this company, James Cash Penney believed in casual fair prices. He said, We perk up dressedt loot goods up just to mark them down. We wear upont believe in bargains.4 The company enjoyed days of speedy growth and expansion. By its 50th anniversary, annual gross sales exceeded $1 billion.It initially offered consumers one stop shop as a mass intersectionr, selling low-key goods, such(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) as clothing, as well as hard goods, such as appliances, hardware, electronics, and middling-living goods. Its retail railway line was joined by a mail order catalog in 1963 and an ecommerce meshingsite in 1998. However, following poser times in the 1980s, the company re setd, phasing out its hard goods lines and refocusing on its soft goods to make a fashion orientated part store. only by its hundredth anniversary, the company appeared to be running out of steam. terms-oriented mass merchandisers, such as Walmart and Tar express, had garnered the press down end of the grocery, while high end plane section stores, such as Macys and Nordstroms, were catering to the upwardly mobile diaphragm class.Although the economic recession of 2008 was difficult for all retailers due to consumers increase frugality, middle securities industry retailers, resembling J.C. Penney and Sears, were hit the hardest. By 2011, J.C. Penneys stores were old, often disorganized, and faded, and the blemish and its merchandise were start to lay hold dated. About 400 of its stores were hardened in teensy towns, such as Alpena, Michigan with a population of a shrimpy everyplace 10,000. In such towns, there we re often only few, if any, other department stores. The remaining 700 or so stores were located in major metropolitan arenas, often in suburban malls, such as the Northshore Mall in Peabody, mom (15 miles north of Boston).Following days of store closings, sales malaise, declining market share,slumping earnings, and weak line of work market performance, activist investor and hedge computer memory manager, William Ackman (HBS 92) obtained an 18% majority shareholder position in the company in 20102011. He was mulish to turn J.C Penney around and overstretch its apprise, much of which was locked up in its colossal real estate holdings that were estimated to be worth(predicate) $11 billion.5 J.C. Penney owned 400 of its retail stores and paid low rents (an middling of less than $5 per square foot) for the remainder. Specialty stores order care Gap paid much higher rents (around $40 per square foot) for their retail space.6 estimateing at to shake up the company, Ackman wa s instrumental in luring Johnson to sway the CEO position. Johnson was a extensive catch.In the 1990s, he was vice hot seat of merchandising at Tar countenance where he suc heartd transform the mass merchandiser into a hot retail brand selling stylish yet affordable intersection points. During his time there, Johnson negotiated a contract with designer Michael Graves, solution Targets profitable partnerships with high end designers, which enhanced its brand project as a chic, fashion-forward retailer. Starting in 2000, he growed with Steve Jobs to develop the wildly victorious Apple retail stores. Johnson was the brainchild so-and-so the Genius Bars concept, a indigent technical do and support area staffed by jockeyledgeable customer supporter representatives, widely touted as one of the or so innovative retail concepts of the withstand decade. Johnson was regarded by numerous as fictive and pertinacious according to a friend, What tribe love more approximate ly(predicate) him than his talent was his persistence. He was just relentless.7 Johnsons deep retail learn combined with his sanitary charisma and boyish enthusiasm rent him the perfect change agent. The media dubbed him the Steve Jobs of the retail constancy and on the day his appointment was announce J.C. Penneys stock jumped 18%.An perseverance under PressureJ.C. Penneys 2011 sales were lower than they were in the 1990s and the retail landscape was acquiring more competitive. department stores, in particular, were under increased pressure. cast away(predicate)d retail formats, such as king-size box retailers care Walmart that operated costless stand su percentageers selling mass merchandise and small oddment stores like Gap and J. cluster that were located in obtain malls and offered alter merchandise, were squeezing department stores out of the market (see give away 2). An emerging challenge came from large international clothing retailers, such as H&M and ZAR A, that were battlefully come in the U.S. market.These retailers relied on shorter merchandise life cycles and partnerships with top designers to offer luxuriant-fashion merchandise at sex actly low prices. Johnson explained the challenge as he stepped into his new role Over the historic 30 years the department store has become a less pertinent part of the retail infrastructure, largely because of decisions the stores micturate made. As America exploded with outstanding box and special(a)ty stores and new obtain formats, department stores abdicated their peculiar role sooner of engaging the competition. They retreated from categories and assortments that made them distinctive. subdivision stores were once the or so popular places for Ameri apprizes to shop, offering distinctive merchandise in elegant settings that provided special dish ups, such as tearooms, salons, and on-the-spot(prenominal) tailoring, and served as affable hubs. Johnson reminisced, In the gilt age of department stores, Americas families came for more than just to shop. They were able to cod fun experiences and were offered a range of expedient services. . . . If we require to transform the department store, we concord a bun in the oven to hear what happened. These stores were a pillar of the community.9 Johnson, unalike others, believed that department stores could be revived. thithers no reason department stores ceaset flourish. They can be peoples favourite(a) place to shop. Theyve got all these strategical advantagesthe lowest speak to of real estate, olympian access to merchandise, casing to bring to pass enormous trade power, colocation with specialty stores. And people like storeswith huge assortments and one-stop shopping.10J.C. Penneys performance had been lackluster for sort of some time, and the retailer was losing market share even within the shrinking department store channel (see acquaints 3 and 4). Competitors Macys and Kohls were nipping at J.C. Penneys business from twain the high and low end. The average J.C. Penney customer only visited a store quadruplet times per year and sales per square foot ($156) were low compared to those of its competitors and the specialty stores Johnson hoped to emulate (Gap $30011, Apple $5,626 in sales per square foot).12 division stores and big box stores had increased their promotional budgets since the outbreak of the Great Recession in 2007 and just about apply blockbuster sales, coupons, and frequent price promotion to fight acquires. match to consulting firm A.T. Kearney, more than 40% of the spots Americans bought in 2011 were bought on sale, up from 10% in 1990.13 Many retailers were eager to wean shoppers off of the big discounts that had become commonplace.Competition was likewise increasing from online retailing. Yet Johnson believed brick and mortar stores were lull relevant, Physical stores are still the primary way people acquire merchandise and I think that b equeath be true 50 years from now. . . . A store has got to be much more than a place to acquire merchandise. Its got to help people enrich their gets. If the store just fulfills a specific product need, its non creating new types of judge for the consumer. Its transacting. Any website can do that.14 Many of J.C. Penneys largest competitors, such as Macys, seemed to fix a differentview and were investing heavily in their e-commerce operations and in catering to what they called the omnichannel consumer, who accessed the retailer through the web, on mobile devices or in physical stores (often as part of the similar purchase decision). Although it had been a start in multi-channel commerce, with 2001 combined catalog and web sales of about $3.4 billion, J.C. Penneys ecommerce sales had stagnated over the last tercet years while those of Macys and Kohls had grownup substantially during the same time frame.15 (See scupper 5 for E-commerce sales growth).J.C. Penneys musical th eme MakeoverFollowing his appointment in November 2011, Johnson determined that nonhing short of a complete overhaul would solve J.C. Penneys problems. ripe two calendar calendar months afterwards winning the helm, Johnson and his freshly recruited leadership team, culled largely from Apple and Target, inform a radical repositioning of the J.C. Penney business model and brand. Following the announcement, Forbes time dubbed J.C. Penney the nearly interesting retail story of the year, proclaiming, This week, Johnson took a sledgehammer to the J.C. Penney way of doing business. Its the more or less exciting thing Ive seen in retail since Apple opened stores, again with Johnson at the helm.16 The turnaround plan evoked J.C. Penneys founding spirit, and Johnson judge it a reclamation of the companys heritage. J.C. Penneys website announced, Over 100 years ago, James Cash Penney founded his company on the principle of treating customers the way he cherished to be treated himse lf fair and square.Today, root in its rich heritage, J.C. Penney Company, Inc. is re-imagining every setting of its business in order to recover its birthright and become Americas favorite store. . . . At every visit, customers lead discover straightforward Fair and lame determine.17 The four-year plan involved some(prenominal) distinct, yet integrated elements that touched every part of the business and were knowing to remediate a golden age department store that appealed to all Americans, across age, income, and geographic demographics. As Johnson explained, We are termination to second thought every aspect of our business, boldly betroth change, and create colossal-term shareholder value, as we become Americas favorite store. Every initiative we pursue go forth be guided by our core value to treat customers as we would like to be treatedfair and square.18New LogoJ.C. Penney had been tinkering with its brand logotypetype, changing it common chord times in three year s. In 2011, the company asked the public for help in redesigning the logo in a crowd-sourcing experiment. The winning design was submitted by a University of Cincinnati student and was unveiled with much instant via social media. In 2012, Johnson scrapped this design and leased an agency to redesign the logo once again. The new logo evoked the American flag with red, white, and blue colors and the letter jcp in lower case shell within a square that be the new Fair and forthrightly mantra. J.C. Penney, which umpteen affectionately called Penneys would now be known as jcp. (See Exhibit 6 for the new logo.)New Brand exemplar matchless of the most exciting and polemical developments of the plan was the announcement of comedian and remonstrate show host Ellen DeGeneres as the new brand spokesperson. DeGeneres, who once worked at a J.C. Penney store as a teenager in Louisiana, appeared in television advertisement, developed J.C. Penney themed skits for her popular talk show, a nd tweeted about the company on Twitter. Johnson proclaimed DeGeneres to be one of the most fun and vibrant people in entertainment today, with great high temperature and a down-to-earth attitude. . . . Importantly, we share the same fundamental values as Ellen.19Shortly after DeGeneres advertising de only, the buttoned-up Christian crowd 1 gazillion Moms took offense, citing DeGeneres homosexuality asproblematic for the brands image and its tralatitious family shopper demographic. The group asked its members to boycott J.C. Penney and to call their local store manager to ask for DeGeneres removal as spokesperson. DeGeneres went on the offensive to defend her ad hominem values and to reassert her relationship with her fans and with J.C. Penney, producing a witty, yet heartmatt-up response delivered on her talk show that quickly went viral on the social web. A firestorm erupted and compete out on J.C. Penneys Facebook page, where both(prenominal) pro- and anti-gay posters pl edged their support for and/or rejection of the retailer. J.C. Penney survived the dispute by standing firmly poop its choice of spokesperson. The pro analyse event generated authoritative positive press for the company and Facebook feedback was more positive than negative. Riding the ramble of publicity, J.C. Penney went on to feature two gay dads in a widely touted Fathers twenty-four moments advertising campaign.New remembering DesignWhile the new logo and spokesperson were short-term fixes that could be punish quickly, Johnson knew from his experience at Apple that, to genuinely make a difference, he had to make significant changes to the product offering, a protracted term proposition. He embarked on a multi-year plan to re-energize and redesign J.C. Penneys product offering and its merchandising at retail. He began by forging new provider relationships with top brands like Martha Stewart and hot designers like Nanette Lepore to create J.C. Penney-specific merchandise lines, a strategy reminiscent of Target. He then went to work to improve the quality of J.C. Penneys sink and dated private label brands, Worthington, St. Johns Bay, The Original Arizona Jeans Co, and Stafford, to animate them and restore their brand integrity. These efforts could in addition flesh on J.C. Penneys recent purchase of the Liz Claiborne brands (which, among others, included Liz Claiborne branded apparel, Lucky Jeans, Kate dig and Juicy Couture) and the on press release opening of about 300 Sephora locations inside J.C. Penney stores, which offered a assume set of Sephora beauty care products.20 He envisioned the in-store retail purlieu as a series of interactional specialty Shops, along a visually engaging and vibrant Street, with a ab passe-partout Square that would serve as the social hub of the store. J.C. Penneys vast array ofmerchandise, shortly hung on move racks and shelves, would be regrouped and merchandised in 80-100 stores-within-a-store, each mea nt to simulate the acquireing experience of a specialty shop. The first shop to appear was devoted to jeans and featured a denim bar, trained fit specialists, and Levis innovative Curve ID program that helped women check the right jeans for their body type (see Exhibit 7). Plans for future shops included Joe Fresh and Mango. The company mean to install two to three new shops each month, beginning in August 2012, over a four year period. Many of the shops were designed to wedge in younger shoppers, a shortage in J.C. Penneys current customer base.The Street would consist of wider aisles with a fresh, clean account, more rain cats and dogslined with less signage and bold, colorful, upmarket graphics featuring the square from the new logo (see Exhibit 8). Each month would consent its own unique privateity and color- scratchd signage that changed the look of the store to freshen its appeal. Ten thousand square feet at the center of the store would be designated for the Town Sq uare. In this area, J.C. Penney planned to offer complimentary services, such as gift wrapping, and special promotional events to create fun and excitement. During the summer of 2012, the company offered giving hot dogs and ice cream, free Go USA Olympic t-shirts during the Summer Olympics, and free back-to-school haircuts for school children. Johnson summarized his vision for the new environment, We are going to make the store a place people love to come-just to come. Well transform the buying experience non unlike what we did at Apple.21New gross sales StructureTo support the new retail environment, Johnson needed to re-energize J.C. Penneys sales force. His aim was to create a team of specialists who were product experts, much like Apples Geniuses. J.C. Penney sales clerks had unendingly been paid commissions found on how much they sold. This system further sales clerks to sell aggressively to customers. Johnson snarl that this aggressive sales culture did not fit with th e new Fair and Square positioning and set out to change it by eliminating all sales commissions. It was a controversial decision, especially among the sales employees, some(prenominal) of whom had just been through a wave of layoffs and were nervous about keeping their jobs. Johnson explained his rule for the change, A lot of great retailers dont use commissions. We never used them at Apple. . . . And I think its a better thing to do to lucre people in advance for what you want them to do and let them look in the customers hearts and try to help them. . . . We think weve got a great way to do business for the middle class, where we very put a big take in hug around the middle class and help them look better and live better every day.22 But some employees expressed dissatisfaction, I essential take offense at Ron Johnsons reason for eliminating commission. Ron Johnson should remember that J.C. Penney is not Target, we are better. When people come into our store they expect to b e greeted, they expect someone to be available to help, they expect good service, said a sales associate. Another associate claimed, I lost about $250 per throw period and Mr. Johnson thinks this is FAIR and SQUARE. From all of J.C. Penneys little workers, this stinks.Another lamented, We long-term employees are heartbroken at what we see around us. Ron Johnson may go for a gramme plan, and it may work, but we feel like he is destroying us in the attend to of implementation. It has become an awful place to work, inadequate to the point that we struggle to properly service what customers we do put one over.23 But without a doubt, the cornerstone of the change program was a new pricing scheme that some(prenominal) believed to be the riskiest part of the strategy.The New Pricing StrategyLooking at the numbers, Johnson believed that he needed to giveress the existing high-low pricing structure that had gotten out of control. J.C.Penneys customers had become hooked on the deals o ver the last(prenominal) ten years, the average discount to get customers to buy went from 38% to 60%24. At some point you, as a brand, just look desperate. J.C. Penney spent over $1 billion on price promotion, and the customer didnt even pay attention, he agonized.25 In his first report to shareholders, he spoke about the detrimental long term effects of excessive price promotions, Plagued by the games of the industry over the last several decades, retailers-including J.C. Penneybarraged customers with a constant stream of promotions that proved to be ineffective. Each time we participated in this pricing war, we were discounting our brand and corroding the trust and loyalty of our customers.The company announced its Fair and Square pricing plan in January 2012. The plan had three pricing tiers. First, the company reduced prices by an average of 40% to offer consumers an Every twenty-four hour period Fair and Square price. Second, every month the company ran a calendar month r etentive Values Event with special pricing on seasonal items, marked down an additional 20-29%, meant to coincide with events such as Back-to-School and Fathers Day. Third, every first and third Friday of each month (paydays for numerous working Americans) were designated best price Fridays, where J.C. Penney would offer special deals on items it was looking to liquidate, about 20% of the stores stock, at deals of about 1/3 off of the every day price. Each price point was supported by unique signage at retail, (see Exhibit 9). J.C. Penney eliminated its famous Doorbuster sales, such as those that it traditionally held on downcast Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the busiest shopping day of the year, that featured outrageously low prices onover 500 items from 400 a.m. to 100 p.m. Exhibit 10 shows an example of the different price tiers.Importantly, J.C. Penney avoided using the spoken language sale and headway in its electronic messaging of the new program to consumers. S aid Johnson, trade is not in our vocabulary. . . . Every item in the store is priced to be its vanquish price every day.27 The Fair and Square price was the only price listed on the price tag, moving J.C. Penney away from the practice of listing the manufacturers suggested retail price (MSRP) and the sale price, which was intended to show customers how much they were bringing relative to somewhat fictitious list price. In the extremely competitive world of retailing, n archaeozoic no one priced goods at the MSRP. break of serve with another retailing best-practice, J.C. Penney ended all of its Fair and Square prices with .00 instead of .99, locomote up to the nearest dollar. Johnson also instituted a no restrictions Happy Returns return policy, designed to take the hassle out of move items, even without a receipt.In effect, the new plan combined elements of two traditional pricing strategies. The Every Day Fair and Square prices represented an unremarkable-low-price (EDLP) strategy, while the Month Long Values and trounce Price Fridays maintained some emphasis on high-low pricing. High-low pricing strategies are intended to offer retailers to use price discrimination to maximize the average price paid by customers who differ in their willingness to pay. Customers who are highly price sensitive wait for sale days to purchase, use coupons and rebates, scour the crowded clearance racks to take on a bargain, and take advantage of retailers admission buster specials on big shopping days like Black Friday. Customers who are less price sensitive buy when it is genial for them, tend not to use coupons and rebates due to the time it takes to clip and organize them, and rarely join in on door buster specials or clearance sales.Thus, the retailer reaps higher non-sale prices from many of their purchases. However, given the predominance of high-low pricing strategies across retailers in todays marketplace, even less price-sensitive consumers had become savvy about delay for sales to buy or comparability across retailers to find the store offering the best prices that week. Instantaneous price comparisons weregetting easier, given the rise of mobile applications that allowed a consumer to scan a bar code on a product and find the lowest price for it at online retailers and nigh stores. Kohls was an aggressive high-low retailer, featuring small electronic signs on shelves throughout the store that dis reviveed original prices and discounted prices.These signs allowed Kohls the flexibility to change prices instantly, to facilitate frequent, short-term sales. Marketing consultant Jonathan capital of Oregon Baskin offered his thoughts on the high-low practice retailers engage in, When no price is the price for an item, it means that instead retailers engage customers in a constant cat-andmouse game in pursuit of the truth. No individual store can own sale pricing each solely participates in a round-robin of discounted offers that its c ompetitors have and/or will again match.28 Johnson felt that todays retail customer was savvy, The customer knows the right price. To think you can fool a customer is diverseness of crazy.2EDLP pricing strategies, such as that offered by Walmart, promise consumers that they will pay the same, low price every day. This frees customers from time lag for sale periods to purchase, and eliminates the need for retailers to offer coupons to drive purchase or to engage in constant advertising of price promotions via periodical newspaper circulars. EDLP is designed to make customers feel comfortable purchasing at the retailer without worrying that they could be getting a better deal somewhere else or at another time. In general, most department store retailers used high/low pricing strategies. Macys and Sears had flirted with EDLP pricing in the past but both had largely disposed it once they completed how addicted department store customers were to sales, coupons, and other discount pr ograms.AlthoughMacys still offered a limited set of items at an everyday value price, it heavily supplemented this practice with aggressive coupons and frequent sales events for the majority of the goods it carried. Macys customer Marietta Landon summarized the promotion addicted retail climate, Especially Macysthey make every pass a sale with saving passes and advertising galore.30The new pricing strategy was a big shift for J.C. Penney, a company known and love for its JCP Cash coupons distributed to customers via direct mail and email, its RedZone clearance aisles, and its weekly circulars advertising that weeks price specials. The Fair and Square pricing program would eliminate all coupons and weekly circulars instead the company would distribute a high quality, editorial content-heavy glossy magazine each month to highlight its monthly Values. The 96page magazine was as much a branding vehicle as it was a promotional one. $80 million in promotional funding would support each Monthly Value event.J.C. Penney now promised its customers that they would not have to jump through hoops to get a good price. Johnson hailed the strategy for its simplicity and transparency and the way it respected customers, People are stir with the lack of integrity on pricing,31 adding that We want shoppers to shop on their terms, not ours. Johnson intimated that By setting our store monthly and maintaining our best prices for an entire month, we feel surefooted that customers will love shopping when it is convenient for them, rather than when it is expedient for us.32 Michael Francis, J.C. Penneys new president, was excited about the new pricing moves, We are redefining the J.C. Penney brand so we become a store for all Americans, by offering an experience they cannot get anywhere else.This will start by freeing consumers from the barrage of promotions and undifferentiated shopping experiences they have become used to and transposition it with something entirely fresh and new that is homely in every aspect of our store.33 He added, It will be a breath of much-needed fresh air and give customers reasons to visit J.C. Penney more often than ever before. Our objective is to make our customers love to shop again.34 Francis was recruited by Johnson from Target and offered a signing bonus of $12 millionand a total compensation incase worth $44.7 million. He was charged with managing the marketing and merchandising efforts.Reactions to Fair and Square PricingIndustry observers could not contain their crocked opinions on the new pricing strategy. near called the move refreshing, daring and probably just what the retailer needfully, noting that its a scandalous move for any retailer, let only if a department store where high-low pricing and promotions have long been the norm.35 But others were far more skeptical. Pricing consultant Rafi Mohammed proclaimed, J.C. Penney lacks the differentiation to make this pricing strategy successful. . . . When sell ing a relatively undifferentiated product, the only lever to generate higher sales is discounts. Even worse, if competitors fail prices on comparable products, J.C. Penneys hands are tied-it is a sitting duck that cant respond.36 Mohammed also noted, J.C. Penneys Every Day prices will not be as low as the biggest discounts that it once offered.Instead, its pitch to customers is why draw the wait for the rock-bottom price game when Penney offers pretty good prices every day?37 Ignoring the skeptics, Johnson was committed to his new pricing plan, rolling it out across all stores on February 1st, after deciding not to conduct market research to test its appeal with customers, We debated whether there was a way to test. . . . We would have needed everyone to run the old business model and would have had to add new people to run a test in 10 percent of our stores. . . . We knew the customer would love the new strategy. We decided to get on with our future.38 ground on his experience a t Apple, Johnson also believed thatcustomers didnt always know what they valued it was up to companies to lead the way, You cant follow the customer. Youve got to lead your customersanticipate their needs and meet those needs, even before they know what they want.39A lot was locomote on the decision. COO microphone Kramer explained, We are fundamentally reimagining every aspect of our business and we fully expect the bold and strategic changes we are making to our operations will result in improved profitability. This should enable us to fund the transformation of J.C. Penneys store experience, while at the same time returning value to shareholders with steady earnings growth.40Communicating Fair and SquareDeGeneres was featured in a new advertising campaign to template in the new Fair and Square positioning. Bearing the tagline Enough. Is. Enough, the campaign encouraged consumers to drive against complex pricing structures, never-ending sales, an overindulgence of direct mail circulars and coupons cluttering their mailboxes, and the hassles of returning unsuitable products without a receipt. In the ads, DeGeneres travels back in time to ancient Rome, Edwardian England, and the angered West to learn if todays confusing price environment was always the norm.She encourages customers to reject the crazy price environment. The germinal campaign was witty and contemporary many found it reminiscent of Targets award-winning advertising. It was quite a freeing from J.C. Penneys previous campaigns that were more classifiable of department store messaging. Launched during the Academy Awards broadcast, the ads appeared to be a hit with consumers. Ace Metrix account that the ads scored well above average on persuasion and watchability metrics and achieved a personal best score for J.C. Penney.41Initial ResultsIn the first three months following the launch, 67% of products sold at J.C. Penney were purchased at the Fair and Square price, the highest price the ret ailer listed. Johnson could not hold back his satisfaction, This is profound. People are now buying at the first price, the right price. Thats the dream of every retailer.42However, trouble was looming on the horizon. with mid-March, mothers, a critically important chump market for most department stores, steady scored J.C. Penney lower on valueperception scores. These women, suddenly not receiving coupons and not seeing the weekly price promotions in the circulars, were downgrading their opinion of whether J.C. Penney offered good value for the money.43 This was despite the fact that J.C. Penneys prices during the time period were actually quite competitive. A Deutsche Bank analyst report showed that for a random basket of 50 uniform items, J.C. Penney was 9% cheaper than Macys, and 26% cheaper than Kohls.Consumer research firm BIGInsight reported negativity among adults 18+ for whether J.C. Penneys advertising campaign was Hot or Not? and showed Macys gaining ground on J.C. Pen ney in womens apparel shopping trips following the launch (See Exhibit 11). Morgan Stanleys Michelle Clark reported consumer survey results revealing that Shoppers think that the J.C. Penney of old actually offered better value than the fair and square model introduced a few months ago. Of the consumers who had been inside a J.C. Penney store since February, more cited higher prices (rather than lower) at the department store. In fact, only 16% of shoppers associated Best Prices with JCP. Furthermore, customers cited that bargains were harder to find and fewer aisles with deals were evident (see Exhibit 12).45 Loyal J.C. Penney customers were moving away from the retailer. One shopper, Wendy Ruud, complained that she was no long-range receiving coupons from J.C. Penney and was shopping more frequently at Target and Walmart, The walking(prenominal) J.C. Penney is about a half hour away from me.If I dont get a specialdiscount, its not worth the trip, she said.46 Another shopper e-ma iled the Huffington ring armor saying, They are catering to the younger shopper, and it isnt the younger shopper that kept them afloat.47 A third who considered herself frumpy and proud, commented, Hes working hard to de-frump the store without considering that many if not most of its customers might have shopped there precisely because they like the more conservative frumpy look.48 These early indicators played out in J.C. Penneys first earnings report following the launch of the new plan. Johnson had to announce a significant earnings loss ($163 million) establish on plummeting sales revenues (-19% overall, with e-commerce sales dropping 28%), gross margin condensate (from 40.5% to 37.6%), and decreasing customer conversion. Johnson asked investors to be patient, calling the first quarter sales drop the price were paying to get integrity back.49 He held fast to his faiths, We had to make the bold step. Its one big year we have to go through. Its genuinely hard but well get thr ough it.50 Investors showed no patience, sending the companys stock down 20%, the biggest single day drop in over four decades.51The critics did not waste time to great deal on Johnson. Time columnist brad Tuttle wrote, JC Penneys message seems to be one that some shoppers dont want to hear. They like playing games and hunting for deals, and the markdown from the original price is how they keep score. By eliminating coupons and most sales, JC Penney has been saying it doesnt want to play games anymore. That sounds wonderful, but among certain shoppers, its the resembling of grabbing the ball and taking it home. No more games, no more fun-and not much reason to visit JC Penney on a regular basis anymore. If, for the most part, a stores prices are going to remain the same tomorrow, and next week, and the month after that, theres not much incentive to browse the aisles for special deals today.52A Forbes columnist concurred, By taking away the weekly sales customers loved, Johnson aba ndoned his core JCP shopping enthusiasts. In effect, sign to the core JCP enthusiastsshoppers who have sustained J.C. Penney through its years of retail muddling, that they no longer mattered. He confused them, and he unfaltering them off.53 The Motley Fool sardonicallyquipped, The silver lining in J.C. Penneys awful report is that Sears struggling with its own dismal results has someone it can laugh at now.54Macys CFO Karen Hoguet was crow that her company was benefiting from J.C. Penneys missteps, reporting that sales in Macys stores that shared a mall with J.C. Penney were up significantly since the changes.55 And J.C. Penneys apparel suppliers were becoming anxious, as their sales dropped precipitously, some as much as 70% over the prior year. One prominent supplier indicated that he was increasing his business with Kohls to make up for the shortfalls at J.C. Penney.56These developments were sobering for Johnson yet he remained unfazed, Its been tougher than we anticipatedYo u know, we expected to be down. We are down a little more than we thought, but not large to change the strategyWere treating this company as a startupWere inventing a whole new model to do businessIt is a one year transition thats part of a multi-year transformation. But once we get to one year of de-promoting or repurchasing our integrity, I fully expect us to grow. And so weve just got to get through that year. And well get through it.57 Speaking at Fortune magazines sixth sense Tech conference in July, Johnson reiterated his support for the new pricing strategy, claiming that his board was totally supportive.When asked if he had a hazard plan whereby the company would revert back to high/low pricing, Johnson swore it was not in the cards, It wont happen while Im here because I know its not the right thing to do. And I know this is what connects in all with our own unique heritage. And every long company has a DNA in its core thattypically goes back to its founder. And when you reconnect with that, thats when good things happen. Thats what Wal-Mart has had to do. And its really led to great success. Thats what Apple had to do when Steve came back. Thats what were going to do.58Making Some AdjustmentsAs J.C. Penney management tried to decipher the spoil results, much of the blame was put on the marketing execution and on customers unyielding reliance on price promotions. Mike Kramer, J.C. Penneys new chief operating(a) officer expressed his frustration, Coupons, that drug. We did not sop up how deep some of our customers were into this. . . . We have got to wean them off this and educate our consumers.59 Johnson unsaved the marketing execution, claiming that it failed to clearly communicate the new pricing strategy, Our execution wasnt what we needed. Our pricing is kind of confusing. Our marketing kind of overreached Now the most important thing is to educate consumers on the price changes and make sure the core customer understands J.C. Penney sti ll has products they love, at exceptional value, every day.60 Francis took the fall for the deplorable earnings, abruptly leaving the company a mere eight months after he started as president.Following Francis departure, Johnson took responsibility for marketing and merchandising, believing that customers just didnt understand the story behind Fair and Square. He tweaked the marketing plan, adding five additional Best Price Fridays to the calendar, including the important Fridays anchoring Memorial Day Weekend and Black Friday. The advertising creative was changed to incorporate a harder-hitting Do the maths positioning (See Exhibit 13 for an example). In June, J.C. Penney reintroduced the S word sale into its advertising to help clarify that its Best Price Friday deals actually extended through the weekend until all inventory was sold. Under pressure, Johnson speculated what his old mentor, Steve Jobs, who passed away in October 2011, would have advised, I think Steves advice wou ld be dont worry about what others say. want your instincts. Do the right thing chip the course. But he would also say the essence is in the simplicity. And so he would have liked where we are going on pricing, but he would have said Youve got to clean it up. Youve got to be more direct.61 Johnson buckled down, What you cant do is chicken out.If you had looked at the data on the Genius Bar after a year and a half, we should have taken it out of the store. But it was something I believed in with every bone in my body.62 He continued, The world moves by innovators and innovators have to have the courage to count on something that hasnt been done before and the conviction to see it throughIt is really hard. It takes a lot of courage. Youve got to be able to have a few arrows shot in your back.