Foregrounding Techniques in the Yellow Dog by Martin Amis Essay Example for Free

Foregrounding Techniques in the Yellow Dog by Martin Amis Essay The second half of the XX century is defined as the Postmodern Era in the development of civilization. It has been singled out into a separate period because of certain changes in human thought, world view and mode of living. The world has changed much since the beginning of the twentieth century – there has occurred a rapid development in contemporary technology which revolutionized our way of thinking. Postmodern literature, like postmodernism as a whole, is hard to define and there is little agreement on the exact characteristics, scope, and importance of postmodern literature. However, unifying features often coincide with Jean-Francois Lyotard’s concept of the ‘meta-narrative’ and ‘little narrative,’ Jacques Derrida’s concept of ‘play,’ and Jean Baudrillard’s ‘simulacra. ’ For example, instead of the modernist quest for meaning in a chaotic world, the postmodern author eschews, often playfully, the possibility of meaning, and the postmodern novel is often a parody of this quest. This distrust of totalizing mechanisms extends even to the author; thus postmodern writers often celebrate chance over craft and employ metafiction to undermine the authors ‘univocal’ control (the control of only one voice). The distinction between high and low culture is also attacked with the employment of pastiche, the combination of multiple cultural elements including subjects and genres not previously deemed fit for literature. A list of postmodern authors often varies; the following are some names of authors often so classified, most of them belonging to the generation born in the interwar period. Her father was a barrister and later a judge; her mother was a former elementary schoolteacher, neurotic and frustrated, angrily unhappy at being a full-time housewife. Both came from working-class families but had studied at Cambridge, and the household was one of books, book talk, and slamming doors. Many comparisons are possible in discussions of these novellas, both comparisons of the novellas to each other and of one or both to other works by A. S. Byatt. The Victorian setting, not paralleled here by a modern setting as it is in Possession, may stimulate discussion of the strengths and shortcomings of [pic]Victorian society and how it compares to modern society. The double voice of postmodern fiction presents a challenge because it requires that we question the way we read and interpret not only postmodern literature but also literature as a whole.

European economic community :: essays research papers

Britain's entry into the European Economic Community was a source of great conflict in Europe. There were suspicions that French President de Gaulle did not want Britain to enter in order to maintain his country's hegemony over the EEC. De Gaulle spoke of the cultural and institutional differences that would make Britain incompatible with the Six. The British governments motives were even questioned as to whether they only wanted to reap the economic benefits of the EEC. The following is my assessment of these situations according to the Salmon documents. Throughout document 23, Prime Minister Macmillan continuously states, " I must remind the house that the EEC is an economic community, not a defense alliance, or a foreign policy community, or a cultural community. It is an economic community,† Although it is clear throughout the document that the British were aware of the wider political agenda of the Six, their main focus was certainly economic benefits. I do think, however, that The United states had a great influence on Britain's desire to join the EEC. In document 23, Prime Minister Macmillan discusses how remaining outside the EEC could cause Britain to lose its influence not only in Europe but in Washington as well. He fears that the U.S. would pay more attention to the issues of the Six rather than Britain. On the other hand, Britain's conditions for entering the union suggest that they are only interested in the economic benefits. Britain wanted the Six to agree that Britain would be free to create their own foreign policy, fulfill their pledge to the EFTA, plan their own economy, and safeguarding of British agriculture. These conditions made me think that Britain still wanted to be their own country and handle their own affairs, but still benefit from the economic situation in the EEC. It seems that deGaulle felt his country's hegemony over the EEC would be threatened if Britain were to enter the EEC. In document 29 a Gaullist minister gives reason for deGaulles veto of Britain's membership saying,† Now, with six members, there is five hens and a rooster. If you join [with other countries], there will perhaps be seven or eights hens. But there will be two roosters. That isn't agreeable,† It is clear that because of Britain's financial status and power that deGaulle feared his country would no longer be the final say in the EEC.

Management Plan

1.1.  Ã‚   Problem Definition: The company has been successful in securing considerable sales of around $5 million per annum. However, the company for some reason has been loosing sales. This problem has been there continuously for the last five years. The issue which our department is facing specifically is that we are making decreasing contributions towards the overall net profitability of the company. For the company, after a certain time, our department will become a parasite if these types of conditions persist. Therefore the company’s top management, such as Carol and others might decide and be adamant to close and/or sell off our department. Though this might yield the company a net loss but closing down our department may offer cutting further losses in future to the company. On the other hand all employees working for and either directly or indirectly associated with this department have their jobs at stake unless the department starts earning! 1.2.  Ã‚   Vision: My department should be designed in a flat hierarchical structure. I would design the job specification of my subordinates in such a way so as to enable them to have the least number of levels to jump to reach me for discussion(s) on any relevant issues. I would encourage the employees through out the department to have themselves integrated not as individuals but as one. This would help in asserting a clear and transparent management of every one on the efforts they contribute to achieve the collective goals of the organization. This will also reveal the issues related to employees regarding the decreasing sales of our department. 1.3.  Ã‚   Mission Statement: â€Å"To provide the best quality cleaning solution to healthcare customers, bundled with the customer service beyond their expectations. To give Value for Money.† 1.4.  Ã‚   Establish goals & objectives: The department needs to and will start generating profits in the near future. For this purpose the first and foremost objective is to develop different models and use of the different available techniques to analyze the existing, past, and potential customers, their demographics, their demand type/frequency and there patterns of purchasing & using our products. The most likely reasons that they shifted from us or reduced there purchases from us. We would also analyze and try to find out what our nearest competitors are offering in comparison to what we offer and what can we potentially offer. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Communicate: 2.1.  Ã‚   Identify stakeholders: The stakeholders in our case include; The employees who are directly or indirectly linked to our department. The top management personnel such as Carol. The customers, the hospitals which account for 85% of our sales. Myself, the newly appointed departmental head. 2.2.  Ã‚   Frame Communication: I as the departmental head would rather suggest an open meeting at the end of each day, similar to that what Japanese do, and I will try to analyze and grasp the grass root of any problem so that it can be cached and cured there n’ then. 2.3.  Ã‚   Plan Communication: I would set the necessary procedures such as enclosed messages or e-mails to inform only my team members for specific department related meeting. This would ensure direct communication with privacy. 2.4.  Ã‚   Communication with stakeholders: All the stakeholders would be informed via a formal channel such as a personalized mail, e-mail and/or a news letter. Since all stakeholders are to be informed there fore we are using such methods so as to actually make a sort of announcement for the meeting. 2.5.  Ã‚   Channels of communications: Where n= the no. people communicating with each other (i.e. 6 in our case) = n (n-1)/2 =6(6-1)/2 = 15 channels of communication 3. Cooperate: 3.1.  Ã‚   Methods of cooperation: The Individual’s Team Contribution The Team’s Performance Behaviors/Process Results (Individual) Behaviors/Process Results (Team) 3.2.  Ã‚   Competition between team members: The competition between the team members is a good approach specially in the case of sales staff. Even other than sales staff, members of the department performing other activities can also compete in terms of their productivity and how much they contribute towards their job i.e. apart from their normal schedule of duties how much do they put in genuine efforts in going beyond what is required for the sake of the company’s overall ‘Good’. 4.Follow Though: 4.1.  Ã‚   WBS: Total proposals required per year= 2000 As per 2-5 there are 6 employees including me, therefore assuming the 5 employees be there; 2000/12= proposals per month = 167 167/5= 33.2 25000/12/5= 417. 4.2.  Ã‚   Accountability: The figures given above are the minimum target that need to be achieved. They form the basic standards and actually serve as the benchmarks for anyone’s’ accountability regarding his/her job.. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Evaluate: 5.1.  Ã‚   Outline of performance: The performance measurement would purely be based on it’s the type of activities being conducted and the results that are being yield as a result of these activities. This includes, for example, comparing revenues, productivity, etc. 5.2.  Ã‚   Performance:Adequate performance was given. However if the performance would have been inadequate than I would scrutinize the Work Breakdown Structure and try sorting out where the problem persists and what caused the performance to be inadequate. 5.3.  Ã‚   Optimistic: If I would have been optimistic with whatever I predicted than I would surely had placed relatively much higher targets than normal ones. This might have led to unachievable targets and hence frustration by the employees causing them to get disturbed and the productivity would have decreased. References Gareth R. Jones, Jennifer M. George & Charles W. L. Hill (2005) Principles of Management.: McGraw-Hill

Bias: Stereotype and People

Living in the world, we face different kinds of people every day, which means we need to communicate with others and make decisions upon others. Naturally, the attitude and method in dealing with diversity becomes a basic skill for people. It is important to know how to communicate and make decisions in a proper way.Facing diverse people and objects, people usually classify them. The advantage people gain from classification is organizing and making things easier to understand. However, when it comes to communication and decision-making, classification may cause some problems. As the name indicates, the topic of the book goes around stereotype, and it provides the readers a better understanding of stereotypes: what the stereotypes are; how stereotypes impact people and business; and what to do when stereotypes happen. It also provides a lot of useful information and skills about how to communicate with people respectfully to gain profit for our business and us.After this book, I real ized that classification becomes stereotype occasionally, and stereotype is a crucial part that makes us failed from communicating and making decisions successfully. Either as a normal person or a businessman, we need to be cautions not to let stereotypes become the reason of making us failing. In a diverse society, the advantage is that we can always get new and different information from those we have already had, but the challenge is how to treat people around us who are different from us equally.People bias naturally, and we all tend to let some of the stereotype come into our communication (Aguilar, 2006). In my opinion, stereotype is the kind of definition that depends on the trend that most people think instead of the truth. It makes all people who have the same characteristic into one group without really knowing about their individualities. Sometimes we stereotype people unknowingly by not taking what we say as stereotypes, and sometimes we think the stereotypes we say are good ones. For example, it is often heard that â€Å" Young people today do not work as hard as the older generation.† And â€Å" European girls are always more beautiful than the girls in other area.† However, any kind of stereotype may turn out to hurt people whether by intention or not.There is research shows that there are increasing chance that negative stereotype could activate the people who are stereotyped to become members of the  stereotyped group (Campbell & Mohr, 2011). After reading the book, I understood that the stereotypes, which people use to help them understand or sort something they do not really know about, may turn our to lead them to the wrong places. In business, the main inefficiency of stereotype is in management, which is always considered to be a barrier that prevents people from making the right decisions. There is research shows that when the perceived positive stereotypes are brought into the forefront of people, the stereotypes can aff ect people by making them do worse on something that they can do better (Killermann).In fact, there are some people we do not know very well that are always stereotyped by us. We tend to judge them by their â€Å"groups†, which seems easier for us to classify them without taking much time to understand who they really are. Especially when facing people with different skin tones, religions and nations, it seems that we will easily get into stereotypes. For example, I used to think and say that African American people are good at sports and Asian people are good in math. When meeting an African American or Asian person, I judge them automatically by the stereotype which was already formed in my mind without knowing much of them.Actually, the African American can be good at math, and the Asian can be really good at sports. In the â€Å"Managing Diversity† lecture, I learned in Foundation of Business, which indicates that everyone is unique and not just a representing a de mographic group. If the same stereotype I just mentioned happens in a company, sometimes it causes problems, because there will be a great possibility that managers will misjudge a person and put them in wrong working places and positions. â€Å"People use stereotypes to make decisions about coworkers, managers and customers with little or no information about the person. A stereotyped person is not seen for who she is and what she can contribute to the business.† (Chinn)The people who are stereotyped will be discouraged because their abilities and talents are covered as well. Both the person who holds the stereotype and the person who is stereotyped will be affected. If you see a group of people the same way, you will miss the individuality of them. It is important to communicate against stereotypes that have a great influence on business. Also, it is necessary to know what to do if things have already gone wrong. There is another important thing in this book—how to m ake up the loss caused by stereotype. The first important thing we need to know is what to do when we realize the mistakes is already  made.Before reading this book, sometimes I could not confront the mistake I made because I felt guilty and shy to make it up. Sometimes I just ignored it, and sometimes I switched to another topic if I found myself saying things wrong. However, I realized that it could only make the situation worse by running away from the mistakes after reading the book. It is the same in business. At first, we should admit the mistake as soon as we realize it, and then find a way to make it up.If we ignore the mistake, both the reputation of the company and customer satisfaction will be influenced. By admitting mistakes in time and finding ways to make up, we sometimes get better result than we think. I had a personal experience of being stereotyped. When I was trying to find a foundation in a cosmetics shop, the shop assistant kept recommending me a color that w as much whiter than my skin color, and it was until I showed my dissatisfaction did the shop assistant apologize to me. She explained that she thought most Asian women like foundations that are whiter than their original skin color, and that was the reason she put on a lot of foundation on my face that I did not like. Then she chose a color in terms of my true skin color instead of what she thought Asian women would like.Actually, I was satisfied with the one she picked for me at last. Even though I was stereotyped, by using a sincere apology, letting me know the reason of her mistake and making the right choice eventually, the shop assistant fixed the problem she made successfully. In this case, if the shop assistant did not admit the stereotype mistake she made, I probably would leave the cosmetic shop and never go back again. Inversely, I think the most important thing she did was to admit she stereotyped me with a sincere attitude. In this way, she gained my understanding and fo rgiveness. It is the same in many stereotype cases as the book Ouch, The Stereotype Hurts mentions.An insincere apology or shifting the blame to your speaker gains nothing for your mistake (Aguilar, 2006). The best way to limit the damage made by stereotype is to admit what you have said and tell people your real thoughts.In order to study and understand better in business, it is necessary to know not only the fixed knowledge that will be taught in class. The skill of communication, which is extremely important for business people, is also a necessity but relatively more difficult to learn, because it requires much experience to comprehend. The book Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts offers a useful guide of some business skills and experience that may not be found in textbooks. From this book, I understood that stereotype does not only have a great impact on our daily communication, the more important negative influence it has is on business. As a student who studies in business major, th is book helped a lot on my major.

Representation of Gender and Sexuality in Media essay

Representation of Gender and Sexuality in Media essay Representation of Gender and Sexuality in Media essay Representation of Gender and Sexuality in Media essayHistorically, media represented gender and sexuality in the way that matched the dominant public view and mirrors the evolution of gender-related biases and stereotypes and views on sexuality.   In the course of time, gender relations and sexuality evolved and changed and all these changes found their reflection in mass media (Bonvillain, 1995, 210). Mass media, in their turn, portrayed gender relations and sexuality according to the dominant cultural view on gender relations and sexuality. This is why it is possible to trace the evolution of those views through the analysis of films, for example, created in different time. At the same time, media have always had a considerable impact on the society, its cultural norms and values, including the development of gender-related biases and stereotypes which were accepted and promoted by media and this trend persists today making mass media a powerful tool that determines, to a signifi cant extent, gender relations and perception as well as representation of sexuality in the modern media and society.Traditionally, media had a considerable impact on the society and socialization of individuals. Today, the impact of mass media has become even more significant because people are always exposed to the impact of mass media. The exposure of individuals to mass media from the early childhood leads to the formation of their worldview under the impact of mass media.The impact of media on individuals is significant because individuals develop their ethic values, norms and standards of behaviour as well as their worldview through learning from their social environment and their social experience. Mass media shape the system of values of individuals because they communicate key values and norms of the mainstream culture to the audience. As a result, individuals exposed to the impact of mass media from the early childhood acquire cultural norms’ and values promoted by m ass media.At the same time, cultural norms and values promoted by mass media and imposed by them on people may not always be obvious as is the case of gender-related biases and stereotypes or views on sexuality. In this regard, it is possible to refer to the case of women, who were traditionally perceived as sexual objects and were respectively portrayed by media (Storey, 2001, 114). In the past, women were traditionally discriminated by the male-dominated society. They performed secondary part in the life of the society and media revealed their inferior, secondary position in the society.Researchers (Basile, 2004, 182) have developed the concept of â€Å"male gaze† in regard to mass media. This concept implies the depiction of women in films and other media from the male perspective. This is why female performers in media and films emphasized their sexuality. In fact, this trend persists today as well. The depiction of women as objects and emphasis on their sexuality leads n ot only to the development of respective gender-related biases and stereotypes but also to the discrimination of women working in the media industry (Basile, 2004, 182). For instance, women that did not match commonly accepted standards of female beauty, which were, by the way, grounded on the male view on women, could not find a job in the media industry or their career opportunities were much worse compared to women that matched the commonly accepted standard of female beauty and sexuality. Moreover, many female performers, including contemporary one, exploited and keep exploiting their sexuality and femininity to create a sexually appealing female image or character that will contribute to the enhancement of their personal brand. As a result, they can increase their earnings and improve their social standing exploiting their sexuality.Moreover, Sanjay Newton insists that male view and male ideology dominates in mass media, including Disney films, while the objectification of wome n is a norm (Newton, 2007). As a result, gender inequality emerges as women are depicted as objects that serve to pleasure men. However, such gender representation is discriminatory. In fact, Disney films and characters, like Disney princesses are manifestation of gender discrimination and objectification of women (Disney and Sexism, 2011).In the past, the male domination in the society was more obvious and could be easily traced in mass media portraying women as housewives and mothers above all (Arriaga Foshee, 2004, 199). However, the rise of feminism contributed to the change of portraying women in mass media. Feminism has opened the way to a different, non-male-dominated view on women. Instead, feminism promoted the idea of the oppression of women by men, against which women should rebel. Such rebellion involved the growing demand to mass media to change the conventional depiction of media. Many female directors have started to show feminist films. Mass media have increased the ir attention to problems of women. As a result, the rise of feminism contributed to the steady change of the public opinion and the attitude of the public to women and their role in the society.Nevertheless, the gender inequality and biased attitude to women still persists (Hardisty, 1999, 124). Women are still discriminated but such discrimination is not so obvious and strong as it used to be in the past. For instance, contemporary mass media still tend to the biased representation of women as housewives, as is the case of many sitcoms. But such biased representation is not as frequent and strong as it used to be several decades ago.On the other hand, the emergence of feminism still contributed to the change of gender-related stereotypes and respective changes in the depiction of women by mass media. Today, mass media attempt to be more tolerant in relation to women and depict them as equal to men. Mass media contributed to the steady change of the public perception of gender roles and sexuality.However, the male gaze or its elements still persist because female sexuality is still intentionally emphasized in the contemporary mass media. Moreover, some industries, like porn industry, still stand on the ground of male chauvinism. In such a way, mass media are still vulnerable to the impact of biases, stereotypes and prejudices of the male dominated society that still affect mass media.At the same time, today, the new problem has emerged, the problem of the depiction of sexual minorities by mass media. Similarly to women, they were discriminated and often misrepresented by mass media. But, in the course of time, the trend to the wider representation of sexual minorities in mass media has grown stronger and today they comprise a part of the general media coverage in terms of gender relations and sexuality. In this regard, Judith Butler (Hartley, 2011) supports the idea of the violation of rights and abuse of representatives of sexual minorities along with their u nder-representation in mass media. As a result, gender relations and perception of gender in the modern society does not admit the homosexuality as a norm but the society perceives it rather as a challenge to social norms.Thus, the development of mass media mirrored changes that occurred in gender relations and perception of sexuality by the society. The discrimination and misrepresentation of women as weak objects with the explicit emphasis on their sexuality have started to disappear along with the rise of feminism. Feminism contributed to the change of the public image of women and stimulated the change of the role of women in the society. However, mass media just mirrored profound social changes that took place and changed gender relations in the society.

Daspletosaurus - Facts and Figures

Daspletosaurus - Facts and Figures Name: Daspletosaurus (Greek for frightful lizard); pronounced dah-SPLEE-toe-SORE-us Habitat: Swamps of North America Historical Period: Late Cretaceous (75-70 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 30 feet long and three tons Diet: Herbivorous dinosaurs Distinguishing Characteristics: Massive head with numerous teeth; stunted arms About Daspletosaurus Daspletosaurus is one of those dinosaur names that sounds better in English translation than in the original Greekfrightening lizard is both scarier and more pronounceable! Other than its position near the top of the late Cretaceous food chain, theres not much to say about this tyrannosaur: like its close relative, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Daspletosaurus combined a massive head, a muscular body, and many, many sharp, pointy teeth with a ravenous appetite and puny, comical-looking arms. Its likely that this genus included a number of similar-looking species, not all of which have been discovered and/or described. Daspletosaurus has a complicated taxonomic history. When the type fossil of this dinosaur was discovered in Canadas Alberta Province in 1921, it was assigned as a species of another tyrannosaur genus, Gorgosaurus. There it languished for almost 50 years, until another paleontologist took a closer look and promoted Daspletosaurus to genus status. A few decades later, a second putative Daspletosaurus specimen wound up being assigned to yet a third tyrannosaur genus, Albertosaurus. And while all this was going on, the maverick fossil-hunter Jack Horner suggested that a third Daspletosaurus fossil was actually a transitional form between Daspletosaurus and T. Rex! Dale Russell, the paleontologist who assigned Daspletosaurus to its own genus, had an interesting theory: he proposed that this dinosaur coexisted with Gorgosaurus in the plains and woodlands of late Cretaceous North America, Gorgosaurus preying on duck-billed dinosaurs and Daspletosaurus preying on ceratopsians, or horned, frilled dinosaurs. Unfortunately, it now seems that the territory of these two tyrannosaurs did not overlap to the extent Russell believed, Gorgosaurus being largely restricted to northern regions and Daspletosaurus inhabiting southern regions.

Managing People Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Managing People - Essay Example In the context of the Morgans Hotel Group which makes use of the bureaucratic organisational structure that does not provide the opportunity of incorporate changes within the organisation’s structure along with its strategies and systems and also it does not practice the performance appraisal system among the employees (Morgans Group LLC, 2012). Performance appraisal is one of the crucial approaches which facilities to accomplish the individual’s job performance and to enhance productivity that would benefit Morgans to increase its efficiency in the work process. It would enable Morgans to assess the positive aspects of an employee’s performance over a certain period of time and also to analyse the areas the employee requires to improve. It would facilitate Morgans to increase its customer loyalty and its brand recognition, resulting in its profit maximisation. In the service industry in which Morgans operates, customer satisfaction is one of the prime attributes which it needs to meet on a regular basis. This aspect can only be attained by happy and contented employees of the organisation and their contentment can be largely ensured with the help of a well-documented performance appraisal and up-to-date job description (Pettijohn & et. al., 2001). Thus, the absence of such mechanisms and structures can impede Morgans Hotel Group from leveraging complete benefits out of their employees which would certainly create hindrance for it to maintain sustainability. Part 2 Alternative Models of Leadership in the Organisation Level Situational Leadership Model The situational leadership model essentially mentions about the leadership method that takes place according to the circumstances faced by the organisations. According to the developers of situational leadership model Ken Blanchard along with Paul Hersey, situational leadership is based on relationship among certain variables such as, The task behaviour of a leader involves the communication l evel of clarifying the detailed information about the work and with an estimated time as well as the working procedures for the task to every individual or group in the organisation. In the similar context, the relationship behaviour of a leader incorporates providing socio-emotional sustainability to the employees by human motivational actions, such as appreciation, reward and recognition among others. Moreover, readiness of an individual or a group signifies the ability to acquire the responsibilities of self directing and working independently in terms of a particular task (Watkins, n. d.). However, the situational model of leadership style entails the directive parts of task behaviour which is an important part for Morgans to explain the works that are to be done by its employees. The socio-emotional factors necessitate the various motivational skills that a leader or a manager of Morgans Hotel Group is required to practice in order to increase the willingness regarding their sp ecific tasks. Participative Leadership Style The model brings about the effects of the values of the opinions or the ideas from each individual of