A Midsummer Nights Dream - Bottom and Puck. Who is the...

Though Bottom often steals the show in performance, Puck is usually considered the most important character in A Midsummer Night’s dream. Beginning with the importance of the characters and their roles, firstly Puck is the mischievous goblin through-out the play and Bottom is part of the craftsmen who are of lower class then the rest of the characters. These two characters are completely different, coming from separate environments; Puck from the fairy world and Bottom from the working class, however they both serve the same purpose; to make their audience laugh. Puck is a supernatural character who likes to play pranks on humans and takes a joke on human’s stupidity whilst Bottom is an over confident, loud character who wants to the†¦show more content†¦However the idea of love is faked by the use of the magical love juice which confuses their love and makes the victim fall uncontrollably in love with the first person or animal they see which represents the idea of love in real life, humans can fall stupidly in love with someone and have no choice or a way of stopping it because it’s natural. The use of love strongly mimics the idea of love in real life and Shakespeare is trying to portray the reality of humans; how ‘true love’ is an illusion and every human being has a different perspective of it. The idea of reality and fantasy is important because during the times that the play was written was in the Elizabethan era and they strongly believed in the fantasy world; fairies and the devil. The play uses dramatic irony and this was an important part of a comedy because it shows that the audience know more than the characters producing humour, almost like a pantomime (when the audience shout things out at the actors to tell them what’s happening). The play was written in the 16th century during the power of Queen Elizabeth I (Elizabethan era) and because of that, Shakespeare involved female characters into his plays to impress the Queen and not explore ideas of sexism also using Bottom’s character to play out every man’s fantasy; to have a Queen fall in love with them as Titania (The Queen of The Amazon) fell in love with Bottom for a short period of time under the influence of love juice. EdgingShow MoreRelatedMidsummer Nights Dream Essay1041 Words   |  5 PagesWilliam Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream utilizes the technique of multiple characters playing leading roles. The fairy character Puck stands out as a dominant and leading role in the play. 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In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a love potion from a magical flower is used and misused to provide comic relief and resolution to love’s difficulties, supernatural ghosts are used to condemn a horrific murdererRead MoreWilliam Shake speare s A Midsummer Night s Dream And Fool1401 Words   |  6 Pageswhat is the role of the Shakespeare’s fools in his works? And how do particular characteristics about these fools help them achieve this purpose? Through an in-depth analysis of Shakespeare’s arguably two most famous fools, Puck (Robin Goodfellow) from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Fool in King Lear; an argument can be made that the scope of the fool goes far beyond being solely a comedic figure. Using a Shakespearean comedy and tragedy as evidence, this essay will make a case that Shakespearean foolsRead More Kevin Klines Movie A Midsummer Nights Dream Essay925 Words   |  4 PagesKevin Klines Movie A Midsummer Nights Dream Theatre students are often told what not to prepare for an audition because some pieces have been done so many times they lose their meaning. Of Shakespeare’s entire canon, the two most often forbidden texts are Puck and Helena monologues from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Therefore, the two roles are often the most sought-after and coveted in the play when in production. However, in the 1999 film version, Kevin Kline as Bottom gets top billing. AccordingRead MorePuck: The Heart and Soul of A Midsummer Night’s Dream Essay1471 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"Puck: The Heart and Soul of A Midsummer Night’s Dream† Within the genre of melodrama, the atmosphere and emotions of a story are romanticized and magical. Not only does it engage the audience emotionally, but it is also meant to be performed in a very exaggerated manner. William Shakespeare incorporates this melodramatic style into his plays with a specific purpose in mind. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare utilizes the sprightly character of Puck to reinforce the complexity of love, andRead MoreThe Life and Works of William Shakespeare 2100 Words   |  8 Pagesof 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon and he died on April 23 of 1616. For that reason it is typically said that his birthday was also on April 23(Lee 8). He married Anne Hathaway and they had three children. William Shakespeare was a man of many talents who wrote numerous pieces in his lifetime. He wrote comedies, histories, tragedies, and romances. Shakespeare also wrote both plays and poems. From 1601-1608, many of Shakespeare’s plays showed â€Å"Jacobean characteristics†¦Ã¢â‚¬ meaning that the â€Å"comedies wereRead MoreShakespearean Comedy Vs. Tragedy1777 Words   |  8 Pagesformulas and plot outlines to produce many works of literature of many genres, such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a popular comedy, and The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, one of his most famous tragedies, as opposed to just creating sappy stories of deadly romance. The simple, skeletal outline that William Shakespeare tended to use to create his witty comedies is a bit of trouble that is overcome by the protagonist in order to achieve a happy ending to the story. His comedies were often filled with witty

Trade Secrets How to Procure a Passport Free Essays

People often take a great deal for granted while dismissing so much of what goes on around them. This is especially true when what people fail to see involves the plight of illegal immigrants and low-level workers. These unnoticed persons are the very individuals around whom the plot of director Stephen Frears’s Dirty Pretty Secrets revolves. We will write a custom essay sample on Trade Secrets: How to Procure a Passport or any similar topic only for you Order Now They are the people like lead character Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who describes himself and his friends as â€Å"The people you do not see [.. . ] the ones who drive your cabs, clean your rooms, and suck your cocks† (Dirty Pretty Secrets). Generally, the transparency of their existence works against their success; occasionally, the anonymity of these unseen people provides the perfect cover for their entrance into mainstream society—provided that they can tolerate what must be done along the way. The storyline of Dirty Pretty Secrets which is set in London, England, revolves primarily around three people: Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a cabbie by day and a desk clerk at the Baltic Hotel by night; Senay (Audrey Tautou), a friend of Okwe’s, who is a maid at the Baltic Hotel; and Sneaky (Sergi Là ³pez), the head clerk at the Baltic who uses the motel as a distribution center for anything that will net him money—most notably, human organs. The complex relationships that surround these three characters are further developed by two supporting actors: Sophie Okonedo, who plays Juliette, the Baltic’s resident hooker; and Benedict Wong, who plays Guo Yi, a morgue employee and friend of Okwe’s. As the film progresses, the audience learns that Okwe is an illegal immigrant who was forced to flee his home in Lagos, Nigeria after being falsely accused of his wife’s murder. Okwe was working as a pathologist when a Nigerian Government official was shot, and when Okwe refused to destroy evidence of the crime, his home was firebombed—with his wife inside. The Nigerian police accused Okwe of the crime, so he fled. Senay is an immigrant from Turkey, and while she is not an illegal, she is forced to violate the immigration policies of London to survive. Specifically, she is not allowed to work during the six-month period during which her case is being reviewed; therefore, to survive, she works illegally. Sneaky is living and working in London legally, so he is in a position to take advantage of both Okwe and Senay, and the degree to which he is willing to exploit their secrets leads to the story’s pivotal scene. The most prevalent themes in Dirty Pretty Things are human integrity coupled with how the need to remain secretive can result in personal compromise and leave one open to mistreatment, but the sub-theme is how the people who go unnoticed often band together to survive and support one another against their foes. Okwe is a sympathetic character, and as the plot progresses, the audience begins to see that he must make escalating choices that challenge his sense of right and wrong. Because he is a fugitive from justice, he is eventually coerced by Sneaky to participate in his organ-trading scheme. Senay is also very likable, especially after the audience sees that the secrecy and prudishness she initially displays are due to her immigrant status and her being Muslim. Once the Immigration Enforcement Directors begin to hunt her down, she is forced to seek alternate employment and is immediately made a sex toy by her sweat-shop boss. Senay becomes the final piece in Sneaky’s ploy to force Okwe to become the Baltic’s organ doctor when she, in an act of desperation, agrees to give up a kidney in exchange for a passport: Okwe agrees to perform the surgery to ensure that Senay is not butchered. Like Okwe, Senay is forced to compromise more and more of herself in order to survive. The juxtaposing of Okwe with Guo and Senay with Juliette adds even greater depth to this movie: where most of the people Okwe and Senay associate with take advantage of their situations and exploit them, Guo and Juliette—a morgue worker and a hooker—help the main characters survive and persevere: it is a banding together of those whom society fails to acknowledge. Dirty Pretty Things is an excellent film on a variety of levels and should appeal to a wide-range of viewers. The plot is timely and gritty, the acting is superb, and the turning of the tables at the end of the movie—when Okwe and Senay exploit Sneaky’s greed and end up taking his kidney—make one want to stand up and cheer for the justice that is served and the underdogs who dish it out. Anyone who has felt inferior and has been forced to make choices dictated by that feeling of inferiority will likely enjoy this movie, and certainly, those open to reevaluating their prejudice against illegal immigrants will be forced to think again about their postion. How to cite Trade Secrets: How to Procure a Passport, Papers

Business Law Amount of Compensation

Question: Describe about the Business Law for Amount of Compensation. Answer: Part 1 Recognition of contract enforcement indicators For the purpose of assessment, a case has been made up where the amount of compensation is 200% of the per capita income of the country or $5000. In this case compensation is awarded to the seller, as his quality of goods were satisfactory as per the court, an the buyer had not made any appeal against the decision There are mainly five contract enforcement indicators based on which the ease of doing economy is assessed. Court structure and proceedings Case management Court automation Alternative dispute resolution Judicial process quality With respect to court, structure and proceedings points are added and deducted based on the presence and absence of features like, commercial courts, small claim and fast track courts, female testimony acknowledgement and pretrial asset attachment. It is provided with an index of 0-5. Case management of a court is assessed by awarding points based on the, time regulation, number of adjournments, performance management of courts, pretrial case meetings and use of electronic case management by lawyers. It is provided with an index of 0-6. Court automation is assessed by awarding points based on electronic complaint filing, serving starting complain electronically, payment of fees electronically and electronic publication of judgments. It is provided with an index of 0-4. Alternative dispute resolution is measured by consolidate law governing of domestic commercial arbitration, types of disputes which can be submitted through arbitration, voluntary mediation and financial benefits for parties agreeing to mediation. It is provided with an index of 0-3. Finally, all this is added together for the assessment of the overall functioning of the courts with respect to automation, case management, court structure and capabilities of solving disputes using an alternative procedure. This is measured in an index of 0-18 under quality of judicial process. Benefits of the Indicators: The maintenance of specific courts to deal with commercial case can help the support the judiciary to become more effective. Specific courts for commercial activities, which help the business, get results with respect to judicial proceeding within a short time. The specialization of court in one aspect (commercial activities) of law promotes the uniform application of law in all cases (Moustafa 2014). Simple procedures with respect to small claims in commercial activities increase the trust of business organizations in the judicial system. These small claims court not only provide judgment within a short period but also are cost effective. They also help the other courts by reducing the number of cases with respect to minor claims. These courts have simple procedure and conduct their proceedings informally, which makes it very easy for the business organizations. The case management system of courts not only improves the efficiency with respect to processing but also increases the control of the court over the cases. If the case management system of the court is effective, it will automatically reflect on the record-keeping, reduced case blockage, prompt action and give accurate information about the allotment of time and resources. This effective management system will also lead prediction of court events, which will eventually increase the courts accountability and increased enterprises trust in the judicial system (Schultz and Mitchenson 2016). Principles such as early intervention of courts, establishment of time framework, submission of final judgment, filing of plea and creating real schedules and expectations will increase the efficiency of the courts and help the business enterprises to receive fast and accurate solutions. The features such as electronically filing complaint, evidence, payment of fees and reading of judgments rapidly increases the speed of the process involved in the processing of a lawsuit. In addition, the records, which are provided electronically, are very easy to access and are more reliable as compared to physical records. This also helps in reducing the chances of corruption within the court by minimizing physical interaction in the process. The feature of automation in courts also helps the business with reducing the cost of court procedure with respect to court visits and reproduction cost (Lucena et al. 2014). Alternative dispute resolution is a system the court involves process like mediation and arbitration to solve the disputes related to commercial activity (Moore 2014). In this case, the parties submit the matter to an independent arbitrator and he awards a final binding decision, which is binding on both the parties. This system of with respect to solving disputes in a different way is not taken as an alternative to regular litigation, but as a guide for courts to make quick and effective judgments. This also allows the parties to have an increased control over the matter and in most of the cases lead to more satisfaction with respect to the result (Weston 2012). Critical analysis Court Structure and proceedings: The structure of the judicial system of the country has a huge impact on the ease of enforcing contract with respect to small and medium business enterprises in the country. The non-availability of specialized commercial courts in a country will make the litigation process involved in commercial activities costly and time consuming. The non-availability of specialized commercial courts can also lead to the enforcement of commercial law in a non-uniform manner and could be very stressful for the small and medium business enterprises within the country. A specialized commercial court within a country is very essential for the ease of doing business in that country and for enforcing contracts (Flango and Clarke 2014). If small claims courts are not available in the country, the small and medium business enterprises will have to approach the main court for small and minor issues and eventually they will face problems such as high cost and more time involved in judicial proceedings. This also affects the trust of the business enterprises in the judicial system of the country, as they will be confident enough about taking minor claims to for long and expensive judicial proceedings. For Example, In Peru the commercial court made to address commercial activities has been in the lime light for solving commercial disputes within a year. Automation of court: Judicial proceedings involve many regulations with respect to paper work, evidence, complaint and fees. The complexity involved with these proceeding make it very difficult for the small and medium business enterprises to comply with them. Moreover the cost and time involved in judicial proceedings increases even more when the parties have to travel to court frequently for judicial proceedings and submission of different fees. This problem can be solved to significant extent by the introduction of an automatic and electronic system with respect to filing complaints, payment of fees and evidence (Andrews 2012). In addition, there are high chances of corruption and evidence tampering in the judicial systems, which are not, automated. The physical interaction of peoples provides for corruption and may lead to inappropriate judicial proceedings (Saman and Haider 2013). The evidence and documents available electronically are very easy to access as compared to the physical documents. This system save the precious time and money of the small and medium enterprises by letting them submit complaints and pay fees from their offices itself. The absence of automatic transfer of cases randomly to judges also increases speculation among the small and medium enterprises and decreases their trust and belief in the judicial system. This system also makes the judgments made by the courts available to the public so that they can use it as a reference towards their disputes and activities (Mukherjee et al. 2013). Part 2 Research Type and Problems The researcher for conducting this research had gone through the various processes with respect to proceedings of the courts. The researcher has use secondary data collection method for the purpose of this research with the help of journals, books and news articles. This method has been used by the researcher because, for a vast topic like procedure of courts with respect to contract enforcements detailed study of the proceedings of the court is required which can be only done by an in-depth analysis of books and articles related to court proceedings. The researcher has used both qualitative and quantitative data analysis method for conducting this research. Qualitative data analysis has been done to analyze the data with respect to theoretical court proceedings, analyzing case management system and the alternative dispute solving methods (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015). The quantitative analysis of data had been done by the researcher with respect to quantitative data such as perc entage of cases, percentage of enterprises availing judicial proceedings, time and cost involved in a judicial proceeding. The research has also used primary data for the purpose of this research by interviews of a few local small and medium enterprises representatives (Bryman and Bell 2015). The researcher has faced various problems in conducting this research. The availability of court data in relation to proceeding, judgments and process involved in the court was a major issue. The access to these data was also prohibited in certain cases. The researcher also faced problems in analyzing contradictive data with respect to contract enforcement, as many incorrect statistics are available in this case. The researcher also faced problems is accessing the automation of courts, as the details available in this respect were not adequate. The process involved in visiting different courts in the city was also an issue for the researcher as it consumed a lot of time and caused budgetary problems. References: Andrews, N., 2012. Introduction. InThe Three Paths of Justice(pp. 1-23). Springer Netherlands. Bryman, A. and Bell, E., 2015.Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA. de Lucena Neto, C.S., de Oliveira, A.S.G. and da Silva, V.C.R., 2014. THE REFLECTS OF LAWSUIT AUTOMATION IN A LABOUR COURT AND IN A COMMON JUSTICE COURT IN THE STATE OF PARABA, BRAZIL: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY.Law Technology,47(2), p.1. Flango, V.E. and Clarke, T.M., 2014.Reimagining Courts. Temple University Press. Moore, C.W., 2014.The mediation process: Practical strategies for resolving conflict. John Wiley Sons. Moustafa, T., 2014. Law and Courts in Authoritarian Regimes.Annual Review of Law and Social Science,10, pp.281-299. Mukherjee, A., Ray, S., Maity, U., Talukder, P. and De, P., 2013, June. Law And Order Automation. InInternational Journal of Engineering Research and Technology(Vol. 2, No. 5 (May-2013)). ESRSA Publications. Saman, W.S.W.M. and Haider, A., 2013, July. E-court: Information and communication technologies for civil court management. In2013 Proceedings of PICMET'13: Technology Management in the IT-Driven Services (PICMET)(pp. 2296-2304). IEEE. Saman, W.S.W.M. and Haider, A., 2013. E-Court: Technology Diffusion in Court Management. InAMCIS. Schultz, T. and Mitchenson, J., 2016. Navigating Sovereignty and Transnational Commercial Law: The Use of Comity by Australian Courts.Journal of Private International Law,12(2). Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015.Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley Sons. Weston, M., 2012. The Death of Class Arbitration After Concepcion?.Kansas Law Review,60.

The Importance of Being Earnest Challenge Constructions Essay Example

The Importance of Being Earnest Challenge Constructions Essay While Wiled is now known for his relatively remarkable sexual preferences we must not, as Alan Sniffled states, assume that queerness, like murder, will out. This means that though Wiled may be considered queer, this does not mean that we should assume undoubtedly that every character or nuance is undoubtedly so. It might be nice to think of Jack and Algerian as a gay couple writes Canfield, But it doesnt really work. l. As put forward by Peter Arab, Wiled can be seen to present the image off highly superficial and hypocritical society, with vast divide between our personal and social Identities. This helps push audiences to question Identity In terms of the social Implications of gender, name, spousal choice and sexual preference, since fined or not, sexuality Is surely a key element of our Identities. During the late nineteen hundreds, when the play was written, sexuality was not well defined; there was simply heterosexuality and at the time the recent term, invert3, which referred to the soul of one gender trapped inside a body of the opposing gender. With social issues changing over time, we must not look necessarily for queer tones, but for the mockeries that Wiled makes of social constructs so that we can in turn relate them to challenge the more modern constructions of sexuality. At the outset, the title of the lay refers to the importance of being sincere, here Wilds use of irony embodies the theme of satire. This theme runs throughout the entire play due to the lack of seriousness of the mall characters regarding proposal to marriage and changing of names. Both potential fiance ©s of Jack and Algerian claim they could only be married to men named Ernest, It produces ablations. . This claim In countered by both men offering to be rechristened as Ernest. This nuance points to the shallow nature of vows that should be based on sincerity and the ideology of changing your name to fit a social construction. An Ernest can be seen as an ambiguous term for either the fitting in to a social role, in this case the provider for a soon -to-be nuclear family. Names are undoubtedly a huge part of our identity, so the Ideology of changing your name suggest an element of redefining yourself. In this case to fit a social construction of an idealistic family life. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Being Earnest Challenge Constructions specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Being Earnest Challenge Constructions specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Being Earnest Challenge Constructions specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Paralleling this element of redefinition, the notion of changing your sexual identity to fulfill a cultural stereotype can be envisioned. However Wiled does not present this redefinition in a positive light; to redefine yourself suggests a loss of identity and a part of yourself. However this redefinition Is presented as almost Inevitable, Ernest [SIC. ] Is really the only safe option, Implicating that It would be grossly difficult outside the warmth of social etiquette of the time an idea Wiled explored in A Woman of No Importance. To not defined sexuality, to not fit the mould is presented as an unjustly cold and unforgiving option, an option that Peter Arab argues is , a way of life which has no future2. Both protagonists are shown to be maintaining double lives, Ernest in town and Jack in the country'[1738], Wiled presents these dual lives as manifestations exulting from the constraining social pressures: the need to keep up appearances. Ernest, the doppelgà ¤nger, is the improper younger brother, described as getting into, all kinds of scrapes'[1738] whilst we see Jack as the one with the, high moral tone'[1738] as it is, his duty to do so'[1738]. Unlike Andrew J. Webber, who claims that doppelgà ¤ngers present an image of homosexual desired, Eve Spooky Sedgwick suggests that Not everyone has a lover of the same sex, but everyone, after all, has a self of their own sex6 pointing to the reductionism nature of set definitions of sexuality. This reductionism notion is echoed in Wilds portrayal of the confining nature of social laws which he demonstrates through the double lives that the protagonists are, to an extent, forced in to and the vast divide demonstrated between their personal and social identities (Ernest versus Jack). Shortly before he died Wiled echoed the phrase of Algerian, the truth is rarely pure and never simple7, once again drawing attention to the fluid nature of life and truth and embodying the concept of oversimplification in terms of social customs and sexual definitions. Wiled rather strengthens the imagery of restraining social rules through his presentation of characters simply playing into the roles that are constructed for them by society, hence portraying a lack of individuality and from this a loss of identity. Initially, Wiled presents Condoled is presented as demanding romance in public, l hope you will always look at me Just like that, especially when there are other people present [1743] suggesting a the idea of romance being verified only by others knowing about it. Her request can be seen as a form of role playing: putting forward he image of a loving couple, soon to be engaged however this questions their true devotion. This is ironic due to romance and love supposedly holding associations of excitement and mystery focused between two people alone and hence suggests that romance is yet another social construct. The ironic notion of this presentation of romance is shown in a negative and restrictive light due to the connotations of freedom, fresh starts and purity that are related to the word romance. Similarly it can be seen as shadowed by the theme of the restrictive notion of set definitions of defined sexuality. Through this Wiled once again paints the image of a hypocritical society, suggesting that we should challenge social constructs. The character of Jack is presented by Wiled as difficult to pin down into a specific role; a social abnormality. Wiled uses the humor of Jack being found in a handbag to draw attention to his lack of fit in society, l was in a handbag [sic] An ordinary handbag, in fact. [1745]. This lack of fit into defined social roll or class in this case, gives Jacks character a sense of individuality and in our individualistic culture, this helps the audience or reader to empathic with Jack, and in a more modern reading of the text, critics can empathic lack of acceptation of those with individualistic ill defined sexualities. His humble origins result in potential rejection from the privilege of higher society, you can hardly imagine that l Would allow our [sic] Daughter to marry into a cloakroom, through this likening of a lack of social fit to a cloakroom, set roles and classes within society and pushed to the conclusion that they indeed should question the constructions of society, an ideology still relevant in the society f today. Ultimately, The Importance of Being Earnest shows the contrast between the reductionism and confining rule of society against the liberal realism of personal identity against social identity. This was shown to be due to the unrealistic lack of fit of high social expectations, Jack and Algerian were reduced to fantastical double lives, to mere roles and stereotypes. Every person is different and cannot be reduced to stereotypes, hence why the set definitions of sexuality should be challenged, a single label cannot make a person as we are complex beings. Wiled presents this educationist ideology as trivial, hypocritical and finally laughably pointless. Bibliography: Oscar Wiled, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume E, Stephen Greenbelts, (W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 1734-1777. Word count: 1361. Summary of Joseph Bristol, A complex multiform creature: Wilds Sexual Identities, in The Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wiled, deed. By Peter Arab (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), up. 195-218. Available via Cambridge Collections Online. The name of Wiled commonly conjures recollections of him as a playwright, cultural artic and often his ultimate plunge into disrepute as a committed homosexual a notion many consider buried within his literary works. Even today we find Wilds works applicable, particularly in regards to questions of sexual identity. In the past (circa nineteen eighties) Wilds life was seen as embarrassing and students were often under pressure to disregard homoerotic undertones: a notion embodied by Alfred Douglas phrase, Love that may dare not speak its name. However following the relatively recent movement of lesbian and gay studies into the line of social acceptability, we can now look for elements of homoerotic patterning. Many critics debate how the Homosexual genre came into being and how it cannot conclusively apply to Wilds works, this brings to mind the question of how much we apply ourselves to historical specificity and sexual being. In Christopher Crafts essay, Allis Bunny he draws out the ambiguity behind the character Leghorns alibi to escape his family -a regularly ill phantom friend named Bunny. This creation can be seen as an unimportant character based on a hypochondriac childhood friend of Wilds or a symbolism of a more erotic tie between Jack and Ernest. Craft points to how the opposing interpretations are continuously, exchanged, accelerated, derailed Cross- switched by Wiled, mirroring the word pun in the title, The Importance of Being E(a)Ernest. This approach can be congratulated on its lack of reductionism regarding suggestive puns and the social implications that may lie beneath. A homosexual interpretation of Wilds plays could be seen as sculpting the ideology within literature and implicating what it means to be homosexual or gay. According to Michael Faculty these are modern labels as they assume sexuality is based on period Sodomys was not considered a gender-specific homosexual act, but simply a sexual behavior. The terms Hetero and Homosexual had not yet been defined. Around the eighteen-nineties thinkers such as Henries Lyrics et al. Ere attempting to classify human sexuality, coining the term, sexual invert: defined as a female soul that could inhabit a male body and vice versa. This term was used at Wilds trial as an attempt to discredit him. Following his term incarcerated, he considered himself merely a, pathological problem in the eyes of German scientists Quantum mutates, suggesting that before he had not prev iously considered himself defined specifically s a homosexual or invert. Alan Sniffled suggests we should be careful not to presume that Wiled, as an effeminate man, could be definitively comprehended as a homosexual. He points to the fact that many believe that, queerness Will out, but that this is not the case. Many commentators look too hard for the unlikely tones of homoerotic, for example between Algerian and Jack, though realistically they both want to marry heiresses. Sniffled claims this over analysis may be because our stereotypical notion of male homosexuality derives from Wiled though ultimately Wiled could not intelligibly be defined as a specific type of sexual deviant. This notion is supported by Deed Cones Journalistic reports of court proceedings at Wilds trial. Cohen noted how newspapers were unable to specify sexual acts of Wiled, but did all they could to present him with traits that we may now deem, homosexual. Though based on Wilds unmanly self-presentation and the aesthetic Movement, this sensationalist reporting had the result of the creation of a new definition of sexuality based on, personality not, practice. Eve Spooky, in support of anti-homophobic eating of Wilds The Importance of Being Ernest, urges us to take into account a different model on which Wilds exploration of male-male relationships could be based. She claims Wilds works are structured mainly around a shift between generations of lovers, emanating from, pederasts love in the process of being superseded By the homo/hetero imposition. In Lawrence Damsons essay on The Portrait of Mr. W. H. , Damson argues that the play demonstrated Wilds objection to the increasing cultural obligation that held Men to their ties of the nuclear family whilst by contrast advocating same-sex desire. This clear demonstration caused Henry Laborers to set the conflicting precedent in the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 that prevented sexual acts between men, both in public and in private. In contrast, Sniffled argues that this cannot be the case, since Damson suggests that there was a specific homosexual undertone in Mr. W. H. whilst in reality, our modern definition of homosexuality has evolved over the last decade, often in key relation to Oscar Wiled. He states that the lack of definition of the form of love in Mr. W. H. could be based more on the censored nature of pederasts love in Victorian England. This notion is supported by Linda Dowling, who asserts that in the period of Victorian Hellenize, Wilds portrays pederasts love in a fully unapologetic way. She points to how he in his own trial stated, in reference to Love that may dare not speak its name, stated It is not unnatural. It is literary. Following on Bristol points to the contradictory nature of assuming that Wilds works, specifically The Picture of Dorian Gray, are entwined with themes of Love that may dare not speak its name. Ultimately presenting the notion of deceiving looks: Doormans beautiful visage against his sinful nouns men? . This ill defined friendship only ever leads to negative consequences, as supported by Jeff Announce who points out, expression of homosexual desire cancels, rather than clarifies the definition of the character through whom it is conducted. We also must not disregard the Hellenic origins of Doormans name held in parallel with his outward appearance that seems almost Hedonistic and suggests nothing of his sinful nature. In a society without the strict structure of Victorian England, perhaps it would have been possible to discover what it means to be A employ multiform creature. Ultimately Wilds writings can be seen as attaining to Hellenic ideals, he openly mocks societies model of the nuclear family to the point where even outright remarks about the lack of Joy in a marriage are ignored. In A Woman of No Importance Mrs. Alonso states that her husband is a sort of promissory note. to which she is replied, l believe you are really very happy in your married life. . Yet throughout Wilds theme of societal protest, there is never a clear assertion to our modern understanding of homosexuality. Word count : 1,089. Overall Word Count: 2,494.

carribbean politics essays

carribbean politics essays All men are created equal. In the books this statement is valid, but in everyday life we have a long way to go before this becomes more than just a perception. The Caribbean Islands that were once only populated by blacks has now become a white mans world. Whites have forced their ideas on the whole world and just about everyone has accepted them. The actions and words that come from the new inhabitants are the white mans views. This change in cultural politics has brought the style of thinking back to the days right after the abolition of slavery. Cultural politics is the way we, as individuals, act to certain situations in our everyday lives. The individuals in the Caribbean Islands have been forced to have white mans ideas, but some have adapted freely to these feelings. When the average American goes to a foreign country we expect them to have the same language, attitude, and feelings that we do towards everything. This is why many tourists like to go to the Caribbean. They cater your every need and they will think the way you would like them to think. They are not puppets though; they are all wrapped up in cultural politics. Their actions are controlled by the society that drives them, not the one that makes rules of the land. This makes a big difference because the society that pushes them doesnt always believe in equal rights. When someone lives in a one-sided world skin is the first thing that is seen. We do not really see people as who they really are, all we see is how someone lives or how someone acts. We assume many things when this happens, for example in Visiting by Roger McTair; Margaret thinks that Eric, a black man, works on the island for the hotel. The mindset of the woman from Canada was He is black so therefore he works in the hotel, what a blinded view of the world. That was a racially prejud ...

Studying for an exam - Smart Custom Writing Samples

Studying for an exam - Smart Custom Writing Literary Analysis of the Unbearable Lightness of BeingThe Unbearable Lightness of Being is a book written by Milan Kundera and published in 1984.   It is a compelling love story, a must-read that is both touching and sad. This is a novel whose context is set in the late sixties up to the eighties in the communist run Czechoslovakia. It basically explores the themes of love and politics through an in-depth use of various literary devices such as symbolism, imagery and allegory. This has been widely discussed in here-in under the crucial theme of fate in relation to love. In evaluating the literary device of symbolism, imagery and allegory, the concept of lightness, weight and eternal return is well brought out by the German phrase ‘es muss sein’ which implies ‘it must be.’ Kundera explains the origin of the phrase as a motif from the Beethoven's songs. It came up when Tomas was debating after Tereza left him in Zurich as to whether to return to Prague. He phrases the term to his boss since he feels it is beyond his control, induced by fate and he has no choice but to follow Tereza. Fate, as a concept in light and weight, alludes or simplifies Nietzsche's ideas in ‘What's Up with the Title?’ in which Nietzsche alleged that people can attain eternal return and the burden of weight associated with it. Therefore, ‘es muss sein’ is highly relevant in this context since Kundera views Beethoven as a weighty person alluded by the ‘frown’ and ‘improbably mane.’ Further, he is one of the great loves of Tereza who is associated with heaviness and weight. Tomas learns about his music only through Tereza. Tomas feels that Tereza is part of fate and his ‘es muss sein’ and chooses to return to Prague to prove this. He analyses his relationship with Tereza on his way back and identifies six fortuitous events that precipitated their relationship, hence the reference to Tereza as ‘the woman born of six fortuities’ in the novel. This greatly worries him since they could be together by chance, referring to this as 'es konnte auch anders sein' rather by fate. This, is later challenged in Tomas’ thinking as illustrated by his musings on that if fate repeatedly points at a certain event, then the event must be sufficiently ‘significant and noteworthy.’ This is an implication that what happens by chance is a result of the need for necessity which is what is repeated further implying it belongs to the sphere of eternal return. Thi s further contrasts the lightness versus weight dichotomy since he further wonders that the events that occur by chance only once also have an implication. This struggle with the concept of fortuity is further illustrated in chapter five whereby Tomas deliberates on his profession as the narrator phrases: "He had come to medicine not by coincidence or calculation but by a deep inner desire." Kundera also illustrates ‘es muss sein,’ or fate by Tomas’ womanizing habits which he feels is an imperative enslaving him. After a night of erotic dreams and stomach pains, Tomas finally declares that Tereza is the ‘es muss sein’ of his love, though he still cannot control his womanizing habits. He finally comes to the conclusion that love lives beyond ‘es muss sein.’ Therefore, the dichotomy of weight versus lightness is well illustrated since on one hand, Tereza wants Tomas to give up his philandering lifestyle and commit to her but on the other h and, Tomas feels Tereza is in the realm of lightness since she is born of fate rather than compulsion. The literary device of symbolism, imagery and allegory can be furthered by the bowler hat. Kundera mentions that the bowler hat signifies several aspects in philosophy. First, Kundera explains that it signified violence against any woman’s dignity such as Sabina. From Kundera’s point of narration, the lingerie is depicted as enhancing the ‘charm of her femininity’ while the bowler hat, seen as hard and masculine, ‘violated and ridiculed it.’ Further, he depicts this humiliation as seen through Tomas who stood just stood beside her, fully dressed. Sexual humiliation in Kundera’s Unbearable Lightness is illustrated by both Sabina and Tereza. They harbor secret desires to be degraded by the men they have had sex with, For instance, Tereza wants the engineer to watch her go to the bathroom after sex, a desire also expressed by Sabina. With the iteration of certain words, the bowler hat can be therefore seen as a symbol of sexual degradation which contrary to the reader’s thoughts is voluntary and longed for by the women characters in the book. Secondly, Kundera explains that the bowler hat was memento which reminded her of her father. After the death of her father, she adamantly refuses to ‘out of sovereign contempt to fight for her rights’ or to have anything else except the bowler hat. Sabina’s relationship with the father is strained and complex. She feels that the kitsch or ideas instilled by her father during her childhood should be betrayed. She refused to fight for her inheritance; hence the bowler hat in this case alludes to her betrayal and desertion of her father. In conclusion, it is crucial to note that Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being is highly successful due to the fact that he is able to create an exchange between his ‘skeptical critical intelligence and his belief in the autonomy of his fictional characters’ (Andrews). The writer adopts a point of narration whereby he avoids all interior monologue and instead draws attention persistently to its fictiveness and the ability to display the characters imaginatively without resulting in soliloquy.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Andrews, Diane. "Critical Essay on The Unbearable Lightness of Being." Novels for Students. Detroit: Literature Resource Center, 2003. Barnard, John. "The Unbearable Lightness of Being: Repetition, Formal Structure, and Critique." Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Detroit: Literature Resource Center, 25 January 2003. Kundera, Milan. The unbearable lightness of being. HarperPerennial, 1984.

Westward Expansion Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Westward Expansion - Research Paper Example It is vital to note that manifest destiny was not an official government policy but it led to enactment and passage of policies such as the Homestead Act, which in turn motivated colonization of the West and acquisition of territories. More so, it played a vital part in the American thought of 1800s. An American newspaper editor known as John O’Sullivan was the first person to use the term manifest destiny when he was writing about the proposed annexation of Texas. It was stated that the American manifest destiny was to dominate and over-spread the continent in that via this expansion, America could be recognized economically, socially and politically superpower. In sum, O’Sullivan stated that American was chosen to play the role of expanding westward and establishing civilization (Woodworth 33). It was argued that it was the role of America to spread democratic institutions and liberty to other parts of the world. The main underlying aspect of this American mission was a strong feeling of racial and cultural superiority. Additionally, the Anglo-Saxon America stressed that they had the right to spread to the west while bringing them ideas of Protestantism and self-government. The American conflict with Mexico coincided with American’s desire for expansion. Mexico that had attained independence from Spain had initially accepted and encouraged U.S settlers in Texas but its ruler Santa Anna banned further U.S immigration. However, when Texas announced its own independence from Mexico, Santa opposed the move and vowed to put down the insurrection. This led to annexation of Texas was very controversial due to the issue of slavery. It was believed that Texas was going to add another slave state thus its bid to join the Union was threatened by the issue of slavery as it was believed that it would divide the Democratic Party. Polk encouraged and supported annexation of Texas because of the Country’s compromise on expansion. The Oregon trial was part of the concept of manifest destiny because manifest destiny was the concept that required America to expand into the western territory. Therefore, the Oregon Trail was the people who were moving or travelling from East to the West. This illustrated manifest Destiny because people on the Oregon trial were travelling and spreading out to the West, which was the central concept of manifest destiny (Rick 41-42). The idea of manifest destiny is well demonstrated in the California gold rush where gold mining led to influx of Chinese immigrants in California. This development was criticized by the Americans who lived in California because they believed that no person from other continent cold conduct business in their territory. The idea of manifest destiny was well illustrated in 1845 when James K. Polk became the president in that he initiated an aggressive expansionist plan. At this time, most of Mexican territories had been inhabited but America ignored this development and di smissed as baseless. More so, many people believed that English speaking Americans, protestant were better prepared and equipped to rule Mexican territories than Spanish speaking Mexicans or American Indians (Anders 64). The United States of America tried to purchase California and New Mexico in 1835. However, the U.S battled in the Mexican-American war, which enabled it to acquire the territories of New Mexico and California. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 During the early 1800s, slavery was the most divisive issue in the United States of America. After the revolution, most States in North of Maryland started programs of slowly outlawing slavery, and in the early years of 1800s, the States that still practiced Slavery were in the South. The Missouri compromise in 1820 was a

Expand online ASOS retailing into France Market Essay

Expand online ASOS retailing into France Market - Essay Example Also, it has to integrate and closely synchronize its online and offline marketing and communication activities. (Pughe L., march 2006) 13 Johanson & Wiedersheim-Paul, (1975), The Internationalisation of The Firm: Four Swedish Cases, retrieved March 14, 2009, from 18 Pughe L., (March 2006), Marketing Tactics Commonly Used By Small Internet Based Retailers To Sell Specialty Products, University of Oregon, retrieved March 14, 2009, from 18 ASOS cannot afford to be an UK only retailer and has to spread its presence in other geographical markets. While EU countries like France should its most preferred destination for expansion, ASOS also has to take a long term strategic stand and expand to other matured markets like North America, The Oceania or emerging markets like Russia, Brazil, India and China. France represents a great opportunity, but also poses a tough challenge for ASOS. With a very stable political and economical environment and a high degree of internet penetration, France is one of the obvious destinations for expansion for ASOS. However, it might be difficult for ASOS to replicate the kind of growth rates it has achieved in UK in France too. ASOS is a vibrant online fashion and beauty store for men, women and children. ASOS was established in the year 2000 and within a very short period of time it emerged to be United Kingdom’s largest independent online fashion and beauty retailer. It has an unbeatable volume and range of products. Over the years ASOS has been successful in building around 19000 brands and to keep up with it. ASOS also adds about 100- new lines each week. ASOS has a product range that appeal to all in the age group of 16 and 34 years. The website of ASOS sees almost 5 million unique visitors a month and has a whooping 2

Romeo and Juliet essay Essay Example for Free

Romeo and Juliet essay Essay Marco has shown him whose boss and Eddie does not like it. This scene is also left in the audience because the curtain then closes, so this is the picture put into their heads last. A Scene of triumph, a scene of warning, it says dont mess with me, or my brother! Because I will always win. Millers stage directions are also very important here. This is why A View from the Bridge is a play and not a book. The audience need to see Marcos face of warning and Eddies grin vanish as he realises whats just happened. This would not be written effectively enough for the audience to understand this is such a dramatic action in the play. Because to a reader this seems like another game, like there still getting a long fine. But the stage directions his chair raised like a weapon over Eddies head. These stage directions show that this is no longer a fun family game, but a competition and a threat. We open again; Alfieri makes the audience aware that Rodolfo and Catherine are alone, for the first time. In this scene we can clearly see that Eddie has got to her he has Catherine anxious and scared that Rodolfo might only want his papers. She starts by questioning him, whether or not he would be willing to relocate back to Italy if the circumstances allow it. Suppose I want to live in Italy. Rodolfo thinks that Catherine is joking as he says you going to marry somebody rich? Then Catherine quickly shows him she is not joking No I mean live there- you and me (His smile vanishing) Rodolfo becomes disappointed in Catherine as she is taking Eddies words to heart. Thy continue their conversation and Catherine brings up the real problem, Im afraid of Eddie here. Rodolfo is so angry not at Catherine, but Eddies poisonous words that have corrupted his loves mouth. He gets angry you think I would carry on my back the rest of my days a women I didnt love just to be an American? this rhetorical question hives effect to the sentence. It leaves Catherine with no choice but to say no and to agree. And unwisely this leads to a large fall in Eddies status. Theres nobody here now, come inside. ( He leads her towards the bedroom) At this point Eddie appears and he is drunk. Already the audience can see that this is a recipe for disaster. Catherine and Rodolfo are in the bedroom, and Eddie is drunk, so not quite able to control himself. When he sees Rodolfo and Catherine come out of the bedroom, he is angry. As any father would be if in his situation, but Eddie is angry for a different reason, he is jealous of Rodolfo. Pack it up. Go ahead. Get your stuff and get outa here. When Catherine makes a move to go with Rodolfo, Eddie is angry and takes what he wants. He doesnt ask, he just takes it. (He reaches out suddenly, draws her to him, and as she strives to free herself he kisses her on the mouth. This disgusting and selfish move from Eddie only causes more problems. He has just forced the girl he raised like a daughter to kiss him. It is at this point we as the audience truly learn of Eddies true desires. Then the ironic line follows. Stop that! Have respect for her! Rodolfo is now demanding respect, but for Catherine. After Eddies countless demands that Rodolfo doesnt respect him or Catherine the roles have now reversed and it is Eddie needing told. Then Eddie takes it all as a joke and kisses Rodolfo as well. Eddie has taken it to far by now. And he is almost at a point where he cannot climb back up to the top. You can quicker get back a million dollars that was stole that a word that you gave a way. Eddie had almost reached this point, where a million dollars would be easier to get back than his respect. He snitched on his whole family I want to report something. Illegal immigrants. Two of them. Eddies respect has gone. Theres no way of retrieving it now. His name, his family this is a huge step in the scale, telling on his own family and ruining their lives. In this play Eddie becomes very selfish, I want my name he says this like someone has taken it from him, when he has taken it from himself. You used to be different when he is the one that has clearly changed. Beatrices line IM no different shows us that every one is noticing the change in Eddie now. Is Eddie the victim? No he is not. Eddie is the culprit through and through this play, and now every one knows it. When the immigration officers come, Beatrice knows straight away. Oh, Jesus, Eddie. oh, my God, my God What did you do? Eddie denies it, but everyone knows, Catherine knows, Beatrice knows, Marco knows, Rodolfo knows, even the neighbourhood knows, Eddie Carbone is a traitor to his family. A guy do a thing like that, hows he gonna show his face? And o add insult to injury, Marco points him out in front of every one. That one! I accuse that one! he is too disgusted to use his name, but just points. He killed my children! That one stole the food from my children! Miller uses this line because he is showing the audience this is it. The end. Marco will go back to Italy, to no work and no money to feed his family. Eddie, who once helped, killed his family. Eddie should be humbled, he should be quiet. He has accomplished hat he wanted. But he is still hung over about his name. Only blood is good? Beatrice tries to tell Eddie that Marco comes in peace; he wants this to be over. But Marco is beyond kissing Eddies hand. Ad Eddie is beyond letting him. In both these stubborn mens eyes there is only malice and hatred. Te only way to solve this, is to confront it like a man. Eddie Carbone! shouting his name is almost a challenge, Eddie repeats his name three times, as though confirming that it is HIS name, and he wants it. Maybe hes come to apologize, heh Marco? For what you said to me in front of the whole neighbourhood? Wipin the neighbourhood with my name like a dirty rag! I want my name Marco! his next step has he lunges for Marco looks as though he is going to physically take his name from Marco. When it is irretrievable. But Marco shows his strength again another step in Eddies decline. Animal! You go on your knees to me! The tears are in Eddies eyes. Everyone knows he has taken it too far, even him. But he cannot quit now. He lunges towards Marco as Marco flips the blade and delivers a fatal blow. Eddie has gone. He is not Eddie anymore. He lost himself trying to get what he wanted to most. His inappropriate love for Catherine was his downfall. Mans jealously over powered him and no one could help him come back. He finally gives up on his deathbed he appears as though he is going to tell B of, why did you let this happen then he dies in her arms, with the words My B! He loves B but it is to late now. Alfieris closing statement reminds us of the beginning, Most of the time we settle for half, and I like it better. If Eddie Carbone had settled for his half, Catherine and Rodolfo would have been happily married, Marco would have enough money to go to his family and Eddie and Beatrice would continue to love. Eddie would have respect. But he was greedy; he wanted the whole apple not just a bite. This story does not have a happy ending, as you would expect it to. It leaves us guessing, but Eddies greed incapacitates those around him. The audience is left with no doubt in their minds at what happens next. And they cant help thinking; this is not a story that has never happened before. This tale happens all over the world, men take what the want and give nothing back. And yet, it is better to settle for half, it must be! And so I mourn him- I admit it- with a certain alarm! Abigail Craig-A View From the Bridge Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.

Personal Narrative- First Love and Missed Opportunities :: Personal Narrative Writing

Personal Narrative- First Love and Missed Opportunities As a sophomore my workload consists mainly of three very different classes. But within the first week I had something to tie them together; love, to be more specific, first love. In my bible study class, the professor wanted to illustrate the human ability to recall detailed information regarding personally important events. He posed the question â€Å"How many of you remember your first love?† and went on to say how we should approach bible study with a degree of passion. The question was posed again in my science history class, illustrating the love the people we were going to study (Aristotle, Galileo, and Newton) had for their professions. A few days later in creative writing, we described an author’s passion for basketball as his first love. Our professor pauses to place a question before the group. â€Å"How many of you can remember your first love?† A triple coincidence in my classes? Or maybe a theme for the year two thousand. Perhaps the weather was maki ng my professors nostalgic. Who knows? It would be prudent to note that I’m not a particularly attractive individual. I am a short, overweight man with no lack of body hair. Suffice to say I have not been in an intimate situation since playing house at the age of six. None the less each time the question was posed before the class, I raised my hand. After all, it seemed like almost everyone was responding and it wasn’t as if I were weird or anything. I may not have had a first love to remember, but I still remember vividly my first crush. Her name was Kelly and I had the hots for her through junior high and early high school. We met in junior high band. We both played French Horn and sat next to each other every day. I was first attracted to her by the things we had in common. We both had the tendency to follow the school rules. Like me, she liked writing and we later developed an interest in Biology. We were simply like-minded. She would finish my thoughts when speaking and tended to focus on the things I found important. Then, I started to have totally irrational feelings for her. The hairs on the back of my neck would stand with excitement any time she was near me. Her presence was always on my mind whenever she was in the same room.

Mentoring Student Nurses in Theatre Essay

The Operating theatre is an alien environment for students and may be deemed hostile and uninviting. The role of mentors in such a specialised environment is to encourage interaction rather than passivity and utilise every learning opportunity that exists. Students should be encouraged to reflect on those experiences in a structured manner, to assist in their development of meaningful reflection, which is a valuable tool for throughout their career (Quinn 2000). The aim of this assignment is to critically analyse and reflect upon an innovation, that relates to learning and assessing in the practice environment of theatres. The learning outcomes 1, 2 and 4 will be the focus for this assignment because I feel they are the most relevant for reflecting on my innovation as they cover the Importance of the student and mentor relationship in relation to their learning experience, the opportunities and limitations to learning in practice and the evaluation of learning theories and teaching strategies to facilitate the integration of theory and practice. The innovation was a learning package titled ‘Airway equipment & techniques in the theatre setting†. The pack was designed to be a basic insite into the different pieces of equipment and the techniques used and was presented to a second year student nurse, as part of a teaching session. Bruner (1961) explains that when presenting new information to students, the way the material is structured is important to overall learning. He believed that if students understand the basic structure of a subject they will find out much of the finer detail themselves. Spouse(2001) recognised that observation can aid in increased understanding, whilst practice can increase competence, provided the necessary knowledge is in place, in order to facilitate comprehension. I believe that understanding the basics of airway management is a valuable and transferable skill that the student can utilise in any clinical setting. Quinn (2000) who formulated a student-centrered approach to learning, visualising the mentor as a helper and facilitator for and providing of, resources for learning, being someone who shares feelings as well as knowledge with their students. Before introducing some of the techniques and equipment used in airway management, i knew it was important to discuss with the student their level of knowledge and experience. Airway management may be an area that they believe is unique to the theatre environment. In discussion with the student prior to the teaching session, i explained that in every clinical area there is an emergency resusitation trolley, consisting of a defibrillator, emergency drugs and one of the essential components on each one is an airway tray, each containing the equipment that is described in my innovation. During our conversation it was established that during their previous placements, no aspects of airway management had been covered. On previous placements they had been shown where the emergency trolley was kept, but there had not been any formal teaching to familiarise them with the components. Airway management and equipment was therefore not something they felt they understood very well, despite this they showed a keen interest in learning more about the them, acknowledging that although specialised, airway management skills are highly transferable to any setting. Welsh and Swann (2002) believe it is essential to assess a students prior knowledge as this establishes a baseline for development and is a prerequisite for planning future learning. By making the time to discuss the students previous learning experiences at the beginning of their placement, it gives an opportunity for the mentor and student to develop the learning outcomes that need to be achieved and discuss how they wish to achieve them. Learning, according to Rogers (1983) is based on three key factors that exist in the relationship between mentors and students. The first factor being genuineness, were the mentor should come across as a ‘real person’, therefore able to develop a normal relationship with their student. I feel that by welcoming my student to theatres I achieved this. Trust and acceptance, being that the mentor should see and accept their student as an individual, that is worthy of their care and respect. Finally, the empathatic understanding by the mentor, by being able to see things from the students perspective and act appropriately in response to this. Smith (1992) supports that student nurses feel better able to care for patients when they feel cared for by their mentor and clinical staff. After the teaching session the student kept the learning pack to use as a source of reference, for throughout their placement, when observing the equipment being used in everyday practice. To assess the effectiveness of the innovation the student was asked to complete a questionnaire, to evaluate what they had learned from being provided with the pack, as well as an evaluation form to help me understand how the student felt about the teaching session. I felt comfortable throughout the teaching session and the student asked questions openly, which I encouraged them to do. Allen (2005) stated that a good mentor should be open and honest as well as be able to take advice and criticism. According to Neary (1997) and Gray and Smith (2000), most students believe that a successful assessment outcome depends on having a good working relationship with the mentor. A mentor should support the current version of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) standards (2008b) and note that there are several reasons for supporting learning in practice: ‘to provide support and guidance to the student when learning new skills, applying new knowledge and transferring existing knowledge and competence to a new context of practice’ (pg 36); to act as a resource; to manage the learning; and to observe the practice to ensure outcomes and competencies are met (as defined by the NMC). Whilst these standards are mainly aimed at student nurses the term ‘student’ could be applied to those learning, even when they are registered nurses as they are participating in lifelong learning. Students feeling welcome and valued when they arrive will assist with their learning throughout the placement. According to Quinn (2000) identifying the learning needs of the student is best approached at the beginning of the placement. How students interact with the learning environment is important, particularly in the context of life long learning and continuing professional development. As in all specialised areas there are procedures that need to be understood and learned as the student progresses along the professional curve. ( Radford and Hunt 1999). As a mentor in the theatre setting, I have learned to identify areas that could be improved for student learning, such as Techniques that are ‘every day’ to the staff as professionals and the jargon that they use, can be seen as bizarre and seemingly difficult to learn for the student. The idea was to produce an eye catching innovation . A visually attractive and an uncomplicated style of teaching was applied, using indicators for further study for future, current or past theatre placement students. This was to encourage self-directed learning (Ghazi & Henshaw 1998) and avoid over-whelming the student with too much information which may create anxiety and fear. An important aspect of reducing anxiety for students is their introduction to the placement area. This is something that every registered nurse can relate to because we can all remember being student nurses ourselves and can all recall our ‘good’ and ‘bad’ placements easily, the ‘bad’ often being when everything still felt unfamiliar sometimes weeks into a placement area. Swann (2005) identified that an essential component of the mentor/mentored relationship is communication. Hutchinson (2003) supports this by stating that an environment is not just the physical area but also the attitudes of staff. The student nurse on placement in theatres was introduced to firstly their mentor, who after a friendly introduction took the student to the locker room to show them where they could leave their belongings and get changed. Once changed into theatre scrubs they were taken through the department and in each area they were introduced to the staff and the allocated mentors for that area. The health and safety aspects of the department and the fire procedure was also explained. In theatres students have frequently commented on their initial anxieties when coming for a placement. Sampson (2006) carried out a study to identify why there was a shortage of student’s choosing theatres for a clinical placement. Findings suggest that there has been a dramatic fall in the number of students coming to work in theatres and students are not choosing this area due to fear and anxiety about this specialised, unknown environment. When anxiety is high, an individual is immobilised, perceptions are narrowed and learning is impeded (Meisenhelder, 1987) Positive ways to motivate and encourage learning is described by Sampson (2006) as making learning interesting, ensuring relevance to learners’ needs, reinforcing positive not negative aspects and giving students responsibility for learning. By providing the student with the learning pack, it allowed them to take some responsibility for their learning. Silen-Lipponen et al (2004) identified that students have difficulties combining theoretical and clinical knowledge in the learning process, but the perioperative environment can enhance student education by integrating theory, and practice and developing skills in reflection. These knowledge and skills are required by the NMC (2008) standards of proficiency for pre-registration nurses which state that; safe and effective practice requires a sound underpinning of the theoretical knowledge, which informs practice, and must therefore reflect breadth of practice and learning. Much evidence exists which suggests that the perioperative clinical area is an invaluable learning environment and it is essential that student nurses are aware of the learning opportunities available within this diverse clinical area (. Silen-Lipponen et al 2004) Factors that may inhibit learning for students can be described as internal or external in nature. The most common barriers have been identified by many authors (AshCroft, Foreman-peck 1994, Reece and Walker(2000) and Quinn(2000), they include pressure of time and workload, lack of support from the organisation and family. The learning pack was innovated and planned to assist myself in teaching and to provide the student with the most appropriate teaching for their level of learning. Before beginning the teaching session, i encouraged the student to openly ask questions, as the teaching session was based on explaining the contents of the teaching pack, which they would be using throughout their allocation. Scouse (2001) recognised that observation can aid increased understanding, whilst practice can increase competence, provided the necessary knowledge is in place to facilitate comprehension. Reece and Walker (2002) identified that our perception of learning will affect how we teach. Therefore before we explore how to teach, we must understand how people learn. Learning is a relatively permanent change, usually brought about intentionally. Jarvis (1983) highlighted three domains of learning that are important for any healthcare professional. Cognitive, affective and psychomotor show that learning can occur from teaching, study or the assimilation of information and skills as a result of experience. The clinical environment offers a challenge in relation to the choices of strategy available to facilitate learning. Oliver and Endersby (1994) suggest that most teaching in practice areas deal with skills, including interpersonal and management skills. The elements of the educational taxonomy considers that any learning topic has robe considered from three perspectives in relation to what a student has to learn. To apply these using a component of the innovation and given to a student nurse, with something such as teaching a student how to apply an oxygen mask to a patient, the psychomotor skill would be for the student to be able to select and open the face mask, correctly assemble and then connect it to the oxygen source, then document appropriately. It is not enough just to be able to assemble the mask and administer oxygen, for cognitive skills, the student should should also be able to understand why they are giving the patient oxygen, it’s effects and the correct observations. It should not be forgotten that receiving the oxygen is a patient. To be competent with affective skills the student must display the appropriate communication and interpersonal skills. Quinn (2000) stated that mentors can often tend to use strategies they find useful but must be conscious of the preferred learning style of the student. There are three main theories of learning, behaviourism, cognitivism and humanism. Each looks at learning from a different perspective. Along with learning theories it is vital to consider the mentor/student relationship and the learning environment, as these can help or hinder learning (Gray and Smith 2000). Behaviourism is the response gained from behaviour. Cognitive theory focuses on psychological processes that are involved in the acquisition, organisation and use of knowledge (knowles 1990). Austell (1987) advocated the concept of an ‘advanced organiser’. This is a strategy introduced in advance of new material for example, teaching theory before practising a skill. The student was taught the importance of knowing the correct airway management of the unconscious patient in the recovery room, this aided their understanding of which airway equipment or technique was used and why. The learning package and teaching session combined with a perfect learning environment within the theatre and recovery settings, allowed the student the opportunity to apply theory to practice. Fretwell (1985) stated that an ideal learning environment is seen as one in which the educational needs of the student are met. Along with knowledge of the learning domains, it also useful to consider the learning styles of the students. One of the most often cited model is that of Honey and Mumford cited in Howard, 1999, p 110) of the activist, pragmatist, theorist and reflector. Acknowledging these aspects, along with the use of different teaching strategies, Howard (1999) suggested enabling the learning to be adult-centred rather than following a teacher driven agenda. Noone (2009), on discussing a nursing curriculum, suggests that it should integrate three aspects: the cognitive/intellectual; the skills-base; and the ethical comportment/behavioural one. Whilst the one-off session about airway management can’t be compared to a full programme of education, it does, never-the-less, incorporate each of these aspects. There is knowledge of the anatomy and physiology, the use of airway adjuncts and the respect for dignity, by utilising good communication skills are all apparent. By accounting for learning theories, the learning environment, strategies for teaching and learning styles, I have been able to reflect on this experience and discovered areas I can make improvements or change. Theories of learning helped me to acknowledge the relevance of behaviours, knowledge, comprehension and feelings while teaching students, I will use this knowledge to further develop my skills in teaching. The fact that reflection takes place is important as it contributes to the continuing development of a practitioner and facilitates the development of effective practice (johns 2000). To reflect on my innovation i will follow the framework of Gibbs’ (1998) reflective cycle, which I believe is thorough and logical. I developed a learning package for student nurses to learn, understand and develop knowledge in the skills required for the different ways to manage a patients airway, within the theatre setting. The pack consisted of airway management equipment and techniques ranging from the most basic to advanced. I presented it to a second year student that was on placement in theatres. My aim was that the student would learn the basics of airway management, some of which they would be able to put into practice in the recovery room under supervision, such as removal of a patients laryngeal mask. Whilst i was developing the teaching plan and the innovation, I refreshed my own knowledge, making me feel more confident to present the session. The evaluation form that was completed by the student was very positive, I will therefore feel less apprehensive the next time I do a teaching session. The learning pack helped the student to become familiar with the airway equipment and techniques easily. Feedback from the student showed that the pictures and brief descriptions, provided enough information to enable them to recall that information, whilst observing the equipment and techniques being used in practice. This type of learning style could be associated with Dunn (1984) who describes the Visual, auditory, kinaesthetic (VAK) model. When a student nurse has a placement in theatre, the unfamiliar environment and uniforms can be quite daunting. Many things can can be done to promote a good learning environment that meets the needs of the learners. There is a need to help the students understand the learning opportunities available to them and give them support. The student was introduced to the theatre team, on the first day of their placement and I explained about the different routines compare with their knowledge of the ward placements they had been to. The student was initially very nervous, but by providing reassurances and familiarising them with the layout and routine for theatre, they soon settled into their placement and became part of our team. I asked the student following the teaching session to complete an evaluation form. I believe my teaching approach worked well and the student achieved all of their learning objectives. I am certain that during the students placement I maintained a professional but approachable attitude and encouraged them to ask questions when they felt they needed to. Overall I feel that I have learned that the foundation for being a good mentor is in building a good working relationship with the student. Achieving this will underpin every other aspect of being their mentor. Time spent working with the student should be utilised well with plenty of opportunity for discussions. Once a rapport has developed, as a mentor I should display insight into the students needs which will show a degree of empathatic understanding, which will make them more at ease. I now understand the significance of a conducive learning environment so that the student Feels comfortable in the unfamiliar setting and feels supported. The theoretical knowledge of learning theories and teaching strategies that I have gained will enable me to meet the requirements of each individual student needs.

Herman Miller Inc Essay

From the headquarters of Herman Miller Inc. , Curt Pullen talks amid the unmistakable pounding sounds and commotion associated with a construction work site about his company’s plan to rebound from the recession. Pullen, the firm’s executive vice president and president of North America, says the workers are installing new lower-height Herman Miller workstations designed to accommodate a growing trend in offices toward more open, collaborative environments. The new product, called Canvas, is part of the company’s market-shift strategy after the demand for office furniture fell hard during the economic downturn. The plan also involves diversifying into the health care and academic furniture markets and more emphasis on emerging economies. The plan appears to be paying off. For the first time in nearly four years the company reported two consecutive quarters of double-digit percentage sales growth after releasing its second-quarter earnings statement on Dec 15th. Orders in the second quarter rose 34% to $462 million. CEO Brian Walker noted the company’s expanded market reach as a contributing factor to growth. Significant increases occurred in international markets where sales rose 33%. In 2010 the company acquired UK-based ergonomic workstation manufacturer Colebrook Bosson Saunders and purchased assets from Australian furniture maker Living Edge Group. In 2008, the company announced a partnership with China’s Posh Office Systems Ltd. to expand in the Asia-Pacific region. The company attributed a year-end surge to gains in its international, health care, learning and retail vertical markets. The expanding health care industry has become one of the company’s key growth targets. One of the more recent expansions into the health care field came on Jan. 31 when Herman Miller completed its acquisition of health care furniture manufacturer Nemschoff Chairs LLC based in Sheboygan, Wis. Herman Miller designed the Canvas workstation at a lower height than traditional workstations to facilitate a workplace trend toward more collaborative environments. The design also allows more light into work areas and saves space, the company says. Including sinks and headwalls, to be reconfigured to meet patient needs. 2. Business Strategy: Broad Differentiation Strategies This strategy pursues the buyer’s needs and preference to make them satisfied with the product. And to be different from other rivals, the product must have unique product attributes that a wide range of buyers find appealing and worth paying for. The strategy achieves its aim when an attractively large numbers of buyers find the customer buyer value proposition. Herman miller is pursuing this strategy as we refer to the case study that their products are based on the design which is designed according to the people who use the furniture. Like the president of Herman Miller said: ‘people are important not the furniture. Furniture should be useful’. Besides, this company emphasizes on product design and environmental friendly, these are two basic things that they have been practicing for many decades. Furthermore, they also invest more in research and development for product innovation. Take an example of office design product, Herman Miller’s Insight and Exploration team observed various workplaces to analyze how people collaborate and the ways in which their interactions vary over the course of a day, and throughout the life of a project by differentiating the subtleties of how, when, where, and why people connect independent of content or industry. Senior Researcher Shilpi Kumar notes that, â€Å"outlining these collaborative work behaviors will empower designers and decision makers with a greater understanding for how people really work, and will enable more informed choices in regards to office spaces. Herman Miller takes advantage of the growing desire for green products to create a better world and increase ergonomic furniture, because the consumers are willing to pay a premium for such quality and social responsible product. Since the designer of Herman Miller emphasized quality, excellence, and the continual improvement of their products, obviously one of their product which is designed by Charles and Ray Eames since its launch in 1950 had developed from plastic chair to wood chair in 2000. She also confirmed that this wood chair is 100 times recyclable since Herman Miller is concerned about environmental friendly, and Eames Molded Wood Side Chair earns â€Å"Gold† award at NeoCon 2013 in the Guest Seating category. 3. Functional strategy: Research and Development (R&D) This category focuses on strategy that is concerned with the actions in managing particular functions within a business especially in R&D. In terms of Herman Miller R&D, they invested in research and development (R&D) financially. Although there was downturn in financial, Herman Miller still invested tens of millions of dollars in R&D. The investment in R&D was code named Purple. A result of investment in R&D was an outgrowth of project Purple. The goal of this project was to spread beyond the boundaries of normal business. Herman miller created a special team called the accessories team in which the team-identified a potential growth area. This team is made to recruit people with different disciplines needed to support that goal. In addition, this team focuses on contributing ideas to the success of the team from all resources and also to develop a particular product as it goes through that piece of work. This project is in line with functional strategy of R&D in which a company’s product development represents the plan for keeping the company’s product in accordance with what buyers are looking for (Thompson et al, 2014). In the case of Herman Miller Inc, they began with research in every real design solution in which the exploitation and insights of the best research leads to human-centered design and problem solving. Herman Miller Inc is doing many things for R&D in the case of education, sustainability, performance, healthcare, manufacturing, architectures design and ergonomics. Herman Miller Inc has its major R&D activities and projects, i. e. its way to support and develop a company’s product. According to Herman Miller’s financial statement for fiscal years 2006-2011, there was a decline in design and research in 2009 due to the ongoing economic downturn. Figure 1. 1: Spending on Design and research So far, they have done some research projects regarding education such as; student’s research work behaviors behind innovation spaces. In the fall 2012, there was a project Herman Miller funded as a way of investing in the next generation of workers by giving students the chance to apply what hey learn in a real-world setting. Herman Miller wanted them to look at the business objective of the company. Besides Herman Miller providing the funds, the employees of the company also participated in the project. After the field research, the goal of this project was that the students shared what they had learned from going to the company for a workshop. The company also wanted to discover more about places that encourage creativity and the places of creative people. Besides Herman Miller providing the funds, the employee of the company also participated in the project. In regarding with the research in technology, the research starts by understanding which technological trends are creating new behaviors in the workplace. So from that, they can produce new design solution. Over the last three years, a group of designers, engineers, and researchers, the Insight Herman Miller and Exploration Team (I & E) has focused on emerging technologies and how they alter social behavior in the workplace. Herman Miller’s goal is to identify the technology trends that are relevant to the office and also understanding new behaviors that allow the designers, architects and manufacturers to bring new workplace design. For healthcare, Herman Miller Healthcare saw the opportunity to study and analyze by doing the research from the discussion of Bluewater health in which prior to design development and also the satisfaction and safety of patients and staff members. Herman Miller Healthcare is sponsoring a research project that will explore how changes in the built environment have affected staff in three important areas: Ambulatory Care, Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Department. 3 4. Functional Strategies: Marketing Marketing is one of the strategies used under functional strategy. First and foremost, Herman Miller products were sold internationally through wholly owned subsidiaries in countries including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Australia, Singapore, China, India, and the Netherlands. Hence, they use the international strategy to compete its products in each country. In other words, they use the foreign subsidiary strategies because it seemed that they prefer to have a direct control over all aspects of operating in a foreign country that is the reason why they established wholly owned subsidiaries. As a result, this strategy was successful as their brand was recognized by customers and increased customer base spreading over 100 countries. Moreover, they used green marketing strategy to sell their products. This is because they mainly focus on environmental friendly such as Mirra chair, one of their products which was made of 45 percent recycled materials, and 96 percent of its material were recyclable. Therefore, the chairs used 100 percent renewable energy. Due to this strategy used, Mirra chair was recorded as one of the Top 10 Green Products by Architectural Record and Environmental Building News. Hence, this can indicate the success of using this strategy. In addition, Herman Miller engaged in cooperating advertising with strategic partners. As the example of Hilton Garden Inns which they equipped the Mirra chair in some room and on the desk in the room, was a card that explain how to adjust the chair while also providing the advertisement of Herman Miller’s website, how to purchase the products. Likewise, this is one of the advertising used to promote their products by using the strategic partner. As a result, they can reduce the advertising cost and gain more brand awareness. . Operating Strategy: Lean Production Initially, at Spring Lake, Herman Miller had invested in a giant robot assembly that welded supports inside file cabinet housings, including a tractor-trailer-length automated welding line with 1,000 sensors to drive labor completely out of the process. Unfortunately, big customers like Hewlett-Packard and AT&T were pulling their orders of 100 instead of 500 and some wanted file cabinets in two weeks instead of six with much higher quality. The Spring Lake plant could not deliver, and certainly not for the lower prices customers demanded. 995, they adapted Toyota’s leading-edge formula for plant-floor management into an approach they called the Herman Miller Performance System (Booz&co. , 2010, para 20). Based on the above quote, it depicted that Herman Miller’s decision to employ Herman Miller Performance System (HMPS); lean production, was to maintain efficiencies and cost savings by minimizing the amount of inventory on hand through a just-in-time process. To ensure a fluid flow on the order – driven production, Herman Miller collaborated with reliable and strategic suppliers. HMPS created competitive advantage through large assembly – manufacturing based. For example, direct materials and components purchased as needed to meet the demand and some suppliers delivered parts to Herman Miller production facilities five or six times per day. This resulted in a standard lead time of 10 to 20 days for majority of the products and low inventories on hand. Interestingly, HMPS managed to increase the variable costs rather than fixed costs while retaining proprietary control over manufacturing process. It was reported that â€Å"the plant managers across Herman Miller have learned that the best-run plants rely on people, not machines. Only people can solve problems to make assembly lines go faster, run cheaper, and deliver higher quality† (Booz&co. , 2010, para 25). Therefore, it can be concluded that labor intensive approach tend to outperform machine intensive approach especially when the products demand further customization with limited time and the majority of industry products are built to each customer’s unique order. Question 2: Culture at HMI: healthy and largely supportive of good strategy execution. Herman Miller had codified its long-practiced organizational values, intended as a basic for uniting all employees, building relationship, and contributing to society. Herman Miller started in 1905 with the Star Furniture Company and created the Herman Miller furniture company with his son in law named Dirk Jan De Pree. From the beginning, De Pree committed himself to treating all workers as individuals with specials talents and potential. This was part of Herman Miller’s corporate culture which continued to generate respect for all employees and take advantage of the diversity of skills possessed by all. This is one of the functional strategies in corporate culture in Herman Miller Inc in which included the company’s approach to people management, procedures and operating practices that provide the guidelines for the behavior of the company. The impact of this culture became one of the competitive advantages that make strong management and employee satisfaction in the company. The business principles and ethical standard of Herman Miller are the management practices as the key of company’s culture. Herman Miller was one of the furniture company named to Fast Company’s â€Å"Most Innovative Companies† in both 2008 and 2010. Herman Miller had pursued a path of reinvention and renewal. Herman Miller has many ways to develop their products and its culture is also unique. Through the growing of the company, Herman Miller maintains the relationship with the employees. Herman Miller’s commitment to innovation included sharing ideas and opinions from the employees. On January 1979, Herman Miller established new organization structures that included all employees were to be given the opportunity to discuss new plan in small group settings. In addition, Herman Miller also established a plan in which all employees became shareholders. Herman Miller Inc. also focuses on more efficient and environmentally friendly by taking a major initiative in 1981. It is in line with a better world value which is pursuing sustainability and environmental policy. They established environmental quality action team whose goal was to coordinate environmental programs worldwide that involves many employees. A Herman Miller’s culture is grounded in and resides to certain core value and some sets for ethical behavior. Herman Miller had long practiced organizational values that were still used in 2012. The values are as basis for uniting all employees, building relationship, adapt the implied attitude, behaviors and work practices. The company adopted inclusiveness which means they include all the expressions of human talent and potential that society offers. As mentioned before, Herman Miller corporate culture continued to create respect to all employees and looking for and utilizing the skills possessed by anyone. The second value is design in which it is important to Herman Miller Inc. in order to make innovative products. It is the way for them for looking at the world and how it can work. The results of this value are Herman Miller established many innovative products and designs. In 1971 and 1984, they introduced products based on ergonomics principles such as the Ergon chair and Equa chair. For another groundbreaking design, it introduced the Aeron chair which was almost added to New York Museum of Modern Art’s permanent design collection in 1990. Other important values are based on Herman Miller’s best performance that focuses on enriching the lives of employees, customers and create value for the shareholders. The result of this value has made Herman Miller share the gains and pains with the employees especially about the compensation. All employees received a base pay and they also participated in a profit sharing program where they received stock in accordance to the company’s financial performance. The company also offered to the employees the employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), retirement income plan, offered annual bonus to all employees based on company’s performance, and in regard to profit sharing both the employees and executives have same calculation of bonus potential. High performance culture In Herman Miller Inc. there is a strong sense of involvement on the part of company personnel and emphasis on individual initiative and creativity. Two of the greatest strengths lie behind our heritage of research-driven design. Respecting and encouraging risks, exploring new ideas and freedom of speech. Owners actively committed to the life of the community called Herman Miller, pride in doing things right, sharing in its success and risks. The strengths and payoff really comes in when engaging in people’s own problems, solutions and behavior. Performance is required at the highest level possible. Herman Miller enriches employees’ lives, delight its customers, and create value for its shareholders. Herman Miller includes all the express human talent and potential, everyone should have a chance to realize his or her potential regardless of color, gender, age, sexual orientation. It believes that skill; different educational background could bring the company uniqueness. Adaptive Culture Herman Miller always keep innovating its products to serve their customers better. Herman Miller’s corporate culture, which continued to generate respect for all employees, had fueled the quest to tap the diversity of gifts and skill held by all. The company designs products according to what people want the most, and it is a way of looking at the world and how it works or does not. To design a solution, rather than simply devising one, required research, thought sometime starting over, listening and humility. Manager and employees support each other in dealing with working environment. Herman Miller designed the Canvas workstation, at a lower height than traditional workstations to facilitate a workplace trend toward more collaborative environments. The design also allows more light into work areas and saves space, the company says. Additionally, the company also keeps changing its production designs from time to time according to the needs of the people and follow ergonomic system. Herman Miller hired much expertise to design its furniture, and it is costly to spend on R;D but company the company was willing to take risks on new innovation. Financial performance Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 Revenue ($ millions) $ 2,012. 1 $1,630. 0 $1,318. 8 $1,649. 2 R;D to Sales Ratio R;D/Sale 51. 2 / 2,012. 1 = 2. 5 % 45. 7 / 1,630. 0 = 2. 8 % 40. 5 / 1,318. 8 = 3. 1 % 45. 8 / 1,649. 2 = 2. 8 % Table 2. : HMI’s Revenues and R;D to Sales ratio from 2008 to 2011 Figure 2. 1: Research and development (R;D) to Sales ratio from 2008 to 2011 The above graph shows the trend of R;D sales ratio which increases from year 2008 until 2010. However, it decreased slightly in 2011 due to low R;D investment because of recession. However, it is not clear whether measuring the R;D ratio is a good metric to represent its efficiency towards a company. This is because it takes into consideration the R;D expenses rather than R;D investment thus it is easy to manipulate the number by lowering the R;D expenditure. Even, in the balance sheet of Herman Miller, the R;D investment is not disclosed under assets. If R;D is capitalized as asset, then it depicts the efficiency of R;D towards business revenues. In brief, due to that constraint, we assume that at least the R;D sales ratio increases and contributes positively towards Herman Miller’s business structure as Herman Miller invests heavily in R;D to create the furniture. Figure 2. 2: HMI’s Revenues from 2008 to 2011 The above graph illustrates that the trend of sales revenue decreases from year 2008 until 2010. However, it started to increase in year 2011. Thus, in brief, Herman Miller is improving in their sales through investment in Research and Development and produces competitive design. Question 3: HMI’s Financial situation: prior years and its competitors 1. HMI’s financial situation In order to measure the financial performance of Herman Miller Inc, we have used different ratios, such as liquidity, profitability, leverage and activity ratios. Besides, we also compare the financial performance of HMI in relation to its competitors – HNI and Steelcase Inc from 2008 until 2012 based on the above mention ratios. For our case, we have used the current ratio to measure the extent to which the three companies (HMI, HNI and Steelcase) can meet their short term obligations as shown in the figure below. Figure 3. 1: HMI’s current ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The figure above shows the current ratios for the three manufacturers’ of office furniture and equipment for five consecutive years. In the case of Herman Miller Inc. , their current ratio showed some slight increase of about 1 percent from 2008 to 2009. However, a drop of about 21 percent was xperienced in 2010 but they were still able to maintain a current ratio of greater than 1. In the year 2011 and 2012, there had been a tremendous increase in their current ratio to 1. 76 and 1. 81 respectively. This current ratio of greater than 1 provides additional cushion against unforeseeable contingencies that may arise in the short term. In the case of HNI, their current ratio showed a moderate increase of about 7 percen t from 2008 to 2009. However, for the subsequent years, HNI experienced a decrease in their current ratio of approximately 10 percent from 2010 all the way to 2012. Nonetheless, they were able to maintain a current ratio of at least 1 to ensure that the value of their current assets covers at least the amount of their short term obligations. As for Steelcase, their current ratio showed a moderate increase of about 8 percent from 2008 to 2010. On the other hand, the company experienced a decrease of roughly 8 percent in the year 2011 but they were still able to maintain a current ratio of greater than 1. However, Steelcase managed to have an increase in their current ratio from 1. 37 in 2011 to 1. 52 in 2012. Overall, Herman Miller Inc. as shown a significant increasing trend in their current ratio as compared to the other two companies. This may suggest improved liquidity of the company or a more conservative approach to working capital management. ii. Profitability ratios: Profitability ratios measure management’s overall effectiveness as shown by the returns generated on sales and investment. There are a number of ratios under profitability but for our case, we have used the Return on Assets (ROA) to measure the after-tax profits per dollar of assets and Gross Profit Margin which measures the total margin available to cover operating expenses and yield a profit. These two ratios have been used to evaluate the three companies (HMI, HNI and Steelcase). Figure 3. 2. 1: HMI’s return on asset ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The figure above shows the Return on Assets for the three manufacturers’ of office furniture and equipment for five consecutive years. In the case of Herman Miller Inc. , there has been a decreasing trend of ROA in the year 2008 to 2010 from 19 percent to 4 percent respectively. This shows that the profitability of the company is deteriorating. Nevertheless, rom the year 2010 to the year 2012, the company has shown some slight increasing trend of ROA from 4 percent to 9 percent respectively. This indicates that the company’s profitability is quite improving over the years. When it comes to HNI, it has also shown a high decreasing trend of ROA in the year 2008 to 2011 from 5 percent to -0. 6 percent respectively. This shows that the profitability of the company is extremely deteriorating. However , in the year 2012, there was an increase of about 4 percent as compared to the previous year. The company was able to move from -0. 6 percent to 3. 8 percent. This signifies that the company’s profitability is slightly improving. Lastly for Steelcase, there has also been a high decreasing trend of ROA from the year 2008 to 2010 with about 6 percent and -0. 8 percent respectively. This shows that the profitability of the company is extremely deteriorating. However, there was a slight increasing trend of ROA in 2011 and 2012 of 1. 02 percent and 3. 33 percent respectively. This means that the company’s profitability is somewhat improving. Overall, Herman Miller Inc. has shown a considerable increasing trend in their ROA over the years as compared to the other two companies. This may imply effective use of assets and creation of high margins by the company as well as gauging how well the company uses its financing from borrowing and bonds. Figure 3. 2. 2: HMI’s gross profit ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The figure above shows the Gross Profit Margin for the three manufacturers’ of office furniture and equipment for five consecutive years. In the case of Herman Miller Inc. , there has been a slight decrease of the Gross Profit Margin in the year 2008 to 2009 from 34. 72 percent to 32. 37 percent respectively. However, from the year 2010 to the year 2012, the company has shown some slight increase in their Gross Profit Margin from 32. 49 percent to 34. 26 percent respectively. This indicates that the company can make a reasonable profit. For HNI, there has been an increasing trend of the Gross Profit Margin from the year 2008 to 2011 with about 33. 66 percent and 34. 6 percent respectively. However, in the year 2012, there was a slight decrease of about 1. 3 percent as compared to the previous year. The company’s Gross Profit Margin moved from 34. 86 percent to 34. 39 percent. This also signifies that the company can make a reasonable profit. Lastly for Steelcase, it has shown a slight decreasing trend of Gross Profit Margin from the year 2008 to 2010 with 32. 12 percent and 28. 35 percent respectively. However, there was a slight increasing trend of Gross Profit Margin in the subsequent years amounting to 29. 5 percent in 2012. This means that the company can still make a reasonable profit. Overall, HNI has shown a steady increasing trend in their Gross Profit Margin over the years as compared to the other two companies. This may indicate how efficiently the company is using its materials and labor in the production process and gives an indication of the pricing, cost structure, and production efficiency of the company. iii. Leverage ratios This ratio is used to determine the companies’ financing methods, or the ability to meet the obligations. There are many ratios to calculate leverage but the important factors include debt, interest expenses, equity and assets. In this section, we will examine two ratios which are debt to assets and debt to equity ratios. Figure 3. 3. 1: HMI’s debt to asset ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The debt to asset ratio gives us a quick measure of the amount of debt that the company has on its balance sheets compared to its assets. In general, the debt to asset ratio for Herman Miller fluctuated over the years as compared to its competitors – HNI and Steel case. In 2008, the debt to equity ratio for Herman Miller was above 80 percent and rose approximately to 100 percent in 2009, whereas this ratio was just about 61 percent and 57 percent for HNI and Steel case respectively in 2008; and about 58 percent in 2009 for both competitors. This indicated that almost 100 percent of Herman Miller’s assets were financed by debt or creditors which implied that the Company has high level of leverage and risk, while its competitors had roughly 50 percent of their assets financed by the owners. However, Herman Miller’s ratio significantly dropped in 2010 to about 40 percent which was below its competitors who almost maintained their position over the years. In 2012, 70 percent of Herman Miller’s assets were financed by debt. In general, although the company debt to assets ratio is still high in relation to its competitors, the financial performance of the company is improving after the financial crisis. However, the Company needs to further reduce the amount of debt resulting to the reduction of risk; this is because it may affect the company’s survival in the long-run. Figure 3. 3. 2: HMI’s debt to equity ratio versus its competitors’ ratio A debt-to-equity ratio measures the amount of debt a company uses to fund its business for every dollar of equity it has. In other words, it is a measure of a company’s ability to repay its obligations. Generally companies with less debt equity ratio are less risky than the companies with high ratios. As we can see from the graphs, Herman Miller Inc. has the highest ratio over the year in relation to the other companies. For instance, its ratio fluctuated significantly over the years which were at 32. 7 and 94. 91 in 2008 and 2009 respectively. This might be due to the effect of the financial crisis, which caused the company to increase its debt financing heavily. Also, this indicates that the company had substantial high amount of debt as compared to equity which can endanger the long term survival of the firm since the company may not be able to generate enough cash to satisfy its debt obl igations. Meanwhile, debt to equity ratio for HNI and Steel case was roughly lower than 2, which was acceptable for large public companies. For Herman Miller, however, this ratio sharply dropped over the next years to just about 8. 62 in 2010 and 2. 37 in 2012. In contrast, its competitors still can maintain their ratio below two over the next years. In order to improve this ratio, Herman Miller had sold its common stock and tried to lower the mount debt financing, this can be seen by the amount of long-term debt decreasing. This implies that the company’s financial performance has been improving after the financial crisis. In terms of leverage, overall, it can be said that the performance of the company has been improving over the years and regaining its position in the furniture market after the economic downturn. Although it may not do well as compared to its competitors in terms of financing the debt and equity, there is a sign of improvement and effort in positioning its self in the market industry in U. S. iv. Activity Ratios Figure 3. 4. 1: HMI’s Inventory turnover ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The inventory turnover is commonly used to measure the operational efficiency in managing its assets. Based on the figure 4. 1 illustrated above, in 2009, Herman Miller Inc. has the highest ratio compared to other years. This high ratio could indicate two conditions, such as; whether the company has strong sales during the year or it has an ineffective buying activity. However, it is perceived that the company did have strong sales proven from the lowest level of inventory and high sales revenue which are seen in the annual report during the year. While in 2010, Herman Miller Inc. ’s turnover ratio drops significantly compared to the other years. Its cost of sales for the year has the lowest and showed a decrement of 24% from previous year which simultaneously contribute to low ratio as well as indicating the lack of effectiveness particularly in turning its inventory into sales. One of the reasons is that it could be due to the recession which highly affected the company, and hence making them to reduce the cost of sales. However, Herman Miller Inc is getting better in turning its inventory into sales proven from the increment of its ratio by year. Additionally, compared to competitors, the position of the ratio shown for Herman Miller Inc. is located somewhat in the middle. Steelcase is somewhat faster in turning their inventory into sales compared to others. In contrast, HNI has the lowest rate. This proves that Steelcase is more effective in managing its operational assets. Figure 3. 4. 2: HMI’s Average collection period versus its competitors’ ratio Average collection period is the number of days it takes a company to collect its account receivables. As illustrated from the figure 4. 2 above, Herman Miller is getting better in obtaining its receivables shown by the average days taken which was from 58 days in 2008 and 34 days in 2012. This demonstrates that Herman miller Inc. onstantly improve its credit policy effectiveness confirmed by a dramatic slump by years. Comparing to other competitors, originally HNI was the most effective company in managing its credit term policy, as the company only took 38 days in collecting its account receivables compared to Steelcase or Herman Miller. However, the company ended up to be the highest rate at 2012 showing that it is not effective in evaluating company’s credit policy. As a result, when a company possesses a lower average collection period, it is seen as optimal as it indicates that the company does not take very long to turn its receivables into cash. . HMI’s current strategies: an issues of need to change its strategies during poor economic conditions The current Herman Miller strategy which focuses on growth strategy, through innovative products and related diversification made the company to survive the Great Depression early in its history, multiple recessions in 20th century and in early 21st century the company recovered from the dot-com bust and was able to continue expanding overseas. The furniture industry is an economically volatile industry. The office furniture segment of the industry was hit hard by the recession. Industry sales decreased 26. 5 percent during the 2009 economic downturn. However, because of the innovative and diversification, Herman Miller was able to outperform its competitors in terms of sales and profitability, during that time Herman Mill’s sales dropped by 19% which is relatively low in comparison with its competitors HNI Corporation and Steelcase which had dropped by 33 percent and 28% respectively. The furniture industry is at its maturity stage, thus Innovation is crucial to the company’s survival. If Herman Miller continues to successfully innovate, it will enable them to compete in the market strongly. The industry had been negatively impacted telecommunication which had reduced the need office furniture. Yet, more employees were spending more hours in front of the computer screens than ever before. Because of Herman Miller’s effective innovation, they were able to respond to the need of ergonomically correct office furniture that had helped to decrease fatigue and injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome. In summary, the company does not need to radically alter its main strategy which focuses more on innovation and diversification as it’s the reason they were not dramatically hit by recessions and competitions among the rivals. 3. Recommendation: i. Reduced current benefit and incentive schemes There are several incentives that had been eliminated by Herman Miller’s management due to the economic downturn in 2009. The suspend of 401(k) contribution plans (saving contribution plan), cut-off 15 percent of current workforce and 10 percent reduction in salary for remaining workforce had been implemented during the crisis. However the pay cuts was discontinued because of Herman Miller’s quick turnaround. The company was stable starting the year 2011, but the selling, general, and administrative were the highest contribution of the operating expenses. Specifically, â€Å"†¦$3. million and $16. 6 million of additional operating expenses during fiscal 2011 due to the reinstatement of all of our employee benefits and employee incentive expenses† (Herman Miller’s Annual Report, 2011). The company believed that the large benefit and incentives had created motivated and skilful employees which are the key of its competitive advantage. Even though the company has increased in sales as compared to the year 2010, it is important to cut the costs by eliminating some of the less important incentives schemes and benefits such as $100 rebate on a bike purchase, concierge services and one-site services to name a few. Previously, the company had eliminated the 401(k) contribution plan so that they could stop providing some percentage on the employees’ contribution. It is crucial since it could allow the company to save a significant amount of money in the long run (Richardson, 2009). It can be done by communicating the problems and issues which need to be addressed to the staff before they get out of hand. Address the problems proportionately and regular communication could make the staff be aware on their role to support the company throughout the economy downturn. By having it, the staff might accept the decision positively and provide effort to help the company to fully recover after the recession (‘Recession Business Cost Cutting†, 2013). ii. Reduction in company’s cost of sales According to Herman Miller’s Annual Report (2011), the increase in cost of sales for the year 2011 was due to the increase in sales volume that was driven primarily by cost leverage on higher production, which was partially offset by deeper discounting, higher employee benefit and incentive costs, and higher costs of key direct materials, most notably steel and steel components. Besides that, the cost of direct material increased as compared to previous years which there was increase in the cost of commodities and the increase in discounting, which has the effect of reducing net sales The costs of certain manufacturing materials used in producing finished products are sensitive to the volatility of commodity market price. The cost of direct labor and overhead were increased due to increase in product volume while the cost of freight expenses had increased during the year because of increase in product volume as well as increase in fuel costs in 2011. First recommendation to cut the cost of sales in terms of direct material is substituting lower cost material where possible to replace the expensive one and each angle should be considered for better decision. For example, the substitution of carbon steel to replace expensive stainless steel could reduce the cost but the corrosion protection might not last longer. This method should be applied if only the benefit from the substitution is higher than the cost of reduction in quality (Lewis, n. d. ). Second recommendation is by eliminating unnecessary product features to reduce cost. The company should produce a product that really suits customers’ preferences in buying their products. For example, the company should identify whether customers are purchasing its products because of their unique looks, lower price or high quality. If customers buy the products because of their lower price, unique features may not be needed (Lewis, n. d. ). Third recommendation which is the most effective one is by hedging the price of the steel through futures contract. According to Herman Miller’s Annual Report (2011): The company believes market prices for commodities in the near term may move higher and acknowledges that over time increases on its key direct materials and assembly components are likely. Consequently, it views the prospect of such increases as an outlook risk to the business† (p. 34). By locking the price in the contract, it could eliminate any risk of price volatility (â€Å"Hedging in Practice†, 2013). For example, if there is a huge possibility that the price of steel will increase in a certain period of time. Due to that, the company will engage in future contract and lock-in the price for a specific period in the future. Regardless of increase in steel price, the company is eligible to buy the commodity at a lower lock-in price as stated in the agreed future contract. Conclusion Herman Miller Inc. has implemented different strategies in order to improve its performance and expand its self in furniture market, such as diversified strategy, broad differentiation strategy, green marketing, product development and innovation. In addition, besides focusing on those strategies to achieve the business goals, the company also concerns about how it communicates and treat its employees. â€Å"All workers as individuals ith special talents and potential† can be considered as one of the healthy culture at Herman Miller since 1927 and the Company continued to generate respect for all employees and fueled the quest to tap diversity of gifts and skills held by all. According to one of the verse in chapter 42 of the Qur’an: â€Å"Those who hearken to their Lord, and establish regular Prayer; who (cond uct) their affairs by mutual Consultation; who spend out of what We bestow on them for Sustenance† (Quran 42:38) The verse above explains the importance of mutual consent in making a decision. Islam encourages Muslims to decide their affairs by consulting with those who will be affected by the decision. Thus, in the case of Herman Miller, it empowers its employees and nurture participative decision making so that the employees feel as part of the company. Surviving in matured furniture industry and the economic volatility such as recession, demand full cooperation from the whole organization. It is not easy to integrate the diverse nature of employees with different backgrounds and behaviors to achieve goal congruence. Thus, Herman Miller’s healthy culture leads to its employee’s readiness to accept any relevant decision by Herman Miller such as cutting their salaries as the employees work with Herman Miller and not just work for it. Furthermore, in term of design value, the designer team of Herman Miller always emphasized on quality, excellence, and the continual improvement of their products. â€Å"At Herman Miller the products we made decade ago are still sold after today, and products we make today we will do for a decade to come. † All in all, Herman Miller should pursue its current strategies and continue to expand those strategies such as product innovation, diversification and so on. We believe that these strategies have made and will make Herman Miller one of an outstanding and award winning Company. They will continue to provide the Company with the ability to renew and reinvent itself in the furniture market and outperform its rivals in the future. From the explanation above, it gives us a broad view of how the company’s long-term strategy and objective affects all their business: from product design to decision-making process to the culture of the Company.