Home to Harlem essays

Home to Harlem essays "Home to Harlem" is the story of two young black men, Jake and Ray, who attempt to make a living while enjoying all the joys of Harlem during the height of the Harlem Renaissance. McKay's novel clearly shows that the Renaissance was more than just an intellectual and artistic movement that grew up in Harlem during the 1910s and 1920s. With his two diverse characters, McKay shows there were many different elements creating the Harlem Renaissance, from the less-educated immigrant such as Jake, who lives mainly for pleasure and self-gratification, to the intellectual Ray, who dreams of being a writer. He is not as hedonistic as Jake, and he is torn between the white man's world, where he does not fit in, and the Harlem world, where he does not quite fit in either. Ray epitomizes many blacks of the time, who were trying to better themselves and rise up above their circumstances, while Jake epitomizes many other blacks, who simply lived for the moment, and enjoyed sex, jazz, and food and drink. Normally, the impression today is that most people living in Harlem during the Renaissance were like Ray, and attempting to learn, grow, and make their lives better. McKay wanted to show the other side of Harlem - the people who were not interested in the intellectual rebirth of their neighborhood. They were only interested in the nightlife, the cabarets, and the opposite sex. There were two different worlds in Harlem, and McKay neatly explores For all his lack of education, Jake may see life more realistically than Ray ever will. As Ray is about to leave, he speaks about their differences, and his lack of education. He says, "And I mighta helped mah li'l sister to get edjucated, too (she must be a li'l woman, now), and she would be nice-speaking like you, sweet brown, good enough foh you to hitch up with. Then we could all settle down and make money like edjucated ...

Using Similes and Metaphors to Enrich Writing (Part 1)

Using Similes and Metaphors to Enrich Writing (Part 1) Consider these two sentences from Leonard Gardners novel Fat City: The stooped forms inched in an uneven line, like a wave, across the onion field.Occasionally there was a gust of wind, and he was engulfed by sudden rustling and flickering shadows as a high spiral of onion skins fluttered about him like a swarm of butterflies. Each of these sentences contains a simile: that is, a comparison (usually introduced by like or as) between two things that are generally not alikesuch as a line of migrant workers and a wave, or onion skins and a swarm of butterflies. Writers use similes to explain things, to express emotion, and to make their writing more vivid and entertaining. Discovering fresh similes to use in your own writing also means discovering new ways to look at your subjects. Metaphors also offer figurative comparisons, but these are implied rather than introduced by like or as. See if you can identify the implied comparisons in these two sentences: The farm was crouched on a bleak hillside, where its fields, fanged in flints, dropped steeply to the village of Howling a mile away.(Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm)Time rushes toward us with its hospital tray of infinitely varied narcotics, even while it is preparing us for its inevitably fatal operation.(Tennessee Williams, The Rose Tattoo) The first sentence uses the metaphor of a beast crouched and fanged in flints to describe the farm and the fields. In the second sentence, time is compared to a doctor attending a doomed patient. Similes and metaphors are often used in descriptive writing to create vivid sight and sound images, as in these two sentences: Over my head the clouds thicken, then crack and split like a roar of cannonballs tumbling down a marble staircase; their bellies opentoo late to run now!and suddenly the rain comes down.(Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire)The seabirds glide down to the waterstub-winged cargo planesland awkwardly, taxi with fluttering wings and stamping paddle feet, then dive.(Franklin Russell, A Madness of Nature) The first sentence above contains both a simile (a roar like that of cannonballs) and a metaphor (their bellies open) in its dramatization of a thunderstorm. The second sentence uses the metaphor of stub-winged cargo planes to describe the movements of the seabirds. In both cases, the figurative comparisons offer the reader a fresh and interesting way of looking at the thing being described. As essayist Joseph Addison observed three centuries ago, A noble metaphor, when it is placed to an advantage, casts a kind of glory round it, and darts a luster through a whole sentence   (The Spectator, July 8, 1712).   NEXT: Using Similes and Metaphors to Enrich Our Writing (Part 2).

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR BUSINESS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING FOR BUSINESS - Essay Example The Debenhams brand trades through 239 stores in 28 countries and is available online in 67 countries. Customers can also shop through smartphones, tablet computers and other mobile devices as well as more traditional sales channels such as catalogues and by telephone. Debenhams flexible approach means that they can tailor their product range to meet the demands of a particular local market or channel. The company’s main business consists in selling fabric items and clothing for men, women and kids’. The company, by applying prudent marketing techniques, has been able to grab the market share in UK as shown in the figure above. Delivering a compelling customer proposition is a key part of our strategy. Debenhams’ offer is unique as they combined of their own brands, international and concession brands. It is exclusive through core and designer own brands which account for almost half of everything that they sell. It is differentiated through Designers at Debenhams, a portfolio of diffusion brands from some of the UK’s top fashion designers. Debenhams also give their customers the wide choice of product categories that they expect from a department store. Debenhams has also been actively involved in the business of marketing and selling jewelry and other ornaments items which have earned the company immense revenue in the past few years. Through its unmatchable product quality, Debenhams is now regarded as one of the finest when it comes to high end fashion merchandise. The financial outlook of the company also looks quite stable. During the financial year of 2012, the company has been able to increase its revenue 1.% to a striking  £2.229 billion also the operating profit of the company grew steady with 6.9%. In addition, the financial ratio analysis of the company and the comparison of the company with its competitor also show that a

Music players Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Music players - Essay Example The very first iPod was introduced to the market as a player with a 5GB storage capacity capable of storing one thousand songs. This product got feedback from consumers, though a number of them complained of an exorbitant price of $400. Because the first versions of iPod proved fruitful in penetrating the music player industry, another hardware upgrade came in 2003, catapulting iPod into the third generation. This advanced hardware upgrade did not have mechanical dials. The function buttons were placed under the screen and resembled a scroll wheel. Their storage was enhanced from the previous 10GB to 40 GB. On order to remain competitive in the music player industry, apple introduced iPod mini in 2004. Unlike the original iPod, this version had five different colors: green, gold, silver, pink and blue. The iPod mini had smaller screens and enhanced storage than any other music player then. In February 2005, a new version of iPod was introduced with an improved chipset, longer battery life and even more enhanced storage capacity. The collaboration between Apple and HP in 2004 helped Apple to explore new markets that previously never stocked Apple’s products. In 2005, Apple introduced the iPod photo. This was similar to the iPod but was capable of browsing photo albums and had improved battery life. This made it a hit among the music player enthusiasts, with most music players in the same price range providing half its storage capacity. This made Apple’s profits to quadruple in 2005 as a result of sales of iPod. The iPod was followed by the introduction of the Nano. This version was made available in two variants, the 2GB and 4GB music players. The Nano made used of an improved scroll wheel from apple and was significantly smaller. Not long after the launch of the Nano, Apple released the fifth generation of its music players. These had the ability of playing both video and audio music files, and its launch was instrumental in the creation of the iTunes

Blackberry Picking Essay Example for Free

Blackberry Picking Essay Task: Choose a poem that deals with an aspect of ordinary living. Analyse the poem showing how it . Pleasures are like poppies spread You seize the flower, its bloom is shed Bums Seamus Heaneys sensual and disturbing poem Blackberry -Picking explores aspects of ordinary living and enables us to see clearly the truth about a core element of human nature. This engaging piece of verse, written early in the Nobel laureates career, exposes humans perpetual desire for pleasure and the seemingly inescapable negative consequences attached to this pursuit. The poem is produced in a style readers familiar with Heaney will recognise: the deeper meaning is heavily cloaked in metaphor, and is therefore made clearer and more emphatic once understood. Upon reflection of these underlying themes about ordinary life, the reader experiences the clarity of vision usually associated with seeing something for the first time; this is a quality Heaney has claimed is essential to poetry. The poem is, on the surface, about a boys experiences at berry-picking time in the countryside. The anticipation and participation in this apparently very pleasant practice is conveyed for most of the first stanza of this two stanza piece. The poet describes an insatiable appetite (that verges upon greed) for indulging in the activity. In the latter part of this first stanza, however, a far less hedonistic mood can be detected by a very noticeable change in lexical choice and imagery; indeed, guilt and perhaps even remorse are evident here. In the second stanza the picked fruit becomes grotesque as it decays and the inevitable destructive forces of time take effect: Primarily, it is necessary to detail the larger metaphor which is relevant from the very beginning of the poem the title: Blackberry-Picking. The concept of picking fruit has irreducible associations with the Biblical story of Genesis an explanation of creation and mankinds fall from a state of innocence to one of sin a nd guilt. In this book Adam and Eve are templed by Satan to pick the forbidden fruit, resulting in their expulsion from Paradise. From this we can infer that the berries of Heaneys poem symbolise temptation, and that this temptation will lead to a loss of innocence and the incursion of guilt and sin into the world of the poem. In addition to this, the idea that the propensity for giving in to temptation is central to human nature, as it is of such ancient  origin, is strongly suggested. †¢ The time of year when these symbolic berries are picked, Late August, is given in the first line, and the sultry, humid, sensual atmosphere of this time of year is evoked by the following zeugma: given heavy rain and sun. This sensual atmosphere is developed in the first nine lines of the poem, and it clearly contains allusions to sex in lines 5-7: You ate that first one, and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summers blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for Picking. Here the idea of the irresistible allure of the berries is emphasised, and the allusions to sexual pleasure through the lexical choice of that first one, its flesh was sweet, Leaving stains upon the tongue, and the direct reference to lust, heighten the mood of sensual temptation. This is reinforced and strengthened by the suggestion of intoxication in line 6 when the flesh of the berries is described in a simile as being Like thickened wine. Summer is subsequently personified and this reference to Summers blood thickens the languid, warm, impassioned atmosphere. In this section of the poem, then, very ordinary aspects of life sensuousness, sexuality, desire, temptation are conveyed cleverly and clearly through the metaphor of blackberry picking. This metaphor enables us to see these things as extraordinary driving forces behind our actions, and this is a disturbing realisation. The boy experiencing this burgeoning, bountiful time of the rural calendar cannot, as has been shown ab ove, get enough of the fruit he picks. He and others set out between lines 9-12 to gather as many berries as they can. After they have indulged in this harvest, however, a contrasting mood is introduced: .. on top big dark blobs burned Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeards. Here the poetry is loaded with imagery and cultural associations. Initially the monosyllabic alliteration of the plosive b in big dark blobs burned strikes the reader as ponderous and menacing. This reaction is reinforced by the connotations of pain in the verb burned. The effect of this is aided by the gruesome and macabre simile that follows. The berries are described as being Like a plate of eyes. The very different mood engendered by this imagery is developed by the subsequent allusion to the crucifixion of Christ in hands in thorn pricks and the simile incorporating the legendary  character Bluebeard (a pirate who murdered many wives). This section of the poem, then, gives three consecutive images that evoke . connotations of guilt: the mutilation of the berries nat ural environment, the indirect reference to Christ (crucified by mankind), and the comparison between the berry pickers hands and the bloody hands of a serial murderer. In stanza two the mood of the poem deteriorates further as the harvested berries decay. In the first line the word hoarded, used to describe the volume of berries stored, reminds us of the insatiable appetite and self-indulgence depicted in the first stanza. The berries are now rotting, however, and this is conveyed effectively through word choice. They are described with the verbs stinking and fermented. Furthermore, a disease is spreading through the hoard. This is described as A ratgrey fungus, glutting on our cache. The connotations of disgust, revulsion and disappointment evident here are developed in lines 20-21: Once off the bush/I the sweet flesh would turn sour. What we can also perceive here is the notion of the inevitable and regularly experienced fate of all pleasure it cannot last and becomes satiety and guilt. The anguish at the fate of the berries, and therefore the fate of all indulgence is emphasised by the tone of the third last line: I always felt like crying. It wasnt fair. The boy of the poem is clearly still becoming accustomed to the irresistible forces of time. In the last line, however, we learn that the boy experiences this annually: That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot Each year I hoped theyd keep, knew they would not Perpetual hope and the following inevitable disappointment is emphasised here, and the reader can directly engage with this as we all experience such sequences in ordinary life. By the process of reflecting upon, and understanding, the blackberry picking metaphor, the reader sees the driving forces behind human behaviour afresh, and they become extraordinary and disturbing. Blackberry-Picking is a sensual and evocative poem which entices the reader with rich and opulent images. In stanza one we are drawn into the pleasure of the activities depicted by the poet. The ideas of guilt, disgust, and disappointment are then introduced as the greed of the pickers and the decay of the berries are illustrated. The extension of this cycle to others areas of life is performed by the use of sexual and cultural  allusions, symbolism and metaphor. Through these techniques we are given a startlingly clear picture of a common and ordinary reality we may never before have considered: that our lives are driven by perpetually disappointed hope and desire and that pleasure cannot last. The disturbing nature of this realisation is compounded by the religious symbolism of the berries this state of affairs may have been with us from the very beginning, and there is no reason why it should not be with us to the end.

As Gass To Cars :: essays papers

As Gass To Cars As gas to cars, food is human’s source of energy. If there is no food there is no energy,If there is no energy the body cannot work, in other words, dies. But the concept of food has changed throughout history. In fact, the concept of food in one period differs from one place to the other and from one class to another. Food serves from a surviving necessity, to a luxury, to a consolation of the soul. Personally, I think that people today have forgotten about the main function of food, and instead of eating to live they live to eat. A lot of people today say that they only eat to survive. They justify their opinion by saying that they eat when they are hungry and hunger is a signal from the body saying that it is in need of energy. I do not agree with them. For example, I think that people today are answering the call of cravings rather than that of hunger. Also, I think that a lot of people today eat to sooth their souls rather than their bodies. Furthermore, considering what people are putting in their bodies as a source of energy makes you expect a chemical explosion. Firstly, if people were eating to satisfy true hunger, then they would settle with anything that they could put in their mouths and fill their tummies with. But no, today their body is calling for chocolate, yesterday their body was in need of a source of energy imported from China, and who knows what will happen next? Maybe tomorrow their body won’t function with anything less than Italian gas. Secondly, today a lot of people seek comfort in food. When people feel empty inside, they try to fill up that emptiness with food. On a personal level, when I’m feeling down I always think that a chocolate bar or a couple scoops if ice cream would pick me up. When I’m feeling excited or hyper, I look for potato chips or salted crackers. And when I feel tense or under pressure, I feel the need of a combination of both sweets and salties. Thirdly, sometimes you are just shocked at what people eat and the amounts they take. Come on, nobody needs all that energy even if they are going to jog all around the world.

Women Safety

Being in the 21st century, with technology and world so advanced, we still talk about this subject, â€Å"Are Women Safe, in India, especially? † With surveys and understandings of what is happening around us, it is time that the country joins hands together to realize that – ‘Women are NOT SAFE in any means in India’. There have many cases that have been reported and many unreported for the torture a woman undergoes, yet there has been nothing done to change the law or the system to the way a woman is being looked at. Women have been advancing, progressing and have proved that they can beat men in any sector they are in.Be it sports, arts, science, politics, service or for that matter any where, she has stood at par with what a man could do. Yet, she still fights for equality. No matter what, the old thoughts and upbringing culture still lay cluttered in the minds of men that women should not be above men, but below them. It is sad to understand that women are the better halves of the society, yet they are the ones who face the maximum tortures in many ways in their lives. Time has changed, yet attitude towards women have never been changed.To understand better, one has to get to the root cause of the problem. It has all started ages ago, where men are thought to be gods and powerful and women to be just like slaves for household works. From inside the womb, till her death, a woman is always faced with danger. In the womb, the chances of being killed, even before seeing light, when being born and growing, she faces harsh brutalities like molestation, abusing, physical and mental tortures and above all a heap of workloads and in old age, just abandoned and still being opened for more brutalities till death.What a life? One has to understand, women are also human beings. They also have the same thoughts, desires, and dreams and feel the same pain that men feel. How could they just be taken for granted? We all know the Delhi Rape Case. (Dec 16th 2012) The most brutal rape case ever heard. There were Nation wide protests, debates, and candle lights, everything done by the public to punish the criminals. It is high time that the law has been changed with regard to cases like these.There has to be stringent punishments and fast tracks to monitor these kinds of cases. When the law is stringent in a country, before committing a crime, at least the offender would think twice on committing the crime. I agree that with one punishment, the nation is not going to get better, but with consecutive punishments, it would be under a controllable situation. Nothing changes overnight, but in due course it does create an effect. The present scenario is not going to change, but yes the coming generations could definitely make a remarkable difference.The basic understanding that men and women are equal has to start at school levels. Education is a must for all. The government has to come up with strategies where every child gets educ ation. Respecting the opposite sex has to be taught from school levels and parents and teachers have to join hands in this subject. With proper understanding, exploitation could be reduced to much extend. Women are not sex and child bearing objects, but they are also equally powerful and emotional and a great companion for men and the vice-versa should be made to understand.Once this understanding gets through, half the scenario changes. Changes do not take place soon or easily, but if each one of us join hands in every possible way that we can and start to make little changes within the family from today, it would gradually get implemented and there would be a better society that respects and understands women, at least for our next generation and generations to come. Women could walk around freely, without the fear of being attacked at any time, anywhere. Join hands and save women.

Forecasting Effects of Cultural Changes

Within today's increasingly globally-infused corporate workplaces, conventional wisdom holds that demographic and/or cultural diversity contribute positively to enhanced performance by groups, teams, or other divisions of a trans-global corporate entity, thus ultimately enhancing, by association, company products and/or services and the company itself, at home and abroad. As corporate giant Nokia's website states, for example (2005), of its own global workforce: â€Å"Respect for individual qualities, as well as a willingness to work together in a constructive, positive, even enjoyable, way [,] are all essential for high-quality results. † Much related research suggests, however, that while diverse employee skills and abilities in and of themselves may enhance group or team performance, demographic diversity (e. g. differences among workforce members, in terms of language; cultural; referential; or social background), may detract from it (Knight, Pearce, Smith, Olian , Sims , Smith & Flood, 1999; Jackson, 2003; Hamilton, Nickerson, Jackson, & Owan, May 2004). I will examine factors that, based on research and anecdotal evidence combined, may inflect corporate workforce compatibility or success, exploring both positive and the negative potential effects of demographic and cultural diversity on global and other workplace behavior and performance. In a telephone interview conducted by this researcher, on October 6, 2005, with a friend who is a human resources assistant manager at Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST) based in San Jose, California, a recently-merged company created by the Hitachi-IBM HDD (Hard Disk Drive) company merger of January 2003, â€Å"[A lack of] enough good and clear intercultural communications is still contributing a lot, I would say, to lower than expected employee morale† (Sindai). However, despite the inevitable difficulties, misunderstandings, and other company challenges it inevitably brings, globalization is here to stay. According to Alden, for example, in an article on UPS's expansion, â€Å"Over the past 40 years the number of multinational corporations in the world's fourteen richest countries has gone from 7,000 to 24,000. (6-7). Moreover, as Alden observes, while many companies have marketed internationally for years, more and more companies are looking to enter the arena of global competition. However, according to Wilbur (2005), in terms of global workplace (or any team or group) performance or behavior, in and of itself, mere diversity of a workforce, or group, team, or other entity within that workforce, is non-conclusive. HP [High Performance] teams are built with . . . complementary skills. . . . a Blend and balance of social styles . . . technical skills, problem solving skills, and political savvy. . . . They treat differences with respect realizing the survival value in versatility, . . . develop mutual accountability that builds respect, commitment. High performance teams blow away barriers and boundaries. Typical demographic and/or cultural diversity increasingly found within global conglomerates or other entities like Worldwide Telecommunications, Inc. nd others, may contribute to or detract greatly from performance, depending on specific aspects of diversity; management communications, actions, and philosophies, and various other factors. Optimal workplace performance itself, on the part of any group or team, whatever its internal composition, generally springs from commitment, shared values, and pursuit of a common goal (Knight, Pearce, Smith, Olian , Sims , Smith & Flood, 1999; Jackson, 2003 ;Wilbur, 2005). Demographic characteristics and/or cultural diversity may contribute to or detract from high-performance teams, but these characteristics alone will not determine performance. They may, however, influence it, in combination with other factors, such as shared or common goals; shared values; group commitment and support, and group synergy (Jackson, 2003; Wilbur, 2005). As Sindai (telephone interview, October 7, 2005), of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST) also stated: After the merger almost three years ago [of IBM's and Hitachi's Hard Disk Drive HDD) entities in January 2003] about our making more videos and doing more training sessions to keep enhancing diversity training. Our office wanted to do more, not just [what we had done] up to the merger, and everyone agreed it was needed. But little by little it got moved to the back burner. I think there's been a feeling, or a hope at least, that it would all work itself out in time. But it Sindai added that, after IBM and Hitachi's respective hard drive divisions (HDD's) merged in 2003, various clashes, miscommunications, and misunderstandings of two distinct types of cultures emerges. One was the inevitable initial clash between IBM (an American company) versus Hitachi (a Japanese company) corporate cultures. Another, which proved to be more chronic, was based on demographic, social, cultural and other miscommunications and misunderstandings, sometimes although not always based on language incompatibilities, among workers from the United States; Japan; Pakistan; China; India; Sri Lanka; Singapore; India; Mexico; Bulgaria; and (as Sindai put it) â€Å"at least ten or twelve other places. † Results of a more formal study, on effects of diversity on group management performance, seem to confirm Sindai's anecdotal observations. Knight, Pearce, Smith, Olian, Sims , Smith & Flood (1999) concluded that: â€Å"Diversity in ability enhances the team productivity if there is significant mutual learning and collaboration within the team, while demographic diversity is likely to harm productivity by making learning and peer pressure less effective and increasing team-member turnover. † Hamilton, Nickerson, Jackson, & Owan (May 2004) found, in a similar study, that: Data from 76 high-technology firms in the United States and Ireland were used to examine three alternative models. The results showed that while demographic diversity alone did have effects on strategic consensus the overall fit of the model was not strong. Adding two intervening group process variables, interpersonal conflict and agreement-seeking . . . greatly improved the overall relationship with strategic consensus. For the most part, TMT [Total Management Team] diversity had negative effects on strategic consensus. Jackson (2003) further concluded that: Informational (education and function) diversity was negatively related to group efficiency when social category diversity (sex and age) was high, but not when it was low; consequences . . . for team conflict were best understood by taking into account interactive effects for specific dimensions of diversity. (p. 803) An interesting and arguably related example, from the world of professional football, and one that starkly and vividly exemplifies workplace diversity training gone awry (i. e. the San Francisco 49'ers controversial diversity training tape that was leaked to the press (Ryan, Sunday June 5, 2005)) painfully illustrates how management attitudes anywhere, with any diverse group of people in any occupation, especially vis-a-vis other groups of people, strongly inflect â€Å"accepted† or perceived â€Å"normal† workplace attitudes about diversity (be they positive or negative), potentially polarizing, not unifying, workpla ce group members. As Ryan states, in analyzing this incident: . . . the video, which the team was required to watch, was particularly insulting o deeply religious players. Imagine if a corporation made it mandatory for employees to watch a training video that featured soft-core lesbian porn and a racist depiction of a bumbling, bucktoothed Chinese man. . . because the employees happen to be football players, people seem willing to dismiss it as This incident effectively lampooned diversity training and workplace diversity itself, within an extremely high-profile professional, organization, and geographical location (one that possesses enormous cultural diversity among its residents and sports fan â€Å"customers†) instead of promoting it. The incident also likely reinforced pre-existing stereotypes of many sports and related industry professionals: as boorish, intolerant, ignorant, or racist. Admittedly, the San Francisco 49ers football team and its management are non-equivalent, structurally, functionally, or in terms of goals or purpose, to Worldwide Telecommunications; Nokia, HGST, or any other large global corporate entity. Nevertheless, the implied lesson, for corporations and managers, contained within this incident is clear (at least to this author): company and group attitudes about diversity and its desirability and value to (and within) an organization, come from the top and migrate downward. Further, positive attitudes about workplace diversity and about diversity in general (which affect workplace attitudes and behaviors, consciously or unconsciously) must be practiced; reinforced; repeated, and encouraged, in order for workers to embrace and maintain them. One other fact that emerges from research combined with interviewee observation of effects of diversity on group performance, and reality combined, is that genuine appreciation for demographic and/or cultural diversity is most powerful and lasting when it grows from within a diverse group itself, rather than being imposed from the outside. Jackson (2003) further explains that â€Å"most [diversity] studies assumed that diversity influences affective reactions and social processes within teams and organizations. Social processes in turn were assumed to provide the explanations for the effects of diversity on team and/or organizational performance† (p. 803). Moreover, according to Jackson: Decades of research on similarity and attraction indicate that people tend to dislike dissimilar others, all else being equal. By extension, it has been argued that diversity is likely to have negative consequences for affective reactions such as cohesion, satisfaction, and commitment . . . Several early studies showing that diversity was associated with higher turnover rates seemed to support that conclusion. Recent research on team and organizational diversity: SWOT analysis and implications. ) Demographic and/or cultural diversity within transnational corporate workplaces may or may not enhance company performance, depending on the group; its members; its management and other influences; and its implicitly shared (or not shared) values, goals, motivations, and work and other philosophies. Diversity of skill and ability is more likely to enhance group performance than is cultural diversity (Knight, Pearce, Smith, Olian, Sims , Smith & Flood, 1999; Jackson, 2003; Hamilton, Nickerson, Jackson, & Owan, May 2004). Winning performance, though, is determined not so much by cultural and/or demographic diversity as by complementary skills; synergy; shared values and goals, and commitment. For optimal transnational workplace performance, demographic and/or cultural diversity must clearly be accompanied, in order to be effective, by personal and heartfelt cohesion among group or team members. In forecasting cultural changes, at World Telecommunications, Inc. and at other, similar entities, then, that particular conclusion, arrived at by researchers; managers, and others, alike, might well be kept closely in mind.

List of the 29 Governorates in Egypt

List of the 29 Governorates in Egypt Egypt, officially called the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a republic located in northern Africa. It shares borders with Gaza Strip, Israel, Libya, and Sudan and its boundaries also include the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt has coastlines on the Mediterranean and Red Sea and it has a total area of 386,662 square miles (1,001,450 sq km). Egypt has a population of 80,471,869 (July 2010 estimate) and its capital and largest city is Cairo. In terms of local administration, Egypt is divided into 29 governorates that are administered by a local governor. Some of Egypts governorates are very densely populated, like Cairo, while others have small populations and large areas like New Valley or South Sinai. The 29 Governorates The following is a list of Egypts 29 governorates arranged in terms of their area. For reference, capital cities have also been included.1) New ValleyArea: 145,369 square miles (376,505 sq km)Capital: Kharga2) MatruhArea: 81,897 square miles (212,112 sq km)Capital: Marsa Matruh3) Red SeaArea: 78,643 square miles (203,685 sq km)Capital: Hurghada4) GizaArea: 32,878 square miles (85,153 sq km)Capital: Giza5) South SinaiArea: 12,795 square miles (33,140 sq km)Capital: el-Tor6) North SinaiArea: 10,646 square miles (27,574 sq km)Capital: Arish7) SuezArea: 6,888 square miles (17,840 sq km)Capital: Suez8) BeheiraArea: 3,520 square miles (9,118 sq km)Capital: Damanhur9) HelwanArea: 2,895 square miles (7,500 sq km)Capital: Helwan10) SharqiaArea: 1,614 square miles (4,180 sq km)Capital: Zagazig11) DakahliaArea: 1,340 square miles (3,471 sq km)Capital: Mansura12) Kafr el-SheikhArea: 1,327 square miles (3,437 sq km)Capital: Kafr el-Sheikh13) AlexandriaArea: 1,034 square miles (2,679 sq km)Capital : Alexandra14) MonufiaArea: 982 square miles (2,544 sq km)Capital: Shibin el-Kom15) MinyaArea: 873 square miles (2,262 sq km)Capital: Minya16) GharbiaArea: 750 square miles (1,942 sq km)Capital: Tanta17) FaiyumArea: 705 square miles (1,827 sq km)Capital: Faiym18) QenaArea: 693 square miles (1,796 sq km)Capital: Qena19) AsyutArea: 599 square miles (1,553 sq km)Capital: Asyut20) SohagArea: 597 square miles (1,547 sq km)Capital: Sohag21) IsmailiaArea: 557 square miles (1,442 sq km)Capital: Ismailia22) Beni SuefArea: 510 square miles (1,322 sq km)Capital: Beni Suef23) QalyubiaArea: 386 square miles (1,001 sq km)Capital: Banha24) AswanArea: 262 square miles (679 sq km)Capital: Aswan25) DamiettaArea: 227 square miles (589 sq km)Capital: Damietta26) CairoArea: 175 square miles (453 sq km)Capital: Cairo27) Port SaidArea: 28 square miles (72 sq km)Capital: Port Said28) LuxorArea: 21 square miles (55 sq km)Capital: Luxor29) 6th of OctoberArea: UnknownCapital: 6th of October City

Here I thought Nimrod was a compliment!

Here I thought Nimrod was a compliment! Here I thought â€Å"Nimrod† was a compliment! Here I thought â€Å"Nimrod† was a compliment! By Maeve Maddox By now you know that I’m not deeply versed in slang. When I read in the newspaper about a dust-up over an email in which a radio news director called a political candidate a â€Å"nimrod,† I couldn’t understand why the word was being decried as â€Å"derogatory.† Now I know. The meaning I’ve always attached to the word Nimrod is â€Å"a skilled hunter.† That’s the meaning with which it is used in the books I’ve seen it in. This sense comes from the Bible. And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. Genesis 8-9 The citations for Nimrod=hunter in the OED include one as recent as 1994: Towns such as Eagle, Glenwood Springs..and Gunnison throw out the welcome mat for this horde of nimrods. 1994 Denver Post Oct. B9/1 Here nimrods is being used as a synonym for hunters. As early as 1933, however, the lowercase word nimrod acquired a secondary meaning: N. Amer. slang. A stupid or contemptible person; an idiot. OED When I said I’d never seen â€Å"nimrod† used with the sense of â€Å"dummy,† I had apparently blocked out seeing it in the most recent novel I’ve read, a picaresque romp by Christopher Moore called Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal: The Lord doesnt give a damn what a chicken does on the Sabbath, you nimrod! Its a chicken. I’ll try to remember not to call any hunters â€Å"Nimrods† in a mistaken effort to compliment them. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:What Is Irony? (With Examples)Running Amok or Running Amuck?Mood vs. Tense

Vidsoft Case Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Vidsoft Case Analysis - Essay Example The company, to avoid this sort of situation in the future, could install more team-based leadership tasks. Li is a people person and motivator in the case, but Hsu is very positional and by-the-book. Babatunde needs to understand that in dealing with Li, gender stereotypes are not viable explanations for understanding the impact of personal factors on choices about conflict resolution strategies. In the co-orientation model, the degree to which two employees hold similar views about a topic is known as agreement. The latent conflict phase is marked by the impact the conflict has on the ongoing work relationship of the parties involved. Things are changing in the internet age as well in terms of communication. The conflict management style marked by high concern for self and high concern for others is collaboration. A mediator is a third-party conflict role specializing in the exercise of control over the negotiation process and its outcomes (Babatunde’s role). Network analysis is one way that conflict resolution researchers study conflict generation and resolution. During the manifest conflict stage, conflict strategies are enacted in communicative interaction. Babatunde needs to present strong leadership skills and a sense of direction in order to optimize employee performance. Too often, different departments of organizations tend to dissolve along lines of ineffective communication in group meetings in which the manager becomes less of a leader and more of a scapegoat or outmoded mouthpiece of the status quo, and in situations such as these, political infighting and departmental disagreement over issues of funding and allocation make take priority over what should be the clear mission and shared vision of all involved; that is, determining what is best for the customer in terms of loyalty and buying behavior,