WHAT IS MEANT BY STIGMA,AND DOES IT LINK WITH THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL Essay

WHAT IS MEANT BY STIGMA,AND DOES IT LINK WITH THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL EXCLUSIONS AND WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY AND PRACTICE - Essay Example In this regard, social labelling that discredits individuals’ virtual identities (Crocker et al 1998, p.505), inevitably leads to stigmatization that often times leads to distortion of individual identities. Social exclusion, on the other hand, refers to the state of being locked out from participation in the central social activities in one’s own society (Burchardt et al 2002, p.30); this means that if an individual fails to take part in social activities then they are ‘socially excluded’. The purpose of this paper is to explain what is meant by the term ‘stigma’, and to explore the possible linkage there is between this term and the concept of social exclusion; consequently, the conclusion of this paper will draw upon this knowledge to give implications for policy and practice. Simply put, stigma denotes ‘a mark of shame’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2012), concomitant particularly with certain individuals in the society, thus, people who are stigmatized actually view themselves inferior due to social labels that describe them so, distorting their real identities. According to Chamberlin, stigma often leads to discrimination implying that the individual being stigmatized has a problem (Sayce 1998, pp.331-332); in this case, language is a powerful tool that functions in the creation of certain perceptions and stereotypes about individuals. When people make biased judgments concerning others, this negative labelling coupled with the resultant social labels and subsequent stigmatization that arises can be attributable to mental health issues. Language is very effective in helping people with mental illnesses to manage and eventually overcome their problem especially because the words used in reference to people influence their perceptions and expectatio ns respectively (Lynn 2010 p.1). For instance, existing knowledge shows that relapse rates of patients with mental

Philadelphia family Essay Example for Free

Philadelphia family Essay Born in 1856 into a wealthy Philadelphia family, Taylor disappointed his parents by working in a metal products factory, first as a machinist and next as a foreman. Shocked at the factorys inefficiency, and the practice of its skilled workers of purposely working slowly. As an engineer he was more interested in the practical outcome and not the psychology Taylor proposed solutions that he believed would solve both problems. By studying the time it took each worker to complete a step, and by rearranging equipment, Taylor believed he could discover what an average worker could produce in optimum conditions. The promise of higher wages, he figured, would create added incentive for workers to exceed this average level. Taylors time-and-motion studies offered a path away from the industrial wars of a century ago. Now what was needed was a way to apportion the wealth created by manufacturing enterprises. Taylors answer sidestepped the class struggle and interest group politics. He believed his principles would create a partnership between manager and worker, based on an understanding of how jobs should be done and how workers are motivated. These workers are motivated by money. He believed a fairs day work deserved a fair day bonus. He thought keeping his workforce happy would keep them producing at a high quality. He died in 1915, whilst on a speaking tour in the mid west he contracted influenza, he was admitted to hospital and celebrated his 59th birthday there and died the next day. Taylors second and third theory is used in the McDonalds. The McDonalds ethos is that the food preparation must be done to specific instructions. For instance the fries must be cooked for a 3 minutes at a temperature of 175o, then the buzzer tells the employee to take them out and salt them. Throughout all McDonalds are a series of dedicated, purpose-built machine for producing milkshakes, toasting buns and squirting chocolate sauce and much else. After 150 years this is the most active period working in industry, F W Taylor would feel very much at home ordering a Big Mac. The biggest person that Taylors theorys influenced was Henry Ford. Henry Ford was the first person to try mass production and it was a massive success. Taylors practices were first used in 1911 in the factory; by 1913 Ford had introduced a conveyor belt system and had achieved the ultimate Taylorite idea. This method was also used in Nazi death camps. They did not plan whom they would kill until the day they did it. Both Mussolini and Stalin both used his techniques during their communist uprisings. Taylor also wrote many books of these the most famous is The Principles of Scientific Management he wrote this in 1911. He split the book into two chapters the first the fundamentals of scientific management and the second The principles of scientific management. In the first chapter he stated that the principal object of management should be to secure the maximum prosperity for the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity for each employee. In the second chapter he stated that people should be told what to do and how they do it. They should be motivated by a money incentive. Before Taylor, skilled workers chose their own methods of work, but after Taylor workers were far more likely to have limited, repetitive tasks and were forced to work at a pace set by their manager. To maximise efforts of workers Taylor introduced an incentive system known as a differential piece-rate. This offered a meagre payment per unit produced. 2p per unit for the first 500 per day 5p per unit all those above 500 per day The threshold was set a t a level which those producing barely 500 received barely a living wage. To make 700 was a great incentive, as you would earn double what you would at the 500 mark. But the workers in many places resented this theory that the theory was abandoned soon after introduction. Problems with Taylors methods With Taylors notion of a quickest and best way for all workers does not take into account individual differences. There is no guarantee that the best way will suit everyone. Also some people naturally will be able to work faster than others creating a disadvantage for those he is not so fast. Taylor also viewed people as machines, with financial needs, than as humans in a social setting. People felt pressured and did not like being treated this way. He also overlooked the fact that some people work for other reasons than money. In a financial survey in 1982, a large sample of British people were asked whether they would carry on working if they financially did no need to. Nearly 70% of men and 655 of women said they would. Taylors Core values The rule of reason, improved quality, lower costs, higher wages, higher output, labour management, co-operation, experimentation, clear tasks and goals, feedback, training, stress reduction and the careful selection and development of people. He was the first to present a systemic study of interaction an d job requirements, tools, methods and human skills, to fit people into jobs both psychologically and physically, and to let data and facts do the talking rather than prejudice, opinions or egomania.

Research Paper :: essays papers

Research Paper â€Å"As a child, I loved athletics and physical activities. I was talented, but my talent was not appreciated or approved of by most. I watched my brothers compete on school teams. It didn't matter that in the neighborhood pick-up games, I was selected before my brothers. Society dictated that I should watch, and that they should compete. So at home in the backyard, I would catch as my brother worked on his curve ball, I would shag flies as he developed his batting prowess and, as I recall, I frequently served as his tackling dummy. The brother I caught and shagged for, and for whom I served as a tackling dummy, went on to Georgetown University on a full athletic grant. He later became vice president of a large banking firm. So, while I rode in the back seat on the bus of opportunity during my lifetime, I want my daughter's daughter and her peers to be able to select a seat based on their abilities and their willingness to work. Don't deny them the things that I dreamed of."-- Exce rpts of a letter sent to OCR in spring 1995 by Joan Martin, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Monmouth University, New Jersey In April of 1993 the film The Sandlot premiered. The movie took place in 1963 when a group of 12-year-old boys spent their summer playing baseball at the local sandlot. In one particular scene in the movie, the boys got in a verbal dispute with a team of 12 year olds from the privileged side of town. The argument was over who was the more skilled baseball players. The camera switched back and forth from one kid to another as they exchanged insults. Then the camera stopped dramatically. One of the boys said the most heinous thing any young male can say to another, â€Å"You play ball like a girl!† It was like the other boy had just been hit with a bullet. The eyes of all the other boys involved in the argument widened and their jaws dropped. All that was heard were gasps from the rest of the kids in the movie. In 1963 that was the feeling of many people. The insult, â€Å"You play ball like a girl†, was one of the biggest insults a male could ever give anyone. Ho wever, since 1972 the Title IX law has changed many people’s opinions on females in the athletic world.

New Challenges in Retail Human Resource Management

Why Do We Need Professional Human Resource Management in Retailing? Such terms as globalization, process management, and value-based management dominate the current discussion of management in retail co mpanies. There has been an increasing realization that people are one of a company’s key assets. Re- tail means working and serving customers in a direct, personal way. This calls for special actions from retail companies to fulfill the demands of an increasing num- ber of well-informed and sophisticated consumers.In view of all the c hanges in both national and international contexts, it is ab solutely essential to get the right people if a business is to be successful and sustainable. Retailing is a major labor-intensive industry sector. The refore, companies are continually challenged to re-organize and adapt their st ructures to become more efficient. The necessity for part-time workers, because of long store opening hours and peaks in the trading day/week, requires a flexi ble framework to optimize labor processes. Emotionally, the workforce needs orientation and vi sion in changing times.Human resource management (HRM) has to provide a â€Å"coach,† not only to organize, but also to support employees and m anagement mentally and p rofes- sionally in fulfilling their tasks in terms of future company goals. People are the driving force behind all transactio ns that occur in retailing outlets. In the future world of retailing, there will be an increasing need to adapt and change towards a more formative and proactive style of HRM. M. Krafft and M. K. Mantrala (eds. ), Retailing in the 21st Century: Current and Future Trends , DOI 10. 007/978-3-540-72003-4_16, ? Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010 257 258 Julia Merkel, Paul Jackson, and Doreen Pick Changes Changes in Retail The formats of retailing have been evolving continuously over the last 100 years, and individual retailers have changed tremendously in the products they sell and in the man ner in which they operate. Retailing of lifestyle products impacts directly on the changing culture of our societies—one has only to think of the introduction of the Sony Walkman or the Apple I-Pod to grasp the international range of con- sumer needs.In order to provide an expanding product and service range, retail has had to alter and amend its approaches to satisfy ever more voracious and in- creasingly sophisticated consumers. For several years, retailers have had a promi- nent role in today’s society in their capacity as employers: the retail industry em- ploys one in nine of the UK workforce, for example (Gilbert 2003). Nearly two thirds of employees are female. Therefore, special concepts in HRM are require d to allow for the compatibility of work and family.Gilbert (2003) also points out that: â€Å"[T]he retail sector has had a reputation for not supporting its employees and for having lower pay and longer hours than other sectors. † Future HRM h as to find a practical ap proach that will lead to the right balance of companies’ and employees’ needs in terms of pay ment and hours for the workforce, and service guarantees for their customers. The developments in many European countries show the changing attitudes of young university graduates for whom retailing now provides modern and attractive career pro spects.However, retailing is still far from the first choice for top graduates and this needs to change. Environmental factors such as economic, social, political, cultural, and demo- graphic developments are driving the rapid changes in the retail business. Retail management and HRM departments have to be aware of all these changes. Some of the environmental factors are described below. New Forms of Trading New trading formats have been the lifeline allowing businesses to gain and sus- tain competitive advantage. New t rading form ats are constantly appearing at both ends of the spectrum.Higher margin goods, sometim es even with designer labels, have coexisted with the increasing demand for more aggressive pricing such as that app lied by hypermarkets, off-price retailers, and hard discounters. Often, consumers switch from smaller local stores to supermarkets, and increas- ing numbers of consumers are using new channels for Internet and TV shopping. The international press reports the continuing success of new fo rms of online retailing (e-tailing) in Europe and the USA, as well as rapid changes in Eastern Europe and Asia in use of the Internet.Within these trading formats, new pro- fessions, working careers, and functions are developing very fast. To succeed, HRM has to recognize and manage these changes in retailing human resource requirements. Exchange of knowledge is one of the basic prerequisites: For ex- New Challenges in Retail Human Resource Management 259 ample, the German retailer METRO Group is installing software that will allow knowledge shar ing with sy stematic tr ansfer of all n ecessary infor mation and skills to METRO Group sites throughout the world.It is imperative for a retailer to co llect and struct ure all exper ience and knowledge fro m d ifferent staffs, stores and country-markets. The challenge in the future for retail company man- agement i n general and HRM in particular will be t o ensure t hat th e right knowledge is available at the right time and in the right place. Consumer Behavior Closely aligned with the expansion of new trading formats are the changing needs of consumers.Increasing social acceptance of women in the labor force has led to the emergence of a new l ifestyle and changed consumer purchasing patterns over the last seve ral decades (Gilbert 2003). Present-day consumers are m ore experi- enced, more aware of their important role in the business, and more self-confident than previous generations. Further, as international retailers have found out, there is a great need for retail chains to adapt to ‘local’ ways, so as to fulfill regional needs and shopping habits, especially in the food business (e. g. , see c hapter by Mierdorf, Mantrala and Krafft in this book).Technology Let us consider what retailing looked like 20-30 years ago: little or no EPOS tech- nology, electro-mechanical tills, paper-driven accounting, checking and co mptom- eter systems, perhaps enhanced by a ‘Kim ball tag’ system to aid stock replenish- ment. Thirty years ago there were not even many supermarkets—self-service was just appearing over the horizon for some modern retailers in the 1960s and 1970s. The advent of increasing computerization in the late 1970s started to affect busi- nesses as they adapted to possibilities that began to open up through IT-supported working practices.Processes for controlling, distribution, payroll, accounting and, especially, merchandise management systems started to be aut omated during the early 1980s. E DI, scanning, and bar-coding were im plemented—after he avy IT investments—to lower costs and increase accuracy levels. Many organizations were downsized and refocused as these manual processes were converted to more cus- tomer-focused activities and professional supply chain management. Structural Trends and Competition In Europe and USA, retailing is characterized by increasing rates of market con- centration.This is caused by shareholders’ requirements for more cost-effective operations, mergers among suppliers, and the growth of technology. Future retail- ers have to be fast and flexible in making decisions about worldwide sourcing and selling. This calls fo r people to acquire skills and competencies that will allow them to compete successfully in both national and international contexts. Interna- 260 Julia Merkel, Paul Jackson, and Doreen Pick tional HRM has to consider different ways of working with people: in many Euro- pean countries, HRM departments have to cooperate with works councils, which influence companiesà ¢â‚¬â„¢ management thinking.HRM has the role of developing and defining human working processes fai rly an d prov iding for capability-oriented working conditions. Germany’s political debate about the consequences of capital- ism in 2005 shows the need for companies to act and communicate on the basis of consistent and balanced argumentation. HRM needs executives who are familiar with developments going on in a society, shifts in cultural values and behavior. To be competitive in global markets, many organizations reduce staffing levels and change to automated processes to lower costs.Beyo nd this, h owever, more pro- gressive ret ailers, s uch as Carrefour, M ETRO G roup and Wal-Mart, have ex – panded their offerings: they have i nvested heavily in new product ranges, new trading f ormats, and joint v entures, o r i n shapi ng an d spreading t heir bra nds. Merely cutting investments, e. g. , in the sales force, or opening stores around the world per se i s not enough to meet the demands of the new retail age. A clear strategy, stable and IT-supported processes, and correct allocation of financial and management resources are needed for international success the future. Globalization of SourcingSourcing from overseas vendors gathered momentum with the conclusion of trad- ing agreements with, for example, the Peop le’s Republic of China and grants of ‘favored nation’ status. Manufacturing’s importance has decreased enormously in most W estern countries since the em erging Asi an â€Å"t igers† a nd l ess expensive Eastern European manufacturers began to dominate the supply of goods, espe- cially, nonfood goods, to the industrialized countries. Consequently, in the West, distribution has become one of t he most promising sources of improved margins as new technology drives down the cost of logistics.However, with globalization of sourcing, it has become imperative to develop special strategies to enable the headqu arters workforce to be aware of international processes, markets, and com- petitors. Further, domestic retail companies anywhere have to also stay on top of emerging global trends. Companies that plan to enter new foreign markets have to carefully consider local cultures, religious values, and national laws in developing their new market entry strategies. All the developments mentioned above are stron gly interrelated.Retail man- agement and HRM have to jointly examine all these change s to m ake adequate and appropriate adaptations to organizational structures, systems, and processes. Changing Role of HR Departments HR departments—originally called payroll departments, then relabeled staff man- agement, followed by another m etamorphosis to personnel and then to human resource management—have been in the vanguard of change management in re- New Challenges in Retail Human Resource Management 261 tailing. Many companies have recognized that HRM is an essen tial componen t in achieving long-term success, and not just a means of recruiting workers.Areas such as the recruitment process, selection, induction, retention, performance moni- toring and evaluations, staff training, development and motivation. Decision mak- ing, and re-sourcing for expansion will continue to demand the professionalism of HRM workers. Personnel in different kinds of businesses have to adapt and change in response to emerging trends. The international HRM professional has to think globally, while rem aining ab le t o fu lfill lo cal asp irations. This i dea is based on Geert Hofstede’s theory of cultures. He turned the well-known slogan, â€Å"Think globally, act locally† into: â€Å"Act g lobally, think locally. A major task of th e international HRM professional is to provide expertise in terms of interpretations of the local laws and working practices, so as to offer practical steps for successful operation of the international retailer. Building the Future à ¢â‚¬â€œ HRM Challenges for Retailers Retailing means working in a g lobal con text but sim ultaneously adjusti ng to local needs. We describe below some international challenges to HRM in retail which are connected with national and local requirements. As mentioned above, major retail com panies have decided to invest globally to en sure greater po ten- tial for sustainable growth.Several ret ailers have identified internationalization as a huge oppor tunity for growth. In 2006, about 50 % of the METRO Group’s employees work ed ou tside Germany. Th e Am erican retail g iant Wal -Mart, France’s Carrefour, and United Kingdom’s Tesco are thr ee more organizations that are aggressively pursuing international expansion. This immediately gives rise to qu estions that require answers in every ar ea of operati on. An swering these questions is key to successful transformation of a national business model into an international one.HRM strategy builds on the business stra tegy of the firm. The HR persons in charge have to be b usiness partners for management, providing strategic and practical operational solutions in the form of HR concepts or staffing solutions based on thorough know ledge of the bu siness. Wal -Mart’s initial attempt at expansion in Germany failed—as did Marks and Spencer’s—because neither of these companies appreciated the nuances of German retail culture, underestimat- ing local competition and, especially, the price sensitivity of German customers.Carrefour’s for ays i nto the United Kingdom lik ewise end ed with a strategic retreat. As long ago as in 1989, Dawson stated that: â€Å"Retail is a response to cul- ture†Ã¢â‚¬â€and the HRM function plays a c rucial role in assisting corporate man- agement understand and adapt to local cultures. For example, UK consumers’ resistance to th e use of self- scanners p rovided b y some retailers to r educe queues at checkou ts might have be en anticipated by HR managers interacting with local employees. 262 Julia Merkel, Paul Jackson, and Doreen PickStrategic Tasks of HRM: Key strategic tasks of human resource management of an international retailer include: ? Assisting the retailer’s top managers who work well over 60 hours a week negotiating myriad complex issues in a competitive marketplace, cope with stress arising from quick changes, fierce competition, cost pressures, time management problems, and the need to make quick decisions. ? Keeping up to date with continuously developing technology and being able to optimize its usage so as to achieve the right balance between pro- ductivity gains and service gains.HR needs to find answers to the follow- ing question: How much technology can customers and the workforce han- dle in the store? ? Dealing with demography, e. g. , an aging workforce in Western Europe but predominantly young and inexperienced employees in other areas of the world, such as Asia and the M iddle East. Strategically, this poses one of the hardest challenges for HR professionals who are required to recruit and develop t alented st aff, offer t raining f or all age gr oups, ens ure a well- balanced age structure, and build up a working climate enabling employees of all ages to buy in and show suitable results. Cross-cultural recruiting and training: All cultures have their own unique practices and emphases, some of which are obvious while others are more subtle and harder to detect. HR departments need to be able not only to of- fer advice and professional preparation to local managers but also ensure that individuals appointed to these positions are aware of company policies as well as sensitive to the local culture. That is, in international settings, in- dividuals need both a common language and intercultural sensitivity. Identifying and retaining highly qualified, highly motivated individuals ready for international management appointments: The role of HRM is to prov ide an international assignment policy that takes into account individual prob- lems of expatriates, works around and supports family integration abroad. Operational Tasks of HRM: Some key HRM tasks that have to be fulfilled to enable the workforce to meet the needs of customers nationally and internationally include: ?Reshaping and r estructuring the workforce so as t o broaden their e xperi- ence by the acquisition of n ew skills: Developments like automatic stock replenishment, new methods of conducting transactions, and alterations to the way goods are displayed, have increased retailer employee training re- quirements. Also employees must learn to serve increasingly litigious con- sumers wh ile main taining h igh productivity wh ich is essen tial in h igh- volume, l ow-margin e nterprises.P rofessional human reso urce m anagers must train employees on how to balance these oft-conflicting demands for high staff-productivity and great customer service. New Challenges in Retail Hu man Resource Management 263 HR Challenges General Conditions ?Company Strategy ?Added Value Management ?Change Management ?Recruitment and Retention ?Employability and Lifelong Learning ?Corporate Governance ?Technology / IT Infrastructure Fig. 1. Challenges and General Conditions for HRM ? The critical resource of most businesses is no longer financial capital, but rather their employees (Barber, Strack 2005).Consequently, identifying and gathering the data for human capital valuation and assessment of the return on human resource investments is an important task for HR managers. ? HRM itself must develop, moving from being a ‘personnel’ department to its new role as a strategic business partner and building the basic structural foundation that will enable companies to organize and optimize their return on human resources. The emerging trends that persistently need HR attention currently include some of the areas discussed below.We m ake a di stinction between HR chal lenges and general conditions (Figure 1). In the case of HR challenges HRM has direct influ- ence, while general conditions are contingencies within which HRM has to oper- ate. This list is not exhaustive, but looks at some selected current trends and needs. Current HR Challenges ? Company Strategy. HRM has to adapt its entire program to the company’s overall vision and strategy. It is known that organizations with good human capital management generally create substantially more shareholder value than other companies.The significance of human capital is especially visi- ble in the case of a merger. The success of a merger depends much more on the competencies of the staff and m anagement than on other aspects, such as finance, IT, and production. Hax and Majluf (1991) feel that it is there- fore essential for well-planned practices and highly efficient HR functions to be aligned with the business of the company concerned. An HR strategy must be ‘com prehensive’ in the sense of addressing all the different per- sonnel and HR activities central to the long-term development of the firm’s businesses.HRM departments have to conceptualize and structure business 264 Julia Merkel, Paul Jackson, and Doreen Pick plans with detailed operations extending from the current to the future state of strategy, organization, and action. These must be based on the organiza- tion’s mission and common values. ? Added Value Management. This confronts HRM with the critical q uestion of what actions add m easurable value to the business. There is less cer- tainty about the central direction and more about committed management setting the right tone within the organization for defined values to flourish.Commitment in the form of personal engagement and belief in the organi- zation and its concepts is important. HRM has to support this by elaborat- ing concepts and criteria for their evaluation, some of which should be re- vised annually. The following behavioral aspects of the workforce should be included in the HRM concept: ? Personal Honesty and Integrity ? Self-Motivation and Entrepreneurial Style ? Ability to Communicate the Values and Benefits ? Encouraging Others to Want to Work with the Company and Share its Values; Pride in the Company Training and Developing, Coaching, and Mentoring ? Change Management. The most important drivers for change are globaliza- tion, technology, and a workforce that is in creasingly knowledge-based. Ulrich has stated that there is a need to redefine firms’ performance less in terms of cutting cost and more in terms of profitable growth (Ulrich 1997). Managers have to be able to make changes happen of their own volition and also to support the company in its drive for sustained success. Manag- ers have to be able to empower their own staff.Moss Kanter (1989) states that it is only through true empowerment that staff will really contribute to the changing needs of a busi ness, since they will then be doing things be- cause they understand them and for the right reasons, thinking and reflect- ing on the changes and t heir likely impact, and above all feeling at ease with the implementation of change. Change management recognizes the need to reflect on t he manager’s role in the management of cha nge, the identification of problems, and the ability to make changes in either a pro- grammed or a no nprogrammed manner.HRM has to take accoun t of the risks required for the achievement of change in the company. ? Recruitment and Retention. Employee recruitment and selection is one the most vital HR functions. However, the retail industry is faced with difficul- ties in attracting highly educated people. Nonetheless there is a po sitive trend for change. The challenge for HRM is to show the attractiveness of the retail sector a nd ensure that appropriate training and careers are avail- able, so that this sector can take a leading place in t he competition for availab le talent.Retail has recently been promoting opening up access to its workforce by declared rejection of discrimination on the grounds of gender New Challenges in Retail Human Resource Management 265 or race, and, lately, also by employing more elderly persons. It is also nec- essary to build up programs for part-time workers. The ability to value di- versity within the workforce is a strength, provided that this is backed up by continuous training and correctness. Many organizations run courses on this aspect, usually under the title of ‘Inc reasing Self-awareness,’ as t he ability to understand one’s impact on others is a powerful skill.Next, reten- tion focuses on the goal of keep well-performing staff in the company. This depends not only on interesting work, fair compensation, and a motivating climate and management culture, but also on transparent and achievable ca- reer paths combined with a supportive management that provides guidance. ? Employability and Continuing Education. This is a major area of challenge to most employers, but especially those who employ large numbers of staff, as retailers do. Staff have to take retraining in order to adapt to a constantly changing external environment.It is a question of mind-set, working envi- ronment, and attitude towards self-responsibility. The future will be charac- terized by the following needs, amongst others: ? The need to handle increasing complexity. ? The need f or co ntinual enh ancement of th e ma nagement skill sets known as ‘Life-Long Learning,’ i. e. the ability to adapt to changing en- vironments, challenges and technology. ? The need for a positive attitude to newly emerging opportunities: Manag- ers themselves have to become life-long learners.This is of particular im- portance to the changing generations. The process can be aimed, for ex- ample, at obtaining further business qualifications, such as an M BA, a marketing diploma, or HRM qualifications, or atte nding training courses on key skills, such as lead ership, or personal development workshops. Some universities are now of fering master’s degree courses on wor k- based learning in which projects are directly related to the learning envi- ronment of the individual s tudent’s workplace.Analysis of actual workproblems can be counted as a credit toward an MA o r an MSc. Classroom training fostering positive acceptance of new structures, top- ics, and technologies is necessary. ? The need to communicate regularly and precisely, and transmit meaning and values: While the company will provide support, it will be the indi- vidual managers who have to ‘drive’ their own learning and that of others in periods of intense change, often using technology such as video con- erencing or E-l earning/blended learning to pursue their studies. HRM needs to consult with managers on how best to use modern methods. ?The need for creative management: This can be the way to bring new insights into common view or to introduce new issues as an area for the HRM specialist to develop. Many managers are locked into their own reality or their own version of their world, allowing themselves to be trapped into a mind-set of either success or self-perpetuating failure. One 266 Julia Merkel, Paul Jackson, and Doreen Pick f the keys to successful business growth is for managers not to allow themselves to be trapped in a ‘psychic prison’ (Morgan 2001) of t heir own making, causing them always to see retail in one dimension only. Current General Conditions ? Corporate Governance. The recent case of Enron and the difficulties faced by retailers such as Sainsbury suggest that the governance of these organi- zations was grossly at fault in permitting the excessive amounts of power vested in their chief executive officers (CEOs).The nonexecutive directors seem to have abdicated their duties in not restraining the CEOs in their riskier schemes. Expansion, absolu te power, soaring costs, and misinterpre- tation of facts and figures appear to have gone unchecked and a tacit acqui- escence to have been entered into, presumably with the goal of presenting stakeholders with a picture that was m ore positive than the reality. As th e impact of the backlash is always difficult to predict, it is likely that HR di- rectors will become more closely involved in the careful examination of candidates’ integrity and suitability for high office.It is likely that this will slow t he decision-making process within t he board e nvironment, b ut i t might be a small price to pay for a more responsible environment acting in the best interests of all parties. HRM needs to motivate the entire staff of their company, to observe and evaluate the ‘political’ situation within the company, and to react in a n appropriate way that ca n influence the re- tailer’s level of success. HRM has the opportunity, and therefore the duty, to influence national and international codes of corporate governance. ? Technology/IT Infrastructure.In some of the ne w and emerging m arkets management has to decide whether to implement a total system with all branches totally aligned with the parent company. It can be prohibitively expensive for a branch at the periphery of the organization to lock into a global IT infrastructure that is geared to operations in Western countries where labor costs are very much higher. Retailers operating internationally rely on com mon platforms and IT structures; the decision to be m ade is when is the time right for investments? A major change in retailing in the future will be the worldwide use of RFID technologies.The success of the METRO Group in developing and running their â€Å"Future Store† in R heinberg as a tigh tly controlled experi- ment has ha d a strong impact on t he application of new technologies in ‘real business,’ since METRO Group has shared the results with industry and with its wholesalers, as well as its IT and logistics providers (see, e. g. , chapter by Kalyanam, Lal a nd Wolfram in this book). The scientific re- search involves customers’ reactions to the new shopping methods, and possibly also staff training in the use of intelligent technologies and intro- ductions to available information and changing processes for customers.New Challenges in Retail Human Resource Management 267 In conclusion, there has been, and continues to be, a great deal of activity sur- rounding staff appraisal. The management of progression, or performance moni- toring, continues to exercise HRM professionals, who wish it to be as fair as pos- sible to individuals, but also want the company to obtain maximum benefit from the exercise. While the strategy should be systematic, it also needs to be continu- ous, with a fully im plemented set of key me trics.A full look at each individual’s future, which can be a position as well as a set of personal go als, should be carried out at regu lar intervals. HRM professionals must ensure that line managers can perform this function. Next, we discuss approaches that address current HR challenges in retailing. HR Challenges General Conditions ?Company Strategy ?Added Value Management ?Change Management ?Recruitment and Retention ?Employability and Life-long Learning ?Corporate G overnance ?Technology/ IT Infrastructure Structure Motivation Fig. 2.Approaches to Challenges and General Conditions for HRM Approaches to HR Challenges in Retailing Practice Building up and Keeping Motivation As indicated in Figure 2, HRM has to en sure that the workforce is motivated and trained to satisfy consumers’ needs. Retailers have to develop the employee value proposition. This means an attractive position with the fulfillment of employee needs and expectations and achievement of a go od, unique image in terms of re- cruiting and keeping human capital. We list below some approaches to retaining an adequate sales force. HR quality cannot be assured without investment.Such investment has to be justified in economic terms and must therefore be constantly monitored: ? Planning the HR costs and expenditures for the annual business budget and forecasts ? Supplying key data needed for planning the workforce at all levels and providing benchmark data on key performance indicators, such as average working hours per store opening hour, turnover per w orking hour, profit per working hour 268 Julia Merkel, Paul Jackson, and Doreen Pick ? Elaboration of systems to measure the work involved in and results of HRM (training investment per employee, rate of internal job placements, etc. ? Providing common and communicated values of the com pany to give the workforce a strategic framework and common mind-set ? Creating a transparent internal job market ? Offering the staff a perspective for the future and clear career paths ? Flexible models of working times, such as part-time working concepts , an- nualized hours contracts, and balancing of profession and family with the aid of sabbaticals ?Ensuring adequate processes, tools, and budget to allow for members of the workforce to achieve their objectives and ambitions Continuing education of ex ecutives and employees within actual training programs and a corporate university ? Training the workforce in soft skills and mentoring to ensure proper align- ment of their values with the company’s values and beliefs ? Initiation of an employee suggestion/inquiry system to improve the process of cooperation ? Recruitment of talented graduates from exchange programs with universi- ties worldwide ? International education within internal exchange programs, with p artici- pants from different countries ? Apprenticeships and e ducations in new professions to build up t he best workforce Sharing company success with e mployees (incentive systems at all sta ff levels, based on parameters that are accessible to employees) ? Offerin g fringe benefits, such as discounts for shopping at the employer’s stores, company cars, equity programs, retirement arrangements, company nursery/kindergarten, and other social benefits. The Future of HRM and Final Remarks Most employees spend a substantial amount of time at work. Some people there- fore consider their job decisions on joining a retail company or some other indus- try in the cont ext of social environment.HRM has to kee p an eye on s uch con- straints, as the retail trade is anxious to attract the best employees. Future HRM will concentrate on supporting management and workforce and outsource admin- istrative tasks to contractors. In future, there will be more intensive collaboration New Challenges in Retail Human Resource Management 269 and networking with external parties. New professions in retail, such as that of IT specialist, are developing. HRM must also place greater emphasis on ethical work- ing conditions, safer working environments, and equal-opp ortunity policies (end- ing sex/age discrimination, inclusion of minorities, etc. . In any company, HRM has to build up trust and commitment among all persons working in that organiza- tion. Continued reliance on traditional processes is d efinitely no longer a recipe that pr omises much success. HR m anagement has t o a ssure fast a nd market- oriented actions that are appropriate to complex market situations. HRM will have to set priorities on the HR strategy and its realization, but will be viewed on the operational side more in the role of a serv ice center. In future, the issue of management development will gain even greater importance.To sum up, HRM has to be aligned with the business strategy of the company, to work in keeping with all of its corporate objectives, and to be prepared not only to help in implementing all changes necessary but also to instigate and be at the vanguard of change programs. Further, HRM should be aware of employee inter- ests within the organizatio n yet conscious of its place as the ‘power house’ when controversial business decisions, such as downsizing, have to be implemented. Lastly, it plays a key role in ensuring that constant retooling and retraining takes place in the operation to meet ever-evolving challenges.Life-long learning should be an integral part of any business, to enable it to respond to its rivals’ activities with fresh initiatives within the company. HRM specialists have to ensure the long-term performance of â€Å"their† retail or- ganizations. It is a big challenge for HRM to meet the future needs, and the task is wide ranging. How well HR managers perfo rm th eir fu nction will determin e whether a reta iler registers a sustainable success in the future. We have tried to show in this chapter the comprehensive and central role of HRM in retailing.Re- tail has been and will continue to be an exciting field of business throughout the world. The main function of the retail sector i s to wo rk with and for people all over the world, so that retail has the chance to give people interesting and fulfill- ing workplaces.References Barber, F. and Strack, R. (200 5): The Surp rising Economics of a â€Å"People Business†, in: Harvard Business Review June 2005, pp 81-90. Davies, G. (1999): The Evolution of Marks and Spencer. Service Industries Journal. 19, 3, 60-73. Dawson J. A. (2001): Strategy and opportunism in European retail internationalisation Brit- ish Journal of Management, 12, 253-266. Dawson, J. A. (2000): Retailing at Century End: some challe nges for management and re- search. International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 10, 119- 148. Gilbert, D. (2003): Retail Marketing Management, 2nd edition, Prentice Hall. 270 Julia Merkel, Paul Jackson, and Doreen Pick Hax, A. and Majluf, N. (1991): The Strategy Concept & Process. A pragmatic Approach, Prentice Hall. Mellahi, K. , Jackson T. P. and S parks, L. (2002) : An explor atory stu dy into failure of a successful organisations: the case of Marks and Spencer, British Journal of Man age- ment, 13, 15-29. Morgan G. (2001): Images of Organisation Sage, London Moss Kanter R. (1989): When giants Learn to Dance Simon & Schuster, London Seth, A. and Randall, G. (1999): The Grocers: the rise and rise of the supermarket chains, London: Kogan Page, Social Science Research, 24, 28-62. Ulrich, D. , Losey, M. R, Lake G. editors (1997): Tomorrow’s HR Management New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Ulrich, D. (199 7): Human Resources of the Future: Conclusions and Observ ations, in: Tomorrow’s HR Management, edited by Dave Ulrich, Michael R. Losey et al. , 354-360, John Wiley & Sons.

Odysseus and Aeneus: Travels to the Dark Side Essay

Ancient Greece’s Odysseus from Homer’s The Odyssey and ancient Troy’s Aeneus from Virgil’s The Aeneid are both heroes who struggle with identity and purpose, and these identities and purposes are tied up into the concepts and symbolism revolving around female versus male and pagan versus Christian-like influences. In comparing Odysseus’ travel to the underworld and Aeneus’ decent to the land of the dead, one can relate these journeys to the main philosophical plots of both works of ancient literature. Although both men return from Hades alive, the two men’s initial approaches to the dead are slightly different, Odysseus performing sacrifices at the direction of the female goddess Circe and Aeneus praying to the male God Appollo and led to the gates by the priestess Sybil. The variance in how the heroes enter the spirit worlds lends significant insight into how their experiences in the underworld play out and mirror the entire themes of both tales. The heroes’ experiences with the dead are not unlike the major plots of both works, Odysseus focusing more on a successful return to his wife and Aeneus centering more on a successful honoring of God and country. The more mortal, pagan, and female experiences of Odysseus’ journey contrast to the more immortal, Christian-like, and male voyage of Aeneus. A main difference in the drive of the two men is that Odysseus is driven by the recommendations of the Goddess Circe and Aeneus is empowered by the guidance of the God Appolo. Here one can see the divine gender differences and the contrast of abiding by the rule of an immortal woman or the power of an immortal man. Leadership positions are of great significance in The Odyssey and The Aeneid, because Ithaca and Troy were in bitter battles for power and influence during this time. In calling attention to modern day Christian theology, it can be stated that perhaps Aeneus displays the most leadership capacity, given that he takes heed of the influence of male figures. However, in refuting modern day Christian mentality, one can suppose that Odysseus may be correct in placing his trust and ability to be guided in the hands of a woman, accepting the idea of womanly power and the feminine energy which can be useful to and benefit male figures. The fact that the tale of Odysseus was born several hundred years before Christian theology contrasts with the story of Aeneus, written only a couple decades before Christ’s birth, on the cusp of Christian influence. The communication of the ghosts to both heroes gives insight to the similarities and differences of their experiences in the underworlds. At the River of Ocean in the land of the Cimmerians, the spirits themselves come to Odysseus, giving him a more rooted or female positioning, Elpenor one of the first to greet Odysseus, begging him to return to Circe’s island and give him a proper burial. In Dis, the land of the dead, Charon delivers souls to Aeneus from across the river Acheron, and Sybil explains to Aeneus that the souls of the dead must remain on the other bank. However, upon showing his golden branch, Aeneus is able to be ferried across and he moves into the underworld, granting him an entering and more male positioning. Further communication with the spirits reveal to both men the end goals or purposes of their expeditions. For Odysseus, in the counsel of the ghost prophet Tiresias, he is informed that the Achaeans are being punished by Poseidon for the blinding of his son Polyphemus and foresees that Odysseus will have a successful journey culminating in the return to his wife, the banishment of her eager suitors, and the future engagement in another trip to appease Poseidon. The goal for Aeneus is also revealed in the land of the dead by the spirit of his father Anchesis, that Romulus will found Rome, a Caesar will eventually come from the line of Ascanius, and Rome will reach a Golden Age of rule over the world. Here, one notes that for Odysseus, a return to Penelope is a large part of his purpose, while Aeneus appears to be on a mission revolving fighting solely for the fatherland. The relative physical nearness of Odysseus to the spirits contrasts the distance of Aeneus to the ghosts they both encounter, Odysseus seemingly swarmed by the souls and Aeneus travelling to the spirits throughout Hades. The shades of the dead are immediately able to interact with and influence Odysseus, while Aeneus is separated from the spirits by the river and must be shuttled across by the gate keeper, Charon. Also, the concept of levels of purgatory is not readily apparent in Odysseus’ experience in the underworld, while Aeneus experiences the movement through stages of Hell, from the suicide victims in the Fields of Mourning to the innocent spirits in the Blessed Groves. One can distinguish between the more ancient belief of Odysseus being directly submerged with the spirit world, souls coming to him directly, and Aeneus’ more Christian-like orientation of being classified in steps away from the divine or away from eternal joy according to the level of preoccupation with sin and death, journeying through the various areas of what could be termed a kind of purgatory in Hell, perhaps just short of divine life or mortality in Heaven. Two former soldier spirits communicate to the men that they would like to be buried properly, which serves to align the tales of Odysseus and Aeneus more closely together. Both Elpenor’s plea to Odysseus and Aeneus’ spotting of Palinurus within the area for spirits having received improper burials bring sadness to the hearts of the heroes, perhaps knowing that the deceased did not receive the most appropriate and respectful honor from them. The quick and dirty nature of battle is called to mind for both of the men as they express regret at their ineffectiveness in having paid proper respects to their lost friends. Here, Odysseus and Aeneus are seen as more similar, both either guilty or saddened by the lost chance to truly honor the dead at the time of their passing. This experience serves for both men a time of self reflection on their own actions, deliberating on whether or not they had made the right choices and calling to mind the concepts of sin and regret due to possibly mistaken actions. In comparing Odysseus’ marriage to Penelope to Aeneus’ sighting of Dido in the land of the dead, one is struck by the sharp contrast in the men’s relationships with women. While Odysseus is faithful to Penelope and keeps her as a driving force in his quest, a goal and treasure to which he wants to return and defend, Aeneus is shocked by seeing his former love in the Fields of Mourning, having killed herself and married a ghost in the afterlife. Aeneus’ incapacity at sustaining a relationship is a very important point to consider in the comparison of both heroes. Perhaps Odysseus’ clinging to the more female part of existence and divine life lends power to his ability to hold his marriage together, giving support and honor to the idea of family life. Although both men are soldiers on journeys to defend their home countries, Odysseus does not make the complete break from home in the way that Aeneus does. The splitting of Aeneus and Dido is a deep and telling fracture which can lend insight into the Trojan way of thinking regarding marriage and family. In this way, Aeneus’ masculinity works against him in that he is effectively separated from romantic love, and Odysseus’ pact with the feminine keeps him bound closer to family and home life. Also touching on the concept of family members as they relate to gender differences is the fact that Odysseus is visited by his mother in the underworld and Aeneus seeks out his father. The coming of Odysseus’ mother Anticleia is again a more female orientation visitation and perhaps another impetus for Odysseus to return home to his wife Penelope, as his mother confesses to have died of grief in waiting for his return to Ithaca. Aeneus’ conversation with his father is again a more male oriented interaction. Anchises explains how the spirits move about in Dis, illustrating more clearly the Christian-like concept of purgatory and gaining insight on how the ghosts are able to reach the Fields of Gladness, as well as gaining insight on the future role of Trojans in Rome and the expansion of the Roman Empire, lending support to the ideas of hierarchy and patriarchy. In paying attention to the sensation of what it was like to have been in the two underworlds, one notes that the experience of the souls in Odysseus’ underworld is nothing less than suffering and that the experience of the spirits in Aeneus’ land of the dead is more variable, some suffering and some happiness. Odysseus’ departure from the underworld in being swarmed by the souls is one of fright and fleeing, while Aeneus leaves the land of the dead courageously. The distaste which Odysseus holds for the dead ghosts is apparent, and he expresses the fact that he wants nothing to do with knowledge of the dead. The encounter with his mother Anticleia may have also invoked fear in Odysseus that his wife Penelope may also surrender to sadness and death. Aeneus is more curious of the afterlife, the positive aspects and negative aspects being grouped separately, and he demonstrates a desire to learn about now to gain access to the nicer areas of the spirit world. The energy he receives from the encouraging conversation with his father regarding the positive aspects of purgatory and the future goal of his triumph in Italy enables Aeneus to leave his visit to the land of the dead with confidence. The notions of judgment and peace are also themes in Odysseus and Aeneus’ visits to the afterworld. In Odysseus’ underworld experience, the dead are not really judged, yet they are all unhappy. In this case, there is no peace for the dead and no judgment of death other than a negative one. To Odysseus, the underworld is black and unfortunate place, hopefully avoidable, yet certainly not avoidable for Odysseus given his own mortality. There is a blanketed negativity in Odysseus’ concept of the afterlife, no room for positive judgment and no room for peace. However, in looking at Aeneus’ experience in the land of the dead, one notes that there are various judgments of the spirits and various areas of suffering and bliss, correlating to the judgment of their life choices before death, Minos handing out judgments to the recently deceased. Although there are suffering souls, there are also ghosts who enjoy happiness and peace in the afterlife, concepts resembling the purgatory of Christianity during this pre-Christian area. In Aeneus’ experience, one is able to glean a sense of hopefulness from the spiritual world, while Odysseus’ encounter with the dead is mostly frightful and perhaps even unhelpful. These two experiences can be viewed in two ways. Perhaps it is positive that Aeneus sees joy in death, granting him extra courage to face the afterlife, however, perhaps this makes Aeneus closer to death, while Odysseus may be made safer by aiming to avoid death completely. In considering the two men and their two tales, it is illuminating to study the two midpoint travels of the heroes into the underworlds. Odysseus as a hero is somewhat more woman led, depending on Circe, interaction with his mother, and yearnings for Penelope, and this thread of female orientation is present throughout Odysseus’ journey. He is even warned by Tiresias to not touch the flocks of the sun, a metaphor which rings a sense of warning to resist the urge of being overly male oriented. Odysseus’ fear of death can be viewed in two different ways. Perhaps he is cowardly, or perhaps he is more attached to life and desires to be in the land of the living. Odysseus’ desire to return to Ithaca and reclaim his wife Penelope is always a drawing factor, and Odysseus’ flight from the spirit world may simply correlate to his desire to return home to his family. The hero Aeneus is more man led, valuing the prayers to Appollo, the conversation with his father, and letting go of his woman Dido, placing the voyage and battle ahead of his family life, remaining more male oriented. The letting go of his relationship with Dido and her subsequent death supports the idea that Aeneus is able to cut ties, however, one cannot be sure if the ability of Aeneus to cut ties is a positive ability or if he wrongly fractures his romance and family bonds. The concepts of opposing and complimentary genders, divine mortal and immortal influence, and pagan and Christian-like theologies and belief systems all contribute to the development of the tales The Odyssey and The Aeneid as well as place meaning and focus on the heroes Odysseus and Aeneus and their travels down into the realm of the dead, giving each character definition and shape in the similarities and contrasts between the two men and their unique yet related voyages. If Odysseus is a more ancient pagan with closer ties to the feminine and Aeneus is a more modern Christian-like figure with closer ties to the masculine, one wonders if something was gained in this historical transition†¦ or if something was lost. Works Cited Homer. The Odyssey, circa 800 BC Virgil. The Aeneid, circa 20 BC

How to Market a Memoir Top Tips From the Experts

How to Market a Memoir Top Tips From the Experts How to Market a Memoir: Top Tips from the Experts Indie authors can have quite an uphill battle when it comes to marketing a memoir. When we buy a memoir, it’s because we want to know more about a person’s life, or what they have to say about a certain subject. Therefore, we’re less likely to pick up a memoir written by someone we’ve never heard of.Then again, on the bright side, some memoir-writers will find that their book comes with an already-defined target market - and when it comes to your life, you are the ultimate authority on the subject. For instance, if you write science fiction, sure, you can target your book to readers who enjoy that genre, but you’ll be competing with a monstrous number of other books. If you write a memoir about leaving your home country of Canada, and spending 15 years working as a gardener for a wealthy family in Spain, well, you’ve got a host of niche groups who might be interested in your real-life accounts: Canadian gardeners, expats living in Spain, Med iterranean people interested in the lifestyles of the wealthy, etc.This article will cover three of the most essential components of marketing a memoir: determining who your readers are, figuring out how to connect with them, and establishing yourself as a reputable and compelling source on the subject matter. To ready you for your hike up the steep hill to memoir sales, we’ve sought advice from several of our top marketers.Determine your target audienceIn our post on how to write a memoir, we asked authors to consider who they are writing their memoir for. This is a necessary question that bears repeating in this article as well. Due to the fact that a memoir is a personal thing, your answer might be, â€Å"For myself, to tell my own story† - and that’s wonderful. But if you would like to successfully market and sell your memoir, you have to think beyond yourself and step into your readers’ shoes. Get personal! (Photo by Joanna Kosinska)When it comes to memoirs, authors with a pre-established platform will find the job of marketing much easier. But it’s not impossible for unknown authors to publish a successful memoir - after all, Frank McCourt was a teacher when he published his debut book, the memoir Angela’s Ashes. Take our tips into account and start throwing stuff at the wall until it starts to stick. Hey, maybe you'll get a really good story out of the whole process; maybe you'll write a memoir about it.Have your written a memoir? What have been your experiences, struggles, or learnings with marketing it? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below!

Free Essays on History Of Medicaid Program

History and Development of Social Welfare System (Medicaid) The severe Depression of the 1930’s made Federal action a necessity, as neither the States and the local communities, nor private charities had the financial resources to cope with the growing need among the American people. Beginning in 1932, the Federal Government first made loans, then grants, to States, to pay for direct relief and work relief. After that, special Federal emergency relief and public works programs were started. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed to Congress economic security legislation embodying the recommendations of a specially created Committee on Economic Security. There followed the passage of the Social Security Act, signed into law August 14, 1935. This law established two social insurance programs on a national scale to help meet the risks of old age and unemployment: a Federal system of old-age benefits for retired workers who had been employed in industry and commerce, and a Federal- State system of unemployment insurance. The choice of old age and unemployment as the risks to be covered by social insurance was a natural development, since the Depression had wiped out much of the lifetime savings of the aged and reduced opportunities for gainful employment. The Act also provided Federal grants-in-aid to the States for the means-tested programs of Old-Age Assistance, and Aid to the Blind. These programs supplemented the incomes of persons who were either ineligible for Social Security (Old-Age and Survivors Insurance) or whose benefits could not provide a basic living. The intent of Federal participation was to encourage States to adopt such programs. The law established other Federal grants to enable States to extend and strengthen maternal and child health and welfare services, and these grants became the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, w... Free Essays on History Of Medicaid Program Free Essays on History Of Medicaid Program History and Development of Social Welfare System (Medicaid) The severe Depression of the 1930’s made Federal action a necessity, as neither the States and the local communities, nor private charities had the financial resources to cope with the growing need among the American people. Beginning in 1932, the Federal Government first made loans, then grants, to States, to pay for direct relief and work relief. After that, special Federal emergency relief and public works programs were started. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed to Congress economic security legislation embodying the recommendations of a specially created Committee on Economic Security. There followed the passage of the Social Security Act, signed into law August 14, 1935. This law established two social insurance programs on a national scale to help meet the risks of old age and unemployment: a Federal system of old-age benefits for retired workers who had been employed in industry and commerce, and a Federal- State system of unemployment insurance. The choice of old age and unemployment as the risks to be covered by social insurance was a natural development, since the Depression had wiped out much of the lifetime savings of the aged and reduced opportunities for gainful employment. The Act also provided Federal grants-in-aid to the States for the means-tested programs of Old-Age Assistance, and Aid to the Blind. These programs supplemented the incomes of persons who were either ineligible for Social Security (Old-Age and Survivors Insurance) or whose benefits could not provide a basic living. The intent of Federal participation was to encourage States to adopt such programs. The law established other Federal grants to enable States to extend and strengthen maternal and child health and welfare services, and these grants became the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, w...

Stephen King Shares His Writing Advice in This Guest Post

Stephen King Shares His Writing Advice in This Guest Post A Guest Blog from Stephen King- Yes, that Stephen King Okay, let’s get a few things straight right from the top: This is going to be a very long post, but I’m not going to apologize for it because: 1- I need to brag about how I know Mr. King; 2- I promise it’ll be content-rich; 3- You’re going to learn Voice merely by osmosis, beyond what he’s teaching overtly; and 4- You’ll be glad you invested the time. So grab your favorite beverage and settle in Though I work the inspirational side of the fiction writing fence and he the horror, we at one time happened to share the services of the same audio reader, the legendary Frank Muller, who remains, even post mortem, the unquestioned creme de la creme of that field. We first met by phone when Stephen called one day to discuss how we might aid Frank’s family after he suffered a motorcycle accident that would eventually take his life. Then Stephen and I met personally in 2004 when we visited Frank in rehab, where he lingered for several years. Stephen and I share a rabid love of baseball (he the Boston Red Sox, I the Chicago Cubs). I have been accused of trying to scare readers out of Hell. Stephen has been accused of trying to scare the hell out of readers. We read each other’s work and respect each other and still keep in touch via email. Writer’s Digest considered us strange enough bedfellows to feature us in a cover story. I will insert myself into Stephen’s blog only occasionally to adjust for the fact that the piece is nearly 30 years old, yet remains poignantly applicable. I expect it to stimulate spirited conversation, however be advised that my team and I will excise any off-topic comments. This is not the place to discuss Stephen’s use of naughty words, or his political, cultural, or religious views. Let’s stick to the subject of fiction writing. I asked if I could share with you sections of his iconic piece from the 1986 issue of The Writer magazine, wherein he promised to tell budding fiction writers everything they needed to know about writing successfully in ten minutes. Much of it has been floating around the Internet ever since, and you may have seen it. He kindly said, â€Å"Feel free to use as much of it as you’d like.† And so, with thanks for that generous offer, here is all of it with a few notes: Need help writing your novel?Click here to download my ultimate 12-step guide. Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully- in Ten Minutes By Stephen King I.The First Introduction THAT’S RIGHT. I know it sounds like an ad for some sleazy writers’ school, but I really am going to tell you everything you need to pursue a successful and financially rewarding career writing fiction, and I really am going to do it in ten minutes, which is exactly how long it took me to learn. It will actually take you twenty minutes or so to read this essay, however, because I have to tell you a story, and then I have to write a second introduction. But these, I argue, should not count in the ten minutes. II. The Story, or, How Stephen King Learned to Write When I was a sophomore in high school, I did a sophomoric thing which got me in a pot of fairly hot water, as sophomoric didoes often do. I wrote and published a small satiric newspaper called The Village Vomit. In this little paper I lampooned a number of teachers at Lisbon (Maine) High School, where I was under instruction. These were not very gentle lampoons; they ranged from the scatological to the downright cruel. Eventually, a copy of this little newspaper found its way into the hands of a faculty member, and since I had been unwise enough to put my name on it (a fault, some critics argue, of which I have still not been entirely cured), I was brought into the office. The sophisticated satirist had by that time reverted to what he really was: a fourteen-year-old kid who was shaking in his boots and wondering if he was going to get a suspension- what we called â€Å"a three-day vacation† in those dim days of 1964. I wasn’t suspended. I was forced to make a number of apologies- they were warranted, but they still tasted like dog-dirt in my mouth- and spent a week in detention hall. And the guidance counselor arranged what he no doubt thought of as a more constructive channel for my talents. This was a job- contingent upon the editor’s approval- writing sports for the Lisbon Enterprise, a twelve-page weekly, the sort with which any small-town resident will be familiar. This editor was the man who taught me everything I know about writing in ten minutes. His name was John Gould- not the famed New England humorist or the novelist who wrote The Greenleaf Fires, but a relative of both, I believe. He told me he needed a sports writer and we could â€Å"try each other out† if I wanted. I told him I knew more about advanced algebra than I did sports. Gould nodded and said, â€Å"You’ll learn.† I said I would at least try to learn. Gould gave me a huge roll of yellow paper and promised me a wage of 1/2 ¢ per word. The first two pieces I wrote had to do with a high school basketball game in which a member of my school team broke the Lisbon High scoring record. One of these pieces was straight reportage. The second was a feature article. I brought them to Gould the day after the game, so he’d have them for the paper, which came out Fridays. He read the straight piece, made two minor corrections, and spiked it. Then he started in on the feature piece with a large black pen and taught me all I ever needed to know about my craft. I wish I still had the piece- it deserves to be framed, editorial corrections and all- but I can remember pretty well how it looked before and after he had finished with it. Here’s an example: [Note: King’s original copy showed Mr. Gould’s edit marks.] Last night, in the well-loved gymnasium of Lisbon High School, partisans and Jay Hills fans alike were stunned by an athletic performance unequaled in school history: Bob Ransom, known as â€Å"Bullet† Bob for both his size and accuracy, scored thirty-seven points. He did it with grace and speed and he did it with an odd courtesy as well, committing only two personal fouls in his knight-like quest for a record which has eluded Lisbon thinclads since 1953. [With Mr. Gould’s edits applied.] Last night, in the Lisbon High School gymnasium, partisans and Jay Hills fans alike were stunned by an athletic performance unequaled in school history: Bob Ransom scored thirty-seven points. He did it with grace and speed and he did it with an odd courtesy as well, committing only two personal fouls in his quest for a record which has eluded Lisbon’s basketball team since 1953. When Gould finished marking up my copy in the manner I have indicated above, he looked up and must have seen something on my face. I think he must have thought it was horror, but it was not: it was revelation. â€Å"I only took out the bad parts, you know,† he said. â€Å"Most of it’s pretty good.† â€Å"I know,† I said, meaning both things: yes, most of it was good, and yes, he had only taken out the bad parts. â€Å"I won’t do it again.† â€Å"If that’s true,† he said, â€Å"you’ll never have to work again. You can do this for a living.† Then he threw back his head and laughed. And he was right; I am doing this for a living, and as long as I can keep on, I don’t expect ever to have to work again. III. The Second Introduction All of what follows has been said before. If you are interested enough in writing to be a purchaser of this magazine, you will have either heard or read all (or almost all) of it before. Thousands of writing courses are taught across the United States each year; seminars are convened; guest lecturers talk, then answer questions, then drink as many gin and tonics as their expense-fees will allow, and it all boils down to what follows. I am going to tell you these things again because often people will only listen- really listen- to someone who makes a lot of money doing the thing he’s talking about. This is sad but true. And I told you the story above not to make myself sound like a character out of a Horatio Alger novel but to make a point: I saw, I listened, and I learned. Until that day in John Gould’s little office, I had been writing first drafts of stories which might run 2,500 words. The second drafts were apt to run 3,300 words. Following that day, my 2,500-word first drafts became 2,200-word second drafts. And two years after that, I sold the first one. So here it is, with all the bark stripped off. It’ll take ten minutes to read, and you can apply it right away- if you listen. IV. Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully 1. Be talented This, of course, is the killer. What is talent? I can hear someone shouting, and here we are, ready to get into a discussion right up there with â€Å"what is the meaning of life?† for weighty pronouncements and total uselessness. For the purposes of the beginning writer, talent may as well be defined as eventual success- publication and money. If you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it didn’t bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented. Now some of you are really hollering. Some of you are calling me one crass money-fixated creep. And some of you are calling me bad names. Are you calling Harold Robbins talented? someone in one of the Great English Departments of America is screeching. V.C. Andrews? Theodore Dreiser? Or what about you, you dyslexic moron? Nonsense. Worse than nonsense, off the subject. We’re not talking about good or bad here. I’m interested in telling you how to get your stuff published, not in critical judgments of who’s good or bad. As a rule the critical judgments come after the check’s been spent, anyway. I have my own opinions, but most times I keep them to myself. People who are published steadily and are paid for what they are writing may be either saints or trollops, but they are clearly reaching a great many someones who want what they have. Ergo, they are communicating. Ergo, they are talented. The biggest part of writing successfully is being talented, and in the context of marketing, the only bad writer is one who doesn’t get paid. If you’re not talented, you won’t succeed. And if you’re not succeeding, you should know when to quit. When is that? I don’t know. It’s different for each writer. Not after six rejection slips, certainly, nor after sixty. But after six hundred? Maybe. After six thousand? My friend, after six thousand pinks, it’s time you tried painting or computer programming. Further, almost every aspiring writer knows when he is getting warmer- you start getting little jotted notes on your rejection slips, or personal letters . . . maybe a commiserating phone call. It’s lonely out there in the cold, but there are encouraging voices- unless there is nothing in your words which warrants encouragement. I think you owe it to yourself to skip as much of the self-illusion as possible. If your eyes are open, you’ll know which way to go- or when to turn back. 2. Be neat Type. Double-space. Use a nice heavy white paper, never that erasable onion-skin stuff. If you’ve marked up your manuscript a lot, do another draft. [Of course, today Stephen would say to use a large, serif type and transmit only work with which you’re entirely happy, spell checked and properly formatted.] 3. Be self-critical If you haven’t marked up your manuscript a lot [or, today, carefully edited and rewritten it], you did a lazy job. Only God gets things right the first time. Don’t be a slob. 4. Remove every extraneous word You want to get up on a soapbox and preach? Fine. Get one and try your local park. You want to write for money? Get to the point. And if you remove all the excess garbage and discover you can’t find the point, tear up what you wrote and start all over again- or try something new. 5. Never look at a reference book while doing a first draft You want to write a story? Fine. Put away your dictionary, your encyclopedias, your World Almanac, and your thesaurus. Better yet, throw your thesaurus into the wastebasket. The only things creepier than a thesaurus are those little paperbacks college students too lazy to read the assigned novels buy around exam time. Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule. You think you might have misspelled a word? O.K., so here is your choice: either look it up in the dictionary, thereby making sure you have it right- and breaking your train of thought and the writer’s trance in the bargain- or just spell it phonetically and correct it later. Why not? Did you think it was going to go somewhere? And if you need to know the largest city in Brazil and you find you don’t have it in your head, why not write in Miami, or Cleveland? You can check it- but later. When you sit down to write, write. Don’t do anything else except go to the bathroom, and only do that if it absolutely cannot be put off. 6. Know the markets Only a dimwit would send a story about giant vampire bats surrounding a high school to McCall’s. Only a dimwit would send a tender story about a mother and daughter making up their differences on Christmas Eve to Playboy- but people do it all the time. I’m not exaggerating; I have seen such stories in the slush piles of the actual magazines. If you write a good story, why send it out in an ignorant fashion? Would you send your kid out in a snowstorm dressed in Bermuda shorts and a tank top? If you like science fiction, read the magazines. If you want to write confession stories, read the magazines. And so on. It isn’t just a matter of knowing what’s right for the present story; you can begin to catch on, after awhile, to overall rhythms, editorial likes and dislikes, a magazine’s entire slant. Sometimes your reading can influence the next story, and create a sale. 7. Write to entertain Does this mean you can’t write â€Å"serious fiction†? It does not. Somewhere along the line pernicious critics have infested the American reading and writing public with the idea that entertaining fiction and serious ideas do not overlap. This would have surprised Charles Dickens, not to mention Jane Austen, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Bernard Malamud, and hundreds of others. But your serious ideas must always serve your story, not the other way around. I repeat: if you want to preach, get a soapbox. 8. Ask yourself frequently, â€Å"Am I having fun?† The answer needn’t always be yes. But if it’s always no, it’s time for a new project or a new career. 9. How to evaluate criticism Show your piece to a number of people- ten, let us say. Listen carefully to what they tell you. Smile and nod a lot. Then review what was said very carefully. If your critics are all telling you the same thing about some facet of your story- a plot twist that doesn’t work, a character who rings false, stilted narrative, or half a dozen other possibles- change that facet. It doesn’t matter if you really liked that twist of that character; if a lot of people are telling you something is wrong with your piece, it is. If seven or eight of them are hitting on that same thing, I’d still suggest changing it. But if everyone- or even most everyone- is criticizing something different, you can safely disregard what all of them say. 10. Observe all rules for proper submission Return postage, self-addressed envelope, all of that. [Obviously, this is different today, but the sentiment remains: follow editorial guidelines.] 11. An agent? Forget it. For now. Agents get 10% of monies earned by their clients. [Today 15% is standard.] 10% of nothing is nothing. Agents also have to pay the rent. Beginning writers do not contribute to that or any other necessity of life. Flog your stories around yourself. If you’ve done a novel, send around query letters to publishers, one by one, and follow up with sample chapters and/or the manuscript complete. And remember Stephen King’s First Rule of Writers and Agents, learned by bitter personal experience: You don’t need one until you’re making enough for someone to steal- and if you’re making that much, you’ll be able to take your pick of good agents. 12. If it’s bad, kill it When it comes to people, mercy killing is against the law. When it comes to fiction, it is the law. That’s everything you need to know. And if you listened, you can write everything and anything you want. Now I believe I will wish you a pleasant day and sign off. My ten minutes are up. Isn’t it interesting how much of this writing advice holds up after nearly 30 years? What is your favorite of Stephen’s tips? Need help writing your novel?Click here to download my ultimate 12-step guide.

Lost Woods Tent and Caravan Camping Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Copyrights Infringement Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Copyrights Infringement - Case Study Example There is a constant struggle between old economy based laws of copyrights and the new knowledge economy paradigms challenging legal, moral and ethical issues. Aggressive internet entities as Google providing client services which go beyond the normal course of business have raised a number of issues on copyright and trademarks. In the present case of a suit of likely copyright infringement being faced by Wanda, the client's hosts have reportedly displayed extracts of texts and images of books by US publishers. The US publishers are likely to sue Wanda for copyright infringement. Wanda is unable to terminate the arrangements with its clients or remove the items on the web sites on its own due to contractual obligations. The issues to be analyzed are as follows:- UK copyright law is based on the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which is the main legislation which governs intellectual property rights in United Kingdom.2 It essentially covers creators of literary works, in this case and rights to its dissemination including copying and issuing to the public. The authors have a right for being identified as the creators of the work. These are supported by international conventions. The Regulations cover all types of works appearing in a variety of media. A work has to be original and based on some skills and labour employed for the same. It does not however apply to an idea which can be replicated in a different form. The owner of the work is the individual who created it. Rights of a copy of a work cannot be claimed. The period of copyright is said to extend upto 70 years till the last remaining author of the work has passed away. It is therefore an offence to make a copy of the work or adapt it without the writers direct permission un less it, amongst other purposes, is used for educational purposes, critique or news report and included incidentally.3 The law regarding web designing and hosting is relatively clear for example, when a web page is designed under a contract, the webmaster is the owner of the copyright of the underlying code of that website.4 Similarly the content on the web site will also be the prerogative of the web designer and thus he becomes the service provider and hence liable for copyright action. From a preliminary analysis of the case and the UK copyright law it is apparent that there has been infringement which has occurred in the case of the text and images unless the following has been carried out :- (a) Permission of the writer has been taken. (b) It has been done for educational, news reporting, critique or other such literary purpose. In this case an additional factor will be if the source has been quoted which will not invite copyright infringement. (c) It is merely an incidental