Cyclermate Report Essay Example for Free

Cyclermate Report Essay I. An executive summary Dai Armstrong and Lewis Llewellyn are the two men who planned to open their own company after being superfluous due to the shutting down of the steel plants in their town of South Wales were Dai Armstrong and Lewis Llewellyn. They became good friends because of taking part in the local club of cycle touring together and decided to start Cyclermate, which was a bicycle manufacturing company that was laid down in the year 1988. In the beginning of time, Cyclermate gained a huge influence over the share of the market. The company appeared well with no problems and difficulties up to 2010, the time when the business is in trouble, it confronted lots of consequences with respect to operation human resource and finance. Therefore, the demand by purchasers fell continue sadly even though the prices were cut down by the company; the distinguishing attributes of the goods were not up to the quality as they were earlier. The rising complaints from the customers regarding degrading quality and faults in the product and the concern by the bank manager regarding the overdraft could cause trouble if the problems are not solved as soon as possible. Because of that, the company requires a right way to deal with this issue and save it from the edge of going bankrupt. II. Introduction Based on case study research in Cyclermate Ltd. and a series of case in community, this report will work out the financial problems and various other problems confronted by Cyclermate. It has been designed to analysis the business environment and management, measured by SWOT and PET models that are required to be looked upon. The report also draws on a brief summary for the financial side of the business. In addition, this report takes into account an examination of difficulties confronted by Cyclermate and possible solution for the problems, included short and long term solutions. Another function of this report is to examine how the company could get out of the crisis and get back to the current market share. Finally, the report brings us some recommendations and conclusion of the whole Cyclermate case study. III. Analysis of Business Environment 1. PEST Analysis PEST analysis is involved in the chief external environmental that effect or control considerably a business strategy. As we can see, PEST is aimed for Political, Economic, Social and Technological matters that can affect the business. PEST is recognized to persuade it in a utile manner of summarizing the external environment. However, it may be adopted the ability of how an establishment should react to these factors. Political Factor A political factor has a powerful impact on income tax, labor law, trade restriction and many more. Company did not recruit enough workers to meet the targets and worker had to work overtime to get the work done and workers are getting paid at normal rate. Using a traditional method may harm workers health and decreased their productivity as well. These mistakes made Cyclermate become a target of health and safety agencies. They have to improve the quality or else they can be stuck in authorized issues. On the  other hand, they also need to achieve higher standard in manufacturing to meet requirements of the market, especially foreign markets. Economic Factor Cyclermate had purchased a larger storehouse for goods, which indeed was essential to them but did not suffice their requirements. Purchasing a warehouse, which fulfilled the needs of the company, could have saved a lot of money and that same money could have used in new or currently in existence projects. Another factor in economics that affects to the development of Cyclermate Ltd is labor. The unemployment rate is increasing, therefore, this is a good chance for this company to choose worker more easily, and employ them easily with affordable price. Social Factor Social factor has a powerful impact on human behavior, Cyclermate had many order but they did not have enough workforce to complete these orders. They have to work long hours in order to achieve their goals. One more important thing is that high-speed innovation as well as the increasing demands of consumers requires Cyclermate to change and improve every day. But there is a truly infact that living standard of clients could effect to their choices. The higher income distribution they get, the higher demands they re Technological Factor Cyclermate Ltd is using the oldest way to advertise their products by posting advertisement in traditional newspapers. It has limited their goods to the customers. Instead, this company can set up its own website. In addition, Cyclermate Ltd is using the oldest way to advertise their products by posting advertisement in traditional newspapers. It has limited their goods to the customers. Instead, this company can set up its own website. 2. SWOT Analysis It is a methodical technique that is utilized to categorize and identify substantial external (Opportunities and Threats) and internal (Strengths and Weaknesses) factors confronted with a specific area. (Johnson, 1993) It  renders data which are useful in corresponding the capabilities and resources to the spiritual atmosphere in which it functions and hence is a significant addition to the planning and marketing procedure. (Pearce, 2005) Let have look at the SWOT of cyclermate to understand more about the current issue that company has to face with. Strengths Direct channels of sale Cyclermate has direct channels of sales with the direct sales and direct shops; hence intermediary’s cost is largely eliminated. Reducing the cost of manufacturing could unquestionably help Cyclermate achieve a huge share of the market. As direct channels are in direct contact with the providers, thus, it could help in increasing in quantity or value of the sales and it provides a good opportunity to the providers to empathize the clients and could make required changes are per the requirement of the customers. Motivated workforce The employees at the Cyclermate are extremely pioneering and are can fully utilize and achieve any given objective or alterations in the company but they are inhibited by the administration as a result they are unable to express their views freely. The employees could have a crucial role in the company for its overall growth and development. Possession of buildings and lands Unlike Cyclermate most of the companies don’t possess either building or land and hence have to pay the heavy rents which adds to the cost but cyclermate can make any changes in the buildings and could capitalize in whichever way they wish to as they own it, which reduces the overall cost. Weaknesses Inexperience and unmotivated staffs of the company The company has made use of untrained workers. These untrained workers are not given the proper training after their employment. It is the fact that the employees and the staff are never allowed to put forward their creative and self-ideas due to the policies of the management, as a result of this  motivation in the staff is lost. Sales are decreasing in amount or degree and there is piling up of stocks in the warehouses which generates a feeling among the staff that they are not under a good management and as this feeling flourishes they lose hopes from the company and it has a very bad impact on their morale. The investors do not truly interested in the business Due to the low returns on the capital invested by the investors, they are unhappy with the performance of the company and are losing faith in it. In addition, the very fact that the shareholders were not paid any interest last year, it may result in the withdrawal of their money from the company. The quality concerns Because lack of the power to be effective of the staffs to keep up the measures of the goods and the quality of raw material utilized is leading to degraded quality of the goods eventually. Old machinery such as traditional spaying technique, painting and low-quality stock control technology needs updating as soon as possible if the business hopes to improve the production and sales in the coming time. Opportunities Take the advantages of social media Cyclermate should launch its website, which provides complete detail and range of the products available with them. Company can employ a new computer system for keeping a good database of the company. They can introduce online selling and modification according to the wish of customers. Introduction of new machines They should introduce some of the modern machinery in order to achieve higher-level productivity. Cyclermate could bring in new robotic machinery in the production process that will lead to speedy output and a superior quality of goods. Employ trained workers They have the opportunity to make use of the trained workforce, which has been recently laid off from the nearby production site. More workforce means opportunity to gain more productivity. Threats Overseas competitors As a result of the growth to a global or worldwide scale, many companies from across the globe have entered the market with products of low price and high quality, which certainly is a threat for Cyclermate as it supplies good with high cost and of lower quality. Due to recession, which is prevailing in Europe the purchasing power of people is going down. Thus, company can have reduced sales or can face financial crises. Reputation Due to poor-quality product for a period of Cyclermate’s reputation is going down and therefore people do not like to go for their products. Huge retail Merchants Retail Merchants like Argos and Halfords are captivating the market eventually and it might happen that Cyclermate may lose the market share completely. Customer threatens them to sue their company after their product was fail in delivering the good performance. IV. Analysis of Business Management 1. Financial Problems Prob. 1.1: Uncontrolled cost The main problem that company is in this situation is because of the uncontrolled cost and mismanaged budget. The costs are increasing yearly with the sales and selling price of the products going down. Let have look at the financial statement that company has  £210,800 worth of non-current assets. Loan request will be refused as company only holds cash fund of  £675 into their bank account. Costs are increasing at a rapid rate year after year. Asset turnover ratio is 2.06:1. This indicates that the profit margins for the company are very low that’s why the ratio is so high. We can also conclude from this that the company’s pricing strategy is not effective leading to lower profits. Prob. 1.2: Dealing with a big loan Creditor days – 24 days leads to the company has to pay back it its debtors in 24 days and it is just left with 675 £ of cash. The Company is liable to pay  £87,500 to the creditors and if they don’t so a legal action may be taken on them, which are not good for company’s reputation. They may talk to the creditors and ask for an extension in time for payments as they are going through financial crisis and don’t have money right now to pay back. Prob. 1.3: Lots of inventories Besides, it shows that the majority of inventories are stored and not effectively managed, that is why current ratio is at such high level, which also means low sales and low revenue gained. Moreover, the company relies on the bank loan as the main monetary support. 2. Operation Problems Prob. 2.1: Stock control system Disturbingly, materials are always in the shortage which results in the disruption of the production process recently. Although the demand is higher and higher, company cannot meet their requirement because of lacking necessary components. Prob. 2.2: Inappropriate division of duties The inappropriate division of duties obviously had made such a burden on many workers. In particular, Dai Armstrong has to deal with many tasks such as making all the frames, factory manager and business director at the same time. He himself also finds it hard to keep up the level of production (approximately 8 frames/day) because it requires the harsh physical demands. Prob. 2.3: Assembly is a complex process Moreover, assembly is a complex process, which takes 2 or 3 hours for one person. Janice Jones and Ffred Gregory often have to work overtime to catch up with the progress. As a result, their health and time issue could be heavily damaged. 3. HR Management problems Prob. 3.1: Improper workforce in manufacturing Unreasonable workforce division is one of the most serious problems of Cyclermate Ltd. Besides, lack of experienced employees and the aging workforce are worrying the production process and raising a big question for a more effective training system. Prob. 3.2: The training system creates The training system creates such obstacles for the assembly process. Typically, Fred, who is 18 years old, is a new and un-experienced person; the training for him is necessary, however, not easy at all. It takes so much time to instruct Fred in traditional way, which is apparently the cause of slow production recently. Prob. 3.3: Corporate culture The staff is highly de-motivated due to decreasing sales and profits and also the behavior of the management as in the sinking company they are not free to put up their ideas even if they do they are rejected because of the superiority of the management. V. Solution A. Short term and immediate planning 1. Financial problems: Solution 1.1: Cost in selling and distribution Cost in selling and distribution could be possible declined to save more money for the company such as cutting cost for postage and courier charges by substituting by cheaper service, as well as the travelling and hospitality. Those indirect costs contribute such high cost to the manufacturing of the cycles, restricting them would help boost the sales with cheaper price. Solution 1.2: Ask for trading debtors to repay The solution to this issue is that they should strictly resolve and for the  trade debtors to repay the loans as soon as possible. The amount of $200,571 would help the financial situation better in the coming time. Once their assets are raised through and their liquidity are proved to be valuable enough to afford the loan, it will be beneficial for them to borrow money from the banks. Solution 1.3: Direct sale prices Cyclermate’s direct sale prices are higher than shop sale price. In order to generate healthy revenue, Cyclermate needs to reduce their direct sale price. By reducing the direct sale prices will increase their sale and it will be easy for them to generate healthy revenue. 2. Operation Problems Solution 2.1: Buy stock when needed Company should only buy stock when they needed. Buying stock earlier will harm company’s financial positions, because raw material does not hold their value and it has got more chances of losing its market value. Solution 2.2: Require clear division A good answer for this problem is that the company should require clear division to who is able to undertake and separate arrangement of duties. Specifically, assigning other qualified person on frame-making position so that Mr. Dai could concentrate and dedicate himself to external relations business only. Solution 2.3: hiring more experienced labors The company should consider hiring more experienced labors for assemble line and frame-making because Mr Dai can no longer put up with the physical requirement of the task. With those simple tasks like packaging, it is acceptable for free hand employees to help out, but only when they finished all their tasks. 3. HR Management problems Solution 3.1: Employ cheaper labors In this case, the company can consider employ cheaper labors that are  suggested by Maldwyn Jones: Chinese or Taiwanese labor to make the machine for them- much better quality but half the price and move Idris Pugh to higher position as a supervisor for the whole wheel-making process. Solution 3.2: Improving the staff’s skills This training program involves directly in the new changes with a purpose of improving the staff’s skills, expertise and methods to complete an error-free task, exposing them to unfamiliar ideas and of course, giving them the chance to practice task under time/speed limit. Solution 3.3: Core business value Trust in others and a firm belief in overcoming difficulties (set up new mission: overcome difficulty, minimize waste and consequence) B. Long term and efficiency improvements Present fiscal condition of Cyclermate (Accounting ratios).The acid / liquid ratio of Cyclermate is 0.76:1, which depicts Cyclermate is incapable to satisfy indebtednesses of shorter term, which mean that it would not be competent to satisfy fiscal difficulty which may happen in the time to come. The Asset turnover ratio for Cyclermate is 2.06:1. As the ratio is excessively high, this means that profit margins are very low. The pricing strategy of Cyclermate is ineffective and because of that low profit. Return on capital employed –Cyclermate has far too less returns on the capital employed, just a mere 0.11 or 11%. Debtor days –It would take Cyclermate 115 days to get back the money from debtors. Creditor days – Cyclermate has to pay back in 24 days to its debtors with a cash balance of 675 £. The financial statement of Cyclermate shows that it has non-current assets which is of worth  £210,800.Any request regarding a loan from the bank will be refused as it has a mere cash balance of  £675. It may get a loan based on the position of its non-current assets. In place of the above-discussed alternative, it can sell its freehold land, which is worth  £160,000, and use the proceeds from the sale in the business. Cyclermate could acquire funds if they pursue its trade debtors to pay off soon. Debtors worth  £200,571 are to be recovered and the funds would be acquired soon if the debtors do not  default and pay in full. Once it has sufficient fund, Cyclermate could apply for the bank loan. VI. Conclusion Overall, Cyclermate will have a better future if they operate their business in slightly different ways. Cyclermate products were famous for its quality and price,if the company still provide what the consumer wants than it would be no harm to the company. But there few changes needs to be changed and once the new rules and regulation apply into the business than it would be a great opportunity for Cyclermate to operate their services. Moreover, With the movement of new threats into the marketplace the present systematic plan of action of Cyclermate is continuously below the acceptable level in its performance due to the fact that the new firms and the existing organizations are coming up with improved quality of products at a cheaper price VII. Recommendations The company must sign up correct individual as per the requirement of the position. Currently the management is interfering in the process of production and is unable to focus of the activities they should be concerned. The financial hardships through which Cyclermate is going through at present could be resolved by selling the unused stock that is piled up in the warehouse. In order to generate revenues and funds to invest in other arena of the company, Cyclermate must sell its freehold land that would certainly generate high revenue. In order to achieve higher output and productivity, modern technology should be applied in the production process. Installing a computer database through which the management could look into all the important and relevant data as and when required. Cyclermate should launch its website, which provides complete detail and range of the products available with them. Reducing both direct sales prices so as to sell the current stock and trade debtors. Employing young and trained workforce that is fit for the position.

Data Analysis for Research Essay Example for Free

Data Analysis for Research Essay Scenario 1: Customer Perceptions of the Toyota Brand WKB Toyota in Chichester want to investigate customer attitudes towards the Toyota brand, to see if the press coverage regarding mechanical failures during 2009-2010 have had any long-term impacts on customer loyalty and potential sales to new customers. In the first instance, WKB can offer access to their own marketing database. Scenario 2: Market Segmentation for Visit Chichester Visit Chichester is in the process of realigning its marketing strategy to key customer groups in order to more effectively promote the visitor economy in the Chichester District. As part of the process they wish to conduct research to investigate current attitudes towards the Visit Chichester website. They wish to seek views from across a range of profiles including families with children, couples, and the retired market. The results will be used to determine the structure and content of the new Visit Chichester website. Scenario 3: NatWest Banking Charter Following its widespread publicity campaign, which included TV adverts and street billboards, and as part of its commitment to customer service, NatWest wish to undertake research to establish the impact of its Customer Charter. More specifically, they want to ascertain whether it has lead to a discernible improvement in customers’ perception of the bank’s service quality. They also wish to undertake an internal audit to assess whether staff have noticed an impact of the Charter. Scenario 4: The Green Economy The West Sussex Sustainable Business Partnership has commissioned the University of Chichester undertake research assessing the level of sustainable business practice by businesses across a range of sectors in West Sussex. Specifically the WSSBP would like to establish the extent to which businesses are adopting green measures in key areas such as operations management, purchasing, and energy management. They also want to establish business awareness of available support for going green, and general business attitudes to the green agenda. The results will help WSSBP help businesses prepare for the green economy being championed by the coalition Government. Scenario 5: HMV Music In the light of poor trading figures, and the imminent closure of 60 of its UK branches, HMV want to undertake research to ascertain the factors that are causing poor sales and determine which product lines should be continued and which ones should be discarded. They are also interested in how they can improve their online sales performance as part of a realignment of their retail strategy. Scenario 6: Tourism Industry Response to Recession and Recovery The Sussex Tourism Partnership have commissioned the University to undertake research into the impact of recession on the tourism industry in Sussex, and the strategic response adopted by tourism businesses, including accommodation providers and attractions. They wish to establish the degree to which different sectors have felt the impact of recession, either positively or negatively, and identify the key measures these businesses have taken to remain competitive in the current downturn. Scenario 7: Evaluation of Goodwood Motor Racing Events The Goodwood Road Racing Company (GRRC) has commissioned the University of Chichester to undertake research investigating visitor perceptions of the overall quality of the visitor experience at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Revival. They also want to assess visitors’ views about potential new events, products and services that could be developed at Goodwood that would increase revenue without significantly increase the negative impacts currently generated by the Festival of Speed and Revival events. Scenario 8: Green policies at Sainsbury PLC The aim of the research is to establish whether there are any economic benefits from adopting green business policies at Sainsbury supermarkets. The supermarket’s Operations Manager wants to identify ways in which the economic impacts of Sainsbury’s adoption of green business polices can be measured. In particular, she is interested in the identification of costs and benefits associated with implementing green business policies at Sainsbury, and to identify the economic incentives and disincentives which Sainsbury has from its stakeholders such as customers, suppliers and government to adopt green business policies.

Knowledge management and innovation

Knowledge management and innovation In recent years, there are a large number of academic articles, which have been focused on the topic of knowledge management and innovation. Both academic researchers and professions seem to agree that knowledge is the most valuable asset of a firm (Garcà ­a-Muià ±a et al., 2009). Moreover, Hsiangchu and Tsai-Hsin (2002) suggested that the corporations knowledge is the main competitive advantage for a corporation. Therefore, managing knowledge in organisations could be considered as a key factor for the success in todays business world. There are four major elements in the knowledge process which includes creating knowledge, integrating knowledge, sharing knowledge and codifying knowledge (Newell et al. 2009). A study by Teece et al. (1997 cited Leiponen 2006) proposed that the creation of knowledge can have the important effects on performance of a corporation. While other researchers mentioned that creating knowledge is not great enough and comprehensive knowledge sharing and int egration of an organisation are displayed its success (Okhuysen and Eisenhardt, 2002). The goal of this paper is to review the existing literature on knowledge management and apply these theories in combination with some examples of other organisations to analyse main strategic knowledge purpose of an organisation by examining one specific case study of a biopharmaceutical company Panther Biotech The development of a radical new therapeutic for an acute inflammatory disease. It could be said that the case study provides a good example of managing knowledge and innovation in a knowledge intensive firm. Moreover, this paper will also provide an in-depth analysis of how Panther Biotech makes an effort to introduce good practices in knowledge sharing and knowledge integration in order to improve its new drug development process. Definition Knowledge According to Davenport and Prusak (1998) the definition of knowledge is described as Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, expert insight and grounded intuition that provides an environment and framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information originates. There are a number of definitions of knowledge but this definition could be one of the most referenced definitions in the literature of this field. Moreover, different forms of knowledge such as tacit, explicit and implicit at the individual, social and organisational levels need to be considered in order to expose its potential contribution to the performance of the firm (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995, Spender 1996). Knowledge management In today business, it could be said that most of firms show their effort to apply knowledge management in order to improve business performances or to promote innovation process. According to McIrnerney (2002), knowledge management is defined as an effort to increase useful knowledge within the firm by promoting communication, offering opportunities to learn, and promoting the sharing and transfer of appropriate knowledge. Knowledge management can be defined as the set of activities that enable the creation, storage, distribution, and application of knowledge in organizations (Chow et al. 2005). Different definitions of knowledge and its management shows the diversity of the knowledge management processes ranging from knowledge creation, sharing, integration, codification, transfer, search, storage, use and so on. Knowledge Intensive firms A Knowledge intensive firm has been defined by Alvensson (2004) as an organisation which sell knowledge-based products or the use of knowledge to the market. It can be said that the core activities of this firm based on the knowledge of a large number of employees. Innovation Verloop (2004 cited Khiji et al., 2006) describes innovation as a new idea or concept created by RD activities and successful innovation requires changes in organizational processes and transformation of an idea into a commercially useable product. Other scholar defines innovation as a process: the development and implementation of new ideas by people who over time engage in transactions with others in an institutional context (Van de Ven, 1986). Literature review of Knowledge management and Innovation The emerging of the concept of knowledge-based societies, our societies have been shifting gradually to become knowledge societies (Hsiangchu and Tsai-Hsin 2002). Emerging countries like China and India are shifting their manufacturing-based economies to knowledge-based economies, and these two countries could be the main thread to the US and Western economies. For example, China and India are the two biggest markets for IT outsourcing. An industrial-based economy transforms to the information age or knowledge-based era and products of knowledge and knowledge works are becoming main sources for firms and nations to create profits and competitive advantages (Newell et al. 2009). The major advantage of China when compare with other nations could be a plentiful supply of cheap knowledge workers. For these reasons, it could be suggested that managing knowledge and the management of knowledge workers play an important role in the success of the firms and the nations as well. During the last two decades, there has been a growing in the number of researchers which conduct their research in the field of knowledge and its management. Research on this field has been also received a successful history (Argote et al., 2003). These scholars also suggested that research on knowledge management spans many different areas such as economics, information systems and organisational behaviour and theory (Argote et al., 2003). The diversity of knowledge management research shows the great impact of this field in many disciplines thus biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry might not be stood out of this trend. Gans and Stern (2004 cited Khiji et al., 2006) suggested that biotechnology plays an important role in global industry and gradually rises with the encouragement of innovation to improve human heath and quality of life. Biotech firms may be unique among some reasons. Gans and Stern (2004 cited Khiji et al., 2006) also said that the development of a biotechnology company strongly depends on its science activities. It can be proposed that biotechnology companies are knowledge intensive firms. Nowadays, finding the answer for a question where and how knowledge is created and protected that is the challenge task for this industry and managing knowledge is also not as a basic task as before (Allarakhia and Walsh 2011). Pharmaceutical firms are more often driving partner relationships with biotech firms and research centres (Walsh et al., 2002 cited Allarakhia and Walsh 2011). Alliances between biotech companies, academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies may be the norm in this industry. It can be suggested that these alliances could help these firms get better access to fund and knowledge from their strategic partners and firms will respond to the new development and technology in faster and more flexible ways. According to Khiji et al., (2006), the average time for the whole biotech process from first investment for scientific discove ry to sell product in the market can take up to 15 years. Biotech companies often try to attract capital and partnerships in the early stages of theirs development process and with numerous attempts to find the right company partners for the next steps which can include manufacturing, product design and marketing (Khiji et al., 2006). Unfortunately, most of them fail to deal with these tasks; Gassman et al. (2004 cited Khiji et al., 2006) showed a report of these decisions with a 90% failure rate among biotech companies. This can be suggested that biotechnology is a long-term investment with high risk and firms must highly consider the role of time-sensitive decision. Additionally, despite many people believe that biotech industry has showed immense potential for growth, not many firms can share in the success. Case study 4.1 Background Panther is a biopharmaceutical company this means it develops medical products using biotechnology. Developing therapeutic technologies to improve patients heath in order to gain outstanding benefits for shareholders is the main task of Panther. It is a publicly listed company with net cash and liquid resource of $400 million, and it also creates nearly 300 jobs on the West coast of the US. Its employees are experts in the early stage of the new drug development process. All RD activities of Panther, except later stage of drug development are funded by itself. The purpose of this financial strategy is to ensure the operation of firm runs smoothly until it shows the successful of development drug in clinical trials. The funding for any later stage of drug development processes is carefully decided on a case-by-case basis. Until now Panther has taken only four development processes into clinical trials by itself. 4.2 Discussion

Rhyme And Rythm in Blakes A Divine Image Essay -- Blake Divine Image

Rhyme And Rythm in Blake's A Divine Image In "A Divine Image", Blake uses several techniques and literary devices, to transmit his thoughts about social injustice, cruelty and human nature, Rhyme and rhythm are two of the main features in this poem this poem is the rhythm affect the whole mood, tone and meaning of the poem. The poet has chosen different methods to give the poem specific sounds that affect the pace and structure of the rhythm. The structure of the first stanza helps us understand the relationships between the four aspects of human nature presented, cruelty, jealousy, terror and secrecy. The first and third lines start with the main word, while in the second and fourth ones the words come preceded by the word "And". This makes the reader connect cruelty with terror and jealousy with secrecy automatically. We can notice that the stress of the lines in this first stanza falls onto the main word, giving an emphasizing effect. Unlike many other Blake poems, such as "The Tyger" or "The Lamb" we cannot find rhyming couplets in this stanza, but the rhyming and stressing effect is enough for the reader to tie the ideas together. This effect is strengthened by the repetition of the word "human" in every line and the repetition of the "y" ending sounds in lines one, two and four. The structure of the second stanza differs from the structure of the first one. We notice that each of the lines provide an "answer" in a "symmetrical" way to each one in the first s...

Comparing Grimms The Brave Little Tailor and Aschenputtel :: Childrens Literature Essays

Comparing Grimms' The Brave Little Tailor and Aschenputtel In Germany, fairy tales were a part of day-to-day life and "the Germans have repeatedly used fairy tales to explain the world to themselves" (Zipes 75). In fact, Kinder-und Hausmà ¤rchen was indeed in nearly every household in Germany. These fairy tales written by the Grimm Brothers are known for being "German fairy tales." So what makes these tales so Germanic and others tales not? How do Grimms' "German tales" compare to others? Through evaluating two works by the Grimms, The Brave Little Tailor and Aschenputtel, we will answer these questions. The characteristics that the Grimm fairy tales possess do seem to be quite Germanic. The German people are usually very stubborn, more violent than not, and very sarcastic. In The Brave Little Tailor, the cat carries the characteristics of a typical German. He has gone and collected partridges for the King and returned with gold for his master. He then tells his master that this gold will not make them content, that they will need more to be happy. How stubborn of the cat to be so greedy in nature. This tale begins with the death of the miller and ends with the death of the king. Although not giving gruesome details of the death, this continues to have a feeling of violence. The last trait is that of sarcasm. The cat is trying to fend for his life against being made into a pair gloves while the narrators, the Grimms, make fun of a cat being able to talk and walk like a human. This seems to be a serious part of the story, however, the Brothers make it light hearted by contri buting sarcastic humor. In Aschenputtel, there is not one character that possesses all the Germanic traits. The stepmother demonstrates being stubborn when she continuously finds chores for Cinderella to do. First she puts only one bowl of lentils in the ashes and the next time she uses two bowls. When Cinderella achieves both tasks with time remaining. The sarcasm is very light in this tale but is shown through the repetition of the pecking of the birds. It is also shown when the pigeons sing songs that rhyme. Aschenputtel is a very violent tale. It begins, like The Brave Little Tailor, with the death of Cinderella's mother.

The Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Toolkit Essay -- Ecolo

Sustainability has become a buzzword in lives of many Americans. The challenge with creating programs that promote and educate on the topic sustainability is that there does not appear to be a consistent definition for the term ‘sustainable’. In the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Toolkit, the authors suggest that â€Å"sustainable development is generally thought to have three components: environment, society, and economy. The well-being of these three areas is intertwined, not separate† (McKeown, 2002, p. 8). Furthermore, McKeown contends that sustainability should be considered â€Å"to be a paradigm for thinking about a future in which environmental, societal, and economic considerations are balanced in the pursuit of development and improved quality of life† (2002, p. 8). The ESD Toolkit outlines the four basic priorities of ESD, which include: improving basic education, reorienting existing education, public understanding and awareness as well as training (McKeown, 2002, p. 13). At the heart of ESD programs is the â€Å"inherent idea of implementing programs that are locally relevant and culturally appropriate† (McKeown, 2002, p. 13). The toolkit itself is structured to provide an introduction into the theoretical concepts about sustainability, implementing the four priorities of ESD and practical skills that can be applied locally to address global issues. As a health educator, what would be particularly useful are the group activities found in the toolkit designed to explain the concepts of sustainability. The activities are essentially a roadmap for introducing the overarching principles of ESD and activities to develop a program plan. The assignment was how to customize the toolkit to make it specific for teaching su... ...and Eastern Europe (REC). (February 2000). â€Å"Introduction: What is a Local Environmental Action Program?† In: Guide to Implementing Local Environmental Action Programs. LEAP – Local Environmental Action Programs in Central and Eastern Europe. Retrieved from: http://archive.rec.org/REC/Publications/LEAP_Guide/LEAPIntro.pdf. Facing the future. (2012). Retrieved from: http://www.facingthefuture.org/. Fleming, M et al. (2009). Ecological Sustainability: What Role for Public Health Education? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 6, 2028-2040. McKeown, Rosalyn. (July 2002). Education from sustainable development toolkit. Version 2. Retrieved from: http://www.esdtoolkit.org/default.htm. U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development. (2012). Retrieved from: http://www.uspartnership.org/main/view_archive/1.

Communication Theories Paper Essay

Communication theories are important to learn and understand. Learning these theories helps us apply the theory to our own life. It helps our critical thinking skills as well as benefits one to understand the value of research that has been accomplished in this field. Understanding communication theories can help us make sense of our daily life experiences. There are three Communication theories that I have studied that have touched on my personal and professional life. These theories are Communication Privacy Management, Social Penetration Theory, and Organizational Culture Theory. One theory that reinforces the importance of communication is the privacy management theory. This theory has applied to my personal and professional life in many ways. There are three examples on how this has affected my daily life. It has affected me in my social networking, at my job, and when using my personal mobile device. In the communication and privacy management theory it explains that disclosure in relationships requires managing private and public boundaries (West, R. , & Turner, L. H. 2010). This theory tells us that people use this to manage the relationship between screening and revealing their private information (West, R. , & Turner, L. H. 2010). This theory has had an impact with my social networking. I use the popular networking cite called Facebook. On Facebook I have to be really careful on what information I reveal on my profile. I don’t want just anyone knowing something that could hurt me. On Facebook I have learned that if you are not careful with the pictures or information you reveal about yourself it could hurt your job, your reputation, as well as relationships. I have eliminated this from happening to me by using the privacy management theory. I have chosen to set up certain privacy settings on what people can and cannot see on my profile. Protecting myself makes me feel more secure of what others can see or know about me. I am a pretty private person so there is not much to my Facebook. Having public and private boundaries makes me enjoy using this social networking site. I have used this theory by only accepting close friends that I know very well on my Facebook. I also chose who can see my pictures and who can’t. There are many different privacy settings that protect ones confidentiality. The second example of how this theory applies to my life is at my job. I work in a medical office. We have to be real careful of what information we give out about our patients. We have HIPPA that protects our patient’s private information. One of my main duties at my job is answering the phones. Each phone call I take I have to be extra careful of what information I reveal to the caller. If I was to give out information to someone that should not be receiving the information, I could get terminated or worse even go to jail. It is crucial for me to follow this theory in my profession. In my profession I am also careful about what I tell my coworkers about my personal life. As a professional it is not always good to tell your personal information to coworkers. You never know if they could use any of your private information against you. This is why I modify the information I give out to my coworkers. The third example of how I use this theory in my daily life is when I use my personal mobile device. I use my cell phone every day. This theory applies to me when using my cell phone in many ways. Text messaging is something that my family and friends do throughout the day. This is a fast and convenient way to communicate with one another. In text messaging one has to be careful of what they reveal to another because it can be used against them. Once you text someone something it is always there. They can save it and share it with others. It may be something that you do not want anyone else to see. I have to think about that before I send a text to the other person. Out of all three of my examples using this theory in my daily life, I would say that my communication was effective in my first example in using Facebook. My private information is secure now because of the privacy setting offered to me on the site. This is effective for me because it protects me against anything that can be used against me in my profession or even relationships. Taking that step helps me feel comfortable to have control over what others can or cannot see. Taking these steps has made me feel more secure on the information and communication I have with others. This effective communication that I do reveal shows to my friends what type of information I want to be revealed to them. In my second example I talk about giving out too much information to your coworkers. I have learned from the past of what is appropriate to discuss with others at work. If I can continue to strive to do this, than my communication will be more effective. In the future I might communicate differently in using my mobile device. I have had friends get in lots of trouble by saying too much through text messaging. Someone ended up using things the other person said through text against them. In knowing this, I have learned to communicate differently when I use my text messaging. I screen what I say so that I don’t send something to someone else that I will regret. The Social Penetration Theory explains why as relationships develop, communication moves from less intimate levels to more intimate, more personal levelsI can apply this theory to my professional as well as personal life. Three examples that I can give how this has been practical in my daily life are through my relationships, work, and my primary care giver. In a particular relationship I was in, we started off as good friends. I did not reveal my most private personal information to him in the beginning. I waited until time went on. When we were in a committed relationship, I eventually little by little shared with him more information about myself. This theory allows one to be more honest with one another. In some cases it helps one be more careful in the relationship because you learn what the others sensitivities are. In my workplace overtime I have been aware of who to share certain information with and who I should not. At work I try to speak of only work and stay very professional. There is one particular coworker that I know I can trust. I do share a little bit more with this person. This is someone that I have learned overtime I can confide in. Lastly my primary doctor is someone that at first I felt awkward talking to or asking questions to. Overtime we have formed a personal relationship. I am now comfortable with talking to her about my health. I also don’t feel strange asking her questions that can sometimes be uncomfortable around just anyone. In my first example I feel the communication was effective overtime by building on a strong, trusting relationship. It made me more comfortable to share more about myself with him. In my second example I could be more effective by even with my close coworker to try and not talk too much about work if we go out to lunch. On my last example I could communicate differently with my provider by writing down my questions that I have for her. This would also help if I felt like I was going to forget something that I needed to ask her. There are always ways we can improve on this theory. These are just some examples on how I use this theory in my daily life. Organizational Culture Theory explains meanings for routine organizational events, thereby reducing the amount of cognitive processing and energy members need to expend throughout the day (West, R. , & Turner, L. H. 2010). There are three examples I can think of that can apply to my personal as well as professional life with this theory. They are through my work, through my church, and though school. An example of not having this was my last supervisor. She hardly was ever in the office. We never had monthly meetings like we do now with our current supervisor. We never expanded like she wanted because of lack of this theory. We now have monthly meetings with our new supervisor as well as have rules and regulations we have to follow. We have a certain dress code we have to abide by each day. We also come together on certain holidays and have a tradition where everyone one brings their favorite food dish. Having all of these routine organizational events has helped us expand as a more successful organization. My second example of how this theory has applied to my personal and professional life is through my church. We have certain customs and symbols that we use at church that we use on each Sunday. We have a routine service. For example when we first arrive, we start singing then have announcements, followed by the sermon. At the end we all sing again, and pray. This is something that our congregation is used to each Sunday. We also, have a certain time our service starts and ends each Sunday. The third way this theory applies in my life is through school. At University of Phoenix we have certain rules and regulations we have to follow. For example, we have attendance policies we have to abide by. We also have certain dates that our assignments are due. If we do not follow this, there will be consequences. If we didn’t have organizational structure, we as students would not know what to do in order to be a successful student. There are certain questions I can ask myself to take a look deeper in my examples of this theory. Through my example of school this communication is effective to me because we have pretty much the same rules and standards to go by in each class. Having this structure makes each student understand how to become a successful student in their current class. In my example of church I feel like there is always ways to be more effective. The church could send out bulletins before each Sunday. This would help update the congregation on what the next message will be about. In my example of work to have better communication in the future, my old supervisor could have done this by having monthly meetings. Having monthly meetings addresses questions and concerns that other employees have for the office manager. This way she can better the organization. In conclusion I can see how important communication theories are to my personal and professional life. Now knowing these theories I will be more aware of how much these are a part of my daily life. References West, R. , & Turner, L. H. (2010). Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and Application (4th ed. ) Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Retrieved from https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/eReader. aspx? assetMetaId=299dcc53-f1c8-4924-a9b0-b8ff6d645a5f&assetDataId=0cdf2509-a90a-4f76-a84b-7cb7098cc897&assetpdfdataid=076561d1-57c7-472c-9712-6f5644b9ebd7