Racial and Ethnic Disparity in Healthcare

The population of United States of America is quite diverse as there is substantial numbers of African-American, Hispanic, Native American or Asian/Pacific Islander living here. The numbers of non whites is enormously increasing in the country. In 1900, one in eight American was non white but at present one in four is non white and it is estimated that by the year 2070, each one of two American will be non white. (US Census Bureau 2005) This changing composition of population is making differences in various sectors but the nation is facing an important challenge with respect to the biasness in healthcare.The overall healthcare of the country is impressively improving but this improvement is not being equally shared by all the racial and ethnic groups of nation. Non white population is getting divergent and low level medical treatment and care as compared with the white people and this difference has created healthcare disparities among the minorities. There are several causes behind these growing healthcare disparities among the minorities and several strategies have also been designed in order to cope up with this problem.This paper is proposing to conduct a quantitative research in order to highlight the root causes of healthcare disparities, strategies to overcome this problem and the attitude and role of the nation towards these disparities. The paper provides the background information, statistic data, need, purposes, significance and methodology of research. Introduction Disparity is â€Å"the condition or fact of being unequal, as in age, rank, or degree† and healthcare disparity refers to unsatisfactory situation when patients receive unequal medical treatment and care.When the medical care and treatment become unequal on racial and ethnic grounds, it gives rise to minorities healthcare disparities. Many researches have proved that in United States of America, people belonging to different races are not getting equal healthcare and the healthcar e disparities among the minorities is extensively increasing. The quality of medical care and treatment is different for minorities There are some basic factors responsible for this disparity like â€Å"differences in socioeconomic level i. e.income and education, language barriers, differences in health behaviors of consumers, lack of diversity in the health care workforce, lack of multi-cultural knowledge and actual discrimination and stereotyping by health care providers† (American Hospital Association). The death rate of African, South Asian, Hispania American due to severe diseases is considerably higher then that of white Americans. In order to avoid these disparities authentic researches are required that can highlight the problem areas and then design the strategies for improving the healthcare situation of minorities.A research study is proposed in order to find out the role of healthcare provider in promoting these healthcare disparities. The research will focus on the behaviors of nation especially the healthcare providers and their practice pattern in order to point out their contribution towards amplifying these disparities. It will be a qualitative research; a survey of major healthcare units where the health care providers (doctors and medical staff) and the patients (both White and Non-Whites) will be questioned about the issue.The research will focus on the points that how the people are responding towards the strategies designed for reducing the healthcare disparities among the minority population, how much the working pattern of healthcare provider has changed for minorities, how the white people are changing their attitude for non whites and weather the victims (minority population) are feeling any difference in their treatment and care or not. The data will be access to get the key findings which will be use in order to develop future strategies for preventing and minimizing the minorities healthcare disparities.The research will co ntain an introduction, background information, Statistical Data, Finding of the survey, Analysis and results, discussion, proposed strategies and conclusion. The problems statement or hypothesis for the research will be â€Å"Is our nation doing enough to reduce racial and ethnic disparity in healthcare? † Background Information There is great rise in healthcare discrimination for minorities in United States. Despite the improved national healthcare situation, the minority population is facing more problems regarding their health.Following is the background information about the health condition of African Americans, Hispanics, South Indian and Native Americans, and islanders. The infant mortality rate is going down in America but the African American still have a high infant mortality rate which is almost double than the white Americans. â€Å"Heart disease death rates are more than 40 percent higher for African Americans than for whites. The death rate for all cancers is 3 0 percent higher for African Americans than for whites; for prostate cancer, it is more than double that for whites.African American women have a higher death rate from breast cancer despite having a mammography screening rate that is nearly the same as the rate for white women. The death rate from HIV/AIDS for African Americans is more than seven times that for whites; the rate of homicide is six times that for whites. During 2001-2004, 68% of all women reported with AIDS were African American; among men, just under half (44%) of the new cases of HIV and AIDS were in African Americans. Lupus is three times more common in African American women than in white women.African American women tend to develop symptoms at an earlier age than other women, and have more severe organ problems, especially with their kidneys. † (Health People 2010) The Hispanic population is also facing low level medical care which has resulted in their poor health conditions. Among the new cases of tuberc ulosis registered in America during 1996, almost 20% were Hispanic. The number of Hispanic Americans dieing from diabetes is almost double then the non Hispanics.They also have high blood pressure and obesity rate as compared with non Hispanics. â€Å"Only 18% of Hispanics with high blood pressure have this condition under control, compared with 30% of whites. Type 2 diabetes is being diagnosed more often in Hispanic children and adolescents than in the past. Only 42% of Hispanics aged 65 years or older receive a pneumonia or annual flu shot, compared with 63% of whites. Only 28% receive the pneumonia shot, compared with 61% of whites.Hispanics have the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS diagnoses and account for 18% of all HIV/AIDS cases. In 2004, non-Hispanic black persons were less likely than non-Hispanic white persons to have received a flu shot during the past 12 months (Non-Hispanic black: 32. 9%; Non-Hispanic white: 50. 9%), and were also less likely to have ever received a pn eumococcal vaccination (Non-Hispanic black: 38. 6%; Non-Hispanic white: 60. 9%)†. (CDC, 2007) The American Indians and Alaska natives are also the minority nations having bad health conditions.The diabetes and infant mortality rate is almost double among them as compared with the white Americans. â€Å"The Pima of Arizona have one of the highest rates of diabetes in the world. American Indians and Alaska Natives also have disproportionately high death rates from unintentional injuries and suicide. † (CDC) The health condition of Asians and Pacific Islanders is considered as â€Å"one of the healthiest population groups in the United States† but there are still data that proves that this population is also facing healthcare diversities.For example â€Å"the women of Vietnamese origin suffer from cervical cancer at nearly five times the rate for white women. New cases of hepatitis and tuberculosis also are higher in Asians and Pacific Islanders living in the Unite d States than in whites. Pacific Islanders are more than twice as likely as whites to receive a diagnosis of diabetes. Although the estimated HIV/AIDS rate among Pacific Islanders is the lowest in the United States compared with all other racial and ethnic groups, the rate increased an average of 9% each year during 2001–2004.† (Healthy People 2010) There are many diseases which are very common among the minorities and causing high death rates among them. These diseases include Infant Mortality, Hepatitis, Tuberculosis, Mental Problems, Cancer, Heart Diseases, Diabetes, Immunizations and HIV AIDS. These diseases are effecting the health situation of minorities at large for example, the â€Å"African-American, American Indian, and Puerto Rican infants have higher death rates than white infants. In 2000, the black-to-white ratio in infant mortality was 2. 5 (up from 2. 4 in 1998).African-American women are more than twice as likely to die of cervical cancer as are white women and are more likely to die of breast cancer than are women of any other racial or ethnic group. In 2000, rates of death from diseases of the heart were 29 percent higher among African-American adults than among white adults, and death rates from stroke were 40 percent higher. In 2000, American Indians and Alaska Natives were 2. 6 times more likely to have diagnosed diabetes compared with non-Hispanic Whites, African Americans were 2. 0 times more likely, and Hispanics were 1.9 times more likely. African Americans and Hispanics accounted for 66 percent of adult AIDS cases and 82 percent of pediatric AIDS cases reported in the first half of that year† (NCHS 2002) whereas In 2001, Hispanics and African Americans aged 65 and older were less likely than Non-Hispanic whites to report having received influenza and pneumococcal vaccines (MMWR, 2002) The mental problems of the minorities are also an important point of concern as â€Å"American Indians and Alaska Natives appear t o suffer disproportionately from depression and substance abuse.Minorities have less access to, and availability of, mental health services. Minorities are less likely to receive needed mental health services. Minorities in treatment often receive a poorer quality of mental health care. Minorities are underrepresented in mental health research. † (Mental Health Report 1999) In 2002, 50 percent of those infected with Hepatitis B was Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Black teenagers and young adults become infected with Hepatitis B three to four times more often than those who are white.One recent study has found that black people have a higher incidence of Hepatitis C infection than white people. (Department of Health and Human Services) Of all the TB cases reported from 1991-2001, almost 80 percent were in racial and ethnic minorities. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders accounted for 22 percent of those cases, even though they made up less than four percent of the U. S . population. (NCHSTP Division of TB Elimination) Medical Care and Treatment of MinoritiesThe poor health condition of the minorities is caused by unequal medical treatment and care. The minority people are in great need for better medical facilities because they are suffering from severe diseases at higher rates but there is not proper access of minorities to the healthcare facilities. Some factors are responsible for this issue like â€Å"lack of health insurance, an inadequate number of health care facilities, patient dumping, difficulty in obtaining prescription drugs and an insufficient number of African-American doctors.† (Cara A. Fauci, 1996) There is lack of medical facilities availability to the minority population for example, the â€Å"African Americans are 13 percent less likely to undergo coronary angioplasty and one-third less likely to undergo bypass surgery than are whites, Among preschool children hospitalized for asthma, only 7 percent of black and 2 percen t of Hispanic children, compared with 21 percent of white children, are prescribed routine medications to prevent future asthma-related hospitalizations.The length of time between an abnormal screening mammogram and the follow up diagnostic test to determine whether a woman has breast cancer is more than twice as long in Asian American, black, and Hispanic women as in white women. African Americans with HIV infection are less likely to be on antiretroviral therapy, less likely to receive prophylaxis for Pneumocystis pneumonia, and less likely to be receiving protease inhibitors than other persons with HIV.An HIV infection data coordinating center, now under development, will allow researchers to compare contemporary data on HIV care to examine whether disparities in care among groups are being addressed and to identify any new patterns in treatment that arise. Asian American, Hispanic, and African American residents of nursing homes are all far less likely than white residents to ha ve sensory and communication aids, such as glasses and hearing aids. A new study of nursing home care is developing measures of disparities in this care setting and their relationship to quality of care.† (AHRQ Fact Sheet 2000) Following is the chart that shows the total number of deaths in America during the year 2001 and the ratio of different minorities’ death due to different diseases. The Need to Conduct the Study: The above stated information clearly throws the light on the situation of minorities’ health in United States. The current scenario is not very positive and hopeful for the people living in US, belonging to different races and ethnicity. The situation demands the attention of scholars and social scientists to work for its betterment.Research studies are greatly needed in the field of healthcare disparities of minorities because the results of the researcher will work for formulating strategies that can reduce the disparities and make the situation better. To eliminate the racial and ethnic discrimination in healthcare sectors it is very necessary to have a research support so that there could be a better understanding of healthcare disparities among the government, healthcare providers, insurers, employers, hospital staff, physicians, patients and general public.Several researches have been conducted with the aim to minimize the healthcare disparity. These researches worked out for authentic data and strategic plans but despite all that there is no significant improvement in this field. Now a research is much needed to know the impact of previously taken steps so that the new plans can be designed. There is a great need to know weather those steps and strategies are working or not. It is required to find out the response of public towards the strategies and steps that have been taken in order to create awareness among people about the healthcare disparities of minorities.The change in the working pattern of healthcare provid ers and their behaviors towards the minorities is also need to be found out. All these requirements can be fulfilled by this proposed study as it is intended to focus upon the nation’s role in minimizing minorities’ healthcare disparities. It is also required to measure the differences in the medical treatment given to the people of different races so that a clear picture of the issue could be achieved.The report of the proposed research will also provide authentic data and detailed background information of the issue that will aid in formulating policies for the betterment of the sector. The Purpose and Objective of Research The research study is aimed at improving the healthcare conditions of minorities in United States by expanding the information about the minorities’ healthcare with reference to particular diseases like heart problem, cancer, AIDS and infant mortality etc.It will point out the main diseases and their relative medical care conditions for the minority people. This data will help in the formulation of health policy for the minorities also it will throw the light on the main health problems among minorities that could make them conscious about their health. The study will be directed by the objective of enhancing the understanding of issue at national and governmental level and to underline the negative consequences of the issues so that there could be great awareness about reducing the disparities.Through the study people will be insisted to change their thinking about the minorities and changing their behaviors. The healthcare providers who discriminates the minority people will be accessed and they were asked to analyze their attitude towards minorities. Their personal analysis of their attitude could be helpful in making changes in their way of thinking and as a result there could be betterment in situation for the non white and low income people who are not getting proper medical care from them.The purpose of the stu dy is also to investigate people about their troubles and to point out the major problem areas like language barrier or other so that the monitory population will also get some idea to overcome this discrimination. The survey could be a great opportunity for the minorities to express their thinking and to share their experiences. It will develop a communication link among different people of the society. The principle factors responsible for the disparities among the racial and ethnic groups will also come in front of people, as a result of this study.In short the purpose of the study is to get a better understanding of the minorities healthcare disparities and to find out the ways for the reduction of this disparity. It will be a systematic approach and managed effort for minimizing the minorities healthcare disparities. Significance of the Research The research will focus on the purpose of eliminating the healthcare disparities among minorities. The study will work to collect the data related to the issue from all possible sources then its analysis and interpretation for digging out some points that can help in making situation better.This effort will result in the gathering of complete authentic background information about the issue that will be helpful for the other scholars intended to work in the field. The data will also provide the students of this field a deep and detailed view of the issue. The systematically gathered data about the health condition and medical care will facilitate the policy making people and while formulating the health policy for minorities, it will be significant to know their health condition with respect to several diseases and their treatment.The major problems area will be identified easily. The research is proposed to done in quantities method and the data gathered through the survey from different people will provide a picture about the thinking and interpretation of the issue. The social scientists and psychologists can a lso dig out some solutions from the thinking style of people and they can also work for changing people behaviors and their perception of the issue.Some researches have been done by different organizations that focused on minority healthcare disparities and strategic plan for their reduction. Many of the researches are done under the supervision of credible organizations. A research was conducted by the â€Å"Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality – AHRQ† in the year 2003, under the name of â€Å"National Healthcare Disparities Report†. The National Healthcare Disparities Report is the â€Å"national comprehensive effort to measure differences in access and use of health care services by various populations.The report includes a broad set of performance measures that can serve as baseline views of differences in the use of services. The report presents data on differences in the use of services, access to health care, and impressions of quality for seven cl inical conditions, including cancer, diabetes, end-stage renal disease, heart disease, HIV and AIDS, mental health, and respiratory disease as well as data on maternal and child health, nursing home and home health care, and patient safety.It also examines differences in use of services by priority populations. † (AHRQ) The 2003 report is also available online at http://www. qualitytools. ahrq. gov/disparitiesreport/2003/download/download_report. aspx. Another research â€Å"Racism and Health Care in America: Legal Responses to Racial Disparities in the Allocation of Kidneys† was conducted by Cara A.Fauci in the year 1996 which â€Å"proposes and analyzes various responses to disparities in kidney allocation on the basis of race including public education, organ donation publicity campaigns, presumed consent to donation laws, the creation of criteria for placement on an United Network for Organ Sharing kidney allocation waiting list, alteration of kidney allocation gui delines, and litigation under both the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights of 1964. † This report is also available online at http://www. bc. edu/bc_org/avp/law/lwsch/journals/bctwj/21_1/02_TXT.htm Another research is done by AHRQ â€Å"Strategies for Improving Minority Healthcare Quality†. The research is focused at developing scientific information for other agencies and organizations on which to base clinical guidelines, performance measures, and other quality improvement tools. Contractor institutions review all relevant scientific literature on assigned clinical care topics and produce evidence reports and technology assessments, conduct research on methodologies and the effectiveness of their implementation, and participate in technical assistance activities (AHRQ Fact Sheet)The Hypothesis or Problem Statement and Introduction of Research The research study will focus on the nation’s awareness about the minorities’ healthcare disparities and will focus on the attitude and thinking ways of general public and healthcare providers. The problems statement or hypothesis for the research will be â€Å"Is our nation doing enough to reduce racial and ethnic disparity in healthcare? The problem statement will be expresses in the questionnaire.A survey will be done among the healthcare providers, white Americans and non white Americans in which they will be asked to express their views about the role of nation for reducing the disparities of health care. It will be evaluated weather there is complete awareness among the people about the issue or not. The strategies designed by different research organizations are successful in changing nation’s way of thinking or not. The general public also has discrimination with each other and do the white people think it is justify carrying on the discrimination with non whites.Method and Introduction of the Research Study The research st udy will be quantitative. It will be a survey which is to be conducted among the healthcare providers and general public. Keeping in view the problem statement, a survey questionnaire would be designed. The questionnaire will consists of more then 5 questions which will be aimed at finding out the people opinions and thinking about the issue. Most of the questions will be multiple choices and in some there would be open field for people to express their views.The main question would be the same; the problem statement with sub questions i. e. â€Å"Is our Nation Doing enough to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparity in Healthcare? † a) The behavior of healthcare providers varies for people of different races and ethnicity or not? b) Is there any impact of strategies planned reducing the minorities’ healthcare disparities? After the making of questionnaire, the universe for the survey would be decided; the number of people to be questioned, their geography, demography, age, sex, profession, race etc.Survey sampling is an important part of research in which it would be decided that what would be the criteria for selecting the people from different groups either they will be picked randomly or every 10th or 20th listed in the telephone directory or other population statistical data catalog. The data gathering could be through telephone, through internet and preferably by meeting them personally. The people can be accessed in the hospitals, clinics, offices or homes.After getting the entire questionnaire filled by the decided number of people, the next step would be finding out the results. Once the results came out they can be analyze in different ways, with respect to race and ethnicity, with respect to age, with respect to gender or with respect to profession or locality. After analyzing the key findings of the results will be use to presenting result summary of the research. The key finding will help in formulating the strategies for the betterment of situation.there would be a discussion on the finding and proposed strategies as well as the impact of previous strategies. A conclusion would windup the research report. Contents of Research Thesis with Proposed References List In the beginning there would be an Abstract and Acknowledgement. The theses will be consisting of main chapters including Introduction, Background information and Statistical Data, Research Methodology, Research Findings or Results of the Study, Discussion, Proposed Strategies, Conclusion and Appendix.The â€Å"Introduction† will throw light on the whole theses. It will contain basic information about the issue, the need and purpose of research study, its significance, and the outcome. The introduction is an important part of the thesis. It should be compact and comprehensive. In the next section â€Å"Back ground Information and Statistical Data† there would be complete factual information about the situation of healthcare disparities related to minorities. There would be history indicating that the problem is not very new but it has deep roots inside history.After history there will be present picture of the issue; the ratio of different racial and ethnic groups in the population of United States and their health condition. The situation of present healthcare of minorities with regard to major diseases and their respective treatment will also be including in the background information. The quality of medical care available for different ethnic and racial groups would be an important point to focus upon. The statistical data will comprise of charts and tables indicating different diseases among minorities and death rates compared with white people.The thirds section â€Å"Research Methodology† will describe the entire method of conducting research. It will include the problem statement, questionnaire, survey sampling, data gathering tools and methods. It will also inform about demography and geography of the peopl e included in the study, the number of people questioned, the number of questions asked, the method of conducting survey either through telephone, internet, post or personal meetings. After the methodology, the next section will be the â€Å"Research findings† or â€Å"Results of the Survey†.In this section there would be included the statistical data that came out from the survey questionnaires. The opinion of people would be included in percentages with respect to their race, age, geography and profession or income group. The results will clarify the study finding and highlight the public opinion. The next section i. e. â€Å"Discussion† will contain the analysis of the findings of the survey. This is the main part of the theses where the result finding will be use to analyze the current situation and the impact of previously formulated strategies.The discussion will throw the light on the current condition of minority healthcare disparities. The discussion wi ll be followed by the â€Å"Proposed Strategies† where there will be suggestions about the steps that could be taken in order to reduce the disparities in minority healthcare and to create better awareness in nation about the problem. In the â€Å"Conclusion† the whole thesis would be windup. It will be the end of research report which will sum up all the information, data, findings, discussion and proposals made within the theses.

Moral Dilemma: Army Recruitment and Video Games

Moral Dilemma: Army Recruitment and Video Games While watching the documentary â€Å"Digital Nation,† produced by Rachel Dretzin, I became interested by a section titled â€Å"The Army Experience Center. † The documentary shows clips of teenagers as young as thirteen playing violent videos games in an arcade run by the Army. The whole goal is to arouse these teenagers’ interest so they enlist. Having strong negative feelings towards war and teenage recruitment to begin with, I decided to research this subject further.Let me take you through my thought process while I struggle with the question; Is the Army Experience Center’s (AEC) use of war video games a moral way to recruit teenagers? My first source, a radio program titled â€Å"War Games Lure for ‘Real Thing† laid the background. Host Jacki Lyden explains how the AEC had closed on July 30, 2010 after being in a Philadelphia shopping mall. It was only open for two years in order to â€Å" determine the most effective tools for public outreach† (Army).The center’s spokesman, Captain John Kirchgessner, said the center was successful and had been a â€Å"better way to share our Army story than to simply smile and dial and ask somebody if they thought about joining lately† (War). Brian Lepley adds to this by saying, â€Å"We have got to reach them the way that they entertain themselves† (Joel). I found these statements to be true. After all, before building the AEC, the Army had shut down five recruiting offices nearby. With half the staff, the Army was able to recruit the same amount of people and still save money (War).This saving of money was good business practices and even benefits tax payers. My perception of the AEC was already looking better. Though Kirshgessner is confident that these recruits were aware of the difference between war and videogame, Staff Sergeant Jesse Hamilton has a different perspective. He worries that the use of vi deo games as a recruitment tool takes away from the reality of war. He goes on to say, â€Å"People screaming, blood, flies, horrible smells – the list goes on and on. And they’ve taken all of that out, and what they’ve effectively left is the portion which they consider to be the fun part† (War).Reading this statement reminded me of why I felt ashamed of the AEC to begin with. It gives kids, who don’t know any better, a false idea of all the different aspects of war. I found myself back to my initial, negative perception of the AEC. At this point, I knew I needed more first-hand information about the AEC. Keeping with radio programs, I stumbled across one hosted by Rebecca Roberts who goes into more detail about the center as she takes a tour. She describes it as â€Å"slick and gadget-heavy as an Apple store† (Army).There are two simulators: a Humvee and two Blackhawk helicopter, a career navigator, a global-base locator, and rows of Xbox game counsels. Everything is free, as long as you are thirteen or older. It seems so innocent, like a teenage boy’s dream come true. While thinking more about the nature of boys, I reminded myself that boys have been known through all generations to play war games. Weather it is Cowboys and Indians, Battleship, or the latest video game. It’s in their nature. The more I thought about violent video games, the more I accepted it as a modern day childhood game.Maybe the AEC is more innocent then I thought. Yet, even with an acceptance of violent videos games, I still had not applied that to the Army’s use of video games to persuade teenagers into war. Roberts mentions that some have criticized the AEC â€Å"for bait-and-switch tactics, masquerading as an arcade when it’s really an Army recruiting station† (Army). The Army calling itself an arcade when it’s really a recruitment center brings a whole new problem to the subject. The Army is not all owed to recruit teenagers who are underage.This makes the Army look untruthful. Though the AEC isn’t called a recruitment center, it is. They shut down those five nearby recruitment centers because they planned to recruit teenagers, instead, at the AEC. Staff denies that the AEC is a recruitment center, but then turn around and boast about how many kids they have recruited (War). Bill Deckhart describes it as, â€Å"The Army people would talk about it and say, ‘Oh it's not a recruiting center,’ [and] at the end of their statement, they would talk about how recruiting was doing.To me, it was very dishonest† (Joel). The dishonesty of the Army became my major turnoff. After all, if the Army was not doing anything wrong then why would they have to lie? In â€Å"Playing War,† Ian Graham and Ronald Shaw argue for a more innocent view of war video games. Their term ‘transitional space’ (790) for video games suggests that they are used to help ready soldiers and recruit new ones (796). Video games, in Graham and Shaw’s minds, are purely tools to help soldiers experience war and help civilians understand it.The Army Experience Center’s use of video games is not a new concept in American Army history. In fact, the Army’s use of digital media dates all the back to the 1970s and from 1996 when the video game Doom II: Hell on Earth came out for training purposes (794). I asked myself, â€Å"Why was there so much controversy over the AEC when the Army has been using video games for years? † Perhaps it has something to do with all the negative science floating around out, claiming violent video games have disastrous effects on young minds. I decided to research this further in my forth source.In the presence of so many studies about the correlation between video games and violent behavior, Author Christopher Ferguson begs to differ. He claims that â€Å"measures used in video game studies claiming to represent ‘aggression’ in fact don’t correlate will with actual real-life aggressive acts or violent behaviors† (79). This is clear and can be proven by the fact that the number of violent crimes from youth and adults have decreased while video game sales have risen (Ulanoff). Being intrigued by this new idea that violent video games are safe for society, I ventured on with my research.Lance Ulanoff has a son who loves video games, especially violent ones. He has seen no difference in his son’s behavior since he has started playing video games and trusts that his son knows fact from fiction. When talking about today’s youth, Ulanoff says, â€Å"when they turn off those games, they go back to being the same teen they were before they turned it on† (Ulanoff). In his writing, Ulanoff stresses that parents should be responsible over what their kids do. This made me realize something so basic about the fight against the AEC. If parents donà ¢â‚¬â„¢t like it, then they have the right to tell their kids not to go.If parents are concerned their kid is too naive about the dangers of war, they can educate their kids. If a child enlists in the Army because they developed a false sense of war from playing video games at the AEC, whose fault is that? At this point of my research, I now believed that this is the parent’s responsibility, not the Army’s. In the article titled â€Å"I Wish I were a Warrior,† authors Konijam, Bijvank, and Bushman state that video games are harmful to adolescence boy minds. They are too influential to have role models who â€Å"show no remorse for their aggressive actions, and are rarely punished for behaving aggressively† (Konijam).The authors, also, relates lower education with vulnerability, which made me come to my own explanation as to why there are disproportionately more African Americans in the Army. In many ways, this article is true. We should be mindful of the effects that violent media has on us. Maybe we won’t go out killing people, but we are becoming less sensitive of the horrors of war because of it. A life is too precious to take a chance. While on the subject of desensitization, I came across an article published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. The issue of war video games and desensitization took a spin.The authors admit that video games blur the lines between reality and fiction, and that this can be bad for children civilians. Yet, while reading, I realized not all desensitization was bad. The article points out that just as medical students need to be desensitized from blood, so do soldiers when it comes to killing and facing tragedy (Carnagey 490). The video games are the bridge between civilian and soldier life and troops benefit from that slow transition into war that video games provide. After reading this article, I had a completely new perspective on what desensitization is.Yet, this article conti nues to say that desensitization, while good for people planning to go into war, isn’t good for the regular, thirteen year old civilian. Though this article had valid points, the average kid visiting the AEC wouldn’t benefit from desensitization. With my views about the AEC going back and forth between good and bad, I continued to research on. I came to the article â€Å"Conflict of Interest,† written by Lev Grossman and Evan Narcisse. The article describes our nation’s high demand for video games. It, also, describes the realness so many of today’s games have.Talk about video game’s strong influence on our society had me thinking. We have seen people try to reenact graphic movies such as the â€Å"Dark Knight† movie theater shooting in Colorado, but we have never seen such reenactments based off of video games. If video games are so influential and detrimental, there are no facts to proof it. I began to think that the AEC’s us e of video games wasn’t really that big of a deal. As I read on, I found a quote by Hirshberg that reads, â€Å"I think there will be a time when we look back and find it quaint that video games were so controversial† (Grossman).By this time in my research, this quote summed up my thinking, though I still was uncertain about where I stood on the issue of the AEC. My last source was an interview with a World War II veteran, Rudy White. The moment I mentioned video games with recruitment he shook his head and said â€Å"no† (White). White reiterated my very first thoughts about how videogames the AEC desensitized people and put falsehoods into the realities of war. He said there are no consequences to face in games, while real war is filled with consequences. White gives an example that a man killed is a son, a brother, and father, and a friend who is now dead forever.There is no reset button in real life (White). After hearing White, I felt that all the research I did trying to justify the AEC was almost useless. I realized that it was better to trust my instincts that said war video games have their place in society, but not in Army recruitment. Through all my research, I have had a lot of mixed feelings. My initial thinking was that the AEC’s use of video games as a recruitment tool was destructive. It was a dishonest tools used by the Army that gives a false idea about war. It, also, desensitizes kids to the horrors and consequences of war.Yet through my research, I have seen valid counter argument to my own thinking. Some of these arguments are really quite simple, like the Army is just trying to connect with what kids like to do. Others are that the AEC gives people a more well-rounded idea of the Army than if they were playing the same video games alone in their rooms. Through it all, my final perception of the AEC came after talking to veteran Rudy White. I realized that there are many good things about the AEC, but the negati ves outweigh them all. War is too serious to be a game and thirteen is too young to recruit.The AEC and its use of violent video games is not a moral way to recruit teens to the Army. Works Cited â€Å"Army Complex – Arcade Or Recruiting Center? † Weekend All Things Considered 17 Jan. 2009. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. Carnagey, Nicholas L. , Craig A. Anderson, and Brad J. Bushman. â€Å"The Effects of Video Games Violence on Physiological Desensitization on Real-Life Violence. † Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 43. 3 (2006): 489-496. Print. Ferguson, Christopher J. â€Å"Blazing Angels Or Resident Evil? Can Violent Video Games Be A Force For Good?. † Review Of General Psychology 14. (2010): 68-81. PsycARTICLES. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. Graham, Ian, and Ronald Shaw. â€Å"Playing War. † Social and Cultural Geography 11. 8 (2010): 789, 803. Print. Grossman, Lev, and Evan Narcisse. â€Å"Conflict Of Interest. † Ti me 178. 17 (2011): 70-75. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. Joel, R. (2012). The Army Experience Center. On Marketplace [Record]. Philadelphia: American Public Media Konijn, Elly A. , Marije Nije Bijvank, and Brad J. Bushman. â€Å"I Wish I Were A Warrior: The Role Of Wishful Identification In The Effects Of Violent Video Games On Aggression In Adolescent Boys. Developmental Psychology 43. 4 (2007): 1038-1044. PsycARTICLES. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. Swanson, David. â€Å"The Army Experience Center's Bad Experience: Turns Out Training Kids To Kill Not Popular With Public. † Humanist 69. 6 (2009): 5. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. Ulanoff, Lance. â€Å"Violent Video Games: Our Responsibility, Not The Courts. † PC Magazine 29. 12 (2010): 1. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. â€Å"War Games Lure Recruits For ‘Real Thing’† Weekend Edition 31, Jul. 2010. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. White, Rudy. Personal interview. 31 Oct. 2012.

Democratization in The Philippines and South Korea Essay

Democratization in The Philippines and South Korea - Essay Example -97).Perkins argues that the president started far- reaching anti-corruption campaigns which to the public appeared to be genuine, the president introduced some reforms like exposure of assets by high level public officials and he amended the elections and political fund laws. Personally, he explains that the president led the campaign against corruption by declaring that he would not be receiving money as president the way the previous presidents used to. The author believes that Kim Young-Sam's campaign against corruption reached peak with the arrest and indictment of two former presidents on corruption charges. Kim Dae-jung's was the next president after Sam, the new president found public expectations for anti-corruption reforms being very high and similarly, he initiated some reforms that were basically based on transparency of public administration and other organizations and it is during his tenure when a comprehensive anti-corruption law was enacted (Cecil 2008). Next, and why is the Philippines more corrupt than South Korea Your answer, it has been performing poorly in the Transparency International corruption ranking tables than her neighbour.Well, Mr. Tony (2008) tells us that in the late 1960s the Philippines regime was challenged by rural insurgency and subsequently an urban protest movement. The author reports that the president Ferdinand Marcos, who himself had been elected amid accusations of electoral fraud and corruption declared martial law in 1972, this was in response to these insurgencies and the country was faced with several challenges. Under martial law, he argues that the Philippines was transformed from an elitist democracy into a "constitutional authoritarian" system. "Marcos friends and associates monopolized major industries, and cronyism... In Korea, the democratization process was more tailored to fight corruption than in the Philippines. We shall see later in the research that, anti-corruption movements in Korea started earlier even during the colonial regimes; in contrast, we shall see how in the Philippines the regime did not embrace serious reforms aimed at fighting corruption. When explaining why Korea is much less corrupt than the Philippines, Mr. Schmidt (2000) considers the part played by the religious group and the civil society. The author explains that democratic reforms and the growth of civil society seem to increasingly play a positive role in curbing corruption in Korea than in the Philippines .He argues that unlike Philippines, in Korea there was unity of religious groups in democratization movement and that the religious leaders in the democratization movement were naturally accepted by the general public as good shelters. Further more, he maintains that even during military dictatorial regimes some re ligious groups had taken the most important role in human rights movement. During this period Mr. Schmidt asserts that many religious leaders were put into jail and the government of the day was very oppressive. The author argues that it is on the background of this oppression that ironically made unity among various religious groups and with civil society in Korea. It can be argued that a central factor working in favor of Korean democratization is that the people took direct action in a revolutionary circumstances and forced political reforms, while a persistent source of weakness in the Philippines democracy is the general feeling that it lacks grass roots.

The Tension between Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces in Australia Essay

The Tension between Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces in Australia - Essay Example The Australian Commonwealth of States was set up in response to the need among the people to withstand and oppose the forces of colonialism, as symbolized by the rule of Britain. The authors of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution were Chief Justice Griffith and Justices Barton and OConnor, who had intended that the Constitution of Australia should exist on its own merit and not merely as a British statute. The Australian Commonwealth Act of 1900 has accorded Federal powers to the Commonwealth such that Constitutional control of the Privy Council is retained, while central powers are reduced to their narrowest limits and in this manner, has made it possible for the States to unite under one common umbrella of central defense to proclaim national independence in the future. The Federation of six Australian States was formulated with the knowledge that the Commonwealth and the States were in and of themselves, sovereign states with their own spheres of authority. In formulating the Australian federation, the founders were not anxious to toe the Canadian line which was deemed too centralist and were more inclined to favor the loose administrative style of the American Federation that was more decentralized3. Through this, the Commonwealth was conferred with the powers to maintain the peace and to make laws for peace, order and for the good of the Commonwealth in all the areas that had been designated under Section 51 of the Constitution, whereby the States were permitted to retain all their powers, with the exception of those powers that were wrested away, for the common good of the Commonwealth. Such areas included defense and foreign affairs. Areas not specifically identified under the â€Å"central† jurisdiction are  designated as â€Å"resid ual powers† which in the case of a Federation like Australia are considered to be within the purview of the States, since Australia has a decentralized federal system, unlike Canada that has a centralized federal system of Government.

Is the concept of the rule of law, as defined by dicey, still relevant Essay

Is the concept of the rule of law, as defined by dicey, still relevant to the UK constitution and legal system today - Essay Example Professor A V Dicey popularized this concept, and was able to describe three major tenets of the rule of law. These tenets are (Macdonald, 2010), Nobody is above the law, and everybody should be treated equally before the laws that govern the country. This is an indication that the laws of the land apply equally, to everybody in the same manner. This is regardless of economic, social and political status. The emergence of the constitution or laws is as a result of former judicial decisions that determined the rights in which private people should enjoy. On this basis, the constitution is not the source upon which laws emerge. The sources of law are therefore a consequence of the inherent rights of individuals. The constitution is derived as a consequence of the rights of people. These principles and concepts are widely applicable in the United Kingdom. The first principle by Dicey concerns itself with discretionary powers and the rule of law. Any government action must be recognized and authorized by law. That is the reason as to why the government cannot arbitrarily arrest a person, and charge him or her for the crimes that are not recognized by law. This principle is established in the 1994 case of R vs. Horseferry Road Magistrates. This was a case that examined the jurisdiction of a magistrate to protect the process of the court from abuse. Under this case, the defendant was arrested illegally, and in a breach of the extradition laws of the United Kingdom. The court denoted that an individual, who is charged with a criminal offence, must receive a fair trial. If an individual cannot receive a fair trial for an offence that he is charged for, then he or she should not be tried at all. On this note, the court denoted that the authorities illegally detained and arrested the defendant, and on this basis, the entire prosecution process was illegal (Flores, 2013). Under this case, it is therefore possible to denote that the judiciary had the powers of

Case Study Computers R Us Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Case Study Computers R Us - Assignment Example In regard to the initiatives set up by the company to boost satisfaction levels of the customers, loyalty rewards came out as the best initiative so far with an average satisfaction level of 5.6452 out of 10 it was followed by the response time at 4.3714, both level of advice and communication level stood at below 4 out of 10. There was however no any association between age groups and the overall satisfaction level. The study could have been limited by the fact that the questionnaires were emailed and there was no direct contact between the researcher and the respondents to verify their answers. Computers R Us, a computer manufacturer and retailer recently launched a service and repair division, CompleteCare, for its portable/laptop/notebook computers. This division promised to provide a rapid response to customer’s technical enquiries and warranty repairs. As a result of this, Computers R Us has been receiving multiple complaints about CompleteCare at the Computers R Us call centre. To address these issues, a study was proposed and the research overseen by the management of Computers R Us. It was found that customer satisfaction was a contributing factor to the issues experienced in the CompleteCare division. Consequently, the management of Computer R Us developed several possible initiatives to improve customer satisfaction to a minimum level of 6 out of 10 To collect this data, a simple random sample of 500 customers was selected from a sampling frame. A sampling frame includes the actual list of individuals included in the population (Nesbary, 2000). Of the 500 customers that were sent surveys, 420 responded. The response rate was computed as follows; Structured questionnaire constructed in English language was used to collect data with a total of eight items six of which touched on customer satisfaction. The questionnaire consisted of four sections: Five ethical concerns as outlined by Crowhurst and Dobson (1993) were

Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 13

Critique - Essay Example However, the writer develops her argument convincingly with a comprehensive list of reasons and explanatory evidence from her experience. Kiefer’s main argument is that students who learn writing online lose more than their counterparts in an on-campus classroom. The article begins with a brief discussion on the theoretical and pedagogical foundations based on which the argument of the article is based. According to the author, the main goal of writing classes should be to raise awareness of â€Å"writing as a situated communication† (Kiefer, 2007, p.141), which could be best achieved only in a collaborative learning environment involving rich interactions between students. The article draws on the theories of â€Å"situatedness of language† and the need to construct â€Å"meaning in context† (ibid). Based on such a notion of writing as a process and learning as a communal and shared activity, Kiefer advances her argument. Kiefer’s theoretical assumptions dictate the goals and nature of writing classes, which she uses as a base to evaluate online writing classes. The argument focuses on the shortcomings of online writing classes she has witnessed in her experience as a teacher in both face-to-face and online classes. The three key features she presents are: â€Å"technological impediments, time constraints, attitudes toward education† (Kiefer, 2007, p.151), which she calls as ‘deficits’ that act collectively to deprive online students of the wealth of learning that an on-campus student receives. In terms of the technological features of online classrooms, the article refers to specific examples of widely used computer applications and argues that they do not support the goals of writing courses adequately as such online classroom technology is designed for lectures and not for interactive writing classes. Even if it happens to

Dq6-Sheila Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Dq6-Sheila - Essay Example The essay will discuss following thesis statement highlighting three major discussion questions that are provided. â€Å"Decision support, business intelligence and knowledge worker information system helps to enhance effective customer relationship management process in an organization that ensures business growth rate of an organization†. A decision support system can be considered as an effective computer programme application that evaluates and analyzes different types of valuable business data in order to ease the decision making process of the users (Laudon, 2011). The concept of knowledge sharing among the employees is emerging in contemporary organizational job structure due to growing competition in job market. Moreover, it is also true that each and every employee needs to utilize their knowledge and skills to evaluate and analyze any kinds of business data set. These have become prior responsibilities of employees (Galegher, 2014). It is true that, global business environment has become highly competitive. Decision support system significantly adds value after implying cost. On the other hand, knowledge workers bring efficiency in decision making process through the effective use of DSS. These require high business operation cost. But, end of the day it helps an organization to develop effective strategy. For example, Walmart has developed several strategies to enhance decision support system. The organization implemented installed and implemented numbers of decision support system including sales data warehouse and retail link in order to enhance strategy development process. This process somehow helped the organization to become market leader. In spite of huge application cost, organizations generally implements advanced technological applications in order to gain potential competitive advantages. Decision support system is such an effective system

How can Facebook influence people psychologically Research Paper

How can Facebook influence people psychologically - Research Paper Example Among the activities in social networks include exchange of news items, events, messages, videos and photos. But on the other side, I noted that researchers like Bowman, Westerman and Claus (2301) observed that social media would not have any impact on computer skills of the user, hence important for me to find out how else this affects humans. Facebook being the most common of these social networking platforms would be analyzed on how it affects its users psychologically. Megen (57) appreciates Facebook as the most popular social media platform. Since its launch in 2004, it has hit a membership of 800 million users, with half this number visiting the site daily. This platform allows users to post status updates, videos and photos and links which would be viewed by their friends or anyone else on the Internet. Products, brands and organizations have pages where liking them, just as would apply on photos, status and videos posted on a user’s wall, expresses agreement with the content. Facebook requires that users identify themselves with their real names thus allowing friends to search friends on the platform using their names, email addresses, workplace or school attended among other aspects. This platform could be accessed from both a computer and a mobile interface with Internet access. Studies by Pempek, Yermolayeva and Calvert (228) enlightened me on the time spent on Facebook with the researchers observing that on average, US college stude nts spent between 10 and 30 minutes daily on Facebook. The current environment dictates that I have to join Facebook so that I interact effectively and regularly with my peers. More so, I have seen many organizations opening their Facebook pages implying that employees operating such accounts have to be equipped with the skills of using the media. On my side, it would mean that for me to benefit from the opportunities that such organizations offer through their fan pages on Facebook, then, I

United Nations Environmental Program Essay Example for Free

United Nations Environmental Program Essay There are a lot of articles, books and essays that have been written, touching on the relationship that land has with agricultural practices. For instance, Helmut Geist and Lambin Eric in their essay make postulations that irresponsible agricultural practices have been responsible for the disappearance of tropical forest covers, both at the local and regional levels. The two, being postdoctoral researchers in geography, specializing in the field of global climatic change, posit that irresponsible agriculture is far much responsible for the concept of land use and land cover change (LUCC). To back this argument up, Helmut and Lambin elucidate on the matter, postulating that irresponsible agriculture negatively affects the LUCC than any other practice carried out within the auspices of human civilization. To bolster this notion, it is posited by the two that apart from the fact that agricultural activities has the potency to deliver negative environmental degradation, irresponsible agriculture has the ability to deliver soil erosion- a feat that environmental degradation cannot receive from the industrial sector and its pollution. Evidence Presented The strengths in these claims are that farming and irresponsible agriculture has in most times been blamed for soil degradation. Much evidence is adduced and presented by Helmut and Lambin in this work. For instance, Helmut and Lambin quote the United Nations Environmental Program 2004 statistics that indicate that tilling land that is on a hill and failure to build gabions have in most instances been blamed for over 75% of cases touching on soil erosion (Levine 2006). In another wavelength, it is true that irresponsible farming activities harms the soil when very strong inorganic fertilizers are used, making the soil become resistant to fertilizers and pesticides. Weaknesses Critics such as Geist (2006) point that there are pitfalls in this work that was presented by Helmut and Lambin. For example, in the first case, not all the adverse effects of irresponsible farming practices are dealt with herein. For example, there is no point on the role overstocking (of animals) plays towards soil erosion and the depletion of the scarce resources within the environment. Nevertheless, it is true that all the above factors contribute to the disappearance of the land cover. Assumptions made by the writers At the same time, there are some assumptions that Helmut and Lambin make. Assuming that keeping the right size of cattle, building gabions, using the right quantities of organic fertilizers and pesticides are the only panacea in themselves against the spread of the loss of fertile land is a fallacy on its own. On the contrary, the two forget to address important farming practices such as the growing of leguminous crops, crop rotation and fallowing of land, as being instrumental in the cause against soil erosion. Growing leguminous crops such as beans help in nitrogen fixing in the soil, whereas crop rotation and mixed cropping helps the land receive nutrition from different types of crops. Letting land lay fallow on the other hand, enables the revitalization of pedological energy and the recovery of humus. These are the counterarguments that have been put forth by other critics such as Singh and Fox (2001). Conclusion and importance of the problems and the argument being tackled The sacrosance of the argument at hand is that there is a serious interrelationship between LUCC and human life. This means that mismanagement of the former has the potency to ruthlessly damage the cause of human life. It is no wonder that calls are rife from UNEP for the leading economies to tow the line in ensuring that there is the assuaging of soil, water and air pollution so that the prospects of future human survival can be consolidated. Works Cited Singh, Ram and Fox, Jefferson. A Look at Land Use and Cover Change. New York: McGraw Hill. 2001. Geist, Helmut. A Study on Earth’s Changing Landscape. Colorado: John Wiley and Sons. 2006. Levine, Joel. Global Change and the Burning of Biomass. Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2006.

Dominos Pizza: A Crisis Management Case

Dominos Pizza: A Crisis Management Case Josefina Vasquez According to (PRSA, 2009), in 2009, the company Dominos pizza experienced a tremendous PR crisis because of a couple of their employees. In fact, in a restaurants kitchen, in a slow working day, the two of them, with the employee uniforms, contaminated some food ingredients and then placed them onto sandwiches and pizza; they recorded a video and later posted it on YouTube. This video reached more than one million views in just three days because it became viral. The company realized that social media has the power to turn small incidents into huge marketing crises. This is a real case very interesting to analyze from the point of view of public relations and ethics. Because something simple could be the cause of the failure or success of significant companies, and what would construct the difference are the decisions taken in crises. In this review, we will be looking at this case from the point of view of the public relations professional and the ethical bases and how this addresses companies direction. Dominos Pizza: A Crisis Management Case According to (PRSA, 2009), the vice president, the communication team and the rest of Dominos corporate members sooner became aware of this situation. The first reaction was anger, but they channeled into action. The company proceeded to intercept the store, the authors of the video, took away the videos, and the company pressed charges against them. One of the first actions was to find out if the contaminated food was finally delivered to a client, fortunately, it was not. Domino has had the plan to introduce the company to Facebook, Twitter and some other social media sites by 2009 just before the crisis, but they did it during the crisis in order to communicate with the active core audience. The CEO decided to the response by YouTube instead of distributing a press release because even at a million views, they thought there were 307 million people in America, so they focused on that audience. They received criticism from the media during the first twenty-four hours, because people thought that they were not doing anything about it. The company understood that the most important thing was to keep the companys credibility with customers. Dominos pizza learned that is so important to keep in touch with media web community all times. (Randallreilly.com, 2015) stated that the company listened to their audience and later they admitted that their product was awful, so that, they started a campaign called Pizza Turnaround, in order to acknowledge the problems they were facing and reinvent their pizza, this along with an extensive media coverage, documentaries, promotions, advertising, etc. Problem Statement. The companys PR team faced an important challenge. The company had a disadvantageous place due to the lack of presence on social networks. Dominos faced the dilemma of obviating persons opinion by denying, and only focus on defending their brand or putting on the customers side and reinforcing their product. This crisis could have undermined this large multinational company, so they had to deal with some ethical principles such as fairness, honesty, expertise and loyalty. Personal Critique of the Case. In this context, is important to point out the conflict management life cycle concept from (Wilcox, Cameron and Reber, n.d.) which has a proactive, strategic, reactive and recovery phases, and the way the companys PR professional applied it during this situation. The proactive phase involves crisis-planning, issues tracking by creating strategy plans in ways that address the emerging issue. The strategic phase allows organizations to place itself favorably in anticipation of actions. The reactive phase occurs when the issue or conflict reaches a critical level of impact; it involves the implementation of crisis management plan, crisis communication and conflict resolution. The recovery phase involves reputation management and image restoration. PR professionals at Dominos pizza implemented both the reactive and recovery phases as well, once the issue became critical. They initiated a crisis management plan by establishing communication channels with the target audience through social media. They also implemented reputation management and image restoration when they decided to reinvent their pizza with a campaign called Pizza Turnaround by using an extensive media coverage, documentaries, promotions, advertising, etc. Once the crisis was overcome, they started implementing the proactive and strategic phases of establishing constant communication with customers through social media channels, with a strategy to pay special attention to customer feedback. References Wilcox, D., Cameron, G. and Reber, B. (n.d.). Public relations. PRSA. (2009). Dominos Delivers During Crisis: The Companys Step-by-Step Response After a Vulgar Video Goes Viral. [online] Available at: http://apps.prsa.org/Intelligence/TheStrategist/Articles/view/8226/102/Domino_s_Delivers_During_Crisis_The_Company_s_Step#.WNMO7PkrLIV [Accessed 23 Mar. 2017]. Randallreilly.com. (2015). Dominos Pizza: A Case Study in Customer Feedback | Randall-Reilly. [online] Available at: http://www.randallreilly.com/dominos-pizza-a-case-study-in-customer-feedback/ [Accessed 23 Mar. 2017]. Tesco and Sainsburys: A Comparison of Strategies Tesco and Sainsburys: A Comparison of Strategies 1. Introduction Business strategies are largely unique to individual business organisations and depend upon the objectives of their primary stakeholders, namely the shareholders and the senior management. While these two entities are the main decision makers for the road maps followed by firms, which they exercise through formulation and articulation of objectives, mission statements, and strategies, many other issues like product or service features, strengths and weaknesses of business organisations, economic, legal and political environments, nature and intensity of competition, opportunities and threats, environmental and ecological needs, as well as technological advances, often play major roles in determining and implementing business strategy. Work in these areas, by management experts, have led to the development and construction of models and theories that attempt to elaborate, explain and demystify these issues. The tackling of these challenges previously depended upon the thought processe s and ingenuity of business owners, and played vital roles in the successes or failures of business organisations. The work of Igor Ansoff and Michael Porter led to the enunciation of well known strategic models for growth and the Five Forces theory for analysis of competitiveness. These tools, as well as decision making aids like SWOT and PESTLE analyses have become commonplace in today’s business scenario, and are widely used by managers all over the world. While most growth strategies deal with marketing, other areas like production, human resource, information technology and finance also need goal setting, and are important to overall strategy for optimisation of organisational wealth. Total Quality Management, for example has emerged in recent years as a necessary item in every strategic manager’s toolbox for achievement of organisational objectives. Apart from these tools, business strategies for growth and shareholder wealth appreciation are also influenced by t he ethics and value systems of individual corporations; while many firms chose to forsake both growth and profitability for ethics, the reverse, as evinced by scams like Enron and WorldCom is equally true. Every so often, companies in the same industry, and operating in the same national or global environment, adopt sharply different strategies with spectacularly divergent results. Search engines like Yahoo and Alta Vista existed for years before Google arrived on the scene and swept everything before it. Toyota, a Japanese car manufacturer, formed much after the end of the Second World War, entered the car market of the United States in the face of widespread scepticism, and over a few decades, orchestrated a business strategy that saw it overtake Ford, the iconic American car making giant. Among British companies, the last two decades saw the rise and rise of the retailing company, Tesco. The company changed its down market â€Å"pile them high, sell them cheap† public perception to emerge as the largest retailer in the country, first overtaking the much older market leader Sainsbury’s and then proceeding to widen the gap until its’ market share was twice that of its erstwhile condescending rival. This assignment aims to examine and analyse the different strategies adopted by these companies, which have similar products and services, and also operate in the same environment. 2. Commentary and Analysis Business organisations constantly face challenges in every sphere of activity, be they in marketing, sales, production, workforce, human resource management, information technology development, or in raising and controlling finances. Many of these challenges arise from the social, political and economical environments in which organisations operate. While businesses in the UK operate in democratic and market friendly environments with institutionalised legal and financial systems, they need to conform to the stipulations laid down by numerous regulatory bodies (of the UK and the EU) and governmental organisations, and that too in almost all operating areas. Furthermore, firms with global operations have to frequently function in conformity with different environmental requirements, necessitated by dissimilar political and legal systems, or by widely divergent local, infrastructural or market conditions. Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s both entered the UK retail market, as small convenience stores, not much different from the many such establishments that exist all over the UK. Both organisations outgrew and outperformed other businesses in their genre to become colossal retailing chains with countrywide presences. Sainsbury’s, a much older firm than Tesco’s was the market leader in the UK retailing sector, until 1995, when it was overtaken by Tesco’s. a. Sainsbury’s J Sainsbury, plc, is one of Britain’s most famous firms, represented across the country, through its chain of supermarket stores that operate under the Sainsbury’s brand. Apart from supermarkets, the company operates convenience stores, an internet-based home delivery shopping service, and Sainsbury’s Bank. The company, originally started as a partnership in 1869, and while incorporated as a private company as far back as 1922, listed on the London Stock Exchange only in 1973, in what was until then the LSE’s largest stock issue. Sainsbury’s grew to become the UK’s largest supermarket company and retained its privileged position for much of the twentieth century. Tesco’s overtook Sainsbury’s in 1995, and ASDA/ Wal-Mart relegated it to third position in 2003. (J Sainsbury, 2007) While the business, in the beginning, grew organically into a chain of convenience stores, its first major strategic decision came, in 1950, with the opening of the first self service store, in Croyden, London. This initiative was followed by increasing the number of self service stores, expanding the range of non food goods, opening of hyper markets, acquisition of smaller chains, and commencement of operations in Scotland and North Ireland. The company grew to become the country’s largest supermarket chain, fuelled by increasing economic affluence, changing buying habits, customer convenience, and the ability of Sainsbury’s to provide a large and diverse range of products under one roof. Large Sainsbury’s stores typically stock 50,000 products, of which 50% are home brands. While the company grew slowly in its initial years, real growth came only in the post war years, with the development of a strong market economy, economic prosperity, increased spending powe r, and customer desire for a large range of better quality goods. Sainsbury’s responded to this changed economic environment, by concentrating on the increasing and upwardly mobile middle class. The company refrained from taking too many risks or initiatives, possibly feeling that its reputation would enable it to grow steadily and retain market leadership. The strategy of least resistance was interspersed by a few initiatives like the introduction of Do it Yourself (DIY) products, and acquisition of chains like Bell’s Stores, Jackson’s Stores, and JB Beaumont, which served to add to and broaden its customer base. The company has more than 750 stores today, and with a turnover in the range of 16 billion GBP, is one of UK’s more successful corporates. A prima facie assessment regarding the company’s response to business and environmental challenges would tend to give credit to the company’s corporate strategies in an extremely competitive bus iness environment. This assessment would however be substantially incorrect. Even as the company continued to grow steadily, in both profits and sales, through the 1990s and into the 21st century (except for the difficult years of 2004 and 2005), it was overtaken, first by Tesco’s in 1995, and later by ASDA in 2003. Tesco’s , which had a turnover of less than 11 billion GBP in 1994 saw its sales touch 38 billion GBP in 2006 and now sells more than twice of what Sainsbury’s does. Very apparently, Sainsbury’s has committed serious errors in handling and responding to business and environmental challenges, and has yielded the high ground in supermarket retailing to younger and possibly more effective competition. b. Tesco’s Growth Path Tesco’s started off as a small one man grocery operation, in 1919, in London’s East End. It took Jack Cohen, the founder, 10 more years to start his first store, in 1929, a full 60 years after Sainsbury’s. The company grew organically in the initial years, spurred by Cohen’s hard work. In the beginning business strategy revolved around providing cheap and economical goods, (pile them high, sell them cheap) espousal of trading stamps to induce customers, and relentless opening of new stores. Strategies, broadly similar to those followed by Sainsbury’s in the post war years led Cohen to open Tesco’s first self service store in 1947, and the first supermarket in 1956. In retrospect, Cohen’s better understanding of the demands and changing moods of customers is possibly evinced by his decision to open his self service store, a full three years earlier than Sainsbury’s. When Cohen resigned, in 1977, the company had achieved significant growth and traction but was still much behind Sainsbury’s, both in size and reputation. The years that followed Cohen’s handing over of Tesco’s leadership were marked by strategic swings designed to take the company away from its image of a purveyor of cheap and low quality goods. This period saw the management launch an aggressive campaign for market share, a multi dimensional effort that involved (a) rapid expansion of stores, (b) acquisition of medium sized supermarket chains, (c) entry and consolidation in a number of foreign markets, (d) large scale expansion of non food products, (e) opening of a number of hypermarkets, (f) introduction of loyalty cards, and (g) exploitation of online markets. The company assessed the existing national and global environment and felt that it would be able to work towards significant increases in sales and profitability and make it into a global leader from i ts status of a lowly down market UK based retailer. These strategies, combined with effective systems and operational implementation, enabled Tesco’s to power past Sainsbury’s, the British market leader, and establish itself as the third largest retailer in Europe. With sales of 38 billion GBP and 2 billion GBP in profits, Tesco is today the undisputed market leader, way ahead of both Sainsbury’s and ASDA. It played for glory and won hands down. (Pringle and Cohen, 2007) c. Management of Environmental Conditions In the early 1960s, Cohen lobbied Parliament to have the Retail Price Maintenance (RPM) act abolished, efforts supported by Edward Heath. The RPM allowed manufacturers and suppliers to set the price of goods thus preventing large retailers, who could buy in bulk and had greater buying power, from benefiting from economies of scale and undercutting the prices of smaller shops. To get â€Å"around† this, Tesco offered another incentive to get customers through the doors Green Shield Stamps. These were collected by customers when they spent money in the store, and were then traded for goods in a catalogue. An effective discount (Tesco, a corporate profile, 2004) This extract serves to illustrate Tesco’s response to environmental challenges and the many innovative ways the company found to constantly improve customer value. The emergence of Thatcherism, in the 80s, coupled with the break up of the Soviet Union, the consolidation of a unipolar world, sharp improvements in internet technology, and the commencement of globalisation, created a number of opportunities that Tesco was quick to spot, grab, and exploit. The company closed down 500 stores, revamped and modernised hundreds of others. Store formats like Tesco, Tesco Express, Tesco Metro, and One Stop, catered to distinct sizes, products, and locations, and ranged from small street corner shops to huge all inclusive supermarkets. The company was quick to realise that its image as a purveyor of cheap products, with its perceived down market connotations, would not help growth in a society that was rapidly becoming richer, and did not hesitate to close down its coupon scheme. In a br illiant segmentation exercise, the company created three product categories, good, better, and best, across most of its product lines. While this enabled customers to access different price ranges, it also allowed the company to access an â€Å"inclusive† and huge market. Sainsbury’s, which had traditionally catered to the middle class clientele with zealously protected margins, tried to enlarge its product base, but was unable to make any headway, because of its lesser supplier base and inferior logistical capability. (Pringle and Gordon, 2007) Tesco’s introduced customer loyalty cards in 1995. While it took Sainsbury some time to catch up with the idea, the two companies used it for widely divergent aims. Even as Sainsbury’s used the cards primarily to drive repeat visits and purchases, Tesco’s processed the information feedback from the loyalty card customers, to assess customer demands and needs, and keep on adding to its product range. The company also foresaw the potential of the internet and globalisation, and established profitable online sales channels, as well as successful overseas forays. Tesco’s international business now accounts for nearly 25% of company sales, and the immediate priority is to drive it up to 50% of company revenue. Apart from maintaining strong market leadership, Tesco is now focussing on two major areas that are propelling the company’s growth and increasing the gap between the company and its competitors. Its aggressive growth in the non-foods market means that it is possibly selling more clothes than Next and more health and beauty products than all the others put together. (Hunter, 2006) The company has set up base in numerous countries in Europe and Asia and should soon have a significant presence in the USA. â€Å"Indeed, some 60% of Tesco’s floor space is now based outside of the UK.† (Hunter, 2006) Sainsbury’s, on the other hand has been too busy handling its inadequate stocking mechanism, half empty shelves, and falling market share, to be able to pay much attention to new thrust areas, and opportunities, made available by changes in environmental conditions and advances in technology. (Tesco, a corporate profile, 2004) 3. Conclusion While this analysis does not intend to eulogise Tesco’s management practices, or its planned and meticulous exploitation of available opportunities, the stark difference in the working of Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s tend to make any comparative analysis of strategy, and management practice, enormously one sided. Even as Tesco was using feedback from its loyalty card scheme to add enormously to its product range, Sainsbury’s was trying to adamantly protect its margins and cutting down on service quality, practices that inevitably led to further customer dissatisfaction and loss of market share. It was not until 2004, a full 9 years after Tesco overtook it, that the company realised that its major problem lay in under stocked shelves, inadequate logistics and poor supply chain management. While Sainsbury’s strategy appeared to be one of risk avoidance and slow growth, in reality it proved to be akin to that of an ostrich in the face of danger. The company however still remains a respected and successful retailer. Recent initiatives, taken after a change in top management, have seen a priority shift and led to revived sales, reduced costs and improved profitability. The company has its heart in the right place and contributes a much higher percentage of its post tax profit to charity than Tesco. The tremendous success of Tesco, in assessing customer needs and environmental opportunities, came about because of a new aggression that evinced itself after the departure of jack Cohen and is an indicator of the possibilities that exist for Sainsbury. The fact that Tesco lagged behind Sainsbury’s until 1995 is proof of the levels to which Sainsbury can aspire without being impractically optimistic. Sainsbury’s has a number of strengths, namely its goodwill in the UK market, access to enormous amount of shop space and property that have been built up over the years, very strong domain knowledge in the retailing business, and adequate capital resources. The company has also become active in the online segment, the fastest growing market segment in the retailing market. It however definitely needs to scan the environment constantly, look for new opportunities, upgrade technology, and be more fleet footed in responding to opportunities and challenges. Both the companies have seen rapid departures from existing strategies after changes in top level management. Strange as it may appear, changes in management appear to have been critical to Tesco seeing opportunities that were not explored earlier. Sainsbury’s too has commenced implementation of measures that should have logically been done much earlier, only after a change of guard at the top. The solution to the paradox possibly lies in realising that management theories, practices and strategies, in most cases, become relevant only if the CEO thinks them fit. The boss is the key. Bibliography Annual report and Financial Statements, 2006, J Sainsbury plc, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/ar06/fullfinancials/notestofinancialstatements5.shtml Annual Review and Summary Financial Statements, 2006, J Sainsbury plc, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/ar06/summaryfinancials Cavazza, M, 2007, Sainsburys bid is very close, thisismoney.co.uk., Retrieved April 3, 2007 from www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_id=418580in_page_id=3 Cole, R, 2007, Sainsbury’s progress offers reason to hold even if no bid comes, Times Online, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing Hunter, H, 2006, Revolution in the British aisles: why Tesco will continue to rule the roost, msn.money, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from money.uk.msn.com/Investing/Insight/Special_Features/Markets_Comment/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1054991 J Sainsbury, 2007, Wikipedia, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_Sainsbury Jordan, D, 2007, Tchenguiz adds to Sainsbury stake, Times Online, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article1578864.ece 2 Apr 2007 Pringle, H, and Gordon, W, 2007, The Tesco Story, customerserviceworld.com., Retrieved May 27, 2007 from www.ecustomerserviceworld.com/earticlesstore_articles.asp?type=articleid Tesco, 2007, Retrieved May 25, 2007 from www.tescocorporate.com/page.aspx?pointerid=A8E0E60508F94A8DBA909E2ABB5F2CC7 Tesco,  A corporate profile, 2004, Corporate watch, Retrieved May 27, 2007 from www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?bid=28

Comparing Cultures in Things Fall Apart and Heart of Darkness :: comparison compare contrast essays

Clashing Cultures in Things Fall Apart and Heart of Darkness A culture defines what it's people perceive about evil, the place it gives to women, and its relationship with other cultures. The Ibo and European people in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, have two distinct cultures that begin to blend when the white men come as missionaries and try to communicate and live together with the Africans. European culture also differs from native culture on the Congo rivers in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Only one man, Kurtz, really connects with the natives and then is taken away dying by his fellow Europeans. Evil is defined by it's culture, whether it be how the culture accepts another culture and condemns as evil or identifying specific items as evil. In Things Fall Apart, the Ibo culture veiled the Africans as primitive natives who held their own different, seen as evil, ways and traditions. In Heart of Darkness, Marlow viewed the natives with whom Kurtz is staying with as evil and feels their evil when he met them after traveling down the river. Once he heard that Kurtz ordered the natives to attack his ship, his views changed a little. Marlow experienced the evil that Kurtz did, and the even had the sickness that Kurtz died from. In both of these novels, specific places represent evil things in different cultures. Europeans treat a church as holy ground but to the Ibo culture who didn't know Jesus, it was just a building raised by the white invaders who settled among them. Europeans found the Congo River and a town on it's banks and it was thought of as evil because they hadn't exper ienced living there or vines covering them as they traveled along the river added to their thinking of an evil atmosphere. In Things Fall Apart, the clan refers to a forest as an evil forest and they cast everything they deem into it. For example, twins were thought of as a curse when born so they were cast into the forest and left to die. The evil forest didn't seem so evil to the European missionaries who came because they hadn't adopted this particular belief of evil into their culture. In fact, the clan purposely granted land in the evil forest to missionaries for their church, believing evil would destroy them, but the missionaries did last until the church was burnt down by members of the clan.

William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet Essay examples -- Papers Romeo

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet In the love story about Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is an important character as all the events are based on his actions. Romeo the son of Montague falls in love with Juliet the daughter of lord and lady Capulet, this creates a grave problem as the Capulet's and Montague's have had a feud this has been festered for a long time. The impression I get of Romeo when he first comes on to the scene is that he sad and miserable he also shows emotion with his words it is as if he intends on keeping himself to himself. "Many a morning hath he there been seen, with tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew." Lord Montague also says that "Away from the light steels home from my heavy son." This shows that Romeo is secretive and keeps away from daylight. This also shows that Romeo is trying to hide away from people as he has been seen in the early morning looking sad and even crying. "So secret and so close" Romeo won't tell anyone what is wrong with him. Benvolio also makes his way to speak to him but even though he saw him he turned and walked off. "Towards him I made but he was ware of me and stole off into the convent of the wood." When Romeo appears he looks sad and miserable, he says to benvolio "Sad hours seem long." Romeos hours seem long because he is in love and the lady he loves doesn't love him back this makes him feel miserable as time is dragging on. Romeo also says that "Out of her favour where I am in love" This shows that Romeo is love sick for this girl but she doesn't want to give him anything in return, due to this he cannot forget his love ... ...on his enemy. Later on after the party had finished Romeo sneaked to see Juliet. When Romeo sees Juliet on the balcony talking to herself about Romeo how she loves him but how it impossible for them to be as both of their families are having a feud. Romeo decides to listen you her before replying "Call me but 'love' and I'm be new baptised henceforth I never be Romeo" When Romeo says this to Juliet he suggests to her that hew is prepared to deny his name and his family if she will love him. Romeo also tells Juliet how love overcomes all obstacles, he says that "With love's light wings did I o'eperch these walls for stony limits cannot hold love out" By saying this to Juliet Romeo also tells her that he is risking his life coming to her this shows that Romeo is brave and would do anything for love.

Mommy why u so young? :: Social Issues, Adolescent Mothers

Adolescent mothers have unique heaths needs compared to older mothers and other female adolescents (Aujoulat et al, 2010; Chablani & Spinney, 2011; Crittenden et al.2009,). Therefore,it is important for community development nurses to consider their specific needs when designing programs. This paper will identify the prevalence of adolescent motherhood in Saint John, New Brunswick and Canada. The challenges and problems that adolescent mothers face, along with the relevant health determinants, will be examined. Finally, local interventions and strategies the literature has identified as successful in improving the health status of adolescent mothers will be examined and critiqued. Target population and epidemiology The target population for this assessment is adolescent mothers aged 15 to 19. For this essay, adolescent mothers are considered to be between the ages of 15 to 19, unless otherwise stated. There were 15,570 live births to adolescent mothers in Canada in 2008. In New Brunswick, there were 488 live births in 2008 (Statistics Canada, 2008). Less than 5% of adolescents who become pregnant opt for adoption in New Brunswick (L.Smith, personal communication, September 21, 2011). The Health Indicators report showed that 28% of New Brunswick teenage pregnancies occurred in the Saint John area in 2009 (Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health{OCMOH}, 2011). The report also identified the teenage fertility rate in New Brunswick. This rate refers to the number of live births that occur to females aged 15 to 19 per 1,000. In Saint John, the fertility rate for adolescents is 43.7. This number is significantly higher than the national teenage fertility rate of 14 and the provincial fertility rate of 20 (OCMOH). Although Canada’s national fertility rate is less than half of the United States of America’s rate of 41, it is still higher than most European countries including France, which has a rate of eight, and the Netherlands’s rate of four (OCMOH). These statistics show a significant number of adolescent mothers in Saint John, New Brunswick and Canada, proving the need for health care interventions for this target population. Determinants of health To conduct a throughout assessment on the needs of adolescent mothers, it is essential to consider the determinants of health. Common problems this population faces include high drop out rates, depression, social isolation, repeat pregnancies, and less effective parenting skills(source). The determinants of health most likely to impact adolescent mothers include income and education, social support, personal health practices, healthy childhood development, and gender.Unfortunately, the literature mainly focuses on the negative health determinants for this group and neglects to concentrate on positive health determinants or assets.

Writing and Bio-organic Chemistry Review

HAD cholesterol (good) Bio-organic Chemistry Review Sheet Ill What is an alkaline? What is an alkaline? Ill. What are some common alikeness? IV. How to you make an alkaline? V. What is the mechanism of the addition of HEX across a double bond? Bio-organic Chemistry Review Sheet 3 (continued) VI. What is the mechanism of the addition offs across a double bond? The reactions of alikeness: (attach index cards here) This tip for improving your SAT score was provided by David Greensward at Verities Prep.For many college applicants, the essay is the most dreaded portion of the SAT. Many students believe that a good essay requires time to develop into something that envoys nuanced understanding of the material. Although time and skill are useful in writing a dissertation, the SAT essay is much more formulaic and simply requires an understanding of how to produce a passable piece of persuasive writing that can function with nearly every prompt. Here are three keys to creating a consistently excellent essay on the SAT: 1 . Create a template before you write an essay.BLOB: How to Improve Your SAT Essay Writing Essentially all persuasive writing has the same characteristics. The goal is to take a position on some question and support that position with evidence, which can efficiently be accomplished in a five paragraph essay (an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion). For this reason, one can essentially write the bones of the essay before one knows what the topic of the essay is. The easiest way to accomplish this is to write a bona-fide practice essay that you feel is strong and then remove all the specific references to the topic.For example, say you were writing a thesis statement on the topic of whether or not it is better for a leader to be feared or loved. (Much great writing already exists on this expansive topic, but we don't have to be Plato here. A thesis might say: â€Å"Therefore the assertion that being loved is a more powerful motivator for achieving a leader's desired goals than being feared is demonstrably true. † This is a strong thesis and could essentially be boiled down to â€Å"therefore the assertion that [position on topic] is demonstrably true. Voila! This is a thesis that can essentially work for any specific topic. From here on, all that needs to be done is to create a prototypical essay and remove all the specifics. This essay template works especially well for the introduction and conclusion, but the next tip is very helpful for the body paragraphs. . Relate topic sentences and non-personal examples back to the thesis. It is a little harder to completely script the body paragraphs, as these will be related to whatever examples you choose to include.The magic ticket in the body paragraphs, however, is to relate what you are writing back to your thesis. For instance, if one of your examples for the above topic of whether a leader should be feared or loved is Animal Farm, it is not strong to simply s ummarize the book. For example â€Å"Animal Farm is the story of how animals rise up against an unjust system, only to emulate the system they so despise. Not a bad summary of Animal Farm, but if graders want to know what happens in that book, they Just read it. Graders want to know how the example will be related back to the thesis.A better take is â€Å"The eventual societal decay and uprising of the subjugated animals in George Rowel's Animal Farm demonstrates the danger of a leader being feared, as opposed to being loved. † This is much more related to the main thesis of the essay. Also, make sure your examples are from something outside personal experience; it is far stronger to apply learning than to apply anecdotes on the SAT. BLOB: Make Your Practice Count 3. Write as if you were creating sentences for the multiple choice questions.This is a surprisingly effective tool in ensuring stylistic and grammatical clarity on the SAT. Students devote quite a bit of time to le arning potential errors on the multiple choice writing questions, but it does not always occur to them to put their own writing under the same scrutiny. All the guidelines for correct sentences can be applied to personal writing: Use active voice, check for subject verb agreement, be clear, and the list goes on and on. If the same precision applied to the writing ultimate choice questions is applied to this essay, grammar and clarity will not be issues.

How does the filming help to make ‘The Shining’ an exceptional Horror movie? Essay

Stanley Kubrick a.k.a. â€Å"The Master Filmmaker,† was born on July 26, 1928 in the Bronx, New York City. By age 13 he had developed passions for jazz, drumming, chess and photography. In 1951 at 23 years of age, Kubrick used his savings to finance his first film, a 16-minute documentary short about boxer Walter Cartier. On March 7th, 1999, Stanley Kubrick died in his sleep of a heart attack. He was 70 years old. The Shining is a typical example of the horror genre because it works by arousing irrational fear. Stanley Kubrick uses step down imagery to make the terror in the horror, controlled and not too over whelming for the audience, to make it seem more believable. The horror is a paradox because it presents a vision of terror to the audience but the audience try to fight everything the director is trying to achieve by telling themselves that, ‘it is just a movie, its not real, you can’t scare me.’ The Shining was based on Stephen King’s third published novel, which became a best seller upon its release in 1977. What also makes The Shining such an exceptional horror movie is the way Stanley Kubrick keeps the horror hidden from the audience and like most good horror films, there is always a sense of the supernatural, good vs. evil and a sense of isolation. Personally I feel that the Shining is a typical horror film because it’s a situation where the victims are isolated from the outside world and there is a mad man or something out of the ordinary killing them, which is true of most horror films like Nightmare on Elm Street, The Ring, Signs, Jeepers Creeper’s 1 and 2 and Dracula. The camera at the start of the film is moving over a huge mountain pass. We are shown a tiny Volkswagen car driving down a road, the film has many of the most beautiful, atmospheric cinematography, by John Alcott. This scene gives the impression of man’s vulnerability, when seen against the massive powers of nature – a sense of ‘the other’ is also created here by the aerial photography – a dark power looking down on the tiny ‘beetle’. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is attending a job interview for the position of a winter caretaker at The Overlook Hotel, located in the rockies of Colorado, built on an Indian burial ground. At the beginning of this film Jack conducts himself as a calm, charming man. He goes for the interview looking smart wearing a collar and a tie, shaven and looking very confident. During his interview the camera is films from behind Jack, making it seem as though someone or something is watching Jack – a sense of the ‘other’ and there are some frontal shots in which the background is peach, soft and warm. This presents a comforting, secure atmosphere. As the movie builds up we begin to release that the Overlook Hotel is not just any other normal Hotel but haunted although the horror is kept hidden from us we just see parts of the supernatural, although as we discover through the movie that this is much more than a mere haunted house tale. One of the things that makes it so interesting is that it shows a wide variety of elements that lead to Jack’s insanity to the point that we are left with the question on our minds whether it really was the house that leads to Jack’s insanity or the isolation for six months, so far from the outside world or Jack’s own psychological make-up or even reincarnation. We are also told very early in the film, that the hotel has something of a ‘history,’ in summary, some years previously, a crazed-psycho (the ex-caretaker) killed his wife and two children by chopping them up into small pieces with an axe! But once the family settle into the caretaker lifestyle it turns out that Torrance’s wife does most of the ‘caretaking’ while her grouchy husband seeks inspiration for a novel he is writing. At first everything goes well but as time goes by, he gets increasingly frustrated with his failure to write and takes it out on his wife (Shelly Duvall). Slowly, Jack begins to change he becomes pale, his clothes become rougher looking more like a labourer and becomes more and more irritable & malevolent towards both his wife and son. In the background, their son played by Danny Lloyd also starts having problems of his very own when he starts receiving psychic visions (E.S.P) of twin girls who were murdered a couple of years ago by their father who was also the caretaker at the Hotel and there are warnings from Tony of ‘redrum’ which spells murder when you read it backwards. It is clear that both Jack and Danny have some form of psychic gift as they are both able to pick-up the Hotel’s own psychic emissions of the horrors that it has seen. The down side is that the visions end up making Jack, go insane. Throughout the movie, the camera follows the action like someone is watching (presence in the Hotel) and there is always a sense of claustrophobia, For example when Danny is cycling in the corridors and he meets the two murdered girls, the camera when he meets them zooms to his face then back to the girls four times and gets closer with each shot then a close up again to Danny then a close up of the girls’ dead bodies four times but not for long so that the audience probably would not find it sickening. We know that the twin girls are ghosts because there is an axe on the floor and blood, and when talking to Danny they use repetition, â€Å"Come and play with us, for ever and ever and ever† which is the Lord’s Prayer. After that scene Jack sees a vision of a lift and when the doors open blood flows like a river, Personally I felt that this was technically clever because it emphasis on the horror aspect. The scariest moment in the movie is when Jack has gone completely insane and is trying to â€Å"correct† his wife and son because he had no real idea what his job as the caretaker there was really till Mr Grady (ex-caretaker) had told him to kill his family because they were trying to damage the house and that his son had brought a coloured cook into the house, the climax of the scariest point is when Jack says â€Å"Here’s Johnny† which was rated scariest horror scene out of hundred horror films. This is clever as it uses comedy to make the tragedy seem even more horrific. The end scene is a shot of Jack, frost-bitten and dead in the snow apparently hours later, is a satisfying and scary ending. But Stanley Kubrick delivers an ultimate conclusion, which Stephen King could never have achieved in his novel. The haunting music begins again, the camera sweeps to a framed photo on the wall, and we see a portrait of a ballroom party from decades ago. After the camera zooms in thrice, Jack is seen in the centre of the photo, and the caption reads, â€Å"Overlook Hotel, 1921.† This caption indicates that Jack, or at least his spirit, has always been present in the Overlook Hotel. Kubrick brilliantly arranges each shot in the film so that the viewer is easily drawn into the story. There is no single scene, shot, or camera angle, which does not denote a deeper meaning or have symbolic value. This movie is perhaps Stanley Kubrick’s greatest work. I feel that this movie could not have had a better cast, and there is nowhere else in the world where this movie could have been set. I feel that Jack Nicholson’s performance in The Shining was absolutely stunning. I also feel that without Jack Nicholson, â€Å"The Shining† would have been just another haunted house film. Jack Nicholson’s depiction of a man teetering on the brink of insanity was brilliant. We watch in terror as the insanity slowly settles in and exploding fiercely into this man, transforming him from one who is trying to repair his fragile family life into a stark raving lunatic bent on destroying everything he loves. It is truly a magical movie experience. So I feel that The Shining really is the greatest horror movie ever made.