Poetry Analysis: Persimmons Essay

â€Å"See through.† Surely, most people have experienced this feeling before, the feelings of being seen, but not truly â€Å"seen.† As if every part of their being, their roots, their culture, and history meant nothing and holds no value to anyone but themselves, just as the speaker is raised in a bi-lingual, bi-culture atmosphere although most of us may be forgotten throughout our lifetime from daily encounters or short terms relationships; semester long classmates and professors, the poem â€Å"Persimmons† by Li-Young Lee reveals to us with his brilliant use of imagery, symbolism, and other literary devices, emotions so rooted, that they almost escape words. In the poem, the reality revealed is that we will someday fade away from people and this world. But that the true beauty lies during the events in our lives and until the finale, we are the ones to hold the sweet, ripe â€Å"Persimmon,† a sacred and distinct â€Å"sun inside [each of us]†¦ golden [and] warm.† Li-Young Lee implements imagery and symbolism to underline the metamorphosis of the early life of the struggles of social placement of a young American Chinese boy to the deep passions of a young man. â€Å"Persimmons† teach us that even if we may go blind, just like the speakers father in the poem, it comes to show that our experiences of life, that despite not everyone will appreciate, or understand fully, that it is something that will forever remain etched in our souls. At first the poem starts out a bit scattered. There were several pieces that did not seem to follow the time and meaning, but while seemingly scattered, his memories do in fact connect in several ways. As one specific device, most of his recollections involve the symbol of the Chinese fruit, persimmons. The poem begins with an unpleasant memory from the speaker’s sixth grade classroom where he recalls being slapped on the head and ordered to â€Å"stand in the corner for not knowing the difference/between [the words] persimmon and precision†(3-5). Right at that moment the speaker’s attitude is that of confusion. In the first stanza, we learn that Mrs. Walker was the speaker’s teacher in sixth grade: In sixth grade Mrs. Walker Slapped the back of my head and made me stand in the corner for not knowing the difference between persimmon and precision. How to choose   persimmons. This is precision. (1-6) To Mrs. Walker, the point is simple; the young boy, whose native language is Chinese, simply cannot attain and grasp the elements of English. Clearly he confuses the words that are seen from Mrs. Walker’s point of view to have nothing in common, but maybe only holds similar sounds and that is all. But in the boy’s mind, the two words are connected in a way that Mrs. Walker will never grasp without delving deep. A particular literary device that Lee uses is the choice of enjambment at the word â€Å"choose,† (6) which breaks the first stanza and draws attention to the act of selection, and the process of making choices. Although in the first stanza it is seen that the speaker, as a child and as a student is stripped from the power to choose in the process and codes of the incident of his classroom assimilation, he regains power by justifying his linguistic conflations of the words â€Å"persimmon and precision,† (5) by connecting the words through their sim ilar sounds and by symbolic association: â€Å"How to choose/ persimmons. This is precision† (6– 7) and â€Å"fight and fright, wren and yarn† (31). While justifying the melting pot of his words, he also re-claims control by demonstrating his command of the English language. In the second stanza, however, Lee elaborates on the correct way of carefully selecting and eating a persimmon, and along with that it is affirmed that the speaker does in fact know the difference between the two words. The speaker reveals his understanding of â€Å"precision† in the diction being used by Lee to describe how to pick out and eat a persimmon; the words â€Å"soft,† â€Å"sweet,† â€Å"sniff,† and â€Å"brown-spotted, are given to the fruit characterizing it and transcending the physical sense of the Chinese fruit and transforming it into an important element, and symbol. Whereas the character of Mrs. Walker  would fall in the category of the â€Å"teachers† that one may meet throughout life. It can be anyone: from a school teacher, a semester –long college peer, a random onlooker, or society itself. However, these â€Å"teachers† not judge one’s personality, but are also ignorant. In defined terms; a person may be treated as a sheep, when in fact, they are the ones fenced in, not able to reach, see or feel further; they do not bother to survey into the deep and enigmatic waters of people, Self, and emotions, in this case, the boy’s mind. The teacher is not aware that his mind is full of different worlds; the world or emotions, and his rich culture. The only thing they perceive is that the boy may have a problem; that the boy has trouble with words, which in a way he does, but for him, the words that tend to â€Å"stick out of the page† for him are because of the assimilations that they induce: Ripe ones are soft and brown-spotted. Sniff the bottoms. The sweet one Will be fragrant. How to eat: Put the knife away, lay down the newspaper. Peel the skin tenderly, not to tear the meat. Chew the skin, suck it,  and swallow. Now, eat   the meat of the fruit,  so sweet,  all of it, to the heart. Can Mrs. Walker and anyone belonging to this pragmatic world even care to imagine the world within him? To the speaker a persimmon is precision, because one needs the ability of perceiving a precise persimmon and the persimmon itself is precision by its existence; a soft fruit, the shape, the smell of a ripe one is an art; not everyone has the talent to spot one and the proper knowledge of how to eat one, just like Mrs. Walker incorrectly prepares the persimmons for the class, as she uses a knife to â€Å"cut it up† (41) as if she were â€Å"cutting up† this demonstrates her violation of the Chinese culture of the speaker. The poem takes on a dramatic turn at the third stanza, where the speaker fast  forwards through time. Here the speaker describes the moment of a passionate experience with his lover. Here by Lee’s use of symbolism and contrasting word choice is significant because of specific time and place it is being used. In this moment, the speaker has forgotten his Chinese, this could represent the past problems of assimilation to have faded in the aspect of the triumph over the English language. Although he has perhaps gained societal acceptance as an Asian American, he has also gravely lost, where his loss out wins his gain; the loss of his native language, the loss of his culture. As a second interpretation would be that when the speaker forgets about the â€Å"Dew† and the fact that they are â€Å"Naked,† but recalls the â€Å"Crickets: chiu chiu† and that â€Å"Ni, wo: [means] you and me† represents his total captivation in the moment, the moment when tw o lovers unite, creating a union, one perhaps forgets that fact of nakedness, because perhaps in that beautiful moment, one does not feel naked, because their significant other is there, and they are all they need to feel covered, a moment were all barriers are broken, both feel free comfortable in the bareness, where he even forgets the background sound playing. By the use of symbolism, it is known that â€Å"Persimmon† is the main symbol, and so acts as a metaphor of the love scene, focusing on the passionate experience that marks the speaker for life. In the ninth stanza, a new scene is present and there is another shift in time, this time the speaker is a mature adult, visiting his parents, but also revisiting old memories, that arouse ancient feelings. In this particular stanza, Lee’s use of vivid imagery is openly present, where he describes the speakers elderly father who has gone blind: I rummage, looking for something I lost†¦. I find a box†¦. three paintings by my father: Hibiscus leaf and a white flower. Two cats preening. Two persimmons, so full they want to drop from the cloth. †¦.Which is this? †¦.Oh, the feel of the wolf tail on the silk, the strength, the tense precision in the wrist†¦. Eyes closed. These I painted blind. Some things never leave a person: Scent of the hair of one you love, The texture of persimmons, in your palm, the ripe weight. (62-88). Lee’s use of concrete details allows has a great impact and effect on this particular poem, because it draws the reader in, allowing them to engage and become more attune to the feelings the poet is trying to transmit: the sight of the Hibiscus, the movements of the â€Å"cat’s preening† (75). Although the speaker’s father has lost his eyesight, he can still â€Å"see† the world. When a person goes blind, they are shut out from the world, but the thing that stays with the person transcends the sense of vision; the smell, the texture, the weight of the persimmon that the father speaks of that will â€Å"never leave a person,† (85) that the feel of a ripe persimmon in the palm will remain a part of you , just like the speakers culture, his memories and experiences. This could also represent an important shift in the poems tone, in that the speakers finally accepts his culture or art of reminiscing of familiar emotions, both like being â€Å"back home.† His experiences, although not entirely positive, have helped him grow into the man he is now. Li-Young Lee, by using sensory imagery and â€Å"precise† diction along with the informal stanza structure, reveals to the reader that, despite the speakers his bi-cultural past, he has now realized, through his experiences, that some of the most important things will not always be â€Å"visible† and he is at peace with his culture. The obscurity of words that Lee demonstrates in this poem correlates with the obscure and that of which is not accepted in our materialistic, and practical world. But the bitter-sweet irony of it all is that at times, as soon as something like a marvelous feeling or thought is put into words, its mystical beauty may diminish. This poem is not only a self contained piece of poetry. It is art, a ticket to see, witness, and feel between our and the poet’s inner world. Li-Young Lee, knowing that words cannot directly express these feelings; he us es his poetry as a tool to evoke such feelings in us utilizing the informal poetic form and the advantage of symbolism and imagery, has allowed us to picture detailed, vivid scenes to show us how superficial and apathetic the world around us can be to the secretly immense, and passionate world in each of us. Citation Dmitry, Divov. â€Å"Analysis of Persimmons by Li-Young Lee.† Web. 25 Feb 2012. .

The advantages and disadvantages of encouraging more migrants into the United Kingdom

There are many negative points about migrants coming into our country, but there are just as many positive points. But how many migrants are too much, and how can we say stop to migrants when they are the foundation of today's society? Different groups around the world have been migrating into England since the early Iron Age. The first settlers to arrive in England were during the expansion of the Proto-Celtic movement, in about 500 BC. Then between 300 and 500 AD, the great migration movement started; England was bombarded with new settlers from all around Europe. There were the Angles and Saxons from modern Germany: the estimated total number of Germanic settlers varies between 10,000-200,000. There were also many Scandinavians tribes migrated into England between the late 8th century into the early 11th century, like the Vikings and the Varangians. As you can see migrants are the foundation of today's society, all of our ancestors were originally from somewhere else. So why is it a problem for migrants to be coming into our country in this century? The problem is that England being a small country can't physical cope with the demand for more living space. England already has a high birth rate and increased numbers of older people are living longer. So how can we cope with the non-stop flow of migrants coming into our country? From about 1991 to 2001 the population increased rapidly due to migrants coming into the country and starting families. More than one in 10 now living in the UK is foreign born, and one in 3 people living in London was also foreign born. About 8.2% of the English population was born in a different country but have been living in England. â€Å"letting the UK population spiral out of control, as the Government has done in recent years, will make Britain increasingly vulnerable to resource problems as the 21st century unfolds and is a recipe for future insecurity.† OPT, Optimum Population Trust If we don't act now against population rise, England could face the same problems as India and China. Will England be forced into sterilizing a vast number of women and men? â€Å"The UK's population is also forecast to grow by 40 per cent over the next seven decades, from 61 million today to over 85 million by 2081† Office for National Statistics The rise in migrants and asylum seekers has lead parts of the UK to major impact problems; one being the need for more housing. Many of the migrants and asylum seekers that come into the country don't have anywhere to live; because they are the government main concern to house as quickly as possible, they are on priority list to get council house. â€Å"Foreign migrants are being favoured over UK citizens when it comes to social housing, around 11% of new migrants have been allocated social housing.† First online This means that many British people waiting a house won't be given one as quickly as a non-born resident. Another problem with the high amount of migrants and mainly asylum seekers is that they are being given benefits. Asylum seekers are not allowed to work until they have been granted a place to stay in England as a Refugee. This has caused elevated rises in many asylum seekers not working, 3 out 10 are not working. As the rise migrants workers come into the country, there are fewer places for British born people to find work. Most public service jobs have been taking by the migrants and most health services have hired workers from other countries. â€Å"The hotels and shops in my remote Scottish community are filled with workers from the EU, now there are no jobs for the local young people, so most of them on into close towns or cities.† Geva Blanette BBC news talk night Another factor which is a disadvantage of migrants is the increase of malaria, HIV and TB. Many British born children are immune from malaria, HIV and TB, and England didn't fear these 3 killing diseases as much as other countries. But as the amount of migrants and asylum seekers increase, the amount of cases of these disease increases. Facts show that, 70% of individuals diagnosed with HIV, TB and malaria in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were non-UK born. Most of the migrants infected with these diseases are from devolving counties, 45% of non-UK born tuberculosis cases originated from South Asia and 39% from sub-Saharan Africa. Could the government being doing more to try and stop this rise of 3 killer diseases. The facts are that England just doesn't have room to accommodate all these migrants and provide them all with a job and we don't need to be burdened with an outburst of diseases. Migrants are coming into our country and bringing new foods, new materials and more workers. We should encourage these new ethnic ideas and ways of living. These foreign workers are happy to do the jobs which English workers aren't happy to do; they also tend work harder for the same money. â€Å"Migrants work harder, earn more and pay more tax than Britons!† Home Office So if we do send these migrants home who will do the jobs that were happy to do? Whole sectors of the economy and many public services have become highly dependent on migrant labour, and would collapse overnight if those workers were no longer available One major industry that relies greatly on migrants is the health sector, 30% are doctors and well over 10% of nurses. In education, overseas teachers play an important role in staffing schools, and a growing number of London education authorities are recruiting staff directly from abroad. The rapid increase in demand for workers in the IT industry means that over 50,000 people have been recruited. â€Å"It also suggested that the work ethic of the new arrivals was also having a positive impact on British workers† the independent Migrant workers contributed à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½6 billion to the country's economic growth last year and earned, on average, higher wages than the British workers. â€Å"High levels of skills – higher on average than the UK natives and that employ migrants found them to be harder workers and reliable â€Å". Home Office Migrants are becoming part of the foundation of our society they are the strawberry pickers, the dentists, the doctors, the nurse's, carers, taxi drivers, cleaners, bus drivers, waiters and train drivers. We need them to help us make a better life. There has been much discussion in the media on the idea that migrants may have a big effect on employment and befits for British-born workers, but there is little evidence little on effect employment or befits. â€Å"The overwhelming majority of empirical studies agree that there is essentially no statistically significant effect of immigration on labour market outcomes† Glover The population rose by 189,000, due to the high number of migrants and also people leaving the country. This steady increase over the last decade has shown that the UK can't cope with the massive growth. But the government figures show that migration has given the UK a life line to an economy suffering from lack of skills and struggling to support growing bills. I personally feel that we should allow people from different countries and races to work in The UK; I feel that the UK can befit greatly by the mixed culture and races. The need for migrant workers is shown by many facts and I believe that they can make a huge difference for our economy. But I also feel that the government should be doing more to stop un-wanted people coming into our country who are not prepared to work. The government should have stricter laws and rules on who should be allowed into the UK.

Explain T. Adorno and M. Horkheimers critique of the culture industry Essay

Explain T. Adorno and M. Horkheimers critique of the culture industry and discuss whether these are still relevant for understanding cultural production today - Essay Example Therefore, culture is produced and consumed like any other industrial commodity. According to Theodor Adorno, commercialisation of culture is a capitalistic idea whose main goal is to maximise profit. Culture is the slave of the corporate which is used to gain profit. To achieve their goal, the culture on the market must be attractive to the larger segment of the group or society (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1979). Theodor Adorno and Horkheimer have critically analysed the concept of a culture industry. They view the idea as a continuation of a capitalistic system, which aims to reduce cost of production while increasing profit. In a pure capitalistic setting, the factors of production are used efficiently to attain maximum benefits. For example, workers are paid according to their input contribution, which encourage high labour utility. Marxist theory predicted that the capitalist system will eventually fall because it will trigger a social revolution from the exploited workers. The work o f the two scholars is pointing out why the social revolution did not happen as anticipated by Marx. Mass media technology is the main factor of production in industrial culture, which includes; use of radio, television and publications. Mass media technology allows information to spread quickly to a large audience (Bottomore, 1984). To understand the critic of Adorno and Horkheimer, it is important to note that they are products of the German culture, which they viewed as superior to the popular culture of many western nations. They referred their culture as high culture that educates and motivates people. On their observation, popular culture is not exciting, and it enhances uniformity in a society. To these analysts, culture industry leads to standardisation in the society, which refers to being accustomed to the products of the culture industry. This makes the public to be addicted to the mass culture and forget to challenge the inequality of the ruling economic system (Marcuse, 1964). In their theory of pseudo individuality, they claim that the culture industry makes an individual a commodity of trade, which is produced and sold in mass. For instance, a music work of an artist can be reproduced in mass and sold to consumers. The artist involved is advertised and treated like any other industrial product making person lose their individual identity as a human being (Adorno, 2001). According to two scholars, the mass culture is the trickery system that politicians use to attain their desired goals, so the popular culture is the tool that enables them to gain support of the masses. For example, during the Second World War, the mass entertainment and information was used to rally Americans to approve and support a war that was long and costly (Kellner, 2003). According to Jarvis (1998) mass media is a deception idea which is meant to enslave the public. Popular culture is the product of all the social classes in a society, but commercialisation of culture diff erentiated the structure so that they can sell to the larger group in the market. The corporations involved in production and marketing of culture are inherently capitalistic hence they propagate capitalistic ideology. The theorist found the mass media to be blind of the social inequalities in a society. It makes people forget the plain truth of economic and social differences, making them appear as if they are living in a dark cave. Just like in a capitalist system, culture industry uses its own ways of dominance to ensure the control of the masses and the continuity of the system. Therefore, the mass media is the main tool of dominance in the culture industry, which ensures people consume the products of the industry (Martin-Barbero, 1993). It encourages people to forget

What makes a run on bank When is the government intervention necessary Essay

What makes a run on bank When is the government intervention necessary - Essay Example A bank run progress is an automated momentum gaining process which is, said or believed comes true as the peoples are expecting it to come true: eventually as the deposition withdrawals increase the image of the bank falls provoking many withdrawals. Continuation of a bank run for long time can result in a bankruptcy as bank runs have a very ugly reputation. Insecurity during a bank run creates fear to same extent when the room is on fire. The panic drives us to the nearest visible exit blindly like a reflex without a single thought that the seen exit shown up like an oasis is really an exit or just a mirage. Sometimes it is better not to take risks with your money. The panic or â€Å"the shout† of a bank run is as fast and as growing like a fire. This panic takes an epidemic look as the depositors start to feel the same with other banks too as an incoming shock as this kind of economic disasters are very frequently on the headlines. It’s like when my friend’s ba nk is under a bank run the next bank could be mine. So a bank run is efficiently capable of contaminating its misfortune to cause several bankruptcies at least if the total economic breakdown is managed to block. (Shin, 2009) What causes bank run? Banks have an origin of centuries. Once they were just little shops that were used to collect fund from people and use them as to lend to the borrowers. This model, however, does not look much tough. Particularly in case of depositors, they can freely withdraw their money with a small penalty where a bank cannot ever ask for the money to be returned whenever they need it. Thus, an error arises in this model. In order to nullify this error a bank generally keeps a cash reserve which the bank uses to lend money to the borrowers taking only a little part from the deposits. However, if the bank is completely healthy it can survive a bankruptcy in the long run, but the sufferings of a bank run cannot be avoided when many people take their money back much than the cash reserved. So if a rough situation arises like this all depositors may not get their money back. The thing that makes the situation much worse is the first come first serve policy of the withdrawal. As long the bank have their cash reserve depositors can take their money back, but beyond the cash reserve level the bank is unable to return the money back. Hence, the insecure and desperate depositors rush to the bank to take their money bank thinking this to be a bank run. On forcing the borrowers to return fast the bank undergoes a loss as fire sales occur and the money taken back is very less may be less than the total deposits. In September 2007, a United Kingdom bank called Northern Rock experienced a severe bank run when depositors rushed to the bank to withdraw their money. UK experienced bank run even before. In case of US also bank run was not uncommon prior to 1930s. However, bank runs become rare after that. Why do bank runs exits?   There are three main reasons. (Shin, 2009) (I) Individual Liquidity Shock: Money could be needed in any time as an individual could suffer a liquidity shock for various reasons such as damage repairs from any sort of disaster, loss of earning, emergency hospitalization which leaves no choice to the depositors to withdraw their money. When the individual liquidity shock is completely independent and there are multiple depositors ten we consider it as the aggregate liquidity shock is non- stochastic, so in that case for a particular period of time a fixed amount of deposits are allowed to be withdrawn. This way the policy of cash reserve can resolve the bank run problem. In reality completely independent liquidity shocks are quite unrealistic as aggregate liquidity shocks are found normally in the time of currency crisis or natural disasters. That

Marketing topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing topic - Essay Example The findings suggest that Qatar Airways cargo services are dealing with certain issues, which are mostly owing to its lack of brand equity in the cargo sector. As recommended, the company has the need to strategize it branding policies, especially in the domain of cargo business with the deliverance of proper and innovative services to the customers, so that it can move ahead in competition with the rivals. Hence, it can be stated that branding indeed is quite vital for the growth and sustainability of the business in the present day context. Strategies often refer to the actions that the organisations of this present day context adopt with the aim of enhancing their respective competitive positioning and sustaining in this competitive landscape for longer time. The approaches of conducting business by modern organisations within the global business arena have changed rapidly in the contemporary scenario, which may be owing to the increasing competitiveness of the market. Furthermore, due to the continuous fluctuating demand of the market, companies are dealing with severe challenges in the course of conducting their respective business operations (Smith & Round, 1998). Thus, in this regard, companies need to frame effective decisions in the domain of operations, marketing, human resource and finance among others to ensure a sustainable future for their businesses. However, proper marketing strategies are deemed to be a vital component for enhancing the competitiveness of the businesses in the global business sector (Pea rson, n.d.). In the contemporary business scenario, business operations need to undergo immense transformation in order to meet the ever-changing demands of the stakeholders (Fernando, 2010). The importance of diverse marketing roles in business generally appears in this scenario. It will be significant to state that marketing is one of the valuable functions, which directly works towards enhancing the brand image and

How Different Stakeholder Groups Build Brand Value Research Paper

How Different Stakeholder Groups Build Brand Value - Research Paper Example The concept of brand building has witnessed a striking change from the last decade. Traditionally the role of brands was just to provide a name or an identity to a product (Baehrens, 2012). Apart from being an identity is also the association which satisfies emotional and functional needs of the consumers (Glynn, 2009). A brand also helps to distinguish one company from the other (Dunn, 2004). However the modern concept of branding is a step of the entire marketing and selling process. According to Kotler (2008) branding is defined as the name which is associated with the product line of the companies and is used to recognize the product (Kautish, 2011). Apart from this American Marketing Association (AMA) defined brand as symbol, term, name, sign or design, or an amalgamation of all which are proposed to recognize the products and services of one company to that of the other. In other words brand helps to distinguish a product of a company from that of another company. However many authors have specified that brands are much more than just a mere mark of identification. Brands also act as the element which enhances the societal value of a company and the communal value of the user of a branded product. Kotler also mentioned brands as the major area of concern in the context of the product strategy. Since brand was only a part of the product strategy, the communication strategy also worked with it in the process of exploring the brand value and creating brand awareness. The brand development process is lengthy and there are a number of factors associated with it. Also there are a number of people starting from the employees and customers, who help in the process of creating brand. Hence there is a part played by the stake holders towards the... In this turbulent business environment creation of brand value is not an easy process and is mainly created due to active participation of the stakeholders. The situation worsens for the new companies who enter into a market. To cite an example it took many years for Pepsi, Coca Cola, Volkswagen, and Toyota, to get them established and to become renowned brands of the world. Thus, brand equity and brand value are the essential factors towards the success of an organization. Brand value is mainly used to define the association during the process of value creation, while on the other hand brand equity is imperative for the evaluation of the brand value that is also termed as the result for the relationship. After conduction the research about the impact of stakeholders on the creation of brand value, it can be concluded that the stakeholders plays the most essential role towards the development of a brand. The study also revealed that customers are an important group of stakeholder, bu t are not the sole responsible group for the development of a brand. Other stakeholders such as suppliers, distributors, business partners, other channel members, government, banks, Ngo’s, media and also competitors plays a major role in the process of brand value creation. The null hypothesis holds true for the project.

German Population Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

German Population - Essay Example (Central Intelligence Agency, 2008) Another reason is that it was very active in World War I and II and as a result, it got separated into two regions, West Germany and East Germany. By the studying the population change over the last 50 years, we will be able to find out how this separation affected the population distribution. Another factor which makes Germany stand out and ideal for this case study is the fact that Germany is listed as the host of the third-highest percentage of international migrants worldwide. (United Nations Population Fund, 2006) Besides this, Germany's population is changing in a way where the birthrates are much lower than the death rates which is causing the population to age. Therefore, studying this will help us learn a lot about one of the most pressing problems for countries all over the world. These were all the facts that made Germany ideal for a population change case study. I also have a few personal reasons for why I have selected Germany as my country under study. Firstly, every year I hear about Berlinale, F1 race, Internationales Beethovenfest and Oktoberfest, which are makes me very interested in Germany. However, the main reason for choosing Germany is that a few of my friends and I are planning to go Germany for a vacation after this spring term, so this assignment is a great chance for me to discover more about Germany before I go there. Germany also has alot of amazing buildings, such as Neuschwanstein Castle, which was built by Knig Ludwig II based on the idea of a fairly tales castle. Therefore, I'm really interested in Germany, as it is a place with so much things to learn about. Introduction According to the July 2008 estimates, the population of Germany is approximately 82,315,548. (Central Intelligence Agency, 2008) The total population figure has also been falling recently. In 1958, the population of Germany was 72,031,000. Out of these, 54,719,000 were in West Germany while 17,312,000 were in East. As we can see, the population has risen by approximately 10,284,548 since then.However, if we look at the yearly trends, the population growth rate fluctuated a lot. The population growth rate was not positive through out. From 1958 the population change rate has been mostly increasing, although, there have been years when this rate was negative. There has been no drastic percentage change in the population throughout these 50 years. The maximum increase has been 1 percent and the maximum decrease has been 0.5 percent. From 1950 till 1973, the population kept on increasing. This pattern change when the population started to fall till 1985. Then it started to increase agai n, reached its maximum in 2003 and since then it has been falling. (Population Reference Bureau)Also, another change can be seen in the distribution on population within East and West Germany. In 2006, the population in West Germany was 65,667,000 and the population of East Germany was 16,648,000. As we compare this with 1958's data, we notice that the population in West Germany has increased while the population in East Germany has decreased. (Federal Statistical Office, 2007) Factors Affecting Population and Change The projection of population carried out by the Federal Statistical Office show that the population will keep on falling in future and by 2050, the lower limit of the expected population will

Consumer Behaviour Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Consumer Behaviour - Coursework Example Each society their is some type of social class that is significant to the marketers since the buying behaviour of persons in a given social class is alike. In this way, marketing actions could be designed according to diverse social classes. Now we should note that the social class is not determined by income alone but there are several other reasons as well such as: assets, education, profession etc (BABIN & HARRIS 2011). Social factors also affect the consumer behaviour of customers. The significant social factors are situation groups, family, the role and the status. The members of a family adversely influence buyer behaviour. Consequently, marketers are working hard to find the roles and power of the husband, the wife and the children. If wife influences the buying decision of a particular product then the marketers will attempt to target women in their advertisement. Now we should note that purchasing roles change with vary in the consumer lifestyles (BEST HAWKINS & MOTHERSBAUG H 2007). Every person possesses unique roles and status in a society relying upon groups, family, clubs, and organization to which the person belongs. For instance, a woman is working in a certain organization as the finance manager. Here she is playing double roles, one as the finance manager and other role as a mother. Consequently, her purchasing decisions will be influenced by the role and the status (DEBRUICKER QUELCH & WARD 1986). (2) Personal Factors Personal factors also shape the consumer behaviour. The important personal aspects that influence the purchasing behaviour are the lifestyle of a person, economic condition, profession, age, character and self-concept. Age and the life cycle have noticeable impact on... The paper shows that when you are aware of how consumers behave in relation to the goods, you are selling, and then you have a good understanding of how to give good service to them, raising the probability that you will have repeat consumers. For instance, if you know that consumers tend to come to your hotel since they can get good food devoid of waiting for a very long time, you should carry on training your wait employees to be as resourceful as possible. Gather some customer behaviour data by just analyzing the sales data you already have. For instance, you can see whether the majority of your goods are brought with cash or credit card. If you happen to have a clock on the register, you know then when individuals tend to buy in your store. Nevertheless, you should not restrict yourself to that information. The most important information is from the depth answers from your customers about their expenditure. Focus groups, the surveys and the one-on-one interviews are better ways to get the information about customer behaviour. Encourage the consumers to contribute in these projects by offering rewards, like a contest entry or a discount, for the survey completion or the focus group contribution. This paper approves that consumer behaviour assists organizations decide what goods and services to produce or offer. Once they evaluate on what customers purchase and how they come up with they different ways of identifying what products to purchase and what to be left out, companies can more simply spot a necessitate that lacks in they product and supplement it with something either of the same quality or of a supplementary function.

Corporate Governance Practices in Qatar Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Corporate Governance Practices in Qatar - Essay Example Governments are creating new regulatory frameworks to improve corporate governance of companies (Adamson, 22- 03-2011). Multinational companies are evolving and changing corporate governance to meet benchmarks and the basic requirements required by investors in making investment decisions. Companies are focusing on best practices such as risk management in order to have good corporate governance. Companies are emphasizing the management of their reputations to improve the perception of local and global community about their images. The drive to implement good corporate governance and the financial crisis in Qatar have led directors and officers of multinational companies to increase the awareness of their responsibilities. The executives are taking companies’ failure as personal liability. In Qatar, Investors are holding executives and boards responsible for unsatisfactory performance. Companies are under thorough scrutiny especially on managerial actions. Executives are aware of risks facing them. Therefore, they act to limit personal liability. The Arabic companies are embracing a more pragmatic and less litigious approach in their corporate governance to serve the international community. The Qatar government is creating new frameworks for practices and regulations that favour multinational companies. The aim of the government of Qatar to provide real business environments to attract both foreign and local investors. The greater accountability for boards and executives actions has made companies prio ritize shareholders’ interests. It is because shareholders and financial regulators put a scrutiny on issues of corporate governance. Multinational companies are now taking a proactive approach in risk management to protect executives and boards’ members. These companies are improving the standards of corporate governance to march the

Cemex Case Study Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cemex Case Study - Coursework Example In terms of markets, the developing countries of China and India may be seen as some of most important due to large scale cement consumption and production fuelled by large scale economic growth (OECD 2010, 2009). It may be expected that in future years as wealth becomes higher per capita in these markets, that demand begins to fall to levels seen in the developed world. In addition, the nature of products consumed in developing markets also varies from those of the developed world. Here there is a preference for pre-bagged building materials as opposed to bulk delivery, a trend which is reversed in developed markets. 2. In terms of global capacity, Cemex ranks as third with a capacity of 64.7 million tons, this compares to market leader Lafarge’s capacity of 108 million tons and Taiheiyo in sixth place at 37.9 million tons. Despite the capacity of the company, Cemex ranks as number one by market share in 9 of its key 13 markets and second in anther three. As such, Cemexâ€⠄¢s overall capacity lags behind the total demand for the company’s products making the company a global sourcer. ... This however, may be seen as linked to the unique characteristics of such markets which have a propensity to favour local or national producers over the large international players such as Cemex. As such, despite being a global player, Cemex may still be seen as lacking a substantial presence in key regional markets in both Asia and Africa. 3. Overall, it would appear that Cemex after the current round of acquisitions is now a â€Å"broad† player within the market for building products, while the firm had previously focused on cement (Jobber, 2007). Recent acquisitions has seen the company moving into both the aggregates and ready mixed concrete market. With regards to Cemex’s generic strategy, it would appear that the company follows a cost leadership model (Porter, 2004). This can be seen in the so called â€Å"Cemex way† in which on making an acquisition the company attempts to implement a two way process of rationalisation taking the best and most cost effect ive practises from both the parent company and the acquisitioned company and then implementing the most cost effective. There is however, one area in which Cemex may be seen as developing a differentiated strategy. In the market for bagged cements, Cemex was the first producer to developed a â€Å"branded† option, thus making the product more attractive in the lucrative home build market segment. In addition, the company also makes small local changes to the produce based upon customer perceptions of quality. For instance while the Egyptian market shows a preference for darker colours cements, Cemex’s home markets in South America require a lighter coloured product. Despite this attempt to differentiate the product, it would appear that the market as a whole is

Human Growth and Development Essay Example for Free

Human Growth and Development Essay Human development is marked by different stages and milestones over the lifespan. It is expressed over three domains: physical, cognitive and socio/emotional. While human physical and cognitive development is universal, socio/emotional definitions and development vary from culture to culture. Gaining a basic knowledge of human lifespan development will lead to a better understanding of the appearance, perceptions and behaviors of the self and others. Adolescence is a demanding and critical period in life. Failure to meet certain developmental milestones can have serious short- and long-term implications for the individual and society at large. Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and psychological human development generally occurring during the period from puberty to legal adulthood (age of majority). The period of adolescence is most closely associated with the teenage years, although its physical, psychological and cultural expressions can begin earlier and end later. For example, although puberty has been historically associated with the onset of adolescent development, it now typically begins prior to the teenage years and there have been a normative shift of it occurring in preadolescence, particularly in females. Physical growth, as distinct from puberty (particularly in males), and cognitive development generally seen in adolescence, can also extend into the early twenties. Thus chronological age provides only a rough marker of adolescence, and scholars have found it difficult to agree upon a precise definition of adolescence. A thorough understanding of adolescence in society depends on information from various perspectives, most importantly from the areas of psychology, biology, history, sociology, education, and anthropology. Within all of these perspectives, adolescence is viewed as a transitional period between childhood and adulthood whose cultural purpose is the preparation of children for adult roles. Stages of Human Development The various stages of human development include the prenatal period, infancy, toddlerhood, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood and late adulthood. Each stage is marked by milestones in physical, cognitive, and socio/emotional development. 1. Physical Development Physical development has to do with the way that the human body develops over a lifespan. The most rapid and complex human development occurs during the prenatal period. From infancy to early childhood, the physical milestones include developing motor skills like learning to control body movements, walk, talk, speak, use tools like spoons and forks and use the rest room. From infancy to early childhood, humans grow in height, weight and mass and get their first set of teeth. Middle childhood has only a few physical milestones, such as continued growth at a much slower rate and the gain of permanent teeth. Adolescence is the second most rapid and complex time of human development and is when the sexual maturation process begins. Females begin to grow breasts, their hips expand and they grow pubic hair and begin menstruation, which marks their physical ability to procreate. They may grow a few inches more in height. Males have significant growth spurts and develop facial and pubic hair, their voices deepen and they begin to have sperm-producing ejaculations, signifying their ability to procreate. Young adulthood is when humans are at the prime of their physical development. All of the systems are functioning optimally, making this the best time for reproduction. Middle adulthood brings the beginning of physical deterioration, such as the end of fertility in women, or menopause. The decrease in physical abilities and health for both sexes continues through late adulthood . 2. Cognitive Development Cognitive development has to do with the way humans perceive and experience the world and deals with issues like memory, thinking and decision-making processes and concept comprehension. During the prenatal period, cognitive development is highly enveloped in physical development as the primary tool for cognition; the brain is still being developed. During infancy and early childhood, milestones like speaking, comprehension and object differentiation occur. Thoughts about the world are simplistic, and judgments are made in an either/or framework. Middle childhood brings the beginning of concrete and logical thinking, and adolescence brings about a phase where cognitive judgments are often overridden by feelings and impulses because of the bodys rapidly changing physical and biological climate. Young adulthood is the human cognitive prime, as the capacity for rapid and accurate memory, thought processing and information analysis function at peak levels. Perceptions of the world, judgment and morality become more sophisticated and complex. During middle adulthood, humans are experts at problem solving, although they begin to experience some signs of decline with speed in processing and recall. Late adulthood signifies the continued deterioration of cognitive abilities. Theoretical perspectives There are two perspectives on adolescent thinking. One is the constructivist view of cognitive development. Based on the work of Piaget, it takes a quantitative, state-theory approach, hypothesizing that adolescents cognitive improvement is relatively sudden and drastic. The second is the information-processing perspective, which derives from the study of artificial intelligence and attempts to explain cognitive development in terms of the growth of specific components of the thinking process. Improvements in cognitive ability By the time individuals have reached age 15 or so, their basic thinking abilities are comparable to those of adults. These improvements occur in five areas during adolescence: 1. Attention. Improvements are seen in selective attention, the process by which one focuses on one stimulus while tuning out another. Divided attention, the ability to pay attention to two or more stimuli at the same time, also improves. 2. Memory. Improvements are seen in both working memory and long-term memory. 3. Processing speed. Adolescents think more quickly than children. Processing speed improves sharply between age five and middle adolescence; it then begins to level off at age 15 and does not appear to change between late adolescence and adulthood. 4. Organization. Adolescents are more aware of their own thought processes and can use mnemonic devices and other strategies to think more efficiently. 5. Meta-cognition It often involves monitoring one’s own cognitive activity during the thinking process. Adolescents’ improvements in knowledge of their own thinking patterns lead to better self-control and more effective studying. 3. Socio/Emotional Development Socio/emotional development has to do with how an individual is able to handle emotions, relationships, social situations, and the various roles demanded of them by society. Some aspect of Socio/Emotional standards, such as social expectations, relationships, and roles vary from culture to culture. During infancy and early childhood, the primary relationships are with the parents and based on attachment. Environmental exploration, impulsivity, differentiation of self (from others) and the basics of social interaction are learnt. In early childhood, impulsivity begins to give way to control, and awareness of consequences significantly affects behavioral choices. Middle childhood begins the transition from family orientation to peer orientation, which carries on into adolescence. Issues of identify, sexuality and sexual expression, conflict and resolution and internal stability prevail. By young adulthood, the focus shifts from peers to career, social role, building external stability, finding a mate and starting a family. Middle adulthood is met with the psychological and emotional challenges of facing the mid-life crisis, and a life analysis and inventory is taken. Late adulthood marks the transition from the mid-life crisis. Life reflection, acceptance of death, and legacy building or making social contributions also occur at this phase. I. Identity development Among the most common beliefs about adolescence is that it is the time when teenagers form their personal identities. Egocentrism is being performed by adolescents who then form self-consciousness of wanting to feel important in their peer groups and having social acceptance of fitting into the group. Empirical studies suggest that this process might be more accurately described as identity development, rather than formation, but confirms a normative process of change in both content and structure of ones thoughts about the self. Researchers have used three general approaches to understanding identity development: self-concept, sense of identity, and self-esteem. The years of adolescence create a more conscientious group of young adults. Adolescents pay close attention and give more time and effort to their appearance as their body goes through changes. Unlike children, teens put forth an effort to look presentable (1991). The environment in which an adolescent grows up also plays an important role in their identity development. II. Self Concept Early in adolescence, cognitive developments result in greater self-awareness, greater awareness of others and their thoughts and judgments, the ability to think about abstract, future possibilities, and the ability to consider multiple possibilities at once. As a result, adolescents experience a significant shift from the simple, concrete, and global self-descriptions typical of young children; as children, they defined themselves with physical traits whereas as adolescents, they define themselves based on their values, thoughts and opinions. III. Sense of identity Unlike the conflicting aspects of self-concept, identity represents a coherent sense of self stable across circumstances and including past experiences and future goals. Everyone has a self-concept, whereas Erik Erikson argued that not everyone fully achieves identity. Erikson’s theory of stages of development includes the identity crisis in which adolescents must explore different possibilities and integrate different parts of themselves before committing to their beliefs. He described the resolution of this process as a stage of identity achievement but also stressed that the identity challenge is never fully resolved once and for all at one point in time. Adolescents begin by defining themselves based on their crowd membership. Clothes help teens explore new identities, separate from parents, and bond with peers. Fashion has played a major role when it comes to teenagers finding their selves; Fashion is always evolving, which corresponds with the evolution of change in the personality of teenagers. IV. Environment and identity An adolescents environment plays a huge role in their identity development. While most adolescent studies are conducted on white, middle class children, studies have shown that the more privileged upbringing one has the more successful they will be in the development of their identity. The forming of an adolescents identity is a crucial time in their life. It has been recently found that demographic patterns suggest that the transition to adulthood is now occurring over a longer span of years than was the case during the middle of the 20th century. Accordingly, youth, a period that spans late adolescence and early adulthood, has become a more prominent stage of the life course. This therefore has caused various factors to become important during this development. So many factors contribute to the developing social identity of an adolescent from commitment, to coping devices, to social media. All of these factors are affected by the environment an adolescent grows up in. A child from a more privileged upbringing will be exposed to more opportunities as well as better situations in general. An adolescent from an inner city or a crime driven neighborhood is more likely to be exposed to an environment that can be detrimental to their development. Adolescence is a very sensitive period in the development process of ones life and exposure to the wrong things at that time can have a major affect on decisions someone will make. While children that grow up in nice suburban communities are not exposed to bad environments they are more likely to participate in activities that can benefit their identity and contribute to a more successful identity development. V. Sexual orientation and identity Sexual orientation has been defined as an erotic inclination toward people of one or more genders, most often described as sexual or erotic attractions. In recent years, psychologists have sought to understand how sexual orientation develops during adolescence. Some theorists believe that there are many different possible developmental paths one could take, and that the specific path an individual follows may be determined by their sex, orientation, and when they reached the onset of puberty. VI. Self-esteem The final major aspect of identity formation is self-esteem, ones thoughts and feelings about one’s self-concept and identity. Contrary to popular belief, there is no empirical evidence for a significant drop in self-esteem over the course of adolescence. Barometric self-esteem fluctuates rapidly and can cause severe distress and anxiety, but baseline self-esteem remains highly stable across adolescence. Girls are most likely to enjoy high self-esteem when engaged in supportive relationships with friends; the most important function of friendship to them is having someone who can provide social and moral support. When they fail to win friends approval or couldnt find someone with whom to share common activities and common interests, in these cases, girls will suffer from low self-esteem. In contrast, boys are more concerned with establishing and asserting their independence and defining their relation to authority. As such, they are more likely to derive high self-esteem from their ability to successfully influence their friends; on the other hand, the lack of romantic competence, for example, failure to win or maintain the affection of the opposite or same-sex (depending on sexual orientation), is the major contributor to low self-esteem in adolescent boys. ECONOMIC CRISES CAN HAVE SERIOUS IMPLICATIONS FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Financial crises, at both the global and the national level, are ubiquitous. This raises concern about the human impacts of crises, especially among more vulnerable populations in developing countries. This is particularly true during childhood and youth, when the brain is developing rapidly, and when socio-emotional and behavioral developments are at their peak. Given the cumulative nature of human development, shortfalls or setbacks at any stage of the life course—from the antenatal environment through adolescence—are often difficult to reverse later in life and may have severe consequences for individual development as well as for the growth and development of successful communities. Thus, it is essential to protect and promote human development in the face of adversity. Three interrelated concepts provide the foundation for understanding the potential impacts of shocks on children and youth. a) Timing: Human development is characterized by critical periods of life during which certain investments must be made to facilitate the achievement of specific milestones in development, or stage salient developmental tasks. These age-related expectations for the mastery of particular tasks provide benchmarks for the abilities that an individual should ideally master by different ages, and that are correlated with successful development and transition to subsequent stages in life. Economic crises can disrupt a young person’s â€Å"normal† development by preventing or delaying the mastery of these developmental tasks at specific stages, which—if uncorrected—can have potential long term consequences. b) Context: Development in childhood and youth is influenced by diverse contexts or settings (family, peers, schools, communities, socio-cultural belief systems, policy regimes, and the economy). The relative importance of these settings changes during the life course. Interactions among these settings determine both the transmission of shocks such as a financial crisis to the young person’s immediate environment and the impact of the shock on her development. As development is partly a function of a person’s repeated interactions with her immediate environment (the proximal processes of human development), shocks can disrupt the contexts in which these processes occur, and hinder a young person’s ability to develop successfully. c) Transmission mechanisms: There are numerous pathways through which a crisis can affect the well-being and development of a young person. Crises may be experienced directly at the individual level (through e.g. a change in aspirations and identity), or indirectly through the family, school, or other settings (through e.g. increased parental stress, parental job loss, a reduction in publicly-provided services). The developing person will experience crises through the loss in income, but also through other channels, such as psychological distress. The relevance of each particular transmission mechanism varies depending on the life stage of the person as well as on the context. Different settings may provide protective factors that prevent, mitigate or attenuate negative impacts; these factors can be a source of resilience, facilitating positive adaptive behavior on the part of the developing person. Effects of economic crises on adolescents Adolescence is a crucial stage in a person’s development. Adolescence is marked by profound physical, emotional, and social transitions; the brain undergoes significant neurological development, and cognitive and socio-emotional abilities take shape. While social expectations of the precise timing of certain transitions vary across countries and cultures, all adolescents are eventually expected to make the transition to adulthood, including entering work, becoming financially independent, and starting a family. Adapting to these new roles and successfully managing this transition requires the mastery of three interrelated stage-salient tasks: 3 a. Autonomy and relatedness: As young people mature, they renegotiate their relationships with parents, peers, teachers, and other adults. Settings outside the family, such as the workplace, become increasingly important. Young people must achieve greater personal and financial independence while maintaining positive relationships with parents and other adults. b. Identity: The process of growing more autonomous and defining one’s role in society requires that adolescents establish personal and vocational preferences and aspirations. c. Goal setting and achievement: The ability to define goals and plan and act strategically provides the foundation for subsequent growth and development. ECONOMIC CRISES CAN IMPAIR HEALTHY ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT Crises affect the opportunities and support structures available to adolescents to develop the cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral competencies needed to master the stage-salient tasks. In particular, crises can lead to: i) Limited and unpredictable employment opportunities: Youth employment tends to be more vulnerable to economic crises than adult employment. Young people are often engaged in temporary and unprotected work—such as seasonal, temporary, and part-time jobs—or in sectors particularly vulnerable to economic fluctuations, such as construction. By constraining employment opportunities, as well as the availability of other entry points into the labor market, such as internships and apprenticeships, economic shocks affect the process of acquiring necessary skills, work experience, and achieving financial autonomy. Worsening labor market conditions can also affect adolescents’ expectations, vocational identity, and personal goals, as the context and perceived likelihood of achieving them may change dramatically. ii) Loss of parental employment and income, and deterioration of family dynamics: The threat or realization of losing income or assets can lead to anxiety among parents, which is then transmitted to adolescents throug h parents’ emotions and behaviors. For example, the quality of parenting can be negatively affected, impairing the development of adolescents’ autonomy and ability to form relationships. Impaired family dynamics are linked to mental health problems and heightened incidence of risky behaviors. Research also shows that adolescents who perceive economic stress within their families have lower self-expectations for the future. iii) Changes in the availability of adult role models outside the family: Crises may not only affect intra family dynamics, but also the availability of and interactions with positive role models in the school or community. Lower public expenditure can adversely affect the quality as well as quantity of schooling, while supervised extracurricular activities and out-of-school programs are often discontinued. These reduce the availability of positive adult mentoring relationships, restricting the support and guidance available to adolescents in mastering their developmental tasks. In addition to these disruptions in their immediate environment, adolescents are more aware than younger children of the impact of shocks on socioeconomic status, and they may perceive economic pressures and stigma more directly. This can lead to additional difficulties with psychosocial adjustment, and influence their self-esteem, identity, future orientation, and efficacy beliefs. THE FAILURE TO MASTER CRITICAL TASKS CAN HAVE NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS FOR ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT. Failure to achieve stage-salient developmental tasks can jeopardize other life outcomes. Although there is considerable heterogeneity across individuals, crises can have particularly negative consequences in the following areas: a) Schooling Employment: Contrary to the experience of idiosyncratic shocks, such as parental job loss, there is no compelling evidence that young people leave school during aggregate crises to work and support the household. Young people have fewer job opportunities in a crisis; this decreases the perceived returns to entering the labor market relative to remaining in school. On the other hand, diminished opportunities for employment can severely affect those young people who do try to enter the labor market. Early un- and underemployment is known to have serious long-term effects on future employment and lifetime income, and these young people often fail to catch up when the economy rebounds. b) Mental health: By altering their relationships, identity, and goals for the future, unexpected life events can affect adolescents’ physical and mental health. Difficulty in the labor market may lead to hopelessness and lower self-esteem, especially for young people who are in the process of forming occupational identities. In fact, unemployment experienced at early ages is associated with stress, depression, and illness later in life. Mental health problems during youth can also lead to lower educational achievement, increased substance abuse, violence, and risky sexual behavior. c) Risky behavior: Economic adversity and its effects on the adolescent and her immediate environment may lead to greater risk taking, although this response is by no means universal. Crises can diminish the quality of parenting, which in turn may increase the likelihood for delinquency among youth. Similarly, stress and mental health problems have been associated with risky sexual activity. But while young people who experience severe stress are more prone to substance abuse, an income shock that decreases disposable income can decrease the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. Significance Having some knowledge about human lifespan development is beneficial for many reasons. It increases self-awareness and understanding, which helps with life planning. If a female is aware of the stages of her physical development, for example, she will know that her natural childbearing years are limited. If she wants to have children, she can use family planning to make choices about her education, career and mate to support this goal. Additionally, this knowledge can be helpful for improving relationships and interpersonal communication and resolving conflicts. Conclusion Human development is marked by different stages and milestones over the lifespan. It is expressed over three domains: physical, cognitive and socio/emotional. While human physical and cognitive development is universal, socio/emotional definitions and development vary from culture to culture. Gaining a basic knowledge of human lifespan development will lead to a better understanding of the appearance, perceptions and behaviors of the self and others. Physical development has to do with the way that the human body develops over a lifespan. The most rapid and complex human development occurs during the prenatal period. From infancy to early childhood, the physical milestones include developing motor skills like learning to control body movements, walk, talk, speak, use tools like spoons and forks and use the rest room. From infancy to early childhood, humans grow in height, weight and mass and get their first set of teeth. Cognitive development has to do with the way humans perceive and experience the world and deals with issues like memory, thinking and decision-making processes and concept comprehension. During the prenatal period, cognitive development is highly enveloped in physical development as the primary tool for cognition; the brain is still being developed. Socio/emotional development has to do with how an individual is able to handle emotions, relationships, social situations, and the various roles demanded of them by society. Some aspect of Socio/Emotional standards, such as social expectations, relationships, and roles vary from culture to culture. REFERENCE 1. Human Development, Diane E. Papalia, 9th edition 2. Boyd, D., and Bee, H., (2006). Lifespan Development, Fourth Edition. Boston, MA. Pearson Education, Inc. 3. Chassin, L., A. Hussong, and A. Beltran. 2009. â€Å"Adolescent Substance Use.† In Handbook of Adolescent Psychology. 3rd ed., Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.; Lundberg, P. et al. 2011. â€Å"Poor Mental Health and Sexual Risk Behaviours in Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Population-Based Study.† BMC Public Health 11 (125): 1–10 4. Bell, D., and D. Blanchflower. 2010. â€Å"Young People and Recession: A Lost Generation?† Working Paper. Dartmouth College. 5. See for example Duryea, S., and M. Morales. 2011. â€Å"Effects of the Global Financial Crisis on Children’s School and Employment Outcomes in El Salvador.† Development 6. Policy Review 29 (5): 527–46.; Scarpetta, S., A. Sonnet, and T. Manfredi. 2010. â€Å"Rising Youth Unemployment during the Crisis: How to Prevent Negative 7. Long-Term Consequences on a Generation.† Social, Employme nt, and Migration Working Paper 106, OECD: Paris. 8. Carlson, N. R., Heth, C. (2010). Psychologythe science of behaviour, fourth Canadian edition [by] Neil R. Carlson, C. Donald Heth. Toronto: Pearson. 9. Steinberg, L. (2008). Adolescence, 8th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. 10. American Psychological Association (APA). United States Department of Health and Human Services. 11. Carlson, Neil R. (2010). Psychology: the science of behaviour. Toronto, Ontario: Pearson Education Canada.

Flexible working time and work life balance

Flexible working time and work life balance The male breadwinner model, which puts an emphasis on the household as the womans sphere and the workplace as the mans sphere, no longer defines how most families divide labor between men and women (Crompton 2006). The increased participation of women in the labor market, along with technological change and globalization, have dramatically changed the structure of the labor market, and have most likely changed how workers balance their life between work and family. (copy) Good as well: flexible working practices brought upon by an increasing need for work-life balance which have been largely if not wholly due to external forces that are beyond the control of organisations. However, all organisations operate and seek to support in the environments that are continuously subjected to change. These changes can have a marked effect on an organisation, its performance, even its survival. Meanwhile, time after time, organisations react to the drivers of change by taking short-term or knee jerk decisions that predictably have an effect on the way work is organised. What is work life balance? Work life balance is employment based on emergent new values, which doesnt discriminate against those with caring or other non- work responsibilities, and which provides an opportunity for people to realize their full potential in work and non work domains. Lewis (1996:1) According to a recent study by Georgetown University, employee stress from trying to find time for their children correlates with decreased productivity and increased absenteeism. The study found that unplanned absences were costing some businesses nearly $1 million a year. Thus, HR specialists are trying in many attempts to help employees reach work-life balance by introducing new working strategies. One of these strategies is flexible working time. Flexible scheduling allows employees to adjust the time or place their work as completed. It can mean compressing 40 hours into four days, starting and ending workdays at different times, or doing some of your work at home. The reason may be as simple as wanting to better manage a long commute. Some parents choose to arrive at work later so they can take their children to school. Some companies may offer these options to retain female employees who might consider leaving their jobs after having children. But is it really that flexible time always helps to achieve work-life balance? Does employee prefer to manage his/her time or like to be committed to a specified timing because he/she may not be able to manage time, which leads to a more mess and imbalance? And which of these two options will increase the p roductivity? This research brings together material from diverse sources to provide an overview of recent research, current thinking and future debates on the key work-life policy issues, especially those which affect organizations in Bahrain. To build an informed policy debate on work-life balance issues in Bahrain, more Bahraini based research is essential. Chapter Two Literature review: 2.1 Work-life balance: The (phrase) Work-Life Balance was originated as a consequence of the Family Friendly Policies that were introduced in the 1970s and 1980s in UK, primarily as a retention tool for women, and since then it has become a widespread concept. With this, they were for women and about women. To avoid the pitfall of being viewed as discriminatory and the need to bring a more, all-inclusive significance into these policies, they were renamed as work-life balance policies. Since the 1970s, the UK Government has introduced several governmental changes to strengthen and to protect the rights of workers. In response to these changes, demands from employees as also from customers who want a larger business window a large number of organizations in the UK, have today introduced varied and innovative Work-life balance policies. The Government continues to play a key role in ensuring that (WLB) continues to gain momentum through legislation, financial incentives and support and promotion of best prac tices (Milburn, 2003). ** DTI (2003) Work and Parents: Competitiveness and Choice Department of Trade and Industry, London. 2.2 What is Work life Balance? Meanwhile, the definition of Work-life balance is about people having a measure of control over when, where and how they work (DTI, 2003). This is achieved when an individuals right to a fulfilled life inside and outside paid work is accepted and respected as the norm, to the mutual benefit of the individual, business and society. work life balance emphasizes on the adjustment of working patterns, and it focuses on the need for everyone, regardless of age, race or gender, to find a pace (that suits them) to help them combine work with other responsibilities or aspirations. Work-Life Balance has an important underlying implication that Work-Life Balance is for everyone, not just for mothers or families and is critical in not just developing policies but also in reviewing them and their impact on employees (Alexandra, 2003), thats why the idea that employers should enhance flexibility has been promoted recently. Within the UK, The Prime Minister Tony Blair launched the Work-Life Balance campaign, in March 2000. The aim of the campaign was in two-fold. First, to convince employers of the economic benefits of work-life balance (this was done by the employment of real-life case studies). Secondly, to convince employers of the need for change (DTI, 2003). Work-life concerns are simply added to an organizations bundle of practices that are designed to benefit competitive strategy to aid attraction and retention in tight labor markets, reduce high levels of absenteeism, and establish long-term relationships with employees based on commitment and productivity. 2.3 The need for a work-life balance As individuals, are all expected to play multiple roles, i.e. employee, boss, spouse, parent, child, sibling, friend, and community member. In turn, each of these roles imposes demands on us that necessitate time, energy and commitment to fulfill. The conflict of work-family or work-life happens when the cumulative demands of these many work and non-work life roles are miss-assorted in some respect so that participation in one role is made more difficult by participation in the other role (Duxbry and Higgins, 2001). Duxbry and Higgins conceptualize work-life conflict to include areas such as, role overload (RO) (having too much to do and too little time to do it in) as well as role interference (when incompatible demands make it difficult, if not impossible, for employees to perform all their roles well). Additionally, role interference can be divided into two factors: family to work interference (FTW) and work to family interference (WTF). With the first case, interference occurs when the roles and responsibilities of the family hinder the work related responsibilities (i.e., a family illness prevents attendance at work; conflict at home makes concentration at work difficult). With the latter case (WTF) interference occurs when work demands make it harder for an employee to fulfill their family responsibilities. 2.4 Background to Flexible Working Rights In April 2003 employees in the UK were first given the right to request flexible working. In the modern work environment, the introduction of these new rights helped to point up that traditional working patterns could no longer be sustained by employers and that there was a need to address the work/life balance. Organizations already facing skills shortages would find recruitment and indeed retention made harder if a more flexible approach to working patterns was not adopted. Suite of Rights The flexible working rights which were established were significant in themselves, however, they formed part of a new set of rights which sought to create a more family friendly work environment. Until April 2003, individual parental rights were primarily limited to maternity leave for a new mother giving her the right for a leave, the right for parents to take emergency time off for dependants (not just limited to children) and to take up to 13 weeks parental leave, which had been introduced in December 1999. In April 2003, however, the following new rights were introduced: The right to maternity leave was extended considerably so that, for the first time, all employees (regardless of their length of service) were entitled to 26 weeks maternity leave and those with more than a years service acquired the right to 52 weeks maternity leave. Fathers also gained rights, albeit limited to 2 weeks paternity leave, on the birth of their child. Extraordinary new rights were given to those seeking to adopt, with statutory adoption leave and statutory paternity leave, giving rights reflecting maternity and paternity leave, for adopting parents. It is significant (and perhaps indicates the extent to which this Government is keen to support working parents) that the next item on the flexible working agenda, announced in 2004, is the possibility of allowing flexible maternity leave between parents; instead of only a mother having the right to take up to 52 weeks maternity leave, there is the vision of some limited swapping of the right to maternity absence as between the mother and father of the child. Before these revolutionary new rights in 2003, the ability of any employee to work flexibly or indeed part-time was very much limited to circumstances where an employer agreed through good will or good practice to such an arrangement. Critics of the flexible working rights argue that the new provisions have not moved this position forward because all they provide is a right to request and to have that request considered seriously. Before they existed, however, there were only two circumstances where flexible working patterns of any sort could be enforced: Firstly, where an individual was a disabled employee and could demonstrate that some form of adjustment to their working hours or duties and working arrangements amounted to a reasonable adjustment which their employer was grateful to make in accordance with the disability discrimination. Secondly, and only as a way of challenging a refusal, female employees could argue that in respect of part-time working, a refusal to agree to part-time work was contrary to the sex discrimination. This is on the basis that it can be shown that a practice within an organization prohibiting part-time working (or indeed a practice allowing only full-time working) operates to the greater disadvantage of women than men and thus falls within the concept of indirect sex discrimination. Why was it Implemented? The history that reflects the flexible working laws introduced in 2003 goes back a number of years. In June 2001, the UK Government established a Task Force whose role was to consider specifically the issues which working parents face; in particular the Task Force was to consider how to assist parents in meeting their desire for flexible working patterns, whilst at the same time remaining compatible with the need for business efficiency and requirements. The establishment of the Task Force was against the background of a voluntary campaign and Government funding to encourage employers and businesses to address work/life balance issues. In March 2000, the Prime Minister launched a campaign known as the Work/Life Balance Campaign with a view to persuading organizations to improve the lot of working parents in such a way as to nevertheless continue achieving business and customer requirements. The original campaign was not in fact focused upon parents, but looked at all employees regardless of whether they had caring responsibilities or not. It was significant, however, in recognizing that the attitude, culture and philosophy of workers had moved on considerably from the ambitious society of the 1980s and 1990s. According to information from the Department of Trade and Industry, the Work/Life Balance Campaign was accompanied by a test fund which, in the run up to the introduction of legislative requirements and legal obligations, encouraged employers to introduce and develop innovative working arrangements. By helping to fund consultancy support, projects were undertaken with work/life balance in mind, including the introduction of new working patterns as well as specific recruitment projects. Over the three years from 2000 to 2003, the Work/Life Balance Challenge fund benefited employers to the sum of  £10.5 million. In its report on 19 November 2001, the Government Task Force made nine recommendations to the Government, many of which were translated to form the basis of the new legislation. In addition to the campaign and the recommendations of the Task Force, the Government had also informed itself of the views of the working population, through the issue of a green paper: Work and Parents: Competitiveness and Choice. This consultation paper was issued in December 2000. The responses to the consultation paper made clear that whilst improving maternity and indeed paternity rights (such as parental leave) would be of benefit to working parents, by far the most popular and indeed significant benefit was improved flexibility to meet childcare and work responsibilities. Armed with these responses and the Task Force report About Flexible Working, the Government tabled parts of the Employment Act 2002 which resulted in implementation of significant new flexible working rights, implemented through an amendment to the Employment Rights Act 1996 and two sets of regulations. Demographic Changes Demographic changes have played a significant role in impressing the need for organizations to develop more varied and non-traditional working patterns: With the ageing population, many more people are finding that they have caring responsibilities such as looking after elderly or disabled relatives. As we are all living longer, more individuals are becoming disabled, according to the Employers Forum on Disability in UK. With the move away from extended families and as people become more mobile, so they are not living close to relatives and parents, those with children are less able to rely on grandparents or other relatives to help with child care responsibilities. The percentage of women who have taken up employment has increased. The trend for life expectancy, although different for men and women, has increased by roughly five years. The Business Case So much for the demographic changes, but there are also business benefits for organizations which offer new or more flexible working arrangements, particularly given the high skills shortage in the UK and more older people who themselves are keen to work but may prefer or indeed require more flexibility. Employers may be surprised to know that for some individuals the ability to work flexibly is more important than the pay or benefits that a particular job may provide. In an online poll carried out by Reed Recruitment in conjunction with the Department of Trade and Industry in UK as part of its Work/Life Balance Campaign 2002, a third of those polled (out of 4,000 people) expressed a preference for having the opportunity to work flexibly, rather than having a  £1,000 pay rise (Reed.co.uk). Over 43% of the men who responded to the poll selected flexible working as the benefit they would most look for in a new job, compared to 13% who would look for a company car, and 7% who considered gym membership to be the priority. Adopting family friendly and flexible working policies has the following advantages for employers: Retention of staff is the key to the stability and knowledge of the organization. Knowledge is lost when somebody leaves and networks are broken. This can be critical in a small business where major customers can go elsewhere when an employee, who understands their needs and whom they trust, moves on to a competitor. The typical recruitment costs of replacing an individual have been estimated at an average  £3,500, ranging from  £1,000 for an unskilled manual worker to over  £5,000 for a professional employee. These costs do not take account of the investment made in training (both formal and informal training) which is lost if skilled employees leave the workplace, as well as lost time and experience. Consequently, it makes commercial sense to try and retain staff rather than recruit new staff [Labor Turnover, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, October 2000]. Savings in absenteeism. Absenteeism costs approximately  £500 per employee a year. A quarter of employers rank home and family responsibilities as one of the five main causes of sickness absence. Employers that help their employees to balance their work with their family lives see improvements in business performance (Cheibl, L. and Dex.S, 1998). It enables businesses to benefit from a greater contribution from the workforce and maximizes the contributions that working parents are able to make to their employers. A strong track record in work/life balance can be a selling point to potential employees who consider that such a balance is important. Many employers sees benefits from flexible working and leave arrangements including: improved employee satisfaction and motivation improved retention rates and recruitment benefits increased employee productivity reduced labor turnover improved reputation Reduced absenteeism. All of which provide improved business results. After having introduced the new rights for parents in 2003, a survey was conducted and analysis of how successful the new rights have been within the UK (Employment Relations Occasional Papers: Results of the First Flexible Working Employee Survey, Tom Palmer, Department of Trade and Industry). The outcome of that report demonstrated that one million parents had made requests for flexible working. That is only a quarter of those who are eligible, meaning that three million who could have made such a request have not done so. Perhaps significantly, it seems that employers when faced with such requests do not have any major difficulty acceding them. 80% of those employees requesting flexible working had their request agreed. The shortfall of those pursuing their new rights and the three million who have not, may be explained by the surveys statistics which demonstrate that 52% of parents who are eligible are unaware in the first place that they have the right to request flexible workin g. The Government has declared an intention to extend these new rights beyond parents with children under six. However, the success and significance of new rights such as these can only be measured when individuals become fully aware of their abilities. The fact that 10% of employees without dependent children were reported in the survey to have requested flexible working, suggests that there is a need on the part of individuals without children to gain this benefit. In organizations where requests were made, despite that individuals did not always have the statutory right, the reasons for the change warrant examination: 13% quoted work life balance 11% cited family responsibilities 11% simply because they wanted more free time (i.e. voluntary and not driven by childcare or family pressures) 7% because of travel arrangements 7% to meet the caring needs of relatives or friends 6% due to health problems. As these statistics demonstrate therefore, an organizations ability to offer flexible working arrangements provides a significant benefit to an extremely wide pool of actual or potential employees. This may, however, just be the tip of the iceberg. What the survey does not analyze is how many individuals simply do not pursue a request. In the Equal Opportunity Commissions Annual Report for 2003-2004 (available at www.eoc.org.uk) four in ten mothers, one in ten fathers and one in five carers have left an organisation or refused a job because of caring responsibilities. This suggests that there are many who do not have confidence in their organizations willingness to accommodate them. What Can be Requested? The statutory request for flexible working, which must be in writing and must be dated (Regulation 4), can request a variation to the individuals contract in one of the following ways: a change to the hours of work; a change to the time when the work is required (for example, the same eight hour day but an early start and early finish); a change to the place of work as between home and place of business. The statutory provisions do not go beyond these fairly focused and limited flexible arrangements. Nothing within any of the provisions appear to prevent the employee seeking a change to more than one of the above, for example to reduce hours and work from home. What other scholars said: Given the competing demands of work and life, it is unsurprising that many employees experience conflict between the two domains. Work-life conflict can affect any employee but people with care responsibilities are more likely to suffer most because of the greater demands on their time. Research has tended to find that mothers, particularly those with young children, are less satisfied with their work-life balance than other groups of workers (Saltztein et al. 2001). Feelings of work-life conflict have been associated with, psychological and physical health problems; marital and family relationship problems, increased sickness absence and decreased life and job satisfaction (Evans and Steptoe 2002; Crouter et al. 2001;Westman 2001) The effects of work-family conflict on organizational outcomes have been well documented in the management and psychology literatures. According to Netemeyer, Brashearà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ËœAlejandro, and Boles (2004), work-family conflict is an inter-role conflict where job expectations interfere with family-related responsibilities. The detrimental effects of work- family conflict on job satisfaction, employee retention, and psychological well-being have also been addressed (Brough, and Kalliath 2004). Related to work-family conflict, identity theory suggests individuals possess certain life roles (i.e., work-family roles) that may conflict, thus creating a spillover effect (Thoits 1991). When role clash occurs, the more valued role (i.e., family) takes precedence, and individuals are likely to instill protective measures to safeguard valued roles against potential damage. According to identity theory, these defense mechanisms may be implemented at the risk of abandoning the conflicting role(i.e., work) (Thoits 1991). Consistent with this notion, a study based in the retail sales industry indicates that when salespeople encounter conflict between two salient roles (work and family), they tend to withdraw from the less salient work role through higher turnover in order to maintain the more valued family role (Netemeyer, Brashearà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ËœAlejandro, and Boles 2004). Work-life conflicts are seen to have a potentially detrimental impact on productivity, personal effectiveness, marital relations, child-parent relationships and even child development (Gornick and Meyers, 2003). A review of the role conflict literature indicates that studies proposing links between work-family conflict and job satisfaction have also witness a dramatic increase. For instance, the majority of studies have shown that work-family conflict is associated with decreased levels of job satisfaction (Adams and King 1996). Employers do realize that employee stress is partially due to the challenges in balancing work and family (Matusicky 2003). A good balance between work and family life has been said to benefit employers, as it is linked to better life satisfaction and subsequently to workers being more productive, creative and efficient (Zelenski, Murphy and Jenkins 2008). Numerous studies have demonstrated that employees who are dissatisfied with their jobs are more likely to engage in organizational deviance behaviors such as working less hard, absenteeism and company theft (Lau, Au, and Ho 2003). A recent meta-analysis on the effects of ethical climate suggests that job dissatisfaction poses a significant threat to organizations due to its intensifying effects on dysfunctional behavior (Martin and Cullen 2006). Drew et al.,(2003) believes that a number of factors might encourage employers to adopt policies to promote work-life balance. These include the business case for such polices such as a lower staff turnover, reduced absence and improved productivity, as well as changes in human resource management and changes in technology that enhances opportunities for working from home. Another key factor is increasing demand for greater flexibility from employees. All reviewed research results show positive effects of flex-time on the work-family balance. Flex-time workers with children under the age of 18 report lower levels of time pressure, and a higher level of job and life satisfaction than do their non-flex counterparts (Zuzanek 2000). Flexible work hours are associated with more satisfaction with family life (Jekielek 2003) and a reduction in perceived time stress (Tausig and Fenwick 2001). Analysts Comfort, Johnson and Wallace (2003) also found flex-time to be related to increased job satisfaction, increased satisfaction with pay and benefits, and a reduction in paid sick days. All of these relationships appeared slightly stronger for women. Over one-third of Canadian employees report having flex-time schedules (Comfort, Johnson and Wallace 2003).The proportion of those who reported having flex-time arrangements is higher among men than among women and is mainly found in small establishments, non-unionized settings, low-skill occupations, retail and commercial industries. A research on flexible working in Ireland has found these arrangements are more common in the public than in the private sector and that, women make use of them more frequently than men (Drew et al., 2003). Gender and the public/private sector distinction are two key factors in the analysis of the effects of flexible working. The measure of work-life conflict captures tensions between work and family commitments. In this research I want to investigate whether flexible working arrangements facilitate a work-life balance and reduce work pressure.

Ethnography Of Mcdonalds In Bradford Cultural Studies Essay

Ethnography Of Mcdonalds In Bradford Cultural Studies Essay Globalization encompasses a range of social, political, and economic changes worldwide. Over the centuries global integration has seen a dramatic increase, world has become more interdependent as lots of unprecedented changes like in communication, transportations and computer technology has given rise to a new form of living and ethnic, cultural rights, traditions and languages are no longer deterring factors to enter in a far away nation and rising chance to integrate with different ethnic groups. In brief, Globalization is the increase in the interdependence, connectivity and integration on a global level linking with the social, cultural, political, technological, economic and ecological levels. Globalization not only strengthened the nexus by demolishing walls that has separated us long time back and has controlled our natural identity of being fellow human beings with a better knowledge of each others need. Globalization works as a force of nature, a phenomenon without bounds or alternatives. Citizens both ordinary and elite people from global can work together to shape best alternate futures and a new can be build with cooperation, solidarity and respect for our common planetary environment. The inferiors are getting opportunities to exhibit in the global market. The trueness of the impacts of globalization is not just limited to changes in the political and the economical aspects of a territory but it has broader effects on the life like on the social, psychological and the culture, changing the prior ways of thinking and reaction of individuals. It is clearly visible by experiences that people dont change abruptly, the change process is slow but at end it does happen. Globalization resembles the Iceberg theory wherein what we say and do are at the tip and what we believe and think remains at the base. Manifestation at the tip is conspicuous but base in not visible. Globalization being violent in an attempt to preserve cultural heritage, risk of diseases being transported unintentionally between nations, Spread of a materialistic lifestyle and attitude that sees consumption as the path to prosperity, International bodies like the World Trade Organization infringe on national and individual sovereignty, Increase civil war chances within developing countries and open war between developing countries as they vie for resources, decrease in environmental integrity as polluting corporations take advantage of weak regulatory rules in developing countries. The present financial crunches that give rise to uncertain thoughts as both opponents and proponents are unclear to decisions and the future objectives of term globalization, this global meltdown frightened citizens and firms and them to stay within the country boundaries as the prices payable for every product and services are as high as skyscrapers The growing Multinational companies and aviation industry of world is a perfect example of global integration. Manufacturers and service provider have sought the foreign market as a place of gaining profit while learning, expanding their existing businesses. Easiness in transportation of goods, services and people leading benefits to market and social, low level of war possibilities, increase in free trade, propagation of democratic ideals, cultural barriers reduces with increase in flexibility of cross border operations, more flow of trans-border data using internet, telephone networks, communication satellites, multiculturalism spreads resulted from international integration. Globalization not only a profitable scenario for businesses but also for the ordinary population by staging opportunities to meet ethnically contrast peoples under one ceiling and a plot for cross-cultural contacts ,exchange ideas, visions, traditional and cultural values, enhancement in worldwide fads and pop culture. There is increment in the employment rate and low poverty as the liquidity of capital increases developed countries spend hugely in developing countries creating jobs, increase awareness of education reciprocating in a high level of literacy ratio, thus helping whole nation to develop with higher standards of living. But in return decrease demand of skilled and non skilled work force in developed countries as firms chosen one is developing countries due to its cheapest labour cost nature. The significant de-localization happening since face-to-face interaction is no more the order of the days; however the travel is not a problem as it has become easier to reach even an unknown map of the world. Take example of an American trying to sort out his laptop issue with an Indian who is not a direct employee of the service provider, Sony bringing mp3 players in the global market taking world by storm overnight providing music freaks a device to be used anytime anywhere available even to local market at cheapest rate, attracting competitors to innovate, eventually benefits global customers. Summary: In this paper I am concentrating around the term globalization and by adoption of ethnographic approach I am trying to illustrate presence of globalization in human society. I am centralizing McDonalds by exploring the contrasting nature of peoples behaviour, their acts and the integration of diverse culture at the global restaurant. The internal and external environment with focus towards what they do and with changes in certain parameters people attitude alter. With the study I will suggest and maintain a link on the fundaments that globalized world can lead to a UN differentiable culture and behaviour. Ethnography: The snow fall could not stop people visiting worlds top fast food chain restaurant. The big parking slots provided on back side was completely full. At the entry gate courtyard there were 4 girls, 7 boys in three groups aged around 20 years all British nationals, 3 girls and 2 boys were smoking among them were either to enter or coming out of McDonalds. Slow English songs being played, the walls were in blackish orange with white straps. Boundaries were totally crystalloid, giving a transparent view. Thirteen 4 and four 2 sitter tables, a long 10 sitter marble made wall type table. Thirteen servers: six girls- 2 Indian, 1 African, 2 British and 1 Chinese, seven boys- 1 Indian, 3 Arabian and 2 French and 2 British all aged around 25. Staffs in black dress were busy in taking orders and other two male workers having the cleaning part. A young Male manager in black pant and white shirt with tie was monitoring all and necessarily on need serving as of heavy rush. Getting Inn witnessed a queue at counter maintained at 6-7 people throughout as in and out of peoples happened. I sat at this restaurant and found Diversity of culture, two African families with three children each, concentrated on eating: three couples 1 British pair but within few minutes of entry the girl got angry and ran out whereas the boy started chasing her as they went outside started scolding on each other, 1 Indian (went outside and returned after a puff) while girl talking on phone telling saying she is at McDonalds and will arrive shortly, pair (British girl with African boy) exchanging thoughts on tradition: all couple aged around 27, two Indian families with 2 and 1 children, 1 Arab family in their traditional dress with three children. A 6 member girls group from different cultures 3 from India and Pakistan, 1 British, 2 African, all aged around 21 years were talking about Indian movies and foods. One Chinese couple of 23 years with course books discussing on studies. A parent: British girl and Pakistani or Indian Boy of 28 years having 2 sons and 2 daughters of fewer than 5 years, parents were helping kids in reading cartoon book while having food. Group of 3 Brazilian girls around 25 years came, did not find place so left. A British parent around 45 years old with one daughter of 14 years, the daughter looked mentally disturbed as she was singing songs and behaving little abnormally waving to everyone whereas the parents were talking to each other about her mental condition and to go to an American doctor for remedy of her ailment. A 3 people group, a boy, 2 girls from different demographic arenas of young age were first sharing opinions on world climate then started prank on each other. Almost every kid, teenager and adult were having same aged food stuff seems like they all were a frequent visitor of this place and have the precise menu knowledge. McDonalds is certainly a globalized institution with operations in more than 119 countries and territory serving over 35 million customers a day and employing around 1.5 million people worldwide. The sociologist George Ritzer even referred as the homogenization theory after the giant food chain supplier The Mcdonaldization of the society. McDonalds has become a common voice that represents world-wide communication, people from different corners of world come under one shelter expressing their views, a place to meet new people. With the connection with different ethnic cultural people anyone can represent their own culture and traditions independently. Globalization appears rapid developing and ever-stocking network of interconnections and interdependencies that characterise modern social life style. The flow of capital, people, culture, technology, information and ideas across international boundaries is spreading its roots. Food is the one of the oldest and important global carrier of culture. Any changes in the foods that we eat, in its preparation, the way it is served and consumed diminishes the traditional beliefs of the people. The spread of mc world look likes the spread of diversity, Globalization cuts across all religious traditions, people around the world especially living in fundamentalist Islamic cultures, in fundamentalist Judaic cultures, in fundamentalist Hindu cultures were once known as the conservationist peoples giving values only to their own traditions and culture rejecting the other values to blow even around them, now with globalization assimilated together enjoying the commonly found worldwide food in diverse company of cultures. The existence of restaurants could also be attributed to the fact that there were travellers, form of globalization. McDonalds is a global brand and people want to sit down to have a slow light meal, be it in the county, country or virtually anywhere in the world, the opportunities to do that, ability to afford it and have the leisure time and ability to afford the travel to get to the slow restaurant are all greater than ever before. McDonalds rises a more liberalized prospective on the sort of food people use to eat and their commonly shared food knowledge with respect to the McDonalds food menu, different age group from diverse nature posses the same informatics on food and the place where it can be available. The general prospective would be as there is a movement away from a family oriented dining to individual dining. As western culture mainly focuses on eating as a necessity and towards fast food other cultures view dining as a social experience with religion playing an important role in its practice, they value group orientation and conformity to facilitate harmony among families whereas western culture roams around individualism and independence from each other. At McDonalds where world meets act as a central point in the integration and appreciation of diverse cultures with understanding the need of individuals religious ideologies, different aged groups peoples in families, pairs, singles from different varsities enjoy foreign affiliation as if they are surrounded by their own ethnic group. With the changes in technology and communication the advent of fast food globalized arena accelerated culture changes and McDonalds evolutionary menu providing new choices over the traditional p ast foods marks a remarkable step, some embraced the changes with adoption of certain traditional elements while other left the air blow around them without creating changes individually. Culture is comprised of the symbols, values, rituals, and traditions of the people living in an all regions and Language, food, and family traditions are all ingredients of those cultures. Globalization of McDonalds has been attracting the attention of these disciplines as consensus plausibly suggested; that a culture is no longer a discrete world as it has been transformed to accord with a world of ruptured boundaries, with resisting factors such as language barriers but now as a world with a universal language and literature has emerges out it no longer deterrent pillar of communication. Human behaviour are influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions, ethics, persuasion, coercion and rapport. At McDonalds people behaviour in and outside can be linked with changes in peoples act in public and how they behave within their own home is also commonly associated with values and standards of their respective nation. McDonalds has escalated the expansion of thoughts, exchange of culture. Everybody seemed to have know how to do, the perfect knowledge of what and hows of the rules of that place where engraved in consumers and servers mind. A persons role is the way they are expected to behave in their society they have a particular position in society, it is obvious of what and how people expect a police man to behave with adoption to different circumstances. Likely, McDonalds is associated with that environment where individual beings change their characteristics and habits. Different country and people have different views, one can only consider their own culture irrespective to what linkage it has with the other existing cultures, therefore for those secular minds Globalized culture sometime has destroyed quiet equilibrium of isolated culture. Like every coin has two faces globalization has also its positives and negatives, but the bottom line is this people should take the positives and globalization is the most effective driver that creates and reinforces cultural identity. Conclusions: I am therefore; conclude the paper with the development of result drawn from the above discussion and findings. McDonalds where People tend to react differently with a sudden change in the environmental factor, leading evidently to the human behaviour to act specifically according to the need of the moment. The culture value has been the differential aspect but with the growth of global integration the world has adopted more or less to a worldwide culture, which reflects a liberal meaning live together. The question that may rise is on the sustainability of this newly born culture, is it unified evenly to every corner of the world? The English language unification and the easiness to access the world knowledge has made easier to communicate and knowhow of the global anticipations. Differentiable characteristics is suddenly eroded by the common meeting point, food was the first to get globalized as of similarities in the food appetite worldwide and with the presence of Mc Donalds the acquainted people avail the opportunity to familiarize with the ways of serving, preparation, varieties and the excitement of finding ourselves surrounded by different culture is a lifelong experience. The presence of different ethnic group at one place could be linked with the diverse nature of the countrys population. A fall in barricades has changed peoples perception and increased Prefer ability of international travel resulted in diversified societal presence. Outcome could be praised as the lesser the obstacle the easier and enjoying would be the walk. Globalization has created a homogenous environment to live in, somewhat like a common home where the entire human understands each others need while fulfilling their own desires which is achieved by little behaviour adjustments. Desire is an acronym of both the cultural and individual needs. http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-87930-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html http://www.inst.at/studies/collab/breidenb.htm http://rw303.wetpaint.com/page/McDonald%27s,+globalization+and+culture. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/culture-and-globalization.html http://www.globalpolicy.org/globalization/ Paul Feine, McBastards: McDonalds Globalization John Tomlinson 2006, Globalization and Culture Cato Policy Report May/June 2003, Policy forum, globilization and culture. John Tomlinson, Globalization and Cultural Identity, Chapter 23, page 269-277 Dr. Vasiliki Karavakou, globalization 2005, HEGEL ON CULTURE AND GLOBALIZATION Romain Pison, Globalization and culture, or how globalization reinforces local identity