Critical Discourse Analysis, Organizational Discourse, and Organizational Change Essay Example for Free

Critical Discourse Analysis, Organizational Discourse, and Organizational Change Essay Discourses is an element of all concrete social events (actions, processes) as well as of more durable social practices, though neither are simply discourse: they are articulations of discourse with non-discoursal elements. ‘Discourse’ subsumes language as well as other forms of semiosis such as visual images and ‘body language’, and the discoursal element of a social event often combines different semiotic forms (eg a television programme). But the use of the ‘term ‘discourse’ rather than ‘language’ is not purely or even primarily motivated by the diversity of forms of semiosis, it is primarily registers a relational way of seeing semiosis[i], as one element of social events and practices dialectically interconnected with other elements. The overriding objective of discourse analysis, on this view, is not simply analysis of discourse per se, but analysis of the dialectical relations between discourse and non-discoursal elements of the social, in order to reach a better understanding of these complex relations (including how changes in discourse can cause changes in other elements). But if we are to analyse relations between discourse and non-discoursal elements, we must obviously see them as ontologically (and not just epistemologically, analytically) different elements of the social. They are different, but they are not discrete – that is, they are dialectically related, in the sense that elements ‘internalize’ other elements, without being reducible to them (Harvey 1996, Chouliaraki Fairclough 1999, Fairclough 2003, Fairclough, Jessop Sayer 2004). A realist view of social life sees it as including social structures as well as social events – in critical realist terms, the ‘real’ (which defines and delimits what is possible) as well as the ‘actual’ (what actually happens). There is a general recognition that the relationship between structures and events must be a mediated relation, and I follow for instance Bhaskar (1986) and Bourdieu (Bourdieu Wacquant 1992) in regarding social practices as the mediating entities – more or less durable and stable articulations of diverse social elements including discourse which constitute social selections and orderings of the allowances of social structures as actualisable allowances in particular areas of social life in a certain time and place. Social fields, institutions and organizations can be regarded as networks of social practices. Networks of social practices include specifically discoursal selections and orderings (from languages and other semiotic systems, which are counted amongst social structures) which I call ‘orders of discourse’, appropriating but redefining Foucault’s term (Foucault 1984, Fairclough 1992). Orders of discourse are social structurings of linguistic/semiotic variation or difference. Realist discourse analysis on this view is based in a dialectical-relational social ontology which gives ontological priority to processes and relations over objects, entities, persons, organizations etc, yet sees the latter as socially produced ‘permanences’ (Harvey 1996) which constitute a pre-structured reality with which we are confronted, and sets of affordances and limitations on processes. Epistemological priority is given to neither pre-constructed social structures, practices, institutions, identities or organizations, nor to processes, actions, and events: the concern is with the relationship and tension between them. People with their capacities for agency are seen as socially produced, contingent and subject to change, yet real, and possessing real causal powers which, in their tension with the causal powers of social structures, are a focus for analysis. Social research proceeds through abstraction from the concrete events of social life aimed at understanding the pre-structured nature of social life, and returns to analysis of concrete events, actions and processes in the light of this abstract knowledge. Discourse and non-discoursal elements of social events and social practices are related in many ways. I distinguish three main ways: representing, acting (and interacting), and being. At the level of social practices, orders of discourse can be seen as articulations of specific ways of representing, acting, and being – ie specific discourses, genres and styles. A discourse is a particular way of representing certain parts or aspects of the (physical, social, psychological) world; a genre is a particular way of (inter)acting (which comprises the discoursal element of a way of inter)acting which will also necessarily comprise non-discoursal elements); a style is a way of being (the discoursal element of a way of being, an ‘identity’, which will also include non-discoursal elements). I shall use the term ‘text’[ii], in a generalized sense (not just written text but also spoken interaction, multi-semiotic televisual text etc) for the discoursal element of social events. Texts are doubly contextualized, first in their relation to other elements of social events, second in their relation to social practices, which is ‘internal’ to texts in the sense that they necessarily draw upon orders of discourse, ie social practices in their discoursal aspect, and the discourses, genres and styles associated with them. However, events (and therefore texts) are points of articulation and tension between two causal forces: social practices and, through their mediation, social structures; and the agency of the social actors who speak, write, compose, read, listen to, interpret them. The social ‘resource’ of discourses, genres and styles is subject to the transformative potential of social agency, so that texts do not simply instantiate discourses, genres and styles, they actively rework them, articulate them together in distinctive and potentially novel ways, hybridize them, transform them. My focus in this paper is on organizational change, and this version of CDA has indeed been developed in association with research on discourse in social change. Social change comprises change in social structures, social practices, the networking of social practices, and (the character of) social events; and change in languages and other semiotic systems, in orders of discourse and relations between orders of discourse, and in texts. With respect to orders of discourse, social change includes change in the social structuring of linguistic/semiotic variation, therefore change in discourses, genres and styles, and change in their articulation in orders of discourse, and change in relations between orders of discourse (eg political and media orders of discourse). With respect to texts, social change includes tendential change in how discourses, genres and styles are drawn upon and articulated/hybridized together in various types of text. The process of social change raises questions about causal relations between different elements. Causal relations are not simple or one-way. For instance, it would seem to make more sense to see new communication technologies (ICTs) as causing the emergence of new genres than vice-versa – changes in discourse caused by changes in non-discoursal elements. In other cases, change appears to be discourse-led. A pervasive contemporary process (for instance in processes of ‘transition’ in central and eastern Europe) is change initiated through the recontextualization[iii] in an organization, a social field, or a country of ‘external’ discourses, which may then be enacted in new ways of (inter)acting including new genres, inculcated as new ways of being including styles, and materialized in for example new ways of organizing space. These enactments, inculcations and materializations are dialectical processes. There is an important proviso however: these processes are contingent, they depend upon certain conditions of possibility. For instance, when a discourse is recontextualized, it enters a new field of social relations, and its trajectory within those social relations is decisive in determining whether or not it has (re)constructive effects on the organization, social field etc overall. In contexts of social change, different groups of social actors may develop different and conflicting strategies for change, which have a partially discursive character (narratives of the past, representations of the present, imaginaries for the future), and inclusion within a successful strategy is a condition for a discourse being dialectically enacted, inculcated and materialized in other social elements (Jessop 2002, Fairclough, Jessop Sayer 2004). Discourses construe aspects of the world in inherently selective and reductive ways, ‘translating’ and ‘condensing’ complex realities (Harvey 1996), and one always needs to ask, why this particular selection and reduction, why here, why now? (For a discussion of ‘globalisation’ discourse in these terms, see Fairclough Thomas forthcoming. Locating discourses in relation to strategies in contexts of social change enables us to connect particular representations of the world with particular interests and relations of power, as well assess their ideological import. Discourses do not emerge or become recontextualized in particular organizations or fields at random, and they do not stand in an arbitrary relation to social structures and practices, forms of institutionalization and organization. If we can construct explanations of change in non-discoursal elements of social reality which attribute causal effects to discourses, we can also construct explanations of change in discourses which attribute causal effects to (non-discoursal elements of) structures and practices, as well as social and strategic relations. The social construction of the social world may sometimes be a matter of changes in non-discoursal elements caused by discourses (through the concrete forms of texts), but discourses (and texts) are also causal effects, the dialectics of social change is not a one-way street. We can distinguish four elements, or moments, in the social trajectories of discourses: their emergence and constitution (through a re-articulation of existing elements); their entry into hegemonic struggles from which they may emerge as hegemonic discourses; their dissemination and recontextualization across structural and scalar boundaries (ie between one field or institution or organization and others, and between one scale (‘global’, macro-regional (eg the EU), national, local) and others; and their operationalization (enactment, inculcation, materialization). These are distinct moments with respect to the causal effects of discourses on non-discoursal (as well as discoursal, ie generic and stylistic) elements of social life, and they are all subject to non-discoursal as well as discoursal conditions. CDA claims that social research can be enriched by extending analysis of social processes and social change into detailed analysis of texts. More detailed (including linguistic) analysis of texts is connected to broader social analysis by way of (a) analysing texts as part of analysing social events, (b) interdiscursive analysis of shifting articulations of genres, discourses, styles in texts (Fairclough 2003). The latter locates the text as an element of a concrete event in its relationship to orders of discourse as the discoursal aspect of networks of social practices, and so allows the analyst to (a) assess the relationship and tension between the causal effects of agencies in the concrete event and the causal effects of (networks of) social practices, and through them of social structures (b) detect shifts in the relationship between orders of discourse and networks f social practices as these are registered in the interdiscursivity (mixing of genres, discourses, styles) of texts. Text can be seen as product and as process. Texts as products can be stored, retrieved, bought and sold, cited and summarized and so forth. Texts as processes can be grasped through seeing ‘texturing’, making texts, as a specific modality of social action, of social production or ‘making’ (of meanings, understandings, knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, feelings, social relations, social a nd personal identities, institutions, organizations). The focus is on ‘logogenesis’ (Iedema 2003:115-17), including the texturing of entities (objects, persons, spaces, organizations) which can, given certain preconditions, be dialectically internalized (enacted, inculcated and materialized) in non-discoursal elements of social life. See for instance the discussion of the significance of nominalization as a logogenetic process in texts in processes of organizing, producing organization objects, in Iedema (2003). Organizational Discourse  I shall construct my very selective comments on organizational discourse analysis around the following four themes: organization and organizing; variation, selection and retention; understandings of ‘discourse’; and intertextuality. Organization and organizing Mumby Stohl (1991) argue that researchers in organizational communication most centrally differ from those in other areas of organization studies in that the former problematize ‘organization’ whereas the latter do not. ‘For us, organization or organizing, to use Weicks (1979) term is a precarious, ambiguous, uncertain process that is continually being made and remade. In Weicks sense, organizations are only seen as stable, rational structures when viewed retrospectively. Communication, then, is the substance of organizing in the sense that through discursive practices organization members engage in the construction of a complex and diverse system of meanings’. Another formulation of this shift in emphasis from organizations as structures to ‘organizing’ (or ‘organizational becoming’, Tsoukas Chia 2002) as a process is that of Mumby Clair (1997: 181): ‘we suggest that organizations exist only in so far as their members create them through discourse. This is not to claim that organizations are â€Å"nothing but† discourse, but rather that discourse is the principal means by which organization members create a coherent social reality that frames their sense of who they are’. Despite the disclaimer at the beginning of the second sentence, this formulation can as argued by Reed (forthcoming) be seen as collapsing ontology into epistemology, and undermining the ontological reality of organizational structures as constraints on organizational action and communication. From the perspective of the realist view of discourse I have outlined, it makes little sense to see organizing and organization, or more generally agency and structure, as alternatives one has to choose between. With respect to organizational change, both organizational structures and the agency of members of organizations in organizational action and communication have causal effects on how organizations change. Organizational communication does indeed organize, produce organizational effects and transform organizations, but organizing is subject to conditions of possibility which include organizational structures. The paper by Iedema, Degeling, Braithwaite and White (2004) in the special issue of Organizational Studies is an analysis of how a ‘doctor-manager’ in a teaching hospital in Australia manages ‘the incommensurable dimensions’ of his ‘boundary position between profession and organization’ by positioning himself across different discourses, sometimes in a single utterance. The authors identify a heteroglossia ‘that is too context-regarding to be reducible to personal idiosyncracy, and too complex and dynamic to be the calculated outcome of conscious manipulation’. They see the doctor-manager’s talk as a ‘feat’ of ‘bricolage’, not as a display of ‘behaviours that are pre-programmed’. Nor is it an instantiation of a ‘strategy’, for ‘strategies are they assume ‘conscious’. Although the authors recognize that organizations can ‘set limits’ on what workers can say and do, impose ‘closure’, they see the doctor-manager as successfully ‘deferring closure on his own identity and on the discourses that realize it’. One can take this as an interesting and nuanced study of organization as the ‘organizing’ that is achieved in interaction (nuanced in the sense that it does not exclude organizational structures, though it does suggest that they are more ‘fluid’ and less ‘categorical’ than they have been taken to be, and it does recognize their capacity to impose ‘closure’). I would like to make a number of connected observations on this paper. First, one might see the doctor-manager’s ‘feat’ in this case as a particular form of a more general organizational process, the management of contradictions. Second, discourse figures differently in different types of organization (Borzeix 2003, referring to Girin 2001). The type of organization in this case seems to be in Girin’s terms a ‘cognitive’ (or ‘learning’, or ‘intelligent’) organization, in which the normative force of (written) texts (rules, procedures) is limited, and there is an emphasis on learning in spoken interaction. There seems to be, in other terms, a relatively ‘network’ type of structure rather than a simple hierarchy, where management involves a strong element participatory and consultative interaction with stakeholders. Third, connecting the first two points, spoken interaction in this type of organization accomplishes an ongoing management of contradictions which contrasts with the management of contradictions through suppressing them by imposing rules and procedures. Fourth, the doctor-manager’s ‘feat’ can be seen as a performance of a strategy as long as we abandon the (somewhat implausible) claim that all aspects and levels of strategic action are conscious – the doctor-manager would one imagines be conscious of the need to sustain a balancing act between professional and managerial perspectives and priorities, and of certain specific means to do so, but that does not entail him being conscious of all the complex interactive means he uses to do it. Fifth, while particular performances of this strategy (or, indeed, any strategy) are not ‘pre-programmed’, the strategy is institutionalized, disseminated, learnt, and constitutes a facet of the type of organization as a network of social practices, ie a facet of organizational structure. Sixth, it strikes me that bringing off a sense of creative bricolage is perhaps itself a part of the managerial style of this type of organization, ie part of the strategy, the network of social practices, the order of discourse. My conclusion is that even in a case of this sort, rather more emphasis is needed on the relationship between organizing and organization, performance and practice, ‘feat’ and strategy[iv]. Organizational discourse studies have been associated with postmodernist positions (Chia 1995, Grant, Harvey, Oswick Putnam forthcoming, Grant, Keenoy, Oswick 2001), though the field as a whole is too diverse to be seen as simply postmodernist. Chia identifies a postmodern ‘style of thinking’ in organizational studies which ‘accentuates the significance, ontological priority and analysis of the micro-logics of social organizing practices over and above their stabilized effects such as individuals. As this indicates, the focus on organizing rather than organisation is strongly associated with this ‘style of thinking’. Like the dialectical-relational ontology I advocated earlier, this ‘style of thinking’ sees objects and entities as produced within ontologically prior processes. The key difference is that this ‘style of thinking’ tends towards a one-sided emphasis on process, whereas the realist view of discourse analysis I have been advocating centres upon the tension between (discoursal) process and pre-structured (discoursal and linguistic, as well as non-discoursal) objects. This form of realism is not subject to the tendency within modernist social research which is criticized by Woolgar (1988) to take the objects it arrives at through abstraction (which would include in the case of CDA orders of discourse, as well as language and other semiotic systems) to be exhaustive of the social reality it researches. The key difference in this case is whereas this form of modernist research moves from the concrete to the abstract and then ‘forgets’ the concrete, the dialectic-relational form of realism I have advocated crucially makes the move back to analysis of the concrete. CDA is not merely concerned with languages and orders of discourse, it is equally concerned with text and texturing, and with the relations of tension between the two.

Interpreting the King in Hamlet Essays -- The Tragedy of Hamlet Essays

Interpreting the King in Hamlet  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet presents in the character of King Claudius an intelligent, cunning, and seemingly unselfish ruler. This essay will present a critic-supported, detailed consideration of the very capable and cunning King Claudius.    For the entirety of the drama a life-or-death mental contest ensues between Claudius and the protagonist. John Masefield discusses this mind battle in â€Å"Hamlet, Prince of Denmark†:    The King is probing Hamlet's mind with gross human probes, to find out if he is mad. Hamlet is searching the King's mind with the finest of intellectual probes, to find out if he is guilty.   The probe used by him, the fragment of a play within a play, is the work of a man with a knowledge of the impotence of intellect--    "Our wills and fates do so contrary run That our devices still are overthrown"--    and a faith in the omnipotence of intellect--    "Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own." (n. pag.)    Salvador de Madariaga in â€Å"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern† discusses Claudius’ relationship with the two emissaries and former friends of Hamlet, who were escorting the prince to his execution in England:    The two young men receive from the King a commission which, whatever the King’s secret intentions may be, is honorable. Hamlet, the King in fact tells them, is not what he was. The cause of the change "I cannot dream of."    Therefore, I beg you so by your companies    To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather So much as from occasion you may glean Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus That opened lies within our remedy (n. pag.).    Like everyone els... ...Embassy of Death." The Wheel of Fire. London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1954. p. 38-39. http://server1.hypermart.net/hamlet/wheefire.html N. pag.    Mack, Maynard. â€Å"The World of Hamlet.† Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Madariaga, Salvador de. â€Å"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.† â€Å"On Hamlet.† 2nd ed. London: Frank Cass & Co., Ltd., 1964. p.14-16. http://www.freehomepages.com/hamlet/other/essayson.htm#demag-ess N. pag.    Masefield, John. â€Å"Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.† N. p.: n. p., 1911. http://www.mwsc.edu/~eng368/summer97/public/7.24.97-16.23.59.html N. Pag.    Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos.      

Managing Diversity in the Workforce

Abstract Having the need to live in a world of diverse culture, business companies deal with the hardship of dealing with the differences of the workforces in their organization. Is this a problem that cannot be solved? Recent studies show that this problem could actually be turned into a solution that the company could use towards its success. How? This is what is going to be discussed in the paper to follow. The possibilities of turning a diverse workforce into a unified organization would be introduced in this research in an aim to prove that managing a diverse workforce is more of a challenging opportunity than that of an irreversible business dilemma. Outline Introduction Introduces the subject to be talked about in a historical basis What is Diversity? Deals with the definition of diversity as a word to describe social differences and as a word that affects business activities. Getting along with Diversity A compilation of suggestion from business experts that have mastered the art of managing diverse workforces Conclusion The author’s opinion on the topic being discussed based from the researches that have been posted in the paper. Managing Diversity in the Workforce Introduction HAVE you ever heard stories of a race of people who had no mouth and therefore could neither eat nor drink? They were said to survive by smelling, mostly apples. A bad odor would kill them. There were also tales of a West African people who had gold to trade. A Portuguese ship’s captain of the time reported: â€Å"Two hundred leagues beyond [the] kingdom of [Mali], one finds a country the inhabitants of which have the heads and teeth of dogs and tails like dogs. These are the Blacks who refuse to enter into conversation because they do not wish to see other men.† Those were some of the strange ideas that were held many years ago, before the age of travel and discovery. Such stories were taken seriously for centuries. Nevertheless, as explorers charted the planet, they found no mouth less apple smellers, no dog-headed people. Today there remains little mystery about those who live beyond our borders. The world has become a global village. Television brings foreign lands and peoples into our living rooms. Air travel makes it possible to visit those lands within hours; millions of people do so each year. Others are on the move for economic or political reasons. States a report of the United Nations Population Fund: â€Å"On a scale unknown in history—and certain to grow—people around the world are uprooting themselves and migrating in search of a better life.† About 100 million people live outside the country in which they were born. Increasingly there is economic interdependency among nations. A global communications network, like a gigantic central nervous system, links every nation of the  earth. As ideas, information, and technology are exchanged, cultures merge and adapt to one another. Throughout the world, people dress more alike than ever before. Cities of the world share much in common—police, luxury hotels, traffic, stores, banks, pollution. Thus, as the peoples of the world come together, we witness what some describe as an emerging world culture. Nevertheless, while peoples and cultures intermingle, clearly not all see one another as brothers. â€Å"Everyone’s quick to blame the alien,† wrote a Greek playwright over 2,000 years ago. Sadly, the same is true today. The evidence is no farther away than newspaper reports of bigotry, hatred of foreigners, â€Å"ethnic cleansing,† racial strife, religious riots, massacre of civilians, killing fields, rape camps, torture, or genocide. Of course, most of us can do little or nothing to change the course of ethnic conflicts. We may not even be directly affected by them. For many of us, however, problems come from a lack of communication with the foreigners with whom we come into contact—neighbors, workmates, or schoolmates. Does it not seem odd that people of differing ethnic groups so often find it difficult to trust and appreciate one another? After all, ours is a planet of enormous diversity, endless variety. Most of us appreciate the rich variety of food, music, and color as well as the many kinds of plants, birds, and animals. Somehow, appreciation of variety does not always carry over to people who do not think and act in the same way that we do. Instead of looking at the positive aspects of diversity among peoples, many tend to focus on the differences and make them a point of contention.    Certainly, living in a world that is governed with diversity, it could be expected that in the workplace, diversity itself is also present and thus cannot be avoided. Many workers refer to this hardship as the common source of many conflicts within the working area. Hence, the performance of the employees is then directly affected. Impossible as it may have seemed, diversity within the workplace has still been referred to by many modern business enthusiasts such as John Riddle in his book â€Å"Business Management†. How could this be possible? Before knowing the preferred solution of experts towards the said problem, it is important to take notice of what is really meant by being diverse, and how does it really affect the entire performance of the workforce. What is Diversity? Diversity, when referred to in business terms may mean a lot of things. An organization’s workforce may be referred to as diverse for many reasons as well. Diversity may occur because of the differences of opinion because of the differences in personality, in age, in educational attainment, in status in life and even in culture. Mostly, as observed on different business companies, the main reason of such diversity is the existence of a much distinct group of races making up a single workforce for a company. How could all these happen? As mentioned in the introduction, many people have already transferred from place to place and a lot of those people, the so-called immigrants, have already decided to stay and work on the foreign lands they have gone to. Hence, the main effect of this social move on achieving success on other places, the employment of  the multicultural population has been the resort to supporting the lives of the said immigrants. Hence, the workforce of every company making up the business industries are at times having the same worries on how to face the challenge of dealing with and managing people who are widely different from each other. Getting along with Diversity As mentioned earlier, management of a diverse workforce has been one of the biggest problems that concern the human resources department of any type of company present in the business industries. Hence, it is just reasonable to say that at some points, some management teams may find it a difficult task as well. However, the author, John riddle says otherwise. According to him, â€Å"these are all factors of management that should be considered by good managers even before entering an organization† (113). Hence, this definitely means that avoiding diversity in the workforce may be impossible but giving a resolution to it is not that impossible. After all, there is still a common ground among the working force of each company no matter how diverse they may be it is that they are humans, which makes them capable of being dealt with and managed well. In this regard, John Riddle has suggested several points of consideration when dealing with such business problems. In general terms, he summarized the ways by which a good manager could handle the difficulties of dealing with a diverse workforce. The said suggestions are as follows: Concentrate on the strengths of the employees. When a manager discovers the tasks where the employees usually excel in, they should be assigned to them as they are expected to be more productive on those fields of the job. Understand the abilities and the potential of each employee present in the organization. These potential assets of the employees could as well be used by the company itself in aiming for the goals that it has set up for the future. Allow communication lines t be open at all times. It is very important for managers to be good listeners. The ability of hearing what the employees want form the company as well as to how they could be of bigger help to the organization could be used as a resource of ideas for the company as well. Make the employees feel that they too have a sense of authority in the company. However, this type of authority should not overstep that of the administration’s. It should be clear that this authority could only be exercised at specific times and places when it is permitted. This may often refer to an ‘open door’ policy that deals with an easier type of agreement between the employees, which could give them a chance to affect how the organization is being managed. They are then allowed to give suggestions; however, no suggestions are implemented unless approved by the administration. Make sure that all employees understand the business goals and objectives. It should always be remembered that a well-informed employee, whether young or old, is a productive employee. A manager should always remember that he is supervising people with feelings who are valuable members of the organization, hence, treating them with great respect at all times no matter what culture they come from is one of the most important virtue any manager could post as an example for his colleagues. Treating everyone fairly and sensitively is the key to creating a fine working environment. It should be remembered that because of the different clutters of the people, they all have different preferences; they have different personal obligations and other more. Considering the fact that dealing with multicultural workforce also involve dealing with their differences of belief, a manager could as well consider fairness at all times to be able to set a common ground for everyone else in the organization. Keep everyone else busy and going all the time. Feeling one’s worth is usually measured on the things they are able to do for the organization in a day. In this manner, it could be said that regardless of one’s difference from the others, being able to do something for the company and being of worth to the organization makes an employee feel that even though there are differences, he still belongs to the organization he is working for. Keep employees informed of the ins and outs of the organization. Keeping employees in the dark when some changes within the organization arise may give them the notion that they are not given importance by the administration of the company. Acknowledge the employees’ efforts, years of work, talent, creativity and good job attributes. Doing so would help everyone else strive for the best while they are working in the company. It could be noticed that the suggestions listed in here are general. Putting these suggestions into good use have mostly caused several companies to achieve unity beyond diversity in their own much diverse workforces. Hence, as Jones commented in his book â€Å"Contemporary Management†, â€Å"diversity is a normal part of modern management. Being globally distinct, it could not be avoided that dealing with different people everyday is a challenge to the modern managers today† (180). Conclusion The certainties of dealing with diverse people in the workforce are around ninety-nine percent. Considering that we are living in a culturally diverse society, it could be argued that a diverse workforce is indeed a challenge to many business managers today. However, at first, this fact may seem a big problem, on the other hand, if the managers are able to see the common ground of everyone else, which is being human, the said managers would recognize the possibility of making diversity a source of further progress for the company. Mixing up the talents and the abilities of the employees for the goal of the organization would surely help the company reach its peak potential. BIBLIOGRAPHY Riddle, John. (2001). Business Management. Adams Media Corporation. Avon, Massachusetts. Adams, Bob. (2000). Managing people: Lead your staff to peak performance. Adams Media Corporation. Avon, Massachusetts. Hiam, Alexander. (2001). Motivating and rewarding Employees: New and better ways to inspire your people. Adams Media Corporation. Avon, Massachusetts. Martinez, Esdras. (1998). Buisness Managements theories and practice. Rex books Publishing. Manila, Philippines. Jones, Gareth R. (2004). Contemporary Management. Irwin/McGraw-Hill; 4th edition.                  

Annie Dillard. Bio Essay

HEATHER PERPENTE (352)-438-8151 10060 SE 149TH LANE SUMMERFIELD FL, 34491 HEATHER. [email  protected] EDU APRIL 3, 2013 NATALIE PEETERSE SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE UNIVERSITY Annie Dillard started out her writing career misunderstood but admirable. Dillard became well known after her first published book, ‘Pilgrim at Tinker Creek’ won the 1974 ‘Pulitzer Prize for General nonfiction at age 29. She received many complaints on her first novel such as, â€Å"not one genuine ecological concern is voiced in the entire book,† critics state. (Begiebing) Dillard’s eputation has exceeded what was once known as boring and unsatisfactory to one of admiration. In a review of ‘Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,’ Hayden Carruth states, â€Å"In many respects to Annie Dillard’s book, ‘Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,’ is so ingratiating that even readers who find themselves in fundamental disagreement with it may take pleasure from it, a good deal of pl easure. † (Carruth) Indeed Carruth is correct. Dillard’s creativity with and in nature puts us in awe. Her writing is abhorrent and yet so beautiful. In 1971 Dillard stumbled upon an old writer’s nature book and thought, â€Å"I can do better than this. (Dillard) In 1968, Dillard spent a few years, following her graduation, by oil painting, writing, and keeping a journal. This journal is how many of her first poems and short stories were published In this journal, ‘Pilgrim at Tinker Creek’ slowly started it’s well known novel. Dillard began her writing career as a young adult attending Hollins College (now Hollins University). Dillard studied literature and creative writing which motivated her to read classic novels as well as many books that humanity has promised themselves to read in the future, but never got around to it. After spending some time n college, Dillard married her writing teacher, the poet R. H. W. Dillard. In college, I learn ed how to learn from other people. As far as I was concerned, writing in college didn’t consist of what little Annie had to say, but what Wallace Stevens had to say. I didn’t come to college to think my own thoughts; I came to college to learn what had been thought. † (Dillard) Like many other creations in life, her writing began with a simple thought†¦ At the end of the island I noticed a small green frog. He was exactly half in and half out of the water, looking like a schematic diagram of an amphibian, and he didn’t jump.He didn’t jump; I crept closer. At last I knelt on the island’s winter killed grass, lost, dumbstruck, staring at the frog in the creek just four feet away. He was a very small frog with wide, dull eyes. And just as I looked at him, he slowly crumpled and began to sag. The spirit vanished from his eyes as if snuffed. His skin emptied and drooped; his very skull seemed to collapse and settle like a kicked tent. He was shrinking before my eyes like a deflating football. I watched the taut, glistening skin on his shoulders ruck, and rumple, and fall. Soon, part of his skin, formless s a pricked balloon, lay in floating folds like bright scum on top of the water; it was a monstrous and terrifying thing. I gaped bewildered, appalled. An oval shadow hung in the water behind the drained frog; then the shadow glided away. The frog skin bag started to sink. I had read about the giant water bug, but never seen one. â€Å"Giant water bug† is really the name of the creature, which is an enormous, heavy-bodied brown bug. It eats insects, tadpoles, fish, and frogs. Its grasping forelegs are mighty and hooked inward. It seizes a victim with these legs, hugs it tight, and paralyzes it with nzymes injected during a vicious bite. That one bite is the only bite it ever takes. Through the puncture shoot the poisons that dissolve the victim’s muscles and bones and organs – all but the skin †“ and through it the giant water bug sucks out the victim’s body, reduced to a juice. (Dillard) In the above quoted passage from ‘Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,’ Dillard describes an event of nature that is both horrible and beautiful. Through each stage of a life, being human, animal, or insect, life has its beauty and value. We live and evolve and learn with every stage of our life. Does beauty lie in the eye of the observer? † (Krishnamurti) What an excellent question. Every individual has their own eye for beauty, but nature is the one beauty of the world that will never die. Dillard’s eye of beauty is unique. She discovers two ways in which to view nature: one of passionate and fixed attention to all things around her, and her second state is focused on an unaware state, where she connects, lives, and is the nature around her without regards to time in the present state. Dillard’s two states of ‘stalking’ and unawareness differ i n various ways, but llow her to connect with nature and her surroundings on a whole different level of understanding and appreciation. In ‘Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,’ Dillard relives multiple events in the past using both states (aware and unaware) to evaluate lessons she has learned and the closeness she experienced with nature. Dillard appears to be in confusion to which state of mind is most precious in the world, awareness or unaware. Dillard feels that the state of awareness is to be valued for it is a state of mind that does distinguish humanity from both, our creator (god) and our fellow animal friends.Without our ability to distinguish ourselves from other ‘creations,’ humanity would not easily learn and acquire information regarding the many creatures before us and nature itself, while being partially blind to our current surroundings as they stand before us. While at Tinker Creek, Dillard’s appreciation for plants and animals come by no surpr ise, but while she greatly admires the state of awareness, she has multiple interpretations of the state. Dillard implies that by being aware all the time may slow down, or deprive us from our experiences and living conditions in the here-and-now time frame.The state of awareness, or â€Å"innocence†, Dillard believes to be the ultimate state to view nature and the world in. By being in her â€Å"innocence† state, she becomes, (experiences first hand) all things surrounding her. She is able to â€Å"Live them as purely as we can, in the present. † BY the spirits â€Å"Unself-conscious state at any moment of pure devotion to any object. † (Dillard) When learning, experiencing, and connecting with nature, both states, â€Å"innocence† and â€Å"stalking† are necessary to Dillard. Dillard’s section including the frog that slowly has its insides liquefied then devoured, allows er to witness such creatures in their natural state while â₠¬Å"stalking† them. Dillard examines a Giant Water bug inject, liquefy, and devour its dinner; she watched the frogs spirit drift away from its eyes, and its skin sag, to be swept away by the ocean. Dillard evaluates the feelings of horror but beauty by this event which in return, helps her observe and learn from the events of nature while at Tinker Creek. From experiencing her â€Å"innocence† and â€Å"stalking† state, Dillard states, â€Å"I am prying into secrets again, and taking my chances. I might not see anything happen; I ight see nothing but light on the water. I walk home exhilarated or becalmed, but always changed, alive. † (Dillard) I believe that while Dillard visits Tinker Creek, she gives us a gift; the tool to observe nature, seeing and experiencing every event; a new view for appreciating nature in its beauty and horror. Through Dillard, and many other authors, we must find our own way to experience and learn from nature, whether that is t hrough reading such books as ‘Pilgrim at Tinker Creek’, or a nature hike of our own, if we choose to learn from nature. We can learn a great deal from nature writers ll over the world. Dillard views beauty in nature through horrible events by learning and experiencing thousands of things nature has to show and teach us. Dillard learns that while a picture of a darkened sky with remnants of clouds is a wonderful experience, nature, just like everything else beautiful in the world, has a horrible side that is seen when watching. â€Å"It’s the most beautiful day of the year. At four O’clock the eastern sky is a dead stratus black flecked with low white clouds. The sun in the west illuminates the ground, the mountains, nd especially the bare branches of trees, so that everywhere silver trees cut into the black sky like a photographers negative of a landscape. † (Dillard) WORK CITED: 1. Elliott, Sandra S. â€Å"Annie Dillard Biography. †Ã‚  Annie Dillard Biography. Rob Anderson, n. d. Web. 29 Mar. 2013. http://hubcap. clemson. edu/~sparks/dillard/bio. htm 2. Krishnamurti, J. â€Å"The Beauty of Death as Part of Life. †Ã‚  J. Krishnamurti Online. Krishnamurti Foundation, Sept. 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2013. http://www. jkrishnamurti. org/krishnamurti-teachings/view-text. php? tid=1515&chid=1212

The Best Way to Use the Real ACT Prep Guide

The Best Way to Use the Real ACT Prep Guide SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Want to prep for the ACT on you own? Chances are you’ve ordered a prep book to help you study. One of the most popular prep books around is The Real ACT Prep Guide. But how can you make sure you get your money’s worth out of the book – and make sure you actually study well enough to improve your ACT composite? Read our guide to using The Real ACT Prep Guide to find out. What’s in The Real ACT Prep Guide? The Prep Guide has two main components: an overview of each section of the ACT (English, Math, Reading, Science, and optional essay) and 5 full-length practice tests. The book is made by the ACT, so the practice tests are the best-quality ones you can get, which is why the book is so popular (at the time of writing, it’s the #1 best-selling ACT Test Guide on Amazon.com). This book can be an excellent resource if you’re trying to improve your ACT score. However, there are ways to use it effectively and less effectively – we’ll show you how. How to Use the Content Overview Section The Real ACT Prep Guide contains a brief overview of each section on the ACT and the content you need to know for each. However, it doesn’t teach you the content. For example, it will say you need to know basic trigonometric identities for the math section and give an example problem, but it won’t explain what those identities are. So if there is a concept you don’t know, The Real ACT Prep Guide won’t help you learn it. Still, we advise you read through the content review so you know what you are being tested on. If you come across content areas you’re fuzzy on – whether that’s plane geometry or grammar rules – you’ll need to find a more specific prep book or source to help you actually learn it. Make a list of content areas (if any) that you’re shaky on as your read through the content review, and seek out other resources (like more specific prep books and websites) to learn them before embarking on the practice tests. You also might check out our free detailed guides on ACT English, ACT Math, ACT Reading, ACT Science, and ACT Writing. How to Use the 5 ACT Practice Tests These five practice tests are the main reason people go for The Real ACT Prep Guide. Since the tests are written by the test-makers themselves, they give you some of the best quality practice for the ACT you can get. However, if you go through the tests without a strategy, or without adequately checking your answers, you’ll waste them. Taking the tests alone will not help you get a higher ACT score. Point improvements can only come if you identify your weaknesses and drill them until they’re gone. By "perfect practice," we don't mean you should already be getting perfect scores on your practice tests. We mean treating the practice tests like real ones, and then taking adequate time to correct them and understand your mistakes. With that in mind, here’s how to make the most of the practice tests. Timing If you tend to run out of time on ACT sections, you can experiment with giving yourself time and a half, time and a quarter, and then strict timing on the practice tests, to build up your speed. (If you ever run out of time on a section, by the way, still answer the rest of the questions after you’re done with the test to maximize your knowledge-building.) In any case, be careful to time yourself strictly for each practice test, even if you’re starting with time-and-a-half. You’ll be the most prepared for the ACT if you’re able to deal with both the pacing and content. Wear a watch when you practice so you can get use to monitoring your time per question. You won’t be able to bring your phone with you to the test, so get used to using a more old-fashioned timer. Read more about ACT timing for more tips on timing (including the approximate time you have for each question). Stamina If you’re worried about getting through the whole test with enough energy and focus, make sure to take at least some of the practice tests in full blocks, as if you were taking the real ACT, with strict timing throughout. This will help you build your stamina so that on test day, you will have just as much energy on the Science section (which comes last) as you do on the English section (which comes first). If you have no problem with getting through long tests, and you have one particular section giving you trouble, you could focus on just that section and drill it. For example, say that you consistently score 32 and higher when you practice English, Reading, and Science, but are struggling to break 28 on the Math section. You may want to do more practice Math sections to make up for the discrepancy. However, keep in mind any time you take a section by itself, you won’t be able to use that practice test for a complete run-through. Don’t break up all five of the practice tests into their sections. Keep at least two for full run-throughs. Checking Answers When checking the answers on your practice tests, don’t just correct your multiple-choice sheet, tally a score, and wait to see improvement. Rushing through the tests won’t help you get any better. If you correct your practice tests like a Scantron, and only tally up right and wrong answers without further analysis, you're wasting your time. First of all, as you move through the test, mark any questions you are unsure about. This way, even if you get them right, you can examine why they were right and what prevented you from being sure. Next, look at what you got wrong. Figure out the skill, concept, or line of reasoning you didn’t have that prevented you from getting it right. For example, did you miss that reading question because you didn’t know the meaning of a word, or because you misunderstood the context of the passage? Also refer to the answer explanations the Real ACT Guide provides, but keep in mind that can be a bit shallow (â€Å"A is wrong because it is. B is right because†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). Finally, log your mistakes in a notebook. This way you can begin to notice any patterns or consistent gaps in your knowledge. For example, when correcting the math section and logging your mistakes, you might find you missed three questions because you weren’t able to figure out plane geometry and seven questions because you made silly arithmetic errors (like forgetting a negative sign). By logging your mistakes and their causes, you will have a ready-made study guide to use in between practice tests. You can go right to the heart of your weaknesses and drill them. What To Do In Between Tests Don’t just jump from practice test to practice test without studying in between. That would be like a marathon runner jogging 26 miles every day instead of training in intervals – they would horribly injure themselves and not improve at all. While you likely won’t injure yourself from taking five ACT practice tests in a row (though your hand may cramp up pretty badly), you will lose the opportunity to learn from your mistakes and improve. Using your notebook of mistakes, go back to your other resources – the Real ACT content guide chapters, other prep books, the internet – to learn content you still don’t know and practice specific problems. This is also the time to develop and try new strategies. For example, say you keep running out of time on Science because you read the passages first then go to the questions. You might test out starting with the questions and seeing if that improves your time while maintaining accuracy while working through smaller blocks of practice problems. Only once you’re feeling confident about your progress should you attempt the next practice test. The Study Regimen You Should Follow By following the principles above, you can make the most out of the practice tests in The Real ACT Prep Guide. But you may be asking how often you should take practice tests, and what your study schedule should be like. We suggest, before you start studying, you take a full-length practice test. From your performance, figure out your weaknesses in each section. Find resources to improve your weaknesses, and also read through The Real ACT Prep Guide's content review. Depending on when your ACT test date is, take another practice test after two or three weeks of studying. This way you can give yourself adequate time to study and improve. Carefully analyze the results of your second practice test to see where you still need work. You can repeat this process as many times as you need. As you get closer to the test and you correct more of your weaknesses, you can shorten your time between practice tests. Keep studying until you feel confident you will hit your target score on test day. What Happens If I Run Out of Practice Tests? Unlike the SAT’s Official Guide, which has 10 (!) practice tests, ACT only gives you five in The Real ACT Prep Guide. For many students, this is more than enough. But it’s likely, especially if you’re a high-achieving student, you may run out of practice tests before you feel ready for the ACT – especially if you’re going for a 33 or higher. In that case, check out our links to free ACT practice tests online. These don’t come with answer explanations, so save them for after you’ve done the five Real ACT ones so you’ll be more skillful at identifying your mistakes anyway. What’s Next? What other principles should you be keeping in mind as you study for the ACT? Check out our guide to a perfect 36 by our resident full-scorer. Even if you’re not going for a 36, these study principles show you how to make the most of your time studying for the ACT, including the best way to analyze your mistakes. Want more background on the ACT? Get a guide to ACT timing, as well as what’s on each section (English, Math, Reading, Science). Wondering why you keep running out of time on your practice tests? Get in-depth guides for finishing the Math and Reading sections on time. Want to improve your ACT score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the top 5 strategies you need in your prep to improve your ACT score dramatically.

Seeing Holbein The Ambassadors Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Seeing Holbein The Ambassadors - Essay Example It has been noted also that a fur-trimmed over-garment like the one pictured â€Å"became the typical garment of the scholar† (Emberley, 1997, p. 128). His imposing stance and cool gaze denote power and influence in the world. In contrast, the cleric on the right appears a little more withdrawn. He stands back in the shadows and wears dull robes with the white collar indicating his religious calling. The two men appear to be placed as a contrast to one another, but they are linked by the display of fine objects that both lean upon. These objects are laid out with scientific objects above and artistic instruments below. Berger’s explanations about the connotations of great wealth are helpful in understanding the tremendous change that happened in Western civilization in the sixteenth century. This was a time when the Reformation divided people into Protestants and Catholics, and the two men represent the different sides of this major debate. The rise of the Protestantism in the northern parts of Europe is credited with bringing about the earliest stages of capitalism, and this is what Berger is hinting at with his emphasis on the objects in the painting. Most of the population in Northern Europe was still occupied in agricultural work or small cottage production but this was a time when cities began to expand. ... Some of the wealthiest individuals â€Å"invested their wealth in government obligations† (van Zanden, p. 143). The ambassadors in the picture are French, (Wolf, 2004, p. 71) and they represent two different sources of wealth. Both of them provide services to the government. One of them is busy with new market related activities, and the other brings the old power and influence of the Church. A focus on material goods, rather than spiritual ideas, is a feature of this movement, and this could explain why the man on the left appears to dominate the picture at the expense of the man on the right. Although Holbein lived and worked in London, his painting style reflects the techniques of the Dutch masters of the time. The very detailed depiction of the work of craftsmen such as weavers, embroiderers, carpet makers, goldsmiths and all the rest may well also be an acknowledgement of the great contribution that the medieval guilds had made to the development of society and the creati on of wealth. The peasants provided the basic raw materials of production. The trained and certified craftsmen turned the raw materials into the highly prized consumer goods that wealthy people purchased. The emphasis on the detail of their work highlights a new appreciation of luxury, and this is what fuels an endeavor to produce ever better quality, and discover improved techniques. It is noticeable also that some of the objects, apart from being valuable, are also evidence of distant travel. This recalls the great discoveries of distant lands that had been taking place in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. It is as if the two men are displaying all the richness of the globe, in the fine human objects, as well as the riches of heavenly things, indicated by the globes,

Walmart Foreign Expansion Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Walmart Foreign Expansion - Case Study Example Walmart gradually changed the Mexican merchandising culture to American as it expanded its operations in this country. It customized its products and it lowered their prices which resulted in Mexicans changing their shopping habits as they begat to visit large retail shops. This attributed to Walmart’s success in Mexico. 2. In order to succeed in China, Walmart should adapt to the Chinese culture so that it can mesh it with its merchandising strategy. For instance, Walmart has discovered that the Chinese prefer that fresh food be harvested in front of them and this is the exact strategy that it has adopted. Walmart has also discovered that in China, success requires it to embrace unions and it has adopted this strategy which is in stark contrast to America where unionization is opposed. This has positively contributed to the company making inroads in China. 3. It is quite challenging for a company such as Walmart to change the culture of the nation where it is doing business. Consumers in different nations have their own culture which may not be easily changed. However, in order to be successful in such nations, it is imperative for the company to adopt the local people’s culture and try to mesh it with its strategy. This is likely to appeal to the interests of the customers rather than fully changing their culture which they will