Midsummer Night’s Dream Essay

Love is defined as an intense feeling of deep affection. In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream love is tossed around significantly. For example, one day a young person may find themselves in love with one person and then wake up only to love someone else. It is supposedly done by magic. Magic and love inconstancy are the biggest themes expressed in the play. Love is toyed with by magic making it some supernatural power at the control of the mischievous fairies. The inconstancy of love shown through several sets of young lovers is the most powerful theme making the play a kindhearted comedy rather than a solid love story. The course of true love never did run smooth. † (Shakespeare 8) One of the young lovers, Lysander, sums up the whole theme of the play that love can never run its course without obstacles. Lysander falls in love with a young girl named Hermia who is loved by Demetrius. As if this love triangle isn’t enough, there is another girl named Helena who loves Demetrius and was previously engaged to him. Of course this couldn’t be it! Hermia’s father Egeus has sworn to make her a nun or even kill her if she doesn’t marry, in his eyes, the glorious Demetrius. This whole love pentagon is the epitome of the theme of love inconstancy. There is no option that would make everybody happy! Magic interferes making it an utterly baffling tale within the tale of loves inconstancy. Another problem involving love in the play is that of the soon to be wedded Theseus and Hippolyta. â€Å"Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword, and won thy love doing thee injuries; but I will wed thee in another key, with pomp, with triumph, and with reveling. † Hippolyta was a former Amazon and had her people conquered by Theseus. This reflects how Hippolyta truly feels about her engagement with Theseus, as she most likely opposes Theseus’s belief that love can be obtained by power. It is not truly known how Hippolyta feels toward the whole thing, as she has yet to come out and say anything; however, the reader gets the idea she isn’t nearly as thrilled as Theseus. The final set of lovers who find themselves in a typical husband and wife dispute. Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies. They originally are in a meaningless quarrel over some little fairy, and Oberon is angered. Oberon calls for one of his fairies, Puck, to place a spell on Titania so that she falls in love with the first thing she sees. Quite the set up for the disaster! It ends up turning out better than Oberon could have ever hoped as Titania falls in love with a worthless peasant, Nick Bottom, who is funny enough dressed as an ass. Magic has once again turned love into something supernatural(for supernatural beings). â€Å"My Oberon what visions have I seen! Methought I was enamored of an ass. How came these things to pass? O, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now! †(Shakespeare 64) After Oberon eventually has the spell removed, Titania awakens only to realize that she has no idea what she was thinking and now is disgusted by him. These sets of lovers all had a role in the main theme of the inconstancy of love. The endings of all their problems are very much expected, as this aids the lightheartedness of the play rather than an unexpected moving love story. Magic ties it all together making love something controllable, and quite fun to mess with at that. Whether it be through the love pentagon of the five crazy Athenians, the powerful Theseus and his disconsolate, disapproving queen Hippolyta, or the problematic fairy rulers, Shakespeare does an excellent job using the theme of the inconstancy of love.

How effectively did governments in pre-revolutionary societies deal with social and political unrest?

Governments in pre-revolutionary societies, such as the Autocratic governments of Russia and China obviously did not deal with social and political unrest very effectively if they were unable to stop the impending revolutions in their respective countries. In each case the majority of the population were looking for changes in the way their governments were ruling their country, but in each case their ideas for a better country were not heard by their governments which subsequently resulted in vast social and political unrest. Such unrest eventually led to the downfall of each government system due to their inability to subdue the situation. In Russia as with China under an autocratic rule, the vast majority of the population, the peasants and proletariat, were unhappy with the way their governments were treating them. The peasantry in both countries were severely poor and often starved. This was not helped by the fact that both countries had very poor weather conditions in the winter months that brought food production to a virtual stand still. Peasants often did not own any land and were forced to work for landlords, who paid very little. Peasants were not happy with the current situation and wanted land reforms so they could own land for themselves. Unfortunately these pleas went unheard and so led to much discontent and unrest amongst the lower classes in these societies. The Tsar of Russia and the Empress of China were seen by the common person as a god-like deity selected by right of birth to rule the country as they see fit. It was their divine right, and as such this placed the Tsar and Empress in a social status all of their own, way above anyone else. This could be a reason why they did not even care about the peasants, to them they were nothing. They were too interested in their own problems to worry about the affairs of state. Only when their power was threatened did they listen, in Russia it was when the effects of ‘Bloody Sunday' threatened the image of the Tsar and in China when constant attack from westerners threatened to make people believe that the empress was losing the Mandate of Heaven. In both cases, the resulting reforms put in place by each ruler was a case of too little too late. The effects of their incompetence were too deep rooted by now to be disguised by such minor and insignificant reforms. The Tsar and the Empress were very similar in the fact that they were both stuck in their old ways. The Tsar of Russia was often more concerned with family affairs than the affairs of state and wished to keep the government system the way it was so that he could pass it on to his son Alexei. What he didn't realise was that by not concerning himself with the affairs of state, he was in effect sealing the fate of autocracy in Russia by causing great discontent in the failing incompetent government system. Similarly in China, the Empress resisted western ideas and wished to keep the current system of government. By letting western ideas influence the people, they might have realised how ineffective their current government was and wish to change it. This would mean a complete lifestyle change for the Empress which of course she was not interested in. So in both cases the government's inability to accept change brought about great unrest as the people wanted to modernise, as conditions in other modernised countries were a lot better than their own. The effects of war played a major role in creating unrest in both Russia and China. In Russia, the Tsar had a choice whether or not to continue the wars in which Russia participated but in each case he chose to continue the wars, even though it was obvious that Russia lacked the capability to maintain and supply an army away from home. The choices that he made only created more unrest, which the Tsar did not need. Obviously, if the Tsar simply avoided creating this unrest he wouldn't have had to deal with it, so basically by not creating this unrest is a very effective way of dealing with it, pity the Tsar did not see it this way. Unfortunately in China there was no choice as to what wars could be participated in, they were all in defence. But these wars could have been avoided, especially those with Britain over trade. China's unwillingness to change or modernise was a major factor in causing these wars, if it had been more open to western ideas not only could China have avoided war with Britain, it could have been better prepared for wars later on with Japan. Of course this did not happen and Britain defeat China in many ‘Opium' wars. Ports were opened up for trade and opium and cheap goods flooded in creating unrest amongst the merchants and peasants. China's response was to build up it's military and try to modernise by sending scholars abroad to learn western ideas. This was like shooting themselves in the foot, many of the scholars became accustomed to western ideas and philosophy and concluded that it was more efficient and that for modernisation to occur the whole system of government must be changed. So this was not the best way to deal with unrest, because now there were more educated people with western ideas trying to gain support to change the government. The Tsar's half-hearted attempt to solve the problems the arose after ‘Bloody Sunday' could be credited for pushing the people that bit further into listening to revolutionary ideas that were floating around at the time. The Tsar let the people have a Duma, so that they could have a say in how the country would be run, but he disbanded two Dumas in the first two weeks of their operation simply because they opposed him. Obviously the people did not truly have a say on anything because as soon as they wanted something that the Tsar did not like he simply disregarded it. Going back on his word was perhaps the most stupid thing the Tsar ever did, because now the people realised more than ever that the Tsar did not care about anything they had to say, so movements to oust the Tsar grew in popularity. In both Russia and China, the governments trying to come to terms with political and social unrest did not do a very good job. In most cases they actually contributed to the creation of even more unrest than what was originally being tried to subdue. By trying to control unrest in their respective countries, the Tsar and Empress helped bring about their own demise, so effectively they did not deal with unrest at all.

Building the Nation Future Leaders

â€Å"Building the Nation Future Leaders through the K to 12 Basic Education Program or The K to 12 Basic Education- Tungo sa Paghuhubog ng mga Makabagong lider ng Bansa. † By ANDEA, ISIDRO JR B. Great day to everyone! Warmest congratulations to the elite corps of successful graduates this school year 2012- 2013 especially to our ever loving parents and the teaching force of this institution. Ma’am and Sir, Good morning! With my great desire, to be one of the guest speakers at today's event; I accept the challenge and invitation of the teaching staff of this institution to challenge everyone today!It is a great privilege and opportunity for me to speak in front of you as a challenger of your mind and hearts to give an inspirational message that will challenge everyone today! You truly deserve to give pride to yourself as you step into another ladder of your success. It’s been unforgettable event that we should reminisce every now and then the significant marked o f our lives as we give priority to our achievement in the field of learning.We bind us one today to celebrate the fruit of our sacrifices; your unsung hero shows their unfading support behind your success as they watch you to recognize this day, your ever loving teachers honored you for the commendable appreciation of your great work during learning process and the person who is one way of molding your life interest and being proud to yourself that you have done the great job in schooling. Our Theme: â€Å"Building the Nation Future Leaders through the K to 12 Basic Education Program or the K to 12 Basic Education- Tungo sa Paghuhubog ng mga Makabagong lider ng Bansa. I would like to talk first about the program of Department of Education in order for us to understand well the message of our nation for us as a stakeholder of change. The K to 12 Program covers Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education (6 years of Primary Education, four years of juniors High School, and another t wo years of Senior High School) which provide our learners to undergo sufficient time for mastering the concepts and skills presented during learning process. Enhance the abilities and capacities of our learners, and prepare our graduate to higher education, job employment, and business or entrepreneurship.The K to 12 Basic Education Program is a key chain to success because it helps our graduates to become ready and more successful to go in their different paths, Maybe some them will proceed to tertiary education, for employment, or do a business. We strongly believed that this changes in our Educational Program will affect our way of living, to give us hope for a better future because our young leaders equipped with different skills in different learning areas, trained and prepared them to become an agent of change;Formal Education will make us living if we seized the right opportunity given to us. Let us work hand in hand for the betterment of our future, Let us let other known a bout this program, and encourage them to have a full support in achieving our Country’s progress. You as a graduate have a vital role to strengthen your great potential to become a partner of change. You will be one of the backbones of our K to 12 graduates sooner and later know that you will have to deal with changes, both big and small, continually. Be prepared to be flexible and to adopt as needed.Here are the three things to consider on becoming more successful in achieving our goals in life and to become a productive leaders someday: 1. Heads-up to your great potential. Sometimes, we may not realize the essence of our abilities. But there’s a gift given to us by our omnipotent master to give our full potential to become the most successful person. We may become successful beyond of our wildest dream. You should know yourself better, Identify your strength and weaknesses and facing the real you. The achievement of your goal is assured the moment you commit yourself to it and believe that you can do something.The first thing that we need to consider is to open your eyes to your great potential by setting your mind and goals in life. Mind setting (power of imagination) is a tool for showing your potential to become great individual for the next days. Because of it, you can now set your goals in life. Some great person believed that goal is vital. â€Å"People with goals succeed because they know where they're going. † According to -Earl Nightingale. â€Å"The achievement of your goal is assured the moment you commit yourself to it. † -Mack R. Douglas. Formal education will make you a living.Self-education will make you a fortune. † â€Å"Unless you change how you are, you will always have what you've got. † â€Å"We all have two choices; we can make a living or we can design a life. † I want you to â€Å"Take up one idea and act on it. Make that one idea your life. Think of it, dream of it, and live on that id ea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, and every part of your body be full of that idea and leave all other ideas alone. This is the way to success. † According to SFI Rules to Success; setting goals is so easy to do, yet 95% of people never set goals.They just never take the time. And who do you think are the most successful, highest-earning people in the world? The 5% group of course! If you want to be in the 5% group, don't even think about ignoring goal-setting! 2. Begin with realistic plan (winning starts with beginning). If you sealed with something and you fell not moving on your way, start to get started and start whatever you had right now. There’s no perfect time to wait, do the best job you can and always keep learning and moving ahead. Who among you here have a Facebook account?What is the first thing you do in getting connected with that social networking? Just to sign up and get started, right? â€Å"You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great. † -Les Brown, â€Å"Everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was. † -Richard L. Evans. â€Å"Failing to plan is planning to fail. † â€Å"Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination. † -Fitzhugh Dodson â€Å"Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives. – Anthony Robbins. â€Å"Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all your energies on a limited set of targets. â€Å"- Nido Qubein. â€Å"What you choose to focus your mind on is critical because you will become what you think about most of the time. â€Å"- Noel Peebles We cannot become successful in aiming at something, if we are trying to do many things just for once. We should be realistic in our planning and concentrate your thoughts upon working hand in hand. As they say, chase t wo rabbits and you'll catch neither! â€Å"Success demands singleness of purpose. – Vincent Lombardi â€Å"No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined. – Harry Emerson Fosdick. 3. Live with your goals and persist until you win. We don’t need to invest so much to earn something and to pay for our reward. â€Å"Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit. â€Å"-Conrad Hilton. â€Å"It's when things get rough and you don't quit that success comes. † â€Å"Other people and things can stop you temporarily. You're the only one who can do it permanently. -Zig Ziglar Don't let little problems upset you. Concentrate on the positives†¦ and the â€Å"big picture. † Also remember that the only thing that will never change is that there will always be changes (especially in today's rapidly evolving world). Don't let changes upset you. Know that you will hav e to deal with changes, both big and small, continually. Be prepared to be flexible and to adapt as needed. â€Å"Learning is very fun and lifelong process† which I always emphasize in the field of learning because it awakens our interest to learned.At your youthful stage, there is an eagerness to learn in every chance as you participate inside the class. Your teacher taught you so much how to become smart, how to behave, how to learn, how to work effectively, how to perform a task and know how to accept student’s responsibility. I know each one of you possess a precocious gift from God. Who among you here wants to be a Doctor, Nurse, Lawyer, Engineer, Military, Teacher, or a President? Then don’t stop learning. ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS THREE WORDS: DON’T STOP LEARNING! ANDEA, ISIDRO JR B. KABACAN WESLEYAN ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL DEPARMENT

Your choice Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Your choice - Research Paper Example The benefits that accrue to all the stakeholders of the school when students wear school uniforms provide an excellent basis and rationale as to why all students in all schools should wear school uniforms. According to Craik (37) school uniforms have been known to exist long time ago even prior to the thirteenth century.   For instance, in 1222 Archbishop of Canterbury instructed monks to dress in a conventional monastic form of dress. This was possibly the first standardized case of academic attire. In early 16th century, uniforms were utilized and developed into more explicit as diverse fashion styles became unattractive  to the university. The reasons why school uniforms should be encouraged are various. One of the reasons why school uniforms should be made a requirement in schools is that school uniforms build a homogeneous environment amongst students, reducing peer pressure and cases of bullying.  In a school where students dress uniformly, unwarranted competition between students over fashion and trend is eliminated, paving way to reduction of peer pressure. In 2013, national association of elementary school principals conducted a survey that revealed that 86% of management heads of schools agreed that school uniforms have a positive effect in peer pressure. Instances of bullying and belittling other students were reduced significantly when students wore uniforms as opposed to when they didn’t. Another statistical information also revealed that 64% of the schools head admitted that uniforms reduce bullying and discrimination (Brunsma & Rockquemore, 75). Moreover, the other argument that provides the case for school uniforms is that uniforms provide an opportunity for parents to save (Brunsma, 50). Cost-effectiveness comes in whereby parents are only required to purchase the uniforms as specified. They only purchase the clothes a few times a year, depending on how deep their pockets are. On the

Reading and Writing Processes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reading and Writing Processes - Essay Example The assumption under the product school of writing is that writing, like any other skill, can be taught. By giving students proper and rigorous instruction in language usage and basic principles of writing, it is suggested they will be able to then be able to start producing high quality essays and research papers entirely on their own (Hairston, 1996). Using this approach, instructors use sample texts and ask the students to mimic the processes they see in the book, such as the traditional 5-paragraph essay. Grammar and rules are very important in this approach and a strong message is sent that the first draft is the final draft and the only draft that matters (Hairston, 1996). Creative exercises are seen as a waste of time because they tend to break the rules the teacher is trying so hard to enforce. Not surprisingly, the teacher is the guiding force in the classroom with the students simply doing as they are told. This approach is most helpful when students are learning about how to write mostly formulaic-type work, such as business reports or cover letters. It helps students identify poor grammar structure early in the process at the same time that it gives them a relatively predictable structure on which to build as they face complicated academic writing assignments. However, using this approach doesn't usually produce quality work. According to Eschholz (1980), such an approach will only result in "mindless copies of a particular organizational plan or style" (24). It has often been described as habit formation. "Writing is messy, recursive, convoluted and uneven", but the product approach with its focus on mimicry, ignores these characteristics of writing and can quickly set up students for failure. The process school, on the other hand, operates with the assumption that the skill of writing can only be acquired gradually. Rather than drilling students with the rules and conventions of writing, this school holds that it is better to allow students to dev elop their writing through a slow evolution of working with the instructor and other students in a process called peer review (Eschholz, 1980). In fact, the concept of collaboration is considered to be an important tool in learning to write. It more closely matches the actual writing process by acknowledging that there are several stages involved in writing a paper. There are multiple drafts and proper time and place for grammar - mostly in one of the final stages before the paper is turned in. Creative exercises are often encouraged as a way to get students past the blank page and perceived writer's block and students are much more involved as they work with each other and bounce ideas off of each other. This school was essentially founded by Janet Emig with the publication of The Composing Processes of Twelfth Graders" (1971). One of the biggest advantages of this approach is that it takes the pressure off of students that they have to get their papers right the first time. Instea d, they are encouraged to explore their ideas and play with their writing a little bit. This enables them to find their own voice, language, and style. It also gives the students a greater sense of control as it positions the teacher as facilitator or coach

Wal-Mart Business Operations Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Wal-Mart Business Operations - Case Study Example The industry environment tools include: industry definition, industry life cycle, and Porter's five forces. The competitor environment can be analysed by the framework explained in chapter 2; comparison of critical success factors; and market commonality or resource similarity. A framework of competitor analysis takes into consideration the high or low level of market commonality, simultaneously with the high or low level of resource similarity. The portfolio of resources of two different firms are examined to find the degree of market commonality and resource similarity, and this is displayed graphically as shaded area. In question #2 we analyse the internal environment, which consists of: tangible resources, intangible resources, capabilities, core competencies, competitive advantage, and value chain analysis. We then summarise the main strengths and weaknesses that we have identified from the analysis of the internal environment. Question #2 is answered using the case study and tools such as SWOT matrix/SWOT analysis, Ansoff's matrix, Grand Strategy matrix, etc. These tools are used to identify strategic options available to Wal-Mart. We then critically assess these strategic options. The components of internal analysis leading to competitive advantage and strategic competitiveness include the inter... We then summarise the main strengths and weaknesses that we have identified from the analysis of the internal environment. Question #2 is answered using the case study and tools such as SWOT matrix/SWOT analysis, Ansoff's matrix, Grand Strategy matrix, etc. These tools are used to identify strategic options available to Wal-Mart. We then critically assess these strategic options. The components of internal analysis leading to competitive advantage and strategic competitiveness include the internal environment factors considered above. In addition, the category of discovering core competencies involves four criteria of sustainable advantages: valuable, rare, costly to imitate, and nonsubstitutable. Discovering core competencies also includes value chain analysis, that can be outsourced. In addition to competitive analysis is strategic competitive analysis. Tangible resources include financial resources, such as the ability to generate internal funds; organizational resources, which consist of the reporting, planning, controlling and coordinating systems; physical resources, such as access to raw materials; and technological resources, such as patents and trade secrets. Intangible resources include human resources, such as knowledge; innovation resources, such as ideas and capacity to innovate; and reputational resources, such as brand name. For a sustainable competitive analysis, McKinsey & Co. suggest a company strive for three to four core competencies. More than this number may cause a company to lose its focus. A value chain analysis is a tool that lets a company see where its value lies, and what elements of the company do not hold value. Value chain analysis is also used to understand the company's cost position. In a value chain,

Two discussion questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Two discussion questions - Essay Example An example is firing employees who are involved in the production of company products. Small-scale change is ideal in the case of avoiding conflicts in a firm. Making a small change in the firm will serve to make improvements to a company’s operations, without affecting its overall structure. This has proved as an effective strategy in maintaining standards and quality of most successful organization (Spector, 2010). Large-scale change involves a complete renovation of most if not all of the current factors. For example, a company will seek to change the products it produces; hence, it will renovate the company by introducing new machinery and installing efficient measures of operation such as using computers rather than filing cabinets for storing company data and information. Such change is implemented by companies, which suffer significant losses that affect their mode of operation (Borkowski, 2005). Large scale-change in a company would be applied in phases in order to get rid of the problems that negatively affect the company in bits and pieces. Small and large-scale changes vary depending on the situation, and as a result, they are applied based on preference and analysis of the best alternative. However, small and large-scale changes can be implemented simultaneously. For example, if a company wants to make large-scale changes to the company, the management can apply small-scale changes to achieve a large-scale change (Spector, 2010). The strategy is used as a methodology that will allow individuals to acclimatize (accept) the changes being implemented. A recent change that was applied in my workplace involved the management introducing a computer system that would access employee performance based on their output on a weekly basis (Spector, 2010). This was to be used in determining whether individuals were lazy and underperforming, whether some employees did more work than others and also to find out the employees that

Descrimination Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Descrimination - Essay Example As such, women, people with disabilities, people of color as well as people who are older face a many impediments to their full and active participation in the labor force of this country. The following research paper aims to explore discrimination with an eye to how this form of discrimination affects certain types of people, both within the wider society as well as within the labor market. What influences discrimination in the twenty-first century? How has society attempted to protect people from discrimination? These questions and many more will be discussed with reference to discrimination today. We now begin with an overview of the key integral for this research paper, including discrimination, prejudice and social bias. The United States has undergone quite substantial changes within the past century the country is much more diverse than it ever was. Immigration and the growth of globalization have altered the social composition of the United States of America. Today, there is a much larger percentage of people of color and visible minorities within key social institutions including government office – President Barack Obama is perhaps the most obvious example today. There is also increased the representation of visible minorities across the country in all aspects of public life – including in the police services and the education sectors, just to name a few. Changing worldwide immigration patterns have led to an increased flow of people from around the world to the United States, facilitating intercultural communication. American society has quickly become far less homogenous and cultural institutions are beginning to reflect this. Unfortunately with the changing social landscape of the United States and the changing nature of this country, the multicultural setting may lead to a rise in racism and discrimination in the twenty-first century (Cahn, 2002). Discrimination is described as

Assignment for MSc in Innovation Management Essay

Assignment for MSc in Innovation Management - Essay Example Transformational change requires a shift in conduct that results in an organisation significantly different in structure, processes, culture, and strategy. Transitional change seeks to achieve a known desired state different from the existing one, examples of which are the basis of much organisational change literature (Kanter, 1983; Nadler and Tushman, 1989). TQM refers to a management process directed at establishing organised continuous development activities involving everyone in the organisation in a totally integrated effort towards improving performance at every level (Almaraz, 1994). It is a management philosophy and business strategy rooted in the works of Deming (1986), Ishikawa (1985), Juran (1988), and Crosby (1989). Hackman and Wageman (1995) lists TQM's four general principles: TQM focuses on work processes, explicit identification and measurement of internal and external customer requirements, analysis of variances, use of cross-functional teams, management by facts (data), learning and continuous improvement, and the use of process management heuristics. Through data collection, analysis, hypothesis formation and testing, process changes can be devised and introduced steadily and continuously to improve quality. Whilst radical change is episodic, emergent, second order, transitional or transformational, TQM is designed for continuous, planned, first order, and developmental change. Here lies a conceptual discrepancy that may lead us to conclude that having a TQM culture does not prepare a firm to manage the radical changes affecting it. TQM focuses on incremental changes to work processes designed for a given set of assumptions defined by customer needs, a legislative climate, and technology conditions. What happens if these assumptions undergo a radical change We review the literature on the issue and inquire if other change management tools may be more appropriate. Lewin (1951) conceptualised change as a three-stage process involving unfreezing (the existing organisational equilibrium), moving (to a new position), and refreezing (in a new equilibrium position). Schein (1987) elaborated that unfreezing involves disconfirmation of expectations, creation of guilt or anxiety, and provision of psychological safety that converts anxiety into motivation to change. Moving to a new position is achieved through cognitive restructuring, often by identifying with a new role model or mentor and scanning the environment for new information. Refreezing occurs when the new point of view is integrated into the total personality and concept of self and significant

Characters Effect on a Reader Essay Example for Free

Characters Effect on a Reader Essay Characters dealing with a situation affect each reader differently. The characters reaction to a situation may have a reader feel exactly as the character does, or in some instances, the reader may look more at how differently they would feel in the same situation. In an attempt to answer Henry James on how characters are only as interesting as their response to the particular situation we will look at â€Å"The Chrysanthemums† by John Steinbeck and â€Å"To Build a Fire† by Jack London. In â€Å"The Chrysanthemums† we are introduced to Elisa Allen at her ranch working in her garden. She is described in the story as: â€Å"She was thirty five. Her face was lean and strong and her eyes were clear as water. Her figure was blocked and heavy in her gardening costume, a man’s black hat pulled down over her eyes, clodhopper shoes, a figured print dress almost completely covered by a big corduroy apron with four big pockets to hold the snips, the trowel and scratcher, the seeds and the knife she worked with. She wore heavy leather gloves to protect her hand while she worked. †(Steinbeck 242) This detail gives the reader the mental picture of Elisa. The description makes it easy for the reader to know exactly what she looks like. Being around the outdoors and growing up on a farm helps me in picturing how a busy female rancher would look. This sets up the reader for when the wagon pulls up. As the gentlemen from the wagon talks with Elisa in attempt to get her to purchase work from him, I felt there was sexual tension between the two. Elisa attempts to hold her ground in the hopes he would just go away, but he finally breaks through to her by showing interest in her Chrysanthemums. By showing that they had something in common, the gentlemen is able to break the guard Elisa had put up, and she in turn, gives him work to do by fixing old saucepans. Once the gentlemen leaves, she runs into the house and begins to bathe almost in a way to remove the dirty thoughts. Once out of the bath, she takes her time looking at herself in the mirror and getting dressed; almost as if the thoughts were coming back, all to go away when she heard her husband returning. That is the way I felt towards Elisa Allen’s character. I am not sure if that is the intended way the author meant. Trying to look at the story from the author’s point of view, I almost see Elisa looking at the wagon as a way of freedom from where she has perfected her Chrysanthemums and looking for something new in her life. Early in the story, her husband jokingly asked about going to the fights and she quickly declined, but towards the end, after her encounter with the traveler, she started questioning how the fights were. It is almost as if she was looking for something different, something that would give her a sense of adventure to take her away from the monotony of her boring life. In the end she declines the opportunity and the author shows us she has accepted the reality of her life being boring with this excerpt: â€Å"She relaxed limply in the seat. â€Å"Oh, no. No. I don’t want to go. I’m sure I don’t. † Her face was turned away from him. â€Å"It will be enough if we can have wine. It will be plenty. † She turned up her coat collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly like an old woman. †(Steinbeck 249) Either way it was perceived, the character shows that there is something in her life she is missing and she attempts to fulfill it with the Chrysanthemums. Other readers may find different ways of seeing how Elisa Allen may feel in this story. Without the description of how she was, and the way she reacted to the fights, this may have been a boring story because it would have lacked the information about the character to make her interesting enough for the reader to wonder about her. Next, we will look at â€Å"To Build a Fire†. Right from the beginning the character has no name, only referred to as â€Å"the Man†. This gives the reader the chance to put themselves in the story. By not giving the character a name, it allows the reader to fall into the pages, especially with how descriptive the setting is. Each detail brings more and more bitterness on how cold it is. With this cold comes the overconfidence of the man: â€Å"Fifty degrees below zero was to him just a precisely fifty degrees below zero. That there should be anything more to it than that was a thought that never entered his head. †(London 128) This overconfidence leads the man down a path to death. My experiences in scouting and life have taught me to respect Mother Nature and never take her for granted. This also allowed me to put myself in the same situation in the story and imagine all the things I would have done differently. The man’s attitude was that cold is cold, no matter the temperature, and his knowledge will get him through his lack of experience. I became more frustrated with his actions, as I knew he was dealing with each situation incorrectly. As the story progressed, there was continued hope that his luck wouldn’t run out, but in the end, his handicap of ignorance led to his demise. A reader that has never been in this type of situation may not have understood the severity of the situation and would only be able to see from the eyes of the man. It is also possible for a reader to feel the frustration of him dealing with each of the problems he came across. If the man’s confidence was not as great, there would have been more thought to the situation, and he may have listened to what advice had been given. It may have also led to the man making different choices, or allowing himself some humility and turned around. This confidence allows the story to be thought of from a point of view that anyone could be put in a similar situation and that any daily life situation can cause our confidence to sometimes gets the best of us. We always think we know more that we do. â€Å"All a man had to do was keep his head, and he was all right. Any man who was a man could travel alone. †(London 132) This excerpt is a perfect example as shortly after this, the snow falls on the fire and the man admits his mistake. This would have not happened if the man’s confidence had not got the best of him. Additionally, the entire story would have changed, and the character would have had better chance if he would have thought things through or if he would have had someone else traveling with him. Both of these stories can be interesting to the readers from their own personal experiences, or quite simply by the details the authors publish. If the characters would have dealt with the situations differently, or the details of the characters, then they would have been boring. I believe that this easily answers Henry James because the details allowed my thoughts to wander and kept me interested on what would happen next. Works Cited Steinbeck, John. â€Å"The Chrysanthemums. † Literature: An introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. 12th ed. Kennedy, X. J. , and Gioia, D. New York, New York 2013. Pearson. pp 242-249 London, Jack. â€Å"To Build a Fire. † Literature: An introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. 12th ed. Kennedy, X. J. , and Gioia, D. New York, New York 2013. Pearson. pp 127-146.

Overview Of Project Quality Management

Overview Of Project Quality Management Project Quality Management is a crucial element in 9 knowledge areas as the victory of any project is dependent on its quality and it is equally essential for Project Manager. In Project Management Domain, every person demands quality. The endeavor of this paper is to evaluate quality in project management domain by considering quality management in terms of following the quality planning, quality assurance and quality control processes by exploring the practices to success by maintaining cost, time and scope constraints. We will survey how quality affects the system and people associated with it and how to meet targets of any organization through better quality management. Keywords- Project Quality Management, Project Management Domain, Quality Planning, Quality assurance, Quality Control, Project Implementation. Introduction To Domain Project Quality Management is the most difficult knowledge area to define. The ISO defines quality as the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs (ISO8402:1994) or the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils requirements. Different experts have different views about quality. In software project management, Research have shown that most common reasons behind projects failure are schedule overruns, over budgets and the scope creep, these triple constraints (time, cost and scope) are termed as quality angle by Microsoft and changes made to any of these three sides probably effects the quality as quality is not a side of a triangle but is a outcome of what you do with time, cost and scope therefore these angles must be met for achieving quality of any project in the project management domain. The reason for failure can also be measured to be the eagerness of project managers in adopting new methodologies, tools, techniques, skills and knowledge for achieving success of any project but not focusing on the quality itself. Quality has different definitions in different organizations depending upon its standards but a basic one is that whatever is delivered should be according to the customer or organizations expectations. According to Howard Gitlow and Shelley Gitlow Quality is defined as surpassing customer needs and expectations throughout the life of the product. The quality of any project can be judged from different viewpoints e.g. business and technical. From business viewpoint the focus is on completing the project on time, within specified budget and according to the needs. From technical viewpoint quality verifies that the project conforms to the business standards e.g. documentation, user interfaces and the naming standards and the system to be produced should be maintainable. Therefore, the main principle of Project Quality Management is to guarantee customer satisfaction. To understand quality of any project, the project team must spend time and build up good relationships with stakeholders to realize what quality is according to them as only customer can decide if product quality is acceptable. Problem Description Many technical projects fail because the project managers mostly emphasize on written requirements rather than stakeholders expectations. For example, the project manager and his team must understand the importance of delivering 50 Intel Laptops to customer successfully. Changes are unavoidable during any project implementation, which may have a major or minor impact on projects estimated schedule, budget and defined constraints if not planned accordingly; it can lead to project failure. A 2002 survey of IT organizations shows that about 67% of the disputes on the functionality of the systems were that they did not meet up to claims of the developer and 56% of the disputes were due to slipped delivery dates which eventually ended in litigation.[13] For the management of project quality, quality planning, quality assurance and quality control holds an important point in the management domain. Every project must have a quality plan as it is a basic input for quality assurance and quality control but many organizations dont bother to produce a plan because of its complexity which often results in undesirable product outcomes. Scope There are certain tools and techniques used in the project quality management area but the main processes to be followed for the achievement of quality products are the Quality Planning Quality Assurance Quality Control A concise analysis of these processes would elaborate various inputs involved with these processes and the tools and techniques used to generate the required outputs that lead to the accomplishment of better quality products. In this paper, the success of quality will be discussed in terms of meeting defined time, cost and scope and how quality management processes leads to achieve targets of an organization. Proposed Approach The systematic approach that would be followed to achieve quality in projects is the quality management processes and the Re planning of cost, scope and time depending upon which module is more constraint in a particular project. Process Project Phase Key Deliverables Plan Quality Planning Quality Management Plan, Quality Metrics Quality Assurance Execution Change Requests Quality Control Monitoring and Controlling Quality control measurements Quality Re-Planning Re-Planning Trade-off between Quality Angle Table 1: Quality Processes [12] These processes usually take place at least once in any project to maintain the projects quality as mentioned in PMBOK8 but plan should not be fixed in any case, it changes as the project progresses and is monitored in Quality control phase by getting the customer feedback and evaluating its conformance to requirements and fitness for use, Re-planning is done if the Quality assurance is not performed as previously planned. A brief elaboration of each process is given highlighting IT Projects Quality. Quality Planning Planning Quality involves implementation of organizations quality standards and policies which should be followed in that particular organization.[3] A quality plan needs to cover a number of elements: [3] What work needs to go through a quality check? Tools and Techniques for quality planning? When should it be carried out and what resources are allocated? Who is responsible for the required quality? What should be the output? What work needs to go through quality check? The Quality of deliverables of project are checked for example a requirements document is checked if it is according to the customer demands similarly the quality check is carried our for other deliverables. For the milestones or checkpoints, a standard is followed to check their functionality. For the project itself, it may be appropriate to have the project management practices reviewed for quality once the project is initially established. This may be useful to give the Sponsor and top management a level of confidence in the team. Tools and Techniques for quality planning? Cost gain study- This study assures that gain should overweigh the cost. The productivity should be high with lower cost which satisfies customer requirements. Benchmarking- The performance of the project is measured in terms of planned performance or by comparing its performance with other projects in same application areas [4][5]. Quality Diagrams- Different charts and diagrams help in predicting quality problems and build up methods to deal with them. [7] When should it be carried out and what resources are allocated? Quality measurements are held prior to the delivery of product when there are long development times for a deliverable and the resources required for the development of project are allocated such as human resources, financial and material resources. For example, if four milestones of the project are estimated to be completed in 8 weeks but after the completion of 2 milestones the time left is only 3 weeks, it may be worth holding the inspection after each milestone to identify any problems early and reduce rework by reshuffling of resources and optimization of plan. Who is responsible for the required quality? The developers of the product as well as the customer both are responsible for the quality. In fact customer requirements define quality, not processes. For example a customer goes to a garments shop for purchasing a jersey, he would typically check its fabric, color, size and price if its according to his requirements than he would say its of good quality. He will not consider what processes are used to make it and how much time it took. In other words, it is not what you do or how you do it but who uses it that counts. Using the quality example again you can make the best clothing that was ever made, using the optimum materials and applying efficient processes but if no body needs it than it is just a waste. Hence, it is not only the project manager but the one essential to project success. [6] What should be the outputs of quality planning? The output includes the understanding of implementing quality policy by project management team. The quality plan should focus on Quality assurance (Execution), Quality Control (monitoring) and Quality improvement (Re-planning) of the project. Metrics and the checklists are most common outputs. Metrics describes what something is and how it is measured by quality control process for example the project management team makes a detailed schedule of start and end of every activity in the form of metrics. Many organizations use standard checklists to measure quality of activities performed. Quality Assurance (QA) In Quality Assurance (QA), the quality of a project is guaranteed by performing all the activities that are being planned from design to servicing and documentation that satisfies customer demands. It is a process of ensuring that the project meets quality standards which is also defined as quality measurements. [6][7] Quality Audit- is an important tool for quality assurance. These audits help to improve performance of future projects by learning lessons from previous projects. Quality audits are performed by many engineering industries by first designing a quality metrics for a project and then analyzing the metrics throughout the project development. Quality Audits are usually performed by internal (in-house) auditors or external (third parties) customer involved in the project. Audits can be conducted on schedule basis for example, after each milestone or they can be performed on random whenever there is a need or as ordered by top management. The main goal of Quality Audits is to identify ineffective standards and policies used and replace them with best practices. Quality audit verify the execution of approved change requests, corrective and preventive action and defect repairs. [6] Quality Assurance Plan- Large projects usually involve thousands of activities which becomes complex for quality assurance to track them. So they should be collected in quality assurance plan for their efficient management. A standard for Quality assurance plan is developed for an organization and it is the responsibility of project team members to develop one which should include the following elements [6] WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) User Requirements and Specification Activity to be performed When to perform the activity Who will perform the activity Quality Assurance Output- Quality Improvement improves the value and usefulness of a project and provides benefits to the project stakeholders [6]. Quality improvement not only improves the quality of project management but also it improves the quality of a product by following a continuous cycle known as The Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle [1] which is the source of Quality Improvement. As customer needs changes with time so this process helps to meet their new requirements by getting their feedback on regular basis, it may also help to reduce costs by providing long-term benefits for customer satisfaction. Plan a change in the right process for getting for improving it and getting beneficial results. Do apply the change as a test case to test if it gives the desired results. Check the effect of the applied changes in the entire system by analyzing it thoroughly. Act to apply the change to the entire system based on the result of test cases if it provides the desired result. [6] Follow the cycle for other processes for an improved change. Barriers to Quality Improvement- Quality improvement bring changes in a product to improve its quality but because of its complexity it is not always considered significant to be followed in every project. It is the responsibility of top management and due to the risk that an improvement change would not produce the desired results prevents the management from applying this policy. On the other hand, long-term benefits produce by the improvement would overcome the short-term risk. Quality control Quality Control is the process for monitoring specific project results to determine whether the comply with relevant quality standards and identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory performance (comp. PMBOK3) [8] The Project results are usually monitored throughout this phase and if an inconsistency is observed in the planned specification and the actual results, the project team takes corrective actions to repair that variation and take precautionary steps to avoid this variation from reoccurring. These results are generally examined by Quality Audits and the Quality Assurance Plan and Activities are improved according to the requirement. [11] The Quality Control, therefore strives on the Project Results, checklists and the quality management plan for monitoring actual results. Various Tools are being used for the measurement of Quality control. Through the use of Inspection and Statistical Sampling, data about the performance of actual system is compared with the quality standards. Cause and Effect Diagrams provides knowledge about the reasons of any deficiencies. Many other tools are used to display performance data such as Control Charts, Flowcharts, Histograms, Pareto Charts, Run Charts, and Scatter Diagrams,[10] the data is not simply displayed but gives an insight of useful information about the products conformance to requirements and illustrates whether the quality standards are met. If the quality is not acceptable, a Change Request will be made. If the deliverables are acceptable, the output of Validated Deliverables goes to the Verify Scope process for final approval. [7] Quality Re-Planning The nature of Project Quality management must focus on the product of project as well as the management of project because severe consequences can result for project stakeholders from failure to meet quality requirements in any of these dimensions. [7] Re-Planning is done when the actual target about project management that is defined in the Quality Planning phase seems to fluctuate concerning scope, time and cost of the project which can be measured at anytime at the completion of any deliverables and milestones during the product development. It is the responsibility of Project Manager that he should balance both dimensions, the product goals and the management goals. The project team should not overwork to achieve product quality as it reduces the management quality by resulting in Employee turnover [7]. Similarly, the three elements of management dimension must be balanced by project manager throughout the development activity. For example, the information technology teamwork project has a preliminary scope of generating a sixty to seventy pages report and one and a half hour presentation on any twenty five prospective IT projects. The preliminary time and cost of this project is set as two months and $65,000. This estimation provides the targets to be achieved for scope, time and cost at the start of Project. Balancing them through the end of the project is fairly an ideal situation which is not always possible as a result trade-offs are made between these triple elements depending upon the importance of that particula r element in the given situation and the experienced project manager. For example, to collect at least twenty five good ideas about the IT teamwork project, a survey is planned online to be done within a week with a cost of approximately $4,000 and suppose the survey produced only few good ideas in the given time and cost. In this situation, the collection of ideas is most essential as it is the key input so the time and cost are adjusted for the achieving the desired scope [2]. Re-planning is therefore, changing the initial plans if it is desirable for the accomplishment of Projects Management. Fig 4. Managing Quality APPLICATION AREAS Enterprise wide Quality Management Systems Due to the latest developments in information technologies and system design, advance quality management software has been established with the ability to incorporate quality software applications with business processing systems. The open architecture and object-oriented technology is the source of these new systems, incorporated quality management can be attained by connecting system components to the enterprise management system. The modules are associated through a standard interface structure that enables different applications to exchange information. Integrating the quality management system with business automation systems can considerably affect profitability. Such integration reduces the time and effort related with data entry. An incorporated quality management system offers online access of data stored within each system component. Through associating this data into automated reporting systems, management can carry out assessments on serious processes that states a compan ys victory. [14] Automotive Industry Automotive sector has been active in inventing new manufacturing strategies having to current high level of competition. With this scenario the challenges faced by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) have also increased over the years. Due to this high level of competition, companies have indeed emphasized to increase the quality in all aspects of products and services within their management system. Therefore quality management (QM) has become increasingly popular as one of the managerial devices in ensuring continuous improvement as to improve customer satisfaction and to ensure its product or service quality. Another dare tackled by automotive industry is the stress to reduce delivery period and cost. Quality Management element with support for advanced features like TQM will help to uphold quality from basis. This receives importance owing to the continuous pressure exerted to cut cost and improve quality. [15] Airline Business The safety of airplanes in service is critical in the aviation business, both in terms of accident avoidance and economic performance. The recent valuation of consequences to the airlines by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has highlighted the challenges faced by the airlines. Lack of compliance tools and insufficient quality management is bullying an unparalleled crisis in the airline business. An operational program to handle FAA ordinance to be used by airlines business requires an incorporated, enterprise-wide quality management solution that includes a dominant acquiescence platform which provides strong domain expertise in airline and aerospace equipment. The best examples counted in providing world-class acquiescence and quality solutions is the Tata Consultancy Services and MetricStream which includes a best solution for airline business in the form of global corroboration and support services [16]. E-Service Quality Management Todays Society emphasizes more on the use of modern communication and information technologies. E-services is an example of modern computer application that provides access to online services. Quality Management Systems are required to offer a reliable way to select, analyze, rank and design the right eservices. The growing consumption of e-services has elevated the requirement to state principles and means to evaluate and assure quality. Investment in e-services is a significant step towards improving the quality of life in our vigorous society. A Quality Management Framework in the context of e-services has the following components: e-service as object (entity), e-service development and delivery process as process, business and consumer as users, specific service request as request as requirements, evaluation and measurement of the e-service to determine its quality. E-Service Quality Management Framework provides benchmarking capabilities and comparative assessment of e-services. It also supports making decisions in improving the quality of service and overall customer satisfaction. [17] POTENTIAL RESEARCH AREAS Improve Quality Management for modern development methodologies: RAD, Agile and Extreme Programming Rapid Application Development (RAD) refers to a type of software development methodology that uses minimal planning in favor of rapid prototyping. The planning of software developed using RAD is interleaved with writing the software itself.[18] However, there can be real difficulties with this approach. Frequent change tends to corrupt software structure making it more expensive to change and evolve to meet new requirements. Progress can be hard to evaluate and problems can be hard to find because there is no documentation to reveal what has been done. Therefore quality of the software may suffer. Without a specification it may be difficult to validate the system. [19] Improve Quality through Customer Involvement Quality is not determined or defined by the producing company. Quality is determined by the customer. Thus quality of a product or a service is the customers perception of the degree to which the product or service meets his or her expectations. [20] New Techniques for developing a strategic quality plan Organizations face a continuous barrage of requests to improve quality. Every quality management plan can, and must be tied to key business process performance indicators in order to have any real impact on productivity and the bottom-line. However, strategic plans are rarely translated into the quality strategies needed to ensure overall performance improvement gains. [21] CONCLUSION Project Quality management is becoming a part of every project from information technology to enterprise and different industries for the achievement of high quality products and services. By following the quality processes in systems, the quality can be greatly improved and in order to attain efficient Project Quality Management, the concepts of Project Quality management are also incorporated with the quality processes. The project manager and team should have the clear conception about management for managing quality processes. The Proposed Quality Processes cover both aspects of Quality, the product of the project as well as the management of project in the light of scope, time and cost. Project Quality Management is suitable for applications related to IT and Management systems. REFRENCES Frank J. Koksis, Project Quality Management, November 15, 2006. Kathy Schwalbe, Information Technology Project Management 4th Edition pp 289-337. Neville Turbit, Project Quality Planning in the Project Perfect White Paper Collection. June 2005 (Available at http://www.projectperfect.com.au ) Pawan Kumar, Quality Planning Tools PMI Westchester Quality SIG. November 2007. MJ ODwyer, Quality Planning tools and techniques in Quality Planning for a Project. April 23, 2010. Kenneth H. Rose, Project Quality Management Why, What and How J Ross Publishing Inc. 2005. pp 40-72. King Fahad University of Petroleum Minerals, Project Quality Management Virtual Course, Project Quality Management (Available at http://www.pmeducate.info_sample ) Microsoft Quality Angle (Available at http://www.maxwideman.com/musings/triangles.htm) TapUniversity, Perform Quality Control Process. June 15, 2009. (Available at http://blog.tapuniversity.com/2009/06/15/perform-quality-control-process/) Project Management Institute, PMBOK8 (Available at http://www.softwareresearch.net/fileadmin/src/docs/teaching/SS06/PM/PMBOK8.pdf) Project Quality Management in Project Management (Available at http://www.slideshare.net/guest4408ddc/project-management-3289318 ) Ian Sommerville, A brief overview of Software Engineering in Software Engineering-7th edition. 2004. Ned Greenberg and Leonard Hemphill, Enterprise Wide Quality Management Systems (Available at http://www.qualitydigest.com/feb99/html/body_enterprize.html ) Significance of TQM in price sensitive automotive industry in ERP categories (Available at http://www.eresourceerp.com/Significance-of-TQM-in-automotive-market.html ) Effective Safety and Quality Management in the Airline Industry for Improved Business Performance(Available at http://www.metricstream.com/webinars/webinar_05june08_TCS.htm ) Lorena Batagan, E-Service Quality Management in Software Analysis, Journal of Applied Quantitative Methods. (Available at http://jaqm.ro/issues/volume-4,issue-3/pdfs/batagan_pocovnicu_capisizu.pdf) Rapid Application Development as used in software development/management (Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_application_development) Agile Software Quality Assurance (Available at http://www.sqa.net/agile-software-quality.html) Total Quality management (Available athttp://www.promptpapers.com/free_term_papers.php?term_paper=2674386title=Total-Quality-Management) Develop a strategic quality plan (Available at http://www.bia.ca/strategic-quality-planning.htm)