Expanding the Literary Canon Essay -- Literature English Essays

Expanding the Literary Canon While this essay can in no way claim to contain a fully representative sampling of what various scholars have contributed relative to the ongoing debate over the literary canon, I will attempt to highlight three distinct positions which are all informed by John Guillory's critical contributions to the canonical debate. First, I will discuss the concept of ideology and canon formation as Guillory first articulated it in his 1983 essay, "The Ideology of Canon Formation: T. S. Eliot and Cleanth Brooks," and which he subsequently thoroughly revised and included in his 1993 book on canon formation, Cultural Capital: The Problem of literary Canon Formation This essay on the ways ideology and cultural politics complicates and informs canon formation, also discusses Guillory's theory concerning the death Joe Weixlmann who offers his own commentary concerning how ideology and politics of literary orthodoxy in favor of a more democratically situated heterodoxy, and how this concept of a hetero doxy might inform the university's literary curriculum. Next, Christopher Ricks' essay, 'What is at stake in the "battle of the books"?" will be analyzed to determine if his attack on Guillory's assertions relative to his critique of the current status of the canonical debate contributes in any meaningful way to opinions about whether or not the literary canon should be revised. Finally, the several critics who have now offered commentary on Guillory's latest theories on canon formation as articulated in Cultural Capital will be discussed relative to how influential they perceive Guillory's latest work to be as it pertains to the ongoing debate over the nature of the extant literary canon. Guillory begins "The Ideol... ...479. Guillory, John. "The Ideology of Canon-Formation: T.S. Eliot and Cleanth Brooks." Critical Inquiry. 10 (1('3~) 144-176. Guillory, John. Cultural Capital: The Problem of Literary Canon Formation. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1993 Readings, Bill. Rev. of Cultural Capital: The Problem of Literary Canon Formation: by John Guillory. Modern Language Quarterly. 55:3 (1994) 321-326 Ricks, Christopher. "What is at stake in the "battle of the books"?," The New Criterion. (1989) 40-44 Robbins, Bruce. "'Real Politics' and the Canon Debate." Rev. of Cultural Capital: The Problem of Literary Canon Formation by John Guillory. Contemporary Literature 35 (1994) 365-375 Roberts, Lynn. Personal interview conducted 13 March 1996 Weixlmann, Joe. "Dealing with the Demands of an Expanding Literary Canon." College English 50 (1988) 273-283

Ordering System Essay

Automated store ordering has been offered as a potential solution to many store level problems: Automation could improve availability, decrease inventories, and reduce the time and labor required for ordering. However, despite the potential advantages, it seems that the majority of retailers have only just started to implement automated ordering systems at store level. Furthermore, very little published information can be found on store level processes, not to mention automated store ordering. Therefore, well-documented research on how and if conventional inventory management practices can be applied at store level operations should be extremely  engrossing both from academic and business viewpoints. This master’s thesis examines how automated store ordering could more efficiently be utilized to improve store operations and performance. The problem is approached first from the theoretical viewpoint: In the literature review, the retail supply chain and store level processes and performance are examined. Furthermore, inventory management and forecasting practices as well as their application in retailing are reviewed. The empirical work in the thesis consists of a part where survey material form the study â€Å"Logistics processes of European grocery retailers† is analyzed, and a case as well as a simulation study. The survey material provides information on how common ASO systems are and what kind of systems actually have been implemented; The case study offers the opportunity to explore the implementation of an ASO system in practice; And the simulations enable developing and testing ways in which the performance of ASO systems can be enhanced. Both the theoretical and empirical parts of the thesis present practical conclusions and results. The most important findings of the thesis are the following: – Many companies have just started to implement automated store ordering systems. The systems in use are typically fairly simple, and they are most often used for managing the normal material flow. Exception situations as well as more challenging product groups are still usually handled manually. – The performance of basic automated store ordering systems can be enhanced by taking into consideration special characteristics of store environment. In case of normal material flow, robust methods are needed to tackle weekday demand and varying replenishment intervals. This can be accomplished by applying material requirements planning logic in order determination. – For efficiently managing promotions with automated store ordering systems, it is important to improve flexibility and react to initial promotion demand. Key words: Automated store ordering, retail logistics, inventory management, retail store processes Language: English Acknowledgements ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special word of thanks to the people who have contributed to the completion of this thesis. First, I would like to thank my instructor, and friend, Johanna Smà ¥ros for her support, feedback and guidance. Without her deadlines, and understanding, this thesis would not exist. My appreciation goes to Professor Kari Tanskanen for his supervision and guidance, and to all the members of the Logistics Research Group for a wonderful and inspiring working environment. I would also like to thank the people in the case company, especially Aleksi. And most of all, I would like to thank those closest to me. My wonderful friends at Helsinki University of Technology have been a great cause of happiness and comfort during the last five years, and especially this spring. Finally, I am deeply grateful to my family: What allows me to risk getting shattered is the knowledge that you will be there to pick up the pieces.

The Impact of Advertising on Consumer Purchase Behavior - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 11 Words: 3286 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Advertising Essay Type Research paper Level High school Did you like this example? It can be said that advertising is a subset promotions in the marketing mix decisions and promotions put simply involves the mass communication of the product offering to the target market (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2013). Other than the obvious reason of persuading customers to make purchases, it is imperative to promote the product offering in order to create an image of the product which becomes one of its differentiating factors (Doyle and Stern, 2006). Furthermore the promotion of a product offering is important to reinforce the information the customers already have about the product (Doyle and Stern, 2006). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Impact of Advertising on Consumer Purchase Behavior" essay for you Create order As mentioned earlier, advertising is one of the components of promoting a product offering and thus it is defined as the paid presentation and promotion of products or services through mass media such as television, radio, newspapers and the internet(Doyle and Stern, 2006). Traditionally, advertising is carried out on the television, radion and in newspapers however disruptive technology like the internet and the phenomena it has made possible has changed advertising and the effect it can have on consumers particularly where it concerns their purchasing decisions (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2013). Illustrating this point, Google and Facebook have created new environments which are part of the networks to which the planet belongs and which operate at break-neck speed (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2013). Furthermore, the internet and social networks have also changed the way individuals communicate such that advertisements do not inherently have to be paid à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" a good re view from one consumer to a group of others can be all the advertisement that a company would need (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2013). In addition to this, advertisements can now be interactive in such a way that the information on the product passed on to the consumer is more targeted and customised (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2013). Thus this paper will be exploring the impact of online advertisements on consumer purchasing behavior first by outlining the theories of how advertising works, then examining the effects online advertisements on consumer purchasing behaviour . How Does Advertising Work? There has been considerable debate on how advertising works however the general consensus has been that there can be no single all embracing theory that explains how all advertising works because they have varied tasks (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2013). For example advertising that attempts to make an instant sale by incorporating a return coupon that can be used to order a product is very different from corporate image advertisements that is aimed at reinforcing attitudes (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2013). Nevertheless, the competing views on how advertising works are the strong theory of advertising and the weak theory of advertising (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2013)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" both theories are based on how they affect customers and their end results. The strong theory follows that a customer passes through the stages of AIDA à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" awareness, interest, desire and action. This theory argues that advertising is strong enough to increase publics knowledge and change their attitude and as a result it is capable of persuading new customers to purchase a brand (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2013)). This is called the conversion theory of advertising: non-buying customers are converted to buyers(Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2013). The product has been criticised on two grounds; one there is little evidence that consumers experience a strong desire before making a purchase because in cases of inexpensive product a customer could very well purchase a brand on a trial basis without any strong conviction that the brand is superior (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2013). The second criticism is that the theory ignores what happens after action as advertisements in mature markets also targets already established customers of the brand (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2013). The weak theory follows that a customer passes through awareness, trial and reinforcement à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" ATR (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2013). This ATR model or theory is widely supp orted in Europe with Ehrenberg (cited by Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2013) explaining that advertising can work exactly the way the ATR model theorises as there is no need for strong emotions like desire and conviction before a first purchase is made. It could simply be a purchase for trial followed by reinforcements. Consumer Purchase Behavior Theory Consumer behavior is the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use or dispose of products, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs and desires (Solomon and Bamossey, 2006, p6). Schiffman and Kanuk (2007, p3) also take a similar approach defining consumer behaviour as the behavior that customers display in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of goods and services they expect will satisy them. Early economists led by Nicholas Bellouni, John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern started to scrutinise the foundation of consumer making decisions (Richarme 2007). They approached the topic from an economic standpoint and focused only on the act of purchase and the most predominant model from this viewpoint is the Utility Theory (Richarme, 2007). The Utility Theory viewed consumers as entirely rational and self interested making their purchase decisions based upon the ability to maximise their use of their desired product whilst expending minimum effort (Richarme 2007). Another approach to consumer purchase theory is the psychodynamic approach which; the key tenet is that consumer behavior is determined by biological drivers rather than individual cognition or environmental stimuli (Bray 2008). Perhaps the most widely cited is the cognitive approach which views the consumer as an information procession (Ribeaux and Poppleton, 1978) who actively seeks and recieves environmental and social stimuli as informational inputs which subsequently aids decision making (Bray 2015). Sheth et al (1991) propose that there are five consumption values influencing consumer purchase choices. The values are functional value, conditional value, social value, emotional value and epistemic value (Sheth et al, 1991). Three fundamental propositions are obvious in the proposed theory and these are: Consumer choice is a function of multiple consumption values (Sheth et al, 1991). The consumption values make different contributions in any given consumer purchase choice (Sheth et al, 1991). The consumption values are independent (Sheth et al, 1991). Online Advertisements and Its Impact on Consumer Purchasing Behavior The beginning on online advertising was in 1994 when Hot Wire sold the first ad banner on their companys website (Bakshi and Gupta, 2013). By year 2000 online advertising spending in the United States had reached $8.2 billion dollars with these numbers increasing to $12.7 billion as more people are connected to the internet and spend more time online (Bakshi and Gupta, 2013). This is a clear sign that online advertising has developed quickly in the last decade. Some of examples of online advertisements includes floating ads, expanding ads, wallpaper ads, trick banners, pop-ups and pop-unders (Bakshi and Gupta, 2013). Now these are the ones instigated by marketers or producers themselves. This paper however puts forward that if advertising (online advertising being no different) is a method of mass-communicating product benefits then online word of mouth or reviews may be considered as an additional method of online advertising albeit the marketers or producers would have very littl e control as to how such reviews are presented. Online Reviews Research has shown that consumer opinion and recommendations actually count towards purchase decision because product review allows consumers to get a feel for the product without making a trial purchase (Murphy, 2015). Recommendation sources according to Andreasen (1968) have a typology as follows: impersonal advocate (mass media), impersonal independent (consumer reports), impersonal advocates (sales clerk) and personal independents (friends) (Senecal and Nantel, 2004). Sencal and Nantel (2004) also report that consumers indicated that for their next purchase of durable goods they would be using first their personal independents as sources of recommendation. This plays directly to customers need for information. Whilst customers could research products through search engines such as Google and Bing. It is never quite like having a first hand account from an unbiased user of the product. Statistics have shown that 80% of online shoppers would change their minds based on online reviews (Murphy, 2015). Supporting this is the fact that in a study carried out in India of the influencers of online purchase decisions, 93% of the respondents indicated that they considered online word of mouth much more reliable than all the other sources of information including the typical online ads (Bakshi and Gupta, 2013). Thus it would logically follow that having bad reviews would correlate with poor sales whereas good reviews would mean good sales (Murphy, 2015). A case in point is the sale for a t-shirt on Amazon which shot up a staggering 2300% in 2009 after a joke review for the T shirt went viral on the the internet (Murphy, 2015). Till date the t-shirt which features three wolves howling at a full moon has garnered over 2000 reviews (Murphy, 2015). Another example is a study which showed that the biggest influencer for holiday shopping recommendations was from friends and family on social media with 63% swayed by Amazon reviews and 24% were from blogger endorsemen ts (Morrison, 2014). Social Media/Social Networks Directly related to online reviews where it concerns online advertising are social networks which could be considered as the platform through which online reviews are exchanged albeit they should be considered separate elements and influencers (Morrison, 2014). Social network platforms such as Facebook which grew by 22% between October 2011 and November 2011 and Youtube which grew 67% percent between the same time frame are the new age medium of online advertising reaching millions of people at a go (Darban and Li, 2012). A study carried out between 2013 and 2014 found that 64% of respondents were convinced of what holiday gift to purchase by a social medium. Social media appears to be so effective that there is at least one social medium guiding consumers through their path to purchase. For example, 58% of respondents to the aforementioned study used Pinterest to find ideas and inspiration, 60% use Facebook to seek promotion whilst 48% share the the purchases they have made on Fac ebook inspiring others to also make purchases (Morrison, 2014). To this end, 11 out of 12 respondents confirmed that they have made purchases as a result of interacting with the producers on social media or interacting with their peers on social media and getting a sort of first hand advertisement of the product online (Darban and Li, 2012). In addition consumers have also indicated that they are able to communicate directly with producers via social media thus speeding up the purchase process as they also indicated that the length of time it sometimes takes to get the information they need from producers can put them off buying the product in the first instance (Darban and Li, 2012). General Online Advertisements In a study carried out on the effects of online advertisements on consumer buying behaviour of branded garments in Pakistan(Afzal and Rabbani Khan, 2015), it was interestingly discovered that there is no direct effect of online advertisements on the buying decisions of branded garmets whereas it was found that there is a significant indirect effect of online advertisements on consumer buying decisions because of advertising characteristics and consumer attitudes (Afzal and Rabbani Khan, 2015). Conversely, in another study carried out it was found that contrary to the the discovery of the study in Pakistan there was a direct link between online banner advertisements and the making of purchases or purchase decisions (Li and Leckenby, 2004) . Interesting another study showed that revenue garnered as a result of online banner ads (which attracted the most revenue) were on a high from 1998 when 56% of revenue made by the respondent company were from online banner ads. However, by the ye ar 2001 these numbers had began falling until 2003 when it was only at 21% (Li and Leckenby, 2004). These studies did not give the reason as to the decline banner ads generated revenue. However the study in Pakistan had reported that consumers seemed to place more stock on word of mouth such as online reviews and a large percentage of the revenue generated by the participating companies were from loyal customers and refferrals (Afzal and Rabbani Khan, 2015). These go back to reiterate the points of discussion in the previous section of this paper as to the effectiveness of social media platforms and online reviews as a method of marketing. Thus it would appear that other methods or forms of online advertisement do not perform as well as social media platforms and online word of mouth it terms of being revenue generators. The logical question to ask then is why this is so? The answer is not far-fetched and probably lies in the results of a study carried out on consumer perception of online advertisements (Priyanka, 2012). The options provided were entertaining, informative, irritation, credibility, interactivity and purchase. The respondents to these study were further adjusted for age in order to get a clear picture as to the age range of consumers and their perspective (Priyanka, 2012). Of the 100 respondents to the study, irrespective of age, 22 found online advertisements informative, 18 found them irritating whilst 18 respondents have made purchases because of online advertisements (Priyanka, 2012). Of those the respondents who made purchases 6 were between the ages of 41-50 whilst 5 respondents were of the older than 50 age group (Priyanka, 2012). In addition a very small percentage of this age group found online adverts credible which could mean that perhaps if they percieved online adverts as more credible they could be looking to making more purchases (Priyanka, 2012). Surprising this age group also found online adverts less irritating but also less informative (Priyanka, 2012). This could logically be reasoned to be as a result of the fact that most purchasers of this age actually want more information before they make purchases and are willing to suffer through online advertisements perhaps because they are not skilled in surfing social media platforms to gain more information of the product (the study also showed that only a very small percentage of the above 50 age group do not surf the internet or engage in online window shopping) (Priyanka, 2012). Thus it would appear that forms of advertisement other than social media and online word of mouth walk a tight rope of being irritating and putting the consumer off thereby having a negative impact on consumer purchasing decisions. Other Forms of Advertisements and its Impact on Consumer Purchase Behavior In a study of 175 respondents carried out by Iqbal et al (2013) to determine the relationship between brand perception, advertising and consumer purchase behavior. Their findings, analysis and results showed that advertisements had a positive effect on brand perception and consumer purchase behavior, particularly in teenage consumers (Iqbal et al, 2013). Similarly Mel et al (cited by Malik et al 2014) argues that over time, advertisement plays a major role in influencing the consumer such that they become less price sensitive. In the same vein, Ackerbergm (cited by Malik et al, 2014) also argues that advertising is a great source of product learning for consumers. However image advertising and prestige advertising appears to have less significance in creating or instigating a learning process about the product (Malik et al, 2014). In other words, advertisements have a more positive effect on consumer purchase behavior if the advertisement includes informational content (Malik et al , 2014). Added to this is the fact that, it has been discovered that the more interactive an advertisement is the more it captivates the attention of the consumer and the more impact it actually has on consumer decision (Iqbal et al, 2013). In comparison to online advertisements, the general consensus amongst scholars about traditional methods of advertisements appears to be that there is some positive impact on consumer purchase behavior ranging from product learning, to a decrease in price sensitivity and an increase in actual purchases (Kumar and Raju, 2013). This paper argues that perhaps this is due to the fact that producers or marketing managers have more control over traditional methods of advertisements. Wheresas with online advertisements, consumers are able to ignore the advertisements, pro-actively initiate the product learning process themselves thus controlling what they learn about the product which could be positive or negative. Conclusion This paper focused on the impact of advertisements (with a focus on online advertisements) on consumer purchase decisions. The strong and weak theories of advertisement were examined in order to determine the way in which advertisements work. Furthermore, some key elements of online advertising such as word of mouth by way of online reviews on social media platforms were examined in detail as well as their impact on consumer purchase decision. Finally online advertisements in general and how they influence consumer purchase decision was also examined. From the aforementioned examination and analysis, it can be concluded that online advertisements in whatever form can have either a positive or negative impact on consumer purchase decisions. Marketing managers appear to have very little influence on how the advertisements will impact consumer purchase behavior. Thus making the results inconsistent. Perhaps this is because the internet is such a fast-paced and volatile environment. In sharp contrast, it was discovered that traditional methods of advertisements have consistent (across various studies) positive impact on consumer purchase behavior. It can also be concluded that of all the forms of online advertisement, online reviews are perhaps the most volatile and prone to resulting in a negative impact on purchase decisions. Nevertheless, it is also quite likely to bring on the most amount of sales within a short period of time. It was discovered that consumers find some online adverts annoying which also influences their decision to allow the engagement of their attention and consequently their money in making the final purchase. In addition, it was also found that there are positive correlations between online adverts and consumer purchase behavior in that the online adverts triggers the customers interest in a product and eventually leads to a purchase. References Afzal, S. and Rabbani Khan, J. (2015). Impact of Online and Conventional Advertisements on Consumer Buying Behaviour of Branded Garments. Asian Journal of Management Sciences and Education, 4(1), pp.126 135. Bakshi, G. and Gupta, S. (2013). Online Advertising and Its Impact on Consumer Buying Behaviour. International Journal of Research in Finance and Marketing, 3(1), pp.21-30. Bray, J. (2008). Consumer Behaviour Theory: Approaches and Models. 1st ed. [eBook] Available at: https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/10107/ Darban, A. and Li, W. (2012). The Impact of Online Social Networks on Consumer Purchasing Decision. Masters. Jonkoping University. Doyle, P. and Stern, P. (2006). Marketing management and strategy. 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education. Jobber, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2013). Principles and Practice of Marketing. 7th ed. Berkshire: McGraw Hill Education. Kumar, D Raju, V. (2013). The Role of Advertising in Consumer Decision Making. IOSR Journal of Busines s and Management, 14(4), pp.37-45. Li, H. and Leckenby, J. (2004). Internet Advertising Formats and Effectiveness. 1st ed. [eBook] Available at: https://brosephstalin.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/ad_format_print.pdf Malik, M., Ghafoor, M. and Iqbal, H. (2014). The Impact of Advertisement and Consumer Perception on Consumer Buying Behaviour. International Review of Social Sciences and Humanities, 6(2), pp.55-64. Iqbal.H., Malik, M., Ghafoor, M., Ali, Q., Hunbal, H., Noman, M. and Ahmad, B. (2013). Impact of Brand Image and Advertisements on Consumer Buying Behaviour. World Applied Sciences Journal, 23(1), pp.117 122. Morrison, K. (2014). Social Media Has Changed How Consumers Shop Online [Infographic]. [Online] Adweek.com. Available at: https://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/social-media-changed-consumers-shop-online-infographic/209738 Murphy, M. (2015). Understanding consumers: How the Internet has affected purchasing habits. [Online] Blog.rdpr.co.uk. Available at: https: //blog.rdpr.co.uk/how-has-the-internet-affected-purchasing-habits Priyanka, S. (2012). A study on the impact of online advertising on consumer behaviour (with special reference to emails). International Journal of Engineering and Management Sciences, [Online] 3(4). Available at: https://scienceandnature.org/IJEMS-Vol3 (4)-Oct2012/IJEMS_V3(4)10.pdf Ribeaux, P. and Poppleton, S. (1978). Psychology and work. London: Macmillan. Richarme, M. (2007). Consumer Decision Making Models Article [Online] Decisionanalyst.com. Available at: https://www.decisionanalyst.com/publ_art/decisionmaking.dai Schiffman, L. and Kanuk, L. (2007). Consumer Behaviour. 9th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Senecal, S. and Nantel, J. (2004). The influence of online product recommendations on consumers online choices. Journal of Retailing, 80(2), pp.159-169. Sheth, J., Newman, B. and Gross, B. (1991). Why we buy what we buy: A theory of consumption values. Journal of Business Research, 22(2), pp.15 9-170. Solomon, M. and Bamossy, G. (2006). Consumer behaviour. 3rd ed. Harlow, England: Financial Times/Prentice Hall.

Environmental Risk Management for Construction Industry Free Essay Example, 1500 words

Carbon dioxide released by construction industry and also various other industries in the form of smokes causes global warming, air pollution and importantly damages many things. It is a common fact that humans normally exhale carbon dioxide, as build up of it in the human body will kill the person. But, Carbon dioxide exiting from the construction industry will affect the human s various organs causing cancers, lung diseases etc. The eco-damaging products and the resultant global warming is also increasing the hotness of the earth, making summer months hotter and even extending its durations. This is causing heat-related deaths in large numbers. With the increase in temperature and the related discomforts, the people s stress increases to peak levels causing heart attacks, particularly among old persons. Also, the extreme weather conditions caused by the global warming have enhanced the hydrological cycle of our earth leading to evaporations on a larger scale, resulting in droughts . The droughts could be seen occurring in many countries with agriculture being the worst affected field. The extreme weather conditions have also lead to the initiation and transmission of various diseases. We will write a custom essay sample on Environmental Risk Management for Construction Industry or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page The role of this council is the introduction of measures to reduce the damaging emissions to minimum levels. And among the 36 companies, the construction major British Land has taken a lot of initiatives to reduce the Carbon dioxide emissions to bare minimum.

Understanding Vs. Knowing in Atwood’s Oryx and Crake Essay

It is often simpler to settle for an understanding of the world and people around us instead of trying to know the truth. Truth has consequences; by knowing too much, one can lose a friend, learn a deadly secret, or become someone they do not want to be. To express his understanding of himself and the world around him, Crake in Oryx and Crake uses quote-bearing fridge magnets. One very important quote is â€Å"We understand more than we know†. It is important to recognize the difference between the terms understand and know; the Oxford English Dictionary defines to understand as to perceive the significance, explanation, or cause of, whereas to know is to be absolutely certain or sure about something. There is certainly a difference,†¦show more content†¦However, there are many characteristics that remain uncontrolled in the Crakers, and these people eventually begin to create art and place both Oryx and Crake in God-like positions in their society: two things agains t which Crake had warned. Crake’s understanding of biology and psychology leads the Crakers to initially have none of humanity’s flaws. This shows Crake’s grand understanding of biology, but not any knowledge of how these people will soon acquire notions of art, gods, or symbolism. He has done few trials, and consequently has little evidence to prove that the Children of Crake will be successful. Furthermore, Crake is able to understand Jimmy’s incredible attraction to Oryx from the first time they glimpse her on the HottTotts website. He saves her image, possibly with the intentions of one day finding this girl to use against Jimmy. What Crake understands is Jimmy’s love for Oryx, but what he doesn’t know is that Jimmy will choose in the end to not let him and Oryx re-enter the Paradice Dome. Jimmy accepts that for complete renewal of the human race, not only Crake, but Oryx as well, must die, â€Å"for both have sinned against the potential goodness of humanity† and â€Å"she is a hinge in Crake’s attempt to re-enter Paradice† (DiMarco 191). Whereas Jimmy had been known to Crake to be one to be fearful and easily controlled, this time he takes a powerful stance against Crake’s plan and proves that Crake

Management course paper Free Essays

Roger and Roethlisberger state in their highly acclaimed article â€Å"Barriers and Gateway to  Communication† that one of the major barriers effecting interpersonal communication  between two human beings is the evaluative nature of Human Beings. In a typical inter  personal communication between two individuals each person tries to evaluate the attitude of  the partner towards oneself. Furthermore each party looks for signs of negative perception  about oneself in the eyes of the partner at the same time passing negative judgment about the  partner. We will write a custom essay sample on Management course paper or any similar topic only for you Order Now So essentially an individual analyzes the communication to determine the answers to  following questions; What is his/her attitude towards me? What does he/she think about me and my opinion and ideas? What do I think about him/her (What kind of a person is he?)? Thus in the process of finding answers to these questions people tend to miss out the main  points and the true meaning of what the partner is trying to say. This situation leads to  misunderstanding and the communication turns into an argument which may further  deteriorate into a verbal war. Roger and Roethlisberger propose that active listening helps to make the communication  effective. Active listening means that a person must be able to understand what exactly  his/her partner is trying to say? This can be achieved when one understands the emotions and  feelings of the partner and perceives the partner’s words as the partner perceives them. Thus  in a communication each individual must restate their partners words to their partners  satisfaction, this ensures that the person gets the true meaning of his partners statements. Perceiving the others frame of mind is only possible when one checks his tendency to [1]  evaluate, thus effective listening is not an easy task in fact it is a skill which has to be  gradually developed.  Roger and Roethlisberger further propose that when interpersonal communication takes  place at a group level it becomes difficult to perceive the opponents frame of mind so using a  mediator who restates the statements of each person or group helps to solve the problem.  When an individual knows that his statements are being restated to his satisfaction and the  fact that he is being understood mollifies him, he in turn tries to understand what his  opponent wants to say? And the communication progresses effectively and a solution to the  problem in discussion is easily achieved. Answer to Question 2 The process of active listening in an interpersonal communication requires that an individual  empathies with the partner. This is accomplished by perceiving the world as perceived by the  partner, however involving oneself in the frame of reference of another individual may lead  to unwanted outcomes. The following is a list of unwanted possibilities that may occur due to  extreme empathy. A person may begin to appreciate others ideas over his own.  His priorities may be replaced by someone else’s. An individual may loose his identity and his personality may be altered.  He may be manipulated by the person he is empathizing with or other people may   perceive he is being manipulated or is working under someone’s influence.  Because of these reasons people tend to be afraid of active listening, furthermore active  listening is possible only when both the parties engaging in an interpersonal communication  are willing to implement the techniques of active listening. In case only one individual  practices active listening while the other continues in an argumentative mode then the  individual who is using active listening may be discouraged in doing so and may resort to  adopt an argumentative approach. The fear of active listening is more apparent in real life work environment. In an organization  every individual is accountable to their immediate boss and is responsible for their immediate  subordinates. The manager looks at all things from a broader perspective and is responsible  for activities of all his subordinates, thus he has to make sure that the function that is  delegated to him synchronizes well with other organizational function in the process of  achieving the organizational objective. A subordinate on the other hand works on a narrower  perspective and is only responsible for the job allotted to him or the team to which he  belongs, so a subordinate is only concerned with the problem that he faces in the process of  accomplishing his task. In an interpersonal communication between the manager and a subordinate the manager  stands the risk of loosing his priorities if he applies active listening. Let us consider a factual  case where a group of laborers present their problems to a manager who is genuinely  concerned about his subordinates as well as the company as a whole. If the manager gets  totally involved in his perception of the subordinates frame of reference then he looses his  perspective and begins to evaluate the situation from a narrower perspective in doing so he  forgets to analyze the situation from the organizational point of view and rather takes works  on the problem at a personal level. Thus active listening is best practiced when the manager is capable of using the technique  without getting deeply involved in subordinate’s frame of reference. Managers who  successfully employ active listening are able to make their subordinates feel good and this  also helps in motivating the subordinates, furthermore managers who practice active listening  are capable of gaining their subordinates trust and respect. (Roger Roethlisberger) [1] Roger and Roethlisberger (Barriers and Gateway to communication 1991)    How to cite Management course paper, Essay examples

Designing - Improving and Implementing Business Processes

Question: Discussthe designing, improving and implementing business processes. Answer: Introduction: The idea of the term business process can be described as a set of rationally correlated commercial activities that come together to deliver a valuable achievement (like products, goods, services or information) to a consumer. As discussed by Weske 2012, it may frequently be envisaged as achartof a progression of actions with interrelated conclusion point or as a Process Matrix of a series of actions with significant rules based on the information and data in the procedure. It is important for a company to design the business process rightly and pragmatically and implement it when it is typically needed. It is also important for a company to concentrate on the improvement and remodeling of the business process when needed. With the help of this business process, a company can achieve some strategic successes. Discussion: As discussed by Jeston and Nelis 2014, theactivitiesof shaping theworkflow,needs of the equipment, and the requirements for implementation of a particularprocess can be designated as the process designing. Business process designing is needed for ensuring the efficiency, customer satisfaction and the management of the human resource of the company. As opined by Rademakers 2012, the business process designing characteristicallyuses some tools and calculating instruments like the flowchart, processsimulationsoftware, andscalemodels. Previously, when I did not have any idea about the designing improving and implementing the business processes, I had a false notion that a company does not need such plan. I had an idea that the companies are only making reactions to the market demands. Now the course of this study has changed my perception regarding the designing, implementing and improving the business processes. Now, I can understand that the modern day organizations should put the fore most priority to the designing of the Business process. Before adopting any major project, it is important for a company to examine and classify their business processes, and then converse and dissimilate these processes among the concerned personnel who need them. This course of study has helped me to understand the implication of the designing, improving and implementing the business processes. Before this session, I did not have a clear idea and insight of the Business Process of an organization. Naturally, I did not have any understanding of the importance of the pragmatic designing, improving as well as the right and exact implementation of the business processes. As discussed by Schmiedel et al. 2014, the idea of Business Process modeling has appeared rapidly during the last two or three decades, and it hassubstituted earlier organizational efficiency practices such as the Time and Motion Study (TMS) or Total Quality Management (TQM). The effective designing and implementation of the Business Processes can provide an organization a huge success in transparency, accountability and efficiency in performance. As opined by Vom Brocke et al. 2014, the business process design and implementation is a continuous process. Now, as understood within the course of the study, I can designate the idea of business process improvement as the methodical approach to assist an organization to optimize its fundamental procedures to accomplish more well-organized and efficient results. As discussed by Conforti et al. 2013, the idea of business process improvement was first acknowledged by H. James Harrington in his book named Business Process Improvement in the year of 1991. On the other hand, the implementation of the business process is also needed for a company, as it is not enough just to design a strategy. Thus, this course of study has provided me a better understanding of the designing, implementing and improving the business processes of a company. I think business process management helps an organization in a number of ways in its aim of achieving the strategic goals. The business process management helps an organization in the following potential ways: I think that a strategically adopted business process helps an organization in aligning its regular operations with the New Business Strategy of the same. Executing or modifying a business strategy typically requires a number of changes to the procedures and people performing the work (McElheran 2015). The Business Process Modeling helps here by serving managers and executives in maintaining uniformity across the processes while maintaining an eye on the general strategy of the organization. I think the Business Process Modeling helps in the documenting and communicating of the organization's business processes to the employees. As the core idea of business process designing tells the employees and the authority that what is to be done, it helps in creating job clarity within the organization. In addition to this, as opined by Gong and Janssen 2012, the business process designing and managing help in assessing the business practice as part of a managerial development project. By ensuring an increased efficiency and improving the channel and process of communication, the business process management helps in managerial and organizational development. According to my own perception developed in the process of the course of study, the business process management helps an organization in its overall management. The course of the study made me realize that the business process management can be described as a methodical approach to make a companys workflow more successful, better organized and more competent of acclimatizing to an ever-changing business atmosphere. (Source: Gong and Janssen 2012) As discussed by Ottensooser et al. 2012, by improving the efficiency of the business operation the business process management helps an organization to reduce its production and operation costs. A simplified operation helps the management to operate in a controlled and superior manner. In addition to this, according to my opinion, the business process management helps a company to reduce its market risks. As the business process management consists of a number of logically calculated strategies to enhance the workflow of the company. Therefore, it typically helps in reducing the market threats of a company. On the other hand, by ensuring all the above-discussed factors the business process management helps an organization to achieve success as it improves the quality of the produce and the services of the company. It helps the company in ensuring a better branding in the market. Thus, the business process management helps in ensuring the organizational success. In the course of the study, I have participated in a number of activities and discussions regarding the concerned topic. These discussions and activities helped me to enrich myself with the right and pragmatic process of designing, implementing and improving the business process. Now I know that the business process designing is done by following two sequential steps. These are the analysis of the existing process of business operation and then designing a new one (Vuki et al. 2013). In the analysis stage of a business process design, is the experts identify with the procedures of the business function and interact. Then by the result of the analysis stage, the experts improve the system of operating and interacting in the business. Thus, a company designs a business model. This knowledge of business process management will help me in creating and better implementation of the business process management in my own workplace. This course of study has provided me the idea that the organizations which are more or less process oriented are in a better position in executing the practices projected by the BPM, however, those have no such regulation should include a development stage for the "enablement" on the attitude of BPM (Lohrmann and Reichert 2012). Now I know that there are some prerequisites in implementing a successful business process. It is important to determine that my workplace need; a strategic or a tactical business process model. This course of study has trained to me analysis the current business process and its efficiency in the operation of the company. As opined by Vera-Baquero et al. 2013, it is important to collect the experts input before the designing of the business process. With a number of software and web based applications, I can ensure a better quality of prior analysis. This course of the study has given me the knowledge of such software and applications. After analysis, I have to go for the designing or improving the business process in my workplace. My knowledge will help me in examining choices for accomplishing development by redesigning the procedure currently in operation. As opined by Seethamraju 2012, it is important to categorize and prioritize parts for improvement and implementing the process design according to an agreed schedule. All these knowledge I obtained from the discussions and activities I have attended in the course of the study. Now, I know the basic features and stages those have to be followed in implementing any business process. The discussions I attended gave me the idea of the importance of t esting the cases of the execution of the finally developed business process model. I have to gather both commercial experts and the end users recognitions after iteration, and utilize the feedback in to make improvement in each stage (Yan et al. 2012). As discussed by Vuki et al. 2013, it is important for the users to be trained to the business process of the organization. Here, the study will help me in the implementation of the process. Now, I know that it is important for the company to deploy the application in the production environment. Once the model is automated, I must gather information from performance meters, recognize areas for upgrading and do replications (Becker et al. 2013). The examination of this information will be essential for the realization of future improvements. Thus, providing knowledge about the process of designing, implementing and improving the business processes these activities and discussions helped me to improve my organization and its operation. Now, along with this above discussion, few challenges those the BPMs face should also be mentioned. The discussions I have attended, gave me the knowledge that the BPMs sometimes face issues like, lack of funding, the old functional thinking, the change management of the company, the conflict in determining the tools and methodologies, the closing of the process, the knowledge of implementing the BPMs, etc. However, as discussed by Seethamraju 2012, it is tough for a company to eliminate such challenges. But, by eliminating them they can be able to ensure a better quality of business management and thus achieve the strategic goals more successfully (Christin et al. 2014). Conclusion: Scrutinizing and defining an organizations business process is the solitary crucial step necessary to comprehend how a business works, how that company wants or requires to work, and how to proceed in bridging the gap between the two. A business process is completely independent of who carries out the actions and the directorial structure of the company. A distinct set of business processes can be utilized as a framework for evaluating the influence of changes across the business. Therefore, it is crucial for a company to design, implement and improve the business processes in a pragmatic and market-oriented manner. References: Becker, J., Kugeler, M. and Rosemann, M. eds., 2013.Process management: a guide for the design of business processes. Springer Science Business Media. Christin Jurisch, M., Palka, W., Wolf, P. and Krcmar, H., 2014. Which capabilities matter for successful business process change?.Business Process Management Journal,20(1), pp.47-67. 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Making sense of business process descriptions: An experimental comparison of graphical and textual notations.Journal of Systems and Software,85(3), pp.596-606. Rademakers, T., 2012.Activiti in Action: Executable business processes in BPMN 2.0. Manning. Schmiedel, T., Vom Brocke, J. and Recker, J., 2014. Development and validation of an instrument to measure organizational cultures support of business process management.Information Management,51(1), pp.43-56. Seethamraju, R., 2012. Business process management: a missing link in business education.Business Process Management Journal,18(3), pp.532-547. Vera-Baquero, A., Colomo-Palacios, R. and Molloy, O., 2013. Business process analytics using a big data approach.IT Professional,15(6), pp.29-35. Vom Brocke, J., Schmiedel, T., Recker, J., Trkman, P., Mertens, W. and Viaene, S., 2014. Ten principles of good business process management.Business Process Management Journal,20(4), pp.530-548. Vuki, V.B., Bach, M.P. and Popovi , A., 2013. Supporting performance management with business process management and business intelligence: A case analysis of integration and orchestration.International journal of information management,33(4), pp.613-619. Weske, M., 2012.Business process management: concepts, languages, architectures. Springer Science Business Media. Yan, Z., Dijkman, R. and Grefen, P., 2012. Business process model repositoriesFramework and survey.Information and Software Technology,54(4), pp.380-395.