Geography of Beauty

Geography of Beauty It is a common English idiom to say that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but perhaps it is more accurate to say that beauty is in the geography, as cultural ideals of beauty vary drastically by region. Interestingly, the local environment seems to play an important role in what is seen as beautiful. Large Beauties Extreme forms of this practice include sending young girls to fattening farms, called gavages, alluding to their unfortunate similarity to French farms where geese are forcibly fed via sausage stuffers to create foie gras. Today, food is considerably less scarce, leading to many morbidly obese women in Mauritania. As Western media continues to infiltrate Mauritanian society, cultural preferences for large women are dying out in exchange for a slimmer Western ideal. Although Mauritania is an extreme example, this idea that large women are beautiful women are seen in other regions of the world where food is scarce, and populations are susceptible to famine, such as Nigeria and rainforest cultures. Flawless Skin Perhaps the most shocking facet of East Asian beauty is the fact that the male cosmetic industry is booming. In a society where flawless skin is considered an indicator of social success, South Korean males spend more on skin and makeup products that any other male population in the world. According to the Associated Press, this years male South Korean beauty industry is expected to gross over US $850 million. The trend for more feminine and pretty males in South Korea seems to be the result of an influx of Japanese cultural goods that portray male figures as romantic and effeminate. Skin Lightening With the southern portion of India residing in the Tropic of Cancer, Indias close proximity to the equator has resulted in the characteristically dark skin tone of its citizens. Indias infamous caste system, although based on birth and occupation, placed that vast majority of those with extremely dark skin into the lowest caste, classifying them as undesirables or untouchables. Although today the caste system is outlawed and it is prohibited to discriminate against someone based on his or her caste, the widespread beauty ideal of light skin is a subtle reminder of darker days. To feed this cultures obsession with light skin tones, a huge industry dedicated to lightening and skin bleaching creams flourishes in India. Light of My Eyes These coverings leave the eyes at the focus of the females face, or in more extreme communities; only the eyes are left uncovered. These cultural and religious norms have led many predominantly Islamic countries to focus on eyes as the epitome of beauty. This fixation of eyes is an integral part of Arabic culture. Many idioms of the Arabic language center on the eyes, for example, the Arabic equivalent of responding My pleasure when asked to do a favor roughly translates to By the light of your eyes I will do it. As Islam spread throughout the Middle East and into South Asia and Africa, it brought with it modesty practices for women such as the hijab and burka. With these new cultural norms, eyes likewise became the focal point of beauty in many of these cultures. In addition, khol is an ancient eye cosmetic used not only in the Middle East but also in Africa and South Asia. It is said that it was worn around the eye to protect from vision damage from the suns harsh rays, as these areas where khol is used regularly are very near to the equator and thus receive a lot of direct energy from the sun. Eventually, khol became used as an ancient form of eyeliner and mascara to line and accentuate the eyes. It is still used in many places today. What is beautiful is often not exactly a universal concept. What is seen as beautiful and attractive in one culture is seen as unhealthy and undesirable in another. Like so many other topics, the question of what is beautiful is intricately intertwined with geography.

Free Essays on The Weapons Of World War I

The Weapons of World War I During World War I there were several new and old weapons being used. Many of the weapons are still in use today. Weapon, as defined by The American Heritage Dictionary, is an instrument used in offensive or defensive combat. During war there are several different kinds of weapons in use. The weapons used in World War I can be categorized as infantry, artillery, chemical, Naval, and air weapons. Infantry, or ground forces were the main fighting force of World War I. The main weapon used was a regular bolt action rifle equipped with a bayonet. Later, during the war the machine gun was introduced although it was considered more of an artillery piece than infantry because it was usually mounted on wheels. During the war all the major powers except the United States adopted a light machine gun as the new infantry weapon of choice. Examples of these light machine guns are the Czech designed British Bren, the German MG-34 and the MG-42, and the Soviet Degtyarev. Other weapons of choice was the hand grenade, made better by new high explosive fillers and better fuses, rifle mounted grenade launchers, helmets, and mortar a high explosive a particularly popular type of mortar was the 82mm Stokes-Brandt (Cowley 221). Another important item of the infantry was armor. This refers to tanks, armored infantry carriers, reconnaissance vehicles, and armored self-propelled artillery pi eces. One prime armored vehicle was the combination of the caterpillar tractor with an armored car equipped with a high caliber weapon. Another problem that arose for the infantry was the airplane and enemy artillery fire. To remedy this problem camouflage was brought to the front. Nets woven with various patterns of colored cloth cloaked gun positions, storage facilities, etc. Artists were used to think up camouflage color schemes (Cowley 32, 68). When infantry units were sent into the battle sometimes they were trapped behin... Free Essays on The Weapons Of World War I Free Essays on The Weapons Of World War I The Weapons of World War I During World War I there were several new and old weapons being used. Many of the weapons are still in use today. Weapon, as defined by The American Heritage Dictionary, is an instrument used in offensive or defensive combat. During war there are several different kinds of weapons in use. The weapons used in World War I can be categorized as infantry, artillery, chemical, Naval, and air weapons. Infantry, or ground forces were the main fighting force of World War I. The main weapon used was a regular bolt action rifle equipped with a bayonet. Later, during the war the machine gun was introduced although it was considered more of an artillery piece than infantry because it was usually mounted on wheels. During the war all the major powers except the United States adopted a light machine gun as the new infantry weapon of choice. Examples of these light machine guns are the Czech designed British Bren, the German MG-34 and the MG-42, and the Soviet Degtyarev. Other weapons of choice was the hand grenade, made better by new high explosive fillers and better fuses, rifle mounted grenade launchers, helmets, and mortar a high explosive a particularly popular type of mortar was the 82mm Stokes-Brandt (Cowley 221). Another important item of the infantry was armor. This refers to tanks, armored infantry carriers, reconnaissance vehicles, and armored self-propelled artillery pi eces. One prime armored vehicle was the combination of the caterpillar tractor with an armored car equipped with a high caliber weapon. Another problem that arose for the infantry was the airplane and enemy artillery fire. To remedy this problem camouflage was brought to the front. Nets woven with various patterns of colored cloth cloaked gun positions, storage facilities, etc. Artists were used to think up camouflage color schemes (Cowley 32, 68). When infantry units were sent into the battle sometimes they were trapped behin...

The Success Story of Dell Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Success Story of Dell - Essay Example So, we had to prove that what we had was better. And that forced us to invent a lot of new ways of doing things that delivered a lot better value. And so we looked all across the supply chain and the demand chain for innovations that would drive success for our customers (Michael Dell quoted at Holzner, 2005, 29). Dell, the world’s premier, and most profitable computer hardware technology company is engaged in manufacture and sale of a vast variety of IT related products including personal computers, servers, data storage devices, computer peripherals, laptops, notebooks, netbooks, network switches, displays, projectors, monitors, and televisions. The consumer class notebooks and desktops are sold under the brand names of Dimension, Studio, Inspiron, and XPS, while the commercial class desktops The product portfolio of Dell also includes software, managed services, professional services, and training and certification services. Besides, Dell provides services such as systems integration and infrastructure consulting. Dell Financial Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dell provides financial services to business and individual customers. The company was founded by Michael Dell, with a start-up capital of $1000, while he was a student at the University of Texas, at Austin, in 1984. Its original name was PC’s Limited. Four years after its inception, the company went public in 1989, raising $30 million in its IPO, thus increasing its market capitalization to $85 million. By 1989, the US sales of Dell had touched $257.8 million. By 1990, the company had set up subsidiaries in Italy and France to cater to the markets of Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Dell has successfully implemented Just-in-time manufacturing to effectively curtail inventory overheads. In 1997, the company was placed in the fourth position after IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Compaq, in the manufacture and sales of computers and related products.

Contemporary Utopia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Contemporary Utopia - Essay Example Grube and Reeve (328b) in their description of Plato’s Republic, propose other utopia related ideologies such as abiding peace, strict government structure and high levels social equality. The community under investigation for utopian ideas, in this case, is Los Angeles based Ashram West. Ashram West’s utopian ideologies can be discerned from a wide array of elements, ranging from the community’s name to its practices. For instance, if directly interpreted, the word ashram means a place of religious retreat. Further, Ashram West seeks to provide refuge for gay-identified individuals, offer enlightenment services to the community and bolster spirituality of diverse people. Evidently, this gay spiritual residential area entwines religious, philosophical, administrative and sociological utopian ideologies as discussed further hereunder. Ashram West was conceived in the year 1997 by an individual known as William, and later incorporated as a nonprofit organization (NPO) in the state of California. The establishment is currently situated in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles, and occupies a large apartment with one bedroom. The organization is affiliated to the Southern California Vedanta Society, thus explaining its religious connections to Hinduism and Buddhism linked Tantra teachings. Further, Ashram West is legally sanctioned as a religious establishment, meaning that the community affiliates uphold its religious teachings. The community does not hold any form of prejudice against people from varying races, countries of origin, sexuality and social status, among other distinguishing elements. In regard to membership, Ashram West is always open for new affiliates. Other aspects of interest within this community include mode of leadership or government and social practices. In consideration of leadership and decis ion making, members select an individual to lead them on the basis of

Field Experience Observation Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Field Experience Observation Report - Essay Example I believe that my teacher is dealing with student differences due to the readings and aspects that we have learned and the way class learning takes place. Such as the concept of self takes into account gender and racial identities and their differences. Even William James’s explanation of self-concept relates to all groups because everyone has multiple selves and an aspiration of where they want to be, and everyone becomes more aware of themselves and how they act as they grow older. However, this time span of middle adolescence or early adolescence traits may differ from culture to culture; in some cultures, awareness comes before others due to the conditions in their society or their familial upbringing and these aspects should also be covered and be taken into account in the classroom while reacting to the behavior of the students or grading them Self-esteem is also a relative concept; therefore, diverse or not diverse, it is an individualistic character that cannot be gene ralized even for a race, so it is difficult to encompass and generalize for races; however, the basic trend of high esteem is correlated to positive trends. Global esteem is also considered in the text therefore I think that the teacher addresses the issue in text but practically does not build up that esteem in the classroom for students of different races. (Tesser, Felson, & Suls, 2000) The building of identity reading also takes into account the difference between men and women in the building of identity; the basic steps are the same, but what is more important for women is interpersonal factors, and as recent study shows, both inter and intra personal factors. Even in gender roles, the reading explored that for females there is greater flexibility in the world, and so is there flexibility for adolescents. In the classroom however I haven’t observed this, in fact there is greater flexibility for males. However, these gender roles are not universal, and they differ from cu lture to culture. Some cultures believe in the equality of men and women, and some societies are entirely male dominated. Another weakness of the reading is that there is a comparison between the West and the rest. In the rest there is a wide variety of races and cultures which are worlds apart and cannot simply be combined in the ‘rest’ and which are not taken into account in the classroom. Different communities also have different problem solving strategies, whereas only Berke’s social problem solving steps are outlined and followed in the class. However, the universal belief is that one must not only understand their own needs, but as they develop, they should be able to take into account the perspectives of others and thus develop ‘multiple perspectives.’ The teacher herself should also have this view. Piaget and Kohlberg are also renowned psychologists not just in the western society but all over the world; and, even though deviations exist with in an individual who may even be in the western society, generally their principles are universally accepted. In the classroom they are followed to the book and practicality seems to be missing. Teen problems may also be different for different cultures. In the west, the problems may be teen pregnancy and unhealthy sexual behavior, whereas in other societies, such as more conservative ones, the problems may be that girls are too modern, they wish to do what they like, and in poor countries it may that teens do not get

Comparing The Yellow Wallpaper with Hop Frog Essay Example for Free

Comparing The Yellow Wallpaper with Hop Frog Essay The Yellow Wallpaper and Hop Frog were both written at a time of social turbulence and revolution. Poe wrote Hop Frog twelve years prior to the American civil war, so it is fitting that many of the ideas in the story carry a strong anti-slavery message. Similarly, The Yellow Wallpaper was written in 1892 just before the climax of equal-rights for women. Gillmans The Yellow Wallpaper is one of the early feminist texts in which her writing criticises the position that women were oppressed into and the ignorance of society as a whole. Both Gillman and Poe attack fiercely these ideas that were both upheld and willingly accepted by the majority of society. These two settings immediately portray the two central characters, a woman and a slave, as two of an unheard minority, who were subjected to an unjust, patriarchal world. One of the main similarities between Hop Frog and The Yellow Wallpaper is the atmosphere of each of the stories. Both are horror stories are very dark, and have a horror genre, however Hop Frog is also similar to a fairy tale in that it is quite unbelievable, and where Hop Frogs surroundings are fantasy, the narrators surroundings are quite real. Despite their differences, both of the storys surroundings and atmosphere are symbolic of the way the central character is feeling or being treated. For example, gluttony and corruption of the king and his ministers surround Hop Frog and Poes darkly vivid descriptions of these reflect the mood of Hop-Frog. The oily ministers and a corpulent king sound simply grotesque and fill the reader with a sort of stomach churning unease and tension at the treatment of Hop Frog. The corruptness and gluttony is hugely significant as it shows us the danger and easiness of becoming influenced and eventually corrupted by greed and alcohol. The narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper has instead a room. It is describes as having barred widows and a nailed down bed, which give the impression of a prison rather than a place to become well again in. In fact the room actually does become a prison for the narrator, becoming more and more horrible as the story progresses. By the repetitive use of the word, joke in the first paragraph Poe emphasises the discomfort of Hop Frog as well as achieving a hugely tense atmosphere. This makes the reader, who realises that this seemingly jovial and harmless behaviour of the king and his courtiers is in fact, a lot more damaging and sinister, feel the tension and discomfort that Hop Frog endures. Like Hop Frog, The Yellow Wallpaper also has a tense atmosphere achieved by the speeded up pace of the story and the very short sentences, which flit from one idea to another. These short sentences show the alertness of the narrators mind as well as her increasing madness as she is left with no stimulation other than her own thoughts. As the story progresses the narrators madness grows and consequently her surroundings become more and more an extension of her own nightmarish imagination, eventually becoming as fantastical as Hop Frogs. Throughout the story, the wallpaper in the room is a metaphor for the narrators illness and as her insanity grows, the wallpaper becomes more and more hideous. At the beginning of the story, it is described as horrible wallpaper. Her initial rejection of the wallpaper, shown when the narrator says; I dont like our room and asks John Let us go downstairs, is indicative of her want to get better and her rejection of insanity. The wallpaper is described as having a sickly sulphur tint, representing her illness, and appears to grow, fungus and toadstools suggests that her illness is growing, whilst Budding and sprouting suggest the continuity of this growth. Despite the fact that the images of the wallpaper worsen as time goes on, the narrator quickly becomes obsessed by it, spending hours studying it. The narrator describes how It dwells on my mind so. Eventually, the narrator becomes so mad, that it is as if she is schizophrenic. She begins to see herself in the wallpaper as a woman, stooping down and creeping behind the pattern. As time progresses, the faint woman becomes clearer and stronger as the narrator becomes weaker. This shows her sane self, losing the battle to her insane self. Despite the awful surroundings, outside of her barred windows lies the garden. In contrast to the wallpaper, the garden represents the narrators hope of freedom. The garden is described as delicious and where everything in the wallpaper is bad and infectious, everything in the garden is good and healing. However the narrator is locked away with her illness and is unable to reach the garden, which holds the key to her freedom, How I wish he [John] would let me go she tells us. This creates dramatic irony, as everyone knows what the narrator needs, including the narrator herself, except the narrat ors own husband John. Just as the wallpaper and the narrators madness increase as the story progresses, the behavior of the king towards Hop Frog worsens. This is shown by Poes descriptions of the king, starting as our king, turning into a tyrant and becoming finally a monster. By describing the king in this way, the reader is not only made to feel sympathy for Hop Frog by portraying him as a powerless victim of this cruel abuse, but also make us forgive his final act of revenge, which is in fact utterly terrible. The King and his ministers are abusive and exploitative towards Hop Frog and Trippetta. Poe illustrates this particularly by the reference to alcohol, The king takes advantage of Hop Frogs intolerance to wine it excited the poor cripple almost to madness and sadistically he took pleasure in forcing the cripple to drink. Poe describes how Hop Frog was forced to be merry as it was the poor dwarfs birthday and he is made to obey the command to drink to absent friends, which forced tears to his eyes. This is incredibly ironic, as Hop Frog is not with his friend because he is a slave in the court of the king. In the yellow wallpaper, the narrators monster is her own husband, John, a physician. He ignorantly suffocates his wife, leaving her with no option but to escape into her own madness. He threatens her with Weir Mitchell who was renowned for treating women with this temporary nervousness. The narrator describes how he is like john and my brother, only more so, showing her wish not to be sent to him. John also keeps the narrator away from human contact, starving her of any stimulation or interaction. Despite his obvious love for her he treats her like a possession, this is shown when he fails to regard her as a human being by addressing her as she as if she isnt even there. This also symbolises the fact that he has slowly removed her identity. John regards his wife with little more intelligence than a child, shown by his constantly patronising tone. He calls her little goose and little girl as well as remarking bless her as if she is little older than five. John also shows himself to be really rather selfish when he implores her get well for me. Despite everything, we have to believe that John really does love his wife and wants to help her. But it is through John that Gillman makes a very poignant observation of the way in which society treats women, pointing out the real danger of ignorance. The Narrator in The Yellow wallpaper is portrayed as an extremely bright creative woman, despite the way John regards her. She expresses her thoughts and releases some of the energy that she is so full of through writing. However John forbids that she should write, the narrator tells us I am absolutely forbidden to work. The narrator herself tells us herself that excitement and change would do me good. Instead of excitement and change the narrator is confined to her bed and made to sleep most of the day I lie down ever so much now, John thinks its good for me. However, it is not good for her and the narrator describes how I dont sleep much at night, showing the disturbance of her mind. This results in the narrator having an enormous amount of pent up energy which, when combined with her inability to express herself creates enormous tension in the story. As the narrator searches frantically for an outlet for her imagination she inevitably becomes mad seeking the much-needed stimulation within the wallpaper. The narrators inability to express herself can be compared with Hop Frogs loss of control to the king when he is forced to drink. Hop Frog is described as being driven to madness by the wine, and madness Poe reminds us is no comfortable feeling. In both stories the position of women is severely criticized. In Hop Frog, Trippettas position as both a slave and a woman is exploited. Her grace and exquisite beauty is described as being universally admired. Poe describes how she was admired and petted suggesting the shocking abuse she is subject to. Poe describes how the king threw the entire contents of the goblet in her face, suggesting the complete humiliation that she suffered. In The Yellow Wallpaper, we are introduced to Jennie who is the sister of John. She is described as a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper. Typically of a nineteenth century Lady, Jennie is subservient accepting her position willingly and gratefully. Gillman describes how she hopes for no better profession. Jennie represents the women of society who have grown to accept and are either to weak or to scared to rebel against a life that is no better than that of a slaves. The narrators position as a woman is very similar to Hop Frogs. She is treated as a possession by her husband John and is seen to have no real opinions or views. She describes how the heads that she sees are strangle[d] by the wallpaper, turns them up side down and turns their eyes white. This is very much inactive of the way both she and the other women of society feel suffocated and oppressed by their position. Both stories are written in first person narrative, which makes them a lot more personal. Hop Frog is told by an anonymous Narrator, an onlooker, whilst The Yellow Wallpaper is written like a diary with the narrator, a woman suffering from post-natal depression being the central character. Semi-Autobiographical, the story is loosely based on Perkins own experiences. The narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper remains nameless meaning that the narrator could be any woman in society. It is also a metaphor for the identity that has been lost through her illness and the ignorance of her husband, John. Both the characters are the victims of ignorance. The Yellow Wallpaper shows the ignorance of society about post-natal depression and the fact that no one is prepared to accept what the narrator is suffering from. Her case is not serious we are told. The result of this ignorance is that the narrators condition is not cured but instead made worse. She is taken for a rest cure and deprived of interaction with people and stimulation. Her creativity is crushed when she is forbidden to write. This inability to express herself, had dire consequences; instead of recovering she instead she begins to descend further and further into her own madness. The wallpaper in her room, which gradually becomes more and more disturbing as her madness increases, shows this. This can be compared to Hop Frog who because of his difference in appearance is treated appallingly. The central characters of each story are portrayed as prisoners the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper is portrayed as a prisoner, trapped by her social position; as a woman, by her mental illness and by her own husband. Through her story, Gillman attacks an extremely patriarchal society. She criticises the lack of respect for women and shows her anger towards the inability of women to escape from the position they are oppressed to. The room in which the narrator is put in, in order to rest and recover from her illness is very much symbolic of her imprisonment. It is described as having barred windows and the bedstead as iron, heavy and nailed to the ground representing her being tied down. The fact that the room was a nursery first, is very ironic; Firstly because she has no contact with her own baby and secondly because she has literally been reduced to the position of a child. Similarly, Hop Frog and his fiend Trippetta are salves, whom Poe tells us, were forcibly carried off from their barbarous region and sent, as presents to the king. This is reminiscent of the situation of many black slaves who were taken from Africa to the west at this time, in order to further the endeavours of rich, greedy men at as low a cost a possible. The reality of what faced them ahead was a harsh, cruel life of constant work with no freedom or rights as a human being. However, it is surely wrong that one person should have freedom whilst another is an enslaved possession because they are different. This injustice is shown in the story by the Kings inability to accept Hop Frog as a person, in appearance he is different and so is treated as an object, a possession. Poe describes him as a monkey and a squirrel and suggest that Hop Frog is begging for food crumbs from the royal table. The result this is that Hop Frog is shown to be like a begging animal which serves to ease the K ings conscience at mocking Hop Frog, if he is not a person then he does not have feelings. Both Hop Frog and Trippetta are dwarfed and Hop Frog is a cripple and Walks with an interjectional gait, which comes across as quite funny when it is further described as somewhere between a leap and a wriggle. Despite this Hop Frogs value was trebled in the eyes of the king and the king, who live only for joking exploits Hop Frogs physical disabilities. It is therefor ironic that Hop Frog becomes the court fool which is a metaphor for the fact that he is laughed at by the King. The idea of Hop Frog being mocked for the way he walks is shocking and through this Poe shows the unease of society at the treatment of the slaves. The Kings immoral behaviour mirrors that of the slave traders in America and Europe. Hop Frogs physical disability can be compared to the narrators madness. The endings of each story are hugely significant and it is perhaps through the ending that we see the characters in their true light. Throughout The Yellow Wallpaper the narrator has drifted in and out of her sane mind, she tells us once I always lock the door before I creep. Up until this point the narrator has not accepted that it is herself who is creeping, instead putting it down to the woman. But by the end, she is telling us how she is creeping round and round and round the room. Both a rope and an axe are mentioned, and John faints when he sees the destruction of the room and of his wife. It is quite possible that either of them are dead, however Gillman leaves the ending ambiguous. As well as amplifying the uncertainty of the woman, this could also be down to the fact that Gillman, despite her feminist views, was still a woman in the nineteenth century. She did she want to demonize her character by making her murder her husband no could she afford to openly state that the husband was literally overpowered by his wife. Gillman would not want to upset her feminist audience either, who would be outraged if the narrator killed herself due to the fact that she is such a powerful symbol of a woman wanting to rebel against her oppression. For her to commit suicide would dishearten a lot of these women as it would look as if suicide was the only way out. It seems as if this ending was right for the character who despite becoming insane, is finally happy and tells us with utter satisfaction I got out. Whatever the reason for this ending, there is no doubt that despite the fact that this ending is truly horrific it also comes with a degree of relief. For with the narrators madness comes freedom, and more importantly, the woman finds her identity. Ironically this is not her former self, who is finally named as Jane, but another person; her ins anity. Whilst The Yellow Wallpaper remains ambiguous, the ending of Hop frog is completely literal. Because eof the fact that Poe is a man, he can afford to take more liberties that perhaps Gillman was unable to take. He can openly humiliate and torture the king and the court, who represent the corrupt monarchy; an important part of society, and appear to get away with this. Hop Frog is portrayed as demonic and evil. He achieves his freedom by brutally killing the King and his ministers. Under the guise of the stupid fool he tricks the king and his ministers into thinking that they are dressing up and covers them in tar and flax. The fact that Poe uses tar and Flax is of great significance as it is symbolic of humiliation and punishment throughout history. Hop Frog then chained them together to become the eight chained orangutans. Hop frog shows himself to be very intelligent when, at the dwarfs suggestion, the keys had been deposited with him, in contrast with the stupidity of the King. Po e describes how the they are humiliated when the chains cause them to fall and stumble, The King and his Ministers have gone form mocking Hop Frog to being mocked themselves Hop Frog then suspends them from the ceiling at the ball and burns them alive. The fact that throughout the story Hop Frog never had the presence that the evil King had means that we would not immediately suspect Hop frog. When the grating noise was first introduced, the reader did not think that it could be Hop Frog. However at the end when Hop Frog is perched on the rope with the burning king and ministers below him the grating noise came form the fang like teeth of the dwarf, who ground and gnashed them as he foamed at the mouth. This is an insane a picture as that of the narrator. Hop frog rising up against the king is a complete reversal of roles, the oppressed has become the oppressor. However how is it possible that Poe can get away with this ending without his central character looking like the vengeful murder that he has become? It is perhaps because all-thorough the story, the treatment of Hop Frog as well as his situation has been described as Horrendous, horrific and brutal, evoking incredible sympathy in the reader. As if this isnt reason enough, Poe threw in the added ploy of alcohol, which appears to demonize Hop Frog. Therefor when Hop Frog commits this terrible act, he is immediately forgiven whilst we all revel in the torture that the king and his ministers now incur. In the eyes of the reader justice has been done. Perhaps through his ending, Poe is forecasting what is to come, when the black slaves will rise up against their own white oppressors. It is therefor interesting that n order to truly punish and humiliate them, Hop Frog turns them first black. Like Gillman, Poe does not want to demonize the female character, leaving the question of Trippettas involvement up to the reader to answer.

Engaging Employees In Organizational Change Management Essay

Engaging Employees In Organizational Change Management Essay Let it sink in: Rosenberg (1993) states that people need time to adapt to the idea of change. It is best to announce the change management plans much before the actual implementation begins rather than springing up the announcement as soon as the actual transition is about to take place; in most cases it has been noted that individuals were unhappy with the rapidity at which the change management course was employed rather than the idea of change itself. If for example a company plans to layoff 20% of its staff by the end of the week; no prior announcement of this action might result in severe chaos, anger and frustration by the employees who would have to deal with the situation there and then which could result in severe emotional and mental trauma. Teach the staff well: People are usually comfortable with the familiar and suspicious of the unfamiliar. For this purpose individuals might resist changing over to a new system or procedure of doing things simply because they are afraid of making mistakes and would prefer to work according to the tried and tested procedures. Management here needs to ensure that individuals are encouraged to experiment under the new system and are allowed to learn from their mistakes rather than being reprimanded for their behavior. Relinquish some control: Rosenberg (1993) has mentioned time and again in her article that to bring about an effective change, it is necessary to give autonomy to individuals so that they feel that they are also in control and play an integral role in the course of managing change. Again resistance is not necessarily to the change itself; rather than the way the change was implemented. A good manager would always involve his employees in the change management process to garner their full assurance and support to the change being implemented. Communication is the key: This is a very important aspect as employees want to be constantly kept in the loop regarding what changes are taking place in the organization. Both the employees and their managers have to keep an fluent mode of conversation so that the queries and grievances of the employees can be addressed by the managers and the managers are also aware of the strategies they would have to use in order to compel their workforce to remain committed to the cause. If managers want to successfully overcome resistance to change then these are some of the few viewpoints they have to keep into consideration when being involved in a change management process. Kimberling (2006) has suggested four simple steps for overcoming resistance. For todays management one of the growing challenges is overcoming employees resistance to change. It is widely assumed that people dislike change. There are some ways of overcoming employees resistance to change as given below: Identify change agents early in the project/program Train, train, train Involve employees in the change enabling process Over-communicate According to Brown Cregan (2008), Cynicism tells regarding employees opinion of their organizations management and it is derivative of employees familiarity with the environment, it may require considerable efforts by management to trim it down. Engaging employees is one of the ways of managing Organizational Change Cynicism (OCC). Sharing information has been considered as the approach is suitable top-down form of engaging employees which has important and negative association with OCC. It is believed that information passed down by the management is based on employee accepting of management decisions and thus reducing level of OCC. Taking inputs from employees validates that employees and employers have differing interests in the employment relationship. Delegating the role of decision making reflects shift in the form of employment terms. Managers and employees work in a cooperative environment where solutions/ decisions may emanate from either side and no more managers are the only authority holders. Engaging employees in decision making reduces levels of OCC. This helps employees in understanding the fall out of managerial decisions as nothing comes to them as a surprise this undermines the potential of cynicism to develop. This point of view is further supported by other researchers who state that constant communication and employee involvement is the key to a successful change management process. Communicating decisions justifies change, improves sense of employee effectiveness, and makes clear the changes to employee responsibilities (Young and Post, 1993). Besides, it provides employees information on how the intervention will happen and its fall out and hence allowing them greater control over the process of change. Successful Change: Paying Attention to the Intangibles Adams (2003) asserts that though bringing about any sort of change is a challenging and daunting task, confrontation to change can be combated and an organization can make the transition to a new environment successfully. Adams (2003) further states that while there would be approximately 10-15% of an organizations employees who would be resisting change; there would also be another 10-15% who would be supportive of the change. Organizations who have implemented the change management program successfully in their vicinity have done so by involving these proponents of the change management program from the beginning stages in order to garner their full support. This does not mean that these organizations did not face any sort of resistance; resistance to change was there just like any other change management program but it was dealt with in a smart manner so that the hostile and negative feelings of the employees did not take over the entire process. The basic factors that have been identified by Adams (2003) for successful change implementation are: accepting the need for change, faith that change is both favorable and probable, enough fervent assurance, explicit deliverable goals and a clear starting strategy, structures or mechanisms that require a repetition of the new pattern, feeling supported and safe, patience and perseverance, clear accountability, the responsibility of others in the organization (not just change agents) and rewarding of new behavior. All of these factors combined have worked together in bringing about a successful change program in various organizations that applied these theories or factors either entirely or used combinations that supported their organization structure. The basic premise of bringing about a successful change program has been that it is possible to overcome resistance if a clear strategy if firstly identified and secondly people are managed in such a way so as to develop feelings of en thusiasm and commitment towards the process of change. It is how these intangible factors of change are managed that determines the successful implementation of any change management program in the world. Simultaneously, with fast pace of change organizations are currently experiencing, there is parallel increasing interest in the role of organizational trust within these processes. (Mayer et al., 1995). Lower level of trust in organization will make change look doubtful and upsetting. Change agents need to take a closer look at trust and control factors in order to comprehend better how a constructive association among employees and employers can be continued. Triumphant organizational change can take place if employees stick to the processes sketched by organizational leaders. Non-acceptance or refusing attitude towards change may harm the relation between individual and organization (Ferguson Cheyne, 1995). On the other hand, control is seen as a regulatory process by which the basics of a system are made more foreseeable by making standards in the pursuit of some preferred goals or state (Leifer Mills, 1996, 117). This means that when employees have a high sense of control over a change intervention, it means they predict the result associated to it, hence they feel comfortable increasing the probability of sticking to the change. Some authors have treated trust and control as substitutes (e.g. Inkpen Currall, 1997; Leifer Mills, 1996), such that the more trust there is in a partner, the less need to control its behavior. A different approach is presented by Das Teng (1998) which state that these parallel phenomena hold a supplementary character. According to them, If employees perceptions of control over change represent how comfortable and familiarized employees are concerning the change, what is the impact of lower or higher control in the relationship between employees and organizational agents? Although the stronger is employees trust in their supervisor, the more committed these employees are to their organization, we believe trust has differential effects on work outcomes depending on how employees perceive change (i.e. how much they feel they control the change process). For this purpose Das Teng (1998) explain the concept of organizational change interventions. Organizational change interventions are situations in which both perceptions of trust in the supervisor and control over change are high stake factors because of the risks entailed in them. A situation in which employees have low perceived control over an organizational change intervention is a situation where trust concerns are increased. If an employee has lower control over the change, a trusting relationship with his supervisor will help him maintain his level of commitment to the organization. As a consequence, not only employees with low perceived control over change and low trust in the supervisor are expected to have the lowest levels of organizational commitment, but also the relationship between trust in the supervisor and affective organizational commitment is stronger for employees with lower perceptions of control over the change intervention. Brockner et al. (1997) found that when trust concerns become more prominent, the level of employees trust in organizational authorities is more likely to influence their support for the organizational authorities and their organizational commitment. The Hard Side of Change Management The DICE Factors Sikrin et al. (2005) has a different opinion on which factors to focus on when bring about the change. Recently the gurus of change management tend to pay more attention and emphasis on soft factors such as culture, leadership and motivation. These factors play an integral role in making an organization attain success but one cannot focus on these factors only when an organization needs to be transformed. Such basic factors do not always affect the change management programs in organizations. For example, a good leadership is essential to the success of any organization but is not the sole affective factor. Communication plays a major role when bringing about any change but again, is not the only factor to severely affect the change process. The most difficult factor to change is changing the mindsets of individuals; individuals and organizations have certain perceptions and behaviors that are so deeply inculcated in their personality that it is very difficult to steer them in a diff erent direction. Sikrin et al. (2005) also states that while surveys can be conducted to understand the effect of such soft factors such as culture and leadership, it is difficult to quantify such soft factors. An emphasis on the unconventional outlook of change management, the hard factors, is also important to be taken into consideration. These factors have three important characteristics which are as follows: Organizations are capable to evaluate them in straight or circuitous methods. Organizations can simply correspond their significance, both inside and outside of the organizations. And possibly mainly vital businesses are able to influence those essentials rapidly. Such important factors that directly affect the change process are the time span taken to undergo a process, the individuals necessary to carry out the various job requirements and ultimately the financial returns that such an activity leads to. There are numerous researches that depict that hard factors play an essential role in bringing about any sort of change process, else the organizations face failure. (Sikrin et al., 2005). On the other hand it is also necessary for the management to pay an equal amount of attention to the soft factors. However, if organizations do not firstly emphasize on the hard factors, the entire change process would result in severe failure. Sikrin et al. (2005) write in their article that they gained an insight into a new aspect when they studied and identified the basic factors of change that all processes shared. They conducted a hypothesis that studied how various organizations conducted similar transformation programs. For this purpose the authors studied various industries in various countries in order to take out the common elements. 225 companies were part of the research conducted where it showed that there was a directly related relationship between the outcome of a change process and tough four elements: plan life span, specifically the time between plan feedbacks; performance veracity, or the abilities of project teams; the dedication of both higher staff and the lower staff whom the transform will influence mainly; and the extra attempt that peoples must make to manage with the alteration. They named these factors as the DICE factors since we could stack them in support of projects accomplishment (Sikrin et al., 2005). According to Sikrin et al. (2005) We finished our learning in 1994, and in the 11 years since then, the Boston Consulting Group had used those four elements to forecast the results, and direct the completion, of more than 1,000 change management stances globally. Not only has the association held, but no other elements (or combination of these factors) have forecasted results as well. The Four Hard Factors Organizations work with the four factors in different ways in order to create new combinations. On one end of the continuum, there are projects that will ultimately face success than the ones that are going to face failure on the other end. For example, Sikrin et al write, At one end, a small plan led by a capable, ambitious, and consistent team, led by top management and implemented in a division that is open to the change and has to put in very little further attempt, is destined to thrive. On the other end, a lengthy, designed plan implemented by an unskilled apathetic, and incoherent groups, without any higher management sponsors and aim at a function that disapproves the alteration and has to do a excessive efforts, will be unsuccessful. Through this process the organizations can then find out which change program fell at which end of the continuum. However, most of the change processes ended up in a neutral position where it was difficult to find out if they were a success or if they had failed. It is the responsibility of executives to conduct an in-depth analysis of the DICE factors to decipher which direction the change program go. Following are the DICE factors: D. The time span Duration required concluding a transformed plans if it has a limited duration; if not limited, the longevity of time between feedbacks of objectives. I. The plans teams performance Integrity; that is, its skills to finish the program on time. Which are linked to teams abilities and expertise as per plans necessities. C. The Commitment to revolutionize that top hierarchy (C1) and staff affected by the transformation (C2) display. E. The Effort other than the routine work that the transformed initiative necessitates from staffs (Sikrin et.al., 2005). This study therefore goes to show that there are multiple methods that could be adopted in order to bring about an effective change management process. Furthermore, case study research shows that there are multiple methods adopted for managing change. While many prescriptions, guidelines and models exist, managers responsible for executing the changes are selective in the way they use these ideas (Storey, 1992). Keeping in mind the above mentioned point of view we can assume that to a major percentage of the change varies from person to person. Those who see themselves as creating organizational change as an intentional process (i.e. top management formally leading change) will have a different perspective to those who are on the receiving end of change (Kanter et al., 1992). Change Management Around the World Change Resistance in Bureaucratic Organizations in Jordan To understand why employees resist change Khassawneh (2005) highlights the reasons and causes behind employees resistance to administrative change in various bureaucratic organizations in Jordan. There were eleven factors, were identified as being major causes of change resistance in bureaucratic agencies. These factors include: inadequate financial and non-financial incentives offered to government employees, lack of employees participation and involvement in the change process, distrust between employees and higher management, expectation of more control and supervision from higher management, expectation of additional job demands and requirements, comfort with status quo, disruption of stable work standards and social relations, lack of goal clarity, lack of employees conviction in the goals of change, fear of loosing job and/or job prerogatives, and the sudden and confused manner in which change is introduced (Khassawneh, 2005) According to Khassawneh (2005) the most significant reason of resistance to change was found out to be lack of employees participation in the change process. This factor was assessed on the basis of two parameters: seniority in organization and number of training programs attended by employees. Senior employees who were part of the organization for five years or less resisted strongly due to lack of participation in the change process than their seniors who had served in the organization for periods ranging from 6-20 years. Employees who had served for five years or less in such government institutions made up 32% of the sample (133 respondents). These individuals were involved in activities concerning of an executive nature and therefore played a significant role in the running of the bureaucratic organizations. Employees who had not attended any training program felt that lack of involvement led to resistance to change. Therefore this attitude goes to show what an important role the training programs play boosting employee morale and involvement as training enables individuals to discover their strengths and weaknesses and also instill in them a sense of belonging in their organization. Therefore the respondents who did not get an opportunity to participate in any training programs claimed to have low sense of involvement with the organization treated the management with greater suspicion, than those who took part in certain training programs. Another major cause of resistance to change was as found out by Khassawneh (2005) was lack of proper incentives for employees. This lack of proper incentives was correlated to five of background characteristics of respondents which were namely; seniority, administrative rank, number of training programs attended, age and level of education (Khassawneh, 2005). Younger, low level ranking employees resisted more due to lack of proper incentives. Employees who have served for longer periods of time tend to receive greater incentives as the longer they remain in a government organization. Resistance to change also came about when the employees viewed the management with suspicion and distrust (Khassawneh, 2005). Younger employees working at a low level position who did not get adequate decision making authority or those who did not attend enough training programs were mainly the individuals who highly resisted any sort of change. Khassawneh (2005) states that if such low ranking employees are also not given enough information regarding the change process, then such employees would always create issues in the organization. Change Management in Indian Banks Hegde George (2002) in their study further highlight reasons of why employees resist to change of shifting towards automated services in the banks. Before the privatization wave began in India, the public sector commanded a major chunk of the economy. Though there was excessive regulatory mechanism there was widespread corruption, a high cost economy and poor performance from the state owned enterprises. State-owned banks were also run in an extremely inefficient manner due to interference from political quarters and as a result these banks were frequently caused to go through bankruptcies. Employees in these banks too were not ready to accept any new changes as they preferred the old practices and lived happily under the umbrella of State protectionism. Hegde George (2002) conducted this at Goa, in which a sample of 100 branch managers (BMs) with the objective of finding out the factors that motivate or inhibit BMs in servicing customers. They also focus on the reasons why employees resist any sort of new change taking place in the organization. Transition to a new work methodology was cited as a major factor contributing towards employee resistance. Since the traditional bureaucratic banking practices did not focus so much on customer service, the employees had to be given intense training in how to deal with the customers, how to respond to their queries regarding new services and how to respond to complaint situations. This required a whole new work ethic and attitude to be developed among employees as well as they were not equipped to deal well in the customer dealing sphere. Along with this the staff had to also be trained in the new technological aspects of the innovative banking solutions as well (Hegde George, 2002). Secondly the researchers found out that lack of technological know-how/training also contributed to resistance to change. Branch managers admitted that they were not aware of all the workings of the new banking system and could not answer customer queries regarding ATM machines as they were not knowledgeable about the workings of ATMs. Added to this computerization was another major woe of the employees as they employees were give inadequate training where they learned through a trial and error process which resulted in delay and frustration with the work at hand. Furthermore the top management frequently decided to change the software being used so the employees had to go through the whole process of learning through trail and error again. Lack of communication and inadequate training resulted in a high level of de-motivation and resistance from the employees who were not willing to accept the new changes as they felt that the new process created more confusion and damage rather tha n resolving the issues. Hegde George (2002) also discuss how the staff was downsized by the management in order to cut down on its cost where a Voluntary Retirement Scheme was introduced in order to let the staff go. This resulted in paucity of staff a the branches where the few remaining staff was overworked and underpaid which led to further resistance and de-motivation of the staff, many of whom quit their job as they felt exploited by the new change management process introduced by the top executives. Through the course of their study, Hegde George (2002) find out that the key to customer satisfaction is firstly employee satisfaction as employees who feel de-motivated and discontented of their jobs and companies exhibit their feelings via not serving the customers properly and even by speaking bad about their company in front of the customers. The main reason why employees resist changing is because the reasons and benefits of the change are not communicated to them, adequate training to deal with new procedures is not provided and furthermore staff is laid off without any prior warning which creates feelings of insecurity and mistrust towards the organization. Finally resistance to change could have been overcome if the management proceeded to bring about the change process in a systematic manner. If all the employees were communicated the plans of the management right in the beginning and the benefits of the change to the employees and the organization were made common knowledge, then the employees would be more emphatic towards the change process. An organization is nothing without the support of its employees and in order to bring about any sort of change the organization has to make sure that its internal customers are satisfied before the external customers are serviced. The IBM Making Change Work Global Study IBMs (2008) research department addressed the issues as to why most organizations cannot bring about a change successfully in an organization. IBMs research was conducted using a sample size of more than 1,500 key practitioners through surveys and detailed interviews. The purpose of the research was to find out why implementing a change management program was met with resistance by the employees and why the program failed to be implemented in most organizations successfully. The study revealed that 44% the projects failed to be completed on deadlines, or within budget or without decided quality of end goals, while 15 percent either ceased or failed to meet any of the objectives. The reasons cited for these failures range from lack of clarity of goals, failure to execute the project successfully from the perspective of the top management and lack of employee involvement, age factor, educational level and fear of new change from the perspective of the employees. The major challenges to change were divided on two parameters; soft factors and hard factors. The soft factors of resistance to change included: changing mindsets and attitudes, corporate culture, complex nature of the change process, lack of dedication from the side of upper level management, and deficiency of motivation of employees involved. While the hard factors of resistance to change included: shortage of resources, lack of change information, not much transparency because of incomplete or unreliable information, change of process change of IT systems, technology barriers. Its was found out from this study that while the hard factors play an important part in hindering the process of change, surprisingly it was the soft factors that was harder to get right. Altering thinking, behaviors and norms of an entity typically need different methods and skills that are applied time after time and over the time. Sometimes they require being applied over a series of consecutive assignmen ts and even some of them often continue after the project has been finished formally. (IBM, 2008). In order to overcome these resistances, the study then focused on the parameters that made a change successful. While leadership, employee engagement and honest communication were cited as the major areas providing impetus for change; again the list was divided into hard and soft factors that made a change management process successful. The soft factors comprised of: higher managements commitment and support, employee motivation and participation, open and accurate communication on timely basis, organization environment and culture that motivates and promotes change. The hard factors included: efficient training programs, adjustment of performance measures, efficient organization structure and monetary and non-monetary incentives. The major responsibility of implementing the change was that of the top management. The results of the research revealed that Practitioners firmly place key responsibility for the fate of change projects in the executive suite an overwhelming 92 percent na med top management sponsorship as the most important factor for successful change (IBM, 2008). Therefore it can be concluded from this study that while employees would always be suspicious of any kind of change and would resist the efforts of the management out of this fear and suspicion. It depends upon the top management to ensure timely communication, encouragement of employee involvement and appointing of professional change agents would pave the way for a successful change management process for any organization. Factors Affecting Resistance to Change: A Case Study of Two North Texas Police Departments Gaylor (2001), tried to explore the issues that affect conflict with change. For this purpose a law enforcement agency was chosen as the case in point i.e. two North Texas Police departments where the police consequence of mature education and expectation on the police teams level of opposition to change and the results of contribution and mutual understanding on reliance were examined. There were 5 factors that were identified as very influential on organizational change. These factors were: 1) Employee participation in resistance to change, (2) Trust in management, (3) Communication process, (4) Quality of information available and (5) Education (Kent, 2001) Research resulted that factors that affect resistance from employee side are involvement in the process, believe in management, processes of communication within organization, and exchange of information. The synopsis by Kent (2001) states that employee involvement in the process of change encourages him to feel to be owner for the new system and therefore, boosts the level of comfort and trust between employees and the management. Secondly, the organization needs to have a proper system of communication for employee remedy and support. This also increases the level of trust between the two stakeholders. Third, employees must be provided with accurate and timely information so as to reduce the level of chaos that is normally created at the time of change in any organization. And finally, to feel secure about their jobs and statuses and other issues of change process, employees have to have a high level of trust in management. Leading and Coping with Change Woodword Hendry in 2004 undertook 2 surveys to look at different perspectives in research on how change is being managed in financial services institutions of Londons. These involved representatives of senior management personnel who were responsible for initiation of change in the organizational and all other employees inclusive of managers experiencing change while serving at different levels. The aims of the study were: To define the skills and attitudes required to lead change and those needed effectively to cope with change and To develop a model to show how change is absorbed within the organization They organized their findings in five parts as described below, which have been arranged in the following manner. In the 1st section, as people keep on seeking to explore that what is going on in their organization, states what the employees and employers consider as the main pressures for change, their formal boss responses, and in what ways these changes have impacted them. Then, as conventional ways of working are tempered, in parts two and three they show how people cope and what different resources are required in terms of skills and competencies to perform well in this new changed environment. Then in part four they describe specific qualities required by the change managers to cultivate with respect to employee needs. Finally, they state what the organizations do in order to support their employees through out the change process, and how senior management and employees percieve this. The results of