The French Revolution By Charles Dickens - 1704 Words

The French Revolution was a period of anarchy that lasted for ten years in the late 1700s. Charles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities sixty years after the revolt, but he included many accurate historical facts in his work. Though this time was dominated by violence and danger, the revolutionaries also made many positive sacrifices. Dickens weaves a common thread through his novel by showing the connection of love and sacrifice. The concept that love has the power to make someone sacrifice what is important to them emerges through the characters of Miss Pross, Dr. Manette, and Sydney Carton. Firstly, Miss Pross’s love for Lucie is revealed through her small, everyday sacrifices and it eventually leads her to put her own life in danger in order to protect â€Å"Ladybird†. The first example of Miss Pross’s devotion is seen when Mr. Lorry describes her as â€Å"one of those unselfish creatures- found only among women- who will, for pure love and admiration, bind th emselves willing slaves, to youth when they have lost it† and he even goes as far to say, â€Å"he stationed Miss Pross much nearer to the lower Angels than many ladies immeasurably better got up both by Nature and Art, who had balances at Tellson’s† (Dickens 72). After having witnessed the daily sacrifices Miss Pross makes for Lucie, including giving up her own aspirations, Mr. Lorry has a new outlook on her character and believes her to be better than any other woman he knows. He even claims that she is superior to the womenShow MoreRelatedThe French Revolution By Charles Dickens1499 Words   |  6 PagesThe French Revolution began in 1789 and ended in the late 1790s with the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte. The King of France, Louis XVI was overthrown in a popular rebellion but France, was stricken by financial problems for over a century along with Great Britain. Charles Dickens showed comparison with the French Revolution in The Tale of Two Cities. This can be seen through the start of the French Revolution, life during the Revolution, how Louis XVI affected France, and crime and punishment throughoutRead MoreCharles Dickens s The French Revolution1586 Words   |  7 Pagescharacters in history. France, prior to Marie’s reign, was in poor conditions from the debt caused by the American Revolution, cold harsh winters, and famine, all of which greatly affected the French, particularly the overtaxed and mistreated lower class. Already bitter about their life, the introduction of Marie into their lives helped catalyze the already forming French Revolution. Marie Antoinette, best known for her role as the queen of France during 1789, expresses her frivolous but determinedRead MoreCharles Dickens - Pro or Anti French Revolution Essay779 Words   |  4 PagesCharles Dickens - Pro or Anti French Revolution? The tale of two cities written by Charles Dickens is at the time period of the French revolution. But it is not understood if Charles likes the French revolution or if he’s against it? Charles Dickens sees the poverty in all the peasants, he sees that peasants are becoming solemn and deadly the people are. Charles sees that the rich treat the poor like garbage. The French revolution made France more disorganized then before. Charles agreesRead MoreInterpreting the French Revolution Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens825 Words   |  3 PagesIn the novel A Tale of Two Cities, the author Charles Dickens explains to us, the readers, how he interpreted the French Revolution including his thoughts and concerns for the time period. This period is referring to the 18th century when the uprisings began. In this violence, groups of people were brought together to stir up havoc among the cities. Charles uses the common parallels of the two cities to bring them together as one. By using his paradoxes just as he started the story, he brings twoRead MoreDuring the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens948 Words   |  4 Pageswritten by Charles Dickens. The tale takes place in London and Paris. Main characters Dr. Manette, Lucie Manette, Charles Darnay, Sydney Carton, and the Defarges are chronicled before the French Revolution and when the revolution begins throughout France. The author Charles Dickens explores the economic disparity between rich and poor within in the two cities and topics during enlightenment such as revolution in political thinking. In addition to establishing the time period Charles Dickens exploresRead MoreViolent Attributes of the French Revolution in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dicken620 Words   |  2 Pagesdying; during the French Revolution these were common themes. These violent attributes of the Revolution pushed the inherent goodness in people to a breaking point and at times resulted in their poor ch oices and uncharacteristic deeds. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens shows foils between the rich and the poor, explaining the lengths people will go to undermine the stress of the Revolution. In A Tale of Two Cities, the Monseigneur symbolizes a very rich and powerful man. Dickens portrays thisRead MoreA Tale Of Two Cities And The French Revolution1006 Words   |  5 PagesFrance. Charles Dickens thought that if things did not change, then a violent revolution in England, similar to the French Revolution, was possible or in the future. In â€Å"A Tale of Two Cities†, Charles Dickens symbolizes the discord that the English and the French faced as he tears apart the two systems of their society. Charles Dickens, a brilliant author back in the 1850’s, wrote â€Å"A Tale of Two Cities† in order to describe the similarities between the forces that led to the revolution and theRead MoreA Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens1420 Words   |  6 PagesThe era surrounding the French Revolution was a horrifically bloody and violent period of history – the best of times and the worst of times. The violence enacted by the citizens of French on their fellow countrymen set a gruesome scene in the cities and country sides of France. Charles Dickens uses a palate of storm, wine, and blood imagery in A Tale of Two Cities to paint exactly how tremendously brutal this period of time was. Dickens use of storm imagery throughout his novel illustrates to theRead MoreTale Of Two Cities Analysis704 Words   |  3 PagesCharles Dickens, a brilliant author back in the 1850’s, wrote â€Å"A Tale of Two Cities† in order to describe the similarities between the forces that led to the revolution and the oppression and unrest occurring in England. The French revolution impacts history because the time period in which it takes place is before and during the French revolution. The French revolution signifies the essence of a rapid change, nevertheless, this change tore France right at the heart, where all the government wasRead MoreAnalysis Of Charles Dickens A Tale Of Two Cities986 Words   |  4 PagesWith revolution brewing in the air, various authors took writing as a way to express their opinions. One such author, Charles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities as his way of expressing his interest and concerns. Charles Dickens, the second of eight children, was born on February 7, 1812, in Portsmouth, England. His father, John Dickens worked as a naval clerk, and dreamed of striking it rich. However, in 1823, his father found himself forced into Marshalsea Debtor’s Prison, where the rest of his

Real Time Road Sign Recognition System Free Essays

Real Time Road Sign Recognition System Using Artificial Neural Networks For Bengali Textual Information Box An Automated Road Sign Recognition system using Artificial Neural Network for the Textual Information box inscribing in Bengali is presented on the paper. Signs are visual languages that represent some special circumstantial information of environment. Road signs, being among the most important around us primarily for safety reasons, are designed, and manufactured and installed according to tight regulations. We will write a custom essay sample on Real Time Road Sign Recognition System or any similar topic only for you Order Now The system captures real time images every two seconds and saves them as JPG format files. Firstly some road sign are already stored in the memory. Like: Warning Sign, Prohibition Sign, Obligation Sign and Informative Sign. Car Driver concentration and illiterateness isn’t always focused on what it should be and not always notice the road signs. For these reasons, automation of Bangla Road Sign Recognition system is highly essential. Previously several works are done by Mueller, Piccioli, Novovicova, Yuille, Escalera and others. But those are not in Bengali. Real Time Road Sign Recognition System Using Artificial Neural Networks for Bengali Textual Information Box which is done by Mohammad Osiur Rahman, Fouzia Asharf Mousumi, Edgar Scavino, Aini Hussain, Hassan Basri whose are from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Chittagong, Chittagong-4331, Bangladesh, Faculty of Engineering, University Kebangsaan Malaysia. For doing this they divide the total Concept in Steps: 1. Image Acquisition: From several video sequences from a moving vehicle for a certain period are consecutive frames recorded within 2 seconds are similar. For this they have used Application Programming Interface functions of VB 6. 0. Every 2-second a frame is collected and stored in JPG format. 2. Preprocessing: Median filter is used to reduce impulsive or salt-and-pepper type noise from captured images and then normalized into 320 X 240 pixels. 3. Text Detection and Extraction: An algorithm was developed for textual information detection and extraction from Bangla Road Signs on the basis of the Sobel Edge Detection technique. Like the following: I. Read input image in . jpg format II. Convert colored image into gray scale image III. Apply 3Ãâ€"3 median filter convolution masks on gray scale image IV. Calculated edges by applying Sobel convolutions mask V. Thicken the calculated edges by dilation VI. Apply vertical Sobel projection filter on dimmed image VII. Create a histogram by computing projection values VIII. Find the threshold value of the image IX. Loop on the possible positive identifications based on the histogram values X. Extract the possible positive identifications based on the histogram values XI. Apply Sobel horizontal edge-emphasis for other possible text area searches XII. Convert detected text region into binary image XIII. Calculate height and width of detected region of text XIV. Crop the image 4. Bangla OCR using MLP: An ANN based approach is used for Bangla OCR of road signs’ text. It has 3 sub modules – Character segmentation, Feature Extraction and Character Recognition by MLP NN. 5. Confirmation of Textual Road Signs and Conversion 6. Speech synthesis The Proposed system works like the following: 1. From video sequences capture a single frame in JPG format in each 2 seconds. 2. Preprocess the captured image each time . Detect the Text and Extract that and then Extracted Text will recognize by Bengali Optical Character Recognition System. 4. Recognized characters of textual information compared with the stored knowledge and then give decision valid or invalid. 5. If Valid then recognize and according to users choice it provide Bengali or it convert to English and provide audio stream. The system processes the images to find out whe ther they contain images of road signs or not. The textual information of the road signs is detected and extracted from the images. The Bengali OCR system takes the textual information as an input to recognize individual Bengali characters. The Bengali OCR is implemented using Multi-layer Perceptron. The output of the Bengali OCR system is compared with the previously enrolled standard Bengali textual road signs. The throughput which comes from the matching process is used as input for the speech synthesizer and finally the system delivers the audio stream to the driver, either in Bengali or in English based on the user settings. After testing this system, the obtained accuracy rate was evaluated at 91. 48%. Our Idea by using Hopfield Associative Memory Our work to done this thesis by using Associative Memory. Which are two types – Hetero Associative Memory Auto Associative Memory. We will use the Auto-associative / Autocorrelators Memory for our purposes. It’s now most easily recognized by the title of HAM(Hopfield Associative Memory), were introduced as a theoretical notation by Donald Hebb. To do this we need to first generate Matrices (Row or Column Matrix) in the Bipolar Boolean format (-1 and +1) from the Image. Then the matrices need to transpose of each of the matrices and then create the encoding process (The Connection Matrix) by [pic] And then need to Recognized of the stored patterns or feed each of the matrix by [pic] Introducing the Bipolar Function to [pic]. If [pic] = 0 set the value +1 otherwise set the value -1 for each of the Element of the Matrix of [pic]. Now Recognition of Noisy Patterns by finding the Hamming Distance (HD) with the Given Noisy Pattern N by [pic] Which Hamming Distance of noisy and stored pattern are less the probability of matching to noisy pattern with the stored pattern are most. And then need to Recognized of the Noisy patterns or feed each of the matrix with Encoding Process by [pic] By using Bipolar Function to [pic]. If [pic] 0 set the value +1 otherwise set the value -1 for each of the Element of the Matrix of [pic]. In this method we need to store all road sign text segmented by each blank will generate Matrices. And by the above method generate correlation matrix. If the Bipolar Noisy Matrix matched with the Transposed Matrix of the stored Image Transpose Matrix, in the case of partial vectors, an Auto-Correlator results in the refinement of the pattern or removal of noise to retrieve the closest matching stored pattern. Our Idea by using WANG et al. ’s Multiple training encoding strategy (WANG MTES): The algorithm of the WANG MTES is like the following: Step-1:Initialize the correlation matrix M to null matrix M ( [0]. Step-2:Compute the M as, For I ( 1 to N M ( M ( [qi * (Transpose Xi’) ( Yi’] [where Xi’ and Yi bipolar patterns] End Step-3:Read input bipolar Pattern A’ Step-4:Compute A_M where A_M ( A’ ( M Step-5:Apply threshold function ( to A_M to get B’ [(=bipolar of Matrices] Step-6:Output B’ which is the associated Pattern Pair. In this method, as like the HOPFIELD ASSOCIATIVE MEMORY we need to store all road sign text segmented by each character will generate Matrices Associated with the equivalent ASCII of Bengali Character Matrix. And by the above method generate correlation matrix of the stored Pattern. Now from the input image text need to generate matrix of called noisy pattern will must in bipolar form. And Feed with the Correlation Matrix. Equation like the following: [pic] qi’s are positive real number called generalized correlation matrix, will be change according to the improving feeding necessity. Figure: Schematic view of Bangla Road Sign Recognition System ———————– Speech Language Choose? Speech synthesis Convert into equivalent English text English Bengali Audio stream Valid Bangla road Sign Recognized Unrecognized Yes Prememorized Knowledge (Bangla Sign Textual info Database) Image (JPG format) Processing Text detection extraction Matching Bangla OCR using WANG MTES Extracted Text Recognized Characters of Texture Information Single Frame Video Sequences No How to cite Real Time Road Sign Recognition System, Essays

Symbolism and Theme in Everyday Use free essay sample

The short story Everyday Use by Alice Walker differentiates between a fake and a real heritage. To illustrate her point she uses one family consisting of a mother and her two daughters and the way each of them views their ancestry and heritage. Through the behavior of these three people Walker is able to clearly show the little things that separate a real heritage from the assumed fake mask. During the time of many positive changes to the lives of black people across the America, the author illustrates what the true African American heritage should look like, compared to empty claims by those who have no understanding it. The first and perhaps the least complex of the symbols in the story is Mama’s yard. In the very beginning of the story Mama says: â€Å"I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon† (Walker 491). It is significant that the story starts out right in the yard, which shows how important it probably is to Mama. The further sentences continue on this idea as Mama keeps talking about the yard as the extension of her living room and a place where anyone can sit and enjoy a nice day in peace and quiet. In a way this yard represents freedom for Mama, as it is the only place where she can get away and maybe forget for a second about her difficult hard-working life and many negative events of the past. So it’s no wonder that of all the places, she chooses to have her yard clean, enjoyable and welcoming as it is. It also makes sense that when her older daughter Maggie decides to visit Mama does an even better job to make sure that the yard, as her favorite and best feature of the house, stays nearly perfect. The freedom of the yard can be also compared to the vigorous action and all of the arguments that seem to happen inside of the house. Once again Mama narrates: â€Å"After dinner Dee (Wangero) went to the trunk and started rifling through it. Maggie hung back in the kitchen over the dishpan† (495). It’s interesting to notice that the central argument of the story, the argument about who is going to inherit the old quilts, happens inside the house while the yard remains a peaceful place of escape throughout the story. Just as it began, the story also ends in the yard, in absolute peace and quiet. Mama closes the story by talking about her, Maggie and the yard: â€Å"And then the two of us sat there just enjoying, until it was time to go in the house and go to bed† (496). This shows that even after a day as long and difficult as Mama and Maggie just had, the yard still remains their safe haven and the place where they still have at least some control over surroundings and their life. Probably the most important symbol in this story is the quilts that serve as the reason for the heated conversation between Mama and Dee close to the end. To show the rich history behind the quilts, Mama describes the process of their making: â€Å"They had been pieced by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee and me had hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them. In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago† (495). There arguably are many various interpretations that could be assigned to this symbol, as it is the central piece of the whole story, but it seems that the main idea that Walker tries to convey through these quilts is connection between the generations the present and past and the legacies that they leave after them. One way or another these quilts contain a little part of each of the women who have ever worked on making them, and the history of Mama’s, Maggie’s and Dee’s family It is really interesting that the quilts and other similar articles have a completely different purpose for Dee compared to Maggie and Mama. After seeing how strongly Dee is trying to get the quitls, Maggie quietly says â€Å"I can ’member Grandma Dee without the quilts† (496). From reading the whole story the readers can see that for people like Mama and Maggie things like these quilts don’t determine their connection to the heritage and the bond between generations remains strong without the influence of the material things. At the same time, judging from the way that Dee acts throughout her visit, such bonds to one’s heritage can be easily broken or even completely destroyed. And when these bonds are finally destroyed it becomes impossible for people like Dee to understand the meaning of such little objects like the quilts in much the same way as it is impossible for her to even understand the origins and the legacy of her name. Again the history behind the quilts is really important so Mama describes more of it: â€Å"Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell’s paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece, about the size of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he wore in the Civil War† (495). Made out of many small pieces of Maggie’s and Dee’s ancestors’ clothes, these quilts visually display the history of their family, including all of the struggles such as war, racism and poverty experienced by its members over last century. What makes these quilts even more valuable and important is the fact that because of her poverty Mama considers her heritage, contained in the things like these quilts, as the most important material object in her possession. Therefore she decides that the best way to honor this heritage would be to pass them to Maggie to be used like they were intended to by those who made the quilts and the legacy contained inside of them. The quilts then summarize the great and long heritage, passed on from one generation to the next, which Dee is now not able to understand. The most striking and thought provoking theme of this story is the true meaning of heritage, illustrated by comparing Dee to Mama and Maggie. To proclaim the reason for changing her name, Dee says: â€Å"I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me† (494). After several years of separation and losing touch with her actual roots Dee chooses to take on a new name â€Å"Wangero† to better represent her African heritage. However, such move can not be considered anything more than a joke, and an act aimed to fit in better with the newest and most popular trends. This name, as well as the way Wangero dresses and acts, is supposed to signify her connection to a culture she really knows nothing about, making all of this meaningless. Also, Dee views her actual heritage as long dead, which she expresses often through her actions and words, like saying that it is a new day for people like them now. Dee tries desperately to gain possession of the quilts, but to her they do not bear any real meaning and are simply the artifacts of the old and lost culture. In the house Dee keeps going around and complementing on all of the objects that show-off her ethnicity, as described by Mama: â€Å"Everything delighted her. Even the fact that we still used the benches her daddy made for the table when we couldn’t afford to buy chairs† (495). It’s quite obvious that the word â€Å"heritage† has a very different meaning for Mama compared to that of Dee’s. Dee is really interested in all of the old things lying around Mama’s house, but only because to her they are pretty artistic pieces that she can use to decorate the house. While looking at these objects Dee doesn’t know or can not remember many of the stories and legacies behind them, and looks at them all as really pretty and desirable but foreign objects. At the same time, to Mama, this legacy is much more. Every object that Dee picks up, Mama and Maggie know by the way it was made, maker of it and reason for making it. They remember stories about the people behind the things and for this reason are able to really appreciate them. Frustrated bud decisive Mama calmly tells Dee: â€Å"I promised to give them quilts to Maggie, for when she marries John Thomas† (496). Mama knows that these objects and specifically the quilts should end up with Maggie, because to Maggie they have a real meaning. Maggie doesn’t pretend that she will cherish the quilts forever, and in fact it’s obvious that she will probably put them to everyday use. But Maggie plans to use the quilts like they were always intended to and by doing this she fulfills the heritage behind them in the best possible way. Dee disagrees with that, but as she gets mad and tells Mama and Maggie about how they don’t understand their heritage, it’s clear that she is the one who doesn’t understand anything. In her story Everyday Use, Alice Walker gives the readers in interesting insight into the life of African Americans, as their status, treatment and life change. At the same time, through her main three characters – Mama, Maggie and Dee Walker also shows the difference between a true desire and connection with one’s heritage compared to a greedy want to use one’ ethnic background to fit in with the newest trends. But Walker does something else besides that, by constantly comparing and contrasting the biographies, descriptions and actions of these characters she shows what real African American heritage looks like, how one should treat it and finally how it is different to the empty claims of those who can not understand it.

The Garden Of Love Essays - The Garden Of Love, Negativity

The Garden Of Love ?The Garden of Love? is, quite obviously, a poem about life and the pursuit of happiness. It is also about the effects that negativity can have on love. Blake uses religion to convey the idea that negativity pervades and corrupts all life?(51 n.9), further supporting it with his use of rhyme scheme and imagery. In searching for love people often times emerge scarred and hostile from their fruitless efforts. Some continue to have faith in the idea of love and its possibilities, others do not. These folk sometimes seek refuge from their pain in a variety of houses. It is just as often that these refugees project their negative attitudes onto others that search for love and happiness. People who fear love can prevent others from finding it, because they change the positive surroundings to suit their negative world. the conflict between organized religion and the individual is the constant idea throughout the poem. Blake, himself, despised the Church, as an institution rather than an idea, and used religious symbols to show how structured religion can destroy the lover and creator within. A chapel has been built, perverting a once pure and loving environment. In inspecting the chapel, the persona feels only negativity from a religious house, as the gates are shut ?And Thou shalt not writ over the door?(6). Not only has man and machine invaded this place once full of life, but they have also brought with them negative commandments. The negative phrase, ?Thou shalt not? defies the instructions in Deuteronomy to write ?Thou shalt?- a positive commandment- ?upon the posts of they house and on thy gates,? supporting the notion that ?negative commandments pervade and corrupt all life?(51 n.9). Other images are used to represent individual and Church, positive and negative. He uses words that exude lif e and breath, such as ?green, love, bore,? and ?sweet flowers.? These are all positive images that support the individual's search for creativity and love within the natural environment(pre-Church). Blake uses negative images to represent the Church, which in turn conveys the effects that negativity and pessimism can have on positive things. Negativity can often overpower positivity. In ?The Garden of Love? negative images invade a positive environment and change it to suit its needs. The Church tears apart the natural environment in order to create a church, shuts the gates to keep out evil and poor people, and replacing the Garden of Love with a garden of death by substituting tombstones for flowers. Blake uses words that imply darkness and negativity, such as ?new building, gates, graves, black gowns,? and ?briars.? The positive images that are present in the first stanza of the poem eventually disappear and the poem is overflowing with negatives. ?And I saw it was filled with gr aves,/And tomb-stones where flowers should be:/And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds,/And binding with briars, my joys & desires?(9-12). The images of innocence and life that introduced the persona finds her place of refuge overgrown with darkness and infected with limitations. As Jean Hagstrum said, ?It is always the institutional Urizen who perverts natural life. In the garden of love in Experience stands an altar, and priests read commands from a book on a lectern? (531). What used to be a place lush with life and hope is being confined by negativity. Blake's use of conflicting imagery shows how negativity is infectious and limits love. Blake also uses the persona to show the effects of negativity on positivity. The persona changes throughout the poem as the influence of the organized Church on the environment increases. In the beginning, the voice is innocent, pure, open, and exploring, saying, ?I went to the Garden of Love,/and saw what I never had seen?/Where I used to play on the green? (1-4). The voice was individualistic and not influenced by any powers other than her own. However, as the poem progresses and the persona experiences more negativity, that voice changes. In the final lines, with the addition of internal rhyme scheme, the voice seems trapped and confused. ?And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds,/And binding with briars, my joys & desires?(11-12). In the first two stanzas of the

Free Essays on Sharon Olds

Sharon Olds is a relatively modern poet. Born in 1942 in San Francisco, she attended Stanford and Columbia Universities. Little has been written about Olds, since she has only been published since 1980. She is a teacher at New York University and manages their workshop program for the Goldwater Hospital in New York, and she has enjoyed praise in her short career. Olds has won the San Francisco Poetry Center Award for Satan Says (1980), the Lamont Poetry Selection and National Book Critics Circle Award for The Dead and the Living (1984), and the T. S. Eliot Prize for The Father (1992). (Olds, Wellspring) Sharon Olds has been the recipient of endowments from the National Endowment for the Arts, a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, and she has published widely in periodicals such as The New Yorker, Poetry, The Atlantic Monthly, and others. (Olds, Living) Since little is known about Olds’ life, she presents an opportunity to be read without the nuisance or baggage of other critics’ opinions or preferences. Fortunately, Olds’ speakers are intensely personal, and much can be inferred about the author through them. Sharon Olds’ work is dominated by her relationship with her family, especially her father. Although only sparse biographical evidence is available, the firm grasp her relationships have on her writing is undeniable. In her early poems, Olds clearly defines her work as very personal and outspoken. The theme of Olds’ speaker’s brutal relationships becomes much stronger as her works progress; perhaps this is Olds’ response to her father’s prolonged death. In The Dead and the Living and The Gold Cell, Olds seems to be focused on her relationships with her children, and on remembering herself as a child. In The Takers, her speaker describes her grotesque experiences with her older sister: Hitler entered Paris the way my sister entered my room at night, sat astride me, squeezed me with her knees,... Free Essays on Sharon Olds Free Essays on Sharon Olds Sharon Olds is a relatively modern poet. Born in 1942 in San Francisco, she attended Stanford and Columbia Universities. Little has been written about Olds, since she has only been published since 1980. She is a teacher at New York University and manages their workshop program for the Goldwater Hospital in New York, and she has enjoyed praise in her short career. Olds has won the San Francisco Poetry Center Award for Satan Says (1980), the Lamont Poetry Selection and National Book Critics Circle Award for The Dead and the Living (1984), and the T. S. Eliot Prize for The Father (1992). (Olds, Wellspring) Sharon Olds has been the recipient of endowments from the National Endowment for the Arts, a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, and she has published widely in periodicals such as The New Yorker, Poetry, The Atlantic Monthly, and others. (Olds, Living) Since little is known about Olds’ life, she presents an opportunity to be read without the nuisance or baggage of other critics’ opinions or preferences. Fortunately, Olds’ speakers are intensely personal, and much can be inferred about the author through them. Sharon Olds’ work is dominated by her relationship with her family, especially her father. Although only sparse biographical evidence is available, the firm grasp her relationships have on her writing is undeniable. In her early poems, Olds clearly defines her work as very personal and outspoken. The theme of Olds’ speaker’s brutal relationships becomes much stronger as her works progress; perhaps this is Olds’ response to her father’s prolonged death. In The Dead and the Living and The Gold Cell, Olds seems to be focused on her relationships with her children, and on remembering herself as a child. In The Takers, her speaker describes her grotesque experiences with her older sister: Hitler entered Paris the way my sister entered my room at night, sat astride me, squeezed me with her knees,...

Ghostwriting A Lesser Known Career Path that Pays Big

Ghostwriting A Lesser Known Career Path that Pays Big Graduating with an engineering degree, I had no clue I would end up being a freelance writer. I chose to be one, as it best suited my life during the recession period back in 2009. Like many other writers who get stuck with low paying content mills like Elance (now Upwork), I started my career earning peanuts. That changed when I did research for a blog post in 2013 about how much ghostwriters earn. That research taught me that I was highly undercharging at $1 per page. The first eBook I ever ghostwrote for a client was over 50 pages long and paid only $50. And that included Elance’s and PayPal’s fees, too! Today, in 2018, I charge as much as $1-$2 per word. I charge more for creative work or fiction than for nonfiction. If the work requires extensive research, the rate runs higher. This means ghostwriting a 10k words novella would easily earn me $10,000. Now, imagine what a full-length novel of 60,000 to 100,000 pays. Ghostwriting is a lucrative niche that many writers don’t know much about. Why Ghostwrite? The truth is: I have tried self-publishing. This requires time to market and sell your books. Ghostwriting is a lot easier, less stressful, involves less marketing, and pays well. When I started my career as a freelance writer, I was trying to raise a family while still being a ‘good’ housewife. I needed, at this point in my life, to work from home. Ghostwriting seemed to fit my lifestyle perfectly. How I Land Ghostwriting Gigs Ghostwriting just fell into my lap, but logically it is a small leap from freelance writing. I was writing blogs and articles when one of my repeat clients asked if I’d be interested in ghostwriting ebooks. I ultimately wrote a large number of them for the same client. He was kind enough to spread the word to his peers which landed more work. As the owner of a writing business now, I acquire most of my work through my Facebook page. It’s not that my clients are too lazy or inept to write their own work. They are just too busy with careers or family to create the work they wish to market, which is the norm in today’s world. Networking helps me too. When I meet someone new and introduce myself as a ghostwriter, people are keen to share brilliant ideas or stories for their books and have me jot them down for them. So many people have a story, but not the skill nor time to bring them to fruition. Is Ghostwriting for You? If you are attached to your writing, probably ghostwriting isn’t a good fit for you. However, if you enjoy playing with others’ ideas and molding them into your own words, it might just be your niche. Does Ghostwriting Pay Better than Traditional writing?   It sure does, but you don’t get rich overnight. There are some freelance ghostwriters claiming six figures a year. They do earn that amount, but they didn’t right away. Build upon your portfolio and reputation first. Initially, ghostwriting will pay your bills; your ghostwriting money. I enjoyed my first holiday to the south of France and then in the States in 2015 and 2016 respectively. In 2017, my family went to Spain and Pakistan. For 2018, I’ve planned a special surprise as we will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary in December. All thanks to ghostwriting, I am enjoying a life that many just dream of. Brief

Famous trials Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Famous trials - Essay Example The investigations asserted collected evidence from Frank Leo partners, such as Jim Conley to nail him during the trial. The investigations were based on the evidence collected at the scene of the crime. The notes found at the scene were used as leads to finding the murderer. However, the notes were discarded as they were considered a cover up. Consequently, a sweeper, Jim Conley was used as a witness to recount the happenings at the material day when the victim was murdered. The witness recounted how Leo Frank requested that Conley   keeps the door locked for him to make out a sexual activity with Paghan. The witness disclosed to the court that he kept the doors locked so that no one could access the room. He and Leo had made an arrangement on how they would communicate. The prosecution used the witness to assert that the suspect, Mr. Leo admitted to Conley that he hit the victim and called for his help in dumping the body. The prosecution also took issue with the conduct of the suspect in regard to female workers. As Conley and several women witnesses stated, Leo was a pervert who lured girls into having sex with him. Upon completion of the hearings, the amount of evidence availed by the prosecution was sufficient to hand a death sentence by hanging. The trial jury held that the suspect, Frank Leo was indeed the murderer and would be executed by hanging. The defense was dissatisfied and sought to appeal in the supreme court of Georgia. The appeal was based on availability of new evidence. However, the court dismissed the case on a 4-2 vote. The then governor of the state of Georgia, John M. Slaton, believed in the innocence of Leo Frank and reduced the sentencing into a life sentence. The defense was categorical that the case was racially motivated and biased. Despite the widespread cases of child labor in the state, the murder, especially committed by a Jew, was supposedly the most influential issue in the case. The

What are the Psychological effects of the amount of violence portrayed Research Proposal

What are the Psychological effects of the amount of violence portrayed in movies - Research Proposal Example The case of violence against a specific ethnic group shows some psychological variance with movies such as Catch a Fire or Munich since they may shift the observers political viewpoint towards the individuals against which violence is perpetrated even if such a shift is short lived (Koopman and Butler, 2007). The researchers also note that â€Å"Research to date indicates that political films have a variety of discernible short-term effects on political beliefs and attitudes, behavior and behavioral intentions, emotions, and other psychological variables (Koopman and Butler, 2007, Pg. 1)†. However, when dealing with violence and the problem of violent films, it may be possible that the effect measured is less than the effect which actually takes place. For example, if a person has existing viewpoints about a certain political thought, violence for or against that political thought may only go to heighten and reinforce the political ideas rather than weaken them (Koopman and Butler, 2007). In essence, if a violent person sees violent behavior being rewarded in a film, it may go to reinforce their ideas about violence in general whether it is sexual violence or physical violence (Malamuth and Briere, 1986). The psychological effects of watching violent films become clear when we understand that individuals who habitually watch violent movies may be more likely to be violent with their peers and exhibit the same the kinds of behaviors even when their social conflicts could be resolved without violence (Bandura et. al., 1963). The same can be said to be true of sexual aggression since a viewer who sees violent sexual portrayals repeatedly may be more likely to enact them in his/her real life. The association between sexual arousal and violence may become a cue for some individuals to readily make violence a part of sexual arousal (Malamuth and Briere, 1986). Of course,

Critical Thinking and Ethics Essay Example for Free

Critical Thinking and Ethics Essay Critical thinking entails the ability to think clearly and rationally. The reason is that even though the conclusion may seem logical every individual has different ethics. For instance, if an individual needs a job in order to acquire money quickly, then it makes sense to do is needed to make the most money the quickest. Let us say the logical job would be to obtain and sell scrap copper because the one can make a large amount of money in a little amount of time. While another individual may say this is a logical way to make money quickly, ethically it is wrong. Critical thinking is one’s form of judgment that has a particular purpose and reflective judgment. When individuals use critical thinking, one reaches a decision or solves an issue. Reaching this conclusion and judging what to believe or what to do in a thoughtful way. Critical thinking is a tool that individuals can use to evaluate incoming information. Critical thinking is being able to learn new material with an open mind and having a heightened level of self-awareness of our biases and how our biases impact the analysis of information. Business ethics are very important when solving moral problems in a business is concerned. I do believe critical thinking can be at odds with moral decision making. One should be good simply because only what is good is to be done. Being good often brings a reward in a way or the other but it is not always the case. This is why sets of rules known as ethics have been created. Critical thinking entails the ability to think clearly and rationally.

Tamales: History, Regional Differences, and Family Cultural Interpreta

Tamales: History, Regional Differences, and Family Cultural Interpretations Introduction: Tradition has been said to mirror a way of life. Observation has concluded that participants in tradition â€Å"actively construct as well as reflect culture and community† (Sacks 275). For most people in the 21st century, tradition only reveals itself during special times or certain seasons. For others it is simply a way of life. The foodways of Mexicans and Native Americans are of particular interest in this study because of the food that grew from necessity and is maintained as sacred or reserved for only special occasions. The tamale is one such food. Significantly changed and altered throughout history it has remained a food of commonality and prestige at the same time. The tamale represents a nation that thrived as a people and has continued to live on through the traditions created hundreds of years ago by women who strive to better their community, their men, and the general way of life and welfare of their people. Native American people are the backdrop of southwestern history and as such we often look to them for answers regarding the past. The ‘past’ provides acts as vault filled with a wealth of information concerning a great number of cultural artifacts. My personal history with tamales is filled with thoughts and memories of family, fun, love, and laughter. I began making tamales with my mother, grandmother, and aunts at a very early age. In the beginning, I was not allowed to participate too deeply. As I grew older and began to appreciate the delicate balance of spreading, filling, wrapping, and steaming, my hands and my soul became sincerely imbedded in a tradition so deep it almost ove... ...s attachment to each other is created through the events that occur in the kitchen. Works Cited Bensinger, Ken. â€Å"Hot Tamales vs. â€Å"Happy Meals.† Art News: Art in America. 101:10 (2002): 56. Girardin, Carmen. Personal Interview. 11 July, 2007. Gutierrez, Nieta. Personal Interview. 11 July, 2007. Lasater, Nicole. Personal Interview. 11 July, 2007. Martinez, Melanie. â€Å"The Molino.† Fourth Genre: Explorations in Non-Fiction. 7.1 (2005): 1-8. Sacks, Maurie. â€Å"Computing Community at Purim.† The Journal of American Folklore. 102.405 (1989): 275-291. Sanchez, MaryEllen. Personal Interview. 11 July, 2007. Soto, Gary. Too Many Tamales. New York: Putnam and Grosset, 1996. Tapp, Alice Guadalupe. Tamales 101: A Beginners Guide to Making Traditional Tamales. California, Ten Speed, 2002.

Opening the Books for change at Norwest Labs Essay

Change at Norwest Labs In 1991, Jean Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin, the CEO of Norwest Labs initiated a series of events which would significantly alter the face of his company. Norwest had reached a point where it could no longer grow without becoming prohibitively inefficient. The decision-making responsibilities, which up to now had been centralized in the hands of its CEO, would now have to be delegated to subordinates in order for Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin to address issues of a more strategic nature. With the help of external consultants, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin went on to modify his organisation with the hope of creating a decentralised, business-oriented company of empowered individuals. Unfortunately, by 1994, it was becoming quite clear that the transformation had not been entirely successful. The Symptoms Via the change process, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin had hoped to redirect certain behaviours to bring them more in line with his new company objectives. While the process did modify behaviour, it did not, unfortunately, lead to the desired ones. Worse, it even brought about undesired behaviours that had previously been absent. The clearest sign of the unsuccessfulness of the change process expressed itself in employee disorientation. Several behaviours attested this state including, confusion about the bonus system, new job descriptions, and Norwest’s relationship with a former partner turned competitor. There seems to also have been clear apprehension as to the future of the company and confusion as to interdepartmental as well as hierarchical relationships. Perhaps the most disturbing sign that things were not going according to plan was the appearance of animosity at Norwest. Following the company’s restructure, conflicts began erupting between the CEO and general managers who were clearly angry about losing some of their independence. Conflicts also appeared between the more business-oriented staff hired after the reorganization and the more technically oriented staff hired previously. At a broader level, the company even began to experience tensions across departments. The change process also seemed to have brought about increased employee apathy, as can be seen from declining morale, the indifference displayed towards any goals that gain sharing might serve beyond handing out pecuniary rewards, and the continued apathetic tolerance of an opaque bonus system, whose favouritism and unfairness had been widely criticized and yet accepted. Perhaps the most striking evidence that the change process had not reached its goals can be seen in the poor performance displayed by the employees who were promoted as a result of it. There seemed to have been a collective inertia among them as they refused to be empowered and continued to rely on Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin for decision-making. They even went as far as being cynical of the new employees who were more in line with company objectives. The Causes In order to correct the behavioural challenges identified in the previous section it is imperative that we determine what caused them. To that effect, we will analyse the situation at Norwest using the tools provided by the organizational behaviour theories of change, culture, leadership, motivation and empowerment. The Change Process As mentioned previously, Norwest underwent important changes in 1992. These changes, unfortunately, did not bring Norwest to the point where its CEO had planned that they would. We will examine the change process in two parts. First, we will try to get an understanding of why the change process failed. Later, we will try to see how the changes could have caused the undesirable behaviours currently taking place at Norwest. By understanding the direct causes of the undesirable behaviours we hope to be able to stop them. By understanding how the change process failed we hope to be able to devise a new course of action for Norwest that will allow it to become the kind of company its CEO had hoped it would become. Lewin’s Change Model Lewin provides us with a concise model for managing change. It consists of three steps: unfreezing, moving and refreezing that must be consecutively followed in order to maximize the chances for success. It is this model that we will use to understand what went wrong at Norwest during the months in which the changes were implemented. The unfreezing phase, according to Lewin, is the stage where the organisation is readied for the upcoming changes. In the case of Norwest, it appears that this stage was, at the very least, hurried through. It is unclear whether Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin even conducted a readiness assessment. While he clearly, had a good idea of what the driving forces of the changes were (increasing competition, desired growth and regulation changes), he neglected to consider what restraining forces might be working against him. Many of these resistance factors might have successfully been predicted, like the fact that some employees would reject empowerment and attempts to change the existing bonus program. Finally, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin clearly failed to arouse dissatisfaction with the status quo and to involve employees in the decision-making process. The second phase of Lewin’s model, the moving phase, is the stage where the actual changes are implemented. While Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin clearly had his own mental blue print for the upcoming changes, he failed to establish specific goals for the initial changes and, as a result, created, in his employees, unnecessary confusion about the company’s future direction. Most importantly, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin did not institute small, incremental changes. Instead, he created, all at once, a corporate services division where accounting, marketing, information systems and quality assurance were rounded up. This department was staffed by the promotion of employees and by externally hiring. Unfortunately, it soon became evident that many of the promoted employees were out of their element. Outside of corporate services, lack of openness and two-way communication led to significant conflicts between Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin and the general managers of the labs. The final stage of Lewin’s model, the refreezing stage, is the stage where changes are stabilized. In Norwest’s case, this stage was entirely skipped. Targets for change and company focus to meet them were not established and, as a result, no successful experiences were built. No system was put in place to reward behaviours that reinforce the changes, instead the old bonus system, which was seen as arbitrary at best and biased at worst, was kept. Finally, no structures, such as regular and objective performance reviews, were developed to institutionalize the changes. Overall, it seems clear that the change process at Norwest gave unsatisfactory results because it failed to address several significant steps of Lewin’s model for change. As a result, the changes Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin had hoped would occur never did and employees continued to come to him for decision-making. The Human Side of Change We saw in the previous section how the change process at Norwest was fundamentally flawed. We also quickly examined how its inherent weaknesses could have caused the undesirable behaviours we now see. We will now explore this link in more details. In this context, Kanter’s framework for managing the human side of change provides us with a powerful tool for understanding the mechanisms that triggered the employees’ reactions to the change process. In 1992, the creation of centralized corporate services at Norwest was a major source of conflict between Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin and the general managers. Research indicates that change is exciting when it is done by someone but threatening when it is done to someone. In the case of Norwest, while some general managers may have been involved the consultant’s review process of the organization, they were never involved in the recommendation process. As a the implementation of the consultants’ recommendations got under way, the general managers naturally started to feel that they were losing control over their position and responsibilities. This feeling of powerlessness leads people to try to reassert their control by rejecting other people’s ideas and even sometimes by behaving in â€Å"petty, territorial ways†, something that undoubtedly would fuel tensions with Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin. Another interesting dimension of Kanter’s model that may shed some light into this conflict is the idea of loss of face. The notion that the organization has to change and that general managers will lose authority can be inferred to mean that general managers were not up to the job. Resistance therefore becomes a way for them to oppose this conclusion and to save face. One of the major reasons why Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin’s culture change seems to have failed is because individuals who were promoted to corporate services did not want to be empowered. Kanter tells us that very often people tend to â€Å"resist change because of personal concerns about †¦ future ability to be effective after the change.† This seems particularly relevant in the context of Norwest whose scientists, according to Maurice, were â€Å"strong technical people, not strong business people† and who ‘did not consider â€Å"business empowerment† as being part of their job.’ Scientists may understandably have felt inadequate when entrusted with responsibilities for which they had no background or training. To a more limited extent, the more work factor is also interesting in explaining the outcome. Promoted employees may have resisted the change in their work description simply because it increased their workload beyond what they were willin g or capable to achieve. Unfortunately for Norwest, after gain sharing was introduced, the situation reached such a point that some employees began worrying that â€Å"Jean was taking the company down a path that would lead to its end.† This mistrust in Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin may have been the end result of too long a period of what Kanter calls excess uncertainty. Employees in companies undergoing changes need to be kept up-to-date at every step of the change process. They need to clearly know where they are heading. Although Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin may have clearly known where he wanted to lead his employees he may not have communicated that plan well enough. As a result, employees came to the conclusion that the continuous surprise changes were a symptom of improvised management and lost faith in their president. There seems to be a clear dichotomy at Norwest between the few employees embracing the changes (most of whom were hired after 1992) and those who do not (hired before 1992). Worrisomely, this dichotomy has led to tensions between the two groups. Tensions can, of course, be caused by the conflicting goals of both groups. It is also, however, an inevitable by-product of the differences brought about by change that has been studied and identified as the difference effect. When â€Å"different† individuals are introduced in a rather homogenous group, they make the group feel self-conscious and cause it to question its habits. This effort is burdensome and leads to irritability, which in turns leads to tensions. It is tempting to jump to the conclusion that employees are not interested in gain sharing from the reaction they displayed when first confronted with the possibility. However, a better understanding of the reaction can be achieved when studied in the light of Kanter’s past resentment factor. According to Kirk, there was clearly â€Å"a great deal of negativism surrounding [past] bonuses.† We know from research that people are more likely to resist change when they harbour unresolved past grievances. Culture and leadership In addition to the change process, it appears quite clear that culture and leadership played a significant role in the how the situation at Norwest unfolded. In a large sense, culture and leadership are bonded together by corporate blood. On the one hand, the leader impacts the company and its culture with his/her unique personality and leadership style; on the other hand, different forms of organizational culture demand and breed relevant and compatible leadership as well as resist and expel the outdated or incompatible ones. In Norwest’s case, the lack of supportive culture and appropriate leadership certainly share part of the responsibility for the failure of its first reform in 1992 and, could lead to the failure of the coming one in 1994. Looking at Norwest from a cultural perspective, we can see that it has deeply-rooted technical norms, values and beliefs. This culture was implanted and encouraged by Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin over the years and adhered to by Norwesters, most of whom were scientists. Because of the early success Norwest gained, we may deduce that this culture, if not supportive, was at least not obstructive to Norwest’s objectives. However, after the organizational changes were brought about, we can see that the old culture was now more or less obsolete. First, apart from Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin, few focused on the external environment and what it meant for Norwest. Second, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin’s long-term plans alienated the employees’ whose focus was on the short-term. Third, morale was low. Fourth, cynicism was growing. Fifth, group relations deteriorated as animosity and conflict among departments appeared and finally, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin, as the leader and the founder for Norwest and its culture, failed to play his role of being the hero of Norwest culture and, therefore, was objected and isolated by his subordinates with their negative reaction. Simply put, Norwest’s culture was, considering the degree of resistance, disadvantageously strong. It failed to support the mission, goals and strategy of the organization and, thus, became a liability. In order to successfully bring about changes in an organisation, effective leadership is absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, in the case of Norwest, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin failed to achieve this. Not only did his leadership fail to mitigate the resistance to change, it may even have to some extent led to the undesirable behaviours currently displayed at Norwest. What Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin possessed was good business sense and charm derived from his personality and experience; what he lacked was the ability to selectively and discriminatively project his objectives/goals onto Norwest and its employees. To be fair, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin’s leadership was not always inadequate for Norwest. Considering that most Norwesters were scientists with little business sense and skills, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin tended to be more task-oriented and to tell them what to do instead of promoting self-leadership through empowerment and training. This pragmatic leadership style worked well until Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin himself realized its limit, as Norwest grew larger and larger. Unfortunately, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin could not adapt his leadership style to effectively implement his changes. Sadly, he failed in four major aspects of successful leadership. He could not inspire employees by creating a clear and understandable vision. He could not communicate effectively, especially in crucial moments. He could not empower his employees and finally, he turned a blind eye to his own personal weaknesses and, when others pointed them out, refused to acknowledge them and change. Unfortunately for Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin, despite somewhat practicing a higher, more advanced form of leadership, he failed because he was not aware of the vulnerability of such leadership. Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin unintentionally differentiated Norwesters by their business skills. He told most old Norwesters what to do, while he allowed more business-oriented people, such as Maurice and Kirk, to participate in policymaking and even delegated to them some decision-making power. This form of situational leadership, which balances between a task and relationship orientation, could have been beneficial to Norwest had Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin realized what he was doing and communicated it clearly to his employees. However, his inability to do so isolated the employees with whom he shared values and attitudes through spontaneous leader-member-exchange from the rest of the company who simply took Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin’s attitude towards these employees as â€Å"obvious favouritism†. Another element of Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin’s style that produced negative results was his quiet leadership. Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin never seemed to bother to explain the reasoning behind some of his decisions, such as how he handed out bonuses, his corporate empowerment or gain sharing attempts. Although Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin was evidently being nobly selfless and, with hindsight, was leading Norwest the right way, his opaque style couldn’t help but spawn scepticism about his impartiality and professional capability. Needless to say, such doubts were devastating for morale at Norwest. Interestingly, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin was quite aware of the close relationship between culture and leadership. In fact, one of his main goal was what is called leader substitution, an attempt to have a new culture, as defined by rules, policy and values take over some of the work that was accomplished by his leadership. In that way, Norwest would stand more chance to survive were something to happen to him. Unfortunately, the culture change was not a complete success and ironically Norwest now finds itself in a situation where more than ever it needs strong leadership. Motivation By all accounts, the change process at Norwest exacerbated the decreasing employee motivation. Poor performances, general disinterest and, most of all, declining morale are all symptoms of this. Because motivation is so complex and because it is so crucial for the health of a company, it will be studied independently here. Employee motivation can be clearly explained by the individual process designed by Handy (Understanding Organizations, 1993, p.38). The process is based on the idea that we are self-activating organisms and can, to some degree, control our own destiny and our response to pressure, that we can set our goals and choose the path toward them. Each of us has some needs and some desired results (our own personal objectives). The decision to do or not to do something, and the energy we put into it (the ‘E’ factor), derives from a calculus we interiorise. Each calculus, however, depends on our personality and is operated within the limits of a psychological contract (coercitive, calculative or co-operative) – between the company and the individual. What exactly is missing then at Norwest Lab that prevents the motivation calculus from operating? If we apply Hertzberg’s two-factor theory prior to the first change in 1992, we see that hygiene factors were already not completely satisfied because of problems with bonuses that people felt were arbitrarily handed out. However, satisfaction from motivating factors compensated this shortfall. After the change, however, the motivating factors once satisfied no longer were, thereby deteriorating an already fragile situation. Not only did the change impact the employees’ satisfaction, but by changing the actual scope of the job, it also somehow modified what the desired or obtainable results were. It is even possible to go further in the analysis and see how the change impacted the contract itself, passing from a calculative to a slightly more co-operative one where the calculative contract is a voluntary one, with an explicit exchange of goods and money for services rendered, while the co-operative contract requires a major identification of the employee with the organization. In addition, while Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin changed the company’s people orientation (as defined by Holland) from realistic (practical jobs) to enterprising (business-oriented jobs), employees maintained a realistic people orientation. It is not surprising then that employees, finding themselves structured in an unknown contract, with different goals and low motivation, responded by reducing the ‘E’ factor in th eir job. A second element further complicates the situation. While it wouldn’t be fair to say that Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin did not truly do his best for both his company and its employees, he clearly failed in his application of theory Y. He presumed that his employees possessed those traits that make theory Y applicable: that they want job satisfaction, that they would seek responsibility and be self-starters. Unfortunately, he simply required them to be business-oriented and self-sufficient without providing them with adequate coaching and training. In order to increase performance and morale and to reinstate a sense of team-identity, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin must figure out a way to instil new confidence and motivation in his employees. There are two major activities to which Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin should devote his energies: 1) modify the employees’ motivation calculus variables to increase their resulting ‘E’ factor and 2) smooth his Theory Y approach to be more supportive. Though not an easy goal, this is certainly achievable if well planned and given the required efforts and resources available. Recommendations We have seen how the change process at Norwest was fundamentally flawed and how it triggered undesirable behaviours. We also saw how Norwest’s leader and culture not only failed to support the change process, but further aggravated the situation. Finally, we saw how motivation, as a result, was deeply affected. Fortunately, the situation is far from hopeless. Below are detailed a series of steps that will both reduce the actual conflicts and redefine a successful path for the company. Become a Transformational Leader Obviously, Norwest is not on course to reach the objectives set out by Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin. Therefore, any recommendation we will bring will involve further changes at Norwest. Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin must learn from past mistakes. He must adapt his leadership style to facilitate the transformation. Not surprisingly, being a transformational leader involves the application of Lewin’s change model and therefore every recommendation that follows is done in this spirit. Improve Communication with Employees The first stage of Lewin’s model involves arousing dissatisfaction with the current state. Things cannot go on the way they are and Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin must communicate this to his employees. Given the current state of things at Norwest, it should not be too difficult. As a transformational leader, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin needs to form a vision and a plan for his company and he needs to explain them to his employees. As Lewin’s moving phase suggests, his plan must be made up of small incremental steps so that the change is less disturbing. It is important to underline how the implementation of the plan requires extra efforts from everybody and how, at the same time, it offers new excitement and opportunities for those willing to take them. A two-way communication channel should be defined during the change period, maintained and improved afterwards as an efficiency and transparency tool. This is absolutely necessary to counter the uncertainty created by change. Involve Employees in the Change Process Employees need to be aware of the change, of its reasons and of its goals. They must also see themselves as active agents in the change process. This is necessary to counter the loss of control that employees feel in times of change. It is also an integral part of Lewin’s unfreezing phase. For those employees willing to, a chance should be given to take part in change teams. The empowered teams, and the individuals that make them up, must be given well-defined goals and coached in how to accomplish these tasks. Doing this would increase motivation by matching results, needs, contract and orientation in each employee’s motivation calculus. A one-to-one communication will make the change process more effective and smooth and as a result establish more trust across the whole company. Enhancing the participation and cooperation will also boost the moving phase of the change process. Finally, the leadership role would be reinforced, implanting the idea of the leader as a chief advisor, chief guardian of principle, chief accountability officer and chief encourager of Norwest. Give Employees Greater Control over their Careers Employees should be given greater freedom in defining their role within the company. Forcing R&D guys to be business-oriented will help neither business development nor R&D. A driving message should be the empowerment of those wishing it, underlining that all the others will be able to continue their job as they did before. In such way Norwest would enhance motivation, allowing employees to retain their desired position inside the company. Following this approach and, again, communicating it to the employees will pinpoint the source of resistance and minimize it prior to change Provide Training to Employees In the change process, employees will be required to face new responsibilities and new challenges. It is absolutely necessary for them to be trained and coached; otherwise, as we saw earlier, employees will resist the change because of concerns about their ability to perform new duties. A good way to do this is through team building is to train the whole change-process team together. Training would enhance motivation, help employees understand gain-sharing more and generally smooth the overall change process. Rely on internal hiring External hiring should be limited to some few individuals recognized as bringing outstanding expertise in a field until such a time that unity and culture have been recreated. The few new-hires should be given a clear message about the culture of the company and should be trained on the internal policies and rules. Relying on internal hiring has the advantage of retaining top performers by giving them the chance for promotions. Internal hiring will also reduce the difference effect felt by employees. Define goals and performance evaluations Lewin’s third phase, the refreezing phase, involves building success experiences by setting change targets and having everyone work towards them. Consequently, each change-process team or any empowered individual should be given clear and objective goals. Goals should be set slightly over the reachable level and bonuses should be proportionate to the effort. Most important is that whatever bonus is defined for teams and/or individuals; strict rules must be set to let everybody know when and how they are evaluated. To implement such a change, coaching and evaluating processes that reinforce desirable behaviours with clear verbal and material messages must be defined. In such processes Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin could even credit the work that has been accomplished during the first change in 1992. Setting an appraisal and coaching process enhances corporate culture and cohesion; it helps to stabilize changes and to keep everyone on the right track in the new system. Define a Reward System Lewin’s refreezing phase also encourages the rewarding of the desired behaviour. In the case of Norwest, an inadequate bonus program is presently in effect. Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin should first address the issue of the old bonus plan and recognize its major flaws. Doing so will address the past resentment of employees. Discussions concerning the timing and approach to a new reward system could be handed over to the change-process team. Gain sharing could certainly be an option. The important idea is that the choice of the reward system should involve the employees. In the end, the bonus plan could even be inserted in a cafeteria-style benefit plan, where employees can choose to opt-out or not in exchange for higher salaries.

For profit and non profit organization Essay

Both not for profit and for profit companies have many similarity and differences. A lot of companies start with the intent of making a profit. These companies also pay taxes and are called profit or for profit companies (Rodwell, & Teo, 2013). Other companies, while they can make a profit begin with the intent of helping others. These companies are not for profit or non-profit organizations. Nonprofit organizations are not allowed to make a profit, and do not pay taxes, but they might generate income. Any income generated by a nonprofit must be returned to the organization to accomplish the goals for which it was established (Anand, 2008). Regardless of its status, many companies like Goodwill Industries International and BP P.L.C. are faced with challenges that threaten the company ethically and morally. Part One: Goodwill Industries International (Not-for-Profit) Profile of Goodwill Industries: Goodwill Industries International is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Donations and gifts are fully tax-deductible to the degree acceptable by law. Goodwill Industries International is a worldwide social services initiative that creates opportunities for people to attain financial constancy and build durable families and lively communities by offering job training, employment assignment services and other community-based programs for people who have incapacities, those who do not have the education or job experience, and others who face difficulties finding employment (Goodwill Industries International, 2014). Goodwill supports the operations of about 165 individual Goodwill chapters in the US and Canada. Founded in 1902, Goodwill is one of the world’s leading benefactors of such services, as well as one of the largest employers in the world of the disabled (Hoovers, 2014). Areas of Interest: While it is most recognized for its 2,800 thrift stores, Goodwill concentrates on offering rehabilitation, job preparation, placement, and employment servi ces for people with disabilities and others. The company helps people to find and keep good jobs (Hoovers, 2014). Goodwill offers programs for young people, senior citizens, veterans, and people with disabilities, criminal backgrounds and other specialized needs (Goodwill Industries International, 2014). Mission statement: Goodwill works to improve the self-worth and value of life of individuals and families by reinforcing communities, removing obstacles to opportunity, and helping people in need achieve their full potential through learning and the power  of work. Goodwill strives to enhance the dignity and quality of life of individuals and families by helping people reach their full potential through education, skills training and the power of work (Goodwill Industries International, 2014). Summary of activities: (Based on 2013 Data) Last year, Goodwill assisted more than 9.8 million people prepare for careers in industries such as banking, IT and health care, and to get the backup services they needed to be successful (Hoovers, 2014). Last year the company served 9.8 million through employment and training programs, 44 million through mission services, 261, 875 received a job with Goodwill’s assistance and its estimated that those people earned $4.4 billion (Goodwill Industries International, 2014). Funding Sources: Support for Goodwill programs is produced mainly from the sale of contribution of goods, both at the retail stores and through an online auction site, and from contract work and government grants (Goodwill Industries International, 2014). The total profits produced by Goodwill organizations was $5.17 billion of which 83% was spent on programs. There are 87 million donors. Retail stores generated $3.79 billion, industrial and service contract work produced $647 million, $90 million came from government grants and $27 million from corporate and foundation grants. Individual gifts, donations and fees for services generated $46 million and government support foe mission services produced $455 millio n (Goodwill Industries International, 2014). History: Goodwill was founded in 1902 in Boston by Rev. Edgar J. Helms, a Methodist minister and early social visionary. Helms gathered old domestic goods and clothing in more affluent areas of the city, then taught and hired those who were underprivileged to fix and restore the goods (Goodwill Industries International, 2014). Goodwill Structure: Goodwill International’s CEO is Jim Gibbons. Cindy Cho Kim is the Director of International Development and currently there are two spokespeople Organization expert Lorie Marrero is the face of the Donate Movement. ABC reporter Evette Rios united with Goodwill’s cause in 2012 to help to plead to the Latin American market. Goodwill stores are self-governing organizations headed by a charitable board of directors (Goodwill Industries International, 2014). Goodwill has a connection of 165 independent, community-based Goodwill stores in the United States and Canada. Each local Goodwill must be accredited, request participation and meet specific standards created by Goodwill Industries  International (GII) (Goodwill Industries International, 2014). The GII Member Services center, is located in Rockville, MD. There are 2,900 total retail stores. Goodwill Industries of the Columbia, Inc. was initially recognized as a branch division of the Seattle Goodwill in 1961. Goodwill also has an online auction site at www.shopgoodwill.com (Goodwill Industries International, 2014). Values statement: The goods were then resold or were given to the people who fixed them. The system worked, and the Goodwill value of â€Å"a hand up, not a hand out† was established. (Goodwill Industries International, 2014). The value statement includes respect, integrity, stewardship, innovation and excellence (Goodwill Industries International, 2014). Problems: One problem that Goodwill Industries has is their view in the public eye. Many Goodwill stores are viewed as exploiters of disabled citizens. Some stores used a federal law under the Special Wage Certificate Program, to employ disabled workers at rates of 22, 38, and 41 cents per hour (Gibson, 2 013). The law allows nonprofits and companies to get a certificate that lets them to employ disabled workers â€Å"based on their abilities† at whatever salary they find suitable, with no minimum. This is compared to the $729,000 in salary and deferred compensation that the CEO, Jim Gibbson makes. The CEOs of Goodwill organizations across the U.S. mutually earned $30 million (Gibson, 2013). The problem exists because there are numerous disabled adults who still need to support themselves but cannot get hired by normal means. Management and upper administrators have the ability to ensure that all their employees work in a safe and equal working environment which proper accommodations for their disabilities. Goodwill’s response was that disabled workers would not be hired anywhere else and should be appreciative for any amount they make even if it is 22 cents. Goodwill is against eliminating the program because it would cause more harm than good (Gibson, 2013). Support for Goodwill programs is produced mainly from the sale of contribution of goods, both at the retail stores and through an online auction site, and from contract work and government grants (Goodwill Industries International, 2014). Another problem that Goodwill faces is criticisms for ripping off customers. The prices of items are for a donated used article. Goodwill has been accused of taking the better donated items and selling the products on eBay or keeping them for themselves, or calling family members to come in and purchase the items. They also sell the less desirable items in stores and price them at ridiculously expensive prices for used and donated items. According to Smith, selfishness is a fundamental driving force of human conduct (Fieser & Moseley, 2012). Companies such as Goodwill accumulate wealth through a system that presents good intentions but are driven by greed. The company has become very wealthy off of items that were completely free. Company Impact: One report indicates a decrease in donations (Begam, 2010). Donations for several local charities are at an all-time low this year. Goodwill says their donations are down 25% in their stores across the region (Begam, 2010). Many consumers are urged not to donate to Goodwill because of their treatment of disabled employees and pricing donated goods at high prices. Part Two: BP P.L.C (For-Profit) Although BP P.L.C. is a profit organization, it faces many challenges that also threaten the company ethically and morally. Profile of BP, P.L.C.: BP is one of the world’s leading international oil and gas companies. We provide customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, lubricants to keep engines moving, and the petrochemicals products used to make everyday items as diverse as paints, clothes and packaging (BP, 2014). Areas of Interest: BP’s area of interests includes finding and extracting oil and gas to producing fuels, lubricants and petrochemicals (BP, 2014). Mission Statement: Although not specifically labeled a â€Å"mission statement,† BP has a published statement of â€Å"What We Stand For†: â€Å"BP wants to be recognized as a great company – competitively successful and a force for progress. We have a fundamental belief that we can make a difference in the world. We help the world meet its growing need for heat, li ght and mobility. We strive to do that by producing energy that is affordable, secure and doesn’t damage the environment (BP, 2014). Summary of Activities: In 2013 BP completed 17 exploration wells and made seven potentially commercial discoveries in 2013. It was the most successful year for exploration drilling in almost a decade. They started three major projects in 2013 and another three in January and February 2014. They completed the commissioning of all major units for the Whiting refinery upgrade, transforming it into one of our advantaged downstream assets in our portfolio (BP, 2014). Funding  Sources: In 2013 BP had several areas of funding. Sales and other operating revenues totaled 379,136 million dollars. Earnings from joint ventures – after interest and tax totaled 447 million dollars. Earnings from associates – after interest and tax totaled 2,742 million dollars. Interest and other income totaled 777 million dollars. Gains on sale of businesses and fixed assets totaled 13,115 million dollars. Total revenues and other income totaled 396,217 million dollars and BP shareholders totaled 23,451 million dollars (BP, 2014). BP’s History: BP’s history begin with innovations, starting in 1908 with oil found in a rugged part of Persia after a long and difficult search. Since then, discoveries large and small have fuelled the company’s progress. Back in England, William D’Arcy gambled his considerable fortune on oil, and was on the verge of losing everything. It seemed that the geologists and experts who had wagged their heads encouragingly at him since 1901 had all been wrong about the oil beneath the sands of Persia. By the early morning of 26 May 1908, the whole camp reeked of sulphur. At four o’clock the drill reached 1,180 feet and a fountain of oil spewed out into the dawn sky. Within a year, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which would one day become BP, was in business (BP, 2014). BP’s Values: Our values of safety, respect, excellence, courage and one team align explicitly with BP’s code of conduct and translate into the responsible actions necessary for the work we do every day. Our values represent the qualities and actions we wish to see in BP, they guide the way we do business and the decisions we make (BP, 2014). Structure: BP’s businesses are organized to deliver the energy products and services people around the world need right now. It has 102,498 locations and its international headquarters in located in St James’s Square, London Its Upstream segment is responsible for activities in oil and natural gas exploration, field development and production. Its Downstream segment focuses on fuels, lubricants and petrochemicals. BP is one of the world’s leading international oil and gas companies. They provide customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, lubricants to keep engines moving, and the petrochemicals products used to make everyday items as diverse as paints, clothes and packaging (BP, 2014). Problems: One problem that BP faces results from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The company faces many lawsuits. BP is front and center because of  its high-profile role in the disaster, not to mention its deep pockets and its reputation as a global business power. Current estimates have BP setting aside about $32 billion to cover cleanup, legal claims, fines, and other costs related to the spill. So, clearly BP is planning on taking the brunt of the legal blame — and the biggest financial hit, for contributing to the worst oil spill in the nation’s history (Nolo, 2014). Another problem the company faces is the mandated cleanup fines that the government is requiring the company to pay. According to Smith, selfishness is a fundamental driving force of human conduct (Fieser & Moseley, 2012). Companies such as BP accumulate wealth by using resources from the Earth. The company is subject to lawsuits and cleanup fines because of the numerous livelihoods that were damaged and the damage cause to the environment as a result of the oil spill the government requires the company to supply. Recently, BP Oil and Gas filed a petition with US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia seeking review of a lower court’s decision to have BP continue making payments to the affected parties related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill and stop payments to claimants while litigation continues (Matthew, 2014). Impact to Company: Initially, BP had a negative public view and maintained its stock. However, by late June, BP was trading in the $27 range. Fewer analysts recommended buying BP and a few recommended that investors sell. Coincidentally, this was all about the same time as or shortly after BP agreed to put $20 billion into an escrow account to pay for spill-related damages and announced it would not pay stock dividends in 2010 (Lawyers.com, 2014). In addition as of 2013, BP spent $26 billion on response efforts. Part Three: Personal Ethical Evaluation Goodwill Industries International Goodwill’s primary response was driven by selfish motives (Fieser & Moseley, 2012) and morally irresponsible. The company’s response that the people should be grateful and not complain about their wages brings a negative view upon the company. According to Fieser and Moseley (2012), the moral subjectivist thinks that right and wrong is decided by what, the subject of the situation, thinks or feels is right or wrong. However the average person  working in the United States expects to receive minimum wage for working, because it is the norm or culturally relative (Fieser & Moseley, 2012). The culture of the United States would view Goodwill as taking advantage of already limited people. Ethical egoism implies that people act so as to maximize their self-interest (Fieser & Moseley, 2012). Goodwill felt that it was doing a greater good by hiring those who would not normally have gotten employment. Morally speaking, they were within the confines of the law to operate as su ch. Because Goodwill used the Special Wage Certificate Program, to employ disabled workers at rates cents per hour (Gibson, 2013) they were legally justified in their actions. The law allows nonprofits and companies to get a certificate that lets them to employ disabled workers â€Å"based on their abilities† at whatever salary they find suitable, with no minimum. On the other side of this coin is that Goodwill receives grant money from the government for operating as a nonprofit organization and actually helping people in the community. Even though the attempt was noble, they could have done more to improve the situation. Though they hired a demographic of people that would normally remain unemployable, they could have offered a salary that demonstrates a level of equality, fairness or self-worth. In many cases these people were working for less than eight dollars a day. They spent more money in expenses getting to work than they actually made at work. Some of the people complained about that very issue also, that they did not make enough money to cover rent. This is compared to the $729,000 in salary and deferred compensation that the CEO, Jim Gib bson makes. The CEOs of Goodwill organizations across the U.S. mutually earned $30 million (Gibson, 2013). The company received 90 million dollars government grants and $27 million from corporate and foundation grants in 2013. Goodwill offered a potential solution to a difficult situation. In doing so, the company created a problem for themselves. It could have been prevented had they offered an acceptable wage compensation to the disable employees. One way Goodwill can address the issue with the treatment of its employees is to consider the triple bottom line, which implies that successful companies must pursue three distinct values: people, the planet, and profit (Fieser & Moseley, 2012). There should be social benefit to workers and the community, environmental benefit with the implementation of sustainable ecological practices, and economic benefit only after all hidden  environmental costs have been factored in. In doing so, if Goodwill hires employees, then they should pay them minimum wage and accommodate their job assignments according to their ability regardless of their level of ability. They should also offer opportunity for raises and promotion. This ensures that everyone gets equal pay and fair treatment. One solution for the issue of greed is to put into place quality assurance representatives and to create a price list for different categories of items. This ensures that all items are priced the same across the country. The price list should have a price range, which includes the lowest and highest prices that items can be priced within their category. For example, a lamp can be priced from $3.00 to $5.00 depending on quality. This solution is possible but would require extreme communication across the nation. It would also require store representatives to ensure that these policies were followed and to ensure that all donations are inventoried properly. BP P.L.C BP’s primary response was utilitarian driven (Williams, 1973) and morally responsible (Fieser & Moseley, 2012). The company was motivated by the idea to make things right. The company’s response to set finances aside for the cleanup efforts and to assist those affected by the oil spill was their way of taking responsibility for the harm that their operations and property caused on the environment and lives in the Gulf area. The oil spill was a direct result of the company drilling in the Gulf. The thousands of gallons of oil that flooded the area affected animal life and eventually the livelihood of fishermen. BP plc was faced with managing the crisis and examining the causes of its organizational failure. At the core of the issue is a failed organizational culture. The problem could have been prevented had BP ensured that all safety measures for drilling were being used. As time passed, BP became more driven by ethical egoism. They began to act so as to maximize their self-interest. They no longer wanted to pay the families who were affected and wanted courts to reevaluate the situation to determine if they were still obligated to pay these families for the oil spill that killed and poisoned wildlife, animals and fish (Matthew, 2014). Even though the company’s initial response was admirable, they came back with an actions that demonstrated that they are truly a profit company and wanted to stop all obligation to pay those who were affected by the oil  spill. The company agreed to put $20 billion into an escrow account to pay for spill-related. They eventually paid $26 billion in issued related to the oil spill (Gibson, 2013). BP could have do more to help the situation analyzed the damage caused by the oil spill to determine lasting effects on fishermen’s livelihoods. The company can set aside more money to assist in future cleanup efforts, provide funding to local environmental services for testing and cleanup efforts. BP can also settle all reasonable lawsuits. This will help its public image and provide closure for families who lost their livelihood. The company can set aside money for environmental service agencies to test toxicity levels, population and regeneration of different animal species and any future cleanup efforts. These solutions are possible because eventually BP will have to pay more in legal fees, lawsuits or fines. These solutions offer them the chance to get ahead of the problem and be proactive Part Four: Critique of Company’s Actions Goodwill Industries International Goodwill’s actions and motivation seem to reflect self-interest and at times down right greed. The company’s response that the people should be grateful and not complain about their wages brings a negative view upon the company. According to Fieser and Moseley (2012), the moral subjectivist thinks that right and wrong is decided by what, the subject of the situation, thinks or feels is right or wrong. Even though Goodwill’s administration would have viewed the hiring of disabled people at such a low wage as acceptable, many would not. The average person working in the United States expects to receive minimum wage for working, because it is the norm or culturally relative (Fieser & Moseley, 2012). The culture of the United States would view Goodwill as taking advantage of already limited people. Ethical egoism implies that people act so as to maximize their self-interest (Fieser & Moseley, 2012). Goodwill felt that it was doing a greater good by hiring those who would not normally have gotten employment. Morally speaking, they were within the confines of the law to operate as such. Because Goodwill used the Special Wage Certificate Program, to employ disabled workers at rates cents per hour (Gibson, 2013) they were legally justified in their  actions. The law allows nonprofits and companies to get a certificate that lets them to employ disabled workers â€Å"based on their abilities† at whatever salary they find suitable, with no minimum. The company’s response should have been response was utilitarian driven (Williams, 1973). This approach would have allowed the company to view the disabled as people worthy of the respect of being treated and paid equally. Just because they â€Å"can† legally pay these employees less does not mean that it is the correct thing to do. Right and wrong could have been determined by a cost-benefit analysis. Because the company receives so many millions to help fund programs like employing disable people, they would not have lost anything financially to pay the people at least minimum wage. There could have been several benefits, such as a more positive public view, sustained donations from the public and a developing a program that actually helps the community. BP P.L.C. BP’s primary response was utilitarian driven (Williams, 1973) and morally responsible (Fieser & Moseley, 2012). The company was motivated by the idea to make things right. The company’s response to set finances aside for the cleanup efforts and to assist those affected by the oil spill was their way of taking responsibility for the harm that their operations and property caused on the environment and lives in the Gulf area. As time passed, BP became more driven by ethical egoism. They began to act so as to maximize their self-interest. They no longer wanted to pay the families who were affected and wanted courts to reevaluate the situation to determine if they were still obligated to pay these families for the oil spill that killed and poisoned wildlife, animals and fish (Matthew, 2014). (1) Moral Subjectivism In its common form, Moral Subjectivism amounts to the denial of moral principles of any significant kind, and the possibility of moral criticism and argumentation. In essence, ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ lose their meaning because so long as someone thinks or feels that some action is ‘right’, there are no grounds for criticism.à  If you are a moral subjectivist, you cannot object to anyone’s behaviour (assuming people are in fact acting in accordance with what they think or feel is right).à  This shows the key flaw  in moral subjectivism — probably nearly everyone thinks that it is legitimate to object, on moral grounds, to at least some peoples’ actions.à  That is, it is possible to disagree about moral issues. (2) Cultural Relativism Right and wrong is determined by the particular set of principles or rules the relevant culture just happens to hold at the time. Cultural Relativism is closely linked to Moral Subjectivism.à  It implies that we cannot criticize the actions of those in cultures other than our own.à  And again, it amounts to the denial of universal moral principles.à  Also, it implies that a culture cannot be mistaken about what is right and wrong (which seems not to be true), and so it denies the possibility of moral advancement (which also seems not to be true). (3) Ethical Egoism Right and wrong is determined by what is in your self-interest.à  Or, it is immoral to act contrary to your self-interest. Ethical Egoism is usually based upon Psychological Egoism — that we, by nature, act selfishly.à  Ethical egoism does not imply hedonism or that we ought to aim for at least some ‘higher’ goods (e.g., wisdom, political success), but rather that we will (ideally) act so as to maximize our self interest.à  This may require that we forgo some immediate pleasures for the sake of achieving some long term goals.à  Also, ethical egoism does not exclude helping others.à  However, egoists will help others only if this will further their own interests. An ethical egoist will claim that the altruist helps others only because they want to (perhaps because they derive pleasure out of helping others) or because they think there will be some personal advantage in doing so.à  That is, they deny the possibility of genuine altruism (because they think we are all by nature selfish).à  This leads us to the key implausibility of Ethical Egoism — that the person who helps others at the expense of their self-interest is actually acting immorally.à  Many think that the ethical egoist has misunderstood the concept of morality — i.e., morality is the system of practical reasoning through which we are guided to constrain our  self-interest, not further it.à  Also, thatà  genuine altruism is indeed possible, and relatively commonly exhibited. Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is a very simple view that matches common sense – right and wrong can be determined by a cost-benefit analysis. We must consider all the good and bad consequences when deciding if an action is right. Utilitarians disagree about what counts as â€Å"good† or â€Å"bad.† Some think that fulfilling desires is good and thwarting desires is bad, classic utilitarians think that happiness is good and suffering is bad, and pluralists believe that there are multiple â€Å"intrinsic goods† that are worth promoting. An action will then be said to be â€Å"right† as long as it satisfactorily causes good consequences compared to alternative actions, and it will be â€Å"wrong† if it doesn’t. Utilitarianism doesn’t discriminate or encourage egoism. It is wrong to harm others to benefit yourself because everyone counts. What counts as â€Å"satisfactory† will not be agreed upon by all philosophers. Originally some philosophers suggested that only the â€Å"best† action we could possibly perform is â€Å"right,† but this is an extreme, impractical, and oppressive view. Why? Whenever you are taking a shower or spending time with friends it would probably be better to be doing something else, such as helping the needy, but it is absurd to say that you are always doing wrong whenever you are taking a shower or spending time with friends. Additionally, it isn’t clear that there is a â€Å"best† course of action always available to us. There might be an unlimited number of actions we can perform and at least one of them could be better than what we choose to do. Corporate sustainability includes many normal business practices. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico provides a classic example of how failure to be sustainable can lead to an overall organizational failure of mandate, and a failure to serve stakeholders. BP plc was faced with managing the crisis and examining the causes of its organizational failure. At the core of the issue is a failed organizational culture. This paper examines what events and  organizational values have led to the crisis and what changes to organizational culture would be required, to avoid a repeat event and begin to create a sustainable organization. Reference: Arnold, D. H., & McKay, R. (2013). Sustainable Enterprises: Crisis Management and Culture Transformation for BP. Business and Management Research, 2(3), p16. Chicago Anand, S. (2008). Not†for†Profit Organizations. Essentials of Corporate Governance, 163-177. Matthew, J. 2014. BP Asks US Supreme Court to Halt Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Payments Retrieved from http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/bp-asks-us-supreme-court-halt-gulf-mexico-oil-spill-payments-1450360 Rodwell, J. J., & Teo, S. T. (2013). STRATEGIC NRM lN FOR-PROFIT ANO NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN A KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE INDUSTRY. Human Resource Management in the Public Sector, 9. Williams, B. (1973). A critique of utilitarianism. Cambridge/UK.