Power and Privilege Displayed in A Woman on a Roof Essay -- Doris Less

Power and Privilege Displayed in A Woman on a Roof  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   In Doris Lessing’s "A Woman on a Roof," three workmen react differently towards a woman sunbathing on a roof. The men are Harry, who is in his mid-40s, Stanley, who is newly married, and Tom, who is 17. They are engaged in a jovial banter when they spot a woman about fifty yards from where they are standing. She’s on her back, face down on a brown blanket. Stanley is first to comment, "She’s stark naked." Harry agrees, "Looks like it," while Tom cranes his neck so he can see more and replies, "She thinks no one can see." Stanley whistles, but the woman does not look up. She sits, smoking a cigarette (856). This seems to be one of Lessing’s most critically neglected stories. In fact, there are only a few written criticisms about it, and most of these focus on the different reactions of the three workmen. However, the woman, who is not named in the story, is also a very intriguing and interesting character. While many readers see her as an innocent – the sunbather who only wants to be left alone – there is evidence to show that she uses her sexuality through nonverbal communication to show power and privilege. Sociological perspectives suggest that nonverbal communication is of particular importance to women because their socialization to docility and passivity makes them likely targets for social control. Sexuality (masculinity or femininity) is not biologically determined but is part of social learning. In "Womanspeak and Manspeak," Nancy Henley, Mykol Hamilton, and Barrie Thorne have argued that while women’s general bodily demeanor must be restrained and restricted, and that their femininity is gauged by how little (personal) space they take up. In contra... ... Henslin, James. " On Becoming Male." Down to Earth Sociology. Ed. James Henslin. New York: The Free Press, 1991. 126-148. Lessing, Doris. "A Woman on a Roof." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: Harper Collins, 1991. 856-862. Works Consulted Allen, Orphia Jane. " Structure and Motif in Doris Lessing’s A Man and Two Women." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler.NY: Gale Research Inc., 1986. 199. Fitzgerald, Edward. " Retreat From Home." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler. New York: Gale Research Inc., 1986. 186. Hardin, Nancy. "Doris Lessing and the Sufi Way." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. New York: Gale Research Inc., 1976. 123. Zak, Michele. "The Grass Is Singing: A Little Novel about the Emotions." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler. New York: Gale Research Inc., 1986. 206.   

Body Modification in America Essays -- essays research papers

Body modification in American Culture In recent years tattooing and body piercing have become increasingly prevalent in popular culture. These forms of body modification are no longer tools used by criminals and gang member, showing their role in society. These practices are used by many of teenagers and young adults in our society today. In fact many of these practices have been a positive trend in American culture, giving adolescents a way of expressing themselves Studies have revealed a positive correlation between risky behaviors (such as the use of drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol) and participation in body modification. There is a shortage of available research, however, investigating the relationship between body modification and behaviors of high-risk such as driving while intoxicated and unsafe sexual practices. The current study attempted to bridge this gap in the literature by examining body modification participation and involvement in very high-risk behaviors common to a college student population. Two hypotheses were examined. First, it was hypothesized that a positive relationship between participation in body modification and very high-risk activities would be found. Secondly, it was hypothesized that self-esteem would mediate the relationship between body modification and very high-risk behaviors. The Cognitive Appraisal of Risky Events--Revised (Fromme, D'Amico, & Katz, 1999; Katz, Fromme, & D'Amico, 2000) and The Coopersmith Inv entory (Coopersmith, 1...

Cultural hyrbidity Essay

The fusion of cultural and ethnic identities refers to hybridisation. Most people acknowledge that they can be affiliated with an individual culture. Banton (2000) notes that â€Å"in the contemporary UK ethnicity is becoming increasingly recognised as something everyone has†. 1 Common interests or shared values help form and develop cultural attachment’s (culture, descent, ancestry, religion, languages, food and traditional values) which in turn develops and forges ethnic identities. Migration of ethnic minorities has stirred some of the UK’s population into feeling the British national identity is under threat. Hybrid identity can be attributed to the exchange of culture through globalisation. Sheila Patterson (1965) studied first generation migrants in Brixton, London during the 1950’s. Her study involved interviews, observation and participant observation with 250 whites and 150 Afro-Caribbean’s. Patterson (1965) believes the relationship between hosts and immigrants as not fixed but evolving all the time; â€Å"Whilst adaption through socialisation and acculturation was difficult for immigrants, the host’s experience was a more passive form of acceptance. â€Å"2 Eriksen (2002) points out that â€Å"no serious scholar today believes that hereditary characteristics explain cultural variations. â€Å"3 Patterson (1965) also states â€Å"the incoming group as a whole †¦ adapts itself to permanent membership of the receiving society in certain major spheres notably economic and civil life. â€Å"4 Patterson’s final stage of adaption is assimilation, where migrants or minority groups achieve complete acceptance in society. Patterson observed that physical amalgamation may lead to distinctive features of migrant groups and that of their hosts to be lost. Patterson found the progress of the West Indian migrants in Britain was limited, â€Å"there was still opposition to the employment of West Indians by white workers. â€Å"5 Nick names and jocular references resulted in conflict. A rise in the number of West Indian landlords and the acceptance of West Indian tenants did however help alleviate housing problems. Racism existed with some shops refusing the custom of ethnic minorities due to the colour of their skin. Social relationships between migrants and hosts existed but only on a casual contact basis. Patterson (1965) noted that some of the West Indians had adopted the British way of life however, there were few inter-racial marriages. Paterson concluded â€Å"over the next decades in Britain the West Indian migrants and their children will follow in the steps of the Irish and achieve almost complete assimilation into British Society. â€Å"

Applying Management Theories

Company A was initially formed as a group of engineering students to undertake the project of modifying and coding a Boot to automatically move around a maze as quickly as possible. The group was formed by Dry S. Watson, the project supervisor. The group consisted of four students: J. Peters, A. Shabbier, A. Mohammed and O. Added. The students began their project through the organized Company 1 meetings. In their first meeting they were introduced to each other, though J. Peters was absent, which disadvantaged him later in the project.The group cited that their first action would be to organize a group meeting in the week, before the next company meeting, a good pro-active decision. It was observed that no leadership took place in the group with everyone inputting questions that the group could not answer. The Part D students were then able to answer some questions. In the meeting the group did not discuss project strategy, but discussed sensor systems, there was no clear sensory sys tem decided with A. Shabbier wanting to research into sonar systems and A.Mohammed continuing research into IR sensors and QUIT sensors. Over the next two weeks the group began to realize their task and formed their project structure based on the diagram, [ Figure 1 ]. The strategy overall was carried out well throughout the group, as they became more aware of mistakes that may have occurred without the plan and check stages. Once the strategy was in place, the Plan section was implemented. Within the plan stage the group took into account the following factors for equipment choice: Cost, Complexity and Acceptability.An example of this method was the choice of sensors, the group decided to use IR sensors, as they were cheaper than sonar systems, they were the east complex of all the systems and achieved the groups' requirements. This decision making process was very powerful, as it gave the groups specific criteria that they had to uphold and it prevented members from verging off to pic, which they were prone to doing. Figure 1 – Plan check do act (PICA) model A main failure of the group however, was that they did not choose a project leader.Their failure resulted in a leaderless structure to the group, immediately disadvantaging the group, as there was no one to make key decisions. This can be seen by tensions formed in the group with regards to sub-systems. The group decided to create sub-systems and allocate a person per sub-system, though this was a sensible systematic approach (though it could have been improved by using at a job design chart, such as in [ Figure 21). Breaking down the sub-systems affected the group with some tasks much simpler and straight forward than others. This process led to J. Peters and A. Mohammed wanting the same roles.The decision was made by the rest of the group that A. Mohammed would be better suited to the desired role. J. Peters had little contact with the group up until that point and this showed in the groups' deci sion. J. Peters was left with the difficult task of producing the interim report for the group. This was a poor decision by the group as it meant that they issue also arose from the sub-system approach, where during one week; more than one member of the group was absent. This led to a halt in progress of the project in the areas where team members were away, as absent team members knew their role, but the other team members did not.This should have been factored into the projects' risk contingency plan; however this was yet to be created by J. Peters. This failure resulted in a week without progress and certainly created tension not only thin the group, but between the group and supervisor as well. A better strategy would have been to split the design into sub-systems, but within each sub-system, tasks could be created and given to members of the group, allowing more than one group member to have knowledge of each sub-system to ensure progress continues.What sequence? Who else? How to interface with the facilities? Environmental conditions? How much autonomy? Skills? Where to locate? Tasks? Figure 2 – A Job design chart, enabling users to identify each role After the fourth week it was clear that A. Shabbier had taken charge of the project, which could be a positive factor of not immediately selecting a group leader, as it allowed time for the more dedicated person the project to take control, effectively becoming the natural leader.His indecision however, led to a long delay within an exercise the group carried out. A requirement that the group made was to increase the speed of the robot. The group originally removed the wheel and replaced it with a larger wheel increasing the speed, a good idea; however, their plan did not consider that they were not allowed to remove parts from the Boot. Therefore the approach taken by he group was to use their project PICA strategy and they were able to modify the wheel by creating an extension to use the original w heel as a shaft for a larger wheel.This shows good initiative from the group, however the issue should not and would limitation control. The group would have been better to choose a product design strategy, where they generated a concept, which they could feedback to the supervisor in a company meeting, who could then evaluate the groups' design, making sure it is suitable for the set requirements. This would make sure the design fits the requirements and if not, it could be improved until it did. The groups' strategy for their hardware sub-system had certain requirements, one of which included a LED display.The display was a creative concept as many ideas in the group were; however there was a delay in delivery (due to the University) which the group had not planned for. This delay was unplanned for with no risk contingency plan in place. This therefore meant the group had to alter their Giant chart to their needs at that time. This was poorly planned, as a better Giant chart would have had extra time allocated for work that could not be completed at the specific time.

Case Study Mercy Corps Essay

Introduction At the fourth biennial Mercy Corps leadership conference in November 2006 executive leadership described the well-known, internal complications at Mercy Corps as a large organization ($194 million budget in 2006) that â€Å"has to focus on two core areas: international relief and development† (Grossman & King, 2008). The status of the organization was examined in detail by the Harvard Business School case study and a number of problems were revealed. This analysis is based on the information provided by the case study and addresses four issues. The first section discusses three forms of differentiation and how they are relevant to Mercy Corps. The second section addresses the five different forms of integration in an organization. The third section evaluates the use of differentiation and integration in the organization and the success of differentiation and integration. In the last section I examine whether Mercy Corps is a mechanistic organization or organic organization. Changes in Differentiation As discussed in class and in assigned reading for PUB M 511 there are three forms of differentiation. This is essentially how an organization divides its labor into distinct tasks and then coordinates them (Hodge & Anthony, handout). Hodge & Anthony have defined the three forms of differentiation as: 1. Horizontal differentiation – differentiation of work into tasks at the same level of organization. 2. Vertical differentiation – division of work by level of authority, hierarchy, or chain of command. 3. Spatial differentiation – refers to geographical dispersion. All three forms of differentiation are relevant to key issues in the Mercy Corps case. Horizontal differentiation is clearly evident when the four program directors formerly supervising 40 country directors were replaced by six regional program directors. Effectively, a new department was added and the reporting structure was changed so that country directors were now reporting to their respective regional director who reported to the Portland, OR HQ and not the program directors in Portland, OR. Because the reporting structure was changed the country directors now had one more step before reaching the HQ. On the other hand country directors now had a faster response rate for questions that were not critical. Vertical differentiation was also apparent at Mercy Corps. One example of vertical differentiation at Mercy Corps was Zimmerman’s position. Originally program directors reported to the president but now regional program directors (replaced the four program directors) reported to Zimmerman. This removed the president from the regional program directors; it also helped the president focus on strategic initiatives and become the face of the organization instead of the day-to-day administrative functions. Mercy Corps had a strong sense of spatial differentiation. With 3,000 team members spread out across the world the organization had a strategy that kept the teams abroad aligned with the mission. All teams, despite their geographical locations, align their country goals to their greater vision and mission of Mercy Corps. Although country directors get great autonomy in how they run their program and where their funding comes from they still are working towards a shared goal. Changes in Integration Many of the forms of integration were significant in the Mercy Corps case. As defined by Hodge & Anthony in the handout provided in class the Five Forms of Integration are defined as: 1. Formalization – utilization of formal rules, policies and procedures. 2. Centralization of decision-making or authority – refers to the place in the hierarchy where decisions are made. 3. Span of Control – refers to the number of immediate subordinate positions a managerial position controls or coordinates. 4. Standardization – integration can be achieved through a process, input (human resources and materials), and output standardization. 5. Nonstructural means for integration – refers to the coordination mechanisms including liaison roles, teams, culture, information systems, and communication processes. The Mercy Corps case starts out using formalization at the country director – president. Communication channels are well defined and employee and staff know whom they report to. After the addition of regional directors another layer was added to the communication process. The policies and procedures were formalized and understood by all employees and staff and followed so that funding and program goals could be met. Centralization was not evident at the organization level. It was evident at the country level, where country directors were given permission to run their programs in the most efficient way for that country. Span of control was reasonable for the staff of Mercy Corps. Previously the four program directors had 40 direct reports. This changed when six regional program directors. While span of control was manageable the standardization process was not. The human resources team small compared to other organizations of the same size. The human resources team also was based primarily out of the Portland, OR office with one person in Scotland. In terms of non-structural means for integration, Mercy Corps has liaison roles and communication processes in place. Mercy Corps also has a culture that is adapted by all teams across the globe. Appropriateness of Use of Differentiation and Integration & Success with Differentiation and Integration Mercy Corps used differentiation and integration in a successful way. By leveraging both the highs and the lows of differentiation and integration the organization can function at high operational and strategic level. Mechanistic Organization vs. Organic Organization Mercy Corps as a whole runs like a very mechanistic organization. While the country offices run more similarly to a organic organization. As defined in the handout by Hodge & Anthony a mechanistic organization is: high vertical and horizontal complexity, high formalization, narrow spans of control, high centralization and high standardization. While a organic organization is defined as: low vertical and horizontal complexity, low formalization, broad spans of control, low centralization and low standardization. Conclusion In conclusion, Mercy Corps embodies high differentiation and integration at an organizational level. At the field/country level it seems to operate more on a low differentiation and integration. Therefore, the organization as a whole is run as a mechanistic organization and the field offices are run more organically with more autonomy. References Grossman, Allen S. , and Caroline King. â€Å"Mercy Corps: Positioning the Organization to Reach New Heights. † The Harvard Business School (2008): 1-24. Print. Hodge, Anthony and Gales. Organizational Goals and Effectiveness, Organization Theory: A Strategic Approach. 6th Ed. , 2002. Print. Hodge, Anthony and Gales. The Nature of Structure and Design, Organization Theory: A Strategic Approach. 6th Ed. , 2002. Print. Morgan, Gareth. Images of Organization. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2006. Print.

Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 67

Assignment - Essay Example I intend to have all the written information written in simple English. Sponsors only help when they are aware of the obstacles. I will inform all the sponsors of the problems that I may encounter while trying to market the application to other students from other universities. Anticipated surprises may lead to increase in costs for a project and time delays.5 I have informed the project’s sponsors that there of an increase in costs because of anticipated costs of system maintenance and marketing costs of making leaflets that capture all the information regarding the benefits of using the application. Micromanagement is not health for any business or project.6 Creating an effective relationship between sponsors and managers warrants trust. To avoid issues of trust for this project I have provided the sponsors with all the schedules. The sponsors are active and I trust that they will do their part. Bertsche, Racheal. "Seven steps to strengthen your bond with your sponsor." Project Management Institute. Web. 22 Sep 2014.

Ethical issue in Marketing related to Advertising Essay

Ethical issue in Marketing related to Advertising - Essay Example According to the research findings there are numerous advertising media including the traditional television, radio, newspapers, mail and billboards, and the postmodern computer based internet advertisement channels including email, blogs, websites, programs and search engines among others. The increased number of advertising channels and methods of collecting data for advertising have pushed advertising ethics even further, and an advertiser has to be keen not to cross the line between ethical and unethical. In addition, personalised advertising that exploits various approaches to data mining is so effective that the persuasive and exploitative aspects of advertising have become a matter of serious concern to various stakeholders. This has been linked to the ethical aspects of consumer privacy that has resulted in the enactment of policies that provide guidelines on online data collection and use. However, these policies aim at forcing advertisers to do no harm, and advertisers have to decide if they just want to avoid harming consumers, or they would want to do some public good too. The Advertising Standards Authority controls the content of advertisements in the United Kingdom, and the town and county planning system controls the content of outdoor advertisements. However, enforcement of advertising ethics goes beyond these bodies and extends to numerous independent consumer protection groups, and before advertising, a business entity has to predict the response that the advertisement is likely to elicit from these regulators. However, the regulators’ definitions of ethics are too broad, and the advertiser is largely responsible for the contents of advertisements (Hunt and Vitell, 2006: 150). Advertisement ethics is determined by the effects of the advertisement on the human, cultural, social, economic and political consequences of an advertisement on society. The aim of this term paper is to discuss the concept of marketing ethics as it relates to ad vertising. Background Information Common Advertising Media Advertising is the first communication between a firm and its prospective customers; therefore, the firm must do a decent job of it in order to have an impact and increase the likelihood of adverts translating to increased sales. Therefore, an advertisement must be designed create awareness, knowledge, liking, preference and conviction in a potential customer in order for him or her to make a purchase. Advertisers have always exploited the available media to the greatest extent, such that advertising accounts for a big portion of a firm’s expenditure. Traditional advertisements like radio are still in use today, though their use is reducing due to the emergence of more effective technologies that combine both the audio and visual components of advertisements (Kelley et al., 2011). Compared to other senses, visual reception causes the most impact on a person’