Book Analysis on Undercover Essay Example for Free

Book Analysis on Undercover EssayAs the days grow shorter, Elisa worries that the more and more urgent letters she sends her father wint bring him home. Like the undercover agent she feels she has be take after, Elisa retreats to a pond in the woods, where her talent for ice-skating gives her the confidence to come out from under cover and take centre stage. But when Lila becomes jealous of Theos friendship with Elisa, her revenge nearly destroys Elisas ice-skating dreams and her plan to reunite her family. A. Book 1. Author Beth Kephart was nominated for the National Book Award for her book A SLANT OF SUN.In 2000, she received a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and she also won church bench Fellowships in Arts grant in 2005. At the age of nine, Beth Kephart began to skate on a pond in Boston, where she taught herself the e unfeignedly moves Elisa t apiecees herself in this degree. Beth won her first competitive freestyle competition at a Wilmington, Delaware, rink. T oday she ballroom dances and is an avid gardener. She lives in Pennsylvania with her family. 2. Title The main character in the tommyrot fits the title under cover, the fact that the main character hides her learning of skiing to her friends and family. B. Characters ProtagonistElisa Cantor- she is a fathers daughter and doesnt genuinely relate well with her mother and sister. Antagonist Lisa- Theos girlfriend known for her beauty and popularity. Supporting Characters Tina Cantor- Elisa and Jillys Mother. Jilly- Elisas Sister, she is a very fashionable teenager like her mother. Mr. Cantor- Elisas Father, he understands Elisa. Theo- Elisas classmate in Honors English, a special friend and one of the boys who beg love notes from Elisa. Margie- Elisas past best friend in eighth grade and classmate in Honors English. Dr. Charmin- an Honors English teacher and believed and supports Elisas talent in writing.Mr. Marcoroon- a strict Math teacher. Mrs. Garland- a friend of Tina. Stuart l ittle- a client of Mr. Cantor in San Francisco. Sarah- an Honour English student. II. Plot A. rendering 1. Setting The story takes place in a pond in the woods where she always find herself at ease and thinking she could be herself at that place alone while skating. B. Complication When her father has to go away for work it makes their life complicated. To make it even more complicated, Elisa starts to fall on a boy who she is providing with poetry to woo another girl. C. Climax Lila tore the dress of Elisa before the start of the skating competition.D. Denouement Elisa never let herself be defeated by wearing the torn dress made by the antagonist, Lila, while skating gracefully. E. Resolution Yes its a happy ending because finally her family was once again reunited and everyone accepted the real her. III. Analysis 1. Did you admire the author for writing this book? Why? Yes. A teenager who reads this book would really understand the feelings and thinkings of the main character o f the story. Many teenagers can relate of how it feels to be a loner or to be bullied. 2. Tell something almost the cover, did it spark your interest? Does it fit the story?It did spark my interest because it makes me wonder what story it will give me. Yes it does fit in the story because the covers do ordinate the story. 3. Who is your most favourite character? Why? My favourite character in the story is Elisa Cantor. For being brave enough to uncover her great skill to everybody even when she herself has no confidence that everyone would accept her and gain their respect. 4. Who is your least favourite character? Why? My least favourite character in the story is Lisa, because of her green-eyed monster of Theos friendship with Elisa her revenge nearly destroys Elisas ice-skating dreams and her plan to reunite her family. . What is your favourite fraction of the story? Why? My favourite part of the story is when Elisa got sick during the last days of Christmas season, which was the time that her sister and mother took care of her and after her sickness they finally become close to each other. 6. What is your least favourite part of the story? Why? My least favourite part of the story is when Lisa and her friends destroyed Elisas dress that was made by her mother and sister for the ice-skating competition. 7. Discuss your favourite quote from the story. You do not have to be good.You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. stave the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain Are moving across the landscape, Over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the saucy blue air, Are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, The world offers itself to your imagination,Calls to you like the wild geese , harsh and exciting Over and over announcing your place in the family of things. It tells about a person who doesnt have to be perfect just to meet their expectations. Being yourself is a lot more happy and subdued than pretending or trying to be someone you are not. 8. What is your realization about life after reading the novel? After reading the story I realize in life that you shouldnt hide yourself from others, usurpt be scared of letting them know your true self and dont give up on something that you havent tried yet.

Presentation Essay Example for Free

Presentation EssayAs a matter of introduction, I would provide the students with all relevant data concerning the topic in question and thereafter introduce the use of graphic organizers. Firstly, I would let the students be in pairs and assign them a task which forget require the two to discuss. I would henceforth combine several pairs of the students to form a small group for purposes of discussion. Thereafter, I would join the small groups to form the square anatomy and therefore let them work as a class. The first step of teaching the students helps them to learn all the required concepts before they are allowed to arrive at the concepts through graphic organizers (Danford, 2006). Step two which has given two students the chance to read through their books and hence gather instruction. The sub-groups on the other hand helps the students to canvass any training they came up with and therefore be able to decide what was the required information. Given that the groups wi ll have drawn a conclusion, the whole class shall benefit when the results are read by different leaders of the small groups.Finally, I would request the students to all write a report individually which shows their masterful level. The next step in my plan would be to help the students be able to attain the objectives of the lessons as per the requirements. This I would help the students to achieve the right information for the specific class. Graphic organizers would be best to use where I would allow the students to identify the required concepts of the lesson. Most students would be able to assimilate all the information about a specific lesson only when they are given a brief summary which contains the objectives of the lesson (Adams, 2007).Therefore, graphic organizers would help me to summarize all the required concepts for students to earn easily. With this I would let the students know that the objectives of the specific lesson are summarized in the graphic organizer. The following is an example of a graphic organizer that highlights on events which depend on certain inputs and specific requirements for the issue to be as desired. The above graphic organizer has elaborated on how the required results of the task would not be got without the input which has to go through certain processing to attain the required specification.Michael (2004) observed that this type graphic organizer helps the students during their revision to spot the necessity of specific requirements for the output to be as desired. Students shall hence be in a position to formulate several relating questions especially on the requirements for the output to be as specified. for the most part the graphic organizer will hence be of help to the students especially in identifying the right flow of the required process before they get the last-place result.

Whether Media Actually Leads To Homogenisation Process Media Essay

Whether Media Actually Leads To Homogenisation Process Media EssayGlobalisation and media atomic number 18 close inter-connected. The growth of planetaryisation has accelerated to a macroscopic extent with the growth and development of media technology especially in aras of TV, films, internet, videos, practice of medicine, new-sprung(prenominal)s etc. Media acts as an instrument of worldwideisation in generating homogenisation by disruptioning pagan symbols, ideas and practices across socio cultural settings of the dry land. The tinct of media is instant, it moves quicker than any solid goods or pack. It has a amazing feign on both sustaining and weakening or eroding the fabric of amicable life. The more efficient the media is in communicating, the more effective it is in stabilising or destabilising existing social, political, religious etc scenario. Media actively haves peoples identicalness across the dimensions of nations, race, class, gender, ethnicity etc in a number of ways, which often lead to homogenisation process. The media imposes their kingful images, sounds and advertisements on a vast range of peoples of the world who most often succumb to their messages which are mostly designed to increase the profits of capitalistic firms. Globalisation involves expanding worldwide flows of material objects and symbols and the proliferation of organisations and institutions within globose r distributively that structure those flows. The process of ball-shapedisation is also characterised by descents that are mediated through symbols of determine, preferences and tastes etc through the powerful impact of media. The impact of media planetaryisation is manifold it can lead to hybridisation of cultures, assertion of cultural autonomy and identity, cultural conflict, local anesthetic anaestheticisation, creolisation and homogenisation. However in my paper the focus is mainly on the homogenising effect of media sphericalization on the socio cultural settings of the world and the factors which facilitates the creation of this homogenisation.Hannerz distinguishes between three dimensions of culture, which indicates that cultures are susceptible to global dynamicsIdeas and modes of thoughts The entire array of concepts, propositions, values and mental operations that people within some social unit carry unneurotic.Forms of externalisation The different ways in which ideas and modes of thought are do public and made accessible to the senses eg, gives of artistry, food habits etc.Social distribution The ways in which peoples ideas and modes of thoughts and external forms are spread all over a population and its social relationships.Thus, understanding structures of shared knowledge, values, beliefs, experience and esteemings in all their complexities remain the core concern of cultural analysis. Media technology plays a study part in transmission of the second and third dimension of Hannerz definition of cultur e. According to Hannerz, media in particular are machineries of meanings they enable communication without being in nonpareil(a) new(prenominal)s immediate presence. In contemporary complex cultures, people increasingly make use of goods and services of the media to externalise and distribute their ideas and thoughts throughout the world. This is how cultures as a ashes of meanings, symbols and actions get ex raise uped in different form and media plays a major role in their transmission across the rest of the globe. thereof culture is also active sharedness. The concept of de territorialisation as also referred by Appadurai, explains the inter connectivity of cultures across nations. These cultures are in contact with media in one way or the other and constantly influence each other in terms of tastes, styles, value systems, ideas, meanings and practices.According to Ritzer, the theory of socialisation and social interaction teach that human transcend in their social pigeo nholing through a process of acquiring culture and other gestures from parents and other social group members and social facts that happen in the environment in which the person lives. Here the environment in which each individual lives also includes media mediation and translation of social reality and thus culture is transmitted and diffused across cultures through the workings of the media.Media also play a major role in the unvarying re shaping of cultural identity. Benedict Anderson, points out that nation as imagined communities often started out as media audience. Media articulate the meanings and experiences associated with particular social identities in a globalised context and export them to different distant places. Arjun Appadurai makes clear that people around the world are increasingly living a fictional lives based on media narratives and imagery. People around the world can now connect with like- minded others which binds people together irrespective of language, h ome background and socio economic circumstances eg- trueness to Real Madrid or Manchester United as global football club. Internet connections enable fans scattered across the globe to remain in stir up and meet up regularly. Popular culture leads to formation of distinctive organisational forms and practices which are hybrid in nature. They are neither local nor global but a distinctive hybrid culture of transnational where fan clubs of a particular sport like football, cricket etc or iconic figures like Michael Jackson surface together and form a unique transnational group where hybrid names, emblems and material products emerge. This trend emerges with the formation of internet communities and networks. They allow intensive contact with other cultures without actual bodily or localized contact and have an impact on the minds and practices of the people. However the intensity of impact depends on the way in which culture are processes and digested in the receiving cultures. Ne w channels of intensified social connectivity are permitted by contemporary electronic media Eg- social networking sites like facebook, orkut etc. Live global television covering a single event carried through the satellite news carriers covers varied and diverse locations and geographical areas. This brings together people across neat distances and social relations become radically freed from local contexts, and spatial distances become less important, and a greater consciousness of a world outside the local context come into picture. It produces a sense of globalised reality eg- the recent FIFA World 2010, Cricket World Cup 2011 etc. This live global television is go through by large numbers of people worldwide and creates an extension of social connections across time and space. Increased oneness of the world is accelerated by much(prenominal) forces. There is international corporate avouchership of media first steps which ensures that there is an increasing consumption of m aterial goods and sharing of cultural icons across large numbers of people. These processes construct a shared experience of time and a collective memory for different groups of people. Thus Mass culture is created which is a product of modern communications.There is a huge amount of debate on whether media leads to homogenisation process and thereby the subsequent creation of Global culture and whether there is such thing as global culture. Is the widening and deepening of international flows of culture through media in a single integrated market leading to the emergence of a global culture? The term global cultural flow according to Arjun Appadurai, is used to indicate the simultaneous fluid movement and changing meaning of ideas as considerably as their location and passage through specific historical, linguistic and political contexts. Global culture is used to de none the growth uniformity and homogenisation of the worlds cultures which serves as a magnet attracting people to particular ideas regarding economic opportunities and consumption.Consumer cultureGlobal culture is often held to be a media driven construct dependent upon the profit seeking performance of mass mediated signs and symbols. The emergence of global culture is often taken as the direct outcome of the capitalist market institution restructuring to get desires, create needs and thereby open up a new arena for capital accumulation leading to commoditisation, commercialisation and consumerism made possible by media ads and communication industries in their drive to maximise profits. Global consumerism thrives on the promotion of brand names like rolex, addidas, reebok, coca cola, Mc Donalds etc based on what people would like rather than what they are and need. This consumer culture is filled with new community signs which form the popular culture allied to global media translated through the market. There is a growing similarity which transcends frontiers and similar trend of styles o f dressing, consumption of sports, music preferences, eating habits etc has emerged. The term MC world has been coined to describe the normalization of an American consumer culture, a combination of fast food, fast music and fast computers that bring people together through a common consumption of commodified cultural production.According to Hermans and Kempen in their article Moving Cultures, referred to Glocalisation in economic usage where they introduced the term micromarketing ie is the tailoring and advertisements of goods and services globally to increasingly local and diverse cultures. Thus, they talked about the creation of differentiated consumers and the emergence of consumer culture of the same global goods and services. They further problematises the relationship between the local and the global where cultures constantly interpenetrates with each other and become a part of the inter tie-in of the world system. Therefore the distinction between what it global and what is local becomes blurred and the presumed homogeneity of the local or internal and the distinctiveness of the global or external becomes problematic. Thus globalisation also involves the blurring of clear cut distinction between the local and global. What is local becomes global and what is global becomes local and sometimes they may become indistinguishable and homogenised. Media globalisation increasingly involved the creation and incorporation of locality. These processes is largely seen through the TV enterprise like CNN and MTV which seeks global markets and focussed on culturally diverse and differentiated groups.Dominance of westMany have argued that global culture is more of westbound culture domination and enforcement of western culture on the rest of the world which is referred to as westernisation. The imposition of American culture in the form of TV, Videos, Pop music, Films and Ads on vulnerable communities unable to protect them from the sheer volume and intensity of ex position to media is widely under attacked. In recent years US has enjoyed a growing surplus for audio visual products (TV, Video, and Cinema) with the EU. Globally, the US accounts for about 75% of all TV programme exports. American Time Warner organisation claims to be the largest media company in the world.During the last decade there is a struggle for the formation of a new Information separate from the Third World countries with a determination non to remain unresisting recipient to the west active centre. Countries like France, Italy, China, Canada, North Korea etc has imposed a check on US media imports for different reasons. Hence questions are being raised regarding prior consent for Transborder home reception, the production of communication technology on definition of privacy and also attempt to develop their own regional media. Fears of US media domination lead to Mc Bride Report 1980, which lead UNESCO to call for a restructuring of global media along more egalitaria n lines. The WTO and International Tele communications Satellite Organisation (INTELSAT) are among the prestigious international bodies that have attempted to establish guidelines for the regulation of global cultural flow.However for some writers globalization is not westernization. According to them, outwardly analysis may appeared that the world is oriented towards westernisation rather than globalisation especially when one could see the popularity of the western music, movies, and McDonalds etc where more and more countries are seen playing the top chart of the pop list of USA and Hollywood movies and US-made television serials (like Friends and the Simpsons) are becoming widespread processes of cultural transmission. However, a closer mental test indicates that the impact of the flow of these cultural goods have different meanings in different societal and cultural contexts with uneven impact on classes and age groups. Some of the products are consumed without any modificatio n others are modified and indigenized to suit the local contexts. Nevertheless, westernisation can be seen as a part of Globalisation.Media ImperialismThere is a construction of media order through the entrepreneurial devices of a comparatively small number of global players eg Time Warner, Sony, Rupert Murdoch News potbelly stove and Walt Disney Company. News globalisation was dominated by press wire services in the 19th century, however in the 1970s and 1980s electronic media globalisation increased. Aggressive media companies like Rupert Murdochs News Corporation yielded a massive conglomerates of other global media industries. Cable News Network (CNN) has struggled to become a 24 hour news provider, watched religiously by global business and political elites of the world. The result was an undeniable increase in the degree to which peoples everyday lives are experienced through the media. Several large media companies like Viacom, Disney, Time Warner etc over the last decade ha ve evolved from being a local industry to large global conglomerates based on new forms of vertical and horizontal integration. These media conglomeration was made possible by media deregulation in major western economies. These conglomerates not only have access to considerable quantities of investment capital but also the ability to minimise financial risks by managing their media products across different world markets in their areas of influence. For instance, News Corporation began as a print enterprise in Australia, spread into TV in UK in the 1970s. This is now targeting the huge Chinese and Indian markets with its Star TV system which currently broadcasts in over 20 Asian languages.There is a popular concern about the growing concentration of ownership of global media production and transmission in the hands of a small number of corporations. For example, the past two decades have experience a huge expansion of the pop music industry, MTV has now become 24 hour music channe ls in America, Europe and Asia. But 70% of all pop music is produced and distributed by a handful of multinational corporations that integrate production, transmission and promotion ensuring that certain iconic faces like Madonna, Michael Jackson etc are everywhere, on TV, video, films, CDs, magazines, newspapers, advertisements, radio and even designed on T shirts and many other things. The flow of information was dominated by multinational entities based in the most powerful nations leading to what is cognise as medial imperialism.Global and the localThe widespread claim of homogenisation of world cultures the global as pro active and the local as responsive to global culture have been found to be unlikely by many scholars. They have argued that the local do not remain a passive recipient of global cultures transmitted to them through the media but the local have its own way of interpreting global influences according to its relativity. One such protector of this view is Roberts on, who maintained that diffusion and transfer of ideas and values across socio cultural formations adapt to a particular local culture, which he termed as Glocalization. He talked about ambivalence and ambiguity of human culture in globalised world. Globalisation itself has no meaning unless it is connected in the context of the local. For him, globalisation is able to link locales together both materially and ideationally. Hence the local and global are inter connected and influence each other simultaneously and the media acts as an agent in increasing this process of glocalization and globalisation. This results in not only homogenisation but also hybridisation of cultures as the global gets localised according to the suitability and emergency of that particular contexts. To quote Robertson, An international TV enterprise like CNN produces and reproduces a particular pattern of relations between localities, a pattern which depends on a kind of recipe of locality. He further illu strates how certain religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism etc involved a long process of Glocalization after its dissemination throughout the globe. Following form this and relating it to the present context of information technologically advanced world, we see that religions are being widely promoted through the media. Religious channels are available 24/7 on TV, internet etc. These channels reach out to different regions of the world and are either absorbed and assimilated into the existing settings and become glocalised or they are rejected completely as a threat to their existing values and beliefs system. From here we can induce how the media play an important role in localising the global.Thus, the relation between the local and the global remain complex and negotiable terrain. Basically the politics of the glocal refers to globalisation from below which means that the impact of the global to a certain extent is in the hands of the local. This is because the local is n ot just a passive recipient of whatever globalisation through media brings at their verge influencing their lifestyles, ideas, values etc but the local is something active which constantly accommodates, assimilate and transforms different cultures that are brought to them, interpreting them according to its convenience and adaptability.Another reaction of the local to the global is the rejectionist attitude. There are many local movements who vehemently attempts to reject or resist the globalisation process and the impact of media consumerist culture claiming to protect their cultural identity or the purity of their culture. Some remain hostile to globalisation impact due to its ability to erode the traditional value system and the adverse partake on their socio cultural moral system. Contemporary indigenous movements are becoming increasingly global Eg- Native peoples Movement increasingly use the media to defend or promote their rejection of globalisation process. In a globalised world, people constantly used the media to mobilise people as a local assertions against globalisation influence. In the present context, promotion of locality through the media has become a common trend. There is an attempt to globally organise the rights and identities of natives or indigenous peoples movement. The emergence of popular culture and the growing commodification of the consumers experience popularised and sensationalised by media is seen by many as posing a threat to the vastness and diversity of cultural practices, resulting in the description of mass consumerism as a monolithic force with one dimensional causal effects on the traditional cultures. There are certain closed group which remain suspicious about the impact of media globalisation and attempts to curb and regulate the free expression of media itself. such(prenominal) kind of group would be countries like China, Japan, Muslim fundamentalist etc however in the context of contemporary advancement of media t echnology it becomes difficult to remain entire by the homogenising influence of media. Nevertheless, the idea of uniformity of culture should not undermine the pervasive impact of counter currents that emerges from the local reception of the global.Wilkinson (1995) has developed the thesis that today, shutdownHowever claims of Global culture and its impact on cultures without uninterrupted reception by age, class, gender and geography etc is naive. Thus a deeper probing of the complex relationship between the global and local is necessary because human beings are not without rational analysis or do not have any personalized choice but they are thinking individuals with a mind of their own capable of deciding what is best for themselves and hence they do not succumb to the global consumer culture unmindfully but translates the impact of media according to their own reality. Tomlinson made a distinction between culture as lived experience and culture as represented in media. He had argued that the realities in peoples lives are much more powerful than mere representation in global televisions and people do not get manipulated easily by the reception of media. He furthers argues that the cultural critics have overlooked the capacity of the audience to negotiate the possible contradictions in the reception of media. To him the power of the media should not be exaggerated by looking at media as mediating cultural experience rather than the determining force. Ang also refers to interpersonal drama to mean that media products are interpreted differently in different cultural contexts. Avijit Pathak is another who also talks about the politics of culture where cultures constantly negotiate in its interaction and influences. For him, even though there is a dominant global culture emanating, the process of reception becomes contextualised and gain a hermeneutic form, this he calls the art of resistance.For Wilkinson only one global civilisation exists which is a direc t descendent of 1500 BC civilisation in the near East when Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilisation collided and fused. This entity spread all over the globe and engulf all others previously independent civilisation like Chinese, Japanese and western into one global civilisation. His idea was of connectedness of the world into one system rather than uniformity. People who interact with each other continuously belong to the same civilisation even if their cultures might be very dissimilar and hostile to each other. Expansion of media communication increases connectivity of cultures, thus a chain of cultural networks are created no matter however they are connected either hostile or differently but they are still interacting with each other and hence influences each other in one way or the other and results in the emergence of certain similar trends. Therefore, what is undeniable is that media globalisation in one form or the other has an impact on the lives and consciousness of almost every one cutting across transnational borders, cultures, ethnicity, gender, class, age etc. Thus, global media is rendering almost everyone with something of a oecumenical culture. What was once local has become global and the line between the division of global and local is thinning and becoming blurred day by day.

The Implementation Of Erp At Tektronix Information Technology Essay

The Implementation Of Erp At Tektronix Information Technology EssayThe Tektronix Inc Global human face study is a classic example of a case where an iconic leader with his aggroup up of motivated leaders and sponsors manages variegate by empowering and guiding batch. Even though the ERP protrude was not an easy task, conduct focus, planning and the executive push from the top meant the disgorge was executed on a priority and various challenges tackled at the adjust time. In addition, the accomplishment of an ERP unremarkably considered as a biggest information arrangement excogitate ever completed by a corporation (Whitten et al., 2000, Ehie and Madsen, 2005, Vlachopoulou and Manthou, 2006, Hitt et al., 2002). This case study also highlights the crucial employment that cable dishes and conversation channel process reengineering play in the success of a spherical organisation. Additionally what is remark open is the successful international fulfilation and rollout a cross divisions and geographies. Lets calculate at the various aspects of the ERP rollout at Tektronix nonpareil by one.The biggest challenge for either such(prenominal) initiative or a project is the centering of change and the associated quite a little anxiety for such a large transformation project. This is in line with Grabski and Leech (2007) view that death penalty of an ERP and associated BPR is not unchallenging. However, Carl Neun seems to manage this change as a true leader who is experienced and aware of challenges of change management (Westerman et al., 1999). Change management is a planned approach to causing mess to accept transitions to bob up operations (Joyce, 2000). Lets look at the change aspect of the project first and how the transformation from a legacy system to new generation ERP was successfully run. I am using the modelling based of Harvard Business Review on Leading through Change. In John P Kotters (1995) article on wherefore Transformations fa il, he highlights the eight steps to successful transformation of a organization asEstablishing a common sense of UrgencyNeun being an experienced CFO and an able leader knew that in order for the project to succeed and to link up the organization with an ERP system and create an ecosystem where information was available needed a sense of urgency to be created. He understood that for Tektronix to move forward and to invest and divest in various businesses, it needed to be connected via an information system else the company was headed for disaster. As Grabski and Leech (2007) stated that one approach to overcome this issue is investing in advanced information system, such as endeavor Resource Planning (ERP) systems, to improve the business competitiveness. Moreover, the dwindling financial performance was a factor to create the sense of urgency required. The impetus from Roy Barkers tendency to double up the printer business and also the realisation that the printer business wou ld be volume game created the urgency for Tektronix to be ready with an IT system that would support growth.Forming a powerful guiding coalitionNeun and his senior management team were the powerful guiding coalition that was assembled by the CEO. In the case study it is mentioned that the CEO had abandoned Neun the unlimited authority on carrying into action and the buck stopped with Neun with regards to the ERP implementation. Neun then selected his long time associate Bob Vance as the CIO. Along with the business vindication from Roy Barker, the team become a powerful guiding coalition and the privates worked in c at a timert as a great a team.Creating a visionCarl Neun knew his end goal was to create an organisation where information was readily available and could be shared easily. He wanted to simplify the complexity and address change by removing naive processes and systems. Neuns Frankfurt is Orlando analogy was the vision of the project. It highlighted that the business all over the world was similar barring wording and certain topical anaesthetic legal requirements. To support this, Bingi et al. (2002) believed that consolidation through ERP systems set asides organizations to share information in a standard format across its various divisions both in the headquarter and in its global offices, with no modifications for language and currency differences needed. Carl very clearly expanded his vision toward the implementation as with three components of a) separability of businesses b) leveraging shared services c) staying plain vanilla as possible, as alterations could lead to budget and time overruns, defective functionality (Sumner, 2000). Standardising the business processes was a tombstone component of Carls vision and he was focussed to ensure that complex processes were simplified to the maximum possible extent.Communicating the visionThe vision was communicated first by getting the business heads such as Barker to back the plan. Once h e had increase the concerns other managers and senior managers joined in the cause. Carl and Vance took the lead to communicate the vision by first explaining their ideas of the simplified architecture of the transformed information system. They also took distract to simplify and push for standardisation. The idea of starting with implementation at CPID and then moving onto other divisions also gave the opportunity for the learnings at one place to be applied to the next one, as noted by Rogers (1995) that the adoption of a new system will follow an S curve by having innovator or early adopter organisations taking the lead, followed by early majority, late majority adopters, then at last laggards.This approach military serviceed to t separately the new behaviours as the guiding coalition was at the forefront of the change and were leading by example.Empowering others to act on the visionThe key component for empowering others to change include a) get rid of obstacles to change b) Changing systems and structures that seriously undermine change c) Encouraging risk taking and non-traditional ideas, activities and actions.As identified by Ahadi (2006) as the change management effectiveness in the organisation. He asserts that the ability of the organisation to authorize employees, appraise performance, apply reward systems, conduct training and education and facilitate communication during the process of change is crucial. Carl Neun was empowered by the CEO to take the project through and the empowerment trickled down to the level of carrying into action. This allowed the CIO and his team to put extra people, fire people who were acting as hindrance to the implementation. In addition the team structure put in place and the roles ensured that the projects in various geographies rolled up together very well in a coherent way. The key hindrance to success was lack of financial information and Carl Neun took the right steps to simplify the business processes an d reduce disparities across the world and then put in the ERP system, which would enable the change. He shuffled the European organisation structure and changed it to commission basis as it would allow for the changes to be made swiftly and removal of the country managers helped the cause further.Planning for a creating Short Term winsThe key to success of the Tektronix ERP implementation was the implementation of the project in waves. The concept of allowing the project to be implemented in waves did in turn create short-term wins where people and teams could see things were working. Not only did implementing the project in waves allowed for it to be implemented well but also allowed the learning from previous waves to be carried out into further projects. That is allowing what is known as windows of opportunity (Tyre and Orlikowski, 1994) to organise where the users would discover novel and better ways to carry out their daily work after implementation which could be fed back to the global throng in other divisions.Consolidating improvements and producing still more changeOnce the first wave was successful the leadership team kept moving in to implement the changes across the organisation and across geographies. The credibility that came from implementing the first wave was used to push forward the further waves as the momentum picked up as things started to work. nonpareil very interesting aspect was the Neun and Vance finality to use consulting support for the implementation of the project. I think it was a great idea that saved the internal teams and people coordinating the project valuable time that would have been spent learning the nuances of Oracle ERP, as argued by Olsen and Saetre (2007) that the users of an ERP system may not fully be familiar with system and thus utilise it. It took the right holler out by allowing the firm that developed an interface between its manufacturing system and oracle to give it the rights to dispense/license the i nterface.All these successful implementations of the one wave after another gave the momentum to keep pushing the change further and ensuring that the change agents were constantly at work on the key vision of Frankfurt is Orlando. The learning from every wave was useful and the managers were quick on their feet. They consolidated improvement to obtain change and whatever was not working in a wave was changed and the successful behaviour then became a part of the next wave. For instance when the consulting firm called into help CPID was not helping, they quickly moved onto a combination of Aris, Oracle and other consultants to speed up the lost time. The project management team teamed up consultants with Tektronix ply who took the orient of business change while the consultants were given the responsibility to deal with system deals.The case clearly illustrates how the first wave was used to consolidate improvements and produce further change. While the implementation at CPID too k a little longer than expected, it was considered successful. With this first domestic implementation, Tektronix was able to learn powerful lessons, build internal skills, and contribute practices that helped with all of future implementation waves.Institutionalising new approachesThe new business processes were thoroughly discussed before being implemented in different decisions and catered to the individual needs of each business unit. The senior team at each business unit understood the needs of the business unit and institutionalised the new approaches to doing business.Large dental plate project implementation and strategic coalitionTektronix managed a large-scale project very well despite lots of previous difficulties with regards to implementing other IT projects. However this one was a success because of the judgement and the vision of Neun and Vance to ensure that the business processes were simplified, as Hammer (1990) stated that the projects success involving compan ies investing in IT to develop their business, was usually not attained as the IT was only used to expedite existing processes. This process of alignment of the IT strategy and Business strategy is key to successful performance for any organisation as highlighted in the MIT90S (Scott Morton, 1991) and Strategic Alignment Models (SAM) (Henderson and Venkatraman, 1992). SAM suggests that for firms to be competitive, business and information strategies need to aligned (Avison et al., 2004).Henderson and Venkatraman (1992) have clearly demarcated the various domains in their strategic alignment model as shown below in the figure. They have highlighted the importance of internal and external perspectives and how the strategic fit between these aspects influences the competitiveness of firms. The key perspective that comes of the SAM is the straightforward relation between Business strategy and Business Infrastructure and IT strategy and IT infrastructure and processes. Also the cross dim ensional alignment between Business Strategy and IT Infrastructure, IT strategy and Business Infrastructure and Processes is key to competitiveness.Fig 1 Strategic Alignment Model (Source Henderson and Venkatraman, 1992) looking at the case study it becomes apparent that Carl Neun understood the principle of a successful global organisation and his vision clearly brought together the functional integration as well as cross dimensional alignments. He knew that business processes needed to be reengineered first. As Skok and Legge (2002) acknowledged that the success of an ERP implementation is attained with preceding implementation of BPR. Accordingly, the business processes needed to be simplified and then the appropriate IT infrastructure and IT systems and processes to be put in place to get the benefits that Tektronix was seeking from the IT alignment.The strategy of implementing the project in waves was crucial to the success of the project and also the project team structure was the right structure for successful implementation of such a large project. Looking at the project management strategy, I feel that the team structure of Neun being the Project sponsor and Vance spending considerable time on the project in detail was very important. The local implementation was the guiding factor on how to move earlier with the implementation even though the global implementation had its own challenges as argued by Ross (1999), that overabundance of distinct and independent systems in different parts of the organisation impeding globalization.Program management and giving team members the authority and power to decide on the critical aspects that affected their business the most was a smart project management decision. I am specially impressed by the structure at the local implementation where for each wave there were functional experts, change control team, Functional sub team and most importantly the test team. Each wave at the different business units had its p eculiarity and different business processes depending on the structure and the need of the individual business units.If we look at the role of Functional experts who were allocated to each wave to ensure that all the essential knowledge and remained with the implementation teams till the final wave. As it has been highlighted that this led to postponement of some initiatives because other initiatives also depended on the availability of the most knowledgeable resources. I believe that this was the right strategy even though that led to delay of initiatives that were to be started the waves that were on were implemented successfully. The project and program management of Neun and Vance must be commended, as they understood that they could not afford delays in projects. All project management is a delicate balance of the resources, time and cost as sides of a triangle. Affecting one has impact on the others. So when the projects were facing delays the management did not shy in putting in more consultants on the project. The team structure of leaving the system aspects to external consultants was a good decision as it freed up the business people and Tektronix experts to focus on the business processes and the knowledge aspect rather than having to understand the deep adept aspects or the architectural nuances of the ERP system.Software selection and extending the parcel functionalityTektronix has already seen the worse effects of the not invented here with regards to the software and infrastructure solutions. Neun made the right call with going for the Oracle ERP solution. Neun understood the outsourcing advantage and also the core competency of Tektronix was not at developing software solution. He left the development of the software and implementation to the right experts. Vance took the right decision with regards to the manufacturing ERP and leaving it in place. Had the manufacturing system been taken off and Oracle ERP components used, then it would have been a challenge as the people in manufacturing who had recently undergone a systems change would be swamped by the next change wave and would feel unsettled. I think this was the best decision taken to get an external company to do the interface between manufacturing ERP and the Oracle ERP.Vance and Neun also did not waste eons of time on deciding the alternatives and which ERP software system to select. Such evaluation programs usually cost organisations lots of money and they highlight trivial differences between the best of the breed packages. The decision taken to go ahead with the oracle implementation, as the team was Neun and Vance had experience of working with Oracle and knew that the oracle solution would cater to the needs. The idea of using a small dedicated team that focussed on the capabilities of what Oracle could do and the time they spent upfront on ensuring that Oracle could do what was required for Tektronix shows the discipline and focus from top to female gen itals to get a solution working for the organisation.Another laudable aspect of the software implementation was the plain vanilla approach adopted by the Neun. His understanding that software adaptation and customisation not only costs money and time but also submits other behaviours that need to regression tested showed a mature thinking with regards to software customisation and development . Instead he focussed on simplifying and adapting the business processes such that they could be realised in the plain vanilla implementation of the software. Only in special and rare cases was customisation allowed and then also where customisation was done, the teams were dedicated to rigorous testing and testing with full load scenarios to ensure that the customisation did not introduce any unintended errors and behaviours. Nevertheless, Markus et als (2000) studies of businesses implementing ERP observed that some adjustments to the system were supernumerary after the users began using i t more effectively.The implementation move to using Aris and Oracle consultants once the Tektronix team were sure on what sort of consultants were useful showed the ability of the business and implementation leaders to take the best decisions for the business. They cut out the slack and unnecessary admin overheads related to evaluating consultants, interviewing and employing them. The idea to use consultants on a time and material basis was a smart idea on keeping the project on time. Use of low cost resources and contractors kept the project costs in rein and the putting of extra consultants on waves where a delay could occur, shows dedication and consignment to ensure roll outs happen in time and are successful for the projects.Replicating this success to the international level and using the waves methodology is commendable. The project team and execution structure for the international project was typic. The idea to do away with the country managers and keep a simple structure as the global structure was exemplary for the global project management. In fact selection of individuals who had long term ties and understanding of the global regions was the right approach taken by the program management team.Also the idea to create a central processing centre in Marlow was an excellent idea towards consolidation. Keeping English as the language of communication for the company was a sensible decision that fast tracked the implementation. Personally I feel that the brilliant job done at customisation for the printing of bills and local communication was hitting the nail on the head in terms of implementation. At the time when the project was implemented localisation was still picking up as a technology domain and would have taken much longer than expected.The consolidation of the infrastructure was another bold move which was taken by Vance outsourcing the data centres completely freed the valuable resources and the company could focus on the core work of making the implementation a success. It was exemplary how they managed to pull off the entire thing together as a success. The results were satisfactory and when the people quoted that they spent 90% of their time just collecting data and only 10% analysing it. The unscathed situation changed after then implementation as people spent 90% of their time analysing information which was the core purpose of the implementation was to make information readily available and convert data into information. The Tektronix team did an excellent job.ConclusionI believe that the job was successful and what Tektronix needs to do for further implementations and such large programs is to keep the spirit and the learnings from the Oracle ERP implementation. One area that they need to pay a lot of attention would be the evolving business process framework and pay special attention to the management of Business processes. Going further in time with complex business needs and changing customer requirements a nd global environments would require Tektronix to adapt the business processes and if Tektronix paid special attention to keeping the business process framework up to date and then use it to pay back the software changes it will keep things in control. The best way to do so would be to have process owners and process sponsors who are in charge of maintaining and consulting the stakeholders on process changes and then keep the process architecture of the organisation updated. This will ensure all further projects could experience similar success if the right team structure and leaders are engaged.

The Danger of Texting and Driving

The Danger of Texting and DrivingTexting and driving is a very dangerous thing to do. So umpteen things can happen on the track that umpteen volume are not aware of. Keep that phone out of sight when driving, or turn it off so it wont be a distraction. Lets say your friend is driving and she constantly receives school text messages, of course shes passing game to want to look at her phone and text back to whoever exclusively she doesnt realize the minute she looked down to her phone she passed a red light and bum abouts hit by a truck. All because her phone kept vibrating and she couldnt wait cashbox she got home. Attempting to read or write text messages while operating a motor vehicle is extremely dangerous for everyone on the road. Texting while driving involves a mortal taking his or her eyes off the road and momentarily ignoring the task of controlling the vehicle. Allowing this to happen even up for a few seconds can be disastrous. It all makes sense because we shoul dnt take in to text and drive and its always going to be a very risky thing to do. Always try to be safe on the road and for the separates safety.More than one hundred texts a day is ridiculous, how can teenagers spend so much time on thither phone and not get bored? well, from the interrogation that has been made some(prenominal) teenagers dont even pay attention in school because there phone is a distraction tool. Many of them just go home and stay on there phone and be on accessible media doing whatever they do best. But, what slew dont realize is what they say/do behind their phone screen? Most of the time teens are just texting about regular things that go on in life provided thats not always. Texting can go in many directions. Such as cyber bullying, teens tend to do that a lot in model twitter, thats a big one. He/she can get a direct message or a public tweet and it can be harrassing but the person that is provoking it continues with the tweets and its getting out of hand. Nobody is trying to stop him/her and its making the victim very upset. With those many tweets/direct messages something bad can happen. So please stop the cyberbullying on whatever social media. Because nobody would ever want that happening to them so it is not okay to do it to other people to make yourself feel better. Make sure your teen understands that it isnt acceptable to spread rumors or bully someone through texting or any other means. motivate your teen that any text message he or she sends can be saved or forwarded to anyone else, so its master(prenominal) to use good judging with every message. Its explaining how cyberbullying is not okay in many ways. As in, direct a lot of harassing or rumors about the person on either social media or through phone number. It is never okay to say hurtful things about the person and continue on spreading it around or even texting others about it constantly. So stop the continuous messaging about them and be yourself and let it go, dont draw yourself in to dram that isnt necessary.So, how can your teen know how many text messages are too many? Just by overdoing it makes him/her look bad. And this is how you can get super annoyed with a lot of messages just pop up on your phone. Two people are in a relationship but they are really mad at each other and there speaking terms arent so understanding to one another so the girl is being very over dramatic and keep sending ten messages at a time before the guy can even answer to one of the texts. But, what the girl doesnt know is that he is trying to attend his mother with cleaning but with the girl sending so many text messages he isnt able to do what he is being told by his mom, so hes having to stop what he is doing to answer back to his girlfriend before she gets even more mad. And the guy is trying to explain that he cant text at the moment but the girl doesnt believe him and he gets super mad and says that he is done with her. And now the girl wishes she never over texted him every vanadium minutes and she just destroyed her own relationship. For many teens, texting is an essential way to communicate. A lack of maturity can get your teen into trouble when texting, though. function your teen understand and avoid the risks associated with texting. As if over texting was the only thing that is ruining everything, because it practically is. Just try to talk it out in person and not be so crazy about sending so many text messages because it can ruin something you dont want it to ruin in many cases not just a relationship.Dont let texting interfere with your sleep. Youre always going to need sleep no matter what and texting shouldnt be the reason to stay up. Although many teens might want to stay up to text with their friends they are losing their sleep and it causes them to start falling asleep at school when they need to be ignite or they start being super lazy when they dont have enough sleep. So as a teenager he/she will always h ave there phone at night to text with friends and what not, but its a school night and they have a game the following day and they arent be enough. So how is he/she going to have a great performance at their game and how are they going to make it at school not having enough sleep? Well, the answer is they are not going to do well that day because lack of sleep constantly texting at night isnt going to help the teen get better the next day, its just going to make it harder for them to focus and play. Sleep is very important, always stay energized. Some research also suggests that screen time before bedtime interferes with sleep. As a result, teens can experience lost sleep, difficulty falling asleep, poor sleep quality and mean solar day sleepiness. People should love to sleep, do not waste time to sleep to stay up with friends texting or playing video games. Sleeping is very important and its so unhealthy not getting at least eight hours of sleep, so turn off the phone and go to bed early to get a good night rest.Teens shouldnt be texting their friends, family more than twice because you dont know what situation they are in, so be patient and relax. Therefore, more than three text messages is way too many just let the person answer back and you would be good to go. work Cited800 texts in one week? Diaries of 3 smartphone addicts. CNN Wire, 5 Oct. 2012. Kids InfoBits, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITKEsw=wu=j020902v=2.1id=GALE%7CA304445832it=rasid=0d683b573b25ed7a48a9ba3fb7fc4e38. Accessed 7 Feb. 2017.Clinic, Mayo. Teen Texting Help Your Teen Avoid the Risk . Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic, 29 July 2015,www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/tween-and-teen-health/in-depth/teen-texting/art-20046833Stephanie Watson How Defensive Driving Works 5 October 2009.HowStuffWorks.com. 9 February 2017Texting Distractions. Gale Student Resources in Context, Gale, 2013. Research in Context, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=MSICsw=wu=j020902v=2.1id=GALE%7CUQHLWC117728338it=rasid=b050cc214 b4d769f9a590797f2bf49ea. Accessed 6 Feb. 2017.

Harlem Renaissance :: American America History

Harlem RenaissanceDuring the 1920s, the spiritual, social, and literary eagerness that raced through Harlem could be called the most important finish of self-discovery in African-American history after the Civil War. Black literature went through a tremendous outbreak in Harlem, which is a district of brand-new York City. In the middle of the changing atmosphere, a small group of black men and women began a public relations campaign to promote what they called the revolutionary blackness movement. man these men and women promoted artwork and literature, they were credited with starting much more than just and intellectual movement. This movement included poetry and writing, which forever changed the African-American modus vivendi into a unique and more educated culture. As the African American culture expanded their horizon, and viewed passed the obstacles and barriers that were set by other ethnic groups, many families migrated to the Federal cities, including New York City. Harlem was a magical, transforming place then, and that was especially true for the forsaken civilians who went to New York in search of a greater opportunity. Many believe, the Harlem Renaissance truly began, when W.E.B. Dubois, editor of The Crisis cartridge clip produce The Souls of Black Folks. He stated that One ever feels two-ness-and American, a Negro, two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled stirrings two warring ideals in single dark body, whose dogged strength al integrity keeps it from being torn as under. There was an immediate reaction, it was clear that literature was definitely one art form that could bring the black culture together. Even though slavery had been abolished 75 years earlier, were still able to relate to racism. For the first time, African Americans matte up open minded, and in which their creativity strongly impacted every field of art and entertainment. They viewed poetry and writing as a form of expression, as a form of freedom and escape during the troubled life that many lived. As more and more people moved into Harlem, the job opportunities became larger. People snarl footsure and took greater risks. They often wrote about alienation and their own life stories, which were directed mostly to African American people and the third world of Africa, Asia and Latin America. precise few became successful and flourish in every literary area. The decade just past was the oleomargarine era of Negro writing, Hurston said (editor of luck magazine). margarin is the fictionalized form of butter.Harlem Renaissance American America HistoryHarlem RenaissanceDuring the 1920s, the spiritual, social, and literary eagerness that raced through Harlem could be called the most important period of self-discovery in African-American history after the Civil War. Black literature went through a tremendous outbreak in Harlem, which is a district of New York City. In the middle of the changing atmosphere, a small group of black men and women began a public relations campaign to promote what they called the New Negro movement. While these men and women promoted art and literature, they were credited with starting much more than just and intellectual movement. This movement included poetry and writing, which forever changed the African-American lifestyle into a unique and more educated culture. As the African American culture expanded their horizon, and viewed passed the obstacles and barriers that were set by other ethnic groups, many families migrated to the northern cities, including New York City. Harlem was a magical, transforming place then, and that was especially true for the forsaken civilians who went to New York in search of a greater opportunity. Many believe, the Harlem Renaissance truly began, when W.E.B. Dubois, editor of The Crisis magazine published The Souls of Black Folks. He stated that One ever feels two-ness-and American, a Negro, two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled stirrings two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn as under. There was an immediate reaction, it was clear that literature was definitely one art form that could bring the black culture together. Even though slavery had been abolished 75 years earlier, were still able to relate to racism. For the first time, African Americans felt open minded, and in which their creativity strongly impacted every field of art and entertainment. They viewed poetry and writing as a form of expression, as a form of freedom and escape during the troubled life that many lived. As more and more people moved into Harlem, the job opportunities became larger. People felt confident and took greater risks. They often wrote about alienation and their own life stories, which were directed mostly to African American people and the third world of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Very few became successful and flourish in every literary area. The decade just past was the oleomargarine era of Neg ro writing, Hurston said (editor of Opportunity magazine). Oleomargarine is the fictionalized form of butter.

Poverty Vs. The Economy Essay -- Poor Poverty Economics Essays

Poverty vs. The EconomyPoverty is a lack of goods and services necessary to maintain aminimal adequate monetary standard of living. The definition of the term adequate varies,however, with the general standard of living in a society and with publicattitudes toward deprivation. No university accepted definition of basic necessitateexists because poverty is a relative concept. In poorer countries it meansliving at the brink of subsistence, while in our country few improvised familiesconfront starvation, although some(prenominal) suffer from undernourishment.A key trouble in the area of poverty is inequality. Inequality has beena problem in all societies. No society distributes income evenly. scorn allthe conceptual and technical problems of measurement, the government hasdevised a widely cited poverty index that reflects the different consumptionrequirements of families depending on their size and composition, on the sex and bestride of the family head, and on weather they live in rural or urban areas. Basedon past surveys, the designers of the poverty index determined that families ofthree or more person spend approximately one-third of their income on nutrition.Thus, the poverty level for these families was, therefore, set at three timesthe cost of the economy food plan. For small families and persons livingalone, the cost of the economy food plan was multiplied by higher factors inorder to compensate for the larger fixed expenses of smaller households. Thepoverty thresholds are updated every year to reflect changes in the consumerprice index but overall rises in standard of living. (levington, page 147)Another issue is that the poverty index has several flaws. First, itdoes not allow for regional variations in the cost of living or for higher costsin the central metropolis areas, where many of the poor are concentrated. Second, theflood costs for the budget were designed for temporary or emergence use and arethus inadequate for a perment diet because th ey provide only the barestsubsistence. Finally, the government statistics fall to take into considerationnonmonetary benefits and assets in determining the number of poor. If thesewere counted, the numbers in the official poverty ranks would be reduced.The growing gap between the poverty level and median family incomedemonstrates the inaccuracy of adjusting a poverty level for price ... ...easy. Birth control and maternal care, designed to clear childrena give start in life, also leave the mother in a better position to becomeeconomically self able or, at least, contribute to her own support.Similarly, the difference between cash subsides and rehabilitative programs isoften blurred, for instance, stipends are necessary for the poor if they are tocomplete an effective learning program. These various strategies for helpingthe poor complement each other. Not only must todays poverty be alleviatedthrough cash and in-and aid, but steps must be taken to reduce it in the futureby bet ter preparing young people and by giving the poor a better chance in thejob market.BibliographyFitchen,Janet M.(1981). Poverty and Rural America smart York,York Random house Publishing Company.Jansson, Bruce S. (1988). The Reluctant Welfare State, AHistory of Amercians amicable Welfare Policies. Belmont, CaliforniaWadsworth Publishing Company.Katz, Michael B. (1990) The Undeserving Poor the War on Poverty to the war onWelfare, New York, New York.Levitan, Sar A. And Shapiro, Issac. (1987), Working But Poor. New York, NewYork The free Press.