International Legal and Ethical Issues in Business IP Week 3 Essay

International Legal and Ethical Issues in Business IP Week 3 - Essay Example This rule also applies to someone who is inebriated or otherwise under the influence of intoxicating drugs. For the purpose of this element, likewise minors do not have the capacity to enter into a contract, so a parent or guardian must act on their behalf. A minor’s age of consent varies from state to state and different countries but is generally eighteen. 2. Legal Purpose. In order for a contract to be valid, it must also be legal in the domicile which it is drawn. For example, loan contracts with usury above the legal limit are invalid, as are agreements for such things as prostitution, arson, murder and gambling. 3. Offer and Acceptance. This aspect is common in the real estate business, where two parties have something to offer each other. The seller has a house or land and the buyer has the cash to purchase the property. They bargain for a bit and finally acceptance is made from both sides. At this time they have a contract, which once signed can be legal and binding. 4. Consideration. The seller surrenders his property and the buyer hands over his money. As such they have consideration. Of course with real estate, there are often two more parties to the contract, for any number of entities can be party to the contract. The real estate agent does the footwork for both buyer and seller and expects to receive a commission for the efforts. Also, normally the Mortgage Company or bank provides the cash for the transaction and the buyer promises to repay the mortgager. The objective theory of contracts basically means that the person entering into the contract would consider it valid if he or she thought the other party had the intent of carrying through with his offer and the other party’s conduct would justify such intent (Thompson, 2005). A good example of this would be the Washington’s Birthday celebration some car dealers had many years ago. Washington was born on

Fast Moving Consumer Goods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fast Moving Consumer Goods - Essay Example This essay demonstrates that at the same time, they develop trust and loyalty towards their brands. Due to the dynamic changes that FMCG companies operate in, penetrating the UK, and their supermarket has been a challenge. There has been a success and at the same time failures, this depending on the strategies employed in promoting the products. A specialized team appointed by Zeal Creative undertaking consultancy on various issues concerning FMCG companies in UK supermarkets found that different approaches, in communicating to customers, has been the key to either success or market failure. in consultancy, different products are to be sampled from leading supermarkets in the United Kingdom and strategies that various FMCG companies used and how best the succeeded in implementing these communication avenues. The consultancy working for Zeal Creatives conducted both primary and secondary research looking into the newspaper, company financial reports, marketing website and any other re levant research material that could help the consultancy analyze the reasons for success or failure of penetration into UK supermarkets. The research covers and analyses both in of the store and out of store communications. The research is interested in all UK supermarkets and using both the primary and secondary data the research focuses on the best practices to be adopted by FMCG companies. This is key to prior identification of the big winners and losers in terms of market penetration. The report sampled companies such as ASDA, Bacardi, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Weetabix and, Johnson & Johnson. These companies both within the five years of concern used various strategies in communicating with their customers. Various in of the store and out of store communications approaches will be analyzed, and informed judgment made on the best approach applicable in future.  

Enigma and Lorenz Machines Their Contribution to Computing

Enigma and Lorenz Machines Their Contribution to Computing The purpose of this report is to understand the working of cryptography by studying the working of Enigma and Lorentz machines which were used by Germans during World War II. The report will also discuss the effect of the invention of this machines on modern day cryptography. Cryptography has been helping humans to transmit information in secured way but the popularity of cryptography was limited to certain individuals and it was not used widely. During World War II the demand of cryptography increased which resulted in invention of Lorentz and Enigma machine by Germans. The encrypted information was important to Britains to gain an edge over the Germans war strategies, hence a research center was constructed in Britains to decode the encoded information. The report discusses the working of Enigma and Lorentz machine and the various methods adopted by Britains to decode the encoded information. The report will conclude by studying the effect of the creation of the encrypting and decrypting machines on the modern-day computing. Cryptography play an important role in humans daily interaction with technological devices, with the advent of computing devices and internet it has become extremely important to hide private information. We often wonder how we can transfer money through internet or by using ATM cards. The sensitive personal information such as bank details are transferred securely through internet which is available to everyone. This paper tracks the events which contributed to the development of modern day cryptography and discusses the development in the field of cryptanalysis. Cryptography is the science of secretly transferring information from one point to another so that the information is reliably transferred from one point to another, which is unintelligible to all receiver of information except the intended user. The aim of the cryptography is to prevent eavesdroppers from understanding the message. (A. Eskicioglu and L. Litwin, 2001) The human want of secrecy of information has resulted in the invention of cryptography. Ciphers were created to hide personal information. The need to securely transmit information has increase with the advent of modern communication. Confidential information such as Business plan, financial transaction which are send over internet needs to be transferred in a secured way. Since, internet is available to everyone it important to encrypt the information which is being transferred (Zwicke, 2003). The basic working of encryption can be divided into three parts: Encryption: Cryptography works by modifies the original information (termed plain text in cryptography) which is in readable form to encrypted form (termed ciphertext in cryptography) which is not easily interpreted by unauthorized person. The encryption process scrambles the plaintext by combining it with a key which is a random sequence of letters or numbers and produces ciphertext. Transmission Once the information is encrypted it is transferred to the intended user by various methods. For example, it could be transferred by writing it on paper or can be send via complicated modern wireless system. Decryption: After the information is received by the intended person the person tries to decode the information with a key. The key is unique and usually only the receiver has the key to decode the information (An introduction to cryptography, n.d.). 3.1 Stream cipher Stream cipher is an encryption algorithm which encrypts one bit of data in one cycle of its operation. The stream cipher uses infinite stream of pseudorandom bits of key to encrypt the plaintext. The robustness of the stream cipher depends on the algorithm which is used to produce the key. Since, repetition in the key can cause the stream cipher to be easily predicted and the encrypted text could be easily decrypted (Villanueva, 2015). The working of the stream cipher is explained below: As discussed above encryption works by combining the plain text Xi with key Si to produce ciphertext Ci . The combining process uses modulo 2 operation which is the modulus between the bits of the plaintext and ciphertext. We can denote this mathematically as Ci = Xi à ¢Ã…  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Si To decrypt the message the same key stream is used which was used for encrypting the message. Mathematically this can be stated as Xi = Ci à ¢Ã…  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Si   (C. Paar, J. Pelzl) The diagram below summarizes the entire process: Figure 1 Encryption and decryption with stream cipher. Reprinted from Understanding cryptography, by C. Paar, J. Pelzl, (n.d.), Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2mEit9i Copyright by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010 Enigma machine eliminated the human effort of encryption by automating the process of encryption. The use of enigma machine during World War II was done to secretly transmit the classified information to remote military units. The enigma was electro-mechanical machine which encoded the character stream to cypher text. The simplest version of the enigma machine had three motors which are interconnected with each other. It also has a plug board which is a board to interconnect letters to improve the encryption of the enigma machine. A keyboard was used to input the characters to be encoded by the machine. A light board was used to display the encrypted letter of the plaintext character. Figure 2 Enigma How the machine worked. Reprinted from The guardian website, by Hern, Alex, (2014, Nov 14), Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/14/how-did-enigma-machine-work-imitation-game Copyright Simon Singh. 4.1  Working The working of enigma machine was simple. When the operator types the letter on keyboard electric signal is generated. The signal then passes through the plug board which substitutes the letter per the connection of the plug board. The signal then passes through the three rotors with internal wiring. This is where the actual encryption takes places. As mentioned above each motor consists of 26 steps of rotation before making one complete cycle. The arrangement of the three motors was such that when the first motor completes a full rotation the second motor would move by one step. The same step is applicable for third motor. After passing through the connection of motors the signal is then reflected and again passes thorough the plug board. After passing through the plug board the signal lights up the appropriate letter on the light board providing the encrypted letter of the plain text character. The Lorentz machine was developed by C. Lorentz in Berlin. In 1940s Germans saw the need to establish secured communication between German high command in Wà ¼nsdorf close to berlin and German army throughout Europe. With the invention of mechanical machine and electronic boards it became possible to build a machine capable of encrypting the message which was send to remote army. The Lorenz machine was used for sending tactical information (Smart, n.d.). Lorentz machine uses Lorentz cipher which was based on Baudot code. Lets discuss about the working of Baudot code. Baudot Code: It used five bit of data to encode characters. Baudot code was a standard means of communication via teleprinter. Since five bits were insufficient to represent all the characters on the keyboard. Hence the code was divided into two states called letter shifts and figures shifts. To toggle between the two states a control character was used, there were other characters which had special functions such as space. To understand the working of Baudot code lets take an example of encrypting the word Hello. The first step is to fill the Paper tape with holes and insert the paper tape into telegraph to send the message. To punch holes in the paper tape the position of the holes needs to be determined which was obtained from the Baudot code table. These holes were converted to bits and then transferred by teleprinter. Figure 3 The Baudot printing telegraphy system. Second Edition. Reprinted from Circuitousroot website, by Pendry, H, W. (1919) Retrieved from http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/telegraphy/tty/codes/ 5.1 Lorenz Cipher The Baudot code is taken as input by the Lorenz cipher. The Lorenz cipher consisted of 12 motors which are separated into 3 pairs. Each motor had different number of pins on it as shown in figure below: Figure 4 An Enigma machine rotor. Reprinted from Plus magazine website, by Ellis Claire. (2005, Mar 1). Picture retrieved from https://plus.maths.org/content/exploring-enigma Copyright by Simon Singh Each pin could store either 0 or 1 based on the configuration of the machine. The configuration of the machine (setting the starting position of each motor) was performed by the operator of the machine and the same configuration of the machine was used at the receiving end to decrypt the message. The Lorentz machine was divided into three pairs of motors as shown below: Figure 5 The internal working of the Lorentz cipher machine. Reprinted from the Rochester institute website, by Payne, Japnce. (n.d.), Retrieved from https://people.rit.edu/japnce/payne/images/rotorsall.png The three pair of motors are termed as K, M, and S. The description of each pair of motors is discussed below: K motors: These consist of 5 motors with following pin configuration K1=41, K2=31, K3=29, K4=26, K5=23. This set of motors shift by one pin for every character which was encoded. M motors: These consist of 2 motors with following pin configuration M1=61, M2=37. This set of motors shift by one pin for every character which was encoded. Further the output of the M motors decided whether the S motors should be rotated by one pin or should remain unchanged. S motors: These consist of 5 motors with following pin configuration S1=43, S2=47, S3=51, S4=53, S5=59. This set of motors shift by one pin based on the output of M motors. Working The 5 bits of the characters are first X-OR with the 5 bits of K motor. The output is then again X-OR with the 5 bits of S motors to get the cypher text. At the receiving end since the Lorentz cipher is a symmetric cipher, the same configuration is used to set up the Lorentz machine at receiving end and the encrypted message is decrypted. The mathematical formula of the encryption and decryption process is as follows: Suppose Message = M, Cipher text = C, Cypher = E M à ¢Ã…  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ E = C (Encryption) C à ¢Ã…  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ E = M (Decryption) (Smart, n.d.) Most of the technology that was in existence during World War II was like that which was used in World War I. The telegraph, which was type-printed using a typewriter was widely used commercially and by military personnel. In the late 1800s an Italian scientist, Guglielmo Marconi discovered the radio communication. However, it wasnt until the early 1900s that this technology was adopted for military purposes. It was the year 1914 and most major military powers of the world has started relying extensively on this technology but there was a problem there were no security mechanisms in place for a wireless signal to hide the messages being transmitted. The U.S. soon used a more sophisticated version of this technology as soon as Frequency Modulation was invented in 1920. Figure 6 Soldier during World War II using telegraphic switchboard Another important element of communication technology invented before and during the World War II was the RADAR technology. Developed by the U.S. navy for military use, these were signals sent in the microwave wavelength. It was an entirely new way of surveillance that enabled the allies to see in total darkness and find out about enemy ships in the distant sea or air.   Radar used small-short signals that were sent into a direction using an antenna. This would return the position and speed of an object which would serve as a critical early warning tool. Radar navigation implementation by the German bombers meant that the previous tactics of indiscriminate, area-based bombing was now replaced by more accurate precision targeting. Then there were the German fire control radars, Lichtenstein SN2 was mounted on top of airplanes and had an effective range of 2.5 miles. A methodology that had been in existence for a quite a while but was found of prime use during the World War II was Cryptography. Cryptography emerged as the saving grace to answer all questions about the immense need of secrecy. Cryptography had been in existence for over a thousand years but it wasnt until the early 19th century that mathematicians came together to build a machine that would be used for a very specific purpose send messages during times of war. During this period, Cypher machines were developed under extreme secrecy. These machines were of the mechanical and electromechanical kind. Out of the two, the later were developed by Germans into what they called the Enigma machine Allies and enemies developed and adopted the use of cryptographic communications of all sorts during this period. While Germans were focusing on techniques to build machines for encryption, the UK was busy trying to perform cryptanalysis on these machines. Numerous machines came out of Germany that used cryptography in its own unique way. FISH, as the UKs Bletchley Park codenamed them, were a series of German stream ciphers developed during the World War II era. The enigma in the early 1920s which was of the electro-mechanical sort that used a keyboard, rotors and a spindle to do the tricks. Another machine known as the Lorenz cipher was simultaneously developed as a form was a rotor stream cipher and started its use in military since 1941 in a SZ form. The tunny cipher as it was called was used for wireless telegraphy which eventually and unfortunately for the Germans, quite soon led to the interception of its messages. Poland came up with its own cryptographic machine called Bomba, which meant cryptographic bomb in Polish. While there is less information available about why it was named so, Bomba was a glorified Enigma machine in more ways than one. It was developed after the mathematician and its creator, Marian Rejewski studied by breaking apart an Enigma. Put simply, it was a multiple Enigma machine that used an electrical power aggregate of six Enigmas. Most countries like Poland, United States and the UK devoted their time and resources in cryptanalysis of these machines. Bletchley Park in England was extremely instrumental in bringing about a new era with the cryptanalysis or code breaking of messages that were being transmitted by the Germans during the World War II. The Lorenz machine was a stream cipher that encoded/streamed electrical pulses over a telephone line. The technique used was something we call XOR today which is an addition operation. A key property of XOR is that if one was to run the Ciphertext through the same key again, the original message could be found. The exploitation of this very concept of the Lorenz cipher led to its success cryptanalysis. One day after a 4000-letter message was sent out to Vienna, the sender who encodes the message received a response from the receiver asking to resend the message since they had not received the message. The sender reset the Lorenz machine and started to abbreviate a few words to make the process quicker. At this time, Bletchley Park had two copies of the same message and the prime mistake was that both were sent using the same key. The folks at Bletchley park were not just great mathematicians, but they also had an exceptional sense of awareness. They proceeded to add the two messages together, essentially cancelling out the keys. They were now left with two messages added together and then John Tiltman, an experience code breaker who not just able to figure out the message, but also figured out the key. John Tiltman gave this key to Bill Tutte, a young graduate from Cambridge who liked solving puzzles. He was able to out the length of the key by writing it down in rows with the aim to find out patterns. Bill Tutte found that the pattern of the wheel on the right had a period of 41. However, the pattern was not perfect and had an element of randomness which suggested that a wheel on the left was used that moved only sometimes. This information was enough for other mathematicians to jump onboard and fully figure out the Lorenz machine. The Enigma on the other hand had multiple variations in the structure of the machine throughout its useful life to be cracked at one go. The earlier versions of the Enigma were using a 3-rotor structure which was used as the main subject by the Polish Cipher Bureau. Marian Rejewski who worked for the bureau made significant developments in breaking the Enigma, without having much access to any of the official information about its inner workings. Rejewski developed a bomba machine in the process, this cryptanalysis machine was build using the observations Rejewski gathered that showed that the first three letters of a message were the same as the second three. Rejewskis method failed when in 1938 the Germans increased the rotors to include two additional ones. It was Alan Turing who developed a sophisticated Bombe that used statistics and the Bayes law for calculating the probability to narrow down on the number of possibilities. The bombe machines were also quickly updated to test the hypothesis. Figure 7 The British Bombe currently in display at the Bletchley Park Alan Turings Bombe was composed of drums which together simulated an enigma and each drum replicated the functioning of one rotor of the machine. The objective of the Turings bombe was to find out the key used by the Enigma, the starting position of the rotors and the steckers or plugs. The drums were designed to move from a set starting position every time. The movement was designed with the help of statistics and the Bayes law, hence the key space was greatly reduced thereby reducing the run time. Alan Turing has been regarded as one of the biggest contributors to defeating the German navy by helping the Allied Forced during the World War II. It is believed that the British employed 200 Bombes during the Second World War and collectively these Bombes decoded 4000 messages on any given day. The cryptanalysis of the Enigma is believed to have contributed to saving millions of lives and is identified as a prime reason why the war ended years before what it couldve lasted. Britains World War II codebreakers were centrally located at Bletchley Park, a code-breaking center run by the United Kingdom Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS). They primarily focused on deciphering German Enigma and Lorenz communications and producing Ultra intelligence (Hinsley, 1996). Ultra was the designation for high level encrypted Axis-power intelligence the codebreakers intercepted and decrypted (Hinsley, 1993). Ultra-intelligence generated by decrypted Enigma and Lorenz signals is credited with shortening the war, and without it the outcome of the war may have been different (Hinsley, 1996). The Enigma machine was the Germans primary encryption method during the war. Alan Turing, working at Bletchley Park in 1939, created the Bombe, which was an electromechanical machine used to decrypt Enigma ciphers (Smith, 2007). Gordon Welchman refined the Bombe in 1940 with a diagonal board, increasing the Bombes efficiency (Budiansky, 2000). Welchmans diagonal board addressed the plug board vulnerability in the Enigma. The Bombe was based on the Bomba, a Polish machine designed to break Enigma ciphers, which was created by Marian Rejewski (Kozaczuk, 1984). The creation of the functional Bombes led to Allies deciphering of Enigma signals. Beginning in 1940, Germany started developing more advanced machines that used the Lorenz cipher. The first was called the SZ40 machine, which was codenamed Tunny by the British codebreakers at Bletchley Park, and was followed by subsequent versions (SZ40A, SZ40B, and SZ42 (Copeland, 2006). These machines produced more complex ciphers than the Enigma, and were ultimately defeated by the 1+2 break in method created by Bill Tutte (Copeland, 2006). Multiple advanced decryption machines were designed to combat the Lorenz ciphers. First was the British Tunny Machine, which replicated the functions of the SZ40 machines. With the proper cam settings, it was able to produce clear text from cipher text that was input into it (Hinsley, 1993). Built on the Tunny machines, the Heath Robinson, or Robinsons, were created to automate the 1+2 break in (Copeland, 2006). They ran paper tapes to find the wheel settings of the Lorenz machine. Although they were functional, issues with keeping the paper tapes synchronized and slow processing speed limited their effectiveness (Copeland, 2006). Working on the Robinsons at Bletchley Park, Tommy Flowers was instrumental in the advancement of the Colossus computer. Colossus was capable of faster processing than the Robinsons due to processing electronically. This also allowed for only one paper tape, which did not have to be synchronized with another and could be run at a faster speed, around 5,000 characters per second (Copeland, 2006). Although the Colossus computer was created first, the American ENIAC was often credited for being the first electronic digital computer ever made. This was caused by Colossus being shrouded in secrecy after World War II. The term computer originally referred to a human operator who performed mathematical computations. As the need for more demanding and complex computations increased, a push for electronic or digital computing began (Copeland, 2006). Computers like Colossus and ENIAC were called program-controlled computers, in which programs each computer was to process were not stored in the computers memory they had to be manually programmed. For Colossus and ENIAC, this involved modifying wiring by hand using plugs and switches. Modern computers utilize a stored-program concept, in which the programs a computer runs are stored in that computers memory (Copeland, 2006). The concept of the modern computer started with Alan Turing in 1936. He described a universal computing machine, containing limitless memory that stored both data and programs. A scanner would process the data based on the selected program. The use of any program with the data allowed the computer to process any calculation a human could, making it universal. Being universal allowed the computer to switch from one task to another, as opposed to a completely different and unique machine needing to be created for each individual task (Copeland, 2006). Turings concept can be seen in modern computing today, where personal computers and mobile devices (smartphones, etcetera) store both data and programs, and can easily switch between different tasks based on the users needs. Programming to achieve a particular task is relatively simple in comparison installing a program in a modern computer is much less complex compared to rewiring something like the Colossus computer or creating a completely new machine entirely. As discussed, the Germans and Axis powers used Enigma and Lorenz ciphers heavily for their encrypted communications in World War II. The decryption of Enigma and Lorenz was key for the Allies and the development of Ultra intelligence, which likely shortened the war by years. In the end, the need for decrypting Enigma and Lorenz was the initial catalyst the eventually led to modern computing. Colossus, being the first electronic computer, spearheaded the push into the modern stored-program concept that computers and modern devices use today. Without this need for computing power, the world may well have progressed in a much different way. References Budiansky, S. (2000). Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II. Free Press: 1734. Cooper, S., Leeuwen, J. (2013). Alan Turing: His Work and Impact. Saint Louis, U.S.: Elsevier Science. Copeland, B., ed. (2006). Colossus: The Secrets of Bletchley Parks Codebreaking Computers. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Enigma Machine. (2006). In J. Merriman J. Winter (Eds.), Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction (Vol. 2, pp. 964-966). Detroit: Charles Scribners Sons. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRLsw=wu=csuf_mainv=2.1it=rid=GALE%7CCX3447000319sid=exlibrisasid=50a327ace003888aadf98172a87c0eb6 Eskicioglu, A., Litwin, L. (2001). Cryptography. IEEE Potentials, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 36-38. doi: 10.1109/45.913211 Hinsley, F. H. (1993). The Influence of ULTRA in the Second World War. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20120706194507/http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/security/Historical/hinsley.html Hinsley, F. H. Stripp, A. (1993). Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kidwell, P. (2007). Technology and Culture. 48(3), pp. 663-664. Retrieved March 9, 2017, from JSTOR database. Kozaczuk, W. (1984). Enigma: How the German Machine Cipher Was Broken, and How It Was Read by the Allies in World War Two. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America. Paar, C., Pelzl, J. (2010). Understanding Cryptography. Dordrecht, London, New York: Springer-Verlag. Smart, N. (n.d.). Cryptography: An Introduction. Retrieved from http://www.cryptocellar.org/files/NP_Smart_Cryptography.pdf Smith, M. (2007) [1998]. Station X: The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park. London: Pan McMillan Ltd. The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business. (n.d.). An Introduction to Cryptography. Retrieved from https://fisher.osu.edu/~muhanna.1/pdf/crypto.pdf Villanueva, J. (2015). An Introduction to Stream Ciphers and Block Ciphers. Retrieved from http://www.jscape.com/blog/stream-cipher-vs-block-cipher Welchman, G. (2005). The Hut Six Story: Breaking the Enigma Codes. Cleobury Mortimer, England: MM Baldwin. Zwicke, A. (2003). An Introduction to Modern Cryptosystems. SANS Institute. Retrieved from https://www.giac.org/paper/gsec/2604/introduction-modern-cryptosystems/104482

Madness and Insanity in Shakespeares Hamlet Essay -- Essays on Shakesp

Madness and Insanity in Shakespeare's Hamlet         Ã‚   Shakespeare's Hamlet is a master of deception. Hamlet decides to make Claudius believe that he is insane, but the scheme backfires when everyone, except Claudius, falls for it. Ophelia is one of those who believes Hamlet lost his mind, and when he does not return her love, she is so brokenhearted that she commits suicide. Near the end of the tragedy, Hamlet plays the part so well, that he convinces himself he is insane. Clearly, Hamlet's plan to put on an antic disposition is a tragic error.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hamlet's plan for the antic disposition is to fool all the courtiers, especially Claudius. This way Claudius will not think that Hamlet is capable of killing him and usurping the throne. Hamlet clearly hates Claudius, and wants revenge for his father. "A little more than kin, and less than kind!" (I; ii; 65) Hamlet tries repeatedly to portray the image of insanity, but often Claudius sees through the antic disposition. "Love? his affections do not that way tend,/ Nor what he spake, though it lacked form a little,/ Was not like madness." (III; i; 159-161) After Claudius realizes that Hamlet is not actually insane, but playing the part for his antic disposition, he sends Hamlet to England to be executed.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught-   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As my great power thereof may give thee sense,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After the Danish sword, and thy free awe   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pays homage to us- thou mayst not coldly set   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ... ...rol of his mind, but as the plot unfolds he is thrown into a fit of true madness.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Through examination, it is proven that Hamlet's choice of displaying an antic disposition is a tragic error on his part. Claudius was the only courtier who sees through the act, Ophelia fell into utter madness, and Hamlet convinces himself that he has lost his mind. As Claudius said, "Madness in great ones must not unwatched go." (III; i; 185)    Works Cited Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Interpretations Of Hamlet. New York, NY: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Charney, Maurice. All of Shakespeare. New York, NY. Columbia University Press. 1993. Magill, Frank N. Masterplots. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1995. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The Riverside Shakespeare. ED. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Haughton Mifflin Company, 1974.

Bru Case Study

BRU World Cafe Note: All information in the case has been garnered from sources in the public domain. This case has been developed for purely academic purposes, and is not in any way the intended or actual plan of Bru World Cafe Comstrat 2011 Visit us at www. draftfcbulkacomstrat. com Page 0 About the Category/ Brand and Market Trend ? BRU is India’s largest coffee brand in terms of volume, with a portfolio of instant and roasted & ground (filter) coffee, Ice and Hot Cappuccino and out of home vending. BRU was the first coffee brand to go national with a variety of offerings suited for the varied and distinct taste palette of the Indian consumer. BRU Green Label Roast & Ground is the largest brand in the conventional coffee segment. BRU’s Hot Cappuccino and Ice Cappuccino are innovative products specially designed for the cafe going youth – to enjoy a great cup of cappuccino even at home. ? The brand enjoys very strong equity in the south and its awareness and associations in the non-south part of the country emanate from its roots as the authentic south Indian coffee brand. BRU strives to stimulate conversations over coffee livening up every shared moment ? A key trend, which has fuelled coffee consumption in India is â€Å"rise in conversations over coffee†, which means a direct correlation with increase in out of home consumption for coffee as there is an increasing trend to socialize in cafes (especially in 10 lakh plus towns). ? With more than 1500 coffee cafes in the country, up from 175 in 2002 (of these around 1000 have opened in the last 5 years), coffee has emerged as the most happening beverage category, estimated to be around 1000Crs (in End Consume Price (ECP) terms) in 2011. Valued at around US$185 million, the organized cafe market in India is estimated to be growing at a compound annual rate of 25%. Players from Barista Coffee Co. to Cafe Coffee Day are opening outlets practically every weekend. In the past couple of years we have also seen the entry of new players like Cafe Mocha and Gloria Jeans in the premium category. ? The gro wth [of cafes] has been triggered by rising youth spending, paucity of alternative hang-outs and an increasing number of new office complexes and colleges. The market has the potential to touch US$800 million to US$900 million with a total of 5,000 cafes by 2015. Comstrat 2011 Visit us at www. draftfcbulkacomstrat. com Page 1 ? This provides a unique opportunity to leverage the strength of well established brands in HUL’s beverage portfolio to create a service model that would allow building preference for these brands while also adding a sizeable turnover to HUL’s Foods business. Given the size and opportunity of the coffee cafe segment, BRU became the natural choice for leveraging this opportunity. ? With entry into cafes, BRU plays across the coffee category definition becoming a complete in-home and out-of-home coffee brand and also proactively drives â€Å"coffee experience† with direct consumer engagement. This is also an approach for the brand to contemporarise and premiumize by driving imagery through a futuristic segment. ? â€Å"Coffee Experience† model is an opportunity which can be utilized to deliver the dual objectives of : 1. Building expertise and coffee credentials for BRU in the coffee category and get an imagery rub-off on the in-home consumption portfolio. . Another important value driver identified for the category is, â€Å"Bringing out of home experiences in-home†. Cafes will provide a unique space and an exclusive retail channel to drive this opportunity. ? This segment holds immense potential given that the coffee consumption in India is still very low as compared to the rest of the world and the Indian market is just starting to heat u p with international players like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts announcing their entry here. BRU World Cafe Theme Great coffee is an experience. We bring it alive. When you step into BRU World Cafe, you step into the world of coffee – an experience that is visual, aural, olfactory and gustatory. Name Tagline : BRU World Cafe : Discover the World a cup at a time Cafes today are not about coffee. This theme lets us bring the coffee back to the cafe. It helps us to establish the coffee credentials and in future we can easily translate the out of Comstrat 2011 Visit us at www. draftfcbulkacomstrat. com Page 2 home experience in home. The consumer takeout after a visit to World Cafe: BRU knows coffee like no other Identity for the Cafe Target Audience Description Demographics: ? ? SEC A/B1 18 years + An audience on the move, who is looking for a unique experience while enjoying their favorite cup of coffee. And cafes also double up as their hangout joints or meeting places. Along with being an ardent coffee lover they are used to the good things in life, are welltraveled or well-read and exposed to the cultures and offerings of the world at large. Experience and Ambience BRU World Cafe is a traveler’s and coffee connoisseur’s haven. The coffee is served in many traditional styles evoking the palettes of coffee lovers. BRU scours the world to bring the finest coffees from a few prized plantations and stays true to their authenticity by brewing and serving them right. Additionally it provides a relaxed atmosphere with great coffee and vast menu offerings. On entering BRU World Cafe, you leave the hustle-bustle of the city behind. The interior is contemporary and bright, almost Mediterranean in its look and feel. The sounds are Comstrat 2011 Visit us at www. draftfcbulkacomstrat. com Page 3 nippets of music one would hear while traveling the globe whether it is the music of the Balkans, country music from the European greens of Italy and Spain or the Tibetan chants. Browse through the eclectic collection of books that give you insights & quaint facts about exotic destinations across the world or just switch off and chill out over your favorite pick from the comic series of Aestrix and Tintin. Coffee facts, stories, legends and myths and the interesting collage of visuals make up the way coffee arrives to you, becoming an integral part of the experience. It is a place for telling, sharing and creating your own personal story. The Business Challenge There are 7 BRU World Cafes which have opened as part of a pilot run in Mumbai across the western suburbs (Andheri (W), Malad, Bandra, Juhu and Versova) and another 3 are expected to go live within this year. The first cafe went live in February 2011 and the consumer response over the last 5-6 months across outlets has been very encouraging and very positive in terms of the overall experience, ambience, service and differentiation on providing an international coffee experience (best suited to Indian taste palette). Cafe revenue per day is calculated as number of bills in a day multiplied by the value per bill. So far the overall average bill value is 50% more than the assumptions made as per business case construct, however, the number of bills per day (very critical to ensure long term sustainable business) is only about 30% of the assumption (average of 30 to 40 bills per day per store – taken at an average across stores) 1. How do we increase footfalls (and therefore bill productivity) across the current set of Bru World Cafes without incurring extensive marketing spends? Suggest a marketing model for BRU World Cafe which involves not more than Rs. 0 lakh of annual spend including above the line and local store marketing and production/ fabrication cost of these activities. 2. Prioritize the channel mix with spends break-down and a calculation of return on marketing spend? How can this be made into a sustainable and repeatable model once BRU WORLD CAFE extends into other cities with i ncreasing returns of spends? 3. Given the proposition of BRU World Cafe, which is the one key marketing initiative, in-line with the BRU World Cafe identity which will be clearly differentiated from others and which will help further strengthen the BRU World Cafe differentiation. Comstrat 2011 Visit us at www. draftfcbulkacomstrat. com Page 4 The success of the pilot in Mumbai will determine future expansion of the BRU World Cafe mix so getting the above objective right is critical. Assume that all other levers of the business case construct are in place. The Communication Challenge Young people today have a far higher disposable income than about a decade ago. Quite naturally then every category these days is vying for their attention. And hence as a target audience youth are the most spoken to today by brands across a plethora of categories from chocolates to denims to mobile phones to fast food chains. Therefore the challenge of communication is to stand out of the clutter of youth brands and be heard by them. The Communication Task From a brand point of view it is important for BRU World Cafe to appropriate a strong positioning & differentiation to counter competition from the category and beyond. The task also includes resonating with him/her to make BRU World Cafe his/her cafe of preference. This is critical to increase footfalls and repeat visits which are ultimately crucial factors while considering future scaling up and expansion. The Communication Strategy Your task is to provide a comprehensive communication strategy that details what BRU World Cafe should do to build its brand & gear up for growth in an increasingly crowded cafe space. The strategy document must provide solutions in the following key areas: 1. Identify key challenges for the brand and its communication. 2. Sharply define who the target consumers should be and their key characteristics. 3. Identify the key consumer insights in the target group and how BRU World Cafe should work its offerings in line with the consumer needs. 4. Identify the right positioning and messaging platform for the brand. 5. What should be the brand voice across its offerings? 6. Identify the right communication message for the brand. Comstrat 2011 Visit us at www. draftfcbulkacomstrat. com Page 5 7. Identify the appropriate media vehicles to reach the target audience. ? Complete with channel mix, spends and detailed description on mechanics wherever necessary. 8. Outline the complete strategy for the use of new age media like social media, CRM, mobile phones, mobile applications etc. to be leveraged to resonate with this audience Methodology ? Cafe visits and study of the current consumer marketing and consumer engagement initiatives by existing players and evaluate them for effectiveness and efficiency. Establish key learning from best practices of competitors on spends and returns, driving awareness and footfalls in India (CCD, Barista, Costa Coffee, Gloria Jeans etc. ) and internationally e. g. – Starbucks. ? ? Study of no n-conventional media channels and relevance and use to drive the above objective. Study of trend and media methods to drive consumer awareness and engagement in the service and retail world which can be applied in this case. Success Criteria ? ? ? ? Depth of understanding of successful marketing techniques in this space Innovativeness of the â€Å"idea† and/ or â€Å"marketing approach† and the ability to create â€Å"buzz/ talkability†. Practical application and relevance (ease of execution) to reality. Impact and achievability within the given constraints Comstrat 2011 Visit us at www. draftfcbulkacomstrat. com Page 6 Rules & Regulations: Participation Rules: 1. Participating teams should comprise of only three members. 2. Only one entry per institute will be considered. Two stages of this event: Stage I: Submission of the written case solution. Stage II: Power point presentation of the shortlisted cases. Stage I: Process and rules for submission of the written case: 1. DraftFCB+Ulka Comstrat is a contest for Communication Strategy; hence students are requested to focus on the same. 2. Creative renditions are not necessary and will not be judged. 3. A detailed Media plan is also not required and will not be judged. 4. A synopsis of the case solution should be submitted as a word document in a minimum font size of 11 points and single line spacing. The document should not exceed 15 pages. 5. A written case solution on the case should be submitted either through email to [email  protected] com or by post to DraftFCB+Ulka Advertising, 4th floor, Nirmal, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021. 6. The last date for receipt of the submission is 6 pm on 23rd November 2011. 7. A shortlist of six teams shall be arrived at by evaluating the case solutions received. 8. The shortlist shall be declared on 28th November 2011 and posted on the website www. draftfcbulkacomstrat. com and communicated to K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research. . The six shortlisted teams will be invited to make a power point presentation to a panel of judges on 10th December 2011 in Mumbai. Please remember: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Synopsis to be submitted as word document only. Font size should be minimum 11 The document should not exceed 15 pages The document should have a single line spacing Synopsis should be submitted on or before 6 pm on 23rd November 2 011 Stage II: Final power point presentation of the case: 1. Shortlisted teams are requested to reach the venue on 10th December 2011 at 12 noon sharp for the set-up and dry run. 2. Please get your power point presentations on a CD/Pen drive, rest of the equipment shall be provided at the venue. 3. The time limit for each presentation is 20 minutes and the students are requested to strictly adhere to the time-limit. A warning bell will ring after 15 minutes. 4. At the end of 20 minutes the team will be asked to stop the presentation. Comstrat 2011 Page 7 Visit us at www. draftfcbulkacomstrat. com 5. Students are requested not to indicate their institute’s name on the slides or anytime during the presentation. 6. Stay and travel arrangements have to be made by the participants themselves. 7. The Comstrat is a contest for Communication Strategy; hence students are requested to focus on the same. 8. In the case presentation, creative renditions are not necessary and will not be judged. 9. Media plan for the same is also not required and will not be judged. 10. The solution must have only one approach and not multiple options. Key Dates to remember: Last date for written submission ? Shortlist of 6 teams for power point presentation ? Final Presentation ? 6 pm on 23rd November 2011 6 pm on 28th November 2011 12 noon on 10th December 2011 Comstrat 2011 Visit us at www. draftfcbulkacomstrat. com Page 8

Leadership Management Essay

Introduction In this report, a research regarding leadership was conducted through observation and interviewing of an effective leader. The leader that was chosen for this research report is Tan Kee Boon Valdric. Valdric was a commissioned officer in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). Singapore Armed Forces is a military organisation and its main purpose is to protect Singapore from any form of external threats. Upon commission, he was assigned to be the platoon commander for my platoon during national service in the 40th Singapore Armour Regiment (40SAR) and later on in our reservist unit at 473 Singapore Armour Regiment (473 SAR). By observing and interviewing him, the observation and interview results were compared with each other to see if there was any coherence in the results. These results were later compared in the reflection portion of this report to identify the complexities of leadership, the new understanding that was gained from this research and how undertaking this research and gaining new understanding of leadership would benefit my leadership abilities. Observation during National Service and Reservist As a platoon commander, Valdric would often plan and conduct many activities, exercises and trainings in camps. While planning for such activities, he would have to assign tasks to various personnel to complete the different tasks required of such activities. For instance, when conducting an Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT), he would have to assign personnel to do various tasks required for the activity to proceed smoothly. When conducting such routine test activities in camp, he would often just assign tasks to soldiers in the platoon without further explanation as most of the people in the platoon are experienced and competent in doing the tasks. However, when assigning tasks to the newer inexperienced soldiers in the platoon, he would often give advices and guide them. For instance, when he was assigning tasks to the new batch of inexperienced sergeants who had just completed their training course, he would follow them and guide them accordingly on how to go about completing their tasks and encourage them. This changing leadership style based on the level of experience of personnel under him can be seen as a form of situational leadership II. Situational Leadership II is a model of contingency leadership in which leaders select different leadership based on their behaviour and the level of competency and capability of group members whom they are leading (Dubrin 2011). According to Blanchard (2010), situational leadership II model has four leadership styles which are namely directing, coaching, supporting and delegating which effective leaders adopt based on matching the level of competence of their group members. In Valdric’s case, when assigning tasks to the new inexperienced sergeants, he could be seen as choosing to exhibit a coaching leadership style which requires more supportive and directive behaviours and while assigning tasks to experienced personnel, he would exhibit a delegating leadership style which requires a less supportive and directive behaviour of the leader. Based on this observation, it could be seen that Valdric applies the Situational Leadership II model to alter his leadership style based on the level of competence and experience of his personnel. When problems or difficulty arises during activities or duties, Valdric would always keep calm and be open to suggestion for ideas and would accept any idea that sounds feasible in handling the problems or difficulties that arises. By keeping his composure and accepting feasible ideas suggested by those in the platoon, it can be seen as having self-confidence and flexibility which are some of the personality traits of an effective leader (Lussier & Achua 2009). On a few occasions, difficulties such as a sudden vehicle breakdown occurred during training. Instead of panicking, he kept his composure and called the sergeants and commanders together to discuss what they should do. Valdric would often decide upon a solution through participative discussion and consultation of personnel that are of lower ranking, usually the sergeants, in the platoon. During the planning of training programmes, which was something he had to do monthly, he would always discuss with the other commanders, the sergeants, in the platoon and decide on what training programmes they should include for the upcoming month. Participative leadership style in decision making is a style in which the leader would discuss and consult with members of a lower rank in the group before making a decision (Barman 2009). It can be seen that Valdric exhibits this participative leadership style through his use of participative discussion and consultation in planning training programmes. Valdric was always planning and thinking of ways to improve the platoon’s efficiency in terms of expertise skill levels and physical fitness which are crucial attributes required of soldiers in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). He would always plan new goals and visions to constantly improve the platoon’s expertise skill level and fitness and then communicate and inspire the platoon about the importance of constant. This constant seeking of improvement through creating new goals and visions to improve the platoon and efficiency of the military organisation could be seen as exhibiting a socialized charismatic leadership style. Socialized charismatic leaders are leaders who would use their influential powers to try and motivate groups and people in the organisation to improve organisation effectiveness and efficiency (Gardner, Avolio and Walumbwa 2005). Valdric’s desire to constantly improve the skill level of the platoon in order to help improve the progress and efficiency of the SAF is similar to a socialized charismatic leadership style. Interview Results An interview was conducted to find out more about how Valdric felt about his leadership characteristics and what he thinks are some of the leadership characteristics required to be an effective leader. Through the interview, a better understanding of his leadership characteristics and experiences was captured. From the interview, Valdric felt that some personality traits like self-confidence, trustworthiness and flexibility were key personality traits required to be an effective leader. He believed that self-confidence was required as he felt that leaders should have a certain level of confidence in order to lead. The second trait that he believed was a pre-requisite for effective leaders was trustworthiness as he felt that effective leaders need to build trust between his followers and himself in order to effectively lead them. Flexibility was another personality trait that he felt was important as he believed that leaders should be flexible so that they can change their leadership styles depending on the different environment and situation they are required to work in. Based on the interview results regarding personality traits, it can be seen that personality traits of self-confidence and flexibility are consistent of what with the observations results in which personality traits of self-confidence and flexibility was observed in Valdric. Another finding obtained from the interview session with Valdric was that he would change his leadership style based on the level of experience and expertise of the group members that he led. Valdric believed that group members who are inexperienced and lacking in skill required more nurturing and support from leaders and in such situations, leaders should give more specific instructions and support to help group members to gain experience and learn the skills required for the job efficiently. When questioned about another scenario in which he was leading a group which consists of experienced and skilled members, Valdric mentioned that he would switch to a less directive leading style in which he would be less specific in terms of giving instructions but he would continue to support his group members in terms of motivating them and encouraging them to keep the morale level within the group high. This finding is coherent with the observations results regarding how Valdric manages and assigns tasks to personnel in the platoon based on their level of experience. Based on the observation and interview results, it can be seen that Valdric uses the contingency approach to leadership to lead effectively. The alteration of leadership style based on the level of experience of the group they are leading is based on the situational leadership II model (Hellriegel and Slocum 2007). Valdric also felt that leaders should have different leadership styles and the ability to match the correct leadership style to the correct situation. He felt that given a situation, if the leader chooses the incorrect style to lead, it would wane the effectiveness of situational leadership. Another important role for leaders is decision-making for the group or organization. Valdric felt that decisions made by leaders would affect the effectiveness of the group or organisation which they are leading. In his opinion, the decision made by the leader should be a decision which is agreed upon by majority of the individuals in the group or organisation. To achieve this, Valdric mentioned that he often call for meetings with group members to discuss about issues and problems before he makes a decision. This was coherent with the observations results. Both the observation and interview results converge to show that Valdric uses group participation in decision-making. The use of such meetings to discuss ideas and suggestions before the leader makes a decision can be seen as a form of participative leadership style in decision-making. A leader exhibiting participative style involves his group members in the decision-making process by allowing group members to voice their opinions before the leader himself makes the final decision (Saxena 2009). However, Valdric mentioned that there are some disadvantages in the use of participative leadership styles during decision-making. In situations when there are a wide range of differing opinions in the group, it can be extremely difficult to obtain a consensus on a decision that is accepted by everyone in the group. Furthermore, he also mentioned that in situations when a decision needs to be made quickly, this leadership style would not be as effective as it tends to consume too much time before the leader makes a decision. Reflection and Improvement From this assignment, I have learnt about the various complexities of leadership through analysing and reflecting on the observation and interview results. From analysing the observation and interview results a comparison can be made between my findings regarding the complexities of various leadership styles and the theories taught in this leadership and management course. Based on my observation and interview results regarding participative leadership style, I learnt that although leaders exhibiting this style allows group members to have a feel of participation in the decision-making process and creates a sense of belonging to the group which further drives them to work harder for the leader, this style may become ineffective when there are various differences in opinion and it is often too time consuming. This is coherent with the theories regarding the complexities of democratic leadership style or participative leadership style. One of the common problem that leaders exhibiting participative leadership style during decision making was that such the use of such group meeting requires too much time (eds Muenjohn, Boucher & Tran 2010). This shows that what I have learnt and understand through the conducting of this research is coherent with the theories that I have learnt in this leadership and management course. Another similarity in finding which I have made from this research that is coherent with leadership theories is regarding the situational leadership II model in which leaders selects an appropriate style of leadership based on the level of experience of the members in the group which they are leading. From the observation and interview results, I have learnt that in order for situational leadership to be effective, a leader has to be flexible enough to change his leadership style to correctly match the situation. If a leader is not able to match his leadership style to the situation effectively, the effectiveness of situational leadership would be diminished and the use of this model for leadership could result in more problems rather than effectiveness. This is consistent with what was mentioned in the theories regarding the effective use of situational leadership styles such as the situational leadership II model. For situational leadership model II to be effective, leaders have to be able change their leadership style, in terms of supporting and directing, to match the level of experience of the group members they are leading (eds Muenjohn, Boucher & Tran 2010). A failure to do so would bring about an effective leader that would hinder the development of their group members or followers and indirectly affect the development of the organization as a whole (Blanchard 2010). Based on this, it can be seen that the findings that I have made regarding leadership styles such as participative leadership style and situational leadership is similar to what is taught in the theories in the course. In the process of conducting this research, I have learnt that many of the leadership styles are useful but they have flaws as well. Most leadership styles are effective if used at the correct time. However, if a leadership style is used inappropriately, it may bring about more problems and lead to leadership ineffectiveness. For instance, from this research, I have learnt that the use of participative leadership style in decision making is effective in helping the group makes a decision that is based on consensus of everyone. However, the use of participative leadership style in decision making may become ineffective when a decision has to be made quickly. One of the flaws of a participative style of leadership in the decision making process is that it often requires too much time before a consensus on the decision is made (eds Muenjohn, Boucher & Tran 2010). Other than the use of participative leadership style, the use of contingency approach of leadership styles would also lead to ineffectiveness if leaders use the wrong contingency leadership style for the wrong situation. For example, situational leadership II requires leaders to use appropriate leadership styles that can be more supportive or directive based on the level of competency and experience of the group members (Hellriegel & Slocum 2007). Based on situational leadership II, an effective leader would adopt a leadership style that is more directive and supportive when leading group members who are inexperienced. However, if a leader uses a leadership style that is less directive and supportive instead of one that is more directive and supportive, it may bring about ineffectiveness among the group due to ineffective leadership. In the process of conducting this research, I have understood that leading a group of people effectively is not a simple task. In order to be an effective leader, an individual has to learn how to effectively manage the group of people he is assigned to lead. In organisations, members of the organisations tend to have varying characteristics, working style, behaviour and experiences. Leaders would probably have to lead groups of people with varying characteristics or work with different groups of people throughout their lives. In order to be an effective leader, a leader has to be able to switch their leadership style to one that matches the people or situation they are leading in order to be effective. To be able to lead groups effectively regardless of situation, flexibility in a leader is required. According to Gamage (2006), effective leaders are usually flexible, allowing them to alter their leadership styles to one that is most appropriate and effective in whatever situation they are in. This means that for a leader to be able to use the contingency approach to leadership and be effective, flexibility is essential. Personally, other than the time I was serving National Service as a sergeant, I did not really have many opportunities to take on a leadership role. Hence, from this research, I have gained many insights that would be extremely useful for my leadership practice in the future. The importance of flexibility is one of the key takeaways from this research. During the time that I was serving National Service, I tend to use the same leadership style to lead my soldiers regardless of situation as I believed that it was the most appropriate and suitable leadership style for me. However, through this assignment, I learnt that there are many leadership styles that are effective and that a leader should be flexible to change their leadership style to one that best fits the situation in order to become an effective leader. Reddin (1970, cited in Gamage 2006, pp. 102) mentioned that the effectiveness of leadership styles depends on the situation. This means that leadership styles can either be effective or ineffective based on the situation in which they are used. If a leadership style is used in the wrong situation, it would be ineffective. However, if the same leadership style were to be used in an appropriate situation, it would be seen as an effective leadership style. What is important is that the leader needs to know which leadership style is appropriate for whatever situation they are given. From this, I have learnt that flexibility is an important trait that leaders should possess or develop and developing flexibility would allow me to be able to use the contingency approach of leadership styles better. Other than flexibility, another key takeaway that I have obtained from this research that would help me in my future leadership role was the understanding of using a contingency approach of leadership which requires me to select the correct leadership style for whichever situation in order to be an effective leader. Based on the theories taught in this course and the results of this research, I have come to an understanding that there are no ineffective leadership styles. All leadership styles are effective and the only reason why some people view certain leadership styles as ineffective is because they fail to match the correct leadership style to the situation (eds Muenjohn, Boucher & Trans 2007). From this, I learnt that there is no such thing as ineffective leadership style and that I should focus on matching leadership styles to situations in order to be an effective leader in the future. Conclusion In conclusion I believe that in order to be an effective leader, one must be able to understand the complexities of leading and how to handle these complexities. The leadership theories taught in this course and the insights gained from conducting this research has allowed me to gain a better understanding of some of these complexities of leadership. Some of the key takeaways that I have gained from this research were the importance of flexibility in a leader and the use of contingency approach to leadership style especially the situational leadership II model. The theories in this course have provided me with a basic understanding on leadership and through conducting this research, it further reinforced what I have learnt and understood from the course by allowing me to observe the application of some of the leadership theories. Through the observations and interview, I have learnt about various complexities of some of the leadership theories such as using a participative leadership style in the decision making process and the use of situational leadership II model. I believe that this understanding and knowledge that I have attained would greatly benefit me in my future endeavours as a leader. Reference List Barman, K 2009, Leadership Management: Achieving Breakthroughs, Global Indian Publications, New Delhi. Blanchard, K 2010, Leading at a Higher Level: Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performance Organizations, FT Press, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Dubrin, AJ 2011, Essentials of Management, 9th edn, Cengage Learning, USA. Gamage, DT 2006, Professional Development for Leaders and Managers of Self-Governing Schools, Springer, Netherlands. Gardner, WL, Avolio, BJ and Walumbwa, FO (eds.) 2005, Authentic leadership theory and practice: origins, effects and development, Elseiver, USA. Hellriegel, D and Slocum, JW 2007, Organizational Behaviour, 11th edn, Thomson South-Western, USA. Lussier, RN and Achua, CF 2009, Leadership: Theory, Application & Skill Development, 4th edn, Cengage Learning, USA. Muenjohn, N, Boucher, C and Tran, N (eds.) 2010, Leadership and Management, Cengage Learning, Melbourne. Saxena, PK 2009, Principles of Management: A Modern Approach, Global India Publications, New Delhi. Appendix Interview Questions 1) What are some of the skills that you think a leader should possess? Why? 2) What are some of the traits that you think an effective leader should possess? Why? 3) What are some of the leadership roles that you think leaders have and which leadership role do you think is the most important? 4) When making decisions for your group as a leader, would you consult your group members before making a decision? Why? 5) Between building relations with group members and completing the task, which do you think is more important for a leader? 6) What are some of the ways by which you motivate people in your team as a leader? 7) How would you describe your leadership style as? 8) In your opinion, should an effective leader change his leadership style to match different situations or stick with the same leadership style for all situations? 9) When leading a group of inexperienced member, would you alter your leadership style to cater to them? 10) When leading a group of highly experienced and skilled personnel, how would your leadership style be different? 11) Do you think an effective leader should be more directive or supportive? 12) If there was a conflict among members in your group, how would you attempt to resolve the conflict? 13) Do you think that constant improvement is required for leaders and their groups to be effective? 14) Is effective communication required for a leader to lead his group effectively?

Environmental Racism essays

Environmental Racism essays There is a political theory of justice that was created by John Rawls that states, that all rational members of society in the original position should make decisions. Rawls called this method as a veil of ignorance. This is used as an instrument to make decisions in developing local projects. In the United States there is a spectacle called NIMBYism, which stands for Not-In-My-BackYard. This is when a group of a local community members protest about developments or a certain development in their community. NIMBYism could be a good or bad spectacle, which depends on what activities are suspended because of it. A bad view of this would be if there were no developments. Then there wouldnt be any supermarkets to do your food shopping or playgrounds for the children to play in. The good side to NIMBYism would be if they were planning to build a toxic dump near the community and the protest prohibited it. Now what would happen if all of sudden all of this toxic dumps ended up in minority communities? Well, if the community members didnt protest and just let the dump be build then thats their problem. But, if the members did protest and the development continued then that would be environmental racism. Just look at Garfield compared to Passaic; when Im driving through Garfield the houses are all nice and clean looking but when I cross the Passaic River to Passaic youll notice the roads full of pot-holes, all the garbage on the street, and a lot of dirty factories. Garfield is full of white, Italian, and Polish middle-class families while Passaic is full of Black, Mexican, Peruvian, and Puerto Rican low and middle-class families. Only because Passaic has this image of being a town full of drugs, crime, and immigrants, that dont know any English, that its okay to leave this once beautiful town in ruins, make more developments, or in some cases no developments at all. ...

Indian economy Essays

Indian economy Essays Indian economy Essay Indian economy Essay A year of improvement and surprises Indias growth environment has been on a roller coaster ride since the credit crisis. After growing at a healthy rate of 8. 9%YoY (average) during 2004-07, the growth will decelerate sharply to a near-decade low of 4. 8%YoY in FY14 according to our estimates. While we believe that growth in India is stabilising, the recovery will be very gradual. We expect Indias GDP growth to pick up only modestly to 5. 4%YoY in FYI 5 and further to 6. 1%YoY in FY16. For this recovery to sustain without reigniting he macro stability risks, the investment cycle needs to pick up ahead of consumption. We believe the parliamentary elections due in May 2014 will be the next catalyst. Momentum to pick up pace post elections We have assumed a stable coalition government in the next parliamentary election as our base case scenario. While the economy is showing some incipient signs of revival, the recovery does not seem to be broad based. We expect external demand to be the key growth driver in FYI 5 while consumption and investments are likely to stabilise at ow levels. We also expect some pick up in capex trend largely on government initiatives to clear logjams to speed up project implementation. However, the high cost of capital to manage inflationary pressures, a cut in government spending to meet deficit targets, political uncertainty constraining the capex cycle recovery and a lack of structural reforms will continue to weigh on overall growth expectations over the next 6-9 months, in our view. We expect investments mainly the private corporate apex to show a credible improvement only in FY16 once political uncertainty is resolved. Macro stability risks seem to be improving on the margin The delay in QE tapering by the Fed and quick measures taken by the Indian policymakers including: (a) clamp down on gold imports; (b) measures to attract dollar deposits via the FX swap window; (c) speeding up project implementation in the investment space; and, (d) a sustained increase in diesel prices have all helped boost investor sentiment, providing some breathing space near term. However, we elieve inflationary pressures will continue to dominate investors concern over the coming months. Upside and downside risks to our outlook The upside and downside risks to our growth estimates stem from (a) the pace of QE tapering and rise in US real rates; (b) the outcome of next years parliamentary elections; and, (c) inflation, mainly CPI. While a stable government should help push the much needed policy reforms to bring the economy back on the growth track, a weak coalition (Congress-led or BJP-led) or a Third-Front government might lack the olitical will to undertake reforms and boost investor/business confidence. We believe the upside risks (†70-90bps) to our growth forecasts stem from (a) gradual rise in US real rates and (b) a clear majority in the parliamentary elections and/or (c) faster than expected moderation in core CPI inflation. The downside risks (†80-100bps) include a faster rise in US real rates and/or a weak election outcome, which would increase uncertainty and stall the reform momentum. Indian economy By ankurgl 234

History of the Domestication of Donkeys

History of the Domestication of Donkeys The modern domestic donkey (Equus asinus) was bred from the wild African ass (E. africanus) in northeastern Africa during the predynastic period of Egypt, about 6,000 years ago. Two wild ass subspecies are thought to have had a role in the development of the modern donkey: the Nubian ass (Equus africanus africanus) and the Somali ass (E. africanus somaliensis), although recent mtDNA analysis suggests that only the Nubian ass contributed genetically to the domestic donkey. Both of these asses are still alive today, but both are listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. The donkeys relationship with the Egyptian civilization is well-documented. For example, murals in the tomb of the New Kingdom pharaoh Tutankhamun illustrate nobles participating in a wild ass hunt. However, the real importance of the donkey relates to its use as a pack animal. Donkeys are desert-adapted and can carry heavy loads through arid lands allowing pastoralists to move their households with their herds. In addition, donkeys proved ideal for the transport of food and trade goods throughout Africa and Asia. Domestic Donkeys and Archaeology Archaeological evidence used to identify domesticated donkeys includes changes in body morphology. Domestic donkeys are smaller than wild ones, and, in particular, they have smaller and less robust metacarpals (foot bones). In addition, donkey burials have been noted at some sites; such burials likely reflect the value of trusted domestic animals. Pathological evidence of damage to spinal columns resulting from donkeys use (maybe overuse) as pack animals is also seen on domestic donkeys, a situation not thought likely on their wild progenitors. The earliest domesticated donkey bones identified archaeologically date to 4600-4000 BC, at the site of El-Omari, a predynastic Maadi site in Upper Egypt near Cairo. Articulated donkey skeletons have been found buried in special tombs within the cemeteries of several predynastic sites, including Abydos (ca. 3000 BC) and Tarkhan (ca. 2850 BC). Donkey bones also have been discovered at sites in Syria, Iran, and Iraq between 2800-2500 BC. The site of Uan Muhuggiag in Libya has domestic donkey bones dated to ~3000 years ago. Domestic Donkeys at Abydos A 2008 study (Rossel et al.) examined 10 donkey skeletons buried at the Predynastic site of Abydos (about ca 3000 BC). The burials were in three purposefully constructed brick tombs adjacent to the cult enclosure of an early (so far unnamed) Egyptian king. The donkey tombs lacked grave goods and in fact, only contained articulated donkey skeletons. An analysis of the skeletons and comparison with modern and ancient animals revealed that the donkeys had been used as beasts of burden, evidenced by signs of strain on their vertebral bones. In addition, the body morphology of the donkeys was midway between wild asses and modern donkeys, leading researchers to argue that the domestication process was not complete by the end of the predynastic period, but instead continued as a slow process over periods of several centuries. Donkey DNA DNA sequencing of ancient, historic and modern samples of donkeys throughout northeastern Africa was reported (Kimura et al) in 2010, including data from the site of Uan Muhuggiag in Libya. This study suggests that domestic donkeys are derived solely from the Nubian wild ass. Results of the testing demonstrate that Nubian and Somali wild asses have distinct mitochondrial DNA sequences. Historic domestic donkeys appear to be genetically identical to Nubian wild asses, suggesting that modern Nubian wild asses are actually survivors of previously domesticated animals. Further, it seems likely that wild asses were domesticated several times, by cattle herders perhaps beginning as long ago as 8900-8400 calibrated years ago cal BP. Interbreeding between wild and domestic asses (called introgression) is likely to have continued throughout the domestication process. However, Bronze Age Egyptian asses (ca 3000 BC at Abydos) were morphologically wild, suggesting either that the process was a long slow one, or that wild asses had characteristics that were favored over domestic ones for some activities. Sources Beja-Pereira, Albano, et al. 2004 African origins of the domestic donkey. Science 304:1781. Kimura, Birgitta. Donkey Domestication. African Archaeological Review, Fiona Marshall, Albano Beja-Pereira, et al., ResearchGate, March 2013. Kimura B, Marshall FB, Chen S, Rosenbom S, Moehlman PD, Tuross N, Sabin RC, Peters J, Barich B, Yohannes H et al. 2010. Ancient DNA from Nubian and Somali wild ass provides insights into donkey ancestry and domestication. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: (online pre-publish). Rossel, Stine. Domestication of the donkey: Timing, processes, and indicators. Fiona Marshall, Joris Peters, et al., PNAS, March 11, 2008.

Innovative ways of recruiting and retaining tenants Research Proposal

Innovative ways of recruiting and retaining tenants - Research Proposal Example Those tenants who are involved in being concerned on a character basis are more expected to have a high-quality association with their landowner, and be pleased with their landowner have preceding knowledge of tenant participation. Landlords and landlord agent over the years have relied on traditional incentives such as rent-free periods, fitting out and premiums to recruit and retain tenants. However, during economic downturns and when there is over supply, in other to protect cash flows , landlords and their agents need to see beyond these traditional incentives   and adopt new practices of recruiting and retaining the very best of tenants. This research study seeks to investigate the innovative ways of recruiting and retaining tenants. The results of this document analysis will be used to enhance the offices being accessible to the tenants. The study findings may also be used by tenant union to support for the rights of tenants. Land lords will use the findings to advance the standards of the offices they offer to tenants. Policy makers will apply the findings of this research to improve the working conditions of the workers. Renting business-related premises is a transnational with a natural propensity for long-term consumer relationships. This notion has a lot to do with the statement that the expenses and risks of rearrangement are always important and thus businesses desire to continue in solitary place for as extensive as they can seen in Rasila and Nenonen, 2007 as cited in((Rianne, 2006) ). This makes the locale perfect for studying a very long consumer relationship. Five tenant-landlord relationships have been analyzed by to understand customer relationship characteristic in an observed setting. These levels are; Caring, Law and codes, Rules, Independence and Opportunism (Rianne, 2006). The top five significant sub factors identified by

Mcdonalds decision making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Mcdonalds decision making - Essay Example It assists the management to make the best decision that lead to the continuous progress and success of McDonalds. The organization’s culture is to provide leadership skills to employees. It also makes sure that they are able to gather information from the customers, offer opinion, and their insights of the problems arising in the internal and external environment that may affect the organization (Reid & Bojanic, 2010). McDonald’s management ensures that they motivate their workers and listen to any grievances. This is a way of making sure that the employees are happy due to the notion that happy employees will serve the customers better and thus more profits for the company. The happy employees are willing to interact more with the customers. Moreover, they gather more information that is necessary in accessing the views of the public and the changes that are needed to ensure more progress. For instance, in 2005, employees reported that most people valued healthy food. They informed the management who laid the best strategies to ensure they provide healthy food to the customers (Reid & Bojanic, 2010). These have worked over the years and it is advisable for other organization to adopt a similar style of decision-making. This move will ensure long-term prosperity and better working relationship in the

Oil and gas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Oil and gas - Essay Example The employee’s team will be enticed through the promises of better hours, bonuses and the additional perks. This will ensure that the employees are always motivated and thus they will not leave the company for better payment. Zz company will also prevent the live company from outweighing them by ensuring that they will not handle the main areas of their concern.zz company will handle themarketing,geographical,exploration and production by offering the competitive salary to employees,encouranging growth, open channel of communication, promoting balance,moltivating and engaging employees. The zz employees will not leave their job for the better salary because the company will ensure the personal career growth of all the employees. The company will offer a career advancement opportunity for all the employees through guiding them and placing them in their areas of specialization. This will help the employee to understand that they are much appreciated and it will even attract the employees from the live company to come and be employed by the zz company. The open channels of communication will encourage the employees in the zz company and they will feel more involved in the operations of the zz company. The zz company will develop a good communication channels and network between the employees and the decision makers which will make the employees to feel that they have a big role in the company. This will ensure that the employees are much connected with the management and it will build the credibility and trust between the employees and the company. The zz company will motivate and engage all the employees in the company’s affairs and they will be able to realize that their effort in t he company are realized. This will build a strong relationship which will ensure that the live company does not take advantage of

Sacred Texts, Major Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sacred Texts, Major - Essay Example Habel, O'Donoghue, Maddox (1993) say that sacred texts of Islam include the Holy Quran where it holds higher than the primary importance in Islam. The second most important sacred text in Islam is Hadith. Quran holds the highest importance as it is firmly believed that Holy Quran is the word of God and these were the words truly revealed on the last Prophet. Muslim all around the world believe the Holy Quran as the most sacred word of God. Hadith is sacred text that holds an importance secondary to the Holy Quran. Hadith is not just one book in fact this is the compilation of many books representing the sayings of the Last Prophet as well as the sayings of the caliphs in that era including many other followers to Last prophet. Gordon (2002) says that the word Quran in the literal sense means "To recite" when the word is looked out for meanings in Arabic language. The word recite is the first command that was delivered to the Lat Prophet by angel Gabriel. Recitation is the fact strongly associated with the Holy Quran. The Holy Quran not only holds a highest authority in all the religious matters for all the Muslims around the world but Holy Quran has also been holding the first priority for consultation in all legal matters. All Muslims believe firmly that Holy Quran is a complete guide for life which not only has the religious matters and issues complied in one book but also the ways to pas life are also present within the most sacred book. Habel, O'Donoghue, Maddox (1993) discusses that it is resolutely held by all Muslims that Holy Quran is a written word of God which is unblemished thus without any errors being perfect in every sense. It is held that the Holy Quran is a flawless record of all the revelations that had been made by angel Gabriel to the last Prophet. The timeline that has been described in texts for these revelation spans from 610 A.D till 632 A.D. It is said that the length of Quran is approximately the same as Christian New Testament having 114 Surahs. The arrangement of these Surahs is from longest Surah to the shortest Surah. Surahs have been classified as Meccan or Medinan and this depends on the Surah's origin. Message in the Quran is spread by means of some literary frameworks and literary devices. There is Arabic text in Holy Quran which is composed of thematic structures that make the reader recall the message. As the text of Holy Quran is considered to be perfect so many scholars regard the Holy text to be the criteria to teach Arabic language. The literary readers believe that Quran has the most rhymed sequence of Arabic language. Moreover the verses of the Holy Quran reflect directness, intimacy thereby asking the reader the same question as to what will be of value after this life. Functions in community Gordon (2002) says that the Muslim community regards the Holy Quran as the word of God and thereby it is the only reliable word to follow to make the dealings in life. Muslims believe that the sacred word has the solution to every problem in life thereby recitation of the Holy Quran can lead to solutions. All the social and the legal issues are considered to be solved by consulting the Holy Quran. Significant features of Muslim tradition Here in this

W8 Topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

W8 Topic - Essay Example Creating effective strategies geared towards the identification of an appropriate location for is business is important as it will help minimize incurred expenditures in terms of transport costs. Locating a business near a market and in areas where business expansion can easily be done is important for a business. Business or industries ought to be situated in locations where raw materials and labor are readily available (Waters, 2003). This can only be achieved through designing and implementing proper location planning strategies. There are other factors such as political situation of a particular region or country, as well as social and economic issues that affect business. Economic factors may include economic activities such as agriculture (Waters, 2003). Subsequently, considering the economic and social nature of the target population is of significance as it directly contributes to the success of the business. Regions with political instability ought to be avoided at all costs. Location planning strategies helps business owners identify these issues and hence enable them to make informed decisions. There are areas where business owners may enjoy tax cuts r benefits from the government and location planning helps business owners identify such areas. For instance, opening a business in rural areas may have additional benefits in terms of costs of production and tax cuts by the government (Bryson,

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 137

Summary - Essay Example There was discrimination even for federal jobs thus blacks could not join the military (Lewis, 1997). To ensure that all the whites supported him in his fight against the blacks, films and newspapers circulated propagandas about the blacks’ ignorance and the cruelty of the black men for instance black men are portrayed as rapists for raping their bosses white women in the south where they were slaves. This led to the formation of Ku Klux Klan that hanged and burnt the black men in public (Lewis, 1997). The increment of stereotyping blacks was rampant and the blacks tried their best to fight for equal rights. During World War 1, America joined the war to help the allies thus blacks joined the army. The black troop fought with honor to prove that they were better than the white soldiers were. In France, the white Americans continued discriminating and stereotyping the black troops and they gave warning to the French soldiers that the black troops were ignorant and lusted for white women and if they welcomed them they would rape their women (Lewis, 1997). The French soldiers discounted these accusations and the soldiers won the war in their favor. After the war, black troops were honored with medals but that was not enough as they only agreed to fight for America to ensure they earn equal rights. The black troops organized other blacks and formed organizations then moved to the north and in New York; they formed more organizations to ensure segregation ended (Lewis, 1997). Since some of the blacks in the organization were intelligent, they joined other philosophers in the verge of identifying their true roots from Africa. Knowing their culture and their ancestors was key in the struggle for equality although they claimed that race was not important in the provision of equal rights but they had to stand as African-American race to ensure discrimination of their race ended. The next step according to this chapter was to end the

W8 Topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

W8 Topic - Essay Example Creating effective strategies geared towards the identification of an appropriate location for is business is important as it will help minimize incurred expenditures in terms of transport costs. Locating a business near a market and in areas where business expansion can easily be done is important for a business. Business or industries ought to be situated in locations where raw materials and labor are readily available (Waters, 2003). This can only be achieved through designing and implementing proper location planning strategies. There are other factors such as political situation of a particular region or country, as well as social and economic issues that affect business. Economic factors may include economic activities such as agriculture (Waters, 2003). Subsequently, considering the economic and social nature of the target population is of significance as it directly contributes to the success of the business. Regions with political instability ought to be avoided at all costs. Location planning strategies helps business owners identify these issues and hence enable them to make informed decisions. There are areas where business owners may enjoy tax cuts r benefits from the government and location planning helps business owners identify such areas. For instance, opening a business in rural areas may have additional benefits in terms of costs of production and tax cuts by the government (Bryson,

Cultural Diversity and Literacy Essay Example for Free

Cultural Diversity and Literacy Essay The student body of academic institutions for higher learning is becoming more and more diverse in culture and social groups through the past generations (Koester Lustig, 1991; Powell Collier, 1990). Therefore, educators must bear in mind this diversity factor and modify teaching procedures accordingly. I am a Korean intending to effectively teach piano lessons to high school students. I should be able to help my students appreciate the piano, play the piano excellently and make them become highly literate in music. In a paper presented at the Central States Communication Association Convention in Oklahoma City in 1994, Goulden suggests that the primary goal of academicians and educators in facing cultural diversity should be to provide an opportunity for learning that is beneficial for students (1994 5). This primary goal is supported by more straightforward objectives. Goulden also states that the students must be prepared for life after graduation (1994 5). Therefore, the end goal should be to help the students, however diverse their cultures are, to stand proud for his culture and for what he has learned. As a piano teacher, I think that aside from teaching my students to simply play the piano, I must also impart on them the value of cultural pride, as well as the importance of understanding people on other cultures that will also be part of their audience in playing the piano. Even as music is considered a universal language, it will help my students to play with passion to be able to transcend cultural differences. It is my goal as a teacher to help them achieve that level of effectiveness. Of course, in effect, I intend to teach piano lessons to my students to help them achieve high literacy in music. Literacy is a much broader concept than most people think. While others believe that literacy is all about learning to read and write, other academicians believe that literacy means deep understanding of subject matters, such as music. To contrast, literacy is what broadens a persons world, while illiteracy shrinks it down (Needlman, 2001). I think a persons imagination has a lot to do with literacy. For example, if my students could learn to read the notes and play the piano effectively, I will be happy as a teacher. However, if my students will play the piano and experiment with musical notes on their own, then, I will be happier; because it means that I am imparting high litereacy to my students. If my students can use their imagination and deepen their appreciation and interest in music, I will say they are highly literate in music. As a piano teacher, I think I need to know more than just my students level of skills. For instance, I need to know more than just the notes that they can or cannot read, or the music pieces that they can or cannot play. To be able to reach their mind and help them become imaginative, productive and highly literate in music, I must be able to overcome any possible barrier in reaching their mind. I think my students must have fun while learning with me. Culture can be a barrier to literacy, if there is no connection between teachers and students. For instance, some of my students might be intimidated by the fact that we Koreans, are highly interested in music, and it is an integral part of our lifestyle. I, as the teacher, should tell my students, that even if a certain culture appreciates music more than a certain other culture, it does not mean that the others cannot learn. In fact, on the contrary, we would be very happy to share our passion with the rest of the world. I think that as a teacher, I must understand my students, as well as their families and their communities so I can help them to reach a high level of literacy. Through understanding, I can better relate to my students and establish a connection with them so they will feel that they are a part of me, and I am a part of them, and we must celebrate our cultural diversity because it is beautiful to see that we are different, and yet the same. We have different cultures, but we also have the same interest and the same goals. Between my students and me, our main similarities should be our interest in learning together, learning from each other, and learning about music. For me to have a better understanding of the underlying effects of the increased cultural diversity of my students, I should look into the manners in which students from diverse social and cultural units experience music. I think I should educate myself and equip myself with knowledge about my students varied culture before I can become truly effective in reaching out to them, to make them excellent piano players. Culture is not a static phenomenon passed exactly as it is down from one generation to another; in fact, culture is a dynamic, flexible, breathing environment to which every person makes a contribution. In this case, education, specifically music education must be about helping every student find his passion in music, and help him nourish that passion so he could be prepared to make his own contribution to his own culture (Shuler, 2001). If I could help a student with a culture different from mine develop a contribution to his own culture, then it will also be my achievement as a teacher. References Goulden, N. R. (1994). Curricular Changes, Communication Skills, and Cultural Diversity: The Next Generation, 5. Koester, J. , Lustig, M. (1991). Communication curricula in the Multicultural university. Communication Education, 40, 250-254. Needlman, R. (2001). What Is Literacy? Retrieved November 15, 2006 from http://www. drspock. com/article/0,1510,5133,00. html Powell, R. , Collier, M. J. (1990). Public speaking instruction and cultural bias: The future of the basic course. American Behavioral Scientist, 34(2), 240-250. Shuler, S. C. (2001). Music and education in the twenty-first century: A retrospective, Arts Education Policy Review (Vol. 102, pp. 25): Heldref Publications.