Global Business Cultural Analysis: France Essay

This paper will focus on the many elements and dimensions of France and the affect it has on the business that takes place locally and internationally. There will be constant comparisons and contrasts between France and the United States of America taking place throughout this entire research article. I will focus on how the elements and dimensions of the culture separately are adapted by the locals and integrated into everyday life and business. I will also give insight on how to conduct business in France for other countries, mainly the United States, by talking about the countries imports and exports and certain important factors that outside business should know in order to successfully enterprise. The information and suggestions offered in this paper will range from communication and business dress attire, to social structures and Geert Hofstede analysis; all of which should improve the knowledge of foreign businesses and help them adapt in order to maintain and/or obtain success internationally in the country of France.? Global Business Cultural Analysis: France  What is a global business cultural analysis? From looking and several examples and finding information on this country, I have come to the conclusion that it is a description of the country and how its culture contributes to or restricts the business environment. As many of us may already know, culture plays a major part in a lot within a country. For one, culture dictates communication. Culture also the mannerisms of the people that are within the country. So, just to clear up any confusion, culture is a major part of a country and how it conducts itself, especially how it conducts business. It would be only right that if one was trying to conduct business in a country, they would need to understand the culture of the country in order to successfully interact with the people of the country in hopes of promoting and maintaining a highly active and flourishing business. With that being the case, I will focus my attention on the major elements and dimensions of culture in France. I will also describe how these elements and dimensions are integrated by the people of France when conducting business within this nation. Lastly, I will compare and contrast the culture and business of France with the culture and business of the United States and explain what a United States company would have to do in order to conduct business in France successfully. Communication One of the most important elements of culture in any and every country is communication. Communication comes in two different forms, verbal and nonverbal. Of course verbal is talking and actually saying what you mean and non verbal would be things such as hand gestures and body movements. In France, the official language is of course French. According to A Practical Guide to French Business by Alston, Hawthorne, and Saillet, â€Å"The French consider their language a central part of their cultural heritage, their â€Å"patrimoine,† and fluency in French is a major part of how French and non-French are evaluated. It is almost impossible to be fully accepted, or respected, when one does not speak French well† (2003 p. 43). The French appreciate when people not of the nation attempt to speak French but get irritated when it is spoken incorrectly according to Alston et al (2003). I can personally vouch for this because I had a French teacher that became visibly bothered when learned words or phrases were butchered and not used in the correct context. The French language is so important to the people of France, the government does not allow advertisements to be a mixture of languages. For example, if a store decided to display a sign that said, â€Å"Como is life? † it would be illegal and subject to a fine by the French government. The United States differ greatly in this aspect. There are a lot of examples of mixed languages, especially in entertainment such as movies and sitcoms. The French are very unique when it comes to conversation. They have a great appreciation for it, however, they tend to enjoy arguments and disagreements. They look at these things as interesting. They value someone that can argue with great skill. This is a complete contrast of the United States. We tend to try to avoid arguments and look down upon it. We try to be liked and attempt to agree with people that we are trying to build a relationship with or hold a conversation with. The French would rather voice their opinions and appear non-hypocritical than to agree or compromise how they feel. When it comes to interacting with people, France and the United States differ greatly. The people of France tend not to smile or have an expression when meeting new people. In the United States, we tend to smile and greet people as we have known them for a very long time. Edward MacNeal talks about growing up in a bicultural environment and noticing the differences between French and American interactions. He states in his journal French-American Misunderstandings, â€Å"†¦the French don’t smile at people they don’t know. They think it’s hypocritical† (2003). This nature is why many Americans view French people to be rude or snobbish. MacNeal also says that the American assumption is that we are all friends and the French assumption is that we are all strangers. This very assumption could hinder interaction between people of the two nations. So with that being said, when doing business with the French, be sure to address them by Sir or Madame rather than by their names. One should always approach them with no expression because a sign of expression, such as a smile, could be viewed as phony or fake. When communicating with the French, you should be mindful of the volume of your voice and be sure to make eye contact. Americans are known to be a little bit louder than the French would like. We tend to offend them by our loud talking and blaring laughter. The French are seen as very intimidating to Americans because of the intensity and vast amount of eye contact they make. Like I stated earlier, communication can also be non-verbal. Many actions and behaviors are observed by the French as well. Matt Priest (2012) notes that the French are very casual when it comes to punctuality. If you were to show up late to a meeting, you would probably be easily forgiven by many French professionals. Americans value punctuality a lot more than the French. You would mostly likely be the topic of discussion after the meeting. Speaking of conducting business, Mr. Priest also gives us insight by telling us that the French prefer to do business over lunch as opposed to any other meal. The French value privacy. They do not tend to like unannounced visits, so it is very important to let them know if you are planning to visit. Americans and the French have a little in common when it comes to communication. We both greet with a brief handshake, followed by a bit of eye contact. However, according to Matt Priest’s France Business Etiquette, Culture & Manners, French handshakes are not as firm as American handshakes. When conducting business, most people speak English, as English has become the common language within international business. According to Organization Communication in France: An Overview of Current Research, â€Å"†¦English has progressively and irremediably become the de facto Lingua Franca since the end of World War II†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Cooren & Grosjean, 2010). Americans are similar to the French when it comes to business attire. We both recommend dress to be conservative. Bright colors are usually avoided by both counterparts and flashy, overpowering, and glitzy accessories are not encouraged according to the International Business Center (Priest, 2012). Conservative clothing is usually preferred when conducting any kind of business internationally. Religion The dominant religion in France is Roman Catholic. According to the World Factbook of France, about 83-88% of the population of the country is Roman Catholic (2012). Religion plays a major role in the operations and actions of the people of France. The International Business Center tells us that for the countries that have over 50% of the population that practice the Catholic religion, there is a dimension of the Geert Hofstede analysis called the Uncertainty Avoidance that correlates positively with this statistic (2012). The Geert Hofstede analysis will be discussed later on throughout this paper. According to Edward J. Woell, â€Å"Catholic belief and practice continued to shape French national identity throughout the modern era† (2009). The national identity of France was also molded by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. This document is very similar to the United States Constitution and even though both societies say there is a separation of church and state, they were both created and influenced by religious beliefs. This very idea is the justification of many laws implemented in France and the United States together. Back in the nineteenth century, France had a belief of spreading its culture around the world on civilizations that were considered wrong or backwards. They believed their culture was the hands down best and most appropriate way to live and conduct oneself. Since France was rooted in the Catholic religion, that would imply that they were spreading their religious beliefs on other civilizations and people of other areas. As you you will see a little further through this article, France has continued to spread its beliefs on people, especially the people that are occupants of the country. There are several examples that show the influence religion has had on the actions and even laws of the people of France. One of the most recent events that was influenced by religion was the banning of the burqa. A burqa is a full body veil that is worn by Muslim women. The banning of the burqa started with not allowing the burqa to be worn in the schools in France. According to Ellen Wiles’s article Headscarves, Human Rights, and Harmonious Multicultural Society: Implications of the French Ban for Interpretations of Equality, headscarves and any signs or clothing that demonstrate ones religious affiliation (2007). This article also pulls a passage directly from the rule that was passed by legislation on the issue of the schools ban on religious clothing, â€Å"Article L. 41-51 of the French Education Code provides: â€Å"In state primary and secondary schools, the wearing of signs or dress by which pupils overtly manifest a religious affiliation is prohibited. † (Legislation passed on March 15, 2004)† (2007). The French government was not happy there. They passed a law on September 14, 2010, that would ban the wearing of the burqa in public. Right Vision News tells us, â€Å"A woman who repeatedly insists on appearing veiled in public can be fined 150 euros and ordered to attend re-education classes. There are much ore severe penalties for anyone found guilty of forcing someone else to hide his or her face â€Å"through threats, violence, constraint, abuse of authority or power for reason of their gender. â€Å"Clearly aimed at fathers, husbands or religious leaders who force women to wear face-veils, and applicable to offences committed in public or in private, the law imposes a fine of 30,000 euros and a year in jail† (2011). 150 euros equals out to about 200 United States dollars and 30,000 euros is about 40,000 United States dollars. This is a very harsh punishment for something that is considered a part of some people’s custom. People argued that this would infringe on the religious freedom of the individuals in the society; however, since the majority religion is Roman Catholic, this ban fits perfectly into the identity of the people that actively practice the Catholic religion. The government of France, like I stated earlier, was shaped by religious beliefs. The argument of the government of France for banning the burqa was that it hindered inequality and promoted submissive behavior. However, many people question this argument. As we all know, France is very conscientious of their appearance. The burqa does not display the Roman Catholic religion but actually has a negative connotation to other people that still view Muslim as terrorist because of the extremist group called the Taliban. The United States has taken a very different approach. Just recently, a mosque was built near ground zero of the bombing that took place on September 11, 2001. In the United States, the majority religion is Christianity. The idea of the construction of the mosque received lots of opposition but it was ultimately approved for construction by the members of the United States federal government. This was one of the most extreme signs of the support of religious freedom in the country, or better yet, a more absolute signal of separation of church and state. As we all know, the United States pushed their beliefs on people as well, which is very similar to France. We came overseas from Britain and persuaded the Native American people to adapt our ways. We taught them our ways of hunting and even our way of survival. Most importantly, we taught the Natives our religious ways. The same goes for modern day America as well. Though slightly more subtle, we influence people today with our religious beliefs. Christianity is embedded into our culture and is forced upon people through the many rules and amendments. I guess you can say that about just about any country, however, not all countries are backed or rooted in religious beliefs. For instance, the national religion of China is atheist. That is strictly enforced by the government of the country and displays of other religions are subject to punishment. Ethics and Etiquette This section will not just focus on ethics, but more so business ethics. First off, ethics, according to Google’s dictionary, is â€Å"Moral principles that govern a person’s or group’s behavior† (2012). This is the perfect definition for the ethics of a culture because it is the principles that govern the people and it influences the decisions and actions of certain groups of people as well. Business ethics is defined by Chris MacDonald as, â€Å"critical, structured examination of how people & institutions should behave in the world of commerce. In particular, it involves examining appropriate constraints on the pursuit of self-interest, or (for firms) profits, when the actions of individuals or firms affects others† (2012). Business ethics influence how certain companies and businesses interact with one another to conduct business activities. Some of France’s ethics and values were discussed earlier in the article, but let us talk about these set of governing principles in detail to see how they affect interaction between the people of the country. French people value their language as I stated earlier and the history of the country. The French language and its importance was fore mentioned in the communication section, so let us discuss the importance of history on the people of this country. According to The ins and outs of doing business in Europe: Germany, France, Russia, and the emerging markets of Eastern Europe, â€Å"Ignorance of French history, culture, literature, and so on is demonstratively looked down upon† (Gray 2005). The French pride themselves on the long history of their country and the influence they have had on the world throughout the years. They also place importance on inheritance. This value of inheritance goes hand in hand with the importance of social classes in France. Social classes and structures will be discussed later in this article. The French place strong value on friendship. Friendships to the French are very similar to being family related to Americans. We Americans tend to make many friends with moderate devotion or dedication whereas, the French do not make as many friends but build very strong relationships. Mr. Edward MacNeal states on the topic of friendship in both the United States and France, â€Å"Friendship in America may imply nothing beyond a momentary conjunction of place or interest, and even those you consider as your friends probably don’t know your other friends. Friendship in France usually implies a lifelong commitment. One takes on a more active burden of concern for friends in France than most Americans would knowingly accept. Your obligations to a friend in France might be likened to those you would have to a family member that you personally selected. In France, then, one shies from making friends casually and most of one’s friends probably do know each other† (2003). With this in mind, it is beneficial for one to make friends with their employers. True, you do want to become an ally of your boss, but be sure not to try to hard because like I stated before, the French despise phony demeanors and are very critical of hypocritical behavior. The best way to meet someone new in France is to be introduced by a mutual third party. This is true because of the great emphasis that is placed on friendship. Remember, in France, all of your friends will likely know one another. Like MacNeal said, friendships are lifelong commitments; so, once you become friends with your boss, you can expect them to help you in any way they can and the actions should remain mutual. I will now discuss the business etiquette of the French people because this is going to be very important for people of different nations that intend to conduct business with the French. Firstly, when greeting anyone, be sure to address them by Monsieur or Madame, no matter the circumstance. This is considered formal and is regarded as more polite. It is always important to remember to never confuse business with personal in France. France rarely uses humor in the workplace. It is seen as unprofessional. The French value intellect over all. Like I mentioned earlier, the best meal to discuss business is lunch.

Business Process Reengineering Essay

Whenever we order our drinks at the coffee shops on a daily basis, we are actually triggering a business process. When the waiter at the coffee shop takes the order at our table, he will pass our orders to the kitchen by yelling our orders from one end of the coffee shop to another. Most of the time, the kitchen helper will hear the order and start to prepare. The waiter will then go around taking a few other orders. After he is done with taking orders, he will collect the drinks from the kitchen and serve it to the customers. Customers will then pay up for the drinks. In the event there isn’t enough change for big notes, the waiter will have to go back to the counter to break the notes into smaller variations in order to return the correct amount of change to the customers. In some cases, he might deliver the wrong order as he doesn’t note down the orders in pen and paper, he just passes on the order to the kitchen by shouting. Restaurant scenario Many years down the road, the coffee shop has earned enough to pay for a renovation and overhaul. The boss of the coffee shop has decided to upgrade the coffee shop to a restaurant. He realises that he need to retrain his staff to operate the restaurant as the methods of operating a restaurant differs from the methods of operating the coffee shop. He also realise that he can incorporate some equipment to help him process orders more efficiently. In summary, he needs to change the way the restaurant does things (processes) and how he does things (Method/tools used to carry out the task). The boss has to do a total revamp of the methods and processes of how he was previously used to in the coffee shop. This is what is meant by business process reengineering. In definition, business process is an organizational change in its methods used to redesign an organization to improve efficiency and effectiveness (Mehta, 2011). Reengineering is the organizational change characterized by drastic process transformation. Concepts BPR focus & Objectives In order for companies to operate more efficiently, reduce waste, retain their customers and drive sales, understanding and applying BPR is essential for this change to happen. Firstly, we have to map out the organization’s goals, objectives, primary business function, the people they have and the tools they use. The second objective would be to analyse the current process and redesign/revamp them. By doing so, companies will be able to achieve better ROI and eliminate waste. This will help the company to gain competitive advantage over others in its efficiency and also profits (Muharram, 2007). Perspective of BPR BPR is a framework designed for companies to adopt. This framework helps to optimize processes by making it more streamlined. A good example to explain this point would be the difference between a vertical and cross functional organization. Horizontal organization In a horizontal organization, the customer interacts only with one party but in a vertical structure, customers might have to deal with different departments. Figure 3 shows a customer dealing with his account manager for the application of a loan. In the process, the customer does not need to deal with the different departments involved in the application of a loan. This allows the loan application to be more streamlined (Zigiaris, 2000). A vertical structure is not as efficient as customers will have to deal with several departments to process their requests. In a call centre environment, when the customer logs a call for a IT issue, the calling department will answer his call and log the case. He will then be transferred to the technical department who will assist him with 1st level troubleshooting. In the event he cannot solve the problem, the matter will be escalated to a level 2 support and also a product specialist. After his issue has been resolved, he will be transferred to the payment department where he will pay for the IT services he has used. After making payment, he will receive an email from the feedback department where they will ask the customer for feedback for the case. This slows down the entire process of resolving the problem from end to end. One of the main goal in BPR is to optimize the processes that takes place within the organization and reduce lead time. In order to do so, businesses has to look at its processes from a clean state perspective. For a company to be able to streamline their processes, they have to add value to their customers through their processes. Processes should maintain its ability to add value to customers. For those processes that do not, we can automate them and put the focus on adding value. This will result in higher customer satisfaction, better efficiency, elimination of watse and greater ROI(Park, 2008). BPR Methodologies There are several techniques to business process redesign and reengineering. We will discuss a few in this section. Hammer and Champy A major overhaul in the organization’s process and structure is one of the keys to ensuring that cost is lowered and service quality is being improved. The means of implemeting these is via the use of information technology. Besides reorganization and using IT to power the business, redesigning the work process and optimizing it, helps the organization to reduce time taken, lower costs and improve quality (Rouse, 2009). A Case study of Ford Motor Company Ford used to employ 500 accounts payable staff in the past. These 500 staff are running the tasks of tracking faults between purchase orders, receipts and invoices. After Ford decided to reengineer their process, the number of staff needed reduced from 500 to 125. Their reengineering efforts include: * Creating an online database where all purchase orders issued by the buyers are being captured * Goods are being checked when received. The shipment being sent has to match with that in the database. This allows the staff to check if the goods were actual orders being indented. This system of checking eliminates the need to check for faults between purchase orders. * Goods being received will be marked as received and the database is being updated real-time. (Hammer & Champy, 2000) Perspective of process reengineering by Hammer and Champy 1. Organize around outcomes, not tasks. 2. Identify all the processes in an organization and prioritize them in order of redesign urgency. 3. Integrate information processing work into the real work that produces the information. 4. Treat geographically dispersed resources as though they were centralized. 5. Link parallel activities in the workflow instead of just integrating their results. 6. Put the decision point where the work is performed, and build control into the process. 7. Capture information once and at the source. (Rouse, 2009) The methodology preached by Hammer and Champy clearly reflects what was being discussed in the BPR focus and objectives at the start of this report. Its focus is to eliminate waste and also to focus on deliverables that will add value to customers. In order to do so, IT systems can be employed in order to automate processes which do not add value. This point of automation is being reiterated in the case study of Ford Motors. This concept of rethinking and redesigning the business process radically helps us to improve many areas of the business such as lowering costs, improving customer service, ensure quality is being maintained and speed up the entire workflow.

Blackberry Phone Analysis

Blackberry Phone Analysis Blackberry Phone Background Living in a global world, we are mainly ruled by gadgets of all kinds. Starting from a street sweeper all the way up to the CEO of a multinational corporation, we all are beguiled by the charm and charisma that technology brings to our lives. This reality has turned luxuries into necessities. Still man is not satisfied with this technological awareness, always driven by the desire for more convenience, speed, and efficiency to make life easier. To satisfy this desire we bring to you a new Blackberry, with conferencing capabilities and GPS features. The young executives of today and the senior officers at work find it extremely frustrating not to be able to contact multiple business partners simultaneously and with limited fanfare and complications. Our new product solves this problem by allowing users to engage in a conference call by selecting a distribution group, contact group, or by multi-selecting users in the Contact List. Users engaged in a one-to- one call can invite other participants to join the conversation thereby creating a multi-party conference. Introduction The product is not only targeted for business executives who are always running short on time, and have the burden of numerous responsibilities, but also will appeal to the technologically inclined. The real goal here was to build a high-end device that was the ultimate Blackberry to date. It is marketed both the business executives and the gadgetholics who just have to have the best gadget in the market. (Positioning a New Product in an Uncertain Market) Other vendors clearly have their sights set on the same market, hoping the BlackBerry situation creates new opportunities. Nokia, for instance, recently purchased wireless e-mail management firm IntelliSync to target customers who want continuous access to their messages. â€Å"What we find in the marketplace is increasing awareness of the further potential beyond e-mail of the BlackBerry and other hand-held devi ces, said Al Smith, president and co-founder of Apresta. â€Å"Many of our customers are using the device to check inventory, to put in orders from the road. They’re starting to become very dependent on it and used to using it for that as well.† (Blackberry Competition) These same services can be used on other devices as well but our corporate users are loyal to the blackberry since it was the first device to introduce this new wave of technology. Blackberry Classic is definitely a major smart phone enhancement that provides its users with a myriad of tempting features. Features ‘Tri-band 3G support extends support to GPRS/EDGE/HDSPA networks. Push button† WiFI setup to readily access â€Å"protected† WiFi access points. Significantly improved multimedia support – overall (streaming) video performance, iTunes synchronization, new media player, improved display and, while they’re still working on it prior to the Blackberry Bold’s summer release, a new web browser. Faster processor (@ 624 MHz, the fastest Blackberry) 128MB internal Flash memory but also 1GB on-board storage memory expandable to 16GB via MicroSD/SDHC slot. 4.2 megapixel camera GPS with Blackberry MapsBlackberry MediaSync to transfer media from iTunes half-VGA â€Å"ultra-bright† display (480 x 320)

Personal statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 17

Personal statement - Essay Example The vibrant and energetic environment, a learning environment that is very conducive, state of art facilities, research, and innovation in the institution provides a perfect gateway to success of the student. As a student at Iowa University, I have been able to learn and contribute in diverse areas outside the academic world. My leadership skills surpassed expectations when I was elected the vice president of Chinese Union in the University. This position required exceptional leadership skills, organization, and dedication. Holding such a senior position made me realize that focus and diligence are the keys to success in any endeavor. University of Miami is a multicultural center and therefore will be the most opportune place to further my interest in intercultural activities. I have realized that a student life must be enriched by participation outside the academic world. Therefore, I successfully initiated a band named â€Å"NO IDEA† that seeks and promotes musical talents through composing and performing songs. Certainly, I will be best placed in University of Miami as a music enthusiast through various talent exposition programs offered by the university. Additionally, Miami is located in an environment that is similar to my hometown and this will be a great advantage when adapting to the new environment. I have profound teamwork skills, which I gained as a volleyball captain. Indeed, I was able to train and improve the performance of the team up to national standards. Currently, I am the proprietress of the university photography club, which nurtures and promotes skills in photography among the student community. I believe these teamwork and interpersonal skills will enable me integrate with the culturally diverse community in Miami University. It will be a great opportunity to grow intellectually, personally, and culturally. However, I believe that my diverse

Information control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Information control - Essay Example Internet is not anymore an unfamiliar context or a new phenomenon to many people as many are now connected online. The internet trend is paving the way, reaching each people with the internet connectivity. And, activities online such as online purchasing are just at the fingertips. One of the top activities done by online shoppers is doing online travel planning which includes booking airlines, hotels or planning vacation trips for holidays. It has been obvious how internet services and tools becomes an integral part of user's life. Internet has been an important channel for online travel planning, resources online is available instantly without the hassle and online travel industry is growing. It is reported by a research conducted by Nielsen//NetRatings that "55% of internet users book holidays online - only 7% of internet users book on the high street. Two thirds of internet users take two or more holidays a year. Silver surfers are enjoying more regular holidays and late bookings online." "Online travel sales increased by as much as 34% from 2004 to 2005 and reached EUR 25.2 billion in the European market in 2005 - or 10.3% of the market (up from EUR 18.9 bn. or 7.9% in 2004). A further increase of about 25% during 2006 to about EUR 31.5 billion may be expected (12.6% of the market). The European online travel market could increase by 6 or 6.5 bn. EUR per year after 2006. The UK accounted for 35% of the European online travel market in 2005, with Germany in second place at 20%. The direct sellers accounted for 66% of online sales in the European market in 2005, intermediaries 34%. In 2005 the breakdown of the market by type of service was as follows: Airtravel 56%; Hotels 16%; Package tours 16%; Rail 10%; Rental cars 2%. Concentration in the European online travel agent market has increased following several acquisitions." In relations to this facts presented on how the trend of online travel industry is doing, Opodo Ltd., another travel agents opted to offer consumers with online travel services though their website www.opodo.co.uk which offers various travel-related services. The company was brought up by top European airlines, including British Airways, Air France, Alitalia, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa, Aer Lingus, Austrian Airlines and Finnair. The technology behind the services offered by Opodo's website is provided by Amadeus IT Group, leader in travel management solution system. Opodo does not only offer online airline bookings but includes hotels, car rentals, holiday packages, event tickets, etc. Opodo's website offers flexible online booking options at affordable rates. All products and services offered online is from their partner hotels, resorts, airlines, and others which brings a one-stop online travel agent which assists travellers to plan their trip with ease and secured. Travel packages are also offered from the various listings they have in their catalogue. The website is also equipped with tools which allow travellers explore how the site is used via the HELP page. For consumers who which to send feedbacks, comments and suggestions, they can do so with the SUGGESTION page. Online travel has never been easy with Opodo's

Manegment theory and practice case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Manegment theory and practice case study - Essay Example In 1999 Nissan was the third largest car manufacturing company in Japan and around the world. However in comparison to 1996, when Nissan had last made a profit its production was down, its market share was slipping, it losses mounting and utilization of production capacity was poor. There was an urgent need to find a suitable alliance partner, willing to invest in the company, if Nissan were to survive (p. 3). Renault on the other hand in 1999 had become lean through restructuring and downsizing was in a position to make strategic investments to further its future business activities. Renault mainly operated in Western Europe, from where it derived 85% of its revenue. Renault had limited activities in the important geographical regions of Asia, North America, and Eastern Europe. (p. 4). Investing in Nissan was attractive to Renault, as it provided Renault access to the important markets of Asia and North America due to Nissan’s active presence in these markets. However, there were major issues in the form of the organizational culture variances, diversity in the workforces of the two companies and management practices that would pose major problems in the smooth merger of these two car manufacturers and the changes that would have to be brought about in the corporate culture and management practices at Nissan (p. 5-6). After long drawn negotiations the alliance between Renault and Nissan came into being in 1999, with Renault acquiring 36.8% stake in Nissan. Carlos Ghosn from Renault was appointed as Chief Executive of Nissan and given the responsibility of leading through the restructuring and developing of Nissan focusing on the objectives of the Nissan Revival Plan (NRP) actual profitability by 2000, an operating profit greater than 4.5%, and reducing debt by 50% at the end of the fiscal year 2002 (p.7). The rest of the story is the manner in which Carlos Ghosn through inspired leadership achieved the seemingly impossible

Creative paper Consider yourself to be a political candidate for Assignment

Creative paper Consider yourself to be a political candidate for national office - Assignment Example He has lost sight of what is best for the people and instead, allows his own political ambitions, and party affiliations to dictate the moves that he shall make. We were once known as the Last Remaining Super Power in the world. We were the international police. Our presence in turmoil filled countries brought peace and stability. Our political, social, and economic system was once the envy of other nations. We were the allies of those oppressed and the enemies of those who wished to dominate the world. We have lost that standing now. These days, thanks to the cowardly leadership in Washington, North Korea thinks they can aim bombs at our allies, build nuclear weapons, and threaten the peace in South Korea. China has been flexing its muscles in the international community and bullies countries that dare to question their occupation of the Spratly Islands. Rogue nations now think that because America has lost its way, there is no need to fear the countrys position as an international leader anymore. After all, our president has decided that we are spending too much on military improvements and wars abroad. Totally missing the point that witho ut our well equipped military forces, and fighting wars abroad, we would be fighting the terrorist battle right here on our very soil. Causing more sociopolitical and economic problems for the citizens of this country. It isnt surprising that he cant handle diplomatic relations with other nations. That is why he hired Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State. Barack Obama doesnt have any international relation skills at all. He was just a newbie senator when he decided to run for president. On his first international trip to Germany as president the first thing he did was apologize for the actions of America during the war. And he has done that every country that he has visited since. He has turned America in a â€Å"lame duck† country. Further proving that he was in no way, shape, or form ready for the

Research log Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Research log - Essay Example However, as I went on to review the research, I was able to establish the highlights and the major aspects of the issue which were meant to make me understand the events as they unfolded. I was able to learn the extent of the animosity felt by terrorist groups against the US and how these feelings stemmed mostly from the US foreign policies in the Middle East and in developing nations. I was also able to learn how these US foreign policies have been viewed by many Middle Eastern nations as purely economically based and more to the point – oil-based. In the first few days of the research process, I was able to enhance my organizational research skills. Before the research, I did not have an organized way of carrying out research or in carrying out any of my academic tasks. I actually often ended up repeating myself or doing things twice because I did not have good organizational skills. However, as I was going through the process of research, I was forced to come up with a logi cal and orderly system in gathering data and in sorting out the data that I was able to gather. In so doing, I knew where to get the information I needed and which part of the research they would be placed. I was also able to establish the information I still needed to research and what type of information I needed. I believe that the part of the research which was well organized and well done for me was the third chapter because the materials and information were well organized and logically flowed from one idea to the next. I believe that that part of the research process was able to highlight my strengths as a researcher and as a student. However, there were also some challenging and difficult parts of the research process for me. It was very challenging for me to gain an objective and well-rounded information about the topic. There are different sources of information about the topic and I tried my best to sift through these in order to come up with the best and the most objecti ve sources of data. When I was about to finish the research and data gathering process, I was more or less ready to plan and to write the initial chapters of the paper. In order for me to make a good start however on the paper, I was planning to read the â€Å"Unholy wars: Afghanistan, America and international terrorism† by Cooley and â€Å"Fighting suicide bombing: a worldwide campaign for life† by Cherny. In order to successfully write the first chapter, I was called on to spend much time in researching about the 9/11 attacks itself. The areas of my research for this week included the assessment of the different events leading up to the 9/11 attacks and the immediate aftermath thereof. I found out that there were possible signs which indicated a possible attack on US soil, however no definitive threat was seen and was considered an immediate threat to the US and its inhabitants and territories. In order to ensure a good understanding of the subject matter, I highlig hted the importance of gaining balanced and objective research materials. I used both library searches through books and journals in order to facilitate data gathering. I also used the internet to search for possible recommended materials relevant to my research. Before I started with the research proc

Causes and Effects of Global Warming Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Causes and Effects of Global Warming - Essay Example Nonetheless, numerous ways causes and effects usually lead to these climate change pieces of evidence and the causes and effects of global warming are discussed in this essay. The primary cause of global warming is the emission of carbon dioxide from the burning fossil fuel burning mainly from power plants and locomotive. Numerous nations including the United States have the addition of the use of electricity from burning coals have increasingly emitted enormous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. For instance, 40 percent of the United States’ carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere originates from the production of electricity. Moreover, nearly its 93 percent emission is from burning coal that is also pegged on the utilization of electricity in industries (Haldar, 2011). Therefore, the immense production of electricity from burning coal in the United States among other countries will only increase emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere thereby increasin g the effects of global warming. Carbon dioxide emission from burning gasoline is another cause of global warming. This cause is also increasing the intensity of global warming since numerous people like using locomotives; hence, the more the use of cars among other locomotives that use gasoline, will only increase the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere; thus, intensifying the effects of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Additionally, the increasing population increases the consumption of gasoline due to increased purchase and use of cars (Haldar, 2011). Other than use in cars, gasoline is also used in other industrial manufacturing processes; therefore, the increased on the demand on items that are manufactured by using gasoline, will increase the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere thereby addition the injury of increased global warming.

Magical Realism And Transformation Of Characters In Animated Films Case Study

Magical Realism And Transformation Of Characters In Animated Films - Case Study Example The numerous character transformations have been used to highlight or depict the social changes of the time some of which may include the changing women rights, homosexual issues and increasing transformations regarding birthrights and abortion rights among others (Moritz, 1996, 49). It has also been widely suggested that the transformations may have been used as a satirical anti-Nazi parable. Generally, although the silhouette artforms may have been made to target children, Lotte Reiniger may also have infused social responsibility. Some of the major characters that have undergone character transformation in the movie include Peri Banu and the African magician. For example, the African magician frees himself from the chains and transforms into a bat and attempts to seek out Ahmed before the Prince chases him back to human form. The first appearance of the African sorcerer/magician shows him slowly unfold in the medium of close up with his fingers undergoing spider like articulations (Moritz, 1996, 48). As he transforms into various creatures, the body of the African Sorcerer can be seen going through a series of contortions. On the other hand, Aladdin and the magician both engage in a fiery magical due to each transforming into various creatures (Warner (2011, 401). They, however, soon resume their human form after a while before flinging fireballs at each other. Princess Peri Banu also transforms herself from time to time. In some instances, Peri Banu has a proportionate body with softened mellow and silhouette s with constant grins and smiles while at the time the princess appears as an earthly creature with a frontal appearance. With a lot of plotting; this German animation film is the oldest surviving animated motion picture.

Effects of Chlorinated Drinking Water Essay Example for Free

Effects of Chlorinated Drinking Water Essay Chlorine is added to drinking water, as a disinfectant, to get rid of harmful bacteria, which are usually present in areas from where the water is obtained. The controversy of this issue is that chlorination can work as an advantage or as a disadvantage to those consuming it. Chlorine is currently the most effective water treatment when compared with other alternatives. However, it also reacts with natural organic compounds present in the water to produce harmful chemicals that on a long-term basis are very dangerous. The most well known adverse effects of contaminated water is shown in the Walkerton crisis in May 2000, where an outbreak of E. Coli contamination occurred in the water system of Walkerton, Ontario. Seven people died, and a further 2300 fell ill after consuming water that was contaminated by farm manure (Walkerton Report, CBC 2008). This could have been prevented if proper chlorination had taken place. Examples of contaminants that chlorine eliminates are microbes such as E. Coli, Salmonella typhi and Shigella. E. Coli grows when the water is contaminated with human and animal waste products. Upon consuming E. Coli contaminated water, an individual suffers from diarrhea, cramps, nausea, renal failure and sometimes even death. Consuming water contaminated with Salmonella typhi causes typhoid fever. Shigella causes severe abdominal cramping with blood and mucus in the stool. Chlorine’s major advantage is that the water remains disinfected until it reaches the point of consuming, unlike other disinfectants such as ozone or ultraviolet light. Chlorine not only purifies water, it also prevents bacterial growth, nitrogenous contaminants and such from growing in water pipes and storage tanks. It also gets rid of odors, unpleasant taste and organisms known as nuisance organisms. Slime bacteria, iron and sulfate reducing bacteria give the water a very unpleasant look and smell. These bacteria do not cause disease but chlorination gets rid of these organisms. Not only is chlorine easy to use, it is also widely available and of low cost. However, chlorine is also associated with producing harmful byproducts as it reacts with chemicals already present in water. These products are known as disinfection by-products. They include chloroform and are known as trihalomethanes or THMs for short. Studies conducted have shown that tested animals that are exposed to high amounts of THM are at a much greater risk for cancer. Even with humans, long-term exposure to chlorination can greatly increase risks of cancer (LaPure Water Inc, 2000). Also, chlorination does not get rid of all nitrate products. It only prevents the nitrates from reaching a toxic form. These nitrates are from manure products that have not been absorbed by plants. This is not particularly dangerous to adults, but with excess levels can cause â€Å"blue baby† disease (methemoglobinemia) in young infants (Nitrate: Health Effects in Drinking Water, McCasland). Chlorinated water also affects its taste and smell. Using chlorinated water to make coffee, tea, soups, etc changes its taste and smell. Even with these disadvantages, it is evident that the benefits of chlorination outweigh the risks. With proper treatment – making sure that chlorine is not added in excess and proper water testing, drinking water would be much healthier. The only major disadvantage of chlorinated water is the long-term effects of THMs. It is known that using a carbon filter actually gets rid of THMs and other chlorination by-products. People should be made aware of this and encouraged to use carbon filters to filter the water out instead of consuming straight from the tap. There are alternatives to chlorination as well, such as ozonation, which is a method of disinfection by adding ozone gas to water and applying an electric current. It is very effective against microbes and only forms by products, which can be removed with further treatment. Another method of disinfectant is by Ultraviolet light treatment. This method is effective against even more microbes than chlorine is but it is also costly. However, these methods can only be used as primary disinfectants, chlorine is required as a secondary disinfectant in order to disinfect water as much as possible. Also, these methods are temporary – the water does not remain disinfected until it reaches point of being consumed. In conclusion, chlorination is the most effective method of disinfecting water from drinking purposes. It’s the only method that keeps the water clean from the point of treatment to the point of consuming it. It is also the only disinfectant that is capable of minimizing all possible health risks caused by contaminated water. The adverse effects of chlorine such as its harmful by-products can be eliminated or reduced with the use of carbon filters.

Crime in the Information Age Essay Example for Free

Crime in the Information Age Essay Its not difficult to gauge what the popular notions of crime in the United States are. Engage in any polite conversation over dinner or cocktails and one is likely to hear similar themes: crime is out of control, its just not the same world we grew up in, its not safe to walk down the street anymore, its a mean world out there, etc. The underlying theme that can be drawn from these notions is fear. There is a widespread conception that crime is a rampant problem in this country and that violent crime and others are on the rise. However, these beliefs are not supported at all by the facts, even those put forth by our own law enforcement agencies. So why then, are most Americans so concerned with the threat of violent crime in particular? While the answer to this question is a complex one involving many contributors, the focus of this essay is concerned with the impact of popular media on these perceptions, because the media, it would seem, is one of the most influential contributors to the social construction of crime in this country. The coverage of crime, and particularly violent crime, in the news media has increased in frequency of coverage and sensationalized reporting despite statistical proof that violent crime has been decreasing for many years. This phenomenon is of great concern because how we arrive at our perceptions of our world should be critically examined so policy solutions react to truth not manipulated reality. As of 2001 homicides made up one to two-tenths of one percent of all arrests, yet made up 27-29% of crime coverage on the nightly news (Dorfman and Schiraldi). Still one of the most shocking statistics from Dorfman and Schiraldis study states that, Crime coverage has increased while real crime rates have fallen. While homicide coverage was increasing on the network news by 473% from 1990 to 1998, homicide arrests dropped 32. 9% from 1990 to 1998. We can see one indication of the effects of this unrealistic reporting in 1994 when, for example, in a Washington Post/ABC poll respondents named crime as their number one concern (far more than any other issue) with 65 percent of those who responded as such saying that they learned about this issue from the media (Jackson and Naureckas). The fact is, however, that violent crime has been on the decrease for roughly thirteen years and is estimated to be at a roughly thirty year low (U. S. Department of Justice). The following graph rom the De partment of Justice shows a dramatic decrease in the rates of violent crime beginning in the early nineties: ? The National Criminal Victimization Survey, which is conducted differently than the more common Uniform Crime Reports, shows a decrease in violent as well as property crimes in the United States for more than a decade (qtd. in Torny 118). The evidence seems to be overwhelming; no matter what the method used for measuring crime rates there is an obvious decrease in crime, especially with respect to violent crime in the United States. These are just a couple of the statistics researchers and academics have compiled over recent years addressing the discrepancy between media coverage of crime and actual crime statistics. So in light of these multiple studies using different methods, how and why is it that media coverage of violent crime has grown exponentially? Surette explains that crime is both an individual and cultural product (237). There is a correlation between media consumption and support for more harsh criminal justice policies and perceptions of the mean-world view (Surette 196). This supports the theory that the more news a person consumes, particularly television news, the less they know about the actual state of the world. Surette explains that while the media certainly does have an impact it is not the only factor in creating this culture of the fear of crime and impacts those who live in a more isolated environment and consume higher levels of media (200). He also notes that research suggests that those who watch a good deal of television have trouble differentiating between the television world and the real world (204). The media has a relationship with fear that can correlate with fear fore some viewers (Surette 206). One example of this relationship with fear that the media seems to have can be found in a 1994 article in US News and World Report where the authors, despite noting briefly that violent crime by all statistical accounts is actually down, names the previous year as the scariest year in American history seeming to assert that the numbers dont matter (Jackson and Naureckas). The article also makes a good point about the contradiction between perceptions of crime and the reality of crime: the drumbeat of news coverage [that] has made it seem that America is in the midst of its worst epidemic of violence ever. That sense is not supported by the numbers (Jackson and Naureckas). Throughout the rest of the article similar contradictions abound and it is difficult to tell exactly what conclusion should be drawn from it. The causes of crime, as with most crime reporting, are not dealt with in the article while random violence is examined closely (Jackson and Naureckas). Most violent crime is perpetrated by someone whom the victim knows yet the theme of random violence receives much more attention in the media (Jackson and Naureckas). The US News piece illustrates how the media engages in a form of doublethink where despite knowledge of factual evidence indicating a decrease in crime they continue to put forth images that depict violent crime as an epidemic and continue to support perceptions of fear, distrust, and cynicism. This fear mongering often plays into preconceived notions of crime and violence such as racism, ageism, and classism held by some. A 2001 study by Dorfman and Schiraldi found that crimes against African Americans were underrepresented in reporting and overrepresented as perpetrators, white victims tended to receive more lengthy coverage as well. In Los Angeles television news African Americans were 22% more likely to be shown on TV committing violent crimes than non-violent ones despite the fact that arrest reports indicate that African Americans in Los Angeles commit both types of crime almost equally (Dorfman and Schiraldi). The study also shows how youths are also disproportionately covered: 7 out of 10 local TV news stories dealing with violent crime in California had youths as the perpetrators despite the fact that youths commit only 14. 4% of violent crime in that state. Furthermore, half of the stories dealing with minors for any reason involved violence even though only 2% (though due to unreported crimes the actual number may be higher) of California youths have been victims or perpetrators of violent crime (Drofman and Schiraldi). The study also found by looking at news reports over the last decade that in Hawaii there has bee a 30 fold increase in the number of youth crime stories despite a steady decrease in youth crime over that same time period. This increased focus on youth crimes has led to increased support for treating juvenile offenders as adults and, especially in instances of more serious crimes, applying the same retributive punishments previously not applied to young offenders (Glassner 73). These findings show how not only are the medias sensationalized reporting of crime contributing to a false sense or reality for many people, but are also einforcing stereotypes and bigotry. Utilizing these preconceived ideas also intensifies the impact of fear based coverage. This sense of fear that the media is able to conjure up in certain situations can easily be manipulated by politicians and policymakers looking to gain some support. According to Glassner, the more fearful people are of crime the more lik ely they are to support more punitive justice systems instead of rehabilitation programs. This is especially true with respect to juvenile offenders (72). Glassner further argues that it is interesting that as we cut into funding for educational, medical, and antipoverty programs we begin to grow more concerned about crime and there seems to be what he calls unacknowledged guilt about why crime now seems inevitable (72). While the media is often the target of criticism and blame it has been argued that largely the media mirrors public opinion and can be controlled by it (Gans 76). There is evidence however that particularly brutal crimes or large amounts of coverage of crime can shift public opinion somewhat. For example, polls show an increase in support for the death penalty following news of horrifying crimes (Gans 76). Gans believes that despite the fact that the news media is often thought of as having more power than it actually does it may have long-term effects on public opinion (88). So, even though the media of course cannot shift public opinion overnight in the long run a shift in coverage of sensationalized crime coverage can have long lasting effects of the political climate around crime policy. If the tone of the media is largely controlled by previously held notions of media consumers then how might the news media correct the public when its beliefs are erroneous? Chiricos examines the effect of moral panics which something or someone becomes defined as a threat to societal values or norms (2). Moral panics are signaled by a rapid increase in the volume of media reporting and are often followed by political action as the public feels that something must be done (Chiricos 60). Every so often crime and violence becomes the subject of a moral panic in America. Chiricos examines two moral panics occurring in the early to mid nineties: crack cocaine and violent crime. Both of these stories where covered in much the same way: as inner-city problems leaving the ghettos and threatening the middle-class way of life (63). When this issue was framed as a direct threat to suburban America a moral panic followed. When crime was confined to urban areas and ghettos there was little to worry about until the perception became that crack and violence was spreading into areas that were considered to be safe. During this time 49 percent of Americans then said that crime was the most important issue facing the country compared to only 9 percent before the moral panic began to set in (Chiricos 64). The panic was further compounded by reports that these issues were spreading to children which Chiricos notes is a common component of the rise of a moral panic (65). The reaction to these panics was unsurprising. Panics are viewed as sudden problems and treated with fundamentally inappropriate solutions such as sending more people to prison and building more of them (Chiricos 67). Following moral panics, according to Chiricos, commands are issued by the public (71). The policy ramifications from these moral panics included 9. 7 billion dollars for more prisons, Californias three strikes program, and various repressive laws aimed at adults and children alike in many states (Chiricos 71). These examinations of the medias relationship with public opinion point out how in this age of information the media is an important factor in how we carry out our democracy and decide what issues are important. If this has become the case than there are serious concerns for how the media is serving democracy. Lawrence sees the media as an arena where problems are constructed and there is constant struggle between elites, groups, and the public seek to define and address problems (3). What constitutes a problem is socially constructed. This is also true of crime problems. Lawrence is concerned with how problems are socially constructed in the media because when something is defined as a problem facing the country power is conferred upon the social institutions we would likely look to deal with it (5). So, in the arena of the media if crime is framed by elites as stemming from the degradation of society or loss of opportunities for many people then programs and institutions organized for supporting the poor and communities will be empowered. However, the usual winners in this clash of frames typically define crime as an epidemic problem fueled by a justice system which is too soft on criminals. With this frame politicians must appear tough on crime and power is given to more punitive crime control policies and the prison-industrial complex flourishes as more and more money is spent on warehousing offenders. This further disempowers social welfare institutions as money spent on police and prisons cannot be spent on education, healthcare, or welfare programs. This struggle to define problems can be looked at as a clash of differing realities where vastly different takes on issues exist but one is adopted by the media and then disseminated to the public (Lawrence 5). Lawrence says that the prevailing reality held by the most successful definers typically comes from officials within the government (5). There exists a close relationship between government officials and the news media. They are the primary definers and therefore the strongest factor in how we construct the reality of crime (Lawrence 5). This is unhealthy because, with the issue of crime in particular, officials are quick to define crime as an epidemic issue filled with fearful imagery and then act against criminals in draconian ways. When they construct a reality where they are needed to protect their constituents justice in harmed for the sake of political capital. This manipulation of reality and fear for the sake of power is addressed by Entman but with respect to the war on terror instead of crime and justice. He argues that the elite exert control by hegemony and indexing (4). Hegemony refers to the way officials release only information that supports the narrow reality that they seek to perpetuate and indexing is how the media reflect this narrow debate among elites quite closely (Entman 5). With this control over public perception it is relatively easy for officials to frame issues such as crime or terrorism. When they win the battle to define a problem obvious remedies arise. If terrorism is framed as an attack on our way of life rather than a consequence of our projection of power across the globe then it follows that the remedy is defense and war. Similarly, if elites succeed in defining crime not as a consequence of lost economic opportunities but as a result of naturally deviant personalities then the reaction that follows is to lock up these defective personalities and isolate them from the rest of â€Å"normal† society. The way in which we think about various issues and problems directly affects how we deal with them. Most in society would say that the solution to problems is obvious because it is. What is missed however is the fact that how we think about problems can completely shift the ways in which we deal with them. In order to change policy then the first step is to change the perceptions and the reality surrounding it for officials and the public alike. Lakoff tells us that if we can reframe issues we can create social change (XV). When we change the way the public sees the world, largely through the media, and alter that perceived reality we can change the policies that follow. So why then does the media seem to be so concerned with violent crime and creating feelings of fear and anxiety in its consumers? The reason seems to be sensationalized journalism meant to increase viewership and a system where officials control our perceptions through the media. It needs to be understood that passive consumption of the media is unhealthy and we should think critically about how reality is constructed by elites and the media because, that subjective reality directly affects the solutions that are used to deal with our problems. While so many people are given the impression that crime is rampant the underreported fact is that crime has been decreasing for many years. In order for there to be rational crime control policy in the United States we need to have accurate information about the reality of crime in this country. In order for this to happen the media must provide an accurate depiction of crime that is constructed by a fair debate in the public arena of the media. There is a lot at stake in how we perceive the world around us and how we think about crime and punishment.

Reflection on Clinical Placement

Reflection on Clinical Placement Clinical Placement Reflection 1 Communication with others within the clinical setting – this may include staff members, patients and relatives. From working within in a team I have learnt that communication in health and social care underpins everything that professionals do and can determine the quality of service that patients receive. Poor communication between members of inter-professional teams affects the quality of care patients receive and can result in any number of bad experiences for the patients. I’ve noticed that some of the factors that contribute to poor communication include the use of professional jargon, abbreviations and poor handwriting. Thus I made it a personal objective try and avoid these behaviours and if I did for example, use jargon I made sure its universal so that there is no miscommunication. Your ability to work within a team. During this time on placement I have been able to witness and participate in multidisciplinary team meetings and have also had the opportunity to work with different healthcare professionals such as physiotherapist and also have been involved in ward rounds with doctors and nurses. The ward I was placed had a great team. I always felt a part of the team, and that I was making a valuable contribution thanks to both my eagerness to take on anything they threw at me, and, their inclusiveness and supportiveness. I learnt that holding back and waiting for people to notice you is not a good strategy. Let everyone know that you’re interested every day, and opportunities will come your way. Your role and relationship with others within the clinical practice My role and relationship with others within the clinical setting was very important to me. It was important for me to build the team member relationship with others as it helps to establish a mutual understanding and trust with other team members. When reflecting upon my own strengths and weaknesses, in relation to my role and relationship with others, I feel that whilst I am beginning to acquire an in depth understanding of the role of the nurse in the care of the patient, I feel that I lack substantial knowledge of the roles of the other healthcare professionals that I work alongside in the care of these same patients. I have listed the priority of this as being medium to high as I feel that it is not possible to become an effective collaborative healthcare member without having an understanding of the roles of others with whom I am are working with. If there is a lack of understanding of the roles of others, I fee l that it would be difficult to see why they are involved in the care of my patient, or even when it is appropriate to involve other healthcare professionals, inevitably leading to the quality of the care for the patient to suffer. Thus I made it in my best interest to interact more with others during the placement so that I could work alongside them confidently and work towards the same goals. Your problem solving skills. Where possible give examples of how you have used these. Being in acute care setting, the kind of problem-solving that I did tend to be solving were immediate problems rather long-term problems. For example, patients who cant get up who needs to have a sponge and clean linens on their bed. However each patient is different and often I couldn’t just perform the task without thought. The process of problem solving has guided me in finding solutions to a problem. I have learnt that this process is effective and helps me make the right decisions. I have also learnt to reflect on my decision so that I can see if the decision was the best or not for the situation. To assist me in problem solving more complex situations, I asked my mentor to provide some problem solving stimulations to further develop my problem-solving skills which was very beneficial for my learning process. Your time management skills I learnt the importance of time management a lot during this placement. On one of the days, I did not wash my patient before 8:00 am in order to prepare her for her family visit later on that day. My patient’s 10:00 am Parkinson’s’ medication administration was delayed by 45 minutes because she was being washed at that time. This event occurred because I did not prioritize the tasks I had to complete during the day properly, and therefore I learned the importance of time management. If I had obtained nursing knowledge and familiarize myself with the daily routine care of the patient I could have handle my time more efficiently. After this event, I learned effective time management strategies to handle my time on clinical and I will definitely utilize the time managing strategies step by step from knowing , planning , prioritizing tasks, gaining support from other nurses, and being flexible with my tasks. Your ability to understand your competence and scope of practice It was important for me to have an understanding my own competence and scope of practice as it guides me to good clinical practice and the delivery of my care to my patients. As a student enrolled nurse, there were strict practice standards and regulations, especially when medication is involved and supervision from our mentor was required at all times. Reflecting back, there were situations where although the practice was within my scope of practice, the policy and procedures of the facility did not allow it thus it is important to understand and familiarize yourself with the policy and procedures of the hospital as well as working within your scope. How you adapt and use new technology and reflect on historical changes in nursing As I was quite young and I didn’t have any problems adapting and using new technology. It was very exciting seeing new technology as I believe it will greatly improve nursing practice and make it more efficient. Some of the new technologies I had the opportunities to use include new vital signs machine, lifting machines and computer programs that included online hospital policy and procedures and mims. All documentation was still hand-written and stored in folders. Historically, nursing documentation has been a hand- written. However, today facilities are now introducing new technology aimed to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Your competency in relation to your nursing skills Competency in relation to my nursing skills had a lot to do with my confidence. For me, confidence is an important aspect of the practice of nursing and plays a major role in development. After an incident, I recognised that despite my lack of confidence the skill set that required to be completed for a particular patient was within my scope of practice, within my ability and within my knowledge base. On reflection it is clear that my lack of confidence in my ability, when put ‘on the spot’ contributed to my feelings of inadequacy which affected my competency in relation to my nursing skills. Through reflection and use of a mentor I was able to clarify that my weakness was not my nursing skills or knowledge level but my inability to effectively perform when under close scrutiny, which in turn led to a lack of confidence in my skill level and clinical knowledge. To develop my confidence and communication skill I became pr oactive and requested the assistance of a senior clinical educator to critically assess my skills and knowledge base. By doing this I reinforced my knowledge and skills but more importantly developed self-confidence. My efforts in seeking assistance and assessment of my skills could be seen as a step in ‘becoming more independent’. By gaining input and validation from my clinical educator, I ensured that I was able to successfully utilize my nursing skills competently and independently. An overall reflection of the day and how you can use your reflection to improve your practice Upon starting this placement I didn’t really know what to anticipate as it was my first time in a hospital setting, so when I was asked about my expectations all I could say was â€Å"That I wanted to learn all I can† Thinking back on that not so confident response, now at the end of this placement, gives me good insight into how valuable this placement has been to my professional development. This placement gave me the opportunity to begin to see myself as a professional, as I gradually learnt how to think critically about the patient’s health and managing their care and needs. This led to my becoming increasingly confident in the role I was determined to fill. Although I feel that I have a long way to go in this endeavour and will always continue learning, I know that I have learnt a lot during my time at this placement. To further improve my practice, I will use refle ction as it enables me to solve problems or learn from actions through thinking consciously about an activity which would then enable me learn and develop. Clinical Placement Reflection 2 Communication with others within the clinical setting – this may include staff members, patients and relatives. During my placement I was in a stroke unit. Being on this unit, I worked with many clients who suffered from post-stoke symptoms and many had difficulty with speech. The experience helped me learn the importance of both verbal and non-verbal communication. As an aspiring nurse, I have to continuously sharpen my communication skills because I will be interacting with more diverse range of patients in the future. I have to be able to establish rapport with each new patient and I can do this by communicating with them. I must maximise my communication with my patients because I can do a lot of things by communicating such as motivate, empower, educate and understand my patients. Your ability to work within a team. Working in a team provides me with a great satisfaction. From this teamwork experience, I strongly feel the importance of teamwork in providing consistent care for patients. It taught me to interact with others and as an individual in order to work towards the same goal. I had witnessed examples of both good and poor inter-professional collaboration and communication whilst in practice and have reflected on those incidents. Also, being self-aware I found was not only essential to nursing as a basis for reflection but it also contributed to how I communicate with others and assisted me in developing inter-personal skills with our colleagues so that I could work better in a team. Your role and relationship with others within the clinical practice In order to work efficiently together, it was important to understand my role and the roles of others within the clinic setting. My professional relationships with others was good except with occupational therapist (OT) mainly because I never had a fully understand of their role. I felt more clarity was needed surrounding the role of the OT so I made the efforts to research and speak to some of the OT to find out about their roles. As a result I was able to witness some of their work and worked closely with them. Being professional relationships and understand the roles of others has also lead me to understanding about the unique qualities and skills that different professionals bring to the team. In learning about other team members roles, I was also able to enhance my own professional identity which made me comfortable in the clinical setting. Your problem solving skills. Where possible give examples of how you have used these. I was quite a confident problem-solving however there are times where I’m faced with a situation where I can identify the problem but I’m not able to come up with a solution due to lack of experience. For example performing venepuncture; the patient had very poor vein and my first attempt failed and was very demotivated. We were never taught in school on how to deal with bad veins except to have two attempts and have someone else do it if you fail. Determined to do the venepuncture successful, I suggested to my mentor, if I was able to pull the vein downwards to minimise the movement of the vein. With the approval of my mentor, I went in and was successful on my second attempt. Your time management skills Prioritizing is a necessary tool for effective time management thus I made sure I prioritize tasks from high to low priority order. However during this placement, a staff had questioned my time management skill because I choose to assist patient who was lying in a soiled bed over researching my medications that was due in half an hour. This experience made me question how I was prioritising my time management skills. I decided to reflect on experience, and I believe that the staff was wrong to question my time management skills. I had thought about which was the greater priority in this situation and I still believe that the patient was. If the same situation arose again I feel that I would not do anything different other than to speak up and justify my decisions. I recognize and knowledge Time management as an important skill in nursing and hope that my skills will further improve with practice. Your ability to understand your competence and scope of practice My ability to understand my competence and scope of practice is demonstrated through my clinical practice to safely provide care that is in accordance to the competency standards and actively informing others of my scope of practice. I always clarified what the specific activity or task details were from my mentor and obtained any additional information that I may need, such as facility policies or procedures. I also I made sure I expressed the concern to my mentor or educator. An example of this was my knowledge of medication. Although it was in my scope to administer medication, it was important that I do it competently with full understanding of the drug use and why the patient is receiving it. While it was in my scope, I lacked knowledge of the drug therefore I felt incompetent to administer it safely. For this reason, I made it my goal to research the medications prior to administration. How you adapt and use new technology and reflect on historical changes in nursing During my placement, I adapted well to the new technology. The ward I was on had new software integrated in their computers which allowed me to access patient results and continue my learning through web-based training programs and access to online medical dictionaries and mims. My experience using these was very positive and very efficient. Historically, nursing documentation has been a hand- written. This was still the case in the ward that I was working in. This form of documenting has provided good communication between health care professionals and plan of patient care for the patient for a long period however the increase of medical errors and miscommunication has driven facilities to introduce new technology aimed to improve this and the efficiency and effectiveness of clinical practice. Your competency in relation to your nursing skills Nursing competency requires accumulation of evidence based knowledge and skills, understanding of cultural diversity and the care provided. During clinical practice I used the ANMC competency standards to reflect on my own practice. Areas that I felt competent in was my providing care in a safely manner and my ability to address the physiological, psychological, physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the patients and significant others. In addition, I continued professional education in order to build up knowledge and skills that will be necessary in coping with the dynamic changes in healthcare. Continuing education ensures that my knowledge is current and level of competency is maintained at a satisfactory level. An overall reflection of the day and how you can use your reflection to improve your practice My last placement has proved to be a huge progress. Through observations and clinical practice, I managed to develop my nursing skills both as an independent learner, but also as a member of the health team. Having been assigned patient loads, research medications and or reflecting on how I went, I was able to employ a range of skills that could not have found a better environment to develop in; critical thinking and problem solving, working with others and time management are just few examples. I will continue to do reflective practice to evaluate any clinical incident, positive or negative to attempt to better understand and contemplate the events which have taken place, and the behaviour, emotions and actions of not only myself, but the patient and others involved at that time In doing so, It will increase knowledge surrounding that situation and my professional development.

Microprocessor-based Mobile Robot with On-board Vision System Driving Range Golf Ball Retriever :: essays research papers

Microprocessor-based Mobile Robot with On-board Vision System Driving Range Golf Ball Retriever   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Golf Retrieving Mobile Robot is an undergraduate thesis of the DLSU students. It is a robot that is capable of retrieving golf balls automatically without the assistance of a person. This is very useful in a driving range or the area where golfers practice their swings to hit golf balls. The robot is named Greg, it is able to accumulate golf balls on the field. The problems that might arise are the confusion of the driving ranges and re-use of golf balls.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The flow of the operation starts from capturing the image, after which is the process image for detection of the borders as well as the golf balls. Using image processing base on the RGB values or the white and non-white image, the system is capable of distinguishing whether the object is a golf ball or not. The logic of the system is created using neural networks. The logic is programmed in such a way that the robot is able to determine how far the golf ball is and whether the object is actually a golf ball or not. The dimples of the golf ball are also one of the considerations they use in creating the logic of the system. The person is able to set the boundaries for the robot to move around. This is done by putting a boundary using blue or red tapes for the robot to sense. The border detection and avoidance is used to prevent the robot from going out of the prescribed area.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main objective of the system is to be able to identify and retrieve golf balls. There are five main components of the system, namely, the PC compartment, the remote control, the wheels and chassis, the vision system, and the ball counter. The vision system used is the modified desktop computer. Wheels and chassis are utilized to have the mobot move around the field. The robot is capable of moving around and retrieving golf balls by itself, but the user has the option of controlling the robot through the use of the remote control or the master control of the robot. The robot consists of a front wheel which is the caster wheel and a back wheel or the rubber wheels.

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT :: Essays Papers

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT All Quiet on the Western Front, written by Erich Maria Remarque is a first hand experience account of the war. The horror of the war and Remarque's own terrifying experiences and memories would certainly have effected what he wrote. All Quiet on the Western Front was published in March 1929, London. The late publication of the novel may have been due to the grief and trauma that Remarque experienced in the war. All Quite on the Western Front was written for the millions of men who fought for their countries. Remarque's intent, is to recount the pain and misery that the soldiers experienced during the war and to acknowledge their remarkable courage. Remarque does not mention any specific country or nationality in his book, in order for all soldiers to be identified as a whole, they all had the same goals and experienced the same fears, regardless of their nationality. â€Å" A generation of men†¦ who were destroyed by war† Remarque's comment would have been prompted by his own experiences of war and how he, like all soldiers were a generation destroyed by patriarchy, they fought for the love of their country. â€Å"Even though they have escaped its shells, (they) were destroyed by war.† Remarque means that they may have escaped the battle physically, but emotionally they are unable to escape the horror and the lasting effects of the brutality of war. Paul and Kat were two characters in the novel that represented the typical 20th century soldier. They dealt with malnourished and dealt with disease and death everyday, like most soldiers they had to come to terms with life at war and in the trenches. The soldiers changed a great deal, each day they had to become stronger and stronger as the war became more brutal. Comrade companionship is the one thing that kept the soldiers from falling completely apart. They strongly relied on one another to help them when injured, mentally and physically. They helped eachother by cooperating and sharing food. The soldier’s minds were re-adjusted due to the war and they knew that fate was in their own hands and the hands of their comrades. Paul felt truly at home on the front. He was seen as somewhat of a hero. He had a very difficult time readjusting when he was injured and sent home.

Education :: essays research papers fc

Education of Gifted Children Started in the 1970’s, America’s Gifted & Talented programs are used to enhance the curriculum of students included in either category in order to challenge and strengthen their unique abilities. These students are usually provided a separate class with specialized lessons in all areas and a teacher with a special degree in gifted education. I feel that it is important that the teacher was a gifted student who would know what the students must face as "above average" members of their school. The job market for gifted education offers a wide range of opportunity and gifted teachers are needed all over the country. One of the earliest programs for gifted and talented students was set up in 1974, at The Old Donation Center, in Virginia Beach. Students scoring within the top 3% of students on an assessment test are referred here to be further challenged. These students are considered gifted and have special teachers and classes to promote development of their talents and minds. Programs like this began to pop up around the nation in the 70’s; however, gifted students were looked down upon by teachers, parents, and peers. Many people considered them to be "freaks" because they were different. They didn’t understand the implications of the terms "gifted" and "talented". Most people simply expected gifted students to act more mature or to be geniuses, even though gifted students are the same as other children in their needs as human beings. Some gifted students were forced to grow up too fast and some simply ignored the fact that they were smarter than others, thus, they were lost in the shuffle. The irony of it all is that gifted-ness seems to run in families and the children of these repressed gifted students are, themselves, gifted. But what exactly is a "gifted" student? Students (elementary & secondary) are given a repertoire of tests. These tests check IQ, psychomotor ability, specific academic aptitude/talent, creative and productive thinking, leadership ability, and skills in the visual and performing arts. The main requirement, the IQ, is tested by a standardized IQ test (remember, however, that IQ tests are not always perfectly accurate). Ratings are given to each bracket of IQ scores: 85-99 Lower normal 100-114 Upper normal 115-129 Bright 130-144 Gifted 145-159 Highly gifted 160+ Above profoundly gifted If a student receives a rating of "gifted" or higher (130+), he/she is considered to be a gifted student and is introduced into the

Direct Marketing and Direct Selling Essay

What is the difference between direct marketing and direct selling? Answer: Direct Marketing; definition, â€Å"The total of activities by which the seller, in effecting the exchange of goods and services with the buyer, directs efforts to a target audience using one or more media (direct selling, direct mail, telemarketing, direct-action advertising, catalogue selling, cable TV selling, etc. ) for the purpose of soliciting a response by phone, mail or personal visit from a prospect or customer. † – by Peter Bennett. In simpler words Direct Marketing is a system of marketing by which the organizations communicate directly with target customers to generate a response or transaction. Direct selling, definition,† Direct selling is the personal presentation, demonstration, and sales of products and services to consumers in their homes. † Direct marketing is a process in which the middle men are removed and the product is directly sold to the end users or consumers. While personal selling is one to one selling in which the sales person visits a prospect and closes the sale. Direct selling is a form of direct marketing. Direct marketing and selling both involve dealing directly with the customer, seeking a response, however direct marketing assumes a broader variety of media than just sales. Direct marketing includes, direct selling, direct mail, telemarketing, direct-action advertising, catalogue selling etc. Q 2: Describe the various forms of direct selling and some of the characteristics that make it unique. Answer: There are three forms of direct selling: 1.

Jung Model by Young Woon Ko Essay

This book examines Carl Gustav Jung’s (1875-1961) theory of synchronicity and discusses the problem of philosophical sources and Yijing (the Book of Changes) that he brings to support his synchronistic principle. By way of the notion of synchronicity, Jung presents the significance of some human experience as unexplainable within the frame of scientific rationality and causality based on logical consistency. Jung asserts that in the phenomenon of synchronicity is a meaningful parallel between an outer event and an inner psychic situation causally unrelated to each other. Jung’s notion of synchronicity is a condensed form of his archetypal psychology, in which the preconceived pattern or the unconsciousness of the human psyche manifests itself. The synchronic event is a phenomenon developed in the unconscious depth of the mind, which is paradoxically made evident within the limit of the conscious mind. Jung theorizes that these ambiguous contents of the unconscious are difficult to be grasped in the conscious mind, because they cannot be verified simply as true or false. For the theory of synchronicity, Jung seeks to verify that paradoxical propositions can be both true and false or neither true nor false in a complementary relation between the opposites of the conscious and the unconscious. Jung argues that synchronistic phenomena are not the issue of true or false performed by the logical certainty of conscious activity but rather are events formed in the process of the unconscious in response to ego-consciousness. In order to  examine the validity of his principle of synchronicity, Jung appeals to the philosophical systems of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (16461716), Immanuel Kant (1742-1804), and Arthur Schopenhauer (17881860). For Jung, these philosophical sources of synchronicity support his criticism of the absolute validity of scientific rationality in which all obscure and paradoxical statements are eliminated in logical reasoning, and they clearly indicate the limitation of human knowledge based on scientific causality and logical reasoning. In contrast to the NewtonianCartesian mechanical model, which pursues the absolute knowledge of objective reality by way of which the subject-object and the mind-body dichotomy is formed, Jung’s model of synchronicity posits an interrelationship between these contrasting poles. viii Introduction However, it is important to point out that in his development of his synchronistic principle, Jung adapts his reading sources sporadically so that some of his arguments become procrustean. In Kant’s critical philosophy above all does Jung’s philosophical source for sustaining his archetypal psychology and synchronicity culminate. Jung advocates for the spaceless and timeless outside human reason and sensory perception, as described in Kantian epistemology, as a source for the theory of synchronicity. Kant draws the border for the limits of human reason within space and time and develops the notion of the thing-in-itself as the spaceless and timeless beyond human knowledge, the noumenon. He solves the problems of any antinomy or paradox emerging in human perception and experience in phenomenon by returning to the logical of Aristotle (384-322 BCE), in which antithetical propositions are demarcated by the contrast of true and false. Although Kant’s notion of noumenon can support the principle of synchronicity, which is not grasped in sensate empirical data, Kant focuses on the limits of human knowledge and experience, so that he constructs no proposition about noumenon. In this fashion Kant’s noumenon distinguishes itself from Jung’s principle of synchronicity constructed by the balance of paradoxical elements. For Jung, the issue of the empirical phenomenal world is the main factor for his analytical psychology based on experiential data and facts. It is in his culling of discrepant views from his philosophical sources for supporting his theory of synchronicity that Jung has difficulty in maintaining a consistent meaning of the phenomenon of synchronicity. I examine Jung’s method of validity and his philosophy of science, which bring other philosophical and psychological concepts to support his principle of synchronicity, particularly Plato’s (427-347 BCE) idea of form, Leibniz’s monadology, Kant’s thing-in-itself, Schopenhauer’s notion of will, Sigmund Freud’s (1856-1939) dream interpretation, and Wolfgang Pauli’s (1900-1958) theory of modern physics. I explore how those reading sources verify Jung’s synchronistic principle and also point out their differences from Jung’s discussion of synchronicity. The purpose of citing the similarities and differences between Jung’s synchronicity and his reading sources is to clarify how Jung attempts to set his distinctive claim for synchronicity form his partial adaptation. Jung’s synchronistic principle can be understood within a dynamic structure of time, which includes the past, the present, and the future. Given this view of time, Edmund Husserl’s (1859-1938) phenomenological method of time-consciousness becomes a key for understanding the time structure of Jung’s synchronicity. Jung’s view of time that is developed in the synchronistic principle can be clarified by way of phenomenological Jung on Synchronicity and Yijing: A Critical Approach ix time-consciousness, which is not the issue of time-in-itself but that of â€Å"lived experiences of time. † Husserl opposes the dualistic distinction between the phenomenon and thing-in-itself. To put it another way, he rejects the Kantian boundary of human knowledge by which one does not continue to practice one’s intentional activity to the given object but ascribes the object itself to the unknowable. For Husserl, all that is meaningful can be knowable to our intuition. The dichotomy of thing-initself and thing-as-it-appears (noumenon-phenomenon) is an illegitimate concession to dualistic metaphysics. In other words, thing-in-itself can result from the activity of human imaginative intuition in Husserl’s phenomenology. The reason for opposing such dualism is closely related to the perceptive mode in the phenomenological method in which the present is not the atomic present but the present draws on the past and the future. This unified whole of time does not correspond to the timeless in the view of thing-in-itself. Unlike Kant’s way based on the rationalist tradition in the subject-object distinction, Husserl’s phenomenology, based on experience and intuition in the duration of time, can collaborate with Jung’s view of time. The synchronistic moment that Jung presents is the phenomenon always involved in subjective experience and intuition, which are developed in the duration of time. The synchronistic phenomenon is not transcendent or the objective flowing of time-in-itself regardless of our subjective experience. Finally, I examine Jung’s discussion of Yijing, one of the primary classics in the Chinese traditions, for his theory of synchronicity. I discuss the distinction between the two by pointing out the perspective of Yijing uncovered from Jung’s partial understanding. Then I explore how the organic model of Yijing can supplement Jung’s theory of the synchronistic relation between the psyche and the physical event by looking to the process of change in the development of time. Through his reading of Yijing, I also discuss Jung’s notion of the divine developed in the synchronistic principle. Jung regards the images of yin-yang interaction developed in the text of Yijing as the readable archetype and the symbolic language of Yijing as driven from the archetypes of the unconscious. Yijing specifies the phenomena of changes that our ego-consciousness cannot grasp. In this fashion, within the text of Yijing is the principle of synchronicity by way of archetypal representation, which is prior to ego-consciousness. By focusing on a method of oracularity, Jung maintains that the hexagrams of yin and yang attained by the odd and even numbers formed by dividing the x Introduction forty-nine yarrow stalks or throwing three coins down together display the synchronistic relation between the participant’s psychic world and the physical world. This method of Yijing is conducted by emptying the egoconsciousness and drawing upon the dimension of the unconscious via archetypal representation. An encounter with a wider horizon of the mind can be explained as the process of self-cultivation in the East Asian tradition. Jung articulates this process as the process of individuation, or self-realization through the realization of a balance between the conscious and the unconscious. According to Jung, the phenomenon of synchronicity refers to the close connection between the archetypal vision of the unconscious and the physical event. Such a connection is not simple chance but rather is a meaningful coincidence. In particular, Jung’s psychological interpretation of the divine clarifies the religious significance of the relationship between the human mind and the supreme ultimate developed in the Yijing context. Jung examines the human experience of God in the inseparable relation between the divine and the human unconscious. Jung’s discussion of the divine is developed by examining the archetypal process of the unconscious shown in the experience of synchronicity. The human experience of God, as an unconscious compensation in response to ego-consciousness, is the religious and theological motif that Jung brings into his discussion of synchronicity and archetype. That is, Jung’s notion of the religious self is derived from the experience of self-transformation, which is performed through the archetypal representation of the divine. In this sense divine nature is always known and constructed in-and-through the human mind. From Jung’s perspective, God is God-within-the-human mind. Yet, Jung’s argument concerning God is different from the idea that God is the result of individual psychic phenomenon. Jung relates God to his notion of the collective unconscious of the human mind, which is beyond the personal dimension of the mind. Jung defines the divine character in relation to the universal and collective dimension of the human mind. The definition of the Supreme Ultimate in the Yijing tradition has been often identified with non-religious form in the absence of divine character and transcendent reality. However, the concept of the Supreme Ultimate cannot be attributed simply to the non-religious tradition in terms of Jung’s interpretation of God experienced through the human mind of the unconscious. According to Jung the image of God through the unconscious represents the wholeness encompassing the contrasting poles of good and evil in their compensatory relationship. This can be an analogical model for developing the divine and religious image of the Jung on Synchronicity and Yijing: A Critical Approach xi Supreme Ultimate in the Yijing tradition, which represents the balance of the opposites through the yin-yang interactive process. Yet, it is in his culling of discrepant views from his sources for supporting the theory of synchronicity that Jung has difficulty in maintaining a consistent meaning of the phenomenon of synchronicity. Jung’s concept of archetype as the a priori form of the human mind, which is the basis of synchronicity, shows a clear distinction from the central theme of Yijing as the principle of change and creativity in time and the empirical world. This distinction well represents the distinction between Jung in the Platonic and Kantian Western tradition and Yijing in the East Asian tradition in which ultimate principle is constructed in the dynamic process of the empirical world rather than the a priori. In this sense Jung’s points of view about Yijing are formed through his theory of synchronicity rather than through actual usage of or an immersion into the Yijing cultural system. Jung’s application of Yijing into his argument of the timeless with his notion of archetype exhibits a theory-laden observation. This observation articulates his difference from the Yijing tradition based on the principle of change that posits great value to the time-factor of the phenomenal world. Jung’s phenomenon of synchronicity ascribed to the representation of the archetype as a priori form can be seen as reductive in terms of Yijing, which posits the sources of various empirical data in the concrete phenomenon of change in the world. Also, Jung’s explanation of archetype itself has difficulty, consistent with his partial application of Kantian noumenon. While Jung argues the archetype as a priori form unknown to the empirical world, he also brings it into the synchronistic event, which Jung regards as an empirical phenomenon. In this regard the relation between ultimate principle and the empirical world developed in the Yijing tradition can intensify Jung’s attempt to draw the pattern of the archetype into the phenomenal world. To put it another way,  ultimate principle or pattern formed in the interaction of human mind and nature in Yijing can become a model for the meaningful relation between the mind and nature that Jung argues in phenomena of synchronicity. Given this model of Yijing, Jung’s a-causal connecting principle and archetypal representation can be understood in a pattern constructed within the principle of change and creativity in the dynamic structure of time rather than from the point of view of a transcendent absolute form of knowledge beyond human experience. CHAPTER ONE JUNG’S ARCHETYPAL STRUCTURE OF THE PSYCHE AND THE PRINCIPLE OF SYNCHRONICITY In this chapter I introduce the principle of synchronicity in relation to the notion of the collective unconscious and explain how Jung identifies the synchronistic phenomena with an unconscious process of the human mind. The Collective Unconscious, Instinct and Archetype, and Archetypal Images for the Theory of Synchronicity Jung’s project on synchronicity as a meaningful coincidence dates from 1925 to 1939 during which he opened a series of seminars at the Psychological Club in Zurich. 1 It is from this period that his theory of synchronicity becomes a major part of his analytical psychology, even though he only first publishes his essay On Synchronicity in 1951 and then revises it in 1952 with the name Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. With the notion of synchronicity, Jung attempts to show the archetypal process of the human psyche, which is driven from the a-priori form or primordial image deeply rooted in human unconsciousness. Jung argues that the depth of the psyche is closely associated with an outer event through the synchronistic moment. He maintains the following in his essay on Synchronicity: If, therefore, we entertain the hypothesis that one and the same (transcendental) meaning might manifest itself simultaneously in the human psyche and in the arrangement of an external and independent event, we at once come into conflict with the convention of all scientific and epistemological views. . . . Synchronicity postulates a meaning which is a priori in relation to human consciousness and apparently exists outside man. 2 2 Chapter One Jung focuses on the non-causal dimension of the human experience irreducible to the cause-effect system of mind and nature. Jung argues that the correspondence of the inner psyche to the outer event is performed by the archetypal representation derived from the collective unconscious, which is beyond the individual self. Therefore, the synchronistic phenomenon cannot be properly described by the causal relation between mind and nature according to traditionally-Western logical reasoning. Jung’s notion of synchronicity is based on the concepts of collective unconsciousness, which is composed of instinct and archetype and the archetypal image; these elements are correlative with one another for the whole scheme of his psychology. According to Jung, collective unconsciousness refers to the deepest layer of the human psyche. It is given by birth and greatly influences one’s psyche in various ways without being recognized by one’s consciousness. Jung distinguishes this collective area of the unconscious from the personal dimension of the unconscious. The former, the â€Å"collective unconscious,† is shaped a priori and reveals universal phenomena throughout all humankind beyond time and space. The latter, based on particular experiences of individuals, refers to a dim state of the personal psyche (or memories), which have disappeared from ego-consciousness by being repressed and forgotten. Jung calls this â€Å"the personal unconscious. †3 Although â€Å"collective† and â€Å"personal† are easily distinguished in their definitions, those two words convey a complex of meanings in describing the unconscious aspects of human experience. The notion of â€Å"the unconscious† indicates an obscure phenomenon not grasped in any conscious knowledge, so that it is very difficult to be described in a linguistic manner. In other words, whether the unconscious is the personal or the collective is not clearly distinct in our psychic experience. From this meaning structure of the unconscious, Jung presents the concept of collective unconscious in an attempt to distinguish himself from Sigmund Freud and to establish his own psychological system. Jung writes the following about Freud’s description of the unconscious: In Freud’s view, as most people know, the contents of the unconscious are reducible to infantile tendencies which are repressed because of their incompatible character. Repression is a process that begins in early childhood under the moral influence of the environment and continues throughout life. By means of analysis the repressions are removed and the repressed wishes made conscious. 4 Jung’s Archetypal Structure of the Psyche and the Principle of Synchronicity 3 Thus does Jung see Freud’s notion of the unconscious including the process of repression by the ego-consciousness. In a conflict between one’s situational limitation and infantile wishes, the repressed psychic contents remain unconscious, a situation which can also bring forth various types of symptoms and neuroses in the process of one’s wishfulfillment. By regarding this Freudian notion of the unconscious as only part of what makes up the unconscious, Jung seeks to extend its meaning: According to this [Freud’s] theory, the unconscious contains only those parts of the personality which could just as well be conscious, and have been suppressed only through the process of education. Although from one point of view the infantile tendencies of the unconscious are the most conspicuous, it would nonetheless be a mistake to define or evaluate the unconscious entirely in these terms. The unconscious has still another side to it: it includes not only repressed contents, but all psychic material that lies below the threshold of consciousness. 5 Jung turns around the relation between the conscious and the unconscious through his criticism of Freud. He maintains that the realm of the unconscious does not originate in the deposit repressed from the conscious but rather the conscious sprouts from the unconscious. Of course, this turning point does not suggest Jung’s overall denial of Freud’s notion of the unconscious. Jung is greatly influenced by Freud’s psychoanalytical method and develops his major psychological concepts within the context of his discussion about Freud, who elaborated the correlation between egoconsciousness and unconsciousness in a scientific manner. Jung affirms and advances Freud’s idea that the unconscious emerges in person’s fantasy, lapse of memory, neurosis, and symptoms, the expressions of which also appear in the person’s dreams. Yet, Jung’s dissatisfaction with Freud’s method occurs at the point where Freud reduces all the sources of the unconscious to the contents of the infantile wish repressed from the conscious and focuses on those contents in terms of the instinctual drive. It is from this criticism that Jung posits the presence of the unconscious that encompasses the deeper level of the human psyche, which Jung calls the collective unconscious. The psychic contents of the collective unconscious are based upon non-sensory perceptions. Jung’s collective unconsciousness includes archaic vestiges inherited from ancestral experiences and thus directly unknown to the percipient’s experience. Jung differentiates the collective from the personal unconscious as follows: 4 Chapter One The collective unconscious is a part of the psyche which can be negatively distinguished from a personal unconscious by the fact that it does not, like the latter, owe its existence to personal experience and consequently is not a personal acquisition. While the personal unconscious is made up essentially of contents which have at one time been conscious but which have disappeared from consciousness through having been forgotten or repressed, the contents of the collective unconscious have never been in consciousness, and therefore have never been individually acquired, but owe their existence exclusively to heredity. 6 Jung’s exploration of the psychical dimension outside the phenomenal world limited in time and space is based on his assumption of the collective unconscious. According to Jung, the scope of consciousness is narrow in comparison with that of unconsciousness. Human consciousness functions simply with some contents in a given situation but does not embrace the whole feature of the psyche. These contents of the collective unconscious are commonly found at a deep level of the psyche throughout all of humankind. 7 The contents of the collective unconscious, therefore, become the source of the production of mythical and religious motifs with the nonrational dimension of the human experience. Jung attempts to derive the concrete and immediate features of the psyche from the notion of the collective unconscious. From his perspective, rationality results from the process of abstract reasoning from psychic data grasped in consciousness. Jung introduces and employs the concepts of the collective unconscious in Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido in 1912 (translated as The Psychology of the Unconscious), which is later revised under the title Symbole der Wandlung in 1952 (Symbols of Transformation). According to Jung, Creative fantasy is continually engaged in producing analogies to instinctual processes in order to free the libido from sheer instinctuality by guiding it toward analogical ideas. . . . The libido has, as it were, a natural penchant: it is like water, which must have a gradient if it is to flow. The nature of these analogies is therefore a serious problem because, as we have said, they must be ideas which attract the libido. Their special character is, I believe, to be discerned in the fact that they are archetypes, that is, universal and inherited patterns which, taken together, constitute the structure of the unconscious. 8 By using the metaphor â€Å"water† for the flow of libido, Jung brings the character of perceptual direction to the psychic structure. Libido is the energy producing the psychic quality that transmits the unconscious Jung’s Archetypal Structure of the Psyche and the Principle of Synchronicity 5 contents (such as creative fantasy or imagination) into the conscious. This process of libido is not developed simply in a repetitive and quantitative pattern but in a specific way as in the direction of water-flow. Libido does not mean the phenomenon of energy that manifests simply quantitative character. As Volney Gay makes the difference between energy and libido, â€Å"it [energy] is purely quantitative and relative, not qualitative and particular. Yet libido has special negative qualities (need, displeasure, unlust) and special positive qualities (pleasure and satisfaction). †9 Libido refers to the particular character of the psyche with qualitative energy that shows one’s own inclination. Jung attempts to connect the notion of libido with archetype by indicating that the libido is not driven only by the instinctual dimension. According to Jung libido per se is deeply rooted in archetype as the a-priori form of the psyche. Archetype is the ultimate factor of the unconscious that brings the libidinal flowing into the specific form of the psyche. While instinct means behavior itself appearing in its natural process, archetype is the apriori form of instinct itself or self-recognition of instincts. 10 To put it another way, Jung maintains that archetype is a form of idea or pattern leading instinctual energy. In this definition of archetype, libido refers to the psychic process developed in archetypal structure, which links instinctual elements with a particular pattern. Both instinct and archetype for Jung are the elements comprising the collective unconscious. These two are not personally acquired but inherited factors in the structure of the unconscious. Yet, while instinct is concerned with all unconscious behavior and physiological phenomena as the basic process of human existence, archetype is defined as the phase prior to instinct. In other words, archetype is concerned with one’s own idea, perception, and intuition formed in the deep level of the unconscious. Jung supposes that the archetype is the fundamental root providing the psychic experience with a certain character in a definite fashion. The relation between archetype and instinct is as follows: We also find in the unconscious qualities that are not individually acquired but are inherited, e. g. , instincts as impulses to carry out actions from necessity, without conscious motivation. In this â€Å"deeper† stratum we also find the a priori, inborn forms of â€Å"intuition,† namely the archetypes of perception and apprehension, which are the necessary a priori determinants of all psychic processes. Just as his instincts compel man to a specifically human mode of existence, so the archetypes force his ways of perception and apprehension into specifically human patterns. The instincts and the archetypes together form the â€Å"collective unconscious. †11 6 Chapter One Thus is the relation between archetype and instinct not antagonistic but correlative in the constitution of the collective unconscious. Psychic energy such as creative fantasy and imagination should be considered the transformation of instinct in the innate form of archetype. â€Å"Both (instinct and archetype) are real, together they form a pair of opposites, which is one of the most fruitful sources of psychic energy. There is no point in driving one from the other in order to give primacy to one of them. †12 In this manner Jung accentuates the complementary relation between instinct and archetype as aspects of the collective unconscious. Whereas instinct can be known scientifically in the disciplines of physiology or neurology in relation to the body-ego,13 according to Jung, the character of archetype as the unknown reality is not grasped in our perception. Jung writes that â€Å"even if we know only one at first, and do not notice the other until much later, that does not prove that the other was not there all the time. † 14 Jung’s statement indicates that our archetypal knowledge cannot be identified with the physical world. He argues that archetype cannot be grasped by our knowledge and understanding; archetype is not known in itself but represented in different images of our life. In an attempt to distinguish the quality of archetype from instinct, Jung uses metaphors of color. The instinctual image is to be located not at the red end but at the violet end of the colour band. The dynamism of instinct is lodged as it were in the infra-red part of the spectrum, whereas the instinctual image lies in the ultra-violet part. If we remember our colour symbolism, then, as I have said, red is not such a bad match for instinct. But for spirit, as might be expected, blue would be a better match than violet. Violet is the ‘mystic’ colour, and it certainly reflects the indubitably ‘mystic’ or paradoxical quality of the archetype in a most satisfactory way. 15 The reason the color of violet as a metaphor helps to understand archetypal images is the fact that it is not at the same level as other colors but rather is the color encompassing several other colors. While â€Å"red† or â€Å"blue† refers to a distinctive color, â€Å"violet† consists of the combination of such colors, thereby becoming analogous to the paradoxical images of archetype. With reference to this quality of colors, Jung uses another metaphor, ultra-violet, to suggest the invisible portion of the spectrum beyond the color of violet, archetype itself. Just as ultra-violet shows the character of the meta-color (i. e. , color of colors), so is archetype itself the ultimate form prior to the differentiation between mind and body or spirit and instinct. Jung’s Archetypal Structure of the Psyche and the Principle of Synchronicity 7 Jung’s use of violet as a metaphor is not a perfect fit for archetypal image. Whereas archetypal image is driven from the a-priori form of our experience, violet comes from the a-posteriori form that results from the mixture of different colors. Despite this difference Jung characterizes violet as the color that receives other colors, rather than as to the name for a particular color. Violet is a compound of blue and red, although in the spectrum it is a colour in its own right. Now, it is, as it happens, rather more than just an edifying thought if we feel bound to emphasize that the archetype is more accurately characterized by violet, for, as well as being an image in its own right, it is at the same time a dynamism which makes itself felt in the numinosity and fascinating power of the archetypal image. 16 As violet appears in some combination of different colors but is not simply definable for its color itself like red or blue, so archetypal representation is expressed in diverse images of the phenomenal world but not easily grasped by our perception. In this manner, we cannot define archetype per se, which is not simply located in our perception. Archetype is represented by paradoxical features rather than clear-cut contents of a concrete notion. Because the archetype is a formative principle of instinctual power, its blue is contaminated with red: it appears to be violet, again, we could interpret the simile as an apocatastasis of instinct raised to a higher frequency, just as we could easily derived instinct from a latent (i. e. , transcendent) archetype that manifests itself on a longer wave-length. Although it can admittedly be no more than an analogy, I nevertheless feel tempted to recommend this violet image to my reader as an illustrative hint of the archetype’s affinity with its own opposite. The creative fantasy of the alchemists sought to express this abstruse secrete of nature by means of another, no less concrete symbol: the Uroboros, or tail-eating serpent. 17 Jung maintains that archetype refers to the symbolic phase of the pre-ego status, which is unknown to human consciousness. Through the example of the uroboros, Jung defines archetype as the non-differential feature and the wholistic image of the universe before the emergence of the ego. This means that archetype is not a certain stage of the ego-development but affects its whole stages. By way of this, archetype refers to the united form between individual and the collective, the psyche and the physical event, the subject and the object, the human being and nature. These opposite characters can become antagonistic in their separation by the emergence of the ego-consciousness but paradoxically united and 8 Chapter One undifferentiated in the archetype. According to Jung, the archetype itself is distinguished from archetypal representations. Like the invisible character of ultra-violet, archetype is the non-differential or â€Å"irrepresentable† form. The archetypal representations (images and ideas) mediated to us by the unconscious should not be confused with the archetype as such. They are very varied structures which all point back to one essentially â€Å"irrepresentable† basic form. The latter is characterized by certain formal elements and by certain fundamental meanings, although these can be grasped only approximately. The archetype as such is a psychoid factor that belongs, as it were, to the invisible, ultraviolet end of the psychic spectrum. It does not appear, in itself, to be capable of reaching consciousness. I venture this hypothesis because everything archetypal which is perceived by consciousness seems.