The first two chapters of Hard Times Essay Example for Free

The first two chapters of Hard Times Essay Dickenss was a lively writer who knew what he wanted to write about but also what his readers wanted to read. In each of his books dickenss is careful to select a balance between his own ideas a morel intention with that of what the Victorian public enjoyed, (mystery, crime, romance and comedy). Dickens also felt strongly about the unfair class division in the cities. He was determined to portray the wrongs done to children and make a stand against the utilitarianism in society. (Perhaps his own childhood experiences never left him). All of these factors contributed to the initial creation of Hard Times. In this essay, I will look at the satiric methods Dickens uses in the opening chapter of Hard Times). When first reading the opening chapters of the novel it is apparent that there is an obvious difference in style and language from todays text. The sentences are far longer, some of the language is unfamiliar and Dickenss is clearly manipulating the reader. To do this, Dickens uses a number of techniques, such as humour, irony, wit and exaggeration to describe the education system in this period. These methods combined are known as satire and are all used simultaneously to engage the reader into reading further and believing the plot. This was a very common tool used in the Victorian time as it encompassed comedy and exaggeration to attack an otherwise difficult situation. However this method sometimes involved the twisting of facts and over amplification of ideas in order to convey a view point. Despite this, the technique was widely accepted by Victorian society as they much preferred an exciting and interesting read. Determined to portray an insight into the education system, dickens set about describing a sinister class room scene with the aid of satire. The school is host to a new schoolmaster starting his first day teaching pupils. Dickenss carefully assigns names to each character in relation to their individual personality or stature. For example, the figures of authority are named Mr Gradgrind and Mr Chokumchild which both suggest rough, abrasive and menacing individuals. In contrast a young girl, new to the class, is named Sissy Jupe. A name which compliments her weak, feminine and vulnerable persona.

Financial Business Startup Essay Example for Free

Financial Business Startup Essay A major responsibility for new Financial Advisors is to formulate and conduct marketing strategies to develop and enhance client relationships. These activities are normally documented through a marketing plan. Using this document, you are asked to answer hypothetical question – if you were to be hired as a financial advisor, what would your business plan look like? How would you get the word out that you are a Merrill Lynch Financial Advisor? Who would you contact? How would you contact them? How would you tell them your story and the Merrill Lynch story? This document will help you build a preliminary business plan. Keep an open mind as you are asked to think about all the people you touch in a typical day, as well as those people you have touched in the past. These individuals can be potential clients or be a great source of introduction to others who may need your services. Good luck! Feel free to write your responses on a separate piece of paper. Section 1: Your Vision 1. What is your 3-year vision for your business? 2. What are your 3-year personal financial goals? . Please rank order the following in terms of your greatest interest/passion to least. Please describe the personal attributes you have that you believe will contribute to your success as a Financial Advisor. 5. What do you believe ML and your local Management Team can provide to you in your first 90 days in order to help you be successful? 6. Why have you chosen the Financial Services Industry? More specifically, why have you chosen ML? Section 2: Centers of Influence â€Å"Centers of Influence† are individuals in our lives who tend to be well known, well liked and very well networked. â€Å"Centers of Influence† are valuable in making introductions to people that we may be able to help as Merrill Lynch Financial Advisors. Below please record the name of ten people who are â€Å"Centers of Influence† in your life and state what groups they can connect you with.

Apples Management Strategies

Apples Management Strategies In a highly competitive environment such as the computer and technology industry, the structure of an organization needs to balance the benefits of a free and creative workforce all the while employing rigid guidelines to ensure cost control and efficiency. Apple Computer tried to accomplish this grey area of management when they restructured the organization in 1992. While some of the techniques they implemented looked promising, others appeared as if they were not going to solve their current problems. To facilitate creativity in generating new and unique products, Scully will articulate a far-sighted vision very broadly, at a 50,000 foot level and leave the lower level managers and workers to fill in the blanks. While it is important for Scully to allow the engineers freedom in generating ideas for new products, he may be allowing them too much freedom. Without providing the lower level workers certain specifications and milestones, they will surely overshoot their budget and miss deadlines. To ensure that these milestones are met, Scully should provide them with a semi-rigid guideline for the development, yet still allowing wiggle room for creativity that will distinguish their products in the market. The freedom that is allowed for creativity at Apple also has the potential for abuse. The current structure is lacking boundary controls that define what behaviors will be tolerated and which behaviors are prohibited. These controls should be carefully chosen by upper management and designed to facilitate creativity and boost employee morale, yet keep the workers behavior professional and goal oriented. Recently, upper management has received negative feedback in surveys from the companys employees. We feel that the upper management at Apple is too inexperienced and that it should be comprised of workers promoted from within the company. The average senior manager has only been with the company for 5.5 years, when many of the lower level employees have been with the company for double that amount of time. This may be leading to the decrease in employee morale, thus resulting in them losing the drive they need to keep Apple innovative and profitable. Apples employees are adequately educated and know the products as well, if not better, than most of management, and may potentially lead to the subordinates undermining any recommendations made by their seniors. Compensation and bonuses are a main incentive for exceptional performance and motivation at Apple. While the goals and measures that the bonuses are based upon are aligned with Apples long term goals, we feel that lower level employees bonuses are based on goals that they are not responsible for attaining. For instance, a line worker certainly does not have great control over the companys market share, just as a marketer has no influence over any product flaws that engineering may have missed. Each division should have their own independent measures to determine bonuses. These measures should only consist of goals that they have direct control over. If an employees bonus is dependent on a goal that their job affects, it gives them incentive to excel at their respective duties in the organization. Senior managements compensation on the other hand, should be based on all of ACPIs, as they are responsible for the success of the organization as a whole. Apples new strategy calls for an increase in productivity, which often can mean an increase in speed. Though it was said that Apple remained a very pleasant place to work: its offices were bright, modern, high-tech buildings. The atmosphere was still casual, reflecting the California lifestyle of many of the employees. And the companys historically strong, individualistic culture was reinforced by Apples own technology. It seemed that even though people still enjoyed the environment, they did not necessarily still love the work. One manager said people were being pushed to the limits; long hours and limited resources were leading to burnouts.' The issue here is that to increase productivity the correct way means an increase in efficiency. Most people agreed that the new system had not fundamentally reengineered anything; they were simply having employees work harder with fewer resources. Apple was used to an informal style and not used to employees feeling overworked. Apples people management seemed to be letting its people down. A 1992 Survey suggested that the vast majority of employees perceived that the company did not invest in its workforce and that executive management was not concerned about their future. It also suggested that most employees believed that Apples best people had been passed over for a promotion. Apple was supposed to be a place that people longed to work for. Now it has become a place where employees are unhappy and with the rapid growth new employees were often promoted with little time to develop appropriate management skills. John Sculley often emphasized the importance of leadership. Shortly after he announced his long term view of the organization in a companywide meeting, he released his public view of management: Capable leadership is essential to Apples immediate and long-term success. Thoughtful planning and execution of executive capabilities will be a strategic edge for Apple as we move forward. With all the new management positions due to the rapid growth, this capable leadership began to be questioned. We have learned that there are many ways in which managers can positively affect organizational culture. The way that employees were currently being hired did not seem to use these techniques. Part of the reason that the managers were lacking the proper skills could be because they were not hired based on their value or belief in the new strategy. If the practices are going to be consistent throughout an organization it must promote people whose values are consistent with the companys culture. In order to fix this problem and ensure the successful management of Apple, the manager in charge of getting managers ready for their job sat down with each general manager and created a list of core competencies needed for that division. These would align with the new strategy for the most part; however there was a new focus. The new focus was one that had never been used before, customer focus. It is interesting that in the middle of implementing this new strategy that seemed to be centered on higher productivity, lower prices and product development they would stress the importance of customer focus to all their general managers. This, though not exactly a poor decision, is inconsistent with the other ways that the company went about executing this new strategy. Until this point it had been about increasing productivity with longer hours, rapid growth and successful promotions. After the 1992 survey that showed no improvement in the previous year, it is easy to see that a change was needed. Customer focus seemed to be that change. The reason this inconsistent change was needed was because Apple managers did not believe they had the time to allow the original plan to work. A quality manager was quoted saying We cant wait three to ten years to get results. We wont be alive if we wait that long. As a group, our consulting firm has provided you with several solutions to these ongoing problems at Apple. Our solutions relate to four problem areas at the firm; compensation, promotion, communication, and creativity. Make compensation and bonuses in line with attainable goals. A line workers bonus needs to be attributed to the job he is performing and the goals which go along with that job. The Senior V.P. Secretary is getting his bonus because the RD team has spent 80 hours a week all year cranking out new ideas and products. It doesnt seem fair that the rewards are not in line with the work done to achieve them. Operational level divisions bonuses based on performance, length of time with the company, end of year evaluations done by management. Upper managements bonuses should be based on ACPIs as a cohesive whole since they are responsible for the marketing and final decision making. The company should not cut salary and switch to a commission based pay method. If the Apple wants to improve their gross margin, they need to find other ways to cut costs rather than screw over their employees. If employees feel like they are so far stretched beyond their means and burnt out, they will lose their motivation and drive to do the job they love. This can essentially push employees to stop caring about the end product and companys goals because they are so burnt out from trying to reach these unattainable goals. If you allow them to be creative and just give them simple structure and guidelines as well as some direction, they will still be able to think freely and meet overall goals. Promote from within Management has handed out promotions to employees who may have been unqualified, or may never have worked for the company before. We believe internally advertised job openings would be a better way to make promotions, this way anyone who felt qualified for a position could apply. Other people can make recommendations for co-workers who they feel would also be suitable and qualified to take on that new position. A requirement for the management position will be the Apple University Manager training potential new managers with the Executive readiness program. Rather than simply have this be a review process, they can turn this into a training session. This would help management pass down the organizational vision, image, and voice of the company. The managers will all be trained in a standardized format so everyone works on the same page. The way that Apple had previously promoted employees had significantly decreased their employees morale and made it difficult for them to respect their managers. With a system that allows for more promotion within the company with seniority taken into consideration there will more than likely maintain their culture and dedication to the company. When a large company makes quick management modification and changes, culture can easily be the largest factor affected. Therefore, it is imperative that Apple does whatever they can to maintain a strong culture. A strong part of the group (consensus) feeling gives way to a strong culture, as well as assist in increasing employee morale. Communication Top-Down and Bottom-Up Meeting in San Jose would have been easier to communicate the strategy if they hadnt waited until there were already problems. They would have better off communicating in this style every quarter. This way, employees can give recommendations and ideas to upper management. Managers also need to be qualified and ready to manage. Without management skills there can be a lack of effective communication and implementation. With the proper training and qualifications, managers will have the ability to communicate company ideas and direction in the best way possible to their employees. Promotion from within allows the manager to have pre-existing relationships with co-workers and other employees. They will feel more comfortable talking to them, as well as realize the importance and necessity of communication in the organization. Quarterly meetings with all employees to communicate vision to the entire organization rather than only having the top managers know exactly what is going on and the specific directions theyre headed. Creativity Due to the company wanting to crank out new technology at a faster than ever speed, this has completely stifled employees ability to come up with new products at their own pace and expertise. By forcing the new structure, incentives, performance and commission-based pay, people are not given the same freedom to be creative. There was a sudden change in the company through establishing rules, lowering autonomy, concentration on improving the profits, and constantly having new managers who are not qualified nor trained for the position. This places a large shock value on employees who are used to working so freely and creatively. We think a more productive and efficient method of finding new ideas and technology would be a similar concept to the process IDEO uses. Group think brainstorming sessions for the RD department to boost creativity and piggy-back launch even more creative ideas. We want to instill the idea that it is ok for RD ideas to fail, but the important part is for the employees to take risks and generate as many ideas as possible to throw on the table for discussion. Apples new strategy was good in theory, but it was riddled with implementation problems. Promotion, communication, creativity, and compensation methods all appeared as if they were overlooked when Apple developed their new strategy. Our solutions to these problems should provide a smoother transition for the company, all the while boosting employee morale and productivity.

Stefan Edberg :: essays research papers

Stefan Edberg The tennisplayer Stefan Edberg is nowadays a legend in his sport. I met him myself in France in 1987. I was 8 years old. He and the other members of the Swedish Daviscup team were playing the Daviscup against France. However, before the training I met them in the lobby of their hotel in Frà ©jus. My father knew the Swedish captain of the team so we could watch them training.After that Stefan has been one of my idols. I play tennis a lot myself. But now to the story about Stefan Edberg. Saw the ad His career started when the local paper in Và ¤stervik ( the town where he was born ) had an advertisement about mini-tennis in the early 70s. It said †Day of tennis†.Luckily his mother Barbro read the article and liked it. The day after she sent her son to the tennis-school for beginners. At that time she didn't know how important this initiative would be to Stefan, to Swedish tennis and even to the world tennis. An incredible athletic career had seen the morning light. Was convinced to continue The seven year old Stefan struck his first hits at the tennis school in the sommer of 1973. To start with he played once a week. He liked his new sport but was close to quitting after the first term. -My friend wanted to quit,and so did I. But my trainer convinced me to continue, Stefan says with a smile on his face. The young Edberg soon became taken by the sport. Soon he played matches with the boys' team, and outside his home he played fantasy Davis Cup-matches. In the sommer holidays he almost lived at the tennis court. At the age of ten he stopped playing his two other sports, football and icehockey, and concentrated everything on tennis. Soon he won his first tournament, †Ostkustenspà ¤rla,† a very memorable victory for him. Star even in school But a couple of years went by before he †dared† to go in for tennis full time. He was in the ninth grade as took the big step and gave tennis the big chance. -I felt I had a serious chance of becoming a worldplayer. Because I had just won JEM and taken a set on Mats Wilander who was a professional player, Stefan says. But it couldn't have been an easy choice, because Stefan was also a very good student with an average about 4,3 after the ninth grade.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He was better than all the others!!! The trainers at the club where he was training, Westerviks TK, quickly realized

Ray Bradburys Something Wicked This Way Comes Essay -- essays research

Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes David Glasgo Modules 15-16 Dec 20, 1996 Someone knows your secret dream, that one great wish that you would pay anything for. That person suddenly makes your dream come true - before you learn the price you have to pay. Ray Bradbury's, Something Wicked This Way Comes, is a chilling and suspenseful thriller, making a boy's secret dream come true right before his own eyes and that of his friend's too. The story in this book continually jumps back and forth between three characters; two which are always together and the other the library janitor and father of the one. Bradbury's style keeps the book flowing smoothly throughout all of his hopping and skipping around. He seems to be a mastermind of writing as the story develops before your eyes and you get drawn in never wanting to leave, until the book is over and you know the ending. I felt like I was sitting right there on the clouds watching all of this take place. Bradbury pulls you into the book and makes it "our place, too." All of this starts off quite interesting. It is October, the month of Halloween, and in this strange year Halloween came early. A lightning rod salesman, come to the town predicting a humongous storm that is coming this way. The clouds speak their own words, telling the same. Jim Nightshade and William Halloway, neighbors and best friends, one born a minute before October thirtieth and...

Saint Joan of Arc Essay -- European History France England War Essays

Saint Joan of Arc Joan of Arc lived an extraordinary life and accomplished incredible feats during, her brief lifetime. Joan is in a league of her own. As a girl at an absurdly young age and with no military knowledge, she convinces the Dauphin of France that she is a messenger from god and helps lead the almost diminished French army drive the English away from French soil. Her remarkable clairvoyance to foresee future events and for things to fall magically in place at least at the beginning of her career, compels one to believe in her saintly powers or in her connection with a higher being. Joan of Arc was born at Doremy in Champagne on January 6, 1412. Witnesses claim that the roosters of the village hailed her birth by crowing long before dawn. She was born to a wealthy farmer, Jacques Darc, and his wife, Isabelle. Joan never learned to read or write but was very skilled in spinning and sewing. Villagers regarded her as a pious child, and many often saw her kneeling in church, absorbed in prayer. At the age of 12 she first became conscious of her ‘voices.’ At first it seemed that it was simply a voice that would tell her to â€Å"Be good and go to church† (Pernoud 19). Soon the voices would be accompanied by a light, and she identified them individually as being St. Catherine, St. Margaret, and St. Michael. The voices became insistent, often telling her two to three times a week that she should go to France and present herself to Robert Baudricourt who commanded for Charles VII in the neighboring town of Vaucouleurs. A month later she traveled with her uncle to see Baudricourt, but with little success, as he told her uncle to â€Å"Take her home to her father and give her a good whipping† (Pernoud 50). Joan... ... more astonishing, her ability to bring France to victory during the battle of Orleans where the French were completely surrounded and defeat was almost certain. Her ability to produce wonders one after the other makes one hard pressed not to believe in her saintliness. Joan is a saint and her actions can only be categorized as miracles. Joan’s life is astounding by any measure, even when one separates the fact from fiction. Bibliography Brooks, Polly Schoyer Beyond the Myth: The Story of Joan of Arc. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co, 1999. Pernoud, Regine. Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Witnesses. New York: Scarborough House, 1994. Price, Patrick. JoanNet 2004. Feb 2004. http://maidjoan.tripod.com Shaw, Benard. Saint Joan. England: Penguin Books, 1924. Williamson, Allen. Joan of Arc Online Archive 2003. Feb 2004. http://archive.joan-of-arc.org

Political Parties Essay

Political parties are an essential component within a democratic society. By competing in elections and encouraging citizens with certain different views of society, parties also offer citizens a wide variety of choices in governmental representation, opportunities for political contribution, and chances to form their country’s future. Although political parties play such an influential role on a country, often the concerns of the people fall on deaf ears, breaking down the trust that the public had within the parties. When public assurance in political parties is diminished, the whole democratic system falls victim to it. In all democratic systems, the party system must be deeply and strongly rooted in the make up of society. Political parties are the main framework of any democratic society. They are the means by which the public come together freely to drive for the presidency, express their ideas, and define their ambitions for their civilization. There may be political parties without democracy being apparent, but there can be no democracy without political parties. Parties in many countries, including our own South African parties, may be faulty, but they are also crucial in democratic authority. When political parties function effectively, they succeed in developing a few common ideas between a large group of people, and in doing this, they place pressure on the ruling party. Thus, they help put citizens’ small concerns into a national context. Citizens may be separated over leaders, or policies but political parties can organize these differences by compromising certain things and helping societies to unite. In addition, political parties train and nominate political leaders who will accept a role in ruling society. Through their efforts to control and influence public policy, political parties play an in-between role, connecting the organisations of government to economic, ethnic, cultural, religious and other general groups. They can convey support behind law, improving the public wellbeing, and develop citizens’ interests. Their participation in elections allows citizens to hold them responsible for their policies and actions. In multi-party systems, and based on the countries they represent, political parties often express contradictory views on public plans. These just differences of ideas are not only an important part of the democratic course, but the exchanges they generate can also help to create a better understanding of the issues and possible solutions, possibly leading to new insights. Further, when parties in competition present themselves as an alternative, all parties always try to obtain the best plan in public interest, therefore the winner in the end is society.