Leonardo Da Vinci and Pierre Renoir Comparative Essay

The two renowned artists Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) and Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) are both good role models for the progressing art society but when comparing these two gifted men it is evident that their artworks both relinquish a different message to the viewers and are portrayed using different art techniques and equipment. Leonardo, born to be known as the archetype of a Renaissance man, was an Italian painter, inventor, mathematician, writer, and engineer. He was explicitly known for his realistic, geometrically designed and religiously inspired paintings. Renoir, however, was a French man who devoted his life to introduce the impressionist style to the art community. As a true worshiper of natural beauty and feminine aura, Renoir’s painting symbolized the entire liveliness of French culture and European scenes. Leonardo’s style of painting was influenced greatly during the formation of the Renaissance period that first emerged in Italy during the 14th to the 17th century. It was a new era in which European scholars craved for greater knowledge of medieval times and Italy was their primary source for it contained the great art and architecture of Rome and held manuscripts that scholars studied to learn the lives of the early Romans and Greek. Thus most themes of Leonardo’s paintings portray religious beliefs and mythology. Its art revolved in finished images comparable to reality and the colours conservative, brush strokes concealed, leaving no trace of the artist’s emotions or techniques. Impressionism, however, opposed the entire concept of Renaissance art. Initiated by French artist, Claude Monet during the late 1870’s in France and soon followed by more painters one of which leading them is Pierre Auguste Renoir, conflicted the techniques of French art Schools and ignored their Euclidian perspectives and took advantage of the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution brought the popularity of the camera, metal tubes were invented and so paint was achieved in a fast yet cheap way, people had more leisure time and places such as parks, malls, stores, circuses were easily established. Painters like Auguste Renoir had more subject matters and the opportunity to paint and observe the fleeting moment of light outside instead of relying on their memory and paint inside a studio. Most of Leonardo’s buyers are wealthy church organizations such as the Catholic Church that value realism as they will use them as either for cathedral decorations or another image worthy for worshiping. During the Renaissance period, if a patron is willing to buy for an artwork, he or she controls the subject matter, the completion date, the materials used and a set payment. Artists were also required to show preliminary plans to be approved by the patron before the actual artwork was painted. Renoir, however, had buyers that appreciated his colorful artworks for the purpose of house decorations or family portraits. Artists like Renoir had more liberty in exhibiting and selling their works. Artists like Renoir painted outdoors and so people had the chance to observe how they capture the scenery in front of them thus, making it easier for them to be recognised. Renoir and Leonardo share different subject matters in their paintings yet they both possess the ability to dazzle the viewer. Leonardo’s inspiration revolved mostly in religion which he greatly portrays in â€Å"St John the Baptist† where St John wears pellets and animal skin while holding loosely a reed staff with a cross at one end and uses his right hand to point up a feminine hand to heaven. On the other hand, Renoir’s passion relied on his deep adoration for feminine sensuality which he greatly conveys in â€Å"Nude in Lanscape† where a raven, shoulder length haired, naked woman sits on a rock covered with a long white sheet that she also uses to wipe her left ankle. The woman’s body is facing sideways but her whole face is seen as she looks downward on the withering grasses. The scene is in a tiny forest during a lazy Sunday afternoon. Upon thoroughly studying these two artworks it is evident that the two artists use different colour schemes and art techniques in order to show the theme of their artwork. Leonardo portrays St John’s wavy, curled hair in an intense reddish brown colour to imply shadows while a neutralized pinkish brown to show a tint of shininess. Leonardo also provides an empty, darkish background to achieve negative space in order to enhance his use of chiaroscuro on St John’s face and right arm. St John’s innocent, auburn eyes are darkened due to the heavy amount of yellow light coming from the foreground. St John’s pale lips are curled enigmatically giving the viewer the impression of whether he is pure good or evil. Renoir, on the other hand, uses a dark brown colour with short strokes of a midnight blue colour instead of black to darken it. Renoir provides a vibrant background by using a cool orange to show shadows from the overlapping grasses and warm yellow to show the effects of light on the tree trunks and the withering grasses. The neutralized green on the tree’s foliage recede. The woman’s body is yellowish due to the amount of yellow light but her face is darkened. The highlights on her body are white. He uses cool purple to show shadows on the white sheet and the shallowness of the lake while a warm red on her body especially on her chubby breasts, slender back and rosy cheeks to create a sense of form. It also makes the cool colours contrast with warm colours. The artist’s however both use gestural lines to implicate movement but have used them in different areas of their paintings. Leonardo uses gestural lines to show the liveliness of St John’s hair and contour lines to impeccably form St John’s realistic face, muscular right arm and while using the technique sfumato (which means applying translucent layers of colours) Leonardo was able to achieve a feeling of a three dimensional shape to the viewer finished with a smooth surface. In contrast to Renoir who uses short, thick, gestural lines to show the continuous movement of his brush strokes in the entire painting providing a simulated texture. He applies wet paint to wet paint without waiting for the successive applications to dry, producing softer edges and intermingling of complementary colours Leonardo and Renoir share equal importance for how balanced light and dark are in their paintings. The intense dark background and the vibrancy of ellow light on St John’s face and arm provides a symmetrical balance and value contrast that can easily make St John’s face the emphasis and focal area. Conversely, Renoir uses the trees surrounded by deep shadows to poise the woman’s plump body in an asymmetrical balance of visual elements. Her face like St John also is the focal area in which the strongest light and dark value contrasts. St John the Baptist and Nude in Landscape are both oil paintings. But St John the Baptist was painted on walnut wo od using tempera paints while Nude in Landscape was painted on canvas using the average metal tube paints. St John’s pointing gesture towards the heavens shows the complete message of the painting that baptism which St John symbolizes is important in order for a human being to gain salvation. In Nude in Landscape, Renoir has the sole intention of conveying to the viewer his great love for portraying nude women and how he sees the fleeting changes of light on their tender flesh. Leonardo’s passion for portraying religious characters or biblical matters showed the world the great importance of religion and how it should never be forgotten. He portrays his figures in a realistic manner to show viewers his great understanding of the human anatomy and how science and its necessity for thorough observation are related to art. Renoir, however, paints not to share a message to the world but rather show people the majestic effects of light in everything and to remind people that art is not a competition for talent, observation and fame but rather a deep visual expression for one’s perspectives and feelings in life.

Foot and Prophylactic Knee Brace

1. How many bones are in the foot 2. Name the four archs in the foot 3. Compare Pes Planus and Pes Cavus 4. Discuss the causes of Plantar fasciitis 5. When is Plantar Fasciitis most symptomatic 6. Name two treatment options for Plantar Fasciitis 7. What is a Jones Fracture and what is it’s healing time 8. What is a bunion, and how can we treat it when symptomatic 9. Define Turf Toe and discuss the two treatment options 10. Discuss the three treatment options of caring for a blister 11. Discuss what recommendations can be made to prevent ingrown toenails 12. Define Subungual Hematoma and it’s treatment 3. Name the four lateral ligaments in the ankle 14. Name and briefly describe the three types of ankle sprains 15. Contrast The Three Grades of Ankle sprains 16. Discuss return to play guidelines   for an ankle sprain 17. What role does a felt horseshoe play in the acute treatment of an ankle sprain 18. Describe the term Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome, were it is symptoma tic, and how it is treated 19. Discuss briefly what a compartment syndrome is, how it can occur, what it looks like, and why we manage it carefully 20. Discuss treatment options for Achilles Tendonitis 21.Discuss treatment options for Achilles Tendon Rupture 22. Discuss how one can best recognize Achilles tendon Rupture 23. Name the four ligaments in the knee 24. Contrast a functional and a prophylactic Knee brace 25. Discuss the term Valgus and how it applies to the MCL injury and evaluation 26. Discuss the Term Varus and how it applies to LCL injury and Evaluation 27. Discuss Males and Females as the ACL is concerned 28. Describe the Most Common Non Contact Mechanism for an ACL injury 29. Briefly describe Acute and Long-Term Care options for an ACL tear 30. Describe the mechanism of a PCL tear 31.Name the signs of a meniscus injury 32. Describe the location of IT band syndrome as well as it’s treatment 33. What direction does a Knee Cap dislocate too and what is the immedia te treatment 34. Contrast Osgood Schlatter Disease and Patellar Tendenitis 35. Contrast Immediate Treatment of a quad contusion and strain 36. Discuss stretching during the intial treatment of a Hamstring strain 37. Discuss the BEST treatment for groin strains, and what should be done until normal flexibility and strength return 38. What is a Hip Pointer, how does it occur, and what can we do to minimize the chances of additional injury

Modern Communication

In the postindustrial modern world, or the â€Å"Information† age, we as a worldwide society use communication methods as our primary medium. We as a society have evolved to a point where individuals can transfer information freely, and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously. This transfer however needs a medium. PED’s (Personal Electronic Devices) have evolved over the last 10 years to fill this roll. Like smoke signals, word of mouth, courier, and the telephone, PED’s have met with resistance from society’s previous generation. This resistance is due to a fear of change that has gripped mankind since the Middle Pleistocene, around 250,000 years ago.This review will discuss the cost of this fear and how communications have developed with the following questions: 1. How has communication methods developed through history?2. What is the cost of being left behind in a postindustrial era? How has co mmunication methods developed throughout history?Communication, and communications systems have been the key factor for development as a society. Starting with cuneiform, the first form of writing, our ancestors started recording our history. Since that event, the forms of recording and accessing that information has changed greatly. In the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Communication evolution is described as such: The reduction of communication to writing was a fundamental step in the evolution of society for, in addition to being useful in situations where speech is not possible, writing permits the preservation of communications, or records, from the past. It marks the beginning of recorded history.Whereas the rise of book publishing and journalism facilitated the widespread dissemination of information, the invention of  the telegraph, the radio, the telephone, and television made possible instantaneous communication over long distances. With the installation of the submar ine cable and improvements in short-wave radio technology, international communication was greatly improved and expanded. In 1962 the first active communications satellite was launched; it provided the first live television broadcast between the United States, Europe, Japan, and South America.Today, satellite communications is used extensively for relaying television signals, telephone calls, and special teleconferencing calls that might include two-way video and graphics along with audio. The 20th-century development of mass media has played a major role in changing social, economic, political, and educational institutions. In the United States, radio and television communication is controlled by the Federal Communications Commission. The international phases of transport and communications are under the direction of the Office of Transport and Communications of the Dept. of State.The United Nations maintains an International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which has three functions —to maintain and extend international cooperation for the improvement and rational use of telecommunication, to promote the development and efficient use of technical facilities, and to harmonize the actions of nations. Telecommunication has been defined by international agreement as any emission, transmission, or reception of signs, signals, sounds, and writing. Recent advances in electronics have made mobile personal communications widely available and inexpensive, primarily through cellular telephony. Worldwide computer networks allow computer users to use modems to communicate rapidly and inexpensively through electronic mail.The proliferation of facsimile machines allows users to send printed communications over telephone lines. Because we are now able instantly speak, and share data around the world in and instant, our knowledge is only limited by our own laziness. What is the cost of being left behind in a postindustrial era?As society moves forward, there are always t hose that oppose the change. This isn’t always a voluntary reaction though. For a lot of people, it’s simply that they have spent their entire life using an Inferior form of communication and it’s hard to make the adjustment or they just shun it due  to a lack of knowledge. Some people don’t have access to the technologies need to educate themselves and are left behind involuntarily. Then there are those who simply just don’t want to accept change don’t educate themselves as a matter of misguided principles. In Bridging the Generational Tech Gap by David Perlmutter, he describes a situation in his business where older employees would fail to adapt new technologies over reluctance to feeling stupid.He also mentioned how younger and new employees would not associate with one another due to a lack of understanding one another. This is not a new thing either. History is littered with examples of new innovations being shunned by a previous gene ration. From the early days of the Catholic Church restricting published writing because it cast them in unfavorable light, communication methods had to evolved. And it still does today.Today our ability to communicate sets us apart from any age before us. We can retrieve any information from any source instantly, and the only thing that stands in our way of doing this is ourselves. One day I hope we can move beyond these trappings that we set ourselves in and let the come to us in any form it can. Communications is the key to our future and will one day guide us into the next era, whatever that may be.

Un-redd programme on forest management in Cameroon Thesis

Un-redd programme on forest management in Cameroon - Thesis Example It uses the convening power and expertise of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The UN-REDD Programme has 29 partner countries across Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America; of these 13 receive support to National Programme activities. The Central African Republic including Cameroon, besides other countries such as Argentina, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guatemala, Guyana, and several others not receiving direct support to national programmes engage with the Programme in a number of ways such as observers to the Programme’s Policy Board, and through participation in regional workshops and knowledge sharing enabled by the Programme’s interactive online workspace (UN-REDD 2009). Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the UN-REDD Programme in developing countries, particularly in Cameroon in Central Africa. The UN-REDD, its goals, objectives and targets in Cameroon, the UN-REDD in relation to governance, corruption and sustainable development in Cameroon, as well as the challenges or shortcomings in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in Cameroon will be examined. Reform in the Rainforests of Cameroon Cameroon, is a tropical country in Central Africa and part of the Congo Basin. â€Å"It contains the largest piece of rainforest on the African continent and the second largest area of contiguous moist tropical forest of the world† (Westholm, Henders, Ostwald & Mattson 2009: 44). Cameroon continues to have vast forest resources, and is at the forefront of forestry sector reform in Africa. It is expected that the country will play a constructive role in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD). Cameroon has a population of 16.5 million inhabitants, of which about 30,000 indigenous people live on an area of 4,75,000 square kilometers. A part of the vast 198 million hectares Congo Basin rainforest is in Cameroon, covering 16.9 million hectares, forming 40 percent of the national territory. This forest is rich in fauna and flora providing â€Å"food, medicines, fuel wood and construction materials for about 8 million rural Cameroonians† (Aronsen, Lindhjem & Braten 2010: 7). The forestry sector forms the core of the Cameroonian economy, generating about 13,000 formal and 1,50,000 informal jobs, thus becoming the largest employer outside the public sector. Timber is the second largest source of export revenues after petroleum, accounting for 4.8 percent of non-petroleum GDP in 2004 (Aronsen et al 2010). â€Å"The deforestation rate is 1,53,700 hectares per year, or 0.72%, according to the National communication, although latest assessments ha ve yielded much lower rates† (Westholm et al 2009: 44). From the year 1994, Cameroon regulated access to its rainforests, balanced public and private interests in those forests, and combined a broad range of economic, cultural, and environmental approaches to the value of the forests, by introducing regulatory and market-based reforms. According to Topa, Megevand and Karsenty (2009), reports based on evidence from historical data and extensive interviews indicate that the reforms brought order among the most highly competing interests, and addressed vital environmental and social issues; however a significant part of the agenda remains incomplete. The reports provide information to the public on the boundaries, ownership, use rights, and management of Cameroon’s rainforests, together with detection and prosecution of illegal activities. There has been

International Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 4

International Business - Essay Example The airline grew at a faster rate through the acquisition of new planes and expanded route offerings that were made more appealing through such initiatives as frequent flyer program and business class seats. Despite the rise in the number of passengers, Ryanair continued to make losses due to the fact that it offered low fares though it was not a low-cost airline. As competition soared in the airline industry, the competing airlines, Ryanair was forced to lower their prices even further and eliminating the costly routes and increasing presence in the profitable routes. Through flying to regional airports that have lower costs of landing and faster turnaround times, Ryanair started attaining profitability through offering cheap flights across Europe. The cheap flights were obtainable through the elimination of free meals during flights that led the company to improve their profitability in successive years. In 1997, Ryanair put on offer an IPO that managed to raise it a lot of capital that made it easier for it to acquire other aircraft thus increasing its fleet. In the year 2000, Ryanair started making its bookings online that made it increase the number of passengers that it transferred across destinations. ... Amidst intermittent performances in the year 2009, Ryanair made other strategic changes aimed at reducing costs such as elimination of check-ins in favour of baggage drops that returned it to profitability (Ryanair. n.d). With time, the company has been able to make several strides as regards profitability albeit with numerous challenges and obstacles. Currently, Ryanair is the most favoured airline in the world with bases in forty one airports operating across twenty six countries with over two hundred aircraft transporting about 80 million passengers in the year 2010/2011. As at the moment, it prides itself as having the cheapest air ticket as compared to its competitors namely easy Jet and Aer Lingus and this has contributed to its profits to grow by an average of 25% that totals about 503 million Euros. Market Entry Strategies adopted by Ryanair Ryanair embarked on adopting certain market entry strategies aimed at positioning itself as the leading low-cost flight in Europe throug h continuous improvement of its services and route offerings. Therefore its main objective was to offer low fares that can translate to increased flow of passengers that is aimed at containing the costs as well as reducing the costs of operation. Through offering low fares, Ryanair was able to stimulate demand that may be derived from those that are aimed at those that are conscious of the fares they pay or those who may opt for alternative modes of travel. To achieve this, it offers its tickets through travel on a one-way basis thus minimizing requirements that may be pegged on the basis of stay requirements. Ryanair sets fares or travel costs on the basis of demand requirements of specific flights and in reference to

What are the two main theories of the origin of American Indians in Assignment

What are the two main theories of the origin of American Indians in North America - Assignment Example There is more support to the second theory which says they came from somewhere else. The resemblance of their culture, style of living and traditions connect them to two families from Asia i.e. Mongols and Malays. But, again here the problem is their failed connection with the linguistics of those Asian races. They are not in any way connected to those races in linguistics and hence their origin is still a big question mark. Although there still are questions about the Origin of Native Americans, all the historical evidence connects them to some races in Asia and some of the types (the whites) to a Welsh colony too which has been long lost in the forests of North America. Columbus, found these people first on the Bahamas islands and called them Indians. Till now nobody is sure about their origin though and a big number of people are in the favor of the second theory but, there is evidence against it

Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort Research Paper

Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort - Research Paper Example The hotel is keen on environmental conservation; it has rooftop wind turbines installed on the roof to con serve energy. This made it the first hotel to win the Florida Green Lodging Destination in Fort Lauderdale. Other sustainability efforts of the hotel include cardboard and paper recycling, a food composter that is intended to turn waste food into water rich with nutrients. Services offered are ideal for all kinds of visitors; business or family. Services and amenities in this hotel include rejuvenating nail treatment, massage and facial therapy, fitness and recreation facilities, children’s activities, a business center, and convenience facilities like ATMs, elevators, and valet services (Hilton Hotels and Resort). Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort has a strict policy on smoking. Smoking is not allowed in the rooms or in public areas like corridors and balconies. There are designated areas provided for smoking purposes, which are the hotel’s main entrance. According to trip advisor, the world’s largest travel site, Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort has gained so many positive reviews that it was awarded the 2014 Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence award. This is an award given to facilities that have gained outstanding reviews by travelers. Some of these reviews on Trip Advisor say that the place wonderful for a holiday experience. The staff is friendly and would go to a great length to entertain and make their customers comfortable (TripAdvisor). In comparison with other hotels on the same beach, their services are exemplary and have no comparison. Everything in the facility is done for the comfort of the traveler. It has a close proximity to different amenities which is what most travelers enjoy. People want to connect from one place to the next easily and get back to the hotel in time for their pleasure (TripAdvisor). It is only 1.5 miles from an upscale shopping center and the major highways are easily accessed thus any one

Answer to legal problem questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Answer to legal problem questions - Essay Example The test for breach of duty of care was objective. S180 on the civil penalty provision (ASIC V Rich3) and damages (Deputy Commission on Taxation V Clark4) are the potential remedies for NatureWorld. Application: In the case at bar, DD, WW and SS, being directors of NatureWorld, must exercise care and diligence under Section 180, which states that a director or other officer of the corporation must exercise their powers and discharge their duties with the degree of care and diligence that a reasonable person would exercise. Here, all three executive directors failed to exercise the standard of care and diligence required under the law. In the case of AWA V Daniels5, the court decided to tighten-up the director’s duties in Australia and deviate from the old common law duty. While in the case of Daniels V. Anderson6 involving similar facts, Daniels counter-sued by alleging that the Board failed to discharge their duty of care and diligence. The Court held that auditors and execut ive directors are liable in negligence since they had no mechanism in place allowing the directors to monitor the audit which contributed to failure to report the irregularities. Further, it ruled that the test for the breach of duty of care was objective. ... While the case of Clark9 held that there is a â€Å"core, irreducible requirement† of involvement among directors in the management of the corporation which prohibits â€Å"sleeping or passive directors†. Applying these cases, the suit filed by the auditor against DD, WW and SS shall prosper for failure to exercise the standard of care and diligence required under S180. Their negligence caused damage to NatureWorld for failure to monitor the financial condition of the company and to conduct a â€Å"general monitoring† of the company’s affairs. Remedies: The Corporation should file a case against the auditor, DD, WW and SS, as executive directors for breaching the standard of care and diligence required under S180, which provides a civil liability provision, for the damage incurred by the corporation brought about by such breach. QUESTION 2 Facts/Issues: One of the employees of the company, Noi Dea was negligent while conducting a tour, which caused serious injuries to one party, thus incurring medical expenses amounting to $330,000. Based on tort, the corporation is secondarily liable to the victim for the acts committed by its employee under the concept of â€Å"vicarious liability†. Law: NatureWorld is liable under the principle of corporate liability in tort, which a breach of a common law duty, or a statutory duty which results to an injury. This shall give rise to the civil right of the injured party to file an action for damages. In the decided case of Lord Grace V Smith10, Armagas Limited V Mundogas, S.A.11, and Bugge V Brown12, the Court ruled that employers are secondarily liable applying the â€Å"doctrine of agency† or â€Å"respondeat superior†, wherein the employer shall be liable for the acts of its employees or subordinates in

An action plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

An action plan - Essay Example The APRANET which started its journey in 1969 and facilitated email has travelled a long way through the world wide web (www), the internet, internet radio, wireless internet, e-commerce and presently opened the doors for the internet TV. E-commerce has revolutionized the business processes and business transactions and the internet TV is another form of e-commerce and has opened doors of tremendous opportunity for different TV channels. This paper analyses the scope of e-commerce and the internet TV and the recent changes in the TV industry. It also discusses the action plans of TV channels NBC, Rogers, Bell Canada and Sony in order to exploit the opportunity offered by the internet TV. E - Commerce and Internet TV The Internet and the Web have enabled online business transaction which is called e-commerce and formally, it is the digital commercial transactions which is also known as E-business. E-commerce has changed the traditional processes of transactions which was considering c onsumers as passive targets and was driven by sales force. E-commerce is becoming popular due to its unique features which include its ubiquity, universal standards, global reach, richness of information richness, information density, interactivity, social technology and personalization/customization. With the growth and popularity of the internet in the world and its wider reach the internet TV is becoming very popular. Recent Changes in the TV industry Recently, there have been many technological developments in the TV industry which has changed the complete scenario of the TV industry. The recent trends require the TV industry to deliver the current form ‘TV’ via the Internet. The industry needs to not only produce huge quantity of the internet enabled TV sets but also to meet the challenges of delivering the current form of TV through the internet. The development in science and technology has enabled fast internet services and the possibility of delivering TV progr ams through the internet which can reach in any corner of the world through wireless network. The present delivery system requires the services of a network provider and a set top box but the internet TV would require only a modem to provide the services. The picture quality of the internet TV is multiple times better than the existing quality and it can be demanded by many consumers provided the basic problems are solved. The basic problems include lack of appropriate business models for the internet TV, limited bandwidth affect the quality and speed, lack of internet connections to many TV sets. The major problem experienced by consumers is the availability of millions of video programs make it difficult for them to navigate through and search for the desired program through the internet TV (Meyer & Peng, 2005). Action Plans The action plans of major TV service providers of the world like NBC, Rogers, Bell Canada and Sony need to address to the major challenges of finding an appro priate business model for generating revenue, improve the limited bandwidth quality, ensure the availability of the internet connections to TV sets and to device an appropriate system to make navigation through millions of programs easy. Their action plan should focus on positioning themselves for the transition from traditional to Internet TV that is

Organisational Culture in Social Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Organisational Culture in Social Work - Essay Example It should be noticed that the service manager of the department is respected by the staff and for this reason no conflict can be observed within the workplace as everything is appropriately regulated and monitored in accordance with the commands of the service manager. The assessment team has as a main task the completion of assessments for children in Need (as described by the Children Act 1989), for pregnant women (pre-birth assessment) or even for young people that are admitted to hospital after an episode of self-harm. Despite the well structured organizational hierarchy, the hospital’s main building looks as being ready to fall apart while no initiatives of renovation have been taken until now. This is a fact that could influence negatively the hospital’s visitors. Apart from the above issue, the hospital’s operational structure should be characterized as effective; the responsibilities have been appropriately distributed among the existed staff and the supp ort provided to the hospital’s visitors can be considered as quite satisfactory taking into account the conditions under which the hospital’s employees have to proceed with their tasks. In order to evaluate the organizational culture of the hospital we could use the theories of Brown and Schein. In accordance with the former ‘with regards to organisational culture†¦the available literature offering the interested reader an embarrassment of definitional riches; it is unsurprising that there should be a great diversity of opinion concerning what the phrase ‘organisational culture’ refers to’ (Brown (1998, p. 7). Indeed, the description of organizational structure is a challenging task if taking into consideration the fact that firms’ culture can be differentiated in accordance with the structure of the ‘internal hierarchy’, the personal attitudes of the firm’s owners and the trends of the market (who are often considered as a criterion for the

Home Health Agency Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Home Health Agency - Assignment Example ly literate, and meet several other training requirements such as satisfactorily completing the health and safety component of the training course titled â€Å"Direct Support Persons Core Training Program† or its equivalent. As such training for authorization to provide direct care services is mandatory. The curriculum may vary from state to state however each regulatory agency approves a certain curricula for their direct care trainees to undergo. One of the approved curriculum for training direct caretakers includes â€Å"Providing Residential Services in Community Settings: A Training Guide† (Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, 2015). The curriculum covers a wide range of topics that needs to be included in the training including best practices for the practitioners. Further for medication administration, the direct caretakers are trained under standardized medication curriculum by a nurse trainer. The nurse trainers supervise the direct caretaker trainees and evaluate their progress. Trainees who need to be authorized for medication administration also need to pass certain examination that evaluates their knowledge and competency of the various drugs that need to be administered. The test could be written or oral examination to test the competency of the direct care staff to ensure that they are qualified to provide the service. After the direct care staff is evaluated, they may be evaluated again in order to ensure compliance. The frequency of being re-evaluated depends upon the nurse trainer. Further if the direct care staff fails to meet the required competency level, then they may be retrained in order to ensure their competency is enough to authorize them for administering medication. Therefore, direct care staff members must undergo training under an approved curriculum in order to be eligible for providing their services at a residence or to administer medication to the patients. The curriculum involves best practices and covers different

Line Between Tough Love and Child Abuse Essay Example for Free

Line Between Tough Love and Child Abuse Essay Poets and authors have tried to define love for centuries, whereas scientists have only recently started. Many of us know intuitively that love is a major purpose for living; (Blueprint, 2013) that connection is inherent in all that we do, and without love, we cannot survive as a species. But what is love, and how do we know when were in it? First , lets start off with what love isnt. If someone asks you to do or say something that isnt in your nature, that isnt true love. Smith, 2002) Although love does involve compromises between partners, someone who is in love with you will never ask you to change who you are in order to be loved. True Love is caring. The ancient Greeks had many different names for different forms of love: passion, virtuous, affection for the family, desire, and general affection. But no matter how love is defined, they all hold a common trait: caring. (Blueprint, 2013) True Love is attractive. Attraction and chemistry form the bond that allows people to mate. Without this romantic desire for another individual, a relationship is nothing more than lust or infatuation. True Love is attached. Like the mother-child bond, attachment comes after the initial attraction. Attachment is the long term love that appears anywhere from one to three years into a romantic relationship (sometimes sooner and very rarely after), and youll know youve found it when you can honestly say, (Smith, 2002) Ive seen the worst and the best you have to offer, and I still love you, while your partner feels the same way. True Love is committed. When it comes to true love, commitment is more than just monogamy. It’s the knowledge that your partner cares for you and has your back, no matter what the circumstances. People who are strongly committed to one another will, when faced with seemingly negative information about their partner, see only the positive. For example, a friend comments that your partner doesnt say a lot. Ah yes, hes the strong, silent type, you reply. People with less commitment to their partner would instead say something like, Yeah, I can never have conversation with him. It’s annoying. True Love is Intimate. Intimacy is a crucial component of all relationships, regardless of their nature. In order to know another, you need to share parts of yourself. This self-revealing behavior, when reciprocated, (Teicher, 2000) forms an emotional bond. Over time this bond strengthens and even evolves, so that two people merge closer and closer together. Intimacy by itself if is a great friendship, but compiled with the other things in this list, it forms an equation for true love. Within the minimum standards set by CAPTA, each State is responsible for providing its own definitions of child abuse and neglect. Most States recognize four major types of maltreatment: physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse. Although any of the forms of child maltreatment may be found separately, (Blueprint, 2013) they often occur in combination. In many States, abandonment and parental substance abuse are also defined as forms of child abuse or neglect. The examples provided below are for general informational purposes only. Not all States definitions will include all of the examples listed below, and individual States definitions may cover additional situations not mentioned here. Physical abuse is no accidental physical injury (ranging from minor bruises to severe fractures or death) as a result of punching, beating, kicking, biting, shaking, throwing, stabbing, choking, hitting (with a hand, stick, strap, or other object), burning, or otherwise harming a child, that is inflicted by a parent, caregiver, or other person who has responsibility for the child. Perry, 2002) Such injury is considered abuse regardless of whether the caregiver intended to hurt the child. Physical discipline, such as spanking or paddling, is not considered abuse as long as it is reasonable and causes no bodily injury to the child. Neglect is the failure of a parent, guardian, or other caregiver to provide for a childs basic needs. (Perry, 2002) Neglect may be physical (failure to provide necessary food or shelter, or lack of appropriate supervision), medical (e. g. failure to provide necessary medical or mental health treatment), educational (e. g. , failure to educate a child or attend to special education needs), or emotional (e. g. , inattention to a childs emotional needs, failure to provide psychological care, or permitting the child to use alcohol or other drugs). These situations do not always mean a child is neglected. Sometimes cultural values, the standards of care in the community, and poverty may be contributing factors, indicating the family is in need of information or assistance. Teicher, 2000) When a family fails to use information and resources, and the childs health or safety is at risk, then child welfare intervention may be required. In addition, many States provide an exception to the defi nition of neglect for parents who choose not to seek medical care for their children due to religious beliefs that may prohibit medical intervention. Sexual abuse includes activities by a parent or caregiver such as fondling a childs genitals, penetration, incest, rape, sodomy, indecent exposure, and exploitation through prostitution or the production of pornographic materials. Sexual abuse is defined by CAPTA as the employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct or simulation of such conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct; or the rape, and in cases of caretaker or inter-familial relationships, statutory rape, molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of children, or incest with children. Emotional abuse (or psychological abuse) is a pattern of behavior that impairs a childs emotional development or sense of self-worth. This may include constant criticism, threats, or rejection, as well as withholding love, support, or guidance. Emotional abuse is often difficult to prove and, therefore, (Teicher, 2000) child protective services may not be able to intervene without evidence of harm or mental injury to the child. Emotional abuse is almost always present when other forms are identified. Abandonment is now defined in many States as a form of neglect. (Perry, 2002) In general, a child is considered to be abandoned when the parents identity or whereabouts are unknown, the child has been left alone in circumstances where the child suffers serious harm, or the parent has failed to maintain contact with the child or provide reasonable support for a specified period of time. Tough love simply means that if your child decides to do anything that can harm him/her or others that you have to love your child enough to take a stand against that behavior. If this means that you have to report your child to the authorities, whether the law or teachers, then you need to do it. It also means that if you find that you need help with your child for whatever reason that you should ask for it. There is nothing shameful about having a child who is out of control. It happens to the best of parents. What would be shameful is not to do anything. The fastest and best way to implement tough love techniques with your child is to simply start making them fully responsible for their own actions. (Blueprint, 2013) Don’t pay or legal representation, don’t bail them out with teachers, and don’t interfere in the natural consequences that may happen. Sometimes, you may even need to go further in the case of a child putting others in danger via drinking or drugging and driving. Take the car, take the money, take the phone, remove all privileges, and if that doesn’t work, you may have to call the police on your child who is pract icing illegal behaviors. Don’t give multiple warnings and threats. (Teicher, 2000) Teenagers just stop believing you, if you don’t back up your words with actions. Giving natural consequences a push in the right direction can go far in helping your child, while you’re still there for emotional support as long as they’re doing the right thing, can help a child straighten their life out before they are on their own. Child abuse is more than bruises and broken bones. While physical abuse might be the most visible, other types of abuse, such as emotional abuse and neglect, also leave deep, lasting scars. The earlier abused children get help, the greater chance they have to heal and break the cycle—rather than perpetuate it. By learning about common signs of abuse and what you can do to intervene, you can make a huge difference in a child’s life. While physical abuse is shocking due to the scars it leaves, not all child abuse is as obvious. Ignoring children’s needs, putting them in unsupervised, dangerous situations, or making a child feel worthless or stupid are also child abuse. Regardless of the type of child abuse, the result is serious emotional harm. An estimated 905,000 children were victims of child abuse or neglect in 2006 (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). While physical injuries may or may not be immediately visible, abuse and neglect can have consequences for children, families, and society that last lifetimes, if not generations. The impact of child abuse and neglect is often discussed in terms of physical, psychological, behavioral, and societal consequences. In reality, however, it is impossible to separate them completely. Physical consequences, such as damage to a childs growing brain, can have psychological implications such as cognitive delays or emotional difficulties. Psychological problems often manifest as high-risk behaviors. Depression and anxiety, for example, may make a person more likely to smoke, abuse alcohol or illicit drugs, or overeat. High-risk behaviors, in turn, can lead to long-term physical health problems such as sexually transmitted diseases, cancer, and obesity. This factsheet provides an overview of some of the most common physical, psychological, behavioral, and societal consequences of child abuse and neglect, while acknowledging that much crossover among categories exists. The immediate emotional effects of abuse and neglect—isolation, fear, and an inability to trust—can translate into lifelong consequences including low self-esteem, depression, and relationship difficulties. (Teicher, 2000) Researchers have identified links between child abuse and neglect and the following: In one long-term study, as many as 80 percent of young adults who had been abused met the diagnostic criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder at age 21. These young adults exhibited many problems, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and suicide attempts (Silverman, Reinherz, amp; Giaconia, 1996). Other psychological and emotional conditions associated with abuse and neglect include panic disorder, dissociative disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and reactive attachment disorder (Teicher, 2000). The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being recently found children placed in out-of-home care due to abuse or neglect tended to score lower than the general population on measures of cognitive capacity, language development, and academic achievement (2003). Children who are abused and neglected by caretakers often do not form secure attachments to them. These early attachment difficulties can lead to later difficulties in relationships with other adults as well as with peers (Morrison, Frank, Holland, amp; Kates, 1999). Not all victims of child abuse and neglect will experience behavioral consequences; however, child abuse and neglect appear to make the following more likely: Studies have found abused and neglected children to be at least 25 percent more likely to experience problems such as delinquency, teen pregnancy, low academic achievement, drug use, and mental health problems (Kelley et al. , 1997). A National Institute of Justice study indicated being abused or neglected as a child increased the likelihood of arrest as a juvenile by 59 percent. Abuse and neglect increased the likelihood of adult criminal behavior by 28 percent and violent crime by 30 percent (Widom amp; Maxfield, 2001). Research consistently reflects an increased likelihood that abused and neglected children will smoke cigarettes, abuse alcohol, or take illicit drugs. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, as many as two-thirds of people in drug treatment programs reported being abused as children (2000).

Psychoanalytical Approach To Disney Films

Psychoanalytical Approach To Disney Films This essay will consider how Disney films can be regarded as projecting a range of stereotypes in film which seek to define what is normal and natural in society. I hope to reveal that these images actually are consciously constructed to adhere to and reinforce dominant ideological values and are a part of the Disneyfication process where everything is homogenized and turned into a product (See Bryman 2004). This entails the repetition of stereotypes from film to film in the arena of gender, sexuality and race, and while these roles vary slightly throughout the years, they remain largely consistent between 1923 when Disney was founded and 2010 when their most recent film Tangled (Greno Howard, 2011) was released. The fact that these stereotypes are so conservative has prompted a range of writers to criticise the impact Disney has had on American and even global society. Giroux stated in The Mouse That Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence (1999) that There are few cultural icons i n the United States that can match the signifying power of the Disney Company (2001: 123). He is not alone in his criticism of Disney; writers like Wasko (2001) and Bell (1999) have joined the ranks of those seeking to elucidate how pervasive Disneys influence has become. I will consider the impact these films potentially have on children, especially in the way their world views are formed. Methodology I will consider several Disney films in seeking to explore these stereotypes: Tangled, The Princess and the Frog (Clements Musker, 2009) The Lion King (Allers Rob Minkoff, 1994), Aladdin (Clements Musker, 1992) and The Little Mermaid (Clements John Musker, 1989) as I believe these all can be seen as very reflective of the societies in which they were produced and reveal Disneys world view. I will argue how the fact that these films are aimed at young people make them even more powerful. The Disney film seeks to naturalize these stereotypes, presenting them as part of the natural order, when in fact they are nothing of the sort. The world that Disney has constructed has historically tended to be defined and largely populated by white heterosexual characters, even when the narratives reside in the animal world. I will show how some of these more contemporary texts offer partial challenges to these norms while simultaneously reinforcing the predominantly hegemonic world view. I intend to approach the films from a semiotic, sociological and psychoanalytical perspective in an attempt to deconstruct the role these films play in society. In doing so I have attempted to look at the texts in as objective a manner as possible and read them as artistic artefacts to suggest what they say about the times and the culture in which they are made. I would argue that films are the most powerful of all artistic texts with a tremendous ability to move and motivate people in ways they often cannot understand or even register. Governments have regularly put the cinema to use in mobilising the public to support their political ideas, both in an explicit fashion (see the Soviet propaganda films made by Eisenstein and Pudovkin during the aftermath of the revolution in Russia in 1917) and in more implicit ways (for this we could consider how Hollywood films have continued to promote a variety of versions of the American Dream especially in the 1930s and 1940s). A lot has been written about Disney, especially in the fields of race and gender and these texts have been very useful in informing my critical approach to Dis ney as a company and a signifying entity. The Central Question How do Disney films and other Disney products influence young people and their lives? I would argue that far from being a benign and harmless relationship the connection between Disney and its consumers, as that is what they are, is a powerful one which starts at a very early age. Children are exposed to Disney images almost from birth on Disneys television channels and then at the cinema, then on home DVD. I suggest that this surreptitiously informs their world view in quite significant ways. This is especially perfidious because these texts are deliberately targeted at the young and impressionable who lack the defences and reasoning skills adults have developed which enable them to resist such strong images. The world view that Disney normalises for them is one in which certain behaviours are depicted as being the norm and even certain races, sexualities and gender roles are assigned with positive and negative attributes. A key aspect of these process is the way in which Disney fil ms market themselves as safe, innocent and even morally educational, suggesting to the parents that to entrust their children to Disney is to embrace something that is more than a company but something akin to a family. I hope to show in this essay that this is just another cynical marketing ploy that Disney employs to engender support for the company, and ultimately generate more revenue for the corporation. Sexism Since 1923 Disney has become an almost unrivalled multi media empire. However, Walt Disney did not believe his films were culturally influential, he suggested they were just entertainment (qtd in Wasko 2001: 3). Critics like Ward disagree and assert that such films aimed at young people can shape the way children think about who they are and who they should be (2002: 5). Disney films can be considered to promote sexist or even misogynist values to young women as the roles women are afforded are very limited and the narratives place men in positions of power. Here it is clear that Disney fits into stereotypes that reach across the breadth of Hollywood into all of its genres. Laura Mulvey argued that Hollywood reproduces the hegemonic and patriarchal society by presenting certain roles and images as the norm. In her analysis women are portrayed in a very reductive manner and presented as scopophilic objects for the purpose of being looked at by males and in the process dominated. In Mu lveys understanding Hollywood is part of the systematic process which reinforces the patriarchal ideology and we can see this at work from early Hollywood until now. Her works poses a lot of questions for audiences? Why do women get so few leading roles? Why are they relegated in films and cast as sex objects for the male oriented narratives? Why are women that transgress the natural order punished in Hollywood cinema? We can observe that this process works on two levels: the films both recreate and perpetuate dominant ideological values. Mulvey commented, There is no way in which we can produce an alternative [to the conservative values that Hollywood reproduces] out of the blue, but we can begin to make a break by examining patriarchy with the tools it provides, of which psychoanalysis is not the only but an important one (Mulvey 1989: 15). I would argue that Disney films are an effective embodiment of many aspects of Mulveys central thesis. In the history of Disney films women have largely tended to be defined as either perfectly pure princesses (to be valued, idealised and cherished and ultimately married), villains (who transgress unspoken laws of society by being corpulent, unattractive or refusing to submit to patriarchal dominance), mothers (who give up their independence, sexuality and individuality to be subsumed into the male defined family unit), or variations of these archetypes. Despite often being the protagonist (and having the film named after them), they are relegated to subservient positions in the narrative or rely on men for their ultimate salvation. Attractiveness is a key feature in Disney and it has been since even before Cinderella (1950) and Sleeping Beauty (1959). Women are categorized by whether they are attractive or not and beauty becomes a key to their moral status and their happiness. The goal for a woman in Disney films is often love, not a career or intellectual growth, and these visions o f womanhood are presented as something every woman should aspire to, without exception. If a woman departs from this stereotype she is shunned within the diegesis and presented as a corruption. Bell suggested there were only three predefined roles for females in Disney texts 1) beautiful young heroines, 2) cruel mother figures and 3) harmless, asexualised elderly women. (See Bell 1995) Here we see the imagery and ideology young girls are exposed to before they are old enough to understand and be critical of it. They are informed that to be a whole and happy person they must be beautiful, define themselves through relationships with the opposite sex and be submissive to their fathers and then their husbands. For me this is far from a healthy ideology to promote to young girls and offers up a disturbing and unbalanced gender relationship at a very important period in a young persons life. We can see examples of this paradigm in the majority of Disney texts produced over the years. In Snow White and the Seven Dwarves we have Snow White as the beautiful heroine and The Wicked Stepmother as the cruel mother archetype. Cinderella contains the eponymous character as the beautiful heroine, the sisters as cruel figures and the fairy godmother as asexualized elderly woman. If we consider some more modern examples we can see how far things have changed, or discern whether they have not changes at all. The Little Mermaid (1989) features the heroine Ariel, a beautiful young woman and mermaid at the centre of the narrative, she is slightly more independent than the antecedents that came before her, but she too is defined by her pursuit of love. She challenges her father, Triton, at the beginning of the narrative, eager to not be a part of a show being performed for him. Near the end of the film Ariel even gives up her identity for the sake of her true love. So despite minor chang es, she is still forced to make sacrifices that men in Disney films are not asked to make. It is no coincidence that the heroine of the film is beautiful and young and the villain of the film is the old, overweight and unattractive Ursula, who seeks to steal identity and power and by going outside of the norm can only be thought of as a corruption. This implicitly connotes that if a woman is not young, attractive and compliant she is then a threat to society. Supporters of Disney will suggest that these texts are just films, harmless entertainment for young people, but what moral lessons are they to draw from the ideologies presented? In my opinion they are far from innocent texts devoid of cultural meaning, they are immensely powerful artefacts that structure how young people look at the world. The Little Mermaid was also accused of racism on its release, the character of Sebastian the underwater crab was felt by many to be a stereotype of a Jamaican man who enjoys a lazy life under the sea which he prefers to the surface. The song he sings is suggestive of this Up on the shore they work all day, Out in the sun they slave away, While we devotin, Full time to floatin, Under the sea! This is just another example of how Disney chooses to frame certain characteristics in distinctly racial terms. The choice to have the character a black man embody this aspect perpetuates the racist stereotype that has remained pervasive in the society and here it is projected at children. Disneys newest film, Tangled, makes an interesting addition to the Disney oeuvre as it both subverts and reinforces some of these archetypes. It concerns the familiar fairy tale story Rapunzel, but like many modern adaptations (See Dreamworks Shrek, 2001) it deconstructs its tropes and its codes and conventions. Bruno Betelheim in his influential The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales suggested that stories like this imparted powerful notions of ideology to generations through the ages and reflect what a society arbitrarily decides is moral and just. We can see this approach very much apparent in the work of Disney who often draw on these fairy tales in their films and see they role as some sort of unofficial moral educator for generations of children, whether they state this or not. The protagonist of the Tangled, Rapunzel, is a young woman who is, as per usual blonde, white and slim. One could ask what kind of messages this sends to young women? They sug gest that the way for happiness and success is through youth and beauty. That being young and looking a certain way makes you normal and fit into society. If you do not fit this paradigm then you are relegated from the narrative or cast as the villain. The way Disney promotes these messages is so veiled that the youths watching may never regard the issue so explicitly, but it is so deeply ingrained in our culture that it is hard to ignore. In this way films and the way people identify with the cinema screen can be associated with French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacans idea of the mirror stage. Lacan suggested that the child at the age of between six and eighteen months see themselves in the mirror and believe it not to be a reflection but the self in its entirety. Thus the way a spectator identifies and subsumes itself into the characters it sees projected on the cinema screen is just as illusory as the process the baby goes through. This is only one example of how a psychological appr oach to Disney is useful in coming to understand the film as texts with cultural resonance. Whether one holds with this theory or not it is clear that these images of princesses hold a distinct fascination for young girls which can be seen in the amount of merchandise that is sold across the world focusing on characters like Snow White, Cinderella and Ariel. Disney presents these figures as iconic characters that girls of the world should aspire to be like instead of doctors, authors, scientists and politicians. Rapunzel is more independent than Disneys usual heroines; she is not averse to action and combat, in fact when she first comes across Flynn, the dashing hero of the film she knocks him out. Rapunzel is also intelligent, quick witted and humorous, attributes that are not always connected to women in Disney films. Here we see evidence of Disneys ability to move somewhat with the times and identify that the needs of their audiences have changed since the 1950s, but I would argue that this is performed in a cynical fashion, seeking to anticipate what would sell to an audience rather than a desire to present more balanced role models for young women. The antagonist of the film is much more predictable, a cruel mother figure called Gothel who has kidnapped Rapunzel and imprisoned her in a tower, leaving Rapunzel unaware of the fact that she is a princess. Gothel uses Rapunzels powers to keep herself young. By being ignorant of her royal lineage the film places Rapunzel resolutely within th e fantasy of young women discovering they are princesses, an enduring trope particularly relevant in the last few years given media fascination with the courtship and eventual marriage between Prince William and a commoner Kate Middleton. Not only is Rapunzel a princess, but she secretly has magic powers and later we discover her tears can heal wounds and even bring the dead back to life. The character of Flynn embodies many archetypes familiar to the Disney canon, his swaggering posture denotes that is the handsome and dashing rogue with a heart of gold. It is worth pausing to consider that, while males are given more variety of characterization in Disney films than women, they still are forced into certain stereotypes of attractiveness, bravery and what constitutes masculinity. Disney makes one or two concessions to new millennial masculinity in portraying that underneath Flynns brash exterior he is sensitive. In a sequence where they both believe they are about to die Flynn reveals his real name is the considerably less dashing Eugene Fitzherbert. Yet despite these progressive aspects to Rapunzels character the film also has her life given meaning through her love for Flynn. Flynn proves the catalyst for her self-discovery and she is rarely a casual narrative agent of her own. She is the latest in a long line of Disney heroines that require a man to save her and teach her what true love is. The film ends with Gothel being killed; by moving outside of what is regarded as normal and moral behavior for women she must be punished. Rapunzel then marries Flynn and in doing so she has achieved the ultimate goal, in Disneys eyes, of what young girls must aspire to. At the beginning of the new millennium Disney believes that it is appropriate and right to suggest to young women that what they should dream of above all else, above a career, education, excitement, travel or adventure, is marriage with a young man. Racism The other prominent arena that Disney has been criticised for is its depiction of racial stereotypes in its films. From its very early days Disney films were permeated with racist characterisations which were delivered in the same way: as harmless depictions of how things really were and in no way a moral statement at all. One could point to how the crows in Dumbo (1941) or the Arabs in Aladdin are framed in distinctly racial and pejorative terms. It wasnt until 2010 that Disney produced a film with a black princess, The Princess and the Frog and the film emerges as a very interesting and ambiguous text. The film is set in New Orleans in 1912 and it too is a reinterpretation of a familiar fairytale updated for modern audiences. The princess is Tiana and, on the outside, she seems like a fairly modern construction. When her mother reads her the fairy story The Frog Princess at the start of the film unlike her friend Charlotte La Bouff, she rejects it, stating that she would never kiss a frog. This is one of many ways the film ironically comments on its own status as a fairytale text and allows the film-makers to make gestures towards contemporary attitudes and values. When the narrative moves to 1926, Tiana is far from what might be considered an ivory tower princess, as she works two jobs in an effort to save money and open her own restaurant. By portraying her as an industrious young business woman the film seems to be suggesting that there is more in life for young girls to aspire to than becoming a princess, wife or mother. However despite this the film relies on the old fashioned stereotypes that have permeated Disney since the very beginning with regards to how women should look. Tiana is black, yet she is beautiful, slim and pale skinned and thus contributes to the inculcation of a certain stereotype that Princesses must look a certain way. Again we must ask, how would young girls who do not look this way respond? When a prince is changed into a frog she agrees to kiss him in exchange for enough money to open her restaurant, but is surprised when she too turns into a frog. So while Tiana spends a large section of the film asserting her individuality through her hard work and feisty attitude she finds herself completed by the love of a man. The film does offer some variations on the stereotype of the male hero, in more or less the same way as Tangled, near the end of the film it is the sensitive prince Naveen who states that he is willing to give up his dreams for her, an act that is usually given to the woman to perform. When they are initially unable to change back to human form, they proclaim their love for one another and state that they will be happy to live as frogs as long as they are together. However, when they kiss Tiana becomes a princess and thus breaks the spell turning them both back into humans. Like Tangled, the film offers both improvements to Disneys traditionally conservative portrayals and also it perpetuates some of the same old stereotypes. I would argue that the film uses racial stereotypes in a different way to the way Disney has historically. By dwelling on voodoo, in particular in the character of the voodoo master Dr. Facilier, it relegates African identity to a crudely stereotyped Other. He is a malicious and evil characterization who, by transgressing the natural order, must be punished at the end of the narrative. The film Aladdin was also accused of perpetuating racial stereotypes on its release in 1992. As Disney moved into depicting an Arab culture in one of its films many predicted it would conjure up similar antiquated and racist characters. It too takes a familiar fairy tale and deconstructs it as became the trend in the 1990s and into the new millennium. The story follows a young boy, Aladdin, and his relationship with an evil wizard, Jafar, as they battle for the powers of a magic lamp which contains a genie. Critics felt that the film dwelled on images of barbarism and cruelty by Arabs which audiences would equate with the contemporary Muslim world. A particular song in the film was targeted by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee as being an embodiment of the attitude of the film towards the Middle East, its lyrics went Where they cut off your ear if they dont like your face/Its barbaric, but, hey, its home. In subsequent releases on video and DVD they were changed to Wher e its flat and immense and the heat is intense/Its barbaric, but, hey, its home. It is quite obvious that those with lighter skins are placed on the side of good and those with darker skins are evil. Giroux states that the bad Arabs in the film are determined by their thick, foreign accents and the good Arabs like Jasmine and Aladdin speak in standard American English. (1999: 105) The film was criticized for something Disney has historically done with many of its non white characters throughout the years, that is anglicize their features. We can see this in the case of not only Aladdin and Jasmine in Aladdin but Pocahontas and Mulan. Disney takes non-white characters and makes them appear more white in appearance than they actually are and thereby less threatening for the audience who they presume might be offended by watching an non-white character as a protagonist. The case of Aladdin and Jasmine is quite clear as they are changed from looking like Arabs to almost twentieth centur y American who happen to have healthy tans. It is no coincidence that the character was Aladdin seems to have been modeled on perhaps the all American symbol of the 1980s and 1990s, Tom Cruise. Such Manichean and racist accounts of morality can be found across the whole of Disney where the idea of evil is encapsulated by the dark skinned and obviously Arabic wizard Jafar. One of Disneys greatest critical and commercial successes in the modern era is undoubtedly The Lion King. It too is an example of a film which, arguably, embodies both the sexism and racism in inherent in the Disney world. It is an original rites of passage drama about a young cub Simba, who sees his father the King Mufasa killed. Scar tricks Simba into thinking he was responsible for his fathers death causing Simba to flee the kingdom in shame. The throne is claimed by Simbas cruel uncle Scar who had orchestrated the kings death. Throughout the course of the narrative women are almost entirely marginalized from the film and the realms of power and responsibility are only occupied by men. This is another way that female roles are constructed in Disney films, by legitimizing gender power relations and naturalising such imbalances. Here one might ask whether Disney are being sexist or just reflecting existing social structures in the real world? However this process of legitimization r esults in further exacerbation of such existing structures by reinforcing them. Like other Disney films this process is deemed as normal and part of the natural order, attention is not drawn to it within the plot and it is depicted as historically inherent and normal. The only female characters of note are Simbas mother who is relegated to the sidelines and the young cub which Simba grows to marry. Her only function is to act as a catalyst to prompt Simba to return to do his masculine duty and reclaim the throne. At the end of the film she has another role and that is to provide a son and heir for Simba when he becomes King. The villain of the film, Scar, has conspicuously darker skin than his biological relatives in the film and he is distanced from them by the fact that he speaks with an English accent. The creation of such a racial Other has been a historic strategy by Disney throughout the companys history. In modern films their racism is not so obvious as it once was but there is still an assumption that a villain must deviate from what society regards as normal, that is he or she must be non-white, overweight or old. Perhaps the films most racist element is the army of hyenas which Scar commands are also depicted as distinctly part of a racial minority in the way they speak: inner city, jive talk. When finding a group of characters supposed to represent menace and evil, Disney falls back on the same hackneyed stereotype it has used for more than fifty years. Critics of the film charged that The Lion King made racism and sexism acceptable and part of the natural order. Ward stated when racism and se xism becomes the norm that appears to represent reality, then Disney has lost its moral high ground (2002: 32). In recent times outside of Disney films directors like George Lucas and Michael Bay have been criticised for using the same stereotypes in their films. In The Phantom Menace (1997) the character of Jar Jar Binks was criticised by being a bumbling and foolish character who happened to speak with a Jamaican accent. In Transformers 2 (2009) the characters of Mudflaps and Skids were regarded as racist for the same reason. Many Disney films have come under a lot of criticism for including subliminal messages in their films in particular hidden erotic images like a phallus from The Little Mermiad, the word sex across the sky written in the clouds in The Lion King, and nudity in The Rescuers and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. After these criticisms Disney often removed the offending images from the video and DVD release of the films. They were mostly done by disenfranchised animators during the long and laborious process of animating a film which can last for several years. The powers of subliminal messages are well documented and it might be argued that this is another reason why Disney films should not be handed over to children to be watched without care and attention. Techniques like this have been used in advertising for decades to sell products and here in films targeted at families and children it is hard to tell what the effects may be. These stories of images in Disney films inspired the episode in th e satirical Fight Club where the protagonist Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) splices images from pornography into family films. The audiences do not ever know consciously what they have seen, but somewhere in their brain it registers, the scene ends with a shot of a little girl crying for a reason she doesnt understand. A concept which I feel has been largely neglected in most academic studies of Disney that I have read is the fact that children growing up in the Disney era being introduced to fairy tales through the Disney process rather than in one of their original forms. Of course this is a considerable shame for a variety of reasons: 1) that the stories are distinctly Americanised and populated with white characters and lack the diversity which can be found in many of the original texts. 2) That children are being (and have been for many decades) effectively raised by the television and having these stereotypes inculcated into them from a very early age. 3) That these rich stories are being manufactured to act as devices through which to sell products to children which, I would argue, perverts the important role which fairy tales play in our society. One must consider Disneys power as a cultural signifier in this first decade of the twenty-first century. Disney now has television stations that are projected into peoples living rooms everyday rather than once or twice a year when people take their children to see the latest Disney film at the cinema. This changes things in the sense that the company achieves an even greater intimacy with the consumer from an even earlier age. Fortunately this has coincided with what we might regard as greater awareness on issues of media culpability, although how much of this has filtered into the mainstream audience remains to be seen. I believe that the majority of parents regard the Disney brand as an example of safe and sincere entertainment that is automatically suitable for young people. Disney has branched out to produce hugely successful shows aimed at the wide spectrum of different demographics within the family audience from the very young, those dubbed tweens, into the early teenage years and beyond with shows like Hannah Montana which fit into the mould established within Disneys animated films. These shows are vibrant and aspirational and on the surface have positive messages for young people. However, as we have seen with Disney films this fails to account for what they leaves out of these narratives. There are very few characters from ethnic minorities, or with disabilities, or those who have different sexualities, or children who look different from the bright, predominantly white, clean teens that occupy the central positions in these shows. One might ask how relevant these characterisations are around the world? Or to children living in America who do not come from so obviously affluent families? Disney might argue that these shows are inspirational, but for many they ignore the realities of a large part of their audience forced to identify with characters very different to themselves. There can be no doubt that Disney has changed, to a certain extent, with the times both on the cinema screen and in the home entertainment arena. Many of Disneys television shows and films pay lip service to issues of political correctness as we have observed in films like The Frog Princess and Mulan. But I think it is still clear to see that a fundamental shift in Disneys approach to the social and political realities of the world has yet to happen. Disney has continued to perpetuate many racial stereotypes even in recent films, when they must have been aware of the impact of these issues and how important they have become to many parts of their audience. Conclusion It is clear to see that Disney are one of the most influential media companies in the entire world and to deny their influence on successive generations of youths is impossible. Once this influence is accepted one asks, what kind of influence is it? Peter and Rochelle Schweizer in Disney: the Mouse Betrayed: Greed, Corruption, and Children at Risk (1998) argue that Disneys image of wholesome and nostalgic Americana is a self-consciously created one that is only formed to generate income for the company. Disney films are not benign artefacts, but texts full of extremely potent symbols rife with meaning and ready to be decoded by people willing to look a bit deeper for these sorts of message in cultural texts. The images of gender and race we have seen in this essay seem harmless on the surface, but when considered closely one sees that the kind of ideals and norms they present to children they might not be as benign as they first appear and for this reason alone they are worthy of fur ther study. These images have tended to be ignored in the mainstream media as Giroux comments The more liberal critiques often entirely ignore the racist, sexist and anti-democratic ethos that permeates Disney films (1999: 85). Here we must identify something that often slips by parents in their relationship with Disney, the fact that it is a capitalist corporation designed to earn money for its shareholders. This is often lost in the fondly remembered nostalgia consumers have for the films of their childhood. This is perhaps one of the most effective marketing strategies in the history of modern America, how the company has sought to convince consumers that it does not real

Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) of Vodafone

Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) of Vodafone Introduction Strategic Human Resource Management is a modern day business concept that has been now been widely used the organization; the crux of the concept is that all the human resource activities of the companies should be aligned with the organizational corporate objectives. In this assignment we are required to select an organization of our choice and then analyze their strategic human resource practices, we are required to see that how the practices and strategies of human resources department are aligned with the companys objective. What are the areas that are performing well and what the areas that need the improvement are? For this I have selected leading telecom company of UK. Vodafone has been the market leader with their continued growth in UK and other parts of the world. This paper will analyze two dimensions, one is their strategies for recruitment, selection, learning, development and training and I shall explain how these strategies are maximizing employee performance and are linked with corporate strategies. The second part of this paper will present the performance management processes of the organization we shall how this organization manages the performance of their employees and how human resource department is managing the employee relations. Introduction to the Company Vodafone is a leading telecom player in the UK and other parts of the world including India. The products and services they provide are of high quality and high standards and the market they are operating is highly competitive. The nature of competition requires the management of the company to have a strategic clarity and all the business operations should be working in same direction. Their service portfolio includes mobile phone connection including 2G and 3G networks, broadband internet in homes and on mobiles (www.vodafone.com, 2011). In order to understand the strategic human resource activities of the organization is very important to understand that what company all about is. Their vision values and business orientation are the key drivers that are driving the human resource management department (www.vodafone.com, 2011). Company Vision They see their future in outstanding data services and products backed up by the best customer experience in the business. Their journey has already begun, with things like Mobile Internet and Mobile Broadband. And their Vodafone at home fixed broadband service. And their targets are big, which means millions of customers using their data services every day (www.vodafone.com, 2011). Company Values Speed They are focused on speed to market, they relentlessly priorities and pursue the outcomes that matter to our business. Simplicity They make things simple for their customers, partners and colleagues. Trust They are reliable and transparent to deal with. They deliver for others, and trust others to do likewise Literature Review of Strategic HRM: Strategic Human Resource Management is a modern day business concept that is now being practiced in many of the organizations, its acceptability and practice is increasing with the time as organization have realized that this management philosophy is actually adding value to business profitability in many indirect ways . As we know that human resources are one of the most important resources of that a company can have, their ability to participate in development of companies sustainable competitive advantage is unquestionable, in past the human resource management has been a separate department with no influence and participation in strategic management of the company. Whatever have been the corporate strategies companies were not linking the human resources management with it. The result of which was the disintegration of companys objective and human resource management, this scenario made the human resource participation in sustainable competitive advantage limited. (Appleby Mavin, 2000). With the evolution of modern business era, that has started from 1980s, the management practitioners and commentators has been feeling the need of taking the companies to one direction, and they have also realized that it very important that human resource department should be made part of the strategy formulation process and their human resource strategies should be made while keeping in mind the business strategy of the organization. Therefore the researchers came up with the concept which is called the Strategic Human Resource Management, that enables the HR department to derive their practices from the corporate strategy and they are also made part while making the business strategy (Armstrong, 2006). Strategic Human Resource Management requires the dept being proactive rather than being reactive, they are required to adjust themselves according to the human resource need of the company. They are also required to foresee the upcoming needs of the company and then plan beforehand accordingly (McMahan et al., 1998). Strategies for Recruitment, Retention, Training Learning Vodafone is a market leader in their category, they have a competitive advantage because of their diversification in products, services and marketing strategies, therefore their corporate objective is to sustain their marketing leader position with the help of their diversification. Below is the snapshot of HR strategies for various HR functions of the organization that tells us the organization is linking their business strategy with their human resource strategy: Recruitment Selection Vodafones recruitment and selection process is aligned with their business strategy, as they are in the business of providing services and their market position is a leader with differentiations, therefore when they recruit individuals on different seats, they have set of core competencies that are required for each position and they check these while hiring someone(Armstrong, 2006). Their selection process makes sure that the right person with right set of capacities and attitude is selected, for example if they are hiring for the position of customer service they would make sure that person being hired has the soft skills, the empathic attitude and is not aggressive in nature. They have devised a set of such soft skills that are evaluated on each of the hiring and these skills vary from position to position. For managerial level position they make sure they hire someone with good analytical skill along with flare of leadership in them. So in Vodafone the entire selection process is linked with the corporate objectives (Armstrong, 2006). Compensation Benefits Vodafones entire compensation and benefits are also linked with business strategy, their remuneration systems and annual appraisal systems are derived from corporate strategy. Since our case company is working in highly competitive environment and they have to maintain their market leadership position therefore they have designed their compensation system that encourages the quality individuation to work in this organization. They provide they employees with state of the art facilities and salary packages so that the best in the industry are attracted to work in the company and then they play their part in making the organization a market leader (Armstrong, 2006). His annual appraisal system is also managed strategically, in Vodafone, every department has their quarterly and annual objectives, and these objectives are then used to make the individual and teams quarterly and annual objectives. Now when performance appraisal is done, Vodafones human resource department makes the objective achievement the part of the appraisal system and all the increments in salary and bonuses are linked with the objective achievement in teams and individuals. For their objective achievement calculation they make sure that performance objective are time bound, quantifiable and measureable (Armstrong, 2006). Training Development Training and Development is an important component of their human resource strategy. They keep on adding value in their human resources by training them on hard skill and soft skill whatever is required by the nature and role of the job. The processes start from indentifying the training needs of each of the department. They after understanding the objective of the each of the department for the coming year, asks the relevant managers to identify and evaluate the individuals in their teams that require the training and development in certain areas of their job. These training needs can be of soft skill and also can be of hard skills that are directly related to the job (McMahan et al., 1998). Once the training needs are indentified then human resource department manages the training calendar of the year, in which all the required training are mentioned and employees are sent for on job and off job training. Human resource department also have the eye on the upcoming expansions and technological developments in the market so the relevant employees can be trained before the time and they are ready to work when there is any technological advancement and change in the organization. Learning Human resource department of the organization put special emphasis on developing the learning culture within the organization. Employees are encouraged to share their experiences and learning with each other so that team members can have a learning culture in the organization. Since Vodafone is working in different geographical regions of the county, therefore they make sure that employees are encouraged the learnings regarding technical and marketing knowledge with each other, so that employee of one region can learn from the experience of the other region (Armstrong, 2006). As discussed above they also send employee on training, they also send different employees of different department to their different geographical markets so that they can have the training of various situations and have the understanding of various markets, that rotation also helps employees and increase the learning within the organization. Career Building Since attracting and retaining the quality employee is challenge for the organizations working in todays competitive market, therefore Vodafone have the policy of having a clear and well defined career path for each of their employee. This clarity of career path makes it clear for employee that where they should see themselves after spending different number of years in the company. The department also makes sure that all the career advancement of the employees are based on their performance and every top performing employee should have the advancement in their career, this policy helps to control the employee turnover and encourage employees to work hard and perform as they would have the chance to grow (Armstrong, 2006). Empowerment Vodafone is working in competitive environment and to stay ahead of competition it is very important for organizations to have the fast and correct decision making. Therefore the human resource department put the special emphasis on empowering the employee for timely decision making. For this purpose they have worked in devolution of power, decentralization of decision making and flatter organizational culture. They have been working on the dimensions on giving the employee the power of making the less critical decisions and top management should only be making decision that are or critical nature are of strategic importance. This empowerment of employees gives them sense of responsibility, increases their commitment towards the organization and save the precious business time that is required to take the decision from top management (Armstrong, 2006). Retention As it is very important for organizations working in competitive business environment, Vodafones human resource practices also work in the same way, they try to retain their quality employees to go to the competition. Their retention strategies revolve around the good compensation and benefits, pay per performance, rewards and increments on good performance and then having the well defined promotional system that gives the chance to every employee to perform and build their careers and then grow. Their retention policy is derived from the strategic objective of the organization to be diversified in their business, and same is the case in their human resource management (Armstrong, 2006). Performance Management Employee Relations Below we shall see that performance management is done in Vodafone, these lines will presented the different methodologies and practices that are being adapted in the performance management section of strategic HRM of company. Determination of Performance Targets The first step in strategic performance management of the organization is to determine the required performance targets of the organization for the year. These targets are derived by combining number of activities, first of all market analysis is done; the management analyze the external environment so that market growth trends and competitors market share can be understand. Once this step is done management have the background information for dominating the organizational performance for next year, then the next step is to decide and agree upon the performance targets, once the corporate level targets are decided then these targets are divided into department level targets. These department level targets are then reflected in individual level targets and objectives.(Wall, 2007). Encouraged Individual Commitment Vodafone has realized the importance of encouraging the employee commitment towards organizational objective, as without this commitment employees will not be able to achieve the performance that organization is expecting them to achieve. Once organization is able to make the organizational objectives the target of the individual then we can see the success rate of achieving this objective is high. Therefore Vodafone increases the employee commitment to the organizational objectives by involving them in the objective making process (Rheem, 1996). It has been the practice in the Vodafone that managers and teams decide their performance targets themselves and once these are approved by the management their personal commitment to these targets is high. They strive and struggle more to achieve the targets that has been made in consultation with them (Wall, 2007). Delegation, Mentoring and Coaching There are some other activities that play their role in strategic management of the performance of the organization, Vodafone on the also using the three of the activities that are delegation of power with responsibility, proper mentoring and feedback system, and coaching (Wall, 2007). Vodafone believes in delegation of power to the employees that are responsible for achieving certain targets, as responsibility comes with authority, same is the philosophy that is applied throughout the Vodafone. Their culture is devolution of power so de-centralization, they try to give maximum power to their employees so that they can achieve their responsibilities with given authority. Vodafone also believes in mentoring and coaching of employees, managers are encouraged to act as mentor for their team members, this also involves on job training for the teams, this systems encourages learning environment in the organization(Armstrong, 2006). Monitoring and Feedback Monitoring and feedback system is an important part of the organizational performance management; same is the case with Vodafone. They have proper monitoring and feedback system that helps us monitoring the performance and individuals and teams. They have a quarterly performance management system that relates the performance of the employees with their objectives of that quarter. After the evaluation and monitoring of the performance of teams then feedback is provided to them. That system helps the organizational performance on the track and helps the organization to stay on their performance objectives throughout the year (Wall, 2007). Handling Under-Performance Vodafone handles the underperformance of their employees by having a proper monitoring system, they first evaluates the performance of the employees, then if team members are found to be underperforming then they see that if there is any training needs. If there are training needs then employees are sent on training, after the trainings their performance is again monitored. If performance is found satisfactory then it is ok, if again performance is not found satisfactory then employees are replaced to other jobs. Employee Relations Vodafone puts special emphasis on managing good relations with their employees; they believe that their employees are their more important assets, their human resource policies are more focused towards managing their employees relations with the organization. Their performance evaluation, benefits and compensation system is targeted towards retaining their employees and maintaining their motivation with the organization. Conclusion Strategic human resource management is the modern concept that is in practice by different by different organizations, in this paper we have observed the strategic human resource management practices by one of the leading organization in UK. We have observed their organizational objectives with relation to their human resource management activities. The focus of the paper has been on the recruitment selection, training and development and learning functions and their relationship with organizational strategy. It has also been observed that how performance management system is working on strategic guidelines provided by the organization and how it is playing role in competitive advantage.