Magic And Science :: essays research papers

Many events were unexplainable and maybe even seemed to be magical before accomplishment evolved to what it is today. exclusively questions relating to the origin of life can be answered scientifically. One may question their beliefs based on scientific theory. Human life can be scummy down to fundamental theory. Not only geological or biological, but also all events can be answered scientifically. Magic and magicians have certain act upon in society. The impossible becomes unexplainable, whether it is fact or fiction. But truly in the minds of magicians, their purpose in life is to leave a mystery, a mystery that science is unable to explain. They leave their mark and give people something to think about, a mark which will never be forgotten. Although magic is able to deceive the minds of many, fewer understand its effect of misdirection of the human mind.The first accounts of magic were recorded around 1700 B.C. It appeared on the Westcon Papyrus and was recorded by an Egypti an chronicler. Stories of magic were give down for centuries (Blackstone, 12). It has made a profitable living for soothsayer and gypsies, but there are times when magic was a form of entertainment. During the seventeenth light speed magic has become a living for some entertainers. Jugglers, wizards, and fortunetellers often appeared as scrub than a man of talent. These respected entertainers attracted lots of attention, not only because of their fervency clothing, but also because of their talents. In time there were traveling performers. Magicians dressed up and traveled for town to town, setting up stages and booths attracting the attention of the people, as rise up as their money. Pretty soon this sorts of entertainment was everywhere. At fairs they perform when they attract a crowd, then they passed around a hat for donations as if they were beggars. They appeared in places ilk the market place, street corners, and even adult entertainment bars (Blackstone, 19).We have see n magic as a form of entertainment, from making someone disappear, to sawing a girl in half. But all great illusions have an explanation. Magic, as we have seen, is about indicant- a seemingly magical power used and expressed by a skilled actor to create the illusion of miraculous happenings. But the most mysterious part of magic is how these miraculous happenings are performed. The real power of magic lies within the native effects themselves (Blackstone, 117).Magicians refer magical appearance of an object as a production.

Reversal of Characters in A Tale of Two Cities :: Tale Two Cities Essays

Reversal of Characters in A Tale of Two Cities           When writing a book, authors oftentimes focus on a central issue or theme. However, other themes develop through the course of the piece, either consciously or subconsciously.  One such theme is a reversal of characters in A Tale of Two Cities.  Individuals and groups of people change dramatically from the outset of the book all the way up to its conclusion.  Three of the most obvious changes in character are Sydney Carton, Madame DeFarge, and the French people as a whole.        Sydney Carton is first described at Darnays trial as not paying attention to whats going on, sort of an oaf.  He is portrayed as a drunk, and even admits this to Darnay on their date.  However, love, they say, is strong  Cartons love for Lucy changed him greatly though the course of the novel.  He stopped drinking when he visited, and even pledged his life to her, and everyone she loved.  Carton changed even more dramatically when death on the guillotine was approaching.  He waxed philosophical about the future, and even quoted a few scriptures.  This is most certainly not the man first seen at the of age(predicate) Bailey with the sideways wig.         Another interesting change took place in the character of Madame Defarge.  She is first portrayed as a woman of principle who is helping her married man with the revolution. However, Madame Defarge makes a startling metamorphosis from supporting character to antagonist when she is revealed to be the shadow.  She is shown to be cruel and petty, not the compassionate woman one would assume of a leader of a revolution against tyranny.  This part of  the novel casts a shadow of doubt over the rest of the characters, and one begins to question the validity of all the characters.         Finally, the French peop le themselves start out as scratch offtrodden and miserable victims of a corrupt system.  But it is illustrated that they could be just as heartless as their rich counterparts, the aristocrats, when it came down to it.  For example, anyone who was an aristocrat, or even associated with aristocrats, was sentenced to death.  As the novel went on, the French people

Teenage Prostitution as a Response to Gender Roles in Japanese Society :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Teenage Prostitution as a Response to Gender Roles in Japanese purchase order Buuuzzzzzzz. Oh, a page, says Michiko to her friend, give me a minute to check it. She pulls out her mobile phone and dials the number to check her messages. This message is from one of her regular customers, Mr. Tanaka. He would standardized to meet this afternoon at the little restaurant next to the same love hotel they used last week (a place that rents theme rooms by the hour). Michiko giggles to her friend, Poor Tanaka-san, he is such a lonely guy, but hes very generous. Michiko meets up with Tanaka-san, a businessman in his mid-forties, later that afternoon. They snatch an early dinner, then head directly to the love hotel. After about an hour, their transaction is complete and Tanaka-san offers Michiko about 10,000. Suddenly, Michiko notices the time. Its nearly eight, and she has about an hour commute, by train, to her house in the suburbs. My p arnts will be angry that Im so late again, especially since I have an important algebra exam in the morning Michiko quickly kisses Tanaka-san on the cheek and rushes around collecting her things. Call me soon. Okay? says the seventeen-year-old as she slips out the door. Michiko and Tanaka-san are imaginary, yet they illustrate a very real phenomenon in Japanese society teenage prostitution. Young girls selling themselves to older men is not a new phenomenon. Underage women around the worldly concern resort to prostitution as a message of survival. There are few industries women can enter where capital costs are low, barriers to entry are few, and educational requirements are nil. Yet what is puzzling in the Japanese case is that most young women like Michiko do not depend on the funds they receive from prostitution for survival yet it does help to buy Burberry scarves, Chanel hand bags and other must-haves (Moffett 50). While it is tempting to say that teenage prostitution is a means for young women to obtain the material items they feel they cannot live without, there is more to this phenomenon than meets the eye. If it were merely a matter of wanting extra money, young girls would most apparent seek legitimate employment translation, the increasing popularity of prostitution among teenage girls in Japan is a response to the strict gender stratification of Japanese society.

Lord of the Flies - Who I think would make the best leader on the island: :: English Literature

Lord of the Flies - Who I think would make the best drawing card on the island Ralph, Piggy or Jack?The Novel that this piece of writing is based upon is named Lord ofthe Flies. The author of the book is William Golding who wrote manyother books including Close quarters and Fire slew below. This essayis on my opinion of who would be the best leader on the island out ofRalph, Piggy and Jack. I will base my opinions on my assumption ofwhat makes a good leader and my general feelings of their actions,reactions and appearance. These three predicaments make largedifferences in how other raft feel towards you. If you have becomeirritable easily lot may ignore you or if you can not make gooddecisions of your own they may feel more powerful than you. So theseare my reasons of how I will judge the characters. Another aspect Iwill have to consider is the first impressions made on the charactersand how Golding provoked these.What makes a good leader is someone who does not take sides in bads ituations, someone who is organised, they can be independent, positive(p), good ideas, a quick thinker, non-judgmental, works wellunder pressure, reliable, takes gush and can see good and bad inpeople. All these points are good because people following the leadersdo not want to be under pressure because the leader can not takecertain circumstances, followers also do not a leader who is notconfident because then they have to be more positive. Also if theleader does not give their followers praise then they will becomedoubtful virtually their leader.Piggy is described by Golding asThe naked crooks of his knees were plump andhe was shorter than the fair boy (Ralph) and very fatPiggy wears glasses and this seems to make people disrespect him. Forexample on page 75 where Jack knocks Piggys glasses of his face andbreaks one side. Jack doesnt apologise to Piggy very quickly and whenhe does it is in a childish manner whereas before when he and Ralphhad had an argument Jacks response was m ore of an adult nature. Ralphand Jacks argument is on pages 51-52. The argument is about Jacks hunt club because he has not helped with the making of the shelters soRalph is mad. An example of the Adult nature is straight after theargument when Ralph says Youve noticed havent you?Jack put down his dick and squattedNoticed what?Well. Theyre frightened.This behaviour is very well showed because they forget about the

Essay --

SOLAR ENERGY IN THE PHILIPPINESNowadays, our environment has been experiencing several challenges that leads to it slight decline towards being damaged. umteen things have occurred that has caused harm because of the effects of damage towards the environment. And as of now, we are seeing nature slowly depleting and getting destroyed due to the activities man engage to that deplete our surroundings. These problems are now accepted as global problems since this issue affects the planet all throughout and non contained in only certain areas. Currently, we are go about issues that damage our planet slowly and yet despite finding ways on how to alleviate the problems, nothing seems to work since our planet still continuously shows signs of not improving.According to the World Population Review (2013), the Philippines is ranked as the 12th most populated country in the world. With less than 100 million in population, there is no doubt that the countrys energy consumption and producti on has been increasing over time.The Department of Energy states the Philippines main sources of energy semen from natural gases, coal and petroleum. While all of these sources provide power and energy for the country, at the same time they also cause negative effects to the Philippine environment. Because of these sources, the country has been experiencing some issues regarding environmental problems such as large emissions of CO2 or commonly known as carbon dioxide that is unmatched of the root causes of one of the biggest known factors of global warming, the Greenhouse Effect. These greenhouse gases come from burning millions of tons of CO2 that eventually harm the environment just by making bear upon with air, along with this it is also produced after having ... ...from the sun, energy consumption will be at its lowest and cheapest.In conclusion, solar energy should be utilized as the countrys primary source of electricity due to the fact that it has many benefits that would be good for several factors and do good not only for the environment but to the economy and the people of the country as well. As our countrys energy consumption increase rapidly annually, the government mustiness find alternatives and be aware of the options that could save the countrys situation in terms of energy consumption and environment issues, which is why it is much to a greater extent preferable to opt to use solar power because it is less costly, it is harmless to the environment, it is versatile and it will always remain as an abundant source of energy. all in all in all, solar energy must be our main source of power in order to improve the situation of the nation.

Essay --

SOLAR ENERGY IN THE PHILIPPINESNowadays, our environment has been experiencing several challenges that leads to it slight exasperate towards being damaged. Many things have occurred that has caused harm because of the effects of damage towards the environment. And as of now, we are seeing nature slowly depleting and getting destroyed due to the activities valet de chambre engage to that consume our surroundings. These problems are now accepted as global problems since this issue affects the planet all throughout and not contained in only sure areas. Currently, we are facing issues that damage our planet slowly and yet despite finding ways on how to alleviate the problems, nothing seems to work since our planet gloss over continuously shows signs of not improving.According to the World Population Review (2013), the Philippines is ranked as the 12th most populated country in the world. With less than champion C million in population, there is no doubt that the countrys energy con sumption and production has been increasing over time.The Department of Energy states the Philippines chief(prenominal) sources of energy come from natural gases, coal and petroleum. While all of these sources provide power and energy for the country, at the same time they also cause controvert effects to the Philippine environment. Because of these sources, the country has been experiencing some issues regarding environmental problems such as large emissions of CO2 or commonly known as carbon dioxide that is one of the root causes of one of the biggest known factors of global warming, the Greenhouse Effect. These greenhouse gases come from burning millions of tons of CO2 that eventually harm the environment just by making contact with air, along with this it is also produced after having ... ...from the sun, energy consumption will be at its lowest and cheapest.In conclusion, solar energy should be utilized as the countrys primary source of electricity due to the fact that it ha s many benefits that would be practised for several factors and do good not only for the environment but to the economy and the people of the country as well. As our countrys energy consumption increase chop-chop annually, the government must find alternatives and be aware of the options that could save the countrys situation in terms of energy consumption and environment issues, which is wherefore it is much more preferable to opt to use solar power because it is less costly, it is harmless to the environment, it is versatile and it will always remain as an commodious source of energy. All in all, solar energy must be our main source of power in order to improve the situation of the nation.

Hatchet – Gary Paulsen

HATCHET ESSAY Brian Robeson, the main character in aged Paulsens novel Hatchet does experience problems after(prenominal) crashing in the Canadian wilderness. However, he is able to survive because he makes from his mistakes and he becomes more positive and resilient. When Brian survives the bland crash he initi wholey finds it very difficult to cope in his innovative environment. His clothes were soaked and muddy, he was freezing cold and his anorak had been torn. As he was practically motionless a sw subdivisioning horde of mosquitoes flocked to his body. He was being annihilateen alive still didnt start stunned the energy to fight backBrian approached the lake and all he could depict was his ugly reflection of his beaten up face. Brian was miserable and lonely and depressed. He could remember how in the city it was all grey and morose provided now he was in a green nature. Brian had no food so he managed to find some berries which he called gut cherries because of the long stomach pains they gave him. He was satisfied that he had food but it was nonhing compared to what he could eat back home. One night whilst sleeping Brian matte up something on his leg, he awoken to see a porcupine near his foot.Without thinking he kicked it and got some of the quills stuck in his foot, Brian then threw his hatchet at the porcupine but didnt hit it and landed against the wall in his cave. Brian felt so upset with himself. It was all too much and he couldnt take it. So it can be seen that initially Brian certainly finds it hard to survive in the wilderness. Although Brian finds it difficult at first, he is able to survive because he learns from his mistakes and he is persistent. afterwards the incident with the porcupine Brian needed rest so he lay down on his side and shut his eyes.That night Brian had a strange am whileiousness his best friend Terry & his father were in it. His dad was trying to speak to him about how he threw the hatchet against the wa ll and that if he did it again sparks would come. His conceive of wasnt at all clear but Brian managed to find out its purpose. The future(a) morning Brian ensureed over his dream again and again. He grabbed his hatchet and unbroken hitting the wall with it. Brian knew that he needed something to keep the spark alive so he grabbed a few twigs and tore up a xx dollar note that he happen to have in his pocket.At first he didnt succeed but with his persistence Brian made a new friend fire. Brian had still been eating gut cherries and needed something new. Brian was down at the lake and noticed some strange tracks across the sand, he thought they whitethorn have been turtle tracks so he followed them to find turtle eggs buried, about 12 or so. Brian quickly cracked one open and drank what was inside. He was in heaven and was going crazy over these eggs. He knew he had to leave some so he took the rest back to his shelter. Brian knew he had a fire and he knew that his shelter was ne ar the lake.And what lives in the water? tilt do. Brian could make a fish spear He carved a perplex with his hatchet and began his task of trying to get a fish. It wasnt working, the fish would just swim away as soon as Brian raised his arm or made the slightest of movements. He needed a better weapon, maybe a hold over & arrow. Brians fire had gone out whilst he was out-of-door and it just so happens that a aime had flown past. Brian was screaming out to try and get the pilots attention but without the smoke he didnt seem to look down.Brian was destroyed on the inside, he just didnt want to bother anymore. He grabbed his hatchet and started cutting his wrist. The next daytime Brian woke up upset but after thinking long and hard he was a new man, he learnt from his mistakes and made a better fire which he would sustain and he would not let anyone or anything get in the way of his survival. He even managed to complete his bow and arrow, he was trying it out when the arrow splin ted into his face. He didnt want to be upset so he made a better arrow which would hold.Brian remembered from past experience with the spear that the light refracts in water so he knew exactly how to get a fish. The trouble was that it wasnt as easy as he thought but after about an hour of trying Brian finally got one, his first fish. In all the time hed spent so far in the Canadian wilderness he never thought he would feel so good. With the spare fish guts Brian places them in a shallower pool of water which of bleed attracted more fish. He then made a small net which fenced off the pool. He basically had his on fish tank where he could eat any at any time.Because Brian is determined and is able to learn from his mistakes he manages to endure this difficult time. As time passes, Brian becomes more positive and resilient and he refuses to give in. Brian had been going well, hed been eating fish and maintaining his fire so that if rescue did come hed be back home. Fish was getting k ind of boring for Brian and he felt like meat. Of course there were birds around, Brian could hear them all the time. The problem was how to get them? He could use his bow and arrow but the birds might fly away at the sound of movement kind of like the fish.Brian knew about a bird called a fritter bird. They have amazing camouflage skills. Brian discovered that the fool birds were shaped rather like pears and that he should look for shapes not colours when trying to capture these birds. With his school principal and agility Brian managed to kill one of the fool birds, having his official day of first meat. Weeks had passed and still Brian hadnt been rescued, it was as if theyd forgotten about him or at least looking in the wrong place. But Brian had to be positive and think positive as he patiently waited day after day.He was doing everything he could think of right so why hadnt he been rescued yet. Time would tell Brian thought. There would been no Brian Robeson without more inj uries, like one day when he was down at the lake a moose came to get a drink and thought of Brian as a pray so the moose rammed his passing Brian without broken ribs as he thought. Things werent going good, he could barely walk well and one night a terrible thing happened. He heard gusts of wind coming from hear there and everywhere. It was a tornado. Brian wasnt safe at this point in time and he was scared for his life.The next morning he woke up to complete disaster. His shelter had been torn apart, there were trees on the ground everywhere you looked and out on the lake Brian could see that the tornado was that powerful that is managed to move the plane so its tail was sticking up. Brian needed to get his fire started again he couldnt risk another chance of not being rescued. So he fixed up his shelter and started the fire again but still he wasnt rescued. Brian was getting a bit fed up with the situation that he had to take matters into his own hands.There must have been a sur vival fit out in the plane which he knew would have some sort of rescue device so he put together a raft made out of logs hed comprise after the tornado. With his broken ribs Brian paddled out towards the plane. All he had with his was his hatchet. When he got to the plane he tied the raft up and began examining how he could get inside. Brian started chopping at the plan with his hatchet. Then all of a sudden he dropped his hatchet. He couldnt believe it all this time Brian had been lost the only useful thing he had was his hatchet and now that was at the bottom of the murky lake.He had to retrieve it, he just had to Brian dived down into the lake looking around but wasnt able to see anything. He then dived down a second time managing to get his hatchet. He then continued chopping at the plane. After a few proceeding Brian had made it bigger for him to just fit through so he climbed inside the plane. Brian looked around and couldnt see any type of survival kit or bag. So he dived under and found the bag which was attached to the seat in the front of the aeroplane. He managed to get it and started making his way out of the wreckage.As he was pulling the bag out he would budge so Brian moved around whatever was inside and thankfully it came out. He paddled back to set down and back up to his shelter, where he then looked inside the bag. It had everything you could imagine. Blankets, pots, food, water, knifes but most of all Brian saw a transceiver type of device he turned it on at the bottom but it didnt seem to do anything. Brian was so hungry that he didnt care about survival right now. He saw packets of food which you just had to add water and you were done. Brian ate about 5 adult meals and then he heard a noise.It sounded like a sort of plane, then he looked up. Coming down landing next to the lake was a plane and a man approached him and said Your Brian Robeson, that kid that got lost arent you? Brian said nothing but Would you like some food. By refus ing to give in and remaining positive, Brian survives his time alone in the Canadian wilderness. When Brians plane crashes it first appears that he will struggle to survive. However with each experience Brian learns to do things differently and this assists his survival. He becomes a person who is able to learn from his mistakes and remain positive and determined in his new environment.

Designing High-Performance Jobs

Improving the performance of key multitude is often as simpleand as profoundas changing the resources they mince and the results for which they atomic number 18 accountable. by Robert Simons You use up a compelling point of intersection, an exciting vision, and a clear schema for your new rail derivation. Youve chartered trusty people and forged relationships with critical suppliers and distributors. Youve launched a tradeing campaign targeting high-value customers. All that remains is to build an organization that burn down mouth on the promise. solely implementation goes badly.Managers in the regional offices dont show adequacy entrepreneurial spirit. They ar as well complacent and far too slow in responding to customers. Moreover, its proving very difficult to adjust activities crosswise units to serve large, multisite customers. Decision making is fragmented, and time to market is much longer than expected. Excessive costs are eating away at gelt margins. You beg in to wonder Have I wander the wrong people in critical jobs? moreover the problems are more un detailspread than thatin fact, theyre systemic across the organization.This tale of a great dodge derailed by poor execution is on the whole too common. Of course, there are many possible sources for such a failure and many people who might be to blame. scarce if this story reminds you of your own experience, have you considered the possibility that your organization is constructed to fail? Specifically, are key jobs coordinated to achieve the businesss performance potential? If non, unhappy consequences are all but inevitable. In this article, I present an action-oriented framework that impart show you how to design jobs for high performance.My basic point is straightforward For your business to achieve its potential, individually employees return of organizational resources should fitted his or her demand for them, and the same supply-and-demand offset must apply to every function, every business unit, and the entire social club. Sounds simple, and it is. But whole if you understand what determines this balance and how you rear end square up it. The Four Spans of Job Design To understand what determines whether a job is designed for high performance, you must put yourself in the shoes of your organizations managers.To carry out his or her job, for each wizard employee has to know the answer to tetrad basic questions What resources do I nurse to accomplish my tasks? What measures will be used to prize my performance? Who do I need to interact with and influence to achieve my goals? How much check stomach I expect when I reach out to another(prenominal)s for help? The questions correspond to what I call the four basic foils of a job control, accountability, influence, and choke. Each sail can be marked so that it is narrow or wide or nearlywhere in between. I think of the adjustments as being vex on sliders, wish those found on music amplifiers.If you get the settings right, you can design a job in which a talented individual can winnerfully execute your caller-ups strategy. But if you get the settings wrong, it will be difficult for any employee to be effective. Ill wager at each bilk in detail and discuss how managers can adjust the settings. (The reveal The Four Spans provides a summary. ) The Span of Control. The first deny defines the range of resourcesnot totally people but overly assets and infrastructurefor which a manager is given decision rights. These are also the resources whose performance the manager is held accountable for.Executives must adjust the get over of control for each key position and unit on the basis of how the company delivers value to customers. escort Wal-Mart, which has configured its entire organization to deliver low prices. Wal-Marts strategy depends on standardization of inclose operations coupled with economies of scale in merchandising, marketing, and dist ribution. To correspond standardization, Wal-Mart sets the crossbreed of control for store managers at the narrow end of the scale. Although they nominally control their stores, Wal-Mart site managers have limited decision rights regarding hours of operation, merchandising displays, and pricing.By contrast, the couple of control for managers at bodily supply who oversee merchandising and other core operations is set at wide. They are credi twainrthy for implementing vanquish practices and consolidating operations to capture economies of scale. In addition to dictatorial purchasing, merchandising, and distribution, these managers even control the lighting and temperature at Wal-Marts 3,500 stores by remote computer. (The settings for the two jobs are compared in the exhibit Spans of Control at Wal-Mart. ) Spans of Control at Wal-Mart (Located at the end of this rticle) Of course, the spans of control will be set very differently in companies that follow different strategies. Consider Nestle, a food company that reformulates its products in response to regional tastes for spices and sweets. In this local value creation configuration, the span of control for regional business managers is set very wide so that they have all the resources they need to customize products and respond to customers. Regional managers take responsibility for sales, product development, distribution, and manufacturing.As a consequence, the spans of control for managers back at the period office are relatively narrow, covering only logistics, the supply chain, orbiculate contracts, and accounting and finance. The Span of Accountability. The second span refers to the range of trade-offs affecting the measures used to evaluate a managers achievements. For example, a person who is accountable for head count or specific expenses in an operating budget can sustain few trade-offs in trying to improve the measured dimensions of performance and so has a narrow span of accountability.By contrast, a manager responsible for market share or business arrive at can make many trade-offs and thus has a relatively wide span of accountability. Your setting for this span is stubborn by the kind of behavior you want to see. To visualize compliance with detailed directives, hold managers to narrow measures. To throw out creative thinking, make them responsible for broad rhythmic pattern such as market share, customer satisfaction, and return on capital employed, which allow them great freedom. The span of control and the span of accountability are not independent. They must be considered together.The first defines the resources available to a manager the second defines the goals the manager is expected to achieve. You might conclude, therefore, that the two spans should be equally wide or narrow. As the adage goes, authority should match responsibility. But in high-performing organizations, many people are held to broad performance measures such as brand profit and custo mer satisfaction, even though they do not control all the resourcesmanufacturing and assist, for exampleneeded to achieve the desired results. There is a good reason for this discrepancy.By explicitly setting the span of accountability wider than the span of control, executives can force their managerial subordinates to become entrepreneurs. In fact, entrepreneurship has been defined (by Howard H. Stevenson and J. Carlos Jarillo) as the process by which individualseither on their own or inside organizationspursue opportunities without regard to the resources they currently control. What happens when employees are faced with this entrepreneurial gap? They must use their free energy and creativity to figure out how to succeed without direct control of the resources they need. See the exhibit Creating the Entrepreneurial Gap. ) Thus, managers can adjust these two spans to stimulate creativity and entrepreneurial behavior. Creating the Entrepreneurial Gap (Located at the end of this article) Of course, spans of accountability vary by take in most organizationsin general, they are wider at the top of a company and narrower at the bottom. The CEO of McDonalds has a wide span of accountability that encompasses stock price, earnings per share, and competitive market position.A McDonalds store manager has a much narrower span. She must focus on compliance with standard operating procedures, and she is monitored through detailed input and process measures. The Span of Influence. The third span corresponds to the width of the net that an individual needs to cast in collecting data, probing for new information, and attempting to influence the work of others. An employee with a narrow span of influence does not need to pay much attention to people outside his petty area to do his job effectively.An individual with a wide span must interact extensively with, and influence, people in other units. As is the case with the other spans, senior managers can adjust the span o f influence to promote desired behaviors. They can widen the span when they want to stimulate people to think outside the box to develop new ways of part customers, increasing internal efficiencies, or adapting to changes in external markets. In many companies, widening the span of influence counteracts the rigidity of organizational structures based on boxes and silos.For example, although orbiculate companies like Procter & Gamble need to be responsive to local customers needs, they must also create pressure for people in different operations to look beyond their silos to consolidate operations and share best practices to lower costs. Similarly, firms such as big-box retailers that centralize merchandising and distribution to deliver low prices must ensure that they continue to monitor changing competitive dynamics. Operations managers who are insulated from the marketplace must be forced to interact with people in units that are walk-to(prenominal) to customers.In all of these cases, its up to senior managers to ensure that individuals work across organizational boundaries to test new ideas, share information, and learn. Executives can widen a managers span of influence by redesigning her jobplacing her on a cross-functional team, for example, or giving her an assignment that requires her to report to two bosses. They can also adjust a jobs span of influence through the level of goals they set. Although the nature of a managers goals drives her span of accountability (by find out the trade-offs she can make), the level, or difficulty, drives her sphere of influence.Some atomic number 53 given a stretch goal will often be forced to seek out and interact with more people than nearlyone whose goal is set at a much lower level. Finally, executives can use accounting and control systems to adjust the span of influence. For example, the span will be wider for managers who are forced to bear the burden of indirect cost allocations generated by other units, be cause they will attempt to influence the decisions of the units responsible for the costs. The more complex and interdependent the job, the more important a wide span of influence becomes.In fact, a wide influence span is often an indication of both the power and effectiveness of an executive. In describing eBays Meg Whitman, for example, A. G. Lafley, the CEO of Procter & Gamble, said, The measure of a powerful person is that their circle of influence is greater than their circle of control. The Span of Support. This final span refers to the amount of help an individual can expect from people in other organizational units. Again, the slider can be set anywhere from narrow to wide depending on how much commitment from others the person needs in order to implement strategy.Jobs in some organizationsparticularly positions such as com electric charge-based sales in efficient and liquid marketsdo not need wide spans of advocate. In fact, such organizations generally ply more efficien tly with narrow spans, since each job is independent and individual contributions can be calculated easily at days end. Traders in financial institutions, for example, need little support from their fellow traders, and their colleagues can and should stay focused on their own work (and should be compensated solely for their success in generating profit).But wide spans of support become critically important when customer loyalty is vital to strategy implementation (for example, at exclusive hotel chains) or when the organizational design is highly complex because of sophisticated technologies and a complex value chain (in aerospace or computers, for instance). In these cases, individuals throughout the company must lean beyond their job descriptions to respond to requests for help from others who are attempting to satisfy customers or navigate organizational processes. Managers cannot adjust a jobs span of support in isolation.Thats because the span is largely determined by peoples sense of shared responsibilities, which in turn stems from a companys culture and values. In many cases, therefore, all or most of a companys jobs will have a wide span of support, or none will. But even within a given company culture, there are often circumstances in which managers need to widen the span of support separately for key business units (for example, to support a new division created to bundle and cross sell products from other units) or for key positions (for example, to alleviate the work of cross-functional task forces).There are various policies that managers can employ to widen spans of support. For example, a focus on a customer based mission typically creates a sense of shared purpose. In addition, broad-based stock ownership plans and team- and group-centered incentive programs often foster a sense of equity and belonging and advance people to help others achieve shared goals. Firms that are characterized by wide spans of support also frown on letting top exec utives flaunt the caparison of privilege and generally follow a policy of promoting people internally to senior positions.The slider settings for the four spans in any job or business unit are a function of the businesss strategy and the role of that job or unit in implementing it. When you are adjusting job or unit design, the first step is to set the span of control to reflect the resources allocated to each position and unit that plays an important role in delivering customer value. This setting, like the others, is determined by how the business creates value for customers and differentiates its products and services from competitors.Next, you can dial in different levels of entrepreneurial behavior and creative tension for specific jobs and units by widening or narrowing spans of accountability and influence. Finally, you must adjust the span of support to ensure that the job or unit will get the informal help it needs. The exhibit Four Spans at a computer software Company d isplays the settings of the spans for a marketing and sales manager at a well-known company that develops and sells complex software for large corporate clients. The span of control for this job is quite narrow.As the manager stated, To do my day-to-day job, I depend on sales, sales consulting, competency groups, alliances, technical support, corporate marketing, field marketing, and integrated marketing communications. None of these functions reports to me, and most do not even report to my group. The span of accountability, by contrast, is wide. The manager is accountable, along with others throughout the business, for revenue growth, profit, and customer satisfactionmeasures that require responsiveness and a willingness to make many trade-offs.Four Spans at a Software Company (Located at the end of this article) Note that the span of influence is set somewhat wider than the span of control. To get things done, the manager has to cross boundaries and convince people in other unit s (whom he cannot command) to help him. So that the manager receives the help he needs, the CEO works hard to ensure that the jobs span of support is wide. An ethos of mutual responsibilities has been created through shared goals, strong group identification, trust, and an equity component in compensation.As the manager noted, Coordination happens because we all have customer satisfaction as our first priority. We are in constant communication, and we all are given consistent customer-satisfaction objectives. Achieving Equilibrium At this point, youre probably wondering how to determine whether specific jobs or business units in your organization are properly designed. Jobs vary within any business, and firms operate in different markets with unique strategies. How exactly should the spans be set in these many circumstances?After the spans have been adjusted to implement your strategy, theres an easy way to find out whether a specific job is designed for high performance. Its a tes t that can (and should) be applied to every key job, function, and unit in your business. Ill get to the details shortly, but first, its important to accredit the underlying nature of the four spans. Two of the spans measure the supply of organizational resources the company provides to individuals. The span of control relates to the level of direct ontrol a person has over people, assets, and information. The span of support is its softer counterpart, reflecting the supply of resources in the form of help from people in the organization. The other two spansthe span of accountability (hard) and the span of influence (soft)determine the individuals demand for organizational resources. The level of an employees accountability, as defined by the company, directly affects the level of pressure on him to make trade-offs that pressure in turn drives his need for organizational resources.His level of influence, as determined by the structure of his job and the broader system in which his job is embedded, also reflects the extent to which he needs resources. As I pointed out earlier, when an employee joins a multidisciplinary initiative, or works for two bosses, or gets a stretch goal, he begins reaching out across units more frequently. For any organization to operate at maximum efficiency and effectiveness, the supply of resources for each job and each unit must equal the demand. In other words, span of control sum span of support must equal span of accountability plus span of influence.You can determine whether any job in your organization is poised for sustained high performanceor is designed to failby applying this simple test Using Four Spans at a Software Company as an example, draw two lines, one connecting span of control and span of support (the supply of resources) and the other connecting span of accountability and span of influence (the demand for resources). If these two lines intersect, forming an X, as they do in the exhibit, then demand equals suppl y (at least roughly) and the job is properly designed for sustained performance.If the lines do not cross, then the spans are misalignedwith predictable consequences. If resources (span of control plus span of support) are insufficient for the task at hand, strategy implementation will fail if resources are excessive, underutilization of assets and poor economic performance can be predicted. Depending on the desired unit of analysis, this test can be applied to an individual job, a function, a business unit, and even an entire company. When Spans Are Misaligned Consider the case of a struggling high-tech company that makes medical devices.One division was rapidly losing revenue and market share to new competitors because of insufficient sales-force insurance coverage and a lack of new-product development. In another division, created to bundle and cross sell products, managers were unable to get the collaboration they needed to provide a unified outcome for a large potential custo mer. In a third, local managers were making decisions that did not support or build on the companys overall direction and strategy. These situations arose because senior managers had failed to align the four spans for key jobs and for the divisions overall.In particular, the problems this company encountered reflect three common situations that can limit performance potential. The Crisis of Resources. In some cases, the supply of resources is simply inadequate for the job at hand, leading to a failure of strategy implementation. In the medical devices company, the sales staff had neither enough people to cover the competition (a narrow span of control) nor support from R&D to bring new products to market rapidly (a narrow span of support).A crisis of resources is most likely to occur when executives spend too much time thinking active control, influence, and accountability and not enough time thinking about support. They may, for instance, set the span of accountability wider than the span of control to encourage entrepreneurial behavior. And they may set the span of influence wider than the span of control to stimulate people to interact and work across units. But if the span of support is not widened to compensate for the relatively narrow span of control, people in other units will be unwilling to help when asked.Consider the local subsidiary of a regional investment bank. The managers had few direct resources (a narrow span of control) and relied on specialists from corporate headquarters to fly in to manage deals. Yet their span of accountability was relatively wide, with performance measures focusing on successful deals and revenue generation. Evaluations of the local managers failed to recognize or reward peoples commitment to help others in the organization. As a result, the span of support was too low to support the strategy of the business, which eventually failed. The Crisis of Control.Sometimes the supply of resources exceeds demand, leading to s uboptimal economic performance. In highly decentralized organizations where separate business units are created to be close to customers, a crisis of control can occur when the supply of resources (the span of control plus the span of support) exceeds corporate managements ability to effectively monitor trade-offs (the span of accountability) and to ensure coordination of knowledge sharing with other units (the span of influence). The result is uncoordinated activities across units, missed opportunities, and wasted resources.Consider a large telecommunications company in which regions were organise as independent business units. Because of rapid growth, division managers were able to create fiefdoms in which resources were plentiful. And because of the companys success, commitment to the business mission was strong. But out front long, the lack of effective performance monitoring by corporate superiors caught up with the business. The strategies of the divisions often worked at cr oss-purposes there was waste and redundancy. Competitors that were more focused began overtaking the units.The Crisis of wild Tape. This can occur in any organization where powerful staff groups, overseeing key internal processes such as strategic planning and resource allocation, design performance management systems that are too complex for the organization. In such circumstances, spans of accountability and influence are very high, but resources are insufficient and misdirected. unfading time spent in staff meetings wastes resources, slows decision making, and makes the organization unable to respond rapidly to changing customer needs and competitive actions.The demand for resources exceeds supply, and strategy execution fails as more nimble competitors move in. Adjusting the Spans over Time Of course, organizations and job designs must change with shifting circumstances and strategies. To see how this plays out in practice, lets look at how the job spans for a typical market-f acing sales unit at IBM evolved as a result of the strategic choices do by successive CEOs. We pick up the story in 1981, when John Opel became IBMs chief executive.IBM had been organized into stand-alone product groups that were run as profit centers. Reacting to threats from Japanese companies, Opel wanted to reposition the business as a low-cost competitor. For purposes of increasing cost efficiency, the business was reorganized on a functional basis. The span of control for operating-core units such as manufacturing was widened dramatically, and there was a corresponding reduction in the spans of control and accountability for market-facing sales units (illustrated in the top panel of the exhibit Three Eras at IBM).The company also enlarged its definition of customer. Rather than focus narrowly on professional IT managers in governments and large companies, IBM began marketing to small companies, resellers, and distributors. It created experimental independent business units a nd gave resources for experimentation without imposing any accountability for performance. By the end of Opels tenure, IBM was criticized for confusion about strategy and priorities. As one writer noted, IBM settled into a feeling that it could be all things to all customers. However, the effects of these problems were masked by the dramatic and unrelenting growth of the computer application during this period. In 1985, John Akers took over as CEO. The organization he inherited was configured to develop, manufacture, and market computing hardware in independent silos. Not only were products incompatible across categories, they failed to meet customer needs in a world that was moving quickly from hardware to software and customer solutions. To get adjacent to customers, Akers created a unified marketing and services group, organized by region.The mission of this new market-facing unit was to translate customer needs into integrated product solutions and coordinate internal resource s to deliver the right products to customers. Business units and divisions were consolidated into six lines of business. The span of control for the market-facing sales units widened dramatically. The new marketing and services group was made accountable for profit, and, as a result, many new profit centers were created. Unfortunately, the existing accounting system was not capable of calculating profit at the branch level or for individual customers and product lines.Instead, a top-down planning system run by centralized staff groups set sales quotas for individual product categories. Customer sales representatives thus had few choices or trade-offs their span of accountability was not wide enough to support the companys new strategy. To make matters worse, the new profit centers made the company extremely complex and fragmented, a situation reflected in the units relatively narrow spans of influence and support. As the strategys failure became evident and losses mounted, Akers con sidered breaking the corporation into separate entities.Lou Gerstner took charge in 1993. He restructured the business around specific constancy groups, narrowing the spans of control and widening the spans of accountability for marketing and sales units. At the same time, he widened the spans of influence by formally pairing product specialists with global industry teams, which worked closely with customers. To widen the spans of support, the company reconfigured bonuses to give more weight to corporate results than to business-unit performance.Sam Palmisano took over as CEO in 2002 and reinforced the confirmative changes wrought by Gerstner. The new CEOs strategy emphasized on-demand computing solutions delivered through seamless integration of hardware, software, and services. This involved adopting a team-based, dedicated service relationship configuration at the sales units. To ensure that all employees in such a complex organization would be willing to work across units to b uild customer loyalty, Palmisano worked to widen spans of support further.In a well-publicized initiative, he returned the company to its roots by reemphasizing the importance of IBM values such as lettering to client success, innovation, and trust and personal responsibility in all relationships. To increase trust within the company and heighten the perception of fairnessnecessary actions originally people will assume responsibility for helping othersPalmisano asked the board to allocate half of his 2003 bonus to other IBM executives who would be critical leaders of the new team-based strategy. A Precarious BalanceAs IBM illustrates, complex strategies for large firms usually require that all the spans of key jobs widen, indicating high levels of both demand for, and supply of, organizational resources. But the potential for problems is great in any organization where all four spans are wide and tightly aligned. A relatively small change in any one of them will disrupt the balanc e of supply and demand and tip the organization toward disequilibrium. In the short run, of course, the dedication and hard work of good people can often compensate for a misalignment.But the more dynamic your markets and the more demanding your customers, the more critical and difficult it becomes to ensure that all four spans of organization design are aligned to allow your business to reach its performance potential. Spans of Control at Wal-Mart The spans of control for a store manager and a merchandising manager at Wal-Mart are quite different. To ensure standardization in operations, Wal-Mart gives the store manager relatively little control. To promote the implementation of best practices, the company gives the merchandising manager a wide setting.Creating the Entrepreneurial Gap By holding managers accountable for more than they control, a company can encourage entrepreneurial behavior. Four Spans at a Software Company The settings for a marketing and sales manager show a rel atively narrow span of control and a relatively wide span of accountability. The discrepancy indicates that the company wants the manager to be entrepreneurial. A reasonable span of influence ensures that he has a respectable level of collaboration with colleagues outside his unit to compensate for his low span of control.Company policies designed to provide a wide span of support ensure that his entrepreneurial initiatives will get a favorable response. The dotted line connecting the two spans that describe the resources available to the job (span of control and span of support) intersects with the line connecting the two spans that describe the jobs demand for resources (span of accountability and span of influence). This shows that the supply of, and demand for, resources that apply to this job are in rough balance the job has been designed to enable the manager to succeed.

Jazz Performance Essay

Two weeks ago, I attended a jazz mathematical process in a jazz bar together with a few close friends. It was a two hour show and there were 3 sets. The stack was made up of five members. One played the drums, another was on piano, two played wind instruments, and the other served as the lead singer. Their performance was actually alive and truly entertaining. They accepted requests from the guests.The band had a wide repertoire. Mostly, the songs they played were derived from the blues era. However, one set was devoted to recent jazz hits such as those of Michael Buble. Some of the songs they played were those of Marvin Gaye, Louis Armstrong, and Kenny G. Also, they devoted majority of their third set to Bossa Nova sound. The band did not play any of their own compositions. Being that they were only formed half-dozen months ago, they have yet to reach the point wherein they can come up with their own songs.Their show was truly entertaining. They brought a lot of brightness to an otherwise torpid venue. There was not much lighting in the bar. The spotlight was directed towards the stage. I believe such lighting was meant to emphasize the intimacy of the event and of the place. legal age of the crowd was composed of couples. The music they played was ideal for dates. The music they played enhanced the romantic mood inside the venue.There was no political symbolisation in their music. The main purpose of their music was to entertain the guests. Admittedly, there was nothing truly special about their performance. In fact, it can be considered a continuous gig for a regular band. However, the important element in their performance was that they were able to entertain the guests and that they were able to make the people enjoy their time audience to their music.

Shopping mall

Unfortunately, life has a way of dictating its own terms to the chief operating wrap upicer and they are seldom ones that he expects or desires. Around 10 am, Lukas was dragged away from reviewing gross revenue trends by a phone c exclusively. The receptionist had a prospective client evoke in the confederations products and asked whether she should the c completely through. The conversation lasted ab surface(a) 40 minutes. He gear up the phone down annoyed with himself for nonoperational not having worked out a procedure for handling prospective clients. Each spick-and-span caller is put through to him instead of a gross revenue person who could service the client professionally.No in shorter had the call ended than the daily grind began. Problems in Getters sell outlets started springing up manage mushrooms. And, as usual, Impressions was the and person deemed capable of resolving them. As if all this was not enough, he had to make findings connected with export sales ( red-hot client, new transaction procedures) and the technology de ingredientment urgently required his assistance. Last but not least, Lukas had to find clipping to manage Getters export department. And so it went on into the all the sameing.The events of the sacking daytime made it clear to Lukas that he had to delegate his mommies sales operations duties, including the sell store meshing management, to someone else. Lukas cannot bring himself to appoint a rural Sales film director to middleman over the Coos duties in that area, even though the guild has had a Sales division for s invariablyal years. For the time being, Lukas is not whole the CEO of Getter but excessively the Head of the Sales Department. It is patently obvious that this is far too much work for which one person can cope.Delegating part of the sales work to a Sales Director would mean that Lukas could finally perform his duties as Getter CEO much much efficiently. He could finally limp worrying a bout missing out on food market opportunities because of his daily routine tasks. Given more time, he might even go a step further and, instead of trawling the market for opportunities, he could go out and cr fertilisee them for Getter himself. All this, though, requires a clear head. Unfortunately, the decision to appoint a new Sales Director is not an roaring one.Getter is a family business established by Lukas Imprecisions parents and handing over one of its key areas of operation to a total eery is emotionally difficult. It is an enormous gainsay to trust someone with no family ties to be as omitted to the festering of the organization as had been his parents and Lukas himself. Another important decision regarding the recruitment of the new should the position be advertised on the open Job market? From Mushroom Grower to Meat Processing Plant The story of the Mineworkers is that of a typical Polish family business.Their family summation treat whole shebang Getter is ce rtainly run by the fo belows son Lukas who had gradually taken over the everyday management of the family from his parents. Getter is classified as a medium-sized beau monde with 144 employees and the organizational structure was becoming more and more elaborate. The family business now consists of two business entities Getter, a sole proprietorship go down up by Mr. and Ms Impressions (Ukases parents) and its daughter companionship Mercy-Meat, a limited li magnate comp any(prenominal) established by Lukas himself. Lukas is the CEO of both companies.Getter is engaged in pig, cattle and horse slaughtering, and the fabrication of primal cuts of pork, beef and poultry. The union offers meat cuts (pork and beef quarters) to satisfy the domestic market and respective(prenominal) customer orders. Cured meats swear outing is another of its key business operations. The past business achievements of Mr. and Mrs. Impressions, and their son Lukas as well, are the direct result of stayi ng true to their elect path, being consistent in action and remaining open to risk. The Mineworkers started their business soon after they got married.Their freshman business venture was a mushroom rear which, they built up from scratch. Without any financial resources of their own, they applied for a bank loan, which made it possible to get started. This business was their first opportunity to main find out in company management, including export sales. Over time, however, the business gradually became less profitable as market conditions changed. Eventually, the Mineworkers were forced to make a difficult decision as to what to do next. Their next step was to establish Getter meat plant in 1992, while phasing out the mushroom business.The founders remained unchanged but the activity was all new. Getter Change after Change The Mineworkers choice of business activity was heavy(a)ly influenced by the region in which they were living (a rural area approximately light speed km f rom Warsaw), as well as a heritage of meat products in Poland in the early sass. They square upd to check the markets need and taking profit of their location they founded a meat manufacturing plant which initially dealt primarily in pig slaughtering. Apart from the many obvious opportunities opening up for the company, there were overly significant threats that could not be ignored.By entering a new market sector, the Mineworkers were back at square one, both with regard to business contacts and building a market presence. However, they still had the business experience that they had gained while farming mushrooms. Getter dealt primarily in pork end product during its first four years of operation and the company distributed its product to meat processing plants. Having researched the prevailing market trends, the Mineworkers came to the conclusion that they would have to do more if they wanted to move their business forward.They soon purchased meat processing technology toge ther with several core product recipes which, according to Lukas Impressions, identification numbered out to be bluebells. The production technologies were imported from the West but the product recipes were meats. Employing an adroit with extensive experience in a large meat processing Lana was a major(ip) decision and one that was to have a huge squeeze on the success of the business. Drawing on his previous experience, this professional successfully implemented the newly purchased technology, procedures and recipes at Getter.Meat processing commenced in 1996, the year Getter cold cuts meats first appeared on the market. The Mineworkers stayed focused on ensuring that the needs of customers were met while the meat plant was in its early stages of development. Indeed, they were so overwhelmed with keeping their new business alive that they did not recognize future expansion opportunities. Arguably, the volatile and bearish business environment, the radical economic changes taki ng place and the protracted birth of a market miserliness in Poland all militated against making eagle-eyed-term plans.Until 2001 , the Mineworkers had remained convinced that their operations would be limited to the local domestic market. Unfortunately, as they say, change is the only certainty in life. The Mineworkers, despite having worked out a course of action, were once again faced with a crucial decision regarding their companys continued existence. This time the agent generating the change was the extroverted accession o the European Union, and in particular proposition, its directives regulating the operations of the meat sector adopted in 2001-2002.The legislation set out requirements that meat producers had to meet in order for their products to be sold on the EX. market (the directives stipulated requirements maintenanceing the adjustment of local procedures to EX. veterinary standards and production technology, the implementation of the machine politician system an d other superior certificates). Any meat producer that failed to adjust its operations to comply with EX. legislation was not permitted to operate after the ruinations period expiring in 2005. This was a major semiconsciousness to the Polish meat and cured meat producers, including the Mineworkers.By the time new directives were in force, the Mineworkers meat plant had been renovated but it was able to meet EX. requirements only partially, with technological process lines still below required standards. The Impressions family was confronted with the problem of what to do next. They could do nothing and be confined to the domestic market after 2005, and additionally have their issuing restricted by regulations, or they could modify their operations so hat Getter could sell its products anywhere in the ELI.The Mineworkers held a brainstorming session in which a representative of the next generation their son Lukas took an active part. The meeting concluded with a decision to res pond to the Ex.s challenge and not give up. The Mineworkers and their son set about adapting the companys operations to comply with EX. standards. The result was that a new large plant was soon designed. The company decided to finance the investment with EX. funds and a bank loan. Lukas Impressions prepared an application for EX. funds to subsidies the construction. And so, once again, the Mineworkers, in the words of their son Lukas, went for broke.Construction of the new plant was completed in 2004. The plant was provide with state-of-the-art technology the family had seen in similar factories in Denmark and Switzerland, and the machinery was likewise purchased from those countries. The new plant had two independent process lines for pork and beef and poultry (these do not come into contact with each other as per plant succeeded in obtaining all certificates required under the applicable EX. Directives including HACK certification. Production was more and more moved to the ewe p lant between late 2004 and early 2005.The old premises were then converted into a warehouse and other facilities. It should be noted also that the activities undertaken by the Impressions family went beyond restructuring the company in terms of technology and EX. quality requirements. One important aspect of the change was the recruitment of new lag with divert qualifications and experience. In 2004, some 50 new people who had antecedently worked in plants with similar production systems were employed. One of the most important development steps Getter ever took was to consolidate TTS position on the domestic market by launching its own sell chain.However, development of the retail network was put on take while the new plant was being built and equipped in line with EX. standards. After 2005, the Mineworkers once again became involved in opening retail outlets and started building their network of wholesale and retail clients. It is interesting to note that Getter does not work with large commercial chains on the domestic market. The reason for this is that the company fears Jeopardizing the goodwill associated with a brand associated with sack quality products.The high price the consumer would have to pay for such quality products was another factor that hampered such cooperation. tender-hearted Resources Management at Getter The accumulated experiences of Getter with regards to human resources management indicate that filling any acquaintance gaps that had been identified within the company has been a core step in selecting new employees. This was certainly the case when Getter made the move to expand into cured meats in 1996. A specialist who had the necessary expertise and experience of having previously worked in another meat processing plant was hired.The company owners soon liaised that hiring an experienced professional was the correct decision. The same decision was taken when the new HACK certified production plants opened in 2004-2005. Work ers previously employed in similar businesses where HACK had been in operation and who possessed the necessary qualifications were hired (approximately 50 people in 2004). Hiring a professional Export Sales Director from another company with extensive past export experience was another major decision the company made when it launched its export business in 2006.It is worth noting that Getter has not always factored in prior meat effort experience when hiring ewe cater. For instance, no(prenominal) of the staff hired in the Domestic Sales Department had ever worked in the meat business before. These people had to learn the basics of the meat industry from the bottom up. Getter uses a variety of sources and meaner to recruit new staff, depending on need. The current practice for less answerable positions such as lower level production workers is to post Job advertisements and then have the Production Manager conduct a recruitment and selection process.Potential employees are often recommended by existing staff members when Job advertisements are published (but only as required). Many of the candidates now applying for these positions are people returning from abroad and who have gained industry experience in other EX. countries. Meanwhile, personal professional and/or positions. The Export Sales Director (who was not only attracted by the financial incentives but by the challenges and the opportunities for professional development) is a case in point.Lukas realizes that the business acquaintance factor will cease to be sufficient in future and that the company will have to turn to professional head- hunting companies to find senior personnel as confidentiality considerations may ole out Job advertisements as a selection tool. Graph One Getters organizational Structure Lukas is aware that, despite having been successful in building up a good team evidenced by the relatively low turnover of senior staff and the moderate turnover of junior staff finding the right people for the right positions, especially senior management positions, is not an easy task.In the case of senior staff, the question of making the right choice is further complicated by the fact that the founders of Getter have been managing the company with their son for a long time. Ceding the rower and authority that they have exercised so far has not been easy. Nor will it be easy to entrust the running of any further large elements their business to a stranger. The transfer of obligations to a person from outside the family always Production plants Domestic Sales Department Getting CEO Lukas Impressions Cured meats plant Administration A network of 25 retail outlets Export Department (Mercy-Meat SP. 0. 0. ) Slaughter plant induces stress and uncertainty as to their management style, but the companys quick expansion leaves the Imprecisions with little choice. Lukas remembers only o well that he and his parents were responsible for everything when the new plant was launch ed in 2004- 2005 and that it took a tremendous personal toll on them. In view of the complexity of the venture, they wanted to retain as much power as they could they wanted to have maximum control over everything that went on within the organization so that they could immediately detect any issues that required improvement.This was a particularly difficult period in their lives. In time outsiders professionals who began to incrementally take over part of their duties Joined the many. In 2009, Lukas Impressions was faced with another HER management challenge. His parents, who were becoming old and infirm, gradually started to withdraw from the business while leaving the company management in the hands of their son Lukas. He was not exactly alone as one of Illus.s brothers was now in charge of Getters technical operations, although he was not a member of the top management team.His sister and his other brother are still at school and it is hard to say whether they the time being, L ukas is the only Impressions family member entrusted with full authority over the business and responsible for the future of the family company. Getters staff management involves a certain amount of trust in its employees and this has contributed to the character of the business. This is exemplified by a casual working style and a lack of strict supervision. This approach is rooted to a great extent in the fact that the owners made it a rule to encourage their employees to feel responsible for their work from the outset.Everyone hired by Getter was apprised of his or her responsibilities immediately. This approach also resulted in the staff identifying strongly with the company. Constantly developing and raising the qualifications of its workforce is an important dimension of the Getter approach to HER. To a large extent, this is achieved through the application of internal resources. Junior workers endure basic training conducted by more senior workers who hold the necessary licens es. Depending on individual needs, higher level personnel may attend orthogonal training courses. This, however, is not common.The scope of internal training at Getter is limited and outsourced training is a rarity (e. G. One training course was devoted to getting laity certificates). The Getter CEO deems the existing realiseledge base satisfactory but staff development and the need to expand organizational knowledge resources are still major issues. After all, the company is continually expanding. That is why one of the most important tasks on the checklist of things to do in the nearest future is to deal with the issue of employee training in a more efficient and well thought-out manner.As far as the motivation of employees is concerned, money bonuses are the prime motivator at present. No motivation system meeting all staff requirements has yet been devised. Nobody is responsible for HER management at the company at present. Any activities that come under this heading are deem ed to be staff-related administrative matters and are treatd by two people. The Sales Department Lukas Impressions set up a Sales Department to handle domestic sales at the end of 2004 when he returned to the business after completing his university education.The core activity of the Sales Department is to manage a network of retail outlets in Ammonias Videodisc. Lukas was the brains behind the project. He came up with the idea of establishing such stores in 2001 when he was studying management. Four stores had already been set up by 2004 but creating the Sales Department accelerated the growth of the network. Twenty five outlets had opened by the beginning of 2010 and there are plans afoot to open even more in the very near future. In 2005, Lukas hired Anna to work in the newly created Sales Department and support the development of the retail network.Anna soon turned out to be a valuable employee. She had relatively little experience in sales and little knowledge of the meat sect or, but this was more than compensated for by her openness to new challenges and her willingness to get up to speed on the industry. She acted as Illus.s assistant and, through working together with him, got to know the rules presidential term the meat market and his management style. For his part, Lukas gave her a free hand over a wide range of activities in view of her rapidly expanding competence and knowledge about both the market and the company.He placed and her creative input in the development of the network was what he valued most. Together they recruited competent store managers and sales assistants for their retail outlets. Anna had a good intuition about people and Lukas consulted her when hiring staff. The selected candidates were always the best choice, thanks to Annas excellent knowledge of the company and her insight. Today, her Job description encompasses managing the retail outlets she is in charge of so that they operate efficiently and effectively.Anna is also i nvolved in setting up new outlets. In late 2009 and early 2010, for instance, she was responsible for the opening of 3 new stores, the selection and recruitment of staff (store manager and 4 to 6 sales assistants in each store), the interior decoration and the procedures for having them sanctioned by the relevant authorities (e. G. Sanitary authorities). Lukas delegated most of the contacts with the stores various service providers (from contacts with media suppliers to store equipment producers) to her.Apart from all that, all of the store managers report to Anna and she also manages the remainder of the sales team, which currently consists of two other people (one was hired in 2007 and the other in 2010). There are already enough headaches for her now with 25 outlets and most 140 employees. Each is employed as a Sales Representative, receives a monthly salary, and is responsible for approximately 8 outlets. They are monitoring the market trends. This particular market has its own idiosyncrasies and is highly volatile, especially when it comes to prices.The sales representatives have to be alert at all times and cannot afford to take their eyes off the competition. The speed with which Getter can react to market changes depends to a great extent on their vigilance. Anna is clearly the De facto head of the Sales Department and is responsible for the companys retail outlets. and it is Lukas who makes all the decisions. He is the one everybody goes to whenever a problem arises and he is the one who comes up with all of the solutions. Anna only takes over once Lukas masticates his solutions to her.But this can take a lot of time and the daily operation of the retail stores is already time consuming enough. Retail Outlets Key Company Resource Getter owns a network of meat retail outlets which it is intent on developing by opening new outlets and by ensuring that each shop offers high-end customer service, as well as top quality products. Getter shops offer a co mplete range of pork, beef, poultry and cured meats. The company has supplemented its product range with bread (frequently baked on the premises) and spices to fulfill all the needs of its customers.Getter has been selling a line of CEO meats (a line of 7 Premium high end top quality products with salt as the only preservative) for over a year. Getter guarantees that the meats offered in its retail shops are of the utmost quality. Quality assurance has always been the Impressions families top priority. Getters top quality products require the best open employees and the requirements laid down for store staff are strict. That they are selling top quality products and that quality comes at a premium is drilled into them from day one.This applies to sales staff as much as it does to store managers. In practice, this meaner that each and every customer should leave the shop knowing that he or she has Just bought a top-quality product. The staff of each shop consists of a manager and be tween 4 and 6 sales assistants. Remuneration of shop workers is base on commission. Lukas will visit the shops himself occasionally. This is partly to check whether everything is running smoothly and in line with his expectations, but mostly to meet his staff and customers in person.This is what Lukas says of these visits l like to do a little tour of the shops when there is time. Its nice to talk to the staff in arson sometimes and to see how our products are showcased, to discover to what our customers have to say about our meat and to talk to them. I often get a chance to meet the staff hired by Anna in person during these visits. According to Lukas, the potential of the domestic market is still not being fully exploited given the quality of Getter products. He is considering expanding the Ammonias Videodisc retail chain and increasing domestic sales.The company is planning more retail outlets over the next few years. This will mean more sales representatives. The company woul d like to have one representative per 10 stores. For practical purposes, this will also mean more problems in the daily operation of the Sales Department and the individual stores. The current sales representatives relate well to the company and problems are rare. Not having full control over their work is one nagging concern he has. The more sales representatives, the more supervision they need.And dealing with this problem will chew up a lot of the Sales Directors time. There are already enough headaches now with 25 outlets and roughly 120 employees. Lukas knows this better than anyone. Some days, every one of the 25 stores will ring him with problems. Everyone knows that Anna is responsible for stores but they still call him. There seems to be a problem in communicating the information that Anna is the person to call for day-to-day problems. This invisible communication parapet will have to go before there can be any more stores.Ukase has also set himself the goal of expanding b eyond the existing retail network and establishing a nationwide presence. Virtually all products are sold through company stores. On one hand, because of the high quality of its products, Getter is not interested in working with large retail chains that value price over quality. On the other hand, reaching wholesale stores and wholesale networks who might be interested in selling Getters top quality products requires dedicated promotional activities addressed to these stores. Unfortunately, at the moment, there is nobody in the company responsible for market promotion.Apart from a few rudimentary sessions, the company does not engage in this type of promotional activity. There is nobody in the company responsible for producing any kind of catalogue containing a full and up to date product portfolio or for updating the website. Ukase does not eave time to deal with this aspect of the business and all attempts to outsource these services have so far proven disastrous (because, in the Coos opinion website designers cannot meet the company expectations as the company does not know what it wants).Another key problem is to nominate a sales team member responsible for handling prospects and answering their questions. Lukas is adamant that the right person for the Job is not him. A Challenge for the CEO of Getter The business development plans for Getter and the requirements they generate have made it clear to the CEO that the decision to appoint a Sales Director and revealing state of affairs where Anna is unofficially responsible for the department and the retail chain is highly inefficient. Lukas has often found himself, and not Anna, as the primary contact person when problems have arisen.It goes without saying that the decision to have the Sales Department managed professionally has to be taken soon but the question of how to find the right candidate for the position remains unanswered. At first viewing, Anna seems to be the obvious candidate. She has the longest period of service in the Sales Department, she is familiar with the Coos management style, she knows the company inside out and her intuition has been vindicated on the numerous occasions that she has selected the best candidates for Getter. She was also actively and effectively involved in setting up the retail chain.Unfortunately, Lukas believes that there is a huge question mark hanging over her. Lukas is uncertain about Annas future and her commitment to the Sales Department as she is considering having another baby. He knows from prior experience that when her child needs attention, Anna has to leave work to deal with the matter, so having another child would possibly add to this difficulty. Lukas knows that he could be accused of being sexist for idea this but he suspects every owner of an SEEM goes through this dilemma.He also knows that he should judge Annas ability to do the Job based on her professional abilities and not on her personal life. He believes that he is an un derstanding person with a positive position towards other people but he wonders if he can let his family business be affected by any competing claims on Annas time that stock brings. Employing someone from outside of the company might be problematic because of Getters location. Both the company and the production plant are situated near mall cities like Pullouts or Castro?aka, both approximately 100 km from Warsaw.Another issue with employing an outsider is that the successful candidate would have to pick up the specifics of the company and start thinking the Getter way very quickly. This is crucial as Getters products are of very high quality, which translates into higher prices, which in turn makes the acquisition of new clients harder than it would be in the case of steadfast quality meat (large chain stores are more interested in low prices than quality). The potential Sales Director should have experience in the eat industry and a sound knowledge of the market.He or she also needs to have know-how, which is what Getter needs most at this moment. Another question is how would Anna react when she finds out that a new Sales Director is being recruited from outside? Will this denominate her or, in the worst case scenario, prompt her to leave the company? Lukas has to decide how to conduct the recruitment process and what resources should he use head hunters, press advertisements or some other option? The CEO is also faced with the challenge of devising and implementing effective control mechanisms for the new Sales Director ND the Department.On one hand, these measures should give the director a large degree of autonomy, but on the other they need to give Lukas a sense of security that the department is working effectively and that the results meet the expectations of the companys owners. This is especially important given that the development of the retail outlets is one of Getters key objects. Lukas feels that it is important for the new monitoring mech anism not to Jeopardize its identity of a family company and great deal of freedom but, at the same time, he has made sure that everyone knows the precise scope of their responsibility.Impressions is aware that the companys further growth may render this approach inadequate and make effective control mechanisms necessary. Ukase has attempted to make internal company communication more formal. In view of the specificity of the market and the considerable price fluctuations of meat products, management needs to be apprised of such matters as soon as new information becomes available if the company is to function effectively. The solutions adopted tussah have proved ineffective. The current regimen of sales staff meetings held every Monday or every other Monday is not producing the expected results.Either the meetings are cancelled because something urgent crops up or the garishness of data collected by the sales representatives is so great that it is difficult to extract the most imp ortant facts and figures. The next area that needs to be worked out is the design and implementation of support procedures for the retail outlets. Some problems are not limited to a single store, as can be seen from the companys track record. Therefore, the development of a single manual or code of conduct containing ways of dealing with the most frequently encountered problems would streamline the work of both store managers ND Sales Department staff.It would also give them more time to spend on other tasks. The Sales Director would also benefit as he or she could finally focus on expanding the retail chain and looking for new locations. Officially delegating the management of the Sales Department onto a newly appointed manager wo

Dramatic Impact in Act 3 of The Crucible Essay

There are many different ways/techniques in which miller creates dramatic imp meet in act 3.It all starts in the beginning when the play is set off-stage, The room is empty, which creates an air of mystery and make people hear and listen vexed to what is going on. It also makes the audience/reader wonder who the new voices are (Hathorne and Danforth). Then when Giles roars into the court, I have evidence for the court, the audience who are so concentrated on hearing will immediately jolt and get a fright from the noise and there starts the drama.The dramatic social system of this act plays a key role in the dramatic impact/tension of the act. It starts off with a bang, then goes down in tension, then rises to another climax, continuously. An example of this is in the beginning Giles roars into court, then this is questioning and explaining, Your Excellency, I only said she were readin books which lowers the tension then Fransis shws his deposition and the tension and standation r ises again. Most of the act rises and falls in this manner. This technique emphasizes the dramatic confidential informations in the play because it sort of isolates them between parts that arent so dramatic. All the little highschool drama points in the act are leading to the main one in the end.The 3 depositions, Nurses, Giless and bloody shames, create huge drama in the way that they are presented and out hopes are raises that the court will see justice and then turned down by the court for a small reason. For example Giles deposition, which stated that Putnam was out for land, was turned down because he wouldnt give the name of the witness, Why, I-I can not give you his name. This raising of our hopes then destroying them, continuously, mirrors the impact of the structure of the act. The mention and showing of each deposition creates high drama/tension and as each deposition is destroyed, the dram and our hopes go down.Another dramatic point in this act, of course, is the girl s. When they start seeing spirits, A wind, a cold wind, has come the tension is raised because the audience knows they are lying alone doesnt know if the court will believe it. They claim that Mary is threatening them with her spirit, Why do you come yellow bird? and this threatens Proctor and Marys deposition. While the girls are constantly seeing spirits and chanting, they are luring Mary back into their grasp and Proctor notices this, with a hysterical cry Mary Warren starts to run. Proctor catches her and this prompts a huge dramatic part in the act Proctors confession.Knowing Proctors character as a law obeying man with a good reputation and wanting to keep it, this confession shocks the audience and is a big dramatic high. The beginning of the confession is the main shocker to the audience and the court, How do you shout Heaven Whore Whore. When the court decides to look further into Proctors claim of adultery, they call in Elizabeth, who Proctor says never lies. When she li es, presumably for the first time, this is another high point in the act. She, and the audience, realizes what she has founding fathere and everyone gets scared and fears the worst.The end is the most dramatic part of the play because Proctor says that he and Danforth are Evil, I see his foul-smelling face And it is my face, and yours, Danforth and this surly means (to the audience) Proctor will be charged heavily. With the hero in jail, what is left for the rest of Salem? This is what the audience will acquire themselves.Another part at the end of the act which shows drama is when embroil denounces the court because, as the main priest and witchcraft expert in this puff he is supposed to be righteous and tells us that Hale is someone who now really believes the girls are lying.Not only the content of the act but also Millers development and entryway of the characters create dramatic impact. Two main once stand out as very dramatic are Danforth and Hale.The introduction of Dan forth in this act, I would consider, is a dramatic point because he is quite stern and the audience no idea what to expect from him. Will he be fair? Will he side with Abigail? The audience is faced with a mystery. All the other characters have been mentioned before and we have an idea of who they are and what to expect from them. With Danforth, especially him being in a position of extreme power, it is dramatic that we dont know what he is like.In the beginning of the play, we understood that Hale was a self important man who wanted to seem the hero and wasnt afraid to cry witchery on someone. During this act, he is defensive and doesnt exactly believe in all the witches. It is al if he thinks he has caused all this and wants to fix it. Is every defense an attack upon the court?, Excellency, a moment. I think this goes to the heart of the matter. He is starting to side more with Proctor in believing this is all the girls and they may have caused this.It his the last plagiarize of Proctors sums up what is going on in act 3 and why it is so dramatic You are pulling Heaven down and raising up a whore. We, as the audience, know things the characters dont (dramatic irony) and this is a great example. We know the girls are lying, but the court and many people dont, they believe the whore and not heaven (the whore being Abigail and Heaven being truth and righteousness).

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 Misinterpreted Essay

Reading Fahrenheit 451 one can only admiration on somewhat nave, but nevertheless terrible prophecy of the dark future to come, brought on us by Ray Bradbury. Often seen as a work of fiction or anti-utopia, in fact this is just a social horror story, if such a genre can be invented for its description.The technologies depicted in Fahrenheit are rather primitive compared to modern times. Sure, Bradbury had extrapolated the TV screens of 50s and predicted the invention of giant TV walls, with presence prepare that allows the viewer to feel himself in the center of action. Bradbury had expressed the fears that TV means death of media of a previous generation, being the books. But, as McLuhan stated, the technologies of past ages dont die so easily, The dominant technologies of one age become the games and pastimes of a later age (McLuhan, p99).As fears that cinema would mean the death of theatre had prove themselves to be incorrect, thus a larger-scale fear that TV means the end of b ooks had proved itself to be false too. On the other hand, Bradbury hadnt predicted the invention of a new media which would outscore the TV as much(prenominal) as TV outscores the books the Internet. The TV had no chance to progress into totally-enveloping media reality depicted in the book, losing the carry to more modern media.While Bradburys technology prediction hadnt been correct, his social predictions had proved to be uncannily true, if somewhat optimistic. The all-world media programming is here, broadcasted by orbiting satellites, turns the public into a repertory theater to be programmed (McLuhan, p9). And the news brought to us by every source from TV to Internet and even to Radio are given(p) to be manipulated simultaneously, as was shown brilliantly in Wag the Dog. The censorship depicted by Bradbury isnt here instead, we have a total media coverage that produces fake events undistinguishable from real. People do non need to follow instructions told to them on TV instead, we follow the views and ideas presented to us daily. The Electric Dog doesnt roam the streets the society is our Electric Dog that doesnt kill nonconformists in real sense but effectively blocks them from us.What brings salvation and hope in Bradburys world after the holocaust are Bible words. It doesnt mean that he relies on religion to carry us through the new Dark Ages rather, he tells us about our inner faith, which isnt expressed but felt and understood. But as no holocaust had happened yet, only those who really feels in need seek salvation, others are content with what theyve got.Bradburys views on government in Fahrenheit border with clear accusations of fascism, the burning of books being the just about obvious historical reference. But fascism in US had became such a popular scare since the end of WWII that we dont fear it as much anymore. After all, if government would ever decide to apply a stricter views to economics like Roosevelts New Deal in 30s, (whic h is quite potential now because of economics crisis), most voices would be raised in its defense rather than in its critics. People feel the government to be controlled by them, not the other way round.In Fahrenheit society education of youth program them to see their world as unquestionably right, defies critical thinking and praises the conformism instead. This is not only an exaggerated, but also a distorted picture of modern education, depicted just to scare us even more, to create a sense of further isolation of Guy Montag from the world. Bradbury doesnt give much attention to the youth this is sensible, for what he longs for is the past.Fahrenheits ending can be seen as a longing for Golden Age, the times that never were real but always in our eyes seem to be brighter than today. It is a hymn to nostalgia. But one cannot contemplate his past too long he must consider the future. We should look ahead and be brave, no event what dangers are waiting for us there.Works CitedBr adbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. Published by Del Rey Books, Random House Publishing Group, 1953, renewed 1981.McLuhan, Marshall, From Clich to Archetype, Published by Viking Adult, 1970.Wag the Dog, by Barry Levinson, 1997 (the movie).

My Lai †Culpability of Guilt

Series Vietnam A Television History. The solider was describing the reasons why the American passs turned on the civilians whom they were move to protect during the Vietnam War. The same soldier would start sobbing uncontrollably as he would go on to state, You dont remember the enemy that you putz and fling offed. But you always remember the 58 year old woman you shot and killed because she was running away. And she was running away because you were threatening to shoot her.The Vietnam War was no more ugly than any other war in history, but it was the first war that had aired uncensored on American television. This time, thither would be no illusory tales of grandeur that would put mythic heroics onto the exploits after they war came to a close. The blood of the Vietnam War had been captured for eternity. Although popular sentiment among the lower classes for the North Vietnamese Army was non strong, there was still a great desire for independence. (Morrison 17)This is not to s ay there were no noble intentions or heroic actions. Many Americans served their country honourably and in a noble manner. Their deeds, however, would forever be overshadowed by the atrocities committed by American soldiers who assaulted a free fire zone in the township of My Lai, a town that was primarily occupied by civilian women and children.The soldiers that went to Vietnam were normal, e veryday young adults. Some were volunteers and some were conscripted, but none were murderers before they went to Vietnam. Even infra the conditions of war, they did not easily crack or lose their humanity, yet, for some reason they snapped under pressure and followed orders that resulted in the death of many innocent civilians. Were they entirely wicked for their actions or were their actions justifiable under the conditions of war? Did the directives of their superiors absolve them of guilt? Was the stress they were under a driving force behind their decisions? Or had the militarys polic y of dehumanizing the enemy play the vital role in their decisions? Most of all, would these factors absolve them of guilt?In order to understand the culpability of guilt, one call for to clearly understand what actually occurred in the village of My Lai on the day of the incident.March 16th, 1968 A company of the 23rd Infantry Division commanded by Lt. William Calley slaughters 347 disarm civilians (including a dozen babies as young as one month of age) at the hamlet of Song My (My Lai 4) in Vietnams southern zone. Although Calleys superiors identify the massacre from helicopters and its true nature known to higher ups, it is falsely cast as an intense firefight in which 128 enemy soldiers were killed. Only when a former soldier forces the incident into public view a year later is an extremely limited official investigation initiated. (Churchill 141)Needless to say, this description hardly sounds as if there is a lack of guilt on the part of the soldiers. This description of the incident also points the finger at the higher ups in the military and places blame on those who were knowledgeable somewhat the incident, as they not only did nothing to punish those who took part in the incident, but socasually ignored the massacre, that it would appear that such(prenominal) an incident whitethorn not have been entirely out of the ordinary.What is it that would lead the soldiers to launch such a massive offensive against the civilians? What reduced the moral qualms about taking such violent action against noncombatants? Part of the reason is a issue that is endemic to all military conflicts.Throughout the history of warfare throughout the world, there needs to be a certain instillation of a psychological attitude into a soldier in order to make the soldier acceptable to taking part in such wide-scale slaughter. This psychological instillation involves the dehumanization of the enemy in the eyes of the soldier. That is, the enemy is never portrayed as a human being . Rather, the enemy is always presented in a derogatory manner so as to appear less than human.After all, it is much easier to kill someone who is not seen as someone, but rather seen as something. In Vietnam, the soldiers were generally referred to under the derogatory term as gook. (Davis) As such, they are not presented as a real person, but rather as an object of a subhuman animal. For years, this was considered necessary or the troops may have not taken full action when in a combat situation. However, such derogatory attitudes also remove a great chain reactor of the moral qualms that soldiers may have during situations where moral qualms might be necessary in order to make the judgment calls that would be required in a situation that needs restraint.Further complicating the matter is the fact that as the Vietnam War dragged on, many of the members of the military were drafted. They were not real soldiers so they were far more wedded to cracking under the pressure of the high ly brutal Vietnam conflict. It was an ugly war and many average people off the street were rushed through boot-camp and accordingly off to the jungles of Southeast Asia. Such inexperience and reservations to combat combined with an out of control war have all the elements for mental breakdowns and psychological behavior. A thoroughgoing(a) lack of understanding of the terrain and the culture of the people who inhabited contributed to the chaos. (Windrow 55)This, of course, leads to the very important question, Does this absolve the individuals who committed the atrocities of guilt? Under the letter of the law, the answer is absolutely not. The stochastic slaughter of civilians is not justifiable under any circumstances. in that location simple is no good excuse or a deliberate act of genocide. This guilt, however, does not mean that one should not examine the reasons behind the creation of the environment that lead to the deliberate massacre. Military and international law (draw ing from precedents derived from the Nuremberg trials) clearly states that following orders is not an acceptable defense for a war crime.Much of the problems with the war in Vietnam were directly related to the American populaces total misunderstanding of Vietnam and its history. Vietnam had fought several(prenominal) centuries long war of independence with the Chinese. It also fought a hundred years war with French colonialists and also occupying Japanese forces. The countrys goals were to free itself from outside rule. While the United States truism itself as liberating the nation from communism, the general population simply wanted self determination.While the communist regimes that ended up peremptory Vietnam were as brutal, if not worse, than the foreign occupying forces, at the time, the hearts and minds of the people were not with the American forces so the war quickly became a situation that was not winnable for the US troops. As such, the war trudged on without any clear goal or end in sight. Only two viable options existed to end US exponentiation withdraw and surrender or drop an atomic bomb of Hanoi. The third option, perpetual aerial andground war, simply dragged on forever costing an immeasurable number of lives on both sides. This aerial assault also included large amounts of napalm bombs that made the landscape of war even more vicious. (Franklin) From this, the entire landscape of the Vietnam War was one of mayhem that led to unspeakable acts on both sides.Ultimately, however, no one truly faced punishment from the massacre at My Lai. Lt. Calley saw a mere 3 years of house arrest before President Nixon pardoned him. The deaths of those civilians have never been justly punished. So, was there ever a lesson that comes from these deaths?There were many lessons that were learned from the Vietnam War, particularly lessons derived from the horror of the My Lai massacre. If anything, the My Lai massacre shows what will result from the evils of dehumanizing the enemy and not instilling a sense of clear moral guidelines in soldiers so they understand the difference between an act of war and an act of genocide.Clearly, the military brass and the officials in the government must realize that they are immoral for such actions and must be held accountable to the public. The United States never truly recovered from the disaster of the Vietnam War as its specter hangs over the military to this very day. Perhaps, it is haunted by the ghosts of My Lai.Works CitedThe American Experience. Vietnam A Television History. PBS DVD. 1983.Churchill, Ward. On The Justice of Roosting Chickens. Oakland AK Press, 2004.Davis, Peter. Hearts and Minds. Criterion Collection DVD. 1974Franklin, H. Bruce. Vietnam and other American Fantasies. capital of Massachusetts University ofMassachusetts Press, 2000.Morrison, Wilbur H. The Elephant & the Tiger The Full Story of the Vietnam War. NewYork Hippocrene, 1990.Windrow, Martin. The Last Valley. Cambridg e De Capo Press, 2005.