Saturday, April 11, 2020
Short Story Analysis Sample Essay
Short Story Analysis Sample EssayA short story analysis sample essay can be used for an examination of the author's style, format, and intention. These samples are written by experts in the field to make them easier to read for those who need a quick first glimpse into a writer's writing.The structure of a short story analysis sample will include an introduction, the character (an illustrator or character), the plot, the setting (which may vary from an interior view to the scenery outside), the supporting cast, and a conclusion. Some stories will also include fragments of an epilogue (in which the character returns to his/her original situation) and the main characters. Other stories will not have these parts.Although they are not required for the exams, analytical essays and stories are helpful in choosing one's next course of study. Reading sample essays can help determine which courses of study to choose, which professors are worth attending to, and which courses of study to decli ne.An English-language course of study should include stories (from poetry to novels), composition, grammar, composition, and public speaking. Although some English majors go on to study journalism or film, most pursue study in English literature, which has become one of the most popular fields of study.Since most students need an English-literary orientation, one can spend their time as they complete other courses studying literature, literary/professional/technical writing, and the French language. Short story analysis and essay writing can also be useful in the fine arts, since many art programs require students to take readings in literature, and they can also find academic jobs as assistants to professors.An English-literary focus is appropriate for most English majors, since literary fiction often centers on the dramatic elements of language, emotion, and character. Novels, essay collections, plays, films, and TV shows are examples of the literature that many English majors st udy. Students can also study novels, stories, and books on fiction (such as novels and short stories) from the historical, contemporary, and alternative perspectives.Some professional writers choose to do short story analysis and essay writing to learn how to compose effectively. Since this method is designed to be easy for new writers, most experienced writers take advantage of this type of study as they are completing the craft.
Saturday, March 21, 2020
The Tragic Lives Of Michael Corleone And John The Savage Though The E
The Tragic Lives Of Michael Corleone And John The Savage: Though The Eyes Of Joseph Campbell Brendan Tyo 10/8/01 People in literature, theater, and real life can all be viewed as tragic heroes. In order to fully understand this effect, one must observe what a man named Joseph Campbell calls the hero circle. This circle consists of specific significant stops in the hero's journey. John the Savage of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and Michael Corleone of The Godfather, both fit into Mr. Campbell's model of a heroic journey. John and Michael Corleone share similar heroic lives at their special births, small battles, and boon stages of their journeys. Both John and Corleone are born with a certain kind of power as a result of their detachment from the world that they can never fully know. John has a certain unique kind of power as son of the Director of the very society that alienates him. John shows his surprise when he discovers the truth about his father, He came in at once . . . fell on his knees in front of the Director, and said in a clear voice: 'My father' (Huxley 151). The combination of the Director as his father and his birth as a member of the savage community spark John's detachment from the London society. Corleone's desire to break away from the family's crime business is always overcome by his birth into it. On J. Geoff Malta's The Godfather internet fan page, Corleone is quoted as saying, Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in (Malta 3). This illustrates the merciless undertow of the family's organized crime business. Corleone's birth into the family continues to plague him until the very end of his j ourney. Both John and Corleone's births served as starting points for their tragic stories. While John's lack of choice of destiny detaches him from the London society, Corleone's lack of desire and passion for his occupation alienates him from the society of the family business. Though Corleone is discontent with the concrete outcomes of his birth, John is also an outsider as a result of his own. While John and Corleone both had similar births, they also faced comparable small battles in their journeys. John and Corleone both face the death of family members as tests or small battles in their journeys. John deals with the painful loss of his mother when Linda passes away. Huxley illustrates John's devastation in Chapter 14, 'Quick, quick!' He caught her by the sleeve, dragged her after him. 'Quick! Something's happened. I've killed her.' . . . The Savage stood for a moment in frozen silence, then fell on his knees beside the bed and, covering his face with his hands, sobbed uncontrollably (Huxley 206). John's actions show how traumatic Linda's death is to him, challenging him to continue his life as a tragic hero. Corleone faces the near death of his loving father after an assassination attempt. A scene analysis of The Godfather describes Corleone's tragedy and what followed, When his father is shot though, Michael takes revenge on the people who did it and becomes part of the Mafia lifestyle. When his older brother is murdered, Michael ascends to become the boss of the family, and proves to be more ruthless than his father and brother combined (Glass 1). Corleone's experiences challenge him to make a difficult choice between reason and revenge. Both John and Corleone's encounters with death serve as catalysts in becoming tragic heroes. The heroes find death testing their love and loyalty to their families. Also, each of them go through small, but difficult battles to recover from their losses including emotional breakdown for John and uncontrollable aggression for Corleone. Though John and Corleone deal with like obstacles, they also both meet similar ends to their heroic lives. In the end of each of John and Corleone's journeys, death functions as their boons. John's death is the only way he can get away from the society that plagued him. Huxley describes John's end: That evening the swarm of helicopters that came buzzing across the Hog's Back . . . 'Savage!' called the first arrivals, as they alighted from their machine. 'Mr. Savage!' (Huxley 259).
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Free Essays on Images Of America In Rock ââ¬Ënââ¬â¢ Roll
, country music was the music for white working class families. Country music never crossed racial lines, though, and never gained acceptance in black culture. The music of the black working class was blues, which was more about guilt and da... Free Essays on Images Of America In Rock ââ¬Ënââ¬â¢ Roll Free Essays on Images Of America In Rock ââ¬Ënââ¬â¢ Roll Blood On the Tracks: The Pain and Hope of Americaââ¬â¢s Workers ââ¬Å"America Iââ¬â¢ve given you all and now Iââ¬â¢m nothing.â⬠-Allan Ginsberg, ââ¬Å"Americaâ⬠(1956) Allan Ginsberg was not part of the baby boomer generation that made rock-n-roll famous. He was born in New Jersey in 1926, so his generation was more closely aligned to what Tom Brokaw would later refer to as ââ¬Å"the greatest generation.â⬠(allanginsberg.com) He lived through the great depression and the Second World War. As Ginsberg grew older, he became dismayed by what he saw in America, it had become a place of industrialization and steel towns, a symbol of the pains of ââ¬Å"progress,â⬠filled with souls who had given their lives to the American dream only to discover that they could never have it. (Scheurer) At about the same time as Ginsberg wrote the famous poem ââ¬Å"America,â⬠rock-n-roll music was becoming the music of the lost myths of America. Rock-n-roll was not an original creation; it drew heavily on what came before it. Mostly, though, rock music represented a merger between white country and black blues. In the book Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock ââ¬Ënââ¬â¢ Roll Music, Greil Marcus discusses country music prior to the birth of rock. Country music was music that entire communities listened to, linking each member to the group. Marcus writes: The songs of country music, and most deeply, its even, narrow sound, had to subject the children to the heartbreak of their parents: the father who couldnââ¬â¢t feed his family, the wife who lost her husband to a honky-tonk angel or a bottle, the family that lost everything to a suicide or a farm spinning off into one more bad year. (Marcus, 133) In other words, country music was the music for white working class families. Country music never crossed racial lines, though, and never gained acceptance in black culture. The music of the black working class was blues, which was more about guilt and da...
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Serious Thinking Impacts and Reactive Decision Making Dissertation
Serious Thinking Impacts and Reactive Decision Making - Dissertation Example Consequently, ways of decision making that permit a restricted variety of option are pleasing. For this cause, workers who activate in this way appear to be preferred above those who do not. The unconsidered environment of defense has formed UK Defence Ministry workers who lean, or necessitate, observing problems in one measurement. Problem-adjusted defense needs workers to inspect problems cautiously, to disconnect problems into their detached elements. Most significantly, it obligates workers to dedicate time to effect a problem throughout so as to accumulate time by eradicating or decreasing prospect occasions. Once showing serious thoughts, one leans to discern the confusing forces which formed the observed phenomenon. In other words, the numerous extents of problems are observed. This might slow down the hustle of decision making. The procedure of Toyota problem solving could get an extended time. Known that every phase based upon the previous phases, it must be obvious that by using moderately more attempt on the former phases, time and money must be accumulated on the afterward stages. Regrettably, tiring executives frequently use too modest attempt on the problem searching and formulation phases in their normally creditable but frequently mistaken conviction in the advantages of operating rapidly and determinedly. For instance, the answer to a plunge in sales may give up the decision to expand a complicated reward system for the sales strength (www.highbeam.com). The genuine problem may be reasoned by the deprived pricing strategy or by governmental problems which create extreme hindrances in satisfying a command. There are five main phases in the Toyota problem-solving procedure: Searching the Problem Devising the Problem Creating the Choice of the Solution Execution of the Solution Audit and Review of Results of the Execution Toyota problem-solving starts with the procedure of searching the problem. This is the hardest stage since things are frequentl y not what they appear. What one observes as a problem based on what notions one has about organizations. Indications could both illumine and facade fundamental Toyota problems (Liker and Meier 2005). Searching the problem is a detective match in which the serious evidence is occasionally obvious and other times slight and instinctive, appearing only after an extended procedure of investigation and abolition (Hargadon 2009). Toyota problems, formerly originated, are usually obvious and patently obvious other than they do not come into views so at the commencement. What one wishes to evade is named a Type III mistake; the fault of functioning on the incorrect problem. There are normally a lot of problems excluding which are actually serious? The second stage is formulating the problem. This is hard because it forever engages standards which require be coming out and commerce with so as to create a collective thinking about what is happening and how to progress. Organizations have a l ot of stakeholders with diverse targets and standards. For instance, stockholders search for better surplus and profits. The administration needs control, wealth, and augmented enlargement (Gatignon; Tushman; Smith & Anderson 2002). The workers command more protection, pay, and health advantages.Ã
Monday, February 3, 2020
An Efficient Manner in the Organization Case Study
An Efficient Manner in the Organization - Case Study Example From this discussion it is clear thatà financial data in a company is of much consequence. In order to ensure accurate financial data collection and its correct use, the company must make sure that the IT function and Finance team collaborate and use the expertise of one another for better data and analysis. Both teams must be on the same page.à This study declares that another important aspect is to make it simple and understandable to the extent that all stakeholders of a particular kind of data know what to do with it; however, it should not be broken down so much that it loses the essence of its purpose. For this reason, metrics are very important. It is extremely important to note what is measured. Off the mark measures will waste time and money, force people into performing on wrong parameters, all rendering the collected data unusable. To give meaning to any meaningless collection of data and convert it into useful and interpretable information, it is imperative that key t ools and techniques are in place which a) collect the right kind and data and b) make the conversion into useful information easy.à The very first step in this process is to assess whether the data collected is important in the first place. Was the purpose of collecting data to answer an important business question such as sales figures, costing information, employee satisfaction, etc.?à To have efficiency in the overall system, it is important that the data collected is for a reason.
Sunday, January 26, 2020
Reasons For The Merging Of Companies Economics Essay
Reasons For The Merging Of Companies Economics Essay There is no doubt that mergers play a great role in the development of an economy. In this essay, a merger will be defined as a combination of two corporations in which only one corporation survives and the merged corporation goes out existence (Gaughan, 2007, p. 12). After a merger, the newly-established company will hold two merged companies assets. In this way, mergers offer more chances for companies to become bigger and stronger. At the same time, customers may receive better services than those before a merger. However, the topic of mergers motives has long been the subject of debate, as different companies put forward different reasons to merge. Some of them are economically sound, while some of them are not. In fact, from the current studies, it can be seen that there are two big types of motives, one is economic motives and the other is non-economic motives. Although some people argue that motives of mergers lie in some non-economic reasons, such as the political reasons, the managers reasons, and so on, others take a different view and emphasize that because of that the raison dà ªtre of a company is to make profits, most motives of mergers are for sound economic reasons. Thus, this essay is an attempt to argue that the main motives for mergers are economically sound reasons. It also aims to show the importance of different economic motives, even though some people claim that there are many failures that resulted from those motives. In addition, the ineffectiveness of non-economic motives will also be checked to support the main argument. In order to demonstrate this, this essay will first focus on the growth motive of mergers. The case of PO and Stena will also be added into the discussion. Second, different types of synergy will be illustrated to explain how valid this motive is to help companies to become stronger. Third, the electronic giant General Electronic (GE) will be given as a good example to discuss the significance of the diversification motive. Fourth, the example of the Exxon-Mobil Oil Company will be used to show some other economic motives. Finally, there will be discussion about some non-economic motives such as power motives, achievement motives, and political motives and so on, though these are some less common motives for mergers. 2.0 Economic Motives 2.1 Faster Growth If a company seeks to make a merger with other firms, the most popular motive may be growth. As Denzil (2001) points out, one of the most successful types of merger may be a merger with a growth motive, because it is easy and quick to beat competitors and take the lead in markets. When a company wants to expand, there are several choices: internal growth or growth through mergers. Internal growth means companies go to buy land and build more factories, employ new staff, or search for a market to sell products and so on. This is a long way to go. However, if companies use the method of merging, it will save them much time to do other things such as research and development or market promotion. Moreover, through merging, companies may easily occupy the market, enlarge the market share, and beat the competitors (DePamphilis, 2003). If mergers occur in different regions, this means companies are improving its fame and becoming more globalised, this means more customers may know about the company, in other words, more potential benefits will move to the company. Although there are a great number of obvious benefits that companies will face, others disagree with the motive of growth. In their opinion, growth is a difficult goal to achieve and is not a sound economic reason. As Gaughan (2007) indicates, when a company has already accomplished growth in the past, it is difficult for corporate managers to keep growing. However, after achieving growth in the past, managers will look for some other ways to keep growing. Among those ways, Mergers could be the fastest and the most efficient way. Companies do not need to take couples of year to build workshop, and recruit new employees. In addition, with less time to spend, growth via mergers can be gain through the lowest-risk way (DePamphilis, 2003, p. 356). Long time means more uncertainties, which are more risks. How to avoid those risks? It is better to spend less time, and complete mergers quickly. As a good example of growth motive, the case of Johnson Johnson should be introduced. Johnson Johnson is one of the biggest manufacturers of health care industry in the world. It was established by Johnson and his two brothers in 1986 in New Jersey of United States. At that time, it was a company which only had fourteen workers. In the early 1920s, with the development of businesses, Johnson Johnson began to build branches in other places such as America, Europe, Asia and Africa. However, over the period 1995 to 2005, Johnson Johnson took a series of mergers. Through those mergers, Johnson Johnson have gained a greatly fast growth. So far, Johnson Johnson have owned more than 250 subsidiaries in 57 different countries and 115 thousand employees. Its products are available in nearly 175 countries (Stock Johnson Johnson, 2010). The global revenue of Johnson Johnson in 2008 was 63.7 billion US dollars (JNJ Income Statement, 2009). From the example of Johnson Johnson, we can see, with the development of an increasingly globalized world, growth can be one of the most efficient and fundamental motives of mergers. 2.2 Different Types of Synergy As another important motive, synergy is the popular choice for companies to make a merger. Synergy means the extra energy or effectiveness that people or businesses create when they combine their efforts. In mergers, according to DePamphilis (2003), synergy refers to corporate combination will produce more profits than that the sum of their separate status. Therefore, synergy is often used to explain the phenomenon of 1+1=3. In mergers, this means the combination of two companies may generate three companies effect. Just because of this, many companies try their best to seek the opportunities to combine with other corporations. If synergy occurs in mergers, it focuses on two sides to raise the profitable ability of companies: revenue enhancements and cost reductions (Gaughan, 2007, p. 133). For example, if Coca Cola make a merger with a fruit producer, as a result, it will save more spending to buy raw material for its soft drinks. This is called cost reductions. When Coca Cola have gained a lower price of raw material, it can reduce some prices of its drinks. In this way, lower price will make a promotion of its drinks. This is named revenue enhancements. Though the actual fact is more complex than this example, the truth is the related theory would be basically the same. Although synergy has enhanced the profitability from revenues and costs, some people do not agree synergy should be a good economic reason for mergers (Gaughan, 2007). From their point of view, the synergy effect can only be described the mergers of companies in the same industry or seller-buyer relationship, and it is not suitable to other diversified mergers. In order to respond this, economies of scope should be introduced as a concept that is confused with economies of scale. Economies of scope can be defined as the ability of a firm to utilize one of set of inputs to provide a broader range of products and services (Gaughan, 2007, p. 129). If a company is able to utilize its workforce, and facilities, synergy also can be achieved. Most failures of mergers with synergy purpose are because of their leaders inefficient management ability and not the motive of synergy. Several examples of mergers motivated by the pursuit of synergy have achieved the success. After the 1994 merger between Radisson Diamond Cruises and Seven Seas Cruises, the combined cruise lines began to provide cheaper price of beds and itineraries. This is because, as a result of merger, fewer managers will be needed to maintain the relationship with the same districts travel agencies. Hence, costs reductions are gained. Moreover, with the larger size of company, the fame of company is improving. This enables sales force to make a promotion more easily. As a result, more customers will come to enjoy their trips. Therefore, revenue is enhanced by this way (Gaughan, 2007, pp. 127-128). With motive of synergy, companies are not only able to increase its revenue, but also decline its cost. Thus, we may see how valid the synergy motive is. 2.3 Diversification When a company has already been the bellwether of one industry, managers of the company may consider some diversified merger to expand its size and make more profits. Diversification provides conditions of expansion by applying companies goodwill in former industry to other different product field, and it can also provide conditions of forming scale effect (DePamphilis, 2003, p. 20). Through diversification, it is foreseeable that companies may have the chance to gain significant earnings, because a new industry means a new opportunity. Opportunity should be the best thing for companies managers. Another side about diversification, as Gaughan (2007) pointed out, is that companies may obtain continuous competitive advantage. This is because if General Electronic can hardly sell its military products to armies in a peaceful time, but it can also seek profitable opportunities in other field such as insurance, healthcare, plastics, energy, and so on. This is the theory about continuous c ompetitive advantages. As long as a company becomes a diversified one, it will acquire the privilege of enjoying continuous competitive advantage. Compared with its positives, one accusation for diversification as not a valid economic reason is that there are some potential risks when companies expand into another industry. If companies cant handle the risks well, it may bring damages to them. A study carried out by Berger and Ofek (1995), using a large sample of firms over the 1986-1991 sample periods, found that diversification caused an average 13% to 15%s loss of firm value. The study also found that the loss of firm value was less than that of when the diversification occurred, and it was not affected by firm size. However, some evidence suggest diversification do not directly lessen firms value. One finance researcher, Villalonga, believes that the diversification discount is because of incorrect use of data of several researchers (Villalonga, 2004, cited in Gaughan, 2007, p143). As Gaughan (2007) points out: The data used by those researchers were artificially restricted by Financial Accounting Standards Board definition of segments as well as requirements that only segments that constitute 10% or more of a companys business are required to be reported. Using a data source that is not affected by this problem, Villalonga finds a diversification premium, as opposed to a discount (Gaughan, 2007, p143). Although there are many companies that have suffered failures at diversification, others argue that they have achieved great success with mergers at diversification. The most successful example is General Electric (GE). Unlike its name, now GE is no longer an electric company. Through a series of mergers at diversification, GE has become a diversified giant with operations insurance, television stations, plastics, medical equipment, and so on. Especially during the 1980s and 1990s, during the fourth merger wave, GE had made a great number of Mergers with various companies, and it has benefited significantly from those combinations (Gaughan, 2007, p. 137). In short, although mergers with diversification might have potential risks to the newly combined company, more diversified mergers may provide a bigger market for companies to make profits as what GE have gained. 2.4 Other Economic Motives There are two sound other types of economic motives for mergers: horizontal integration and vertical integration. Generally, in horizontal integration, market power and market share are raised through mergers. While in vertical integration, both merged firms have a buyer-seller relationship, hence, the combination may provide a dependable source of supply and lower costs advantage (Gaughan, 2007, pp. 145-155). In horizontal integration, market power stands for the leadership of a market (DePamphilis, 2003, p. 69). Sometimes, market power may gain from market share, and it is well-known that market share may easily gain as a consequence of horizontal integration. Once market power is achieved by one company, all the other rivals in the same market will probably be affected. Their pricing strategy, promotion plan, product research and development and so on will probably all follow with the leader of the market. This is similar to the situation of Nokia in the Mobile Phone industry. However, in a vertical integration, both merged companies will benefit from the integration. One company will not worried about the sales of its products, and the other will not be concerned with the source of its raw materials. However, there has been a debate that both horizontal integration and vertical integration may bring several negatives to the market and consumers. One of the most being criticized is monopoly competition (DePamphilis, 2003, p. 24). After mergers, the power of merged companies will get bigger. Thus, the structure of the industry will tend to monopoly, which means merged companies may beat others using pricing strategy and the public will pay significantly for this. Although, sometimes, when this situation happens, government will release various policies to prevent this situation from continuing. This is the reason why Coca Cola failed to merge with one of Chinas biggest juice companies, Huiyuan Juice Group. In 2009, Coca Cola planed to purchase Huiyuan Juice with 2.4 billion US dollars. This deal was blocked by Chinas ministry of commerce with the reason that Coke might abuse its dominant position in Chinas soft drinks industry (Sundeep Tucker, 2009). However, most of the time, as long as companies will not affect markets and customers by means of some illegal ways, government wont stop these mergers. In fact, the worlds largest Oil Company, Exxon-Mobil Oil Company, comes from a merger. In 1998, there was a megamerger in the Oil industry. Exxon announced its merger with the Mobil Oil Company. At that time, both two companies were the leading companies in the Oil industry. After merging, in order to achieve the synergistic gains, the companies need to successfully integrate its resources. As a result, this merger was extremely successful. Two years later, the combined Exxon-Mobil announced that the merger saved them approximately $4.8 billion which is higher than the estimated $3.8 billion. With successful operation of the following years, in 2006, Exxon-Mobil announced its highest annual profits that the firms annual profits in 2005 were $36 billion and its sales were $371 billion. Exxon-Mobil became the largest company in the world (Gaughan, 2007, p. 146). From the example of Exxon-Mobil and discussion above, we could see that no matter horizontal integration or vertical integration, those economic motives will be beneficial to merged companies. Therefore, these economic motives are the sound motives for mergers. 3.0 Non-economic Motives There are several non-economic motives which exist in mergers such as power motives, achievement motives, and political motives and so on. Most of the time, these motives only exist in the mind of managers of merged companies. Therefore, it is less sound for researchers to pay attention to them as motives for mergers. 3.1 Power Motives and Achievement Motives Power motives refer to the peoples pursuit of control over others by means of increasing source of power, and this is particularly serious in some top managers in merged companies (Schmalt, 1987, cited in Carsten Lausberg and Teresa Stahl, 2008, p.6). With the possibility of a higher position through mergers, it is no wonder that these managers will often support the proposal of mergers. Usually, after mergers, these newly combined companies will have a bigger size. More workers will add into different teams or departments for mangers to supervise. These things are what the managers seek for. Through this way, they have got a continuous increase of power. It is common to see that a person will be judged successful or unsuccessful by various criterions. Hence, achievements become the most vital thing for some managers. Since it may be the fastest and most efficient way to enlarge companies size and improve companies value though mergers, most managers who have the achievement motive will let companies go to merge. Furthermore, merger is a highly complex and energy consuming thing and people will recognize the managers of successful mergers. Therefore, a person with a strong achievement motive will take the risk of pushing companies to merge (Carsten Lausberg and Teresa Stahl, 2008, p.7). However, the reason why these two motives and motives like that are not main reasons for companies mergers is that, in nowadays companies, decisions are made by the whole members of the Board. Any single man could hardly affect the entire Board of directors opinions about decisions except for family firms or totally private companies. In addition, according to Gaughan (2007), mergers often take place in companies that have a good corporate governance structure and a clear responsibilities right of shareholders, board of directors, board of supervisors, managers. Hence, it is less common to see mergers with these personal motives. 3.2 Political Motives It is difficult to find one accurate definition for political motives. In general, however, people regards political motive as a motive which aims to serve for politics. Sometimes, politicians need more economic successes to earn more votes. For instance, in order to enable the Chinese people to enjoy more about the telecom service, in 2008 the Chinese government decided to make several mergers among the six largest state-owned telecom companies including China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, China Netcom, China Tietong, and China Satcom (Xinhua News Agency, 2008). However, it is hard to see mergers with political motives. This is because, primarily, political motives mergers often occur in the countries which have a similar political system like China. There are less of them in the world. Secondly, even though this situation happens, the core of a merger with a political motive is also the economic success. Hence, the political motive is, actually, an economic motive. Non-economic motives can either be some personal motives or the alias of economic motives, thus, they will not be seen as the sound motives. 4.0 Conclusion In conclusion, this essay has attempted to demonstrate that economic motives are the main reasons for different companies mergers. Despite the fact that some people argue that there are some potential risks among these economic reasons, focusing on negatives, the positives of these economic motives stand out. Furthermore, it is also true that various successful examples have shown the importance of these economic motives that have been discussed above. This is why, in recent years, more and more researchers have put their effort to study the topic of MA. Economic motives are not only the first step of merging, but the root of mergers, although, in the process of a merger, there will a great amount of works to be done in future. Currently, after the global financial crisis, there is another trend for companies seeking for mergers. How to avoid the potential risks of these economic motives and transfer them to the real profits is an issue that is open to question.
Saturday, January 18, 2020
Political Corruption and Empowerment Essay
Participation is dynamic process aimed at involving the masses so that they can formulate their own end goals and work together to realise them. Masses cannot be forced to participate in projects which affect their lives but should be given the opportunity where possible. Empowerment Empowerment is an initiated process that enables the masses to gain power and extend it in such a way that they can use this power to share in changing social, economic and political structures. Empowerment is successful if the participants regard the result of their action as beneficial. Therefore participation is a cornerstone of empowerment. It is a prerequisite for achieving empowerment. Empowerment is one of the consequences of participation, which means that if we want masses to gain power, they must participate. Empowerment is generally seen as a key for good quality of life, increased human dignity, good governance, pro-poor growth, project effectiveness and improved service delivery (Narayan. 2002. 8.). Bureaucracy It means the structure and set of regulations that control the activities of people that work for these organizations. It is characterized by standardized procedure (rule-following), formal division of responsibility, hierarchy, and impersonal relationships. Bureaucratic leader are concerned with ensuring workers follow rules and procedures accurately and consistently. The bureaucracy does not create or initiate policy, but it does implement policy decisions. Why mass participation and empowerment are important Empowerment puts people at the centre of the development process; it implies a participatory approach to development focusing on bottom-up approaches rather than top-down bureaucratic methods. Empowerment increases the capabilities of the poor to influence and hold accountable the institutions that provide for them. To this end, empowerment attempts to give power and knowledge to rural communities to assist in creating a better quality of life, so that in the future they will have the skills to rely less on external forces to provide vital services and infrastructure. Mass participation is an essential part of the process of good local governance, and empowerment. To be meaningful, these processes must be seen as fundamental values of Healthy Cities and so must be developed as an integral part of long-term strategic development. Empowerment of mass is associated with cleaner business and government, and better governance. Specifically, the greater their involvement in public life, the lower the level of corruption, even in countries with the same income, civil liberties, education, and legal institutions. Masses Empowerment through inclusion, voice, and accountability can also promote social cohesion and trust, qualities that help reduce corruption, reinforce government and project performance, and provide a conducive environment for reform, with consequential benefits for development effectiveness and economic growth. Finally, empowerment or lack of it can also have positive or negative socio-political effects on the outcomes of countriesââ¬â¢ poverty reduction efforts. Why the concept of mass participation has been illusive in the third world There are some serious failures of the international community to contribute meaningfully to empowerment and participatory approaches. If countries are not willing to support countries that need help, then the future is bleak. Aid allocations need to increase if meaningful solutions are to occur. Making the rural poor involved in empowerment and participatory programs is hard to achieve due to their social exclusion. The gap between the poor in rural areas and those who are more wealthy is large and widening Because the rural poor are socially excluded, often development organisations such as the World Bank think of the poor are ignorant and complacent. More often they are not excluded from participating in projects in a meaningful way, due to pre existing biased views that they are not worthy, or indeed, have the skills to participate effectively. (Courtney et all in Godinot and Wodon (ed). 2006. 3). Lack of empowerment amongst rural people leads to their vulnerability and thus most development projects tend to benefit the benefactors rather than the beneficiaries. In light of this sustainable development is not achieved because non-participation of local people means that rural development is not self-sustaining. Therefore, local rural people play an important role in rural development because they understand their situation and problems better than the government, aid agencies and other stakeholders. This highlights the gap between the reality and ideal of empowerment and participatory development where the poor themselves are considered the centre of the process and the most vital players. Rural areas in developing countries experience large problems associated with access to basic amenities and services. Attempts to resolve this situation involve development programs using community empowerment in rural areas of developing nations to ameliorate instances of poverty. The aspirations deep inside the poor can only be brought out by making them the centre of the development process. They have difficulty expressing them due to their exclusion. How mass participation and empowerment are promoted or discouraged by the action of bureaucracy The problem with bureaucracy is that Executives want to control everything; even the simplest administrative decision has to be approved at the top. . One problem is unnecessary delays in outputs (Waterston 1965:259) , for even though there are more than enough officials in the lower administrative ranks, they are not effectively employed in the posts to which they were appointed. Political involvement of officials ââ¬â when bureaucracy becomes involved in politics, this stimulates corruption. Officials start taking decision and performing actions that will benefit themselves, or groups in which they have an interest. Corruption is out of control. Development funds are siphoned off to hire friends or relatives. In some cases the money simply disappears. The misuse of office by government functionaries is relatively common in areas of public procurement, revenue collection, government appointments and contracts, licensing and permits. In these areas of specialty, graft and venality are readily executed through anyone of the following activities: The civil servant receives from a private contractor a fixed percentage of awarded government contracts; the kickback may be in kind, such as free education for the children in foreign institutions, or in cash, paid directly into bank account. Police or other law enforcement agents use the threat of sanctions to extort bribes in lieu of official fees or taxes. But paying bribes to avoid taxes or fees is equally damaging to society since governments depend on such revenues to provide public goods. The relative absence of revenues from taxes and fees also means less compensation for civil servants, which leads to more corrupt practices. One of the reasons adduced by low- level government employees for demanding bribes is the infrequency of their monthly salary. Government employees in essential services, e.g. law enforcement, electric power supply, telecommunication etc. Customs agents insist on payments above the official rates or side payments before providing requisite services to both importers and exporters. Those unwilling to pay bribes stand the chance of losing their merchandise through forfeiture or theft. Civil servants award large contracts to companies owned by relatives or partners, and in return receive an agreed upon fee or lavish hospitality. Officials responsible for permits and licenses demand extra payment for services ordinarily called for by their office; in cases where expediency is requested, a great deal more is demanded to speed-up the process. Bureaucraciesââ¬â¢ themselves create the causes of corruption. Salaries are low, housing is poor, officials lack professional qualification and status, all of which means that officials do not feel motivated to do good work, or to be loyal to the organisation. When a countryââ¬â¢s resources are continually misallocated by corrupt government officials bent on maximizing their short-run selfish interests, development is severely hindered through a multitude of social and economic dislocations. The bureaucracy is unresponsive to the needs of the public; there is an atmosphere of officialââ¬â¢s indifference and unsympathetic attitude toward the needs of the people. This is caused by the strictly centralised nature of the bureaucracies, the lack of mass participation and consequent lack of contact with the populace. A bureaucracy, crucially, is not only a structure, a mere organigramme with functional relationships and roles. It is a group of people with lives, emotions, aspirations, energy, passion and values. Those that work in them often have strong values, great intentions and good ideas. Most want to do good and not be negative. Somehow, however, good intent can evaporate as the dynamic of the organizational ââ¬Ësystemââ¬â¢ unfolds. Can the positive virtues and potential of public sector bureaucracies and the people working in them be rediscovered? These include fostering fairness, equity, and equality of opportunity, being neutral and transparent. These are important achievements of democracy, yet the focus on efficiency can obscure these intentions. The most effective organizations are those where people feel they can be engaged and where their commitment to the organization lies beyond a contractual relationship and where a deeper emotional bond can be established both to the work itself and the organization. In these situations people feel they are able ââ¬â¢to be our true selvesââ¬â¢ and to have a ââ¬Ëcreative presenceââ¬â¢ so that working gives the sense of ââ¬Ëpregnant possibilitiesââ¬â¢ and where they can develop ââ¬Ëan intensity that feels and appears effortlessââ¬â¢. Here energy and passion can come into alignment. Conclusion /My view The participation of communities in development projects is a major aspect of an empowering approach. Participation works well at the small scale. Community based organisations if trained correctly can manage and supervise locally based construction and maintenance activities very effectively (Meshack. 2004. 61). There is a fine balance between success and failure of participation in that it needs to be locally based with little input from external forces. Governments and donors can in fact undermine contributions made by the community in that they take over projects and locals lose their sense of ownership (Meshack. 2004. 61). Participation in development projects does however need outside stakeholders but the community needs to be the one driving the project, as there are many people who can contribute to a development project. Empowerment involves expanding the capabilities of the poor. Its main process involves putting the community at the centre of the development process. The community becomes empowered due to the fact that they have a certain degree of control over their own resources, they gain a sense of ownership over the service or infrastructure being provided. One of the main concepts involved in creating efficient empowering projects include the access of the community to information, as informed citizens make better development decisions. Accountability in the development process is another crucial aspect of an empowering approach. Increasing the capabilities of the poor specifically refers to local organisational capacity. This is when a community works together to mobilise resources and tackle problems as a group. This is another major process involved in community empowerment.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)