External and Internal Environments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 5

External and Internal Environments - Essay Example The business segment within the industry is increasing as the epitome is centered towards amazing guest experience (Target Corporation, 2012). This report aims at discussing a publicly traded corporation within the industry listed on the EDGAR database. This elaborates the filing of the companies on the Securities and Exchange Commission. The goals of Target Corporation are designing an infrastructure through which a diverse team can be formed. The sole goal of the team is maximizing the guest experience and retaining the clients within the industry. All these actions set a continuation which leads to success of the business. Strong actions and formation of the communities is the measure using which the competition within the industry is managed. The ethical actions implemented create a strong reputation for the business within the industry. The PESTLE analysis of Target Corporation determines the position of the business within the industry. Understanding of the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal aspects of the business determines the progress of the business. Operating in the American retail industry Target is ranked the second largest after Wal-Mart. The organization kept on progressing with the appropriate utilization of all the factors. The company stands amongst the top 30 in the listing characterized by the Fortune 500 (Target Corporation, 2012). The changes and transformation of the regulations within the industry impact on the share of the retail stores. The analysis of the bill regulated in the health care segment and analyzing the changes in the regulations within the sector determines the progress of the industry in the business segment (Weber, 2014; KPMG, 2012). The operations of the business in the international industry rely heavily on the cost of fuel and economic stability. Managing the cost within the

Health Care Economics Essay Example for Free

Health Care Economics Essay The economics of United States health care has been through many changes over its history. There are multiple factors to what caused the changes to the health care system over time with changes such as technological advances in medicine and surgical devices, new medical discoveries, and financial laws pertaining to health care. Just as with other businesses, the health care industry’s economy would depend upon supply and demand of their services. Throughout the time that health care has been undergoing these changes, it remains that the economical situation in health care has been the main focal point to how well that health organizations in the United States will perform. In the early 1900s doctors were just beginning to cease being expected to offer care for free, medical care costs were finally becoming emphasized, and insurances were just getting involved into the health care industry (PBS, 2012). The idea of a national health care policy is first introduced by President Truman in 1945, he would be denied by the American Medical Association campaign against the idea. Eventually in 1960 the American Medical Association would develop a national policy as well that would be signed into law by President Johnson and would become the foundations for Medicare and Medicaid (Rebelo 2007). As of the past two decades, the cost of health care have rapidly been on the rise (PBS, 2012). As new medical discoveries occurred in health care and technology advanced, physicians became more capable of treating patients for their illnesses. Financing in medical organizations is important so that they may afford to do more research and obtain better technology, at the moment the health care industry is 17% of the United State’s Gross Domestic Product only expecting to rise even more as time continues. Majority of the funding for the health care industry is received through the government through Medicare and Medicaid programs. The rest of the funding is being provided by private investors. To understand how well that health care industries are doing, researchers evaluate the elasticity or inelasticity of the organization’s products. If it shown to be elastic, the organization is doing well selling the product or service which as the supply to it decreases, the price will rise. Inelasticity is likely showing that it is not performing as well, organizations are either uncertain about raising prices as the supply drops or the population is not willing to pay more for the service. They will also look at the microeconomics and macroeconomics to see how they are affecting the industry’s economic situation. Microeconomic will focus on how smaller or more particular aspects in the economy are affecting price-cost relationships. Macroeconomics will look at the economic situation as the entire country as a whole to examine what effects that may be causing. The health care industry’s economy continues to be a strong focus in the United States economy as even more focus is being poured into evaluating the health care policy situation within the United States and funding relating to it. The government programs that have been created with the health care industry are still in operation and being reformed to make adjustments that are as suitable as possible to the nation in terms of quality and affordability, attempting to offer the best care and technology possible while making it available to as many as possible without costing the country so much. Economists in the United States are examining the microeconomic and macroeconomic markets to help determine the performance of the industries and what course of action will be taken, though the spending on health care in the past few years has become a large issue for the United States. Through history with the start of health care economics to the current time, funding has been a large focusing issue in the United States taking a large portion of the nations gross domestic product, far surpassing that of other nations and will continue to be a main focusing issue for economists and political debates.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn Essay -- revenge, chillingwort

Revenger consumes the soul of the extractor, and leaves him a shell of his former self. Revenge often leads him down an irreversible path that ultimately proves to be detrimental to him. Such acts are especially grave according to Puritan belief, which holds that vengeance belonged only to God. As a Puritan, Nathaniel Hawthorn knew about such believes, and as a master of words, a literary genius who had a deep understanding of human emotions and boundaries, he develops a story whose central theme was revenge. Hawthorne uses The Scarlet Letter to reprimand revenge as a detrimental act never allows a person to be satisfied and in the end, destroys him. He uses Chillingworth’s conversations with others to characterize Chillingworth’s radical transformation from a scholarly person to a devil whose sole purpose was to torment Dimmesdale as retribution for committing adultery with Hester. In his exposition, Chillingworth, a learned man justly demanded that his wife’s fellow sinner speak up and identify himself. This was no doubt a perfectly normal response for a man, who after being in the company of Native Americans for over three years, happens to come to the right place at the right moment to see his wife on the scaffold, humiliated by the overbearing sin of adultery. In his conversation with Hester in jail, Chillingworth made it clear that he did not intend to harm neither Hester nor Pearl. He contended that had he been a more open caring husband, and not devoted his youth to books and the pursuit of wisdom, such an incident would had never occurred. In admitting partial responsibility for Hester’s sins, Chillingworth is characterized as a humble and sagacious man, which Hawthorne employs as the peak from which he strips away Chil... ...intellectual force – seemed at once to desert him† (254). As a man whose sole purpose thereof was to extract revenge, when death moved one-step ahead of him, he had no more purpose in life, and thus too died within the year. Through an analysis of his dialogue with other characters, the reader can witness Chillingworth’s transformation from a leaned man to a vengeful demon. Hawthorne reveals the detriment of revenge, which ultimately drove Dimmesdale and Chillingworth himself to their unintended death, and condemns it as an act that only God can execute. Only Hawthorne could have conjured such an elaborate love story whose central theme is the devastating effects of revenge. This novel serves to remind people of the harmful consequences of extracting revenge without constraint, and how once a person embarked on the path of vengeance, his demise is set in stone.

My Reasons for Pursuing a Graduate Degree

Each individual has his own reason for pursuing a graduate degree. Professionally, a graduate degree shows that the person has the motivation, ambition, and dedication to improve and thus strive to obtain a position in which he/she can apply and expand his knowledge base. Many perceive a graduate degree as a status symbol, an opportunity for advancement, or even a cause for more money. The choice to seek additional education after investing four years in an undergraduate degree shows commitment to learning and recognition of self-worth. I chose to pursue a Master’s degree for two reasons; to obtain a higher learning level of education and to eventually increase my annual salary. The first, and most important, reason for my wanting to pursue a Master’s degree is to obtain a higher education level. I believe that obtaining a graduate degree will definitely make me more marketable in the corporate world. My goal is to broaden my horizon beyond the technical world, unlock career aspirations otherwise blocked, and enhance problem-solving and decision-making skills. I am hoping that by pursuing a degree of higher learning, I will pick up enhanced skills that will enable me to be more of an asset to a team once I enter the workforce. I truly believe that without the knowledge, strength and motivation from within, I would not have attempted such a bold move. I take pride in knowing that I am making the first step in the right direction and towards reaching new heights. A graduate program will be both a challenge and a major achievement to me. I believe I have the ability and motivation to contribute to a great body of intellectuals in the graduate program. Given the chance, I will be a major asset.

Architecture: Ancient Rome and Frank Lloyd Wright

In Our Daily Lives By Frank Barr l. Introduction A. Architecture is one of the most common studies people will take in college. B. Thesis: Architecture is an active part of our daily life. II. History A. Ancient Greece B. Ancient Japan C. Ancient India Ill. Famous Architects A. Frank Lloyd Wright B. List of architects IV. Unique Architectural Designs A. Habitat 67 B. Atomic V. Conclusion Frank Barr May 6. 2013 Grade 6 Architecture Research Paper Architecture, one of the most common studies taken(and personally what I'm aging on).I believe that architecture, plays a main role in everyone's life. â€Å"Architecture- The art or practice of designing and constructing buildings. â€Å". So basically, without architecture, wouldn't any schools (yeah any students reading this probably do NOT want architecture to exist. ), we wouldn't have any libraries, or any buildings in general. You can live four days without water, three days without food, but only three hours without shelter. So, you cannot LIVE without architecture, it is the act of creating buildings, buildings are shelter, without shelter you would die in three hours.So you can thank all the people in the field of architecture, that you are reading this now. Ancient Greek architecture is best known for its temples, if you were to visit you would find them all over the place. The ruins of many Greek temples are surprisingly still intact. The second most well known are the open air theaters, they have located them to date back to about 350 BC. Ancient Rome had much similar architecture, then again many Roman cultural things grew out of Greece. Like Greek Gods, myths, and again, their architecture. But much after Rome, was Europe, Europe wasn't a lot alike Greece, but they shared some similarities.For instance, the open air theaters I mentioned that were located in Greece(as well as most of the Hellenic region), Europe, during the Shakespearean age, had many of them built. Although they were greatly refined and quickly grew into closed theaters, they were still there. Where Greek architecture is focused on using stone and clay building material, the Japanese used mostly wood whilst building. At first the Japanese were very primitive in their building, making mostly pit houses. But after the introduction of Buddhism, the Japanese started to create temples, but they had no material to build such things, so darted using wood.These temples started as one floor of the tall elaborate Japanese temples we know as of today. But as their skills increased, so did the size of the temples, they eventually grew to be about eight floors tall. Japanese architecture has been described as, â€Å"Impossible†. That is, due to its wooden frame being fairly weak, though it can hold up to five families, even at its tallest height. When Greece was using clay, and Japan was using wood, India was sitting there using sticks and stones(which mind you, did in fact, break their bones). India was one of he most primitive building societies.But, they eventually grew to become the greatest architects of the modern world, ex. The Tag Mall. Indian architecture is old, yet has incorporated many modern values. The style they used to build the Tag Mall soon spread worldwide and became very popular at the time. The earliest buildings from India found dated back to about 2500 B. C. After several centuries of their stone type building,Linda finally discovered bronze. This discovery rocked the country, the style of building changed completely. Not only did it change that, it also changed their military strength.By far one of the most famous and well recognized architects is, Frank Lloyd Wright. Many collectors would crave to live in a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (Architecture,l). He has designed several structures in Toledo alone. With his better known, â€Å"Falling Water†, he used â€Å"Organic Architecture†, ex. He built it right on top of a waterfall. Several architects suc h as Frank Lloyd Wright used Organic Architecture. Through all of his years of architecture, it is said that he always hated museums, except for the Solomon R. Cunningham Museum (Thiele, 147). Personally I admire Frank LloydWright, Eve always looked up to him as one of the greatest architects ever. But alas there are more who would pass him. When you think of â€Å"from the inside out†, what comes to mind, probably not the Philharmonic Theatre. But Sharron does, that's probably because he planned the Philharmonic from the inside out, it is a world renowned structure. Keno Tangent, is a world renowned Japanese architect (Architecture, 1). Out of all famous architects, one of the most important is Doll Loss. He ranks as one of the most important pioneers of the modern movement in architecture (Architecture, 1).Fumier Make is responsible for of the great Japanese urban designs we see today. He is recognized for his urban designs, which you can find in most places in Japan (Archi tecture, 1). Habitat 67 is a housing complex located in Montreal, Canada. It was designed by famous architect, Mosher Safe. When Mosher put in the idea for Habitat 67 he was ridiculed for thinking up such absurd designs. Eventually he was able to come up with a model, after that the board of architecture decided he could do it. Mosher struggle to find a team willing to build such an absurd structure but eventually he succeeded.The team built Habitat 67 at an impossible rate, it was finished within five years after Mosher submitted the project. Habitat 67 is often referred to as â€Å"Impossible†, or â€Å"Logos all over again†. I think It was amazing how hard Mosher worked to make this impossible project become a reality. Atomic, also referred to as â€Å"The Atom building†, is a completely metal structure located in Brussels, atomic resembles the shape of an atom. Atomic is only big enough to hold about 100 people at once. When you walk into one of the branches of the atom like shape of Atomic, all you will see is darkness.Take a few steps and the motion insensitive neon lights will turn on. You will walk and be lost in a world of optical illusions and â€Å"magic† lights. At the ball shape part of each branch, you will find a room, you can rent these rooms for a single night . Although I have never been to Atomic I dream that in the near future I would be able to have the chance to go. To wrap this up all I have to say is that I dream of someday becoming an architect. Architecture is a main part of our daily lives, without it we'd be dead. I don't think anyone I know really appreciates the people who took years out of their lives to give us thingsAtomic and Habitat 67. People don't spend their time to realize how much hard work it would have taken to build such elaborate things like ancient Japanese temples and Hellenic open air theaters. I dream of a world where people actually say â€Å"Thank you† to the people that desig ned their house, their school, all their buildings. You Just don't see that happening these days. Thank you for your time, that is all. Bibliography â€Å"Architecture. † Wisped. 4/16/13.. â€Å"Famous Architects. † Architecture. 4/15/13.. Thiele, Sabine. Icons of Architecture. New York: Prelates, 1999.

3 Reasons Why You Shouldnt Fear Career Change

3 Reasons Why You Shouldnt Fear Career Change Life is too short to have to settle in any aspect of our lives, including our careers. If you’re finding yourself in a situation where you’re unhappy in your profession and want to make a change, breathe easy and proceed with confidence- as well as caution! 1. Change is the NormFirst thing’s first- If you’re unhappy in your current job or career and are seriously contemplating a change, know that that’s okay! These days, most people go through a variety of career shifts throughout their professional lives; some folks change their jobs as often as they change their clothes. People grow and evolve over time, as do their likes and dislikes, their personal goals, and their ambitions- so it stands to reason that we may not be fulfilled by the same things at 20 that we are as the years go on.2. Change Can be Used  to Your AdvantageWhen thinking about scrapping your original career plans for a new blueprint, it’s only natural to experience some fe eling that you’ve failed where your original plan is concerned. That fear of failure may follow you into your next professional move, which can become a disastrous self-fulfilling prophecy- if you let it. But guess what†¦ you don’t have to!Take total charge of your senses and realize that failure, even perceived failure, can be   a learning experience, an opportunity to   evolve, and discover more about who you are and what you want out of your life. A life worth living invites new challenges, including career challenges. Rather than shrinking away from challenges and obstacles for fear of failure, make the decision to face them bravely and head on.3. The Key to Success is Taking RisksMaking the decision to pursue a new career path is full of challenges and the potential for failure.   But the difference between those who achieve successful, fulfilling careers and those who don’t is a willingness to face and take risks. However, they do so intelligent ly- with a plan, careful preparation, and an understanding that failure is a natural and inevitable part  of a full life.Embrace your desire for change and take the opportunity to learn, improve, and make better choices moving forward. Are you up for the challenge? Update your job seeker profile below and start receiving great Job Matches!

Analysis Of The Flea By John Donne Essays - The Flea, Flea

Analysis Of The Flea By John Donne Essays - The Flea, Flea Analysis Of The Flea By John Donne Shai Steeck English 2 Essay 1 The Flea John Donne Observe a typical bar; every Saturday night sweat drenched bodies emitting alcohol and pheromones from every pore, exchange conversation, pleasantries, and yes even sex (perhaps not directly in view but certainly eluded to). Is this animalistic, barbaric behavior acceptable? Should sex be taken so lightheartedly? Or do we take it to seriously; guarding sex like it was the Holy Grail, or the secret to life itself? These questions may be to deep and pointed for most to approach, yet John Donne in his poem The Flea wades through them like the kiddy pool. In this clever poem Donne uses a flea, blood, and the murder of the flea as an analogy for the oldest most primal exchange, sex. Donne, through symbolic images, not only questions the validity of coveting virginity but also the importance of sex as it pertains to life. The metaphors in The Flea are plentiful, but the symbols repeated throughout the poem are clear, beginning with the most prevalent, and the flea. This small parasitic creature is chalk full of symbolic meaning. During the time this poem was written (the Renaissance) the flea was use in many poems about sex. I derive that in this particular poem the flea is symbolic of the act of sex from the speakers remark in the beginning, Mark but this flea, and mark in this, how little that which deniest me is the flea is small and inconsequential, his lady denies him sex, which the speaker believes is also petty. The flea is described as a marriage temple and a carrier of life, but in the next stanza as something insignificant and small. The speaker applies a certain duality to the flea and therefore to sex. The metaphor develops more as it relates to the other symbols. Blood is used more than once as a symbol. The speaker talks of the blood reverently and equates it to honor. Blood in this poem is symbolic of life and the soul. The speaker remarks that in the flea his blood and his ladys blood were mixed, therefore during sex their souls are mingled and become one. This is where the flea becomes a marriage temple. During this part of the poem the he speaks respectfully within the metaphor about sex, noting that it can be a spiritual and important thing. But this is eventually revealed to be only a ploy to prove that if the speakers lady can treat sex so irreverently after he had made comments about how sacred it was, than sex should not be dealt with so seriously. After the speakers lady kills the flea he asks her if she has purpled her nail in the blood of innocence. Using Donnes metaphor as a basis for interpretation the result is that he asks her if they finish the act of sex (kill the flea) if it will have really diminished her innocence. The s peaker is commenting that sex does not have the power to take away innocence or life. The murder of the flea also adds to the overall metaphor. When the speaker and his ladys blood is mixed in the flea the speaker refers to the flea as a marriage, therefore the exchange of life (blood) during sex forms a marriage between the partners. The narrator asks his lady not to kill the flea, which is symbolic of the end of sex, or orgasm. It was popular belief at the time this poem was written, that every time a man had sex his life was shortened, thus it is reasonable to say that the speaker is also representing the murder of the flea as his own life being taken by his lady during the act of sex. The speaker may feel that if he should have to give a piece of his life to have sex the woman he gives it to should want to accept it willingly and without requiring the man to woo. Conclusively the speaker states that the flea ha not taken hardly any thing of importance from either him or his lad and, just so much honor when thou yeildst to me, will waste, as this fleas death

How To Write Faster, Even If You Procrastinate - CoSchedule

How To Write Faster, Even If You Procrastinate My friend has a T-shirt that has a logo from the University of Procrastination, which proudly claims to train tomorrows leaderstomorrow.  Or maybe the day after. Procrastination seems like such an ideal solution for creating a better today. Of course, that means the next day is rushed, stressful, and panic-ridden, so its not that great of a solution.  Not every writer is a procrastinator, though. Some are very orderly and regimented. Some are super-focused on being productive.  Whichever kind of writer you might be, you all have something in common: youd like to be able to write faster. Get more writing done, in less time.  Youd like to have a system for writing blog posts that works every time. And youd like to fine tune your editing procedures so you get a great post, from start to finish, in as little time as possible. The Procrastinators Guide To Getting More Writing Done In Less Time #ContentMarketingTheres a way to do it, no matter whether your style is to put off until tomorrow or to drown in to-do lists. Its just a matter of you finding a tailor-made solution to your style of working. How Procrastinating Writers Should Work Just today I finally checked an item off of my highly vague To Do Eventually list, an item I had put on the list more than a year ago. I tried to make myself feel less guilty by titling the list with eventually but  really.  A year. It took me a year to do it. That stupid task had been nibbling at my conscience, as writer  James Surowiecki aptly put it. Lets get one thing clear: procrastination isnt bad. We assume it is, because it puts us in a high-stress rushed state when its finally time to pay the piper for deadline projects;  but procrastination is merely another working style, and not merely an example of a bad working style. Lets get one thing clear: procrastination isnt bad. Guilt-ridden procrastinators (of which I am one, and terribly) spend much of the time they arent doing their work reading about how to stop procrastinating. They look for methods to be more productive, to be the early bird that gets things done in a flash and cant stop checking things off of the list. They buy books, organizers, and apps. And still procrastinate. And are frustrated. There are two ways to approach your procrastination: fight it or work with it. Working with your procrastination. In a broad sense, procrastination has a funny way of getting our priorities straight. Look at your to-do lists. How many of them did you start with specific tasks that had specific dates until, in your eagerness, things got a little out of hand and soon you had a massive list of things you ought to do and should do and might do? Procrastination has a way of helping us not get caught up in what we subconsciously determine is unimportant. Procrastination allows perfectionists to get things done by forcing them to do adequate work under self-induced deadline pressure when they otherwise would be unable to do any work. Procrastination can keep us from fixating on things that are unimportant.In that sense, it is good procrastination. It keeps us from sweating the small stuff. The unimportant things eventually disappear if you never do them. As long as your procrastination has you meeting deadlines and getting the big stuff done, its helping you out. My solution is to use triage rubrics in different areas of life, and to hold my to-do list up against the rubric. For example, in my personal life, family always trumps work. In my work life, client deadlines before tweaking my own website. This is an over-simplification, but I know that if I have these ingrained, I dont fret about the things I procrastinated on that fall into the category of unimportant. Create your own rubric. Start at the top with the thing that will get you into serious trouble if it isnt finished and go back from there. Train your mind to understand what is important. You should work with your procrastination instead of fighting it if: You make to-do lists that are massive and full of unimportant tasks. You have not missed deadlines. You are getting important things done. Fighting your procrastination. Of course, there are times when procrastination is a bad idea, such as putting off paying your taxes and ending up with a penalty because of it. If youre missing deadlines or feeling high levels of stress because everything feels last minute, thats bad procrastination. These undone things dont disappear, they get worse. For writers, bad procrastination means you dont have time to proof and edit properly. You have to constantly deal with reminders and demands of clients wonder why your work isnt submitted. Your work and reputation suffers. This is where the  Zeigarnik effect  comes into play. Bluma Zeigarnik was a psychologist from Lithuania who noticed that restaurant servers could remember large amounts of information (without writing it down) for a limited period of time. Once the food was delivered to the table, servers forgot it all entirely. Through studies Zeigarnik learned that we remember interrupted tasks better than non-interrupted tasks. For procrastinators, this is good news. Once we start a task, we gain focus. This is helped if we arent interrupted. The Zeigarnik effect reveals that starting anywhere on the task is the path to getting it done, even if its with an easy part.  When we allow distractions and interruptions, that unfinished saved-for-later task nags at us relentlessly until we finish it. Start small.If you are procrastinating on writing a post, start with a small thing first. Begin collecting reference links and doing research. Brainstorm ideas. Try free writing techniques just to get text on the screen. Go where you wont be interrupted. Think of the restaurant server. You cant bring the food to the table until youve taken the order and delivered the beverages. Start easy.If getting started is proving impossible, try the  Pomodoro technique. Break up your work into 25-minute timed segments with a five-minute break in between. After four work periods, take a 20 minute break. Once you get in that writing zone skip the breaks and go with it. This way, you know at the start you get breaks and you can ease into the project. How List-Oriented  Writers Should Work A great chef or line cook knows what  mise-en-place  is. It means that before you even begin cooking, you have your station ordered with everything where it belongs. This way, when the rush begins, you are not scrambling for tools and ingredients. As a pastry chef, before I started actually making a recipe, I always got the tools and ingredients together first. It kept me from wasting precious time in a busy day, and it also kept me from starting something and discovering we were out of eggs halfway through. Writer Ron Friedman describes the concept aptly: the single most important ingredient of any dish is planning. This concept appeals to writers who like to make lists. To-do lists, idea lists, project lists, supply lists, editorial calendar liststhese are the people who want things in order. These are the people who are constantly planning. Friedman applies mise-en-place to any kind of work, asking a great question: what is the first thing you do when you start work? Do you check your email? Your Twitter feed? Your analytics from yesterdays blog post? Your voice mail?  These are activities that, according to Friedman, put you into a reactive mode. They make us lose our focus, and let other peoples priorities take center stage, Friedman said. They are the equivalent of entering a kitchen and looking for a spill to clean or a pot to scrub. Begin your day with a brief planning session. An intellectual mise-en-place. Ron Friedman Youre not in a good place to write after youve started with these activities, but instead youre in that no-win zone of reacting and catching up. The truth is, the emails never stop rolling in, the tweets dont stop chirping, and yesterdays analytics can be analyzed later. And people who make lists are prone to starting the day reactively. Or, I should say, people who make lists without hierarchy are prone to starting the day reactively.  Your lists of things to do will hamper you if you do not structure them with the idea of mise-en-place. How do you make a list that works? 1. Small tasks, action words. David Allen, of the well-known Get Things Done system, suggests that you break down  your tasks on your to-do lists, and start the smaller components with action verbs. Instead of: Blog post due try Write 15 headlines. Find 5 outside resources. Write introduction. Outline blog structure. Write first draft. Blog post due isnt mise-en-place. Its we have knives somewhere in the kitchen. Its vague. It tells you a deadline, and not what to do. 2. Prioritize your tasks. Your willpower is at its greatest in the morning. This means that you should  prioritize the things you have to do (not react to) by scheduling them first, in the morning. Leave the easier, less mentally challenging tasks for later. You can answer emails in the afternoon, when your mind is slowing down a bit, but youd better use that morning mental acuity for writing your content.

Descartes and the Existence of God Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Descartes and the Existence of God - Essay Example Descartes meditation about the existence of God cannot be used to serve as proof of the existence of an Evil Demon. This is because Descartes establishes a clear line of thought that is specific to his a priori existence of God. Central to his argument is the fact that his knowledge of God is anchored on a distinct idea on the existence of a supreme being (Marion, 2008). As such, there must be the existence of an idea first of all before a given claim of body of knowledge is verified. For Descartes, this distinct idea resided in his mind (Nolan, 2011). It is this idea that gave him the essence of God as a supreme being. It is an idea that could not be verified through empirical methods. The existence of an Evil Demon, in line with the thinking of Descartes, can only obtain if it is backed by a distinct idea. There must first exist the essence of the Evil Demon that is crystallized into Descartes mind in order for him to make a claim about the existence of such a being. One of the cen tral arguments upheld by Descartes is that essence implies existence. It would follow logically that the absence of essence effectively negates all possibilities of existence. Without the essence of the Evil Demon in distinct form it would be vacuous to assert any claim of such an existence. Therefore, this would mean that Descartes could claim the existence of God but refrain from making any assertions on whether or not some Evil Demon actually exists. Proof of such existence could be derived from.

Week2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week2 - Essay Example While it is true that MNEs and IGOs are playing an exponentially increasing role globally, it cannot be accepted that they â€Å"are supplanting,--- traditional nation-states as the primary economic and political units of world society† (Author, 3). States still retain their roles, and protect their self-interests: China’s exchange-rate policy exemplifies the power of the nation state. Again, particularly in democracies, electoral issues and vote-bank politics often over-ride global compulsions. The skeptic’s stand that â€Å"globalization is a myth† (Michael, 4) is likewise too extreme for my thinking. Skeptics equate globalization with â€Å"a perfectly integrated worldwide economy† (Author, 5). However, globalization is not just a matter of economics, but also interconnectedness in the spheres of science, medicine, arts and humanitarian welfare. Regional and local power centers are very much a part of the global framework, but these trading blocs and nation states are certainly not immune to international pressures. Again, the global pressure successfully exerted on China in the case of the activist, Chen Guangcheng, illustrates this point. The transformationalist approach, which strikes a balance between the hyperglobalist and skeptical schools, appeals to me. It accepts that â€Å"globalization is a central driving force behind the rapid social, political and economic changes that are reshaping modern societies and world order† (Author, 7). It submits that there is as yet no â€Å"borderless economy† (Author, 3). At the same time, it concedes that international businesses cannot evade national regulations. It supports my stand that the world is not yet fully divided nor fully integrated. Mainly due to technological advances, the impact of any event is felt on life in all parts of the globe. While the world has not yet become â€Å"a shared social space† (Michael, 3), it is continuously being transformed and

Emergency Service Managment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Emergency Service Managment - Research Paper Example The first recognized fire protection in America had started in the year 1648 in New York City. At that time, the fire divisions were voluntary organizations. The substantial losses due to massive fire-related incidents stimulated changes in fire emergency services in the United States. The hazards of fire created the demand for stringent fire safety systems and mechanisms and professional fire service providing organizations. The responsibility of fire protection in the United States has remained local because of its centralized form of government. The national government controls the fire emergency services in almost 25 states. Nowadays, the United States has approximately 30542 fire divisions. There are differences that exist such as organizational or technical which at times prevent many departments from assisting each other through major fire emergency situations (Smeby 1-3). Insurance Service Office (ISO) Majority of the consistent practices in the fire divisions of the United S tates which exist in present days is a direct consequence of Insurance Service Office. The insurance industry requires methods for encouraging the fire divisions to be well-equipped for major fire-related losses and to enhance the capability to provide emergency services independently (Smeby 1-3). ISO is a profit generating organization which gives a rating to all â€Å"Fire Departments† in the United States. It performs rating reviews in the field of public fire safety. ISO helps insurance organizations, fire divisions and insurance officials by delivering significant information about fire related risks. ISO has been in action since 1971 and it uses a scheme named FSRS in order to evaluate the degree of efficiency of fire services. FSRS evaluates potential dissimilarities between cities regarding the abilities to

Michael Kors Business Strategy and Policy Essay

Michael Kors Business Strategy and Policy - Essay Example The paper tells that the vision of Michael Kors has taken the company from American luxury sportswear house to a merchandise of global accessories, and footwear with the presence in over 74 countries. The company has exceptional experienced sales momentum with a clear trajectory for important future growth. This has made Michael Kors a highly recognized brand of luxury lifestyle in North America and has led to an improving awareness in the international markets. The company has successfully expanded over the years beyond apparel into accessories that include small leather goods, handbags, jewelry, eyewear, watches, and footwear. Introduced in 1981 in the fashion industry, Michael Kors Company reflects the luxury pinnacle and establishes authority in aesthetics in the entire brand and makes the cornerstone of the company runaway shows. The collections of Michael Kors Company are available in many retail shops and other department stores in the world and are subjected to international competition in offering accessories in the industry. In spite of the cut-throat competition in the design market and fashion industry, Michael Kors Company has remained a world celebrated designer. In the analysis of Michael Kors’s business strategy in the fashion industry through the Porters Five Forces Model, we will consider the following competitive forces of the company: Threat of entry by emerging or new competitors Intensity of rivalry among the competitors Pressure from the available substitute products Supplier bargaining power Bargaining power of customers These five forces in the Porters Model taken together provide insight into the competitive position of Michael Kors Company in the fashion industry as well as its profitability Rivals in the fashion industry are the existing competitors in the market. These are the competitors that Michael Kors faces in the fashion industry which may drive profits to even zero. Rivalry can be weak in the industry with the small nu mber of competitors that do not aggressively compete. Rivalry can also be intense where there are a large number of competitors who fight in a cutthroat environment. In the case of the Fashion industry, some of the factors that affect the intensity of rivalry among the existing competitors include the number of replica handbags of from Michael Kors by other firms and this will lead to intensive competition. The fixed costs and the high percentage of fixed costs in the total costs of Fashion industry demand that the company sells more accessories in order to cover for such costs, hence increasing the competition in the market. In addition, Fashion industry needs  to practice product differentiation because similar products in the market will basically compete on the price basis, and therefore identification of brand reduces rivalry. Among the features of competitive advantage is the barrier to entry into the fashion industry. The fashion industry has very high barriers to entry suc h as the fake Prada china handbags because the prices are normally very expensive for the newly established firms such as authentic designer handbags to gain entry. On the other hand, where the fashion industry has minimal barriers to entry such as Louis Vuitton handbags are cheap relatively for new firms to enter.

Women In Artwork Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Women In Artwork - Essay Example There are also several transformations that have taken place in the artwork field, particularly in the 21st century as many artists have turned to use of technology in designing images and expressing peoples beauty. Apparently, its only a few sculptors that have been left in the field art. Additionally, the demand for sculptures has reduced as people are currently using digital cameras to make images, particularly in 3D images. In this essay paper, an evaluation is discussed on the role of women in art and the various transformations taking place in the field of art. Venus figurine, also known as Venus of Willendorf, for instance, is a statuette that can be traced back in the upper Paleolithic. The statuette, unearthed in Europe, is designed to portray a body of a woman though with some physical features being exaggerated. The sculpture is said to have existed since the gravetian period from 22,000 to 28,000 years back. Materials used for the sculpture included; soft stone such as limestone and steatite, as well as bones or ivory and fired clay. Nefertiti Bust is another renowned artifacts discovered in Egypt during the historical archeological activities by a German archeological team. Nefertiti bust is believed to have been an image of a royal wife of Egypt, in the Pharaoh Akhenaten royal family. Its also believed to be 3,300 years made of limestone and created by a sculptor well known as Thutmose. Cyclades is a renowned island on the southeastern part of Greece with a rich history on artwork, particularly on the discovery of Cyclades Figurines Getty Villa artifacts. In the mid-2000s B.C, a pregnant female figure, with the characteristics of the Spedos and Dokathismata was discovered through archeological activities in the Cyclades Island. Apparently, the artifact is displayed at Getty Villa gallery, it also said to be made of marble and created by Schuster Master In the modern age today, many artist and sculptors have continued to

Michael Kors Business Strategy and Policy Essay

Michael Kors Business Strategy and Policy - Essay Example The paper tells that the vision of Michael Kors has taken the company from American luxury sportswear house to a merchandise of global accessories, and footwear with the presence in over 74 countries. The company has exceptional experienced sales momentum with a clear trajectory for important future growth. This has made Michael Kors a highly recognized brand of luxury lifestyle in North America and has led to an improving awareness in the international markets. The company has successfully expanded over the years beyond apparel into accessories that include small leather goods, handbags, jewelry, eyewear, watches, and footwear. Introduced in 1981 in the fashion industry, Michael Kors Company reflects the luxury pinnacle and establishes authority in aesthetics in the entire brand and makes the cornerstone of the company runaway shows. The collections of Michael Kors Company are available in many retail shops and other department stores in the world and are subjected to international competition in offering accessories in the industry. In spite of the cut-throat competition in the design market and fashion industry, Michael Kors Company has remained a world celebrated designer. In the analysis of Michael Kors’s business strategy in the fashion industry through the Porters Five Forces Model, we will consider the following competitive forces of the company: Threat of entry by emerging or new competitors Intensity of rivalry among the competitors Pressure from the available substitute products Supplier bargaining power Bargaining power of customers These five forces in the Porters Model taken together provide insight into the competitive position of Michael Kors Company in the fashion industry as well as its profitability Rivals in the fashion industry are the existing competitors in the market. These are the competitors that Michael Kors faces in the fashion industry which may drive profits to even zero. Rivalry can be weak in the industry with the small nu mber of competitors that do not aggressively compete. Rivalry can also be intense where there are a large number of competitors who fight in a cutthroat environment. In the case of the Fashion industry, some of the factors that affect the intensity of rivalry among the existing competitors include the number of replica handbags of from Michael Kors by other firms and this will lead to intensive competition. The fixed costs and the high percentage of fixed costs in the total costs of Fashion industry demand that the company sells more accessories in order to cover for such costs, hence increasing the competition in the market. In addition, Fashion industry needs  to practice product differentiation because similar products in the market will basically compete on the price basis, and therefore identification of brand reduces rivalry. Among the features of competitive advantage is the barrier to entry into the fashion industry. The fashion industry has very high barriers to entry suc h as the fake Prada china handbags because the prices are normally very expensive for the newly established firms such as authentic designer handbags to gain entry. On the other hand, where the fashion industry has minimal barriers to entry such as Louis Vuitton handbags are cheap relatively for new firms to enter.

Discussion point Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Discussion point - Essay Example The point in this scenario is to make a choice in regard to prioritizing which debt to clear first. Michael needs to understand that it his legal obligation to pay his mother since it was a loan which is legally binding. However, the loan seems to have been unsecured because it was leased and in line with the evidently missing Personal Property Security Act (PPSA). There are two critical legal concepts that Michael need to understand in regard to his mother. It is not indicated if they perfected any collateral towards the loan and this means that in the event he could not raise the loan, the mother cannot claim anything. However, considering the case of Golf, in the event that Michael failed to honor his lease obligation, VW would repossess the Golf. In an attempt to avoid bankruptcy from the debts including the loan he owes the mother, Michael has Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act at his disposal in which he can make a proposal of paying only a portion of the debts e.g. paying back 50 c ents for every dollar

Passage Essay Example for Free

Passage Essay Passage: â€Å"As I have endeavored to show you how Europeans become Americans; it may not be disagreeable to show you likewise how the various Christian sects introduced, wear out, and how religious indifference becomes prevalent. When any considerable number of a particular sect happens to dwell contiguous to each other, they immediately erect a temple, and there worship the Divinity agreeably to their own peculiar ideas. Nobody disturbs them. If any new sect springs up in Europe it may happen that many of its professors will come and settle in America. As they bring their zeal with them, they are at liberty to make proselytes if they can, and to build a meeting and to follow the dictates of their consciences; for neither the government nor any other power interferes. If they are peaceable subjects, and are industrious, what is it to their neighbors how and in what manner they think fit to address their prayers to the Supreme Being? But if the sectaries are not settled close together, if they are mixed with other denominations, their zeal will cool for want of fuel, and will be extinguished in a little time. Then the Americans become as to religion, what they are as to country, allied to all. In them the name of Englishman, Frenchman, and European is lost, and in like manner, the strict modes of Christianity as practiced in Europe are lost also. This effect will extend itself still farther hereafter, and though this may appear to you as a strange idea, yet it is a very true one. I shall be able perhaps hereafter to explain myself better; in the meanwhile, let the following example serve as my first justification†. Paraphrase:  In an attempt to explain you how Europeans became Americans, it is also visible that how the different Christian factions established, wear down and then finally they submerged into each other. When a significant number of people, belonging to different groups inhabit contiguous to each other, they live and worship in the way that satisfies their own religious thoughts. If a new cluster of people recoils in Europe then it is a possibility that many its lecturers come and live in America. With them, they bring new zest. They are free to follow their own principles because neither the administration nor anyone else will get in the way. If these people are prolific and nonviolent, no one cares about their way of worship. On the other hand, if these two different groups are intermingled and mixed together, then their zest and enthusiasm will wear out and will be extinguished with the passage of time. Then the unanimity arises and they become allied to every aspect of life; in religion as well as to their country. This impact will expand itself still beyond in future, and though this may appear to you as an eccentric suggestion, yet it is a very true one. Summary: In the passage, the writer shows how in America, the religious indifference becomes common. Like when two different religious groups happen to settle adjacent to each other, they raise there temples right away and start their own spiritual worship. They are free to follow their own persona because no one interfere them. If they live peacefully, and are productive, nobody bothers to think in what manner they address their prayers to the Supreme Being. But if two different sects mix up with each other, their spiritual values merge with each other. Consequently, they lose their own distinction and amalgamate together in religion just as they show unison for their country. The writer is of the view that this impact will still extend itself in the future. This may appear odd but it is true. Analysis: In the passage narrated above, the writer has shown his/her immense treasure of research and vocabulary. The passage demonstrates the logical approach of the writer. In the passage, the writer has put in the picture of how the Englishmen of Europe are changed into Americans. Here the writer has essentially emphasized on the religious fusion of the people belonging to different groups. But the writer has ignored the issue of moral violence produced by this merger and its impact in the passage. The writer has used the words â€Å"peaceable† and â€Å"industrious† in describing different groups of people that shows positive approach of the writer. Similarly, â€Å"Supreme Being† has been used instead of God which reflects His highness and supreme power. On another place, word â€Å"denomination† has been used to describe different casts and factions of people. I chose this passage because this paragraph is quite thought provoking and an example of simplicity of diction and elevation of thoughts. Besides, the topic under discussion in this part of article is fairly interesting. I fairly like this passage because in this part the writer has influenced me to imagine how the modern culture of America has flourished till today. The writer has shown his/her positive attitude by describing the constructive out comes of this unification of people belonging to different cultures, traditions and even religion. From this passage, I have discovered that how rich and how much mature our culture and our traditions are.

History and Overview of the University of Cambridge

History and Overview of the University of Cambridge Introduction to the University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is located in the city of Cambridge in East Anglia, UK. It is thought that the University was founded 1209 by a group of scholars which splintered away from Oxford following a fallout with Oxford locals. Cambridge University describes itself on its website as a ‘self-governed community of scholars’. The University of Cambridge is made up of 31 Colleges and a total exceeding 150 faculties, departments, schools and various other institutions. The University of Cambridge runs with a fairly small central administrative department, with sections built up of and mostly elected by staff from the Colleges and Faculties. Much of the daily administration of the University of Cambridge is taken care of by teaching and/or lecturing staff. The University of Cambridge describes its governmental structure as democratic. History of the University of Cambridge In its early days the University of Cambridge did not have its own premises and so it made use of parish churches such as Great St Mary’s and St Benedict’s to hosts its public ceremonies. Disputations, lodgings and lectures were held in private houses. Eventually a collective of Lawyers, theologians and Regent Masters began hiring and building larger premises in order to hold lectures and to house lodgers. Many of these properties were acquired in the sixteenth century as part of the Colleges themselves. During the late 1500s, the University of Cambridge began to buy up land in an area known as Senate-House Hill, upon which they built several buildings known as Schools. These are today referred to as the Old Schools. The first College was St Peter’s. It was founded by the Bishop of Ely, Hugh Balsam, in 1284. In 1317 King’s Hall was founded by Edward the second in order to school trainees for the higher Civil Service. Over the next hundred years, the University of Cambridge’s best-known colleges were founded; Clare, Corpus Christi, Gonville Hall, King’s, Michaelhouse, Pembroke, Queens, Trinity Hall and St Catharine’s. Three of the newer colleges, Christ’s, Jesus and St John’s, were formed when some of the smaller religious houses were dissolved. They were set up to provide for younger students in addition to postgradutates. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Colleges nominated the Proctors from amongst their own numbers, and their heads sat alongside the Vice-Chancellor and senior doctors on an advisory council, which came to be named the Caput Senatus. How the University of Cambridge works Research and teaching at the University of Cambridge is administered by several Faculties, and also a few Syndicates. Together, the Syndicates and the Faculties are responsible for every academic area within the University. Teaching and research in Cambridge is organised by a number of Faculties. In addition, a small number of bodies entitled Syndicates also have responsibilities for teaching and research, and exercise powers similar in effect to those of Faculty Boards. The Faculties and Syndicates cover the whole of the academic programme in the University, each being responsible for a broad subject area. There are six Schools in the University of Cambridge, each covering a range of departments and faculties. The six schools each reflect a grouping of subjects, which are as follows; Arts and Humanities, Biological Sciences, Clinical Medicine, Humanities and Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Technology. Every Faculty within the University of Cambridge is governed by a Faculty Board. The Faculty Boards carry responsibility for the upholding of standards in teaching, and the provision of research facilities. Each Faculty Board comprises five classes of membership: Professors and Heads of Departments residing within the Faculty, elected members (the teaching staff), junior members who are elected by the faculty’s students, co-opted members and representatives of cognate studies. Each Faculty’s Chairman and Secretary is elected by members of the boards. The Faculty Board, as well as other boards and syndicates answer to the General Board; other Boards and Syndicates are responsible either to the General Board or the Council. Three of the University of Cambridge’s 31 colleges Murray Edwards, Newnham and Lucy Cavendish are female-only; the remainder, the other 28 Colleges, are mixed. There are two colleges only for postgraduates, Clare Hall and Darwin. Hughes Hall, Lucy Cavendish, St Edmund’s and Wolfson. The remaining 25 Colleges admit both graduates and postgraduates. Oxford and Cambridge The University of Cambridge is the second oldest university in the English-speaking world. The oldest is the University of Oxford. Traditionally the two universities have a long-standing rivalry with each other. Jointly, the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge are often referred to as Oxbridge. Famous Alumni The University of Cambridge has been the place of study for many people who have become well-known in their particular fields, or simply well-known to the public. To date, Cambridge graduates have won a total of 82 Nobel Prizes, which is greater than any other university. Fifteen of Britain’s Prime Ministers have been graduates of Cambridge, including Robert Walpole. The University of Cambridge has also traditionally been the preferred University for the Royal Family, with graduates including Kings Edward VII and George VI, Prince Henry of Gloucester, Prince William of Gloucester and Edinburgh, and the Prince of Wales Prince Charles. His father, the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, holds the position of Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. Famous Alumni include those known from television comedy programmes; Hugh Laurie (Jeeves and Wooster, Blackadder), Rob Newman (Newman and Baddiel, the Mary Whitehouse experience) and Clive Anderson (Whose Line is it Anyway) all attended Selwyn College. Sacha Baron Cohen, best known for his characters Borat and Ali G, attended Christ’s College. John Cleese of Monty Python fame attended Downing College. Peter Cook and Eric Idle (Monty Python) graduated from Pembroke, and Stephen Fry (Jeeves and Wooster, Blackadded) from Queen’s. There is a rich literary tradition amongst University of Cambridge graduates; William Wordsworth to Ted Hughes, Slyvia Plath to CS Lewis to John Milton were all graduates of the University of Cambridge. The full list is exhaustive, covering seminal figures in religion, politics, and science – including some of the greatest minds of past and modern times; Charles Darwin, amd Stephen Hawking.

Acid Rain and Its Effects on the Biosphere :: Geology

Acid Rain and Its Effects on the Biosphere Introduction: Acid Rain: whenever I conjure up images of acid rain I always allude to huge, boiling-red raindrops falling from mean purple clouds on a path destined for destruction. I can see them spiraling down uncontrollably in fireballs of rage to the earth; it becomes very apparent. Perhaps my imagination has gotten the better of me here, but acid rain is definitely no sweetheart. Actually, acid rain looks like any other rain. Believe it or not, it does not have flaming tales on the end of it, but it can produce some serious risks to the world as we know it. These are pH testers. Formed high in the clouds where sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides combine with oxygen and water, acid rain has a devastating ability to kill off aquatic systems, vegetation, animals, etc. The definition of acid rain is the deposition of acidic components in rain, fog, snow, and sleet. Regular rain has a pH that is slightly acidic at 5.6, but what makes one worry are the places like Washington, D.C., which possesses rain readings of 4.2 to 4.4 on the pH scale. Acid rain is mainly composed of Sulfuric Oxide (SO2) and Nitrous Oxide, which are common air pollutants from big industries, 70% of which are electric utility plants. If one views the amount pH levels of various areas around the nation it is easy to see that there is a problem, especially when a 4.0 pH level can drive many fish to die. Certainly acid rain has a great deal of negative effects on the geosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. But maybe the most important system for us to observe as scientist is the biosphere. The biosphere with out a doubt is the most visible of the systems on our planet. The reason it is so easy to monitor is because it is all around us. We see trees and their growth, animals running around, and fields of grass with cows grazing. We are the biosphere and therefore we can and will see the changes. If there is something wrong and we don’t have a pH scale to measure, we will sense it through the living environment around us. Trees and Vegetation: One of the most serious effects of acid rain can be traced to trees and the soil they grow from.

Esssential of Negotiation

Helsinki School of Economics Advanced Negotiation Practices Course Book Summary Assignment Essentials of Negotiation Lewicki, Roy J. , David M. Saunders, and John W. Minton. 2001. Essentials of Negotiation: 2nd Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin Reviewed by Mohammad Moshtari February 2008 Book Summary Assignment Essentials of Negotiation Book Introduction This book represents authors’ response to faculty who wanted a briefer version of the longer text, Negotiation. The objective of this shorter volume is to provide the reader with the core concepts negotiation in a more succinct version. The book is organized into 9 chapters. The first four chapters introduce the reader to ? Negotiation Fundamentals?. The first chapter introduces the field of negotiation and conflict management, describes the basic problem of interdependence with other people, and briefly explores the problems of managing that interdependence. The second chapter introduces the concept of ? framing? or how parties come to decide what a negotiation is all about, and how parties need to plan for an upcoming negotiation. Chapter 3 and 4 then present the two core approaches to negotiations: the basic dynamics of competitive (win-loss) bargaining (chapter 3) and the basic dynamics of integrative (win-win) negotiation (chapter 4). The next two chapters present two key sub processes of negotiation: cognition and communication, and power and persuasion. In chapter 5, basic processes of cognition and communication in negotiation is reviewed, especially communication dynamics is examined as well as a number of common cognition and judgment biases made by negotiators. In chapter 6, authors looked at the tools negotiators can use to pressure the other side, using the tools of persuasion and power to get the other to change his or her perspective or give in to our arguments. The next two chapters review two key context elements of negotiation. In chapter 7, authors examined the ethical context and standards that surround negotiation and create unique challenges for negotiators in deciding how fully and completely they are going to disclose their bargaining positions. In chapter 8, authors attempted to clarify how national cultures around the world shape the diverse ways parties approach negotiations. The last chapter emphasizes strategies that can be used by the parties to resolve breakdowns in the negotiation process. Chapter 9 explores the techniques that negotiators can use on their own to get negotiations back on track. Authors made some of related materials (secondary chapters) accessible on the World Wide Web (at www. mhhe. com/business/managment/lewicki) including social context of negotiation, multiparty negotiations or managing difficult negotiations: theirs party approaches. The organization of the book also parallels more closely the organization of a companion volume, Negotiation: Readings, Exercises and Cases by Roy J. Lewicki. , David M. Saunders, and John W. Minton. Contents in Brief ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? The nature of negotiation Negotiations: framing, strategizing, and planning Strategy and tactics of distributive negotiation Strategy and tactics of integrative negotiation Communication, perception and cognitive biases Finding and using negotiation leverage Ethics in negotiation Global negotiation Managing difficult negotiations: individual approaches Book Summary Assignment Essentials of Negotiation Chapter 1: The nature of negotiation The structure and processes of negotiation are fundamentally the same at personal level as they are at the diplomatic and corporate level. Negotiations occur for two reasons: (1) to create something new that neither party could do on his or her own, (2) to resolve a problem or dispute between the parties. There are sev eral characteristics common to all negotiation situations: (1) there are two or ore parties, (2) there is a conflict of interest between them, (3) The parties negotiate duo to get a better deal (4) the parties, at least for a moment prefer to search for agreement, (5) when they negotiate they expect to give and take, (6) successful negotiation involves the management of intangibles (such as need to look good) as well as resolving the tangibles (such as the terms of agreement) In negotiations both parties need each other. This situation of mutual dependency is called interdependence. Interdependent relationships are characterized by interlocking goals; the parties need each other to accomplish their goals. The structure of the interdependence (wind-lose or win-win), determines the range of possible outcomes of the negotiation and suggests the appropriate strategies and tactics that the negotiators should use. Interdependent relationships are complex. Both parties know that they can influence the other’s outcomes and their outcomes in turn be influenced by the other. This mutual adjustment continues throughout the negotiation as both parties act to influence the other. Making and interpreting concessions is no easy work, especially when there is little trust between negotiations. The search for an optimal solution through the processes of giving information and making concessions is greatly aided by trust and a belief that you are being treated honesty and fairly. Two efforts in negotiation help to create such trust and belief: perceptions of outcomes that attempts to change a party’s estimation of the perceived importance of something and perception of the process may help convey images of equity, fairness and reciprocity in proposals and concessions. One potential consequence of interdependent relationship is conflict that can be duo to the highly divergent needs of the two parties, a misunderstanding that occurs between two people, or some other intangible factors. One way to classify conflicts is by level, and four levels of conflicts are commonly identified: intrapersonal conflict, interpersonal conflict, intra-group conflict, inter-group conflict. Conflict may be destructive or productive, so the objective is not to eliminate conflict but to learn how to manage it so that the destructive elements are controlled while the productive aspects are enjoyed. Negotiation is a strategy for productively managing conflict. Many approaches to managing conflict have been suggested. The below two dimensional framework is represented as the dual concerns model. The model postulates that individuals in conflict have two independent levels of concern: concern about their own outcomes and concern about the other’s outcomes. As mentioned in the figure, there are five major Problem Yielding strategies for conflict management. Each strategy has its Solving advantages and disadvantages and is more or less appropriate given the type of conflict and situation in which (compromising) the dispute occurs. Thus, conflict theory and research have moved toward a contingency approach advocating that the Inaction Contending strategy selected should be based on the objectives of the parties and the nature of their dispute. Two major mechanisms for resolving conflicts-third parties and Concern about own outcomes conflict management systems- extend above and beyond the strategies of the parties themselves. Concern about others’ utcomes 3 Book Summary Assignment Essentials of Negotiation Chapter 2: Negotiations: framing, strategizing, and planning In this chapter, authors discuss what negotiators should do before sitting down at the table: framing, strategizing, and planning. Framing is the means by which the parties in a negotiation define the problem. They mention that there are three ways to understand frames: as cognitive heuristics, at categories of experience, and as a process of issue development. In continuation, they try to introduce the negotiator to the power and prevalence of frames via: different types of frames, how certain frames may be invoked or ignored in a given situation, the consequences of framing a conflict in a particular way and the approaches that negotiators can use to manage frames more effectively. Understanding frames- which means understanding how parties define the key issues and how conversations can shift and transform those issues- is the first step in effective planning. After framing, negotiators must anticipate what they want to achieve in a negotiation and must prepare for these events in advance. The preparation must include attention to substantive items including goals, goal priorities, and multi-goal packages as well as procedural concerns dealing with agendas and bargaining histories. the choice of goals and frames are strongly interactive and the existence of one will rapidly produce evidence of other. Afterwards negotiators move to the third element in the sequence: selecting and developing a strategy. According to below suggested model, negotiators have some choices of a negotiation that is reflected in the answers to two simple questions: how much concern does the actor have for achieving the substantive outcomes at stake in this Substantive outcome important? negotiation and how much concern does the Yes No negotiator have for the current and future quality of relationship with the other party. Yes Collaboration Accommodation In the last part of chapter, authors explain the importance of planning. hile success in negotiation is affected by how one plays the game, the most important step for success is No Competition Avoidance how to one gets ready for the game. effective planning also hard work on a number of specific steps: ? Defining issues ? Assembling issues and defining the bargaining mix ? Defining interests ? Consulting with others ? Identifying limits ? Setting targets ? Developing supporting arguments ? Analyzing the other party Frames, goals, strategies and stages set the background for an effective planning process. If the negotiator is able to consider and evaluate each of these factors, the negotiator will know what he or she wants and will have a clear sense of direction on how to proceed. The sense of direction, and the confidence derived from it will be the single most important factor in achieving a desired negotiation outcome. Rational choice important 4 Book Summary Assignment Essentials of Negotiation Chapter 3: Strategy and tactics of distributive negotiation In a distributive bargaining situation, the goals of one party are usually in fundamental and direct conflict with the goals of the other party. Resources are fixed and each party will use a set of strategies to maximize their share of resources to be obtained. While distributive strategies are useful, they can also be counterproductive and costly. Often they cause the negotiating parties to focus so much on their differences that they ignore what they have in common. These negative effects notwithstanding, distributive bargaining strategies are quite useful when a negotiator wants to maximize the value obtained in a single deal and when the relationship with the other party is not important. Both parties to a negotiation should establish their starting, target and resistance points before beginning a negotiation. Starting points are usually in the opening statements each party makes. The target point is usually learned or inferred as negotiations get under way. The resistance point, the point beyond which a person will not go and would rather break off negotiations. The spread between the resistance points, called bargaining range, settlement range or zone of potential agreement, is particularly important. In this area the actual bargaining takes place, for anything outside these point will be summarily rejected by one of the two negotiators. It is rare that a negotiation includes only one item; more typically there is a set of items, referred to as a bargaining mix. Each item in a bargaining mix can have opening, target and resistance points. The bargaining mix may provide opportunities for bundling issues together, logrolling or displaying mutually concessionary behavior. Negotiators by employing strategies attempt to influence each other perceptions of what is possible through the exchange of information and persuasion. Regardless of the general strategy taken, two tasks are important in all distributive bargaining situations: discovering the other party’s resistance point and influencing the other party’s resistance point. The negotiator’s basic goal is to reach a final settlement as close to the other party’s resistance point as possible. Four tactical tasks are suggested for a negotiator in a distributive bargaining: (1) to asses the other party’s outcome values and the costs of terminating negotiations, (2) to manage the other party’s impressions of the negotiator’s outcome values, (3) to modify the other party’s perception of his or her own outcome values, and (4) to manipulate the actual costs of delaying or aborting negotiations. The other decision to be made at the outset of distributive bargaining concerns the stance to adopt during negotiations. A reasonable bargaining position is usually coupled with a friendly stance and an extreme position is usually couple ith a tougher, more competitive stance. A key concept in creating a bargaining position is that of commitment. The purpose of a commitment is to remove ambiguity about the actor’s intended course of action. There are several ways to create a commitment: public pronouncement, link with an outside ally, increase the promi nence of demands, reinforce the treat or promise. There are a set of hardball tactics to beat the other party. Such tactics are designed to pressure targeted parties to do things they would not otherwise do, and their presence usually disguises the user’s adherence to a decidedly distributive bargaining approach. Some of them are: good guy/bad guy, highball/lowball, bogey, the nibble, chicken, intimidation, aggressive behavior, snow job. The authors suggested three ways for responding to typical hardball tactics, including ignore them, discuss them and respond in kind. 5 Book Summary Assignment Essentials of Negotiation Chapter 4: Strategy and tactics of integrative negotiation In many negotiations there need not be winners and losers; all parties can be winner. In integrative negotiation- variously known as cooperative, collaborative, win-win, or problem solving- the goals of the parties are not mutually exclusive. The fundamental structure of an integrative negotiation situation is such that it allows both sides to achieve their objectives. Integrative negotiation requires a process fundamentally different from that of distributive negotiation. Those wishing to achieve integrative results find that they must manage both the context and the process of the negotiation in order to gain the willing cooperation and commitment of all parties. The following processes tend to be central to achieving almost all integrative agreements: ? creating a free flow of information ? ttempting to understand the other negotiator’s real needs and objectives ? emphasizing the commonalities between the parties and minimizing the difference ? searching for solutions that meet the goals and objectives of both sides There are four major steps in the integrative negotiation process: 1. Identifying and defining the problem, ? define the problem in a way that is mutually acceptable to both sides ? keep the problem statement clean and simple ? state the problem as a goal and identify the obstacles to attaining this goal ? epersonalize the problem ? separate the problem definition from the search for solution 2. understanding the problem and bringing interests and needs to the surface (focusing on interests will allow the parties to move beyond opening positions and demands to determine what the parties really want, what needs truly must be satisfied) 3. generating alternative solutions to the problem (tactics such as expand the pie, logroll, nonspecific compensation, cut the costs for compliance, find a bridge solution 4. Evaluating those alternatives and selecting among them ? narrow the range of solution options ? agree to the criteria in advance of evaluating options ? evaluate solutions on the basis of quality and acceptability ? be willing to justify personal preferences ? be alert to the influence of intangibles in selecting options ? use subgroups to evaluate complex issues ? take time out to cool off ? explore different ways to logroll ? keep decisions tentative and conditional until all aspects of the final proposals are complete ? inimize formality and record keeping until final agreements are closed Authors identified seven fundamental preconditions for successful integrative negotiation: some form of shared or common goal, faith in one’s own ability to solve problems, a belief in the validity and importance of the other’s position, the motivation and commitment to work together, trust in the opposing negotiator, the ability to accurately exchange information in spite of confl ict conditions, and an understanding of how the process works. 6 Book Summary Assignment Essentials of Negotiation Chapter 5: Communication, perception and cognitive biases Communication is at the heart of the negotiating process. This chapter focuses on the processes by which negotiators communicate their own interests, positions, and goals and in turn make sense of those of the other party and of the negotiation as a whole. Weather the intent is to command and compel, sell, persuade or gain commitment, how parties communicate in negotiation would seem to depend on the ability of the speaker to encode the thoughts properly as well as on the ability of the listener to understand and decode the intended messages. There are two critical sub-processes of communication: perception and cognition. ? Perception is defined as the process of screening, selecting and interpreting stimuli so that they have meaning to the individual. The complexity of environments makes it impossible to process all of the available information, so perception becomes selective, focusing on some stimuli while turning out others. As a result people have several shortcuts in their perceptual systems that allow them to process information more readily. Unfortunately these shortcuts come with cost-perceptual errors such as stereotyping, halo effects, selective perception or projectionswhich typically occur without people being aware that they are happening. Stimulus Attention Recognition Translation Behavior Perception ? Rather than being perfect processors of information, negotiators have a tendency to make systematic errors when they process information. These errors, labeled cognitive biases, tend to impede negotiator performance: the irrational escalation of commitment, mythical fixed pie belief, the process f anchoring and adjustment, issue and problem framing, negotiators overconfidence, the winner’s curse, self-serving biases, ignoring others’ cognitions, the law of small numbers and reactive devaluation. Failures and distortions in perception, cognition and communication are the most dominant contributors to breakdowns and failures in negotiations. Three main techniques have been proposed for improving communic ation in negotiation: the use of questions, listening and role reversal. 7 Book Summary Assignment Essentials of Negotiation Chapter 6: Finding and using negotiation leverage In this chapter, the authors focus on leverage in negotiation that means the tools negotiators can use to give themselves an advantage or increase the probability of achieving their own objectives. Leverage is often used synonymously with power. Authors explain three major sources of power: information and expertise, control over resources, and location in an organizational structure and then point to the process for using power as an attempt to change the other’s position, view or perspective. During negotiations, actors frequently need to convince each other, influence the other party’s positions, perceptions and opinions and for doing these they employ a group of tactics that are called persuasion. Authors consider four key elements of persuasion: ways in which sources of information can be powerful, ways in which messages can be structured to be more powerful, ways in which targets of persuasion can enhance or reduce their power and ways in which the elements in social context can exert indirect influence on the target. There are some ways in which to think about the key factors in the persuasion/ leverage process. One of them is shown in below figure. Message factors Resultant attitudes (positions) Initial attitudes (positions) ? Message content ? Message Structure ? Persuasive style Source factor ? Credibility ? Attractiveness Target factors ? attending to the other ? Resisting the other’s arguments Context factor Reciprocity, Commitment, Social proof, Use of reward and punishment, Scarcity Central Route Peripheral Route ? ? ? ? Message factors or ways in which he content of the message can be structured and presented to enhance its effectiveness Source factors or ways in which the sender of the message can enhance his or her credibility and attractiveness in order to make the message more believable or more friendly Receiver factors or ways in which the receiver of the message can either shape and direct what the sender is communicating or intellectually resist the persuasive effects of the message Context factors or elements inherent in the social structure (such as the relationship between the parties, the setting in which the message is sent or the amount time taken to communicate the message) that can determine whether a message is more or less likely to be received and complied with. There are at least three major things that you as the listener can do to resist the other’s influence efforts: have a best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA), make a public commitment (or get the other pa rty to make one) and inoculate yourself against the other’s persuasive message. 8 Book Summary Assignment Essentials of Negotiation Chapter 7: Ethics in negotiation In this chapter authors explored the question of whether there are or should be accepted ethical standards for behavior in negotiation. Ethics are broadly applied social standards for what is right or wrong in a particular situation or a process for setting those standards. Ethics proceed from particular philosophies, which purport to (a) define the nature of the world in which we live and (b) prescribe rules for living together. The authors present a model to help explain how a negotiator decides whether to employ one or more deceptive tactics. Intentions and motives for using deceptive tactics Consequences: 1. Impact of tactic: does it work? 2. Self-evaluation 3. Feedback and reaction from other negotiator, constituency and audiences Influence Situation Identification of range of influence tactics Selection and use of a deceptive tactic Explanation and Justification Deception and disguise may take several forms in negotiation as follows: misrepresentation of one’s position to another party, bluffing, falsification (introduction of factually erroneous information), deception (collection of true and/or untrue arguments that leads the other party to the wrong conclusion) and selective disclosure or misrepresentation to constituencies. The authors predicted that (1) when motivated to be competitive and when expecting the other to be competitive the negotiator would see the marginally ethical tactics as appropriate and (2) when both parties were competitively motivated they would exhibit the greatest tendency to employ marginally ethical tactics. From the negotiator’s perspective the primary motivation to use a deceptive tactic is to gain a temporary power advantage. Using these tactics then produces consequences: the tactic may work (produce desired results) or not work; people evaluate their own use of the tactics( asking themselves if they were satisfied with the results, and if using the tactic was personally acceptable) and people also may receive evaluative comments from the other negotiator from constituencies and from audiences. Those evaluative comments may serve to increase or decrease the use of similar tactics in the future. If using the tactic allows negotiators to attain rewarding outcomes that would be unavailable to them if they behaved ethically and if the unethical conduct is not punished by others the frequency of unethical conduct is likely to increase because the negotiator believes he or she can get away with it. Negotiators frequently overlook the fact that although unethical or expedient tactics may get them what they want in the short run these same tactics typically lead to diminished effectiveness in the long term. (Consequences of these tactics on the negotiator’s reputation and trustworthiness, other party retaliation and revenge) If negotiators think the other party is using deceptive tactics he/she can do the following acts: Ask probing questions and recognize the tactic. 9 Book Summary Assignment Essentials of Negotiation Chapter 8: Global negotiation In this chapter authors examined various aspects of a growing field of negotiation that explores the complexities of negotiating across borders. Negotiators from different cultures (countries) use different negotiation strategies and communication patterns when negotiating intra-culturally than when negotiating cross-culturally. Two overall contexts have an influence on cross border negotiations: the environmental context, includes forces in the environment that are beyond the control of either party but that influence the negotiations, and immediate context, includes factors over which the negotiators have influence and some measure of control. To know more cultures, Hofstede suggested that there are four important dimensions that can be used to describe cultural differences: power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity and uncertainty avoidance. Foster suggests that culture can influence global negations in several ways, including: the definition of negotiation, the selection of negotiators, protocol, communication, time, risk propensity, groups versus individuals and the nature of agreements. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how to manage cultural differences when negotiating across borders. Weiss presented the options that people have when negotiating with someone from other culture. According to him, when choosing a strategy, negotiators should be aware of their own and the other party’s cultures in general, understand the specific factors in the current relationship, and predict or try to influence the other party’s approach. His suggested responsive strategies may be arranged into three groups, base on familiarity (low, moderate, high) that a negotiator has with the other party’s culture. Within each group there are some strategies that the negotiator may use individually (unilateral strategies) and others that involve the participation of the other party (joint strategies). Low familiarity ? Employ agents or advisors (unilateral Strategy) ? bring in a mediator ? Induce the other party to use your approach Moderate familiarity ? Adapt to the other party’s approach ? Coordinate adjustment High familiarity ? Embrace the other party’s approach ? Improvise an approach ? Effect symphony 10 Book Summary Assignment Essentials of Negotiation Chapter 9: Managing difficult negotiations: individual approaches Through any number of different avenues – breakdowns in communication, escalation of anger and mistrust, polarization of positions and refusal to compromise, the issuance of ultimatums or simply the inability to invent options that are satisfactory to both sides – negotiations often hit an impasse. Productive dialogue stops. The parties may continue talking but the communication is usually characterized by trying to sell or force one’s own position, talking about other’s unreasonable position and uncooperative behavior or both. This chapter reviewed actions that the parties can take to return to a productive dialogue. In general there are five major conflict reduction strategies that can be applied in contentious situations: 1. Reducing tension and managing the de-escalation of hostility (via methods such as tension release, acknowledgment of the other’s feelings (active listening), separating the parties, synchronized de-escalation) 2. Enhancing communication, particularly improving each party’s understanding of the other’s perspective (via methods such as role reversal or imaging) 3. Controlling the number and size of issues in the discussion ? Reduce the number of parties on each side ? control the number of substantive issues involved ? state issues in concrete terms rather than as general principles ? restrict the precedents involved, both procedural and substantive ? search for ways to fractionate the big issues ? depersonalize issues: separate them from the parties advocating them 4. Establishing a common ground on which the parties can find a basis for agreement (via methods such as determining super ordinate goals, clarifying common enemies, agreement on the rules and procedures) 5. Enhancing the desirability of the options and alternatives that each party presents to the other (give the other party a â€Å"yes-able† proposal, ask for a different decision, sweeten the offer rather than intensify the threat, use legitimacy or objective criteria to evaluate solutions) The order of above steps is the one most frequently used by third parties in resolving disputes and hence we believe it also will be the most effective if employed by negotiators themselves. If the conflict cannot be controlled effectively, third-party intervention may become necessary. 11

Manchild in the Promised Land Essay

The majority of Negroes during the time of Douglass and Washington spent their lives in the fields, gutters, and ghettoes of America. They continue to do so today. Two recently published autobiographies clearly indicate that Negro degradation and deprivation are confined neither to the South nor to earlier times. Claude Brown provides dramatic accounts of life in urban Negro slums. Both are highly readable, although Williamson’s seems less complete and less authentic. Brown tells the story of â€Å"Sonny,† a Harlem â€Å"corner boy† who went to college. His childhood and adolescence included chronic truancy, prolonged friction with his parents, gang fighting and assorted delinquencies. Sonny was intimate with personal danger and suffered severe bodily harm. He was well known to the courts and the youth correctional houses. Although Sonny’s childhood and adolescence appear to have been those of many Harlem youth, he was spared the fate of many of his friends: violent death, permanent body injury, demoralization, and fanaticism. Claude Brown’s account of his experiences growing up in Harlem in the 1950’s indicates it may be equally prevalent in a metropolitan setting. One of Brown’s friends 1965: 425) asserts: The time I did in Woodburn, the times I did on the Rock, that was college man . . . Every time I went there, I learned a little more. When I go to jail now, Sonny, I live, man. I’m right at home. That’s the good part about it . . . Now when I go back to the joint, anywhere I go, I know some people. If I go to any of the jails in New York, or if I do a slam in Jersey even, I still run into a lot of cats I know. It’s almost like a family. (425) For Brown and many of the revolutionaries, the slogan of black power seemed to have this content: †¢ Negroes, by themselves, must assert their political and economic power through such methods as the creation of all-Negro political parties such as the Black Panther Party. Coalition with whites is either impossible or undesirable, for it would undermine Negro dignity. Integration with whites should not be a paramount goal. Rather, Negroes should strengthen their own separate culture and society: â€Å"black is beautiful. † At some future date, if a Negro so chooses, he might integrate with whites. Negroes must affirm their unique identity, learn of their African heritage, and identify with the â€Å"colored† peoples throughout the world. White society is both oppressive and decadent. Negroes should not fight â€Å"the white man’s war† in places such as Vietnam. Violence, at least in self-defense, can and should be used by Negroes to achieve their goals. While Negroes are a minority in America, they can count on the support of Asian and African peoples. American man is now an urban man and he was recently a rural man. It would be strange if the psychological shock of trying to find streets as natural as fields or woods did not provoke savage explosions in the cities. Claude Brown’s brilliant examination of Harlem, Manchild in the Promised Land, showed just how much of the black ghetto’s barbarism came from the sudden transplantation of sharecroppers from shacks to tenements. Robert Kennedy was using more than a politician’s rhetoric when he stated before his murder: ‘We confront an urban wilderness more formidable and resistant and in some ways more frightening than the wilderness faced by the Pilgrims or the pioneers. ‘ Being labeled a troublemaker is a danger of growing up in suburbia as well as in the slums, but the suburbs are more likely to provide parental intervention and psychiatrists, pastors, family counselors to help the youth abandon his undesirable identity. It is much harder for the inner-city youth to find alternatives to a rebel role. Thus it is in the slums that youth gangs are most likely to drift from minor and haphazard into serious, repeated, purposeful delinquency. It is in the slums, too, that young people are most likely to be exposed to the example of the successful career criminal as a person of prestige in the community. To a population denied access to traditional positions of status and achievement, a successful criminal may be a highly visible model of power and affluence and a center of training and recruitment for criminal enterprise. As Ward (1998) describes it: Among the social institutions which delineated black urban associational life, the one most closely related to the vocal group was the street gang. Sometimes the groups and the gangs even shared the same membership. In Baltimore, Johnny Page of the Marylanders doubled as a member of the Dungaree Boys gang, while Julius Williams had dual affiliations as a battling member of the Shakers and as a balladeer with the Royal Jokers in Detroit. â€Å"Julius Williams was the terror of the school†, recalled his classmate Woodie King. â€Å"He was sixteen. He enjoyed fighting teachers and singing in class†. When Claude Brown returned from a juvenile detention centre in upstate New York in the early 1950s, he noticed that many of the old gangs from his Harlem neighbourhood had turned to doowopping in the wake of the Orioles’ inspirational rise from a Baltimore street corner, via an appearance on Arthur Godfrey’s CBS radio show Talent Scouts, to national celebrity (Ward 59) One of the most consistent patterns of emotional concern expressed by the disadvantaged child is for potency or power. His heroes are the strong, invincible men, such as Hercules or Superman. We could speculate that the interest in Greek mythology expressed by disadvantaged pupils is also related to this concern. As a result, we would like to see the schools investigate, with the children, the power concept. This is a possible study topic for even the earliest grades. Can people be strong in ways other than physical strength? The teacher might begin by asking the youngsters who their neighborhood heroes are–who are the â€Å"top cats† on their block–and then asking why they are so. We would guess that the responses will probably be in terms of physical strength. The objective then, would be to help the class begin to explore other routes of power. Staging points for such discussions might be derived from reading excerpts from the powerful autobiography of Claude Brown, Manchild in the Promised Land, the author’s experiences growing up in Harlem. 6 The most direct method, however, to help children feel greater potency is to let them experience it. A way that combines such experience with the improvement of writing skills was demonstrated by one of our teaching interns. In a seventh-grade English class, required by the curriculum guide to study paragraph skills, the teaching intern asked the class, â€Å"How many of you can remember any of the things you had to read in school when you were in the third grade? † Some hands went up, and names of books were reported. â€Å"How did you like them? † Claude Brown’s memories of post-war Harlem churches similarly stressed their extra-religious appeal. He attended one simply because he lusted after the preacher’s daughter and fondly recalled Father Divine’s 155th Street Mission, not for its spiritual nourishment, but because he could get all the food he could eat there for 15 cents. Brown also appreciated that the black churches of Harlem were commercial, as well as religious, enterprises. At Mrs Rogers’ storefront church, he recalled, â€Å"people jumped up and down until they got knocked down by the spirit, and Mrs Rogers put bowls of money on a kitchen table and kept pointing to it and asking for more†. (27-8) Works Cited Brown, Claude. Manchild in the Promised Land. New York: Macmillan, 1965. A youthful autobiographical account of modern life in a black ghetto of New York Bukowczyk, John J. â€Å"†Who Is the Nation? â€Å"-Or, â€Å"Did Cleopatra Have Red Hair? â€Å": A Patriotic Discourse on Diversity, Nationality, and Race. † MELUS 23. 4 (1998) Corbould, Clare. â€Å"Streets, Sounds and Identity in Interwar Harlem. † Journal of Social History 40. 4 (2007) Koelling, Holly. Classic Connections: Turning Teens on to Great Literature. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2004 Nelson, Emmanuel S. African American Authors, 1745-1945 A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000. Nelson, Emmanuel S. , ed. African American Autobiographers: A Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. Sampson, Benjamin W. â€Å"Season Preview 2004-05: A Comprehensive Listing of Productions, Dates and Directors at TCG Theatres Nationwide. † American Theatre Oct. 2004 Shafton, Anthony. Dream-Singers: The African American Way with Dreams. New York: Wiley, 2002. Sixty Years of Great Books by African-Americans. † Ebony Nov. 2005 Ward, Brian. Just My Soul Responding: Rhythm and Blues, Black Consciousness, and Race Relations. London: UCL Press, 1998.