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Great Leaders In Their Respective Fields Business Essay - Free Essay Example

In order to be a leader a man must have followers-Dwight Eisenhower. In simplest terms, a leader is one who knows where he wants to go, and gets up, and goes-John Erksine, The complete Life. Leaders are dealers in hopeNapoleon. Real Leaders are ordinary people with extraordinary determinationAnonymous The other word that comes to the mind is leadership which is quiet closely associated with leaders. What is Leadership? Leadership is capacity to translate vision into reality-Warren.G.Benis. Leadership is action, not positionDonald McGannon. Leadership is getting someone to do what they dont want to do, to achieve what they want to achieveTom Landry From the above discussion it can be seen that our research paper revolves around leaders and leadership. The principle aim of this study is to determine the influential leadership competencies that are evident in the successful management of an organisation; highlighting, or otherwise, how a charismatic vision can improve performance. This will be investigated primarily through the opinions of employees representing an organisation deemed successful. Keywords: Leadership, Management and Leaders 1.0 Introduction Sharp and Howard (1996, as cited in Saunders et al, 2003) explain two major reasons for reviewing literature published by accredited scholars and researchers. The preliminary search enables the researcher to generate and refine ideas. This is followed by a critical review, a crucial element of any research project. The purpose of the theoretical underpinning is to convey to the reader what knowledge and ideas have been established regarding the subject matter. Saunders et al. (2003) state that a review of the literature is necessary to help develop a thorough understanding of, and insight into previous research of ones research question (s) and objectives. The following literature review will aim to differentiate between the process of leadership and the position of a leader. Knowledge and ideas of the two will be presented with the strengths and weaknesses highlighted. The importance of explaining this variance cannot be underestimated; confusion between the two exists and is ofte n debated. This review will show leadership to be collaborative; involving cooperation, teamwork, networking and the mobilising of resources; whereas a leader is presented as individualistic, special, with successful figures further examined. Understanding the requirements of leadership and the development of positive leadership skills is arguably the single most important task for society (Krause, 1997); this view is particularly true in the management of an organisation. Leadership in contemporary organisational life has become a pervasive phenomenon.(Storey, 2004: 3.) Storey (2004) believes there are few, if any, hotter topics in management, business and organisation theory at the present time, than leadership. Professor Gareth Jones (ed. The RSA, 1999) asked why, as the 20th century came to a close, are we so obsessed with leadership? Jones believes it is historically fundamental to be so and cites Karl Marx and Charles Darwin as intellectual giants of such a philosophy. It is widely regarded (Bennis, 1989; Conger and Kanungo, 1998; Hodgkinson, 1983; Wright, 1996) that leadership advice is generally, anecdotal and situational, based on an individuals own experiences and beliefs. Leadership has always been recognised as a complex enterprise (Burns, 1978; Hodgkinson, 1983; Knowles and Saxberg, 1971), and as recent studies assert (Kouzes and Posner, 2002; Mole, ed. Storey, 2004), vision and collaboration are now more important characteristics of effective leadership. Management is an organised body of knowledge (Drucker, 1985) and is about seeking order and stability, however, leadership is about searching adaptive and constructive change (Northouse, 2004). Max Weber was deeply intrigued about the leaders charisma and how the affects it has on those around (Conger and Kanungo, 1998), the researcher shares this interest through reading around the array of published literature on the subject. Charismatic leadership obviously represents a percentage of the ever-increasing amount of secondary data available; however, compared to other approaches, this percentage is low. The researcher has a keen interest in the differing styles of leadership used in todays society. Being given the opportunity to establish, which type of style achieves success, in a particular industry, is of great importance to the researcher; is a justification for research, and a personal motivation towards the study. Remember the difference between a boss and a leader: a boss says Go!, a leader says, Lets go!'(Hughes et al., 1999:128) 1.1 Research Qu estion Can leadership offer competitive advantage to corporations on regional basis irrespective of national culture? What are the core characteristics possessed by founders or great leaders those have helped regional subsidiaries in conservative states to achieve sustainability till date? Our main focus is to provide and analyse characteristics those can offer competitive advantage to todays competing organisations worldwide. On the other hand, we are also interested to witness and analyse leadership characteristics or styles or visions those have helped particular organisations enhance long-term sustainability. This is because both these questions and the propositions revolving are complimentary to each other (i.e. leaders with particular characteristics will be incepted in corporate culture offering that particular organisation competitive edge against closest peers) and can enhance the reliability and validity of our analysis and findings. These findings will be translated to witness whether great leaders such as Sam Walton, Michael Dells unique leadership characteristics still prevail on regional basis or just confined to corporate headquarters. In other words, if a multinational corporation has unique leadership skill driven corporate culture will its subsid iary in conservative business environment such as Middle East share the same or differ? If it does then leadership offers competitive advantage irrespective of cultural and regional bias. 1.2 Background Leadership should be viewed as achieving goals through people; furthermore, all managers are leaders so should act accordingly (Armstrong, 1990). However, if managers are to achieve optimum results then there is a need for them to understand the nature of leadership before establishing a suitable style. Leadership must be grounded in principles, which are properties of the universe (Covey, 1992). According to Covey (1992), there exist four levels of principle centred leadership with key principles: Organisational Alignment. Managerial Empowerment. Interpersonal Trust. Personal Trustworthiness. Mahatma Gandhi (below) once said seven things would destroy us, Covey (1992) attempted to relate this statement within the leadership framework. Many lessons were drawn from Gandhis life, and could be used to develop a leadership framework to bring the moral and spiritual dimension to leadership and guide employees to a higher standard (Nair, 1994). Simple methods such as personal observation and a commitment to the truth allow a leader to see things as they really are, understanding the true needs of the followers they are leading (Nair, 1994). Leaders need to develop their own values, by reading scriptures, the New Testament, words by Gandhi, etc. (Giuliani, 2002). If the leader fails to uphold values of his society, or the values to which his society aspires, he is unworthy of that uncommon honour which the leader represents.(Atherton, 2003: 114). The development of leadership has long been on the agenda globally; Alimo-Metcalfe, Beverly and Lawler (2001) reported the findings of a study of public and private sector organisations. Employees were constantly fending off lies and felt their opinions and feelings were not being sought. A key recommendation from the findings was the development of in-house leadership skills. Leadership is like athleticism, that is one has to stay in shape. By handling crises as they occur, they may one day be conditioned to handle the worst kind of test (Giuliani, 2002).Giuliani (2002) discusses leadership principles that have proved successful to him in a distinguished career; he is convinced that leadership is not exercised in a vacuum, independent of their individual past. This, of course, is quite the contrary of much leadership literature; certainly affirming words. Giuliani (2002) believes a leaders approach must be formed from the raw material of his or her own life, because leadership does not simply happen, however, can be taught, learned and developed. Much of Giulanis (2002) theories on leaders and leadership include articulate advice on the many issues involved. However, not all of the principles should be adhered; Giulani advocates keeping expectations low at all times so th at the leader looks good when results turned out better than expected, under promise and over deliver is how he put it. The notion flip-flopping is rarely recommended throughout much of the literature, this means changing your mind as a leader. It is not a sign of weakness; moreover, it is an indication of intellectual honesty (Giuliani, 2002). Giuliani (2002) seldom highlights the current concepts of leadership, however does offer much quality in regards to some key aspects of the subject, with certain characteristics being given individual chapters. Preparation is a major rule in leadership, and stays with us our entire lives; without it, there can be no leadership. A career of relentless preparation means leaders can borrow from their other contingency plans (Giuliani, 2002). When selected for a position of leadership, do not believe you were selected by God,(Giulani, 2002: 100). It is apparent how James Stokesburys words are so accurate when he expressed how leadership always remains the most baffling of arts, and one of the highest and most elusive of qualities; it will remain an art (Stokesbury, ed. Waddell, 1994). 2.0 Literature Review 2.1 Leadership offering competitive advantage Despite their best efforts, a significant number of firms are still a long way from having the leadership capacity they need to excel today (Kotter, 2001). Though many may be moving in the right direction, progress seems to be coming very slowly (Yukl, 2002). In some cases, firms are clearly making no progress at all (Bennis Robert, 2002). Just as vision helps leaders to produce change that eludes managers and bureaucrats, powerful ideas can transform situations that are impervious to programs, tools, or simplistic advice (Mintzberg, 1994). New ideas are what we need or, more precisely, new ways of thinking about some very basic issues. It would help greatly if we could take the concept of the professional manager who can manage anything and drive a stake through its ever so resilient heart (Bennis Robert, 2002). That concept is still very influential today, despite some peoples efforts to demonstrate the problems with it. It haun ts MBA education (Yukl, 2002). It influences how managers think about their careers (sometimes in most destructive ways). It is used to justify tragic staffing decisions, some of the more outrageous acquisitions by raiders, and many of the least successful diversification efforts seen in the last two decades (Kotter, 2009). Unlike management, the requirements for leadership include some things that are very situation-specific and that tend to take time, often much time, to develop (Storey, 2004). This is why no one has ever dreamed of suggesting the concept of the professional leader (Mintzberg, 1994). Of course, all this does not preclude the existence of a few unusually broad and talented people who can move easily across industries and companies (Bennis Robert, 2002). There will always be some people like that. But they will always be rare (Mintzberg, 1994). And even those people will have limits to what they can manage (Kotter, 2001). For the foreseeable future at least, mos t managerial jobs will have a leadership component to them. Big jobs will usually require a lot of leadership (Bennis Robert, 2002). It is time we explicitly recognize that in the way we think about those jobs (Storey, 2004). When we do, it will have a powerful impact on how we staff managerial jobs and on how we go about developing people for those jobs (Mintzberg, 1994). It will also shape (for the better) how we think about business strategies, especially regarding acquisitions (Yukl, 2002). Mention the word leadership, and the vast majority of folks will think of Gandhi or Churchill or Iacocca. In doing so, they raise the concept to a level where it seems relevant to a handful of people at most (Kotter, 2001). Thinking that way, the young manager doesnt try to develop her own leadership potential, because, after all, she realizes that she is just a mortal and was surely not born a leader (Mintzberg, 1994). Thinking that same way, her boss does nothing to develop that potential either (after all, the boss rationalizes, the kid is not a young Iacocca). The same boss also does not worry about leadership when recruiting (finding the next Leader, he points out, is surely the CEOs job). The overall effect of all those actions is obviously enormous (Storey, 2004). Leadership, with a small 1, is of incredible importance in todays world. (Mintzberg, 1994) Its cumulative effect often makes the difference between dreadfully stifling and unresponsive bureaucracies and lively, adaptive organizations (Kotter, 2001). At the level of a single individual, it sometimes occurs in such a subtle way that we dont even notice it (Storey, 2004). That is especially true if the vision is borrowed (developed not by the individual but by someone else) and the number of people who must be led is very small, as is so often the case (Yukl, 2002). A firm that has taken the time to develop practices and programs that build strong management teams able to provide a business with effect ive leadership has a most powerful source of competitive advantage today (Kotter, 2001). And even if a firm is competing against a very rich and very large corporation, if that competitor does not have comparable practices, my research suggests that it may well require a decade to develop the conditions that can sustain those practices (Yukl, 2002). And during the 10-year period, the firm with strong leadership has a chance, in a truly competitive environment, to pulverize the competition (Storey, 2004). The problem today is that many people consider these issues either esoteric (e.g., leadership is about Gandhi and Churchill) or personnel trivialities (e.g., recruiting), or possibly both. That is, they fail to see that the business environment today has, in a sense, democratized leadership, making it relevant not for the few but for the many (Bennis Robert, 2002). They also fail to recognize (or refuse to acknowledge) that whether the many are prepared for the leadership challenge is directly a function of core organizational practices, not peripheral personnel programs (Storey, 2004). And in the broadest sense, they fail to realize that what we are discussing here is how a changing business environment is shifting the bases of competitive advantage, and thus of what will be required to excel in the future (Yukl, 2002). 3.0 Secondary Research-Empirical Evidence 3.0 Corporate Leaders In this section we will sketch the philosophies approaches, which were followed by four great corporate leaders. This will help us to differentiate in built leadership skills and those that can be acquired through training and coaching or team work. The literature review provides characteristics of past leaders who characteristics could be viable in 21st century but can have some pitfall with the fast moving 21st century corporate world (Krames, 2003). To remove this bias we would look in short in lifes of some corporate leaders. They are John. D. Rockfeller Sr, Sam Walton, Jack Welch Michael Dell. There are many Great corporate Leaders other than these four e.g. Andy Groove, Bill Gates, Herb Kelleher, Percy Barnevik etc. The reason to choose these is just Random Sampling but has chosen Rockfeller to see whether leader characteristics changed/remained same with time. Most of the biographies about the leaders is taken from the book What the Best CEOs Know (2003) written by James Krames 3.1 John.D.Rockfeller Sr He was born in the year 1839 and raised in the strictest Baptist faith (Krames, 2003). He was greedy from his childhood as he used to buy candies from the shops sold them to his siblings at a profit. After finishing his basic schooling entered a job as an accountant at the age of 16 (Krames, 2003). Along with an Associate a Chemist founded the first refinery in Cleveland in 1863 and named it as Standard Oil. Standard Oil grew at a rapid rate as Rockfeller reinvested his profits kept the cost wages as low as possible (Krames, 2003). He never liked to be in public and the only place people found him was in his office. He was never seen in the Oil regions (Bass, 1985). Rockfellers vision was that he knew by controlling refining he was going to be the King in the oil segment but at the same time he started Vertical integration i.e. controlling the chain from extraction- Refining (Krames, 2003). Rockfellers strict Baptist faith made him despise personal luxury drove him to reinvest all his profits (In 1886 Net profit = $15 Million/year). When a new distillation Method came in 1875 he quickly decided to do refining in only three of his outlets to improve Economies of Scale (Krames, 2003). He always had one more philosophy which he followed and took Standard Oil to success was that When in a sector not much happens you can achieve success by grabbing the Distribution Channel (Bass, 1985). 3.2. Sam Walton There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere elseSam Walton. Most everything Ive done copied from someone elseSam Walton. Sam Walton regarded as one of the greatest Entrepreneurs of the 20th Century who founded Wal-Mart the worlds largest company (Wal-Mart topped the list of Fortune500 companies in 2002 (Krames, 2003). Sam born in Oklahoma to Thomas Walton a farmer cum banker who taught Sam that Success= Work+ Work + Work (Bathory, 1978). Sams taste in retailing grew when he seldom visited his family owned small store during the holidays. After graduating from college he started as a Management Trainee at J.C. Penney Management for $75/month (Krames, 2003). He always wanted to open his own business so took franchise of Ben Franklin who was number two to Sterling stores (Bathory, 1978). He used to spend much more time in Sterling store studying their displays, comparing prices annoying its owner. In 1962 first Wal-Mart store was opened based its model on Discounting+ location of store in rural areas (Bathory, 2978). When it came to learning there were no limits to Walton (Krames, 2003). He studied competitors prices, merchandising techniques to improve his own store. His one of the philosophies was To improve something everyday (Krames, 2003). He created a culture of partnership in Wal-Mart, which is give employees share of profits; Voice and then they will work hard. He said Learn from competitors but remain faithful to your company vision which was discounting (Bathory, 1978). 3.3 Jack Welch I never associate the word passion with manager, and I have never seen a leader without it. Jack Welch You have got to have incredible energy to lead any organisation. You have got to be on fire, if you will. Jack Welch. John Frances Welch was born in Salem Massachusetts in 1935 (Krames, 2003). He completed his M.S PhD from the University of Illinois in Chemical Engineering. Jack Welch mentor was his mother who taught him the mixture of unconditional love and to set very tough standards for achievement which brought best in him as well as in others (Welch, 2001). His greatest break was to grow up in an atmosphere in which there were a lot of team sports (Krames, 2003). He learnt from that winning is about having the very best people . When Jack Welch joined GE its revenues were $25 billion and when he stepped out it showed $130 billion. He cr eated a Learning culture in GE. His approach to create an Authentic-learning organisation was as follows (Welch, 2001): Import best ideas into your organisation. Reward those who bring the best ideas celebrate the new ideas i.e. put it in GE magazine. During his tenure of 20 years in GE spend almost 1 billion on training learning (Krames, 2003). Welch introduced some new concepts such as 4Es of Leadership (Energy, Energize, Edge Execute) six-sigma concept in Quality control, which he also made mandatory for all professionals in GE to learn (Krames, 2003). His legacy still prevails after his retirement (Summer 2000 a publisher paid $7 million to publish his memoirs). 3.4 Michael. S. Dell From the start, our business- from manufacturing to sales- was oriented around listening to the customerMichael Dell. Michael Dell was born on 23rd February in Houston Texas, USA (Krames, 2003). He published his first product catalog at the age of 12 (Krames, 2003). He attended the University of Texas at Austin to become a doctor but dropped out at the age of 19 and started Dell Computer Corporation. At the age of 27 he was the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company (Krames, 2003). His strategy vision was based on keeping customer needs preferences at the central stage (Chandler, 2004). His once said, Managers cant force their philosophies or views in the market place but learn from market make products accordingly. He created a culture Involve customer in every thing organize people to satisfy them (Krames, 2003). 3.5 Past studies and derivation of common characteristics in corporate leaders J.Krames in his book What the Best CEOs Know, 2003 gives five basic characteristics a leader should possess in order to transform any business, which he found in seven exceptional leaders like Jack Welch, Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Andy Groove three more. The common characteristics which all these four well-known corporate leaders possess are as follows: Star t with a view of the market place create an organisation focused on satisfying customer needs They possess an evangelical leadership gene. In other words they are devoted committed to a cause/philosophy. They understand the critical role of culture know how difficult it is to bring a cultural change. Create next generation products, solution etc. Implement the best ideas regardless of their origins. Henry Mintzberg in his article book The fall Rise of Strategic Planning, HBR, January 1994 urges that the middle level managers are crucial in the organisation as they are the only link between the lower and the top management. The middle level managers according to Mintzberg are closer and possess more information about whats happening outside the organisation than the top management personnels. Mintzberg (1994) then urges that the strategies made by the middle level managers are deliberate (planned) and those made by top management /leaders/ strategic thinkers are em ergent. The environment outside the organisation is not stable it always fluctuate thats why Mintzberg says that deliberate strategies are good for inside the organisation but for outside the organisation strategies should be emergent and should be made by strategic thinkers i.e. leaders. The role of middle level managers should be to provide sound information to the strategic thinkers through his analytical technical skills. Bottom line: From the literature review above its clear that motivation (self and team), understanding sub ordinates and other peers, ability to control people, self confidence and building a team are the five most important characteristics required by a leader. These are the five pillars sketched by Goleman (2004) for Emotional Intelligence. If we look at the corporate leaders of 21st century we can easily differentiate the leadership styles of majority of them Example Rockfeller Sr, Michael Dell and Sam Walton can be termed as charismatic while Jack Welch lies in the transformational leadership domain. This can be mainly due to the fact that the first three were entrepreneurs while the later was more of in-house leader of General Electric. James Krames on other hand provides a theoretical framework defining the key common characteristics in corporate leaders. Krames (2003) has narrowed down the broader characteristics define by other academics like stakeholder or customer centric focus i.e. concern about society values as uttered by Gandhi. The other elements such as understanding role of culture is similar to building a team as its truly said organisation doesnt has culture but itself is culture. A visionary attitude found in most leaders such as Michael Dell, Rockfeller Sr, Bill Gates and more is one of the symptoms of charismatic leadership style. 4.0 Primary Research-Leadership creating competitive advantage discussion From the above secondary research deck we have analysed the common leadership characteristics present in todays corporate leaders such as Rockfeller, Jack Welch, Sam Walton and Michael Dell. This surely answers one of our research questions related to understanding characteristics those make up a great leader. Now, we would like to understand whether these unique characteristics have provided long-term competitive advantage to organisations such as Dell, Exxon Mobil, Walmart etc. A respondent size of 50 business students in UAE are selected as sample to understanding the current status of organisations those were or are represented by corporate leaders such as Rockfeller, Jack Welch, Sam Walton and Michael Dell on regional basis. Sr No Questions Yes No   1 Do you feel ExxonMobil, Dell, Walmart and GE are market leaders in respectively segments globally? 100% 0%   2 Do you feel Jack Welch, Rockfeller, Michael Dell and Sam Walton incepted long-term leadership vision in their respective enterprises? 100% 0%   3 Are these organisations mentioned above are still run on leadership visions incepted by great leaders or need some restructuring 100% 0%   4 Do you feel Middle East business subsidiaries of ExonMobil, Dell Corportation share the same leadership vision and culture as headquarters 95% 5% Organisation as family In fluxed self confidence across all organisation level High spirited motivation Understanding micro and macro factors 5 What is one thing that you feel is good in these corporations or their great leaders style? 35% 15% 15% 35% Thus from the above short survey it could be seen that great leaders such as Sam Walton, Michael Dell have created visionary organisations i.e. long-term sustainable corporations via inception of their unique leadership characteristics across corporate culture and appoint top management executives those will always adhere to the same. Thus leadership surely creates competitive advantage and great leaders or founders characteristics shape up the corporate culture elements which remain forever. Even after great leaders such as Sam Walton pass off Wal mart still dominant the global retail segment. This is predominantly because Sam Walton incepted leadership culture or characteristic of Walmart as complete family business and which is still prominent in the corporation (2010). As part of corporate culture Oneness across Walmart recruitment of right candidate that will perceive the company as family is primary to the organisation and shapes up the primary business strategy. In the similar fashion if we take the example of Dell Corporation, the founder and CEO Michael Dell has the ability to control individuals. Dell Corporation has one of the most flat and disciplined organisation culture and is build on virtual factory concept. Majority of candidates recruited as required with disciplined people management skill sets. Finally, leadership characteristic of Michael Dell has shaped up the corporate culture and provided Dell Corporation competitive edge against much older peers such as HP and IBM in past 5-10 years. Finally, it could be witnessed that unique leadership characteristics helping organisations to achieve regional competitive advantage irrespective of cultural and other individual managerial perceptions and business ethics. Thus Walmart and ExxonMobil Middle East subsidiaries behave in similar fashion as headquarters or any other regional business unit due to strongly bonded leadership vision and characteristics influxed into corporate culture. 5.0 Propositions Thus it could be seen that unique leadership offers competitive advantage to corporations which could be easily seen from examples of Walmart, Dell Corporation etc from above secondary and primary findings. On the other hand, great leaders possess one or more of the following characteristics which is used to shape up strong corporate culture which will drive a particular organisation towards sustainable competitive advantage (motivation (self and team), understanding sub ordinates and other peers, ability to control people, self confidence and building a team). Majority of great leaders such as Sam Walton, Michael Dell etc recruit personnels/ top management executive carefully aligned with their leadership vision to reduce pitfall on long-term basis. In order to enhance the validity of research it would be great in near future to extend the topic and understand whether unique managerial characteristics can enhance competitive advantage for organisations or not using Kotter skill se ts differences benchmarking matrices. Great leaders characteristics drive unique leadership further enhancing visionary corporate culture helping enterprises achieve competitive advantage. Thus great leaders unique characteristics are so strong and ground rooted that even after their non active participation it stands test of time and helps enterprise achieve regional and international dominance status quo. Thus irrespective of location and regional corporate culture, unique leadership characteristics vision incepted by great leaders such as Sam Walton, Michael Dell etc shape up a regional subsidiary or operations towards sustainable competitive advantage for centuries along with the core business unit i.e. global operations or headquarters.

Why I Shut Down Sweet Briar College, The Historic...

Why to shut down: Sweet Briar College, the historic perspective. John R. Thelin called the period from 1970 to 1980 â€Å"turbulent waters† for all institutions (Thelin, 2011, p. 317). After the golden age, the industry of Higher Education in the U.S. faced the not-so-bright future with a lot of colleges and universities being shut down. Thelin (2011, p. 337) points out that the institutions could have been prepared to handle the steadily declining enrollment, decreased revenues, decline in funding, stagflation, and rising campus maintenance costs if only they picked on the first signs of upcoming financial crisis when in 1970, the share price of the NSMC fell from $140 to $7 over the short period of time (Thelin, 2011, p. 317). However, the universities and colleges of that time were so confident and relied on â€Å"the public image of higher education as a â€Å"growth industry† (Thelin, 2011, p. 318) so much, that they were not monitoring the changing situation and thus, were not fast enough in adopting to new conditions. It does not mean that there were many college closings; vice a versa, some colleges grew, opened new programs and applied for research grants. These colleges adopted the enterprise thinking (Thelin, 2011, p. 337). Enterprise thinking, according to Thelin (2011, p.337), is about making strategic planning decisions based on the available data. One can think that by 2015 institutions of higher education would have learned how to utilize the results of ongoing

Social Marketing and Innovation Trends

Questions: 1. What type of journals I can address to frame my literature review? 2. Do I need to use the idea that I have established in the literature review in part B of my report.? Answers: Introduction The aim of the paper is to understand the issue of malnutrition in children and develop practical application of models, approaches, and techniques in "social marketing" to the identified social problem. The paper discusses how the social marketing plan was developed to promote healthy eating behavior among children and eliminate the issue of children malnutrition using the social marketing framework developed by the commercial marketers. Literature Review A rich literature is available highlighting a high rate of malnutrition among Australian children (Haynes et al. 2016). According to Rosen et al. (2014), many children in Australia have adopted the broad spectrum of different diets as this country has high cultural diversity. The present trends of children diet reflect a gross overconsumption of fast food and saturated fats habitually. A very low percentage of children in Australia are consuming nutrient dense food. The results of poor nutrition include obesity, anemia, vitamin and mineral deficiency diseases (Morris et al. 2016). The reports of Brindal et al. (2014) showed the nutritional consequences of the diet rich in fast food. The study executed focused on the fast food purchasing behavior of the Australian children above ten years. The results showed that 28.3% of this children consumed ready-to-eat fast food once in a week. It further found that the 80.3% the respondents consumed fast food diet in 6 months of the serving taking place. However, the study does not emphasize or recommend any model for promoting healthy eating behavior among children. Brindal et al. (2014) studied that the popular children fast food chains such as McDonald's, Dominos, and Hungary jacks offer food with little nutritional value and high-calorie content. The junior meal of Hungary Jack containing Whopper Junior, small chips and a medium Coke has 30.5g of fat content and 3147KJ calories. With the increase in fast food chain restaurants and being readily available there is a greater shift towards consuming pre-prepared meals. T here is a cultural acceptance of fast food in Australia. A similar study by ODea and Dibley (2014) highlighted that as per the National food intake data many children between the age 10-18 years intake very few servings of foods rich in nutrition such as dairy foods, green vegetables, fruits and whole grains. Further, the study highlighted that the children are consuming foods rich in sugars, sodium, and fats more than the recommended servings. As per the study results, these dietary pattern prevents children from taking vital nutrients. Consequently, it is increasing the risk of chronic disease such as type II diabetes. In Australia, the new cases of type 2 diabetes in 2014 in children (10-14 years) was found to be 3 in 100,000 populations and for children of 15-19 years was found to be 8 in 100,000. Grube et al. (2013) described eating habits healthy or unhealthy once developed in childhood are established by the age of 15, and in due course it becomes habitual. Due to increasing consumption of fast food, there is a growing number of overweight and obese children in Australia. These children continue to stay overweight and obese in adulthood. Further, the study by Olds et al. (2013) highlighted that the children of obese parents remain obese and continue to ignore the importance of healthy eating behavior or staying fit. Some Australian researchers have studied that absence of nutrient dense food is associated with mental illness although the exact relationship was not known. In a large-scale study conducted in Western Australia it was found that the people who highly consumed a western dietary pattern in their childhood that mainly comprised of soft drinks, fast food, confectionary, full fat dairy products; and refined grains commonly had high scores of psychological symptoms s uch withdrawal, aggression and depression (Miller et al. 2014). These studies found that people who have consumed healthy dietary pattern which comprises of vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains in their childhood had the lower percentage of psychological symptoms. A similar study by Forbes et al. (2015) revealed that children having breakfast consisting three or more food groups were found with better mental health scores in the adolescence. Researchers investigated that fortified breakfast cereals, milk, and bread are a good source of vitamins, calcium, and other nutrients that enhance the brain function (Choo 2016). As per Burns et al. (2015), the Public Health and the Nutritional Organisational Study the lower socioeconomic groups within Australia have inferior nutritional standards. Random households were selected from Melbourne for this study. It investigated the correlation between the fast food consumption and the financial condition. According to the results 330 households out of 2500 examined were found experiencing the financial crisis. Consequently, these families opted for fast food alternatives instead of healthy food. The study recommended making available health food alternatives at a lower price. Christopher Grant (2015) studied nutritional habits of Aboriginal Australians, and the results showed that 11% of children (2-14) in this community are malnourished and underweight and 35% between 15-18 years are obese. A similar study by Dyer et al. (2015) showed that 85% of these Indigenous children do not intake recommended quantity of vegetables. Another redeeming nutritional factor fo r these groups of children is the physical activity which is more than the required daily average hours. However, the level of physical activity is not balanced with the dietary consumption. Moreover, Indigenous Australians were found with the higher prevalence of Overweight and Obesity. Roberto and Kawachi (2014) argued that most healthy eating campaigns are not successful as they fail to lack elements necessary to induce behavioural change in children. These campaigns mainly help parents in understanding the significance of nutrient dense food in early life. It suggested a need of psychology and behavioural economy to promote healthyeating Based on the literature review it can be concluded that eating habits and patterns in childhood highly correlate with behaviors in the adulthood. Malnutrition in children is a burning problem in Australia. The increasing depth of nutritional concerns warrants large-scale interventions. Therefore, interventions for child malnutrition must focus on behavior change in childhood. There is a need to promote healthy eating behavior in children. Social Marketing Plan In this project, the social marketing plan aims to gain extensive knowledge on the targeted audience. Based on this knowledge a nutrient dense food promoting program for the children is developed the concepts of which can be applied to a broad range of social conditions and health behaviours. Social marketing refers to planning, implementing and evaluating programs developed to bring about a change in the health behaviors that is efficient and sustainable using techniques developed by the commercial marketers (Tobey et al. 2016). This study uses the exchange theory for the purpose of social marketing. The exchange theory refers to voluntary exchange of resources between the consumers and the providers which is necessary for true marketing to occur (Baker and Saren 2016). Further, the study implements four Ps of marketing which are Product, Price, Place, and promotions. In this project, the term Product refers to "behavior change" among the target audience. It refers to the competition relate to the product, the benefits associated with the change in the unhealthy eating behavior among the children, and the needs that the product can fulfill. The team Price refers to the cost that each target audience has to pay regarding effort, lifestyle, money, to engage in the desired behavior change. The term places refer to the perceptions of the target members regarding the place where the products are available or if any barriers are associated with it. The term promotion refers to communication with the target audience regarding the products through a combination of media relations, personal selling, advertising and entertainment (Grnroos 2016). Using standard practices, the study conducted focus group interviews for collecting information from the children (Dilshad and Latif 2013.). The respondents were asked to describe their perceptions about the consequences of eating nutritional food. They were further asked to state the barriers of taking nutrient dense food such as the low-fat dairy food, green leafy vegetables, and whole grains. The interview further focused on the children's preferences in learning about healthy eating behavior and food nutrition. The descriptive information was collected from low-income middle schools students (34) between 11-14 years in Melbourne. The process involved a moderator, two adults, and co-moderator in all the discussion. The interview process was guided by the Extension nutrition specialists. The study included seven focus groups categorized based on grades and gender. The interview process was collected in School, and for each focus group, it lasted for 55 minutes and fully audiotaped . The data in the form of transcripts were codified according to the method discussed in (Silverman 2016). The questions (Appendix) developed using the four Ps methods to the social program were used to summarize the results. From the product related information it was found that most of the participants enjoyed eating fast food due to their satisfaction of food carvings and highly enjoyed the taste of the fast food. Most of the participants loved to eat chocolates, fruits milk, and yogurt. Very few participants enjoyed eating vegetables. The reason for this behavior based on the information provided by the students include convenience in eating yogurt, and fruits, familiarity with the food, and abatement of hunger (mainly found in boys and is not associated with the specific group of foods) and improved physical and scholastic performance associated with whole grains and dairy food. When asked to state generalized benefits of eating vegetables most of them answered in vague terms such as "it is healthy," "they are good for our body." Most common answer derived from the students includes consumption of dairy foods, and calcium-containing beverages lead to strong bones and teeth. No psychological benefits were found from other food groups. It was found that it was difficult for the children to describe what healthy eating is and its benefits. When the participants were asked about stating the cost associated with changing their eating behaviour into healthier one the responses indicated unpleasant taste due to deeply coloured vegetables and non-fat milk. Further, cost issues are high inconvenience in cooking whole grain foods and vegetables as it requires more time and effort, lack of familiarity with low-fat dairy food and other vegetables, dry texture and coarseness of whole grains and unpleasant taste associated with most vegetables (mainly among girls) and milk. Based on the response it is evident that the participants do not perceive that the cost associated with the change in eating behavior is a fair exchange. The recommendations suggested by the respondents for minimizing the cost associated with healthy eating includes- adding chocolate to milk, honey to whole grains, hot sauce or butter to bread, vegetables, cooked cereals, and cheese to vegetables and cereals. Further, the participants suggested that the unplea sant taste of certain food groups can be altered or disguised by serving them with most preferred food groups for example serving cookies with milk and bread, adding vegetables to soup, having cereal or bread with milk. Place related barriers affecting healthy eating choices in these children include misperceptions that nutrient dense food is less available than the fast food, food choices were limited to that purchased by their parents, and items available in the local market, food cooked by the cafeteria workers and food served by their parents in their house. Therefore the two strategies to reduce the barriers associated with place includes changing the food purchasing habits of others particularly parent and improve their food preparation skills and as well as of children as per Woodruff and Kirby (2013). To know the level of interest of the children with regards to food advertisements they were asked to state their preferences when communicating about food products. Most of the participants answered that they like to consume food that is good to taste, visually appealing, readily available, half cooked or ready to eat, convenient to purchase and have high familiarity. Participants described tha t they enjoyed food advertisements that contained humor, the element of surprises that exaggerated everyday occurrences, and informing heath consequences. These participants commonly preferred music videos, radio contests, computer games, cooking shows, as a means of communicating health messages. They mentioned that they mainly receive health and nutrition-related messages from their parents and enjoyed to learn from classmates and when demonstrated by school teachers. They showed a high preference for the school cafeteria, libraries, in health centers, clinics, movie halls, and community parks for receiving the nutrient education. Since the required descriptive information is obtained, the next step is to develop a market plan for increasing the consumption of the nutrient dense food among children in Australia. Firstly, calcium containing food and beverages will be targeted which contains personal benefits such as taste enjoyment, readily available, specific psychological benefits, and convenient. Therefore, the product strategy is to position nutrient dense food as the substitute for other competitors for example substituting sodas with orange juices containing calcium or sweets with flavoured yogurt (Roberto and Kawachi 2014). The target audiences are highly likely to adopt healthy eating behavior if varieties of food items in the product line are available. With more number of calcium-rich food products entering the market, the product line is expanding (Bigliardi and Galati 2013). Secondly, the pricing strategy aims to implement cost minimizing strategies suggested by the respondents to multivitamin conta ining foods and beverages. Further, food products that will mainly be targeted are those having fewer cost issues such as flavored yogurt. Thirdly, the placement strategy for the product includes increasing the accessibility, availability, and visibility of the food products mentioned by the respondents keeping in view the nutrient factor, cost, availability, taste and other preferences of the students. For occasions where the targeted audiences prepare their food the strategy is to promote dishes that are simple to prepare and less time consuming, for example, cream soups, and puddings rich vitamins and minerals (Wingert et al. 2014). The promotional strategy for the products includes delivering messages that the foods and beverages containing calcium are highly tasty and readily available. The rationale is to enhance the eating behavior change among the targeted children. The strategy is to contrast the significance of required calcium consumption during the adolescent growth spurt with the prevalence of inadequate calcium intake among children." To demonstrate the importance of the calcium rich food products, the materials/media incorporates three-dimensional models, simple texts, graphs, and funny images depicting how calcium strengthens bone and consequences of inadequate calcium on health (Naderer et al. 2016). Provide nutrient education to children in their preferred locations and guide them to use Food Guide Pyramid" particularly the group containing milk, cheese, yogurt and other study materials that will help the children to identify calcium and iron rich foods (Wingert et al. 2014). Engage children after school in activities that demonstrate the health importance of vitamins and minerals. Develop a sustainable program for nutrient education in schools using teachers as delivery channels and further promotions through cafeteria and classroom activities. Involve family members in the homework assignments (Roberto and Kawachi 2014). Conclusion The paper illustrated the way of using the social marketing plan to collect information from schoolchildren for developing a healthy eating program. Social marketing is a useful tool for extension educators for changing health behavior in people and can be adapted for any target audience. The strategy statement is to increase the consumption of nutrient rich food in school children by changing their misperception about the cost and benefits associated with consuming nutrient dense food. Enhance childrens familiarity with food products that is nutritious, tasty, and convenient to cook, less preparation time and use media and materials popular in the target audience. Increase awareness of nutrient dense food among children, parents, and teachers through nutrient education programs and demonstrate the importance of healthy eating and skills required to adopt such behavior. References Baker, M.J. and Saren, M. eds., 2016.Marketing theory: a student text. Sage. Bigliardi, B. and Galati, F., 2013. Innovation trends in the food industry: the case of functional foods.Trends in Food Science Technology,31(2), pp.118-129. Brindal, E., Wilson, C., Mohr, P. and Wittert, G., 2014. Nutritional consequences of a fast food eating occasion are associated with choice of quick?service restaurant chain.Nutrition Dietetics,71(3), pp.184-192. Burns, C., Bentley, R., Thornton, L. and Kavanagh, A., 2015. Associations between the purchase of healthy and fast foods and restrictions to food access: a cross-sectional study in Melbourne, Australia.Public health nutrition,18(01), pp.143-150. Choo, C., 2016. THE HEALTH OF ABORIGINAL CHILDREN IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA.Aboriginal Children, History and Health: Beyond Social Determinants. Christopher Grant, L. (2015). Influences on food and lifestyle choices for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians: an Aboriginal perspective. [online] Ses.library.usyd.edu.au. Available at: https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/12551 [Accessed 16 Jan. 2017]. Dilshad, R.M. and Latif, M.I., 2013. Focus group interview as a tool for qualitative research: An analysis.Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences (PJSS),33(1), pp.191-198. Dyer, S.M., Gomersall, J.S., Smithers, L.G., Davy, C., Coleman, D.T. and Street, J.M., 2015. Prevalence and Characteristics of Overweight and Obesity in Indigenous Australian Children: A Systematic Review.Critical reviews in food science and nutrition, (just-accepted), pp.00-00. Forbes, D.A. and Brewster, D.R., 2015. Extending supplementary nutrition in malnutrition: more is better?.Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition,60(4), pp.424-425. Grnroos, C., 2016. Modern Marketingand.Marketing in Evolution: Essays in Honour of Michael J. Baker, p.14. Grube, M., Bergmann, S., Keitel, A., Herfurth-Majstorovic, K., Wendt, V., von Klitzing, K. and Klein, A.M., 2013. Obese parentsobese children? Psychological-psychiatric risk factors of parental behavior and experience for the development of obesity in children aged 03: study protocol.BMC public health,13(1), p.1. Haynes, A., Kalic, R., Cooper, M., Hewitt, J.K. and Davis, E.A., 2016. Increasing incidence of type 2 diabetes in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in Western Australia, 1990-2012.The Medical journal of Australia,204(8), p.303. Miller, L., Bronson, M., Fountaine, J., Simmonds, C., James, K., Ward, W., Murphy, A., Senaratne, S. and Lawrence, R., 2014. An audit of patients with severe malnutrition secondary to eating disorders in Western Australia-a legacy of underinvestment in comprehensive care of youths and adults with eating disorders?.Journal of Eating Disorders,2(1), p.1. Morris, N.F., Stewart, S., Riley, M.D. and Maguire, G.P., 2016. The Indigenous Australian Malnutrition Project: the burden and impact of malnutrition in Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander hospital inpatients, and validation of a malnutrition screening tool for use in hospitalsstudy rationale and protocol.SpringerPlus,5(1), p.1296. Naderer, B., Matthes, J., Marquart, F. and Mayrhofer, M., 2016. Children's attitudinal and behavioral reactions to product placements: investigating the role of placement frequency, placement integration, and parental mediation.International Journal of Advertising, pp.1-20. ODea, J.A. and Dibley, M.J., 2014. Prevalence of obesity, overweight and thinness in Australian children and adolescents by socioeconomic status and ethnic/cultural group in 2006 and 2012.International journal of public health,59(5), pp.819-828. Olds, T., Thomas, S., Lewis, S. and Petkov, J., 2013. Clustering of attitudes towards obesity: a mixed methods study of Australian parents and children.International journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity,10(1), p.1. Roberto, C.A. and Kawachi, I., 2014. Use of psychology and behavioral economics to promote healthy eating.American journal of preventive medicine,47(6), pp.832-837. Rosen, L.D., Lim, A.F., Felt, J., Carrier, L.M., Cheever, N.A., Lara-Ruiz, J.M., Mendoza, J.S. and Rokkum, J., 2014. Media and technology use predicts ill-being among children, preteens and teenagers independent of the negative health impacts of exercise and eating habits.Computers in human behavior,35, pp.364-375. Silverman, D. ed., 2016.Qualitative research. Sage. Tobey, L.N., Koenig, H.F., Brown, N.A. and Manore, M.M., 2016. Reaching Low-Income Mothers to Improve Family Fruit and Vegetable Intake: Food Hero Social Marketing CampaignResearch Steps, Development and Testing.Nutrients,8(9), p.562. Wingert, K., Zachary, D.A., Fox, M., Gittelsohn, J. and Surkan, P.J., 2014. Child as change agent. The potential of children to increase healthy food purchasing.Appetite,81, pp.330-336. Woodruff, S.J. and Kirby, A.R., 2013. The associations among family meal frequency, food preparation frequency, self-efficacy for cooking, and food preparation techniques in children and adolescents.Journal of nutrition education and behavior,45(4), pp.296-303.

Microsoft vs Foss Essay Example

Microsoft vs Foss Essay Microsoft’s Foss Patent Infringement Holly Stark ITT Technical IT 302 Abstract This paper takes an in depth look at the claims from Microsoft that FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) committed patent infringement in 2006. It also discusses how the events have impacted FOSS, whether negatively or positively and how the actions have changed both since 2006. Microsoft’s Foss Patent Infringement Free software is wonderful and corporate America seems to love it. Its often high-quality stuff that can be downloaded free off the Internet and then copied at will. Its versatile it can be customized to perform almost any large-scale computing task and best of all its crash-resistant. More than half the companies in the Fortune 500 are thought to be using the free operating system Linux in their data centers. In 2006, Microsoft cast a shadow over Free and Open Source Software by alleging that they had violated 235 patents such as the Linux kernel, Samba, OpenOffice. org and others. Foss’s legal representative Eben Moglen contended that software is a mathematical algorithm and, as such, not patentable. Parloff, R. 2007) But what of Microsoft’s claims? Are they valid? But first to answer that you need to understand what a patent really is. A patent is essentially a limited monopoly whereby the patent holder is granted the exclusive right to make, use, and sell the patented innovation for a limited period of time. Granting exclusive rights to the inventor is intended to encourage the investment of time and resources into the develop ment of new and useful discoveries. Once the term of protection has ended, the patented innovation enters the public domain. We will write a custom essay sample on Microsoft vs Foss specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Microsoft vs Foss specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Microsoft vs Foss specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The problem of the patentability of software has become one of the most debated issues with regards to open source software. The Supreme Court stated in a unanimous opinion that patents have been issued too readily for the past two decades, and lots are probably invalid. For a variety of technical reasons, many dispassionate observers suspect that software patents are especially vulnerable to court challenge. This ruling works in FOSS’s favor. Patents can be invalidated in court on numerous grounds; others can easily be invented around. Still others might be valid, yet not infringed under the particular circumstances. FOSS has some well known patrons working in its corner as well. In 2005, six of them IBM (Charts, Fortune 500), Sony, Philips, Novell, Red Hat (Charts) and NEC set up the Open Invention Network (OIN) to acquire a portfolio of patents that might pose problems for companies like Microsoft, which are known to pose a patent threat to Linux. So if Microsoft ever sue d Linux distributor Red Hat for patent infringement, for instance, OIN might sue Microsoft in retaliation, trying to enjoin distribution of Windows. Parloff, R. 2007) A preliminary legal analysis of FOSS licenses conducted seems to suggest that the novel licensing model used by FOSS is legally valid, a fact that lends substantial credit to the movement. Other indications as to the soundness of the licenses are also encouraging; a ruling in Germany that has recognized the validity of the General Public License (GPL) ( J. Hoppner,2004), which further serves to stress that FOSS is a global phenomenon that is revolutionizing the entire field of software development. Microsoft realized that something had to change when it comes to patents. They basically had three choices. They could do nothing, it could start suing other companies to stop them from using its patents, or, they could begin licensing its patents to other companies in exchange for either royalties or access to their patents (a cross-licensing deal). They chose to do the latter. In December 2003, Microsofts new licensing unit opened for business, and soon the company had signed cross-licensing pacts with such tech firms as Sun, Toshiba, SAP and Siemens. On November 2, 2006, Microsoft went public and announced a partnership with Novell to collaborate to help Microsofts Windows, a proprietary operating system, work with Novells Suse Linux, which is based on open-source code. In addition, the software makers struck a deal on patents designed to give customers peace of mind about using Novells open-source products. This partnership made Novell the only company in the industry that was able to provide the customer not only with the code to run Linux, but also with a patent covenant from Microsoft. Evers, Joris 2006) Some thought that it showed that Microsoft was kind of being forced to see Linux as a significant competitor and the FOSS model as a viable business model. (Upfold, Peter 2006) My personal opinion is that this was an attack on the open source community. Microsoft hasn’t actually changed its tune; it’s still actively attacking free software and trying to abolish GNU/Linux while promoting Windows and other proprie tary software as though they are complementary to free software, which they are not. It’s PR nonsense and Microsoft is good at PR. Since then, Novell was sold in 2010 to Attachmate Corp. and a concurrent sale of certain intellectual property assets was sold to CPTN Holdings LLC, a consortium of technology companies organized by Microsoft Corporation. It plays right into the hands of Microsoft’s PR campaign, which strives for a fusion where Microsoft controls both sides of the competition and then derails the side which is less favorable to Microsoft. Microsoft has done that over and over again for many years and victims include giants like IBM and Apple. While FOSS licenses generally protect end user freedom in the realm of copyright, they have no effective protection against threats from software patents, especially from entities outside the FOSS community. In responding to the threat from software patent holders, the FOSS community has created innovative licensing schemes. ( Davidson, S. J 2006) Permissive licenses, such as the Apache licenses, have different patent rights clauses from reciprocal licenses, such as the MPL and GPL. In dealing with potential patent claims, GPL 2. has a â€Å"Freedom or Death† termination clause – â€Å"any patent must be licensed for everyones free use or not licensed at all. † GPL 2. 0 does not allow the development of software that requires any kind of license payments for third party patents. (Hacker. J. n. d. ) GPL 3. 0 was drafted to cope with global software patent threats and to provide compatibility with more non-GPL FOSS licenses. The current GPL draft 3. 0 keeps GPL 2. 0’s copyleft feature and includes new provisions addressing evolving computing issues, such as patent issues, free software license compatibility, and digital rights management (â€Å"DRM†). McMillan, R 2007) As of today, Microsoft is still attacking free software with two types of tactics. The tactics largely include litigation and the use of so-called Fear-Uncertainty-Doubt (FUD) tactics designed to undermine the popular perception of the open source philosophy. This year alone they have won several cases either outright, in appeal or countersuits against Motorola’s Android features. The rest of the FOSS community seems to be on edge and waiting to see what happens next.

Learning to Love the Bomb Essay Essay Example

Learning to Love the Bomb Essay Essay Example Learning to Love the Bomb Essay Essay Learning to Love the Bomb Essay Essay Essay Topic: Dr Strangelove At first glimpse to the nonreader filmgoer this film looks like an early 70’s feeble effort to demo the farcical side of war. I was prepared from something somewhat humourous and mildly entertaining. However. I was shocked to happen that I was riveted to the plot line during the full film. absorbing so many symbolically charged characters and duologues that I was practically fascinated while I worked out the significances and messages that Stanley Kubric was slyly relaying to me through the medium of movie. Kubric’s movie. Dr. Strangelove: Or How I learned to Love the Bomb. is a black comedy with some really interesting messages about work forces. gender and war. Symbolism abounded in a assortment of signifiers and was so smartly disguised that it took several minutes for the spectator to experience the full impact of Kubric’s message. See the gap scene. set to the background music of really cockamamie love affair music we are introduced to two elephantine military planes in the act of refueling during flight. The first feeling is that of strife. War-time aircraft and love affair music in a scene that lasts what seems likes five full proceedingss. The manager prolongs the scene long plenty for the audience to go leery of the underlying sexual symbolism of two planes copulating before he cuts to his following instantly sexually charged scene of a perfect imitation of a US Army officer. with an tremendous cigar stick outing obscenely from his oral cavity. As the film continues. so do the sexual insinuation. By the terminal of the film Kubric’s message is clear. but it takes clip to construct us up before we reach complete realisation of his intent. which in itself is besides interesting. The first compelling character that we are introduced to is the US Army General and his of all time present cigar. The cigar is evidently a phallic symbol. It rises when the General is excited and sags lamely when the letdown of his work forces overcomes him. He is an interesting character chiefly because of his compulsion with â€Å"bodily fluids† and what he feels to be the infiltration of his â€Å"pure essence† . This is the viewer’s foremost existent hint to the ties between work forces. gender and war that Kubric is seeking to relay. The General’s name is Jack D. Ripper. Taking his name from a sexual psychopathic was no error. Ripper is obsessed with the fact that he can non blurt out during sexual intercourse and attempts to happen the reply to this quandary by faulting the Russians for fluoridizing the American H2O supply. There are several interesting imitations here get downing with the outward visual aspect of ultimate maleness. that of an American Army General. his of all time present cigar. and the tremendous gun he pulls out as he starts hiting at the soldiers that are seeking to salvage him. He is every inch a sexual sociopath. Ripper is more interesting when seen from the point of view that work forces and their obsessional sexual issues wreak mayhem on the remainder of the universe. Ripper’s psychopathologic behaviour leads him to believe that he must take issues into his ain custodies and declare war on Russia. even if that means overruling the President of the United States. He is bound and determined to eliminate anyone who stands in the manner of his sexual disfunction. The General moves swimmingly from faulting others. to quashing himself. right into violent reverberations for himself and everyone else. Closely connected to Jack D. Ripper is an English Officer in the US on an Officer Exchange Program. Although the imitation of the English Officer is humourous. his name. Mandrake. keeps us on Kubric’s way. Mandrake root is an herb that is frequently used in male powerlessness. for virility and as an aphrodisiac. This is interesting because of the interplay between Mandrake and Ripper. Straight-laced. foreign or different. and a spot feminine Mandrake is the complete antonym of Ripper. He besides tries to comfort Ripper that his â€Å"bodily fluids† are absolutely normal and that he has no job utilizing them. Several times Ripper asks Mandrake to assist him feed the tremendous gun he is exerting approximately. and Mandrake’s response is rather feminine when he lays prostrate on the floor impotently. The sexual symbols grow more legion and less hidden as the film progresses. We are introduced to the little group of work forces on the bomber who are sent to transport out the orders. The pilot in charge. Major Kong. plays an interesting function in presenting a different type of imitation of work forces. As opposed to Ripper who was psychopathologic and sexually dysfunctional. Major Kong was the All-American cowpuncher. Honest. naif. and non afraid to acquire the occupation done. There are several scenes in which the major attempts to drop the bombs he is transporting and discoveries that they are stuck. Although his work forces can non pull off to work out the job Major Kong leaves his station at the planes helm and goes to the underbelly of the plane to seek to repair the wiring. He succeeds but when the bomb drops he is siting it. the bomb between his legs. This is the largest phallic symbol used in the film and the sing the pilot’s name. Major Kong. it is no surprise. However. Kubric has the Major ride the bomb to its mark where it so explodes in an tremendous mushroom cloud. The detonation which is evidently symbolic of the conclusiveness of climax and the madness that drives work forces to accomplish that terminal appears to be a perennial subject. The male sex thrust as connected to war is once more driven place by Kubric. Furthermore. he builds on this subject and gives us a footing for understanding with the characters and plotting that occurs in the War Room. It is here that we meet the President. whose sexually illicit name refers to sexual zones of a adult female. and the really vocal Buck Turgidson. The imitation of Buck is absolutely summed up in the significance of his name. The term vaulting horse means stud while the word turgid means swollen. These two chief characters do most of the speaking in a really big room. The President mimics the properties of his female name and is really submissive and feminine. His address is fretful and excusatory on the phone and most of his controversy is with Buck. They argue across a big tabular array and are so far off they practically have to shout to be heard. Buck merely gets excited when he sees chances for devastation whereas the President is ready even to destruct his ain bombers to maintain the peace. The functions of these two characters are symbolic of the male versus female positions. Even the great distance across the room from which they speak contributes to the feeling that they are coming from different points of position. The female position of peace and harmoniousness as opposed to the male position of domination. As a character survey Buck portrays several properties of male domination. He is ever the first to talk. overbearing when he communicates. frequently ill-mannered and junior-grade. ever stuffing tonss of gum into his oral cavity and thwacking obscenely. and moues like a yearling when he is asked to act. He uses tactics to overmaster the others by standing on his chair. glowering rebelliously with those who disagree. and going physically violent to acquire his manner if all other tactic fail. Of all the characters he is most wishful to transport out the war programs. for no other intent than to win. The sexual insinuation associated with Buck relate to the lone female in the film who we meet briefly before he is called into the War Room. Kubric’s pick to do Buck’s love involvement a secretary much younger than himself and who is ever shown barely clad in a Bikini and high heels dramas along with the typical male stereotype. At one point in the film Buck receives a phone call from his kept woman. He tries to guarantee her that he doesn’t want her for her organic structure but â€Å"deeply respects her as a human being. † He so promises he’ll be back shortly to â€Å"take attention of her needs† shortly. Buck besides was unable to hold intercourse with his kept woman before the meeting as he was busy traveling to the bathroom and so was called off. Kubric is mocking the male demand to replace sex for war. Another interesting facet about the war room is the â€Å"Big Board† that is set up as the background. It is an tremendous map of Russia with the locations of all the bombers bleeping around the boundary lines of the state. As the planes are all given the â€Å"go† codification. the blinking visible radiations start their class toward the boundary line of Russia. The first plane to traverse the boundary line will so trip the unwanted reaction of the Russians. This is really symbolic of the sperm’s rushing to the egg. All the sperm racing to be the first to occupy the egg. One of the last characters introduced is Dr. Strangelove. Although he has little do in the film his symbolic presentations are truly Kubric’s implicit in message. First. the name Strangelove is an accurate portraiture of what’s been go oning in the film from the beginning. This unfamiliarity or perversion of love is the kernel of Kubric’s subject. Dr. Strangelove himself has several symbolic issues as a character. First is his inability to maintain his arm from involuntarily toasting Hitler. Second is his sudden remedy from stationariness from his wheelchair when he stands vertical from so much exhilaration. Although both of these Acts of the Apostless are sexually symbolic. the cause for the exhilaration is the disclosure. As the work forces sit in the War Room they discuss the possibilities and reverberations of atomic war with Russia. Dr. Strangelove suggests taking a little community of people and populating in belowground mines. This prospect doesn’t seem appealing until he mentions that in order to animate all the lives lost from the desolation of atomic war each adult male will necessitate to hold ten female spouses. The treatment becomes lively and animated as the work forces imagine the possibilities and so get down to denominate appealing sexual attributes the adult females must possess. Suddenly the immanent day of reckoning that awaits them with the entire obliteration of the planet doesn’t expression so bad with a 10:1 ratio of adult females to work forces. and they find themselves looking frontward to doomsday after all. It seems as though Kubric is seeking to portray the fact that work forces use utmost state of affairss such as war and entire devastation as a tool to open up doors to see sexual phantasies that would otherwise be tabu. Kubric’s jeer of this attitude relays his thought that this is the most farcical thought of all. and all of a sudden the rubric makes perfect sense. The film ends with orgasmic detonation after detonation of H bombs. merely as it began with the arousal of military planes. Stanley Kubric’s penetration and sentiment about the relationship of sexual compulsions. power and war were astutely masked in the symbolism that abounded everyplace in the movie. but even to the untrained oculus his message came through loud and clear. REFERENCES Dr Strangelove or: How I learned to Love the Bomb. Dir. Stanley Kubric. 1964.

Taum Sauk Upper Reservoir Dam Restoration Project Essay

Taum Sauk Upper Reservoir Dam Restoration Project - Essay Example ged upon. Due to this, the project which will be proposed blurs the lines between economic development, and environmental recovery. Background: Although it has been over 25 years since the explosion that led to the release of radioactive matter at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Soviet Union (currently Ukraine), the fact of the matter is that the area in and around the release is still highly toxic. This is of course due to the fact that the radioactive material that was released into the air, and ultimately into the ground and water supply, has determinate â€Å"half lives† which means it will remain for quite some time into the future. After the disaster which spilled toxic radioactive waste into the atmosphere and ruptured the poorly built Soviet containment system, the engineers of the time decided that the best way to remediate the situation would merely to be close the reactor that had experienced the disaster and move refocus electrical generation needs on the remain ing reactors of the Chernobyl power plant (Voitsekhovich 1016). Although such an approach has definitely worked for a period of nearly 30 years, the fact of the matter is that the untouched and un-remediated reactor that initially ruptured lies untouched and continues to leak radioactive matter into the ground, the air, and the water table. Influences to the Project: Due to the fact that Ukraine, once a part of the former Soviet Union, has a robust engineering and construction sector with a skilled and talented workforce to draw upon, the extent to which well qualified individuals available to work on such a situation exists is not in question. Moreover, due to the fact that few environmental or labor laws define the current system that is evidenced with regards to construction and engineering projects within Ukraine, it can readily be seen that few roadblocks to such a remediation project will be likely to be realized either. An additional point that bears mention is the fact that the northern reaches of the nation of Ukraine, specifically where Chernobyl is situated, can experience moderate to severe winters where ice and snow can become a major impediment to construction or the delivery of key supplies and personnel to the building site as a function of poorly maintained and insufficient roads and transportation systems. With regards to the cultural and language differential that must be engaged upon, this is an aspect of project planning that cannot be understated (Toru Oka 999). Due to the fact that the Ukrainian language is unique and only tangentially related to its closest linguistic cousin – Russian – it is the understanding of this student that a great deal of time, effort, planning, and money will need to go into hiring translators and area experts to integrate with all levels of the workforce, existing infrastructure, and governmental liaisons to the project. Management Strategy: As a function of the previous