Willys failures Essay Example for Free

Willys failures Essay The play is certainly not just about the failure of an inadequate human being(s) there is far greater depth to the story. One could argue that the play is also a critique of the American dream, the idea that an ordinary person can just achieve success without too much effort; you just have to be well-liked as Willy puts it. It is Willys obsession with achieving this dream that leads to his madness and his downfall. This could suggest that the dream is impossible to achieve and a person will only end up disappointed if they rely on it. It is after all only a dream and not reality. Despite Willys failure at achieving the dream, it does not necessarily mean that the dream is unobtainable. Miller uses many characters to show the difference in success and failure in the American system. Charley, regarded as another normal person, is actually quite successful under the American system. This contrasts greatly with the financial insecurity of Willy and seems to dispel the idea that this book is a critique of the American dream. The audience will think that Charley has achieved success in the American system; it cannot be too badly flawed therefore. If you look at the play in far greater depth however, you will realise that the play is criticising the American dream. Charley did not sit around waiting for his wealth to just appear like Willy did; who was following the idea of the dream much more closely. Charley went out and worked hard to achieve everything, willing to work from the bottom, and acknowledge that he was working from the bottom. This very different to the American day dreaming Willy, who was too proud to accept a job off Charley and fails to admit, until further into the play, that his job is a low job, at the very bottom of the social ladder. The idea of capitalist values is also criticised in the play such as the way Willy is cruelly fired from his job by Howard to save money and the way that as soon as Willy pays off the payments on his refrigerator and his car they break and he has to buy new ones. Miller is suggesting that although some may benefit from the American system, there are many that do not. It seems that Willy is almost certainly a failure in the play but one could argue otherwise. Firstly, the fact that Willy is willing to give up his life so the family can benefit from the vast life insurance payout, seems, although rather drastic, actually quite noble; a man willing to die for the welfare of his family. It is certainly true that Willy loves his family and one could argue that the main reason for Willys downfall is the failure of his children to make anything of their lives especially Biff. Willy feels somewhat responsible for their lack of success and this does not really show a huge failing on his behalf. Despite the affair, Willy loves his wife greatly as is seen with the guilt he feels when Linda repairs her old stockings. His often-ill treatment of Linda could be regarded as his own guilt and not his failure as a husband. Willy may not seem quite so much the failure as one might think. Despite this, Willy does fail in several areas. He fails to generate a good enough income to support a family and the situation becomes dire when he loses his job. He arguably fails as a father in that his sons are unsuccessful and when they were young he almost encourages them to steal for example. He also seems to fail as a husband in that he has an affair and he generally badly treats his wife. Willys delusion suggests a failure to hold onto his sanity and an inability to adjust with the times. I can conclude therefore that Death of A Salesman is certainly a touching portrayal of Willys failures. I disagree with the idea of the play being merely a touching portrayal however; it is far more than that. We certainly feel sympathetic towards Willys downfall yet we also feel angry at his situation. Miller challenges the ideals of Capitalism and the American dream and this creates almost anger amongst the audience, who feel the rich and great have cheated them. Millers use of a working class low man conveys the idea that every human being has dreams and ambitions not just the powerful man. His is a challenge to the Aristotelian tragedies of old in which it seemed to suggest that only the great kings could ever suffer. His challenge certainly succeeds.

Europe On The Eve Of World War I Essay Example for Free

Europe On The Eve Of World War I Essay World War I, or The Great War, actually started on June 28, 1914 upon the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, by a Serbian national. This led to a series of battles upon the eventual formation of the Central Powers made up of Germany, Austro-Hungary, the Turkish Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, and they fought against the Entente Powers made up of Russia, France and Great Britain. However, since â€Å"Europe stumbled unexpectedly into war in the summer of 1914,†1 the question remains as to which of the major countries that fought the First World War were most prepared in terms of economy and military strength and which were not. Britain Among the Entente Powers during WWI, Britain was actually considered â€Å"the greatest colonial power [and] maintained the greatest navy. †2 However, it is also a fact that during that time Britain â€Å"was being increasingly challenged by France and Russia†3 and Germany. The British in fact â€Å"increased their warship production with the  William R. Griffiths and Thomas E. Griess, The Great War (2003): 1. 2. Ian Westwell, World War I Day by Day (1999): 7 3. Ibid. 4. Spencer Tucker, The Great War 1914-18 (1998): 3 intention of war†5 and in fact had a series of wars with Africa in 1899. Britain, along with the other great European powers, â€Å"embarked on an arms race that ran in tandem with the scramble for colonies,†6 which simply means that the reason they improved their armies and navies was because â€Å"they needed to protect far-flung colonies and maintain a balance of military power with their neighbors in Europe. †7 During the early 20th century, Britain launched â€Å"HMS Dreadnought, a Battleship incorporating several new technologies that was far superior to any vessel afloat in 1906†8 This was somehow the reason why other European powers especially Germany began improving and â€Å"building their own dreadnought-type battleships†9 because they saw â€Å"a sudden vulnerability of their costly fleets. †10 However, one rumor was that â€Å"the British recognized the naval competition from Germany as a threat to their existence,†11 though â€Å"the naval arms race between these two powers would continue until the eve of the war. 5. Westwell, 7. 6. Ibid, 8. 7. Ibid. 8. Ibid. 9. Ibid, 9. 10. Ibid. 11. Griffiths and Greis, 5. 12. Ibid. It is said that naval arms race between these two powers would continue until the eve of the war. †13 Nevertheless, â€Å"by 1914, Germany had a navy second only to England’s. †14 Economically, it is said that Britain, along with France and Germany, was ready for the Great War. The most important influence upon British and the rest of the European military during those times was in fact â€Å"the largess bestowed upon European societies by the Industrial Revolution. †15 It is said that â€Å"a wealth of goods, rising productivity, and material well-being†16 were brought about by the factories of the latter half of the 19th century. This period of economic growth all over Europe led to â€Å"the greater availability of education for the lower classes† and that â€Å"better and more widespread educational opportunities enabled citizens to comprehend more readily the†¦military affairs of the state. †17 This perhaps encouraged nationalism among the people of the various European nations. Consequently such feelings may have similarly encouraged rivalries with other nations. Thus, the soil for the war was fertile and all it needed was the seed – which was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. 13. Griffiths and Greis, 5. 14. Ibid. 15. Ibid, 6 16. Ibid. 17. Ibid. France As early as 1870, â€Å"France had considered itself – and had been considered by others – the leading military power of Europe. †18 It was defeated by Germany during the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 but it was not stated whether this war was really a showcase of the French military but rather it â€Å"meant a lasting antagonism†19 with Germany. Nevertheless, despite being a military power in the late 9th century, France had its â€Å"entire†¦province of Alsace [seized as well as] part of a second province, Lorraine. †20 Germany Since the empire became united in 1871, â€Å"imperial Germany had rapidly emerged as the dominant industrial and military power†21 in Europe and such â€Å"created a potentially explosive situation. It was also believed that â€Å"by the start of the twentieth century, Germany was creating a first-class navy,† which was in fact considered â€Å"the most obvious and dramatic illustration of Germany’s surging power in many spheres. †23 Such was the 18. Neil M. Heyman, World War I (1997): 5. 19. Ibid. 20. Ibid. 21. Ibid. 22. Ibid. 23. Ibid. greatness of the military strength of Germany in the early 20th century. In addition to that, Germany also had an economy that was emerging as one of the strongest in the whole of Europe. Since 1870, Germany’s â€Å"industry had grown so rapidly that this part of Europe, which had supplied immigrants to the Western Hemisphere for more than a century, now imported labor from Poland. †24 Twentieth century Germany was actually home to â€Å"higher education and scientific research [and] a system of social insurance for its working class† and in fact, the country â€Å"could pride itself on being a world leader. † Germany also prided itself with a great leader during that time. The ruler of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II, was often considered as â€Å"the embodiment and often the director of [Germany’s] restless energies. †25 By the late 19th century, Kaiser Wilhelm II earned the respect and friendship of a few ambitious military leaders who were against Britain and who would want to challenge it to war. One of these military leaders was Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the Secretary of State of the Imperial Naval Office of Germany at that time. Moreover, Kaiser Wilhelm II also had his own imperialist ambitions as well for he considered the German navy â€Å"a tool of external power†26 and even declared it to Prime Minister Arthur Balfour of Britain in 1902, many years before the outbreak of WWI. In fact â€Å"the Kaiser sought to play   24. Heyman, 5. 25. Ibid, 6. 26. Ibid. politics, and repeatedly declared that he was determined to make Germany not just dominant in European affairs but in the world† and had a â€Å"desire for a German-dominated central Europe. †27 Such was the measure of Wilhelm II’s ambition and resolve. The Kaiser’s biographer even wrote, â€Å"Only with a fleet could Germany be able to elicit from the British the esteem Wilhelm II believed to be his due. †28 Germany was indeed already a strong power in the early 20th century many years before the outbreak of the Great War. It is said that â€Å"the security of Austria-Hungary, the weaker of the Central Powers, was [even] guaranteed by Kaiser Wilhelm II [since] late 1912. †29 Such was the strength of Germany at that time that they could even guarantee the protection of the territory of another country in addition to their own. Conclusion On the eve of World War I, Britain, France and Germany were all ready for the war that was to ensue. However, among the three, Germany seemed to be the most prepared especially when it came to the military, specifically the development and advancement of its naval warships as well as powerful leadership in the person of Kaiser Wilhelm II. On the other hand, France, although a leading military power of Europe at that time, was in fact torn apart by Germany during the 1871 Franco-Prussian War, hence was not impressively strong compared to Britain and Germany. 27. Tucker, 3. 28. Heyman, 6. 29. Westwell, 9. BIBLIOGRAPHY Griffiths, Williams R. and Griess, Thomas E. The Great War. New York: Square One Publishers, Inc. , 2003. Heyman, Neil M. World War I. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. , 1997. Tucker, Spencer. The Great War 1914-18. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1998. Westwell, Ian. World War I Day by Day. New York: The Brown Reference Group, Plc. , 1999.

How motivation theories help elicit effort from employees

How motivation theories help elicit effort from employees For a company to successfully run, company should come up with creative ideas and high efficiency of the work, and to do that, a firm should be able to motivate each worker of the firm to elicit each of their discretionary effort. It is because, it directly links with the total wage spending of the company which should be linked to outcome and cost of monitoring effort and considering all of those making employees willing to work will result in greater efficiency of the company. Employees are the core or the main body of all the production of product and service. So how can a company which does not even satisfy their own workers will possibly satisfy the customers with high quality product and service?() Therefore, there is an idea weighing on the management style of of the workers, by the workers, for the workers'(). Following to above management style, manager of big companies are developing or considering variety motivating techniques and motivation theories. So firms not only needs deal fast with each of their own fast-changing environment but also concentrate to create best working condition for the workers to maximize motivation. Like firms mentioned above with motivation, they are nimble to listen to the claims of the employees. They apply techniques like project team-work, performance-linked pay and incentives to reach perfect inner-service to the workers. So, like above, there is gaining importance of giving motivation to workers. In this essay, I will search and study theories of motivation and look in to detail of successful firm Nokia and analyze this firm by doing it so, I would like to find out the meaning of motivation and how well those managers of Nokia have elicited discretionary effort from workers for the company. Theory Maslows Hierarchy of Needs theory Most famous is Abraham Maslows hierarchy of needs theory. He believed that there is 5 level of hierarchy of needs exist within human nature. (A.H. Maslow, A Theory of Human Motivation, Psychological Review 50(4) (1943):370-96) Physiological Needs It is simply most basic needs for human to survive. Things like needs of oxygen for breathe, fulfillment of hunger, thirst, sex and sleep. They are the biological needs which are most essential, it comes front of all the desires that human would want. Safety Needs When physiological needs are fulfilled, the needs of security are followed. Human should fill sense of safety of their own health, employment, property and resources. Those factors make them feeling safe. Needs of Love/Belonging Human is social animal, when the front two needs are filled, third need can become dominant. Human nature always seeks for the sense of belonging and love/friendship. Maslow describes people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation (Maslow, Abraham (1954). Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper). Needs for Esteem When the first three needs reach to satisfactory level, the needs for esteem can become next. It is like self-esteem and respect from others. When these self-esteem and respect is gratified, the person feels confident and valuable as a part of person in a society. Deficiency of those needs would make a person feels weak, inferior and nothing. Needs for Self-Actualization When each level of foregoing needs is fully satisfied, then the last level of needs self-actualization is activated. According to Maslow, self-actualization is what a persons need to be what they are born to do. There is a famous quote by Maslow, Abraham H. A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves. These needs make people to feel progressing, reach-potential and self-fulfillment. (Psychology The Search for Understanding by Janet A. Simons, Donald B. Irwin and Beverly A. Drinnien West Publishing Company, New York, 1987) By observing hierarchy of needs, each level tends to be satisfied to progress on next level of hierarchy. However, from the point of giving motivation view, none of those desires or needs could not been perfectly satisfied. Maslow theory describes that somehow-satisfied need could not stimulate the people any longer. >> How hierarchy of needs Theory could be used in management According to Maslow, if someone wants to motivate somebody, there is a need of understanding what that specific person wants and find out where his or her need is located in hierarchy of needs and provide the upper level of hierarchy. Adamss Equity Theory Adams, J.S. 1965. Inequity in social exchange. Adv. Exp. Soc. Psychol. An individual always do compare himself to others. Lets say, an individual got offer of 2500 pound per month and he thinks it is very good deal and took the job, he will do his job with passion and he will be satisfied with his work. However, if someone else or his acquaintance gets the same job with 3000 pounds with same as his ability/work time/contribution, probably he will not be happy about his earning and job. Even if he was satisfied with his earnings in the beginning, as soon as he feels that its not fair or equal treatment, the matter that he gets good paid it will not consider him much, but rather obsessed with others payment. The problem is that individual starts to think comparatively and starts to believe it is not fair. An individual always compare within his mind and think about the effort he put in and the reward. By doing so, if an individual thinks that he is not fairly treated, the input effort will be directly affected (demotivated). Above examples idea is called Equity Theory and it was developed by Stacey Adams in 1965. It is simply, an individual comparing his input-reward and others input-reward proportion. For an employee to compare himself in equity theory, the referent is important variable. There are three types of referent system, self and other. For system, the referent is the system of individuals belonged organization. Individual will take wage structures, wage policy and decision-making process into the consideration. Also, organization will need to make important decision with organizations system to an individual as a comparison to others. Putting self as a comparison referent, result ration of input will be referenced to individual. This is reflected by ones experience or standard wage or family maintenance-need allowance. Equity theory is not only interested in absolute reward, it also has interest in others reward. An individual do compare others input-reward, founding on effort, experience, education, and ability over their wage level, promotion and recognition. If an individual feels unfair and inequitable over reward ration of input, this feeling will make him/her to experience tension. This tension will continually provide motivation until he/she is treated in equity to him. >> How Equity Theory could be used in management Monthly paid employees will enhance quality and quantity to feel the fairness with tension and increase input factor for fair wage proportion. When compensation is made with Production quantity, over-rewarded worker will have lower quality but higher quantity just to increase their income. However, an individual who receive payment founding on price ratio will increase in effort to accomplish fairness and this will lead to increase in quantity and quality. But, this might result in excess payment and unfairness. Therefore, managers should direct employees to enhancing in quality rather than quantity. Also motivation is influenced by not only absolute reward but also relative reward. Each time when employee feels that s/he is unfairly treated, it will follow an action to fix about that inequity, like improved or diminished productivity or quality, absence and turnover. Therefore, it is most important factor to make employees to feel in equity in equity theory. >> Vrooms expectancy theory Most comprehensive explanation about motivation is performed within Victer Vrooms Expectancy Theory. Expectancy theory is well described by Montana (Montana Patrick J; Charnov, Bruce H, Management 4th edition; (2008) Barrons Educational Series, Inc.), This theory emphasizes the needs for organizations to relate rewards directly to performance and to ensure that the rewards provided are those rewards deserved and wanted by the recipients. The expectancy theory suggest that action is followed the expectation from the result and the amount of effort is decided by how attractive the result is to an individual himself. Below, there are three linkages with this theory. Effort-performance linkage: Possibility of reward expected by putting certain amount of effort. Performance-reward linkage: Beliefs which expect right reward will be given by doing certain level of performance. Attractiveness: a persons target and desire of potential result or reward which could be obtained by doing his job successfully. All explanations seem similar, but simply there are three points. First, how much an individual should work for certain level of outcome and whether that outcome is possibly achieved. Second, what will be the reward for doing such work? Third, how attractive the reward is from the effort of doing such work and how does this job help with goal achievement? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ « Applying Expectancy Theory How Expectancy Theory could be applied? For to link with motivation, I will example myself and try to find out how this theory used. Most of students have preference on professors or lecturer expecting for something that they would like to learn from the course unit. They would like to know when the exam will be, what kind of assignment they need to do and how much percentage will be taken to get maximum grade or how much amount of time will going to be needed, and think logically about whether this course is linked with what they need. Lets say that I feel in the way above. I liked this course unit and worked really hard to get good mark on this essay. I have prepared for long time for this and believed that this will be helpful when I graduate and get good job or get into master course. Then, result came out, my average score of all the course units were 72 percent, however, this specific course was 41 percent. And I got angry and frustrated. Like other assignments, I prepared exact amount of time and put effort, but how could only this specific unit gets such a low score? From here there will be some interesting facts will be coming out. Suddenly, he (I, from others perspective from now on) will be constantly missing this unit course lecture and do not revise. Even if he attends the lecture concentration for this course is hugely dropped. So, we could say that his motivation is lacking with the related subject. Why did he change? To explain this using motivation theory term; At the beginning, the merit of good grade (Effort-performance linkage) was high. However, the result was not good (Performance-reward linkage). In other words, if the assignment was fairly graded based on what he did and got good score, the Performance-reward linkage is satisfied and it would have motivated him more. However, if he is demotivated, it is from his belief that his knowledge was not incongruous with fair grading system. >> How Expectancy Theory could be used in management First, Expectancy Theory emphasizes on pay and reward. As a result, organization should believe that employees also want the same reward and compensate. This kind of perspective is from egoism that an employee pursuit expected-satisfaction to be maximized. So that manager needs to try to fulfill that expected-satisfaction wisely. Second, theory points up understanding of attractiveness by the workers. Employees will want to be treated reasonably with positive result/target/outcome they expected. Therefore, the firm should try to satisfy employees attractiveness. Third, theory highlights on expected performance. Does an individual understands what is expected on s/he and how could it be compensated. If workers do not grasp the point of this relation, the ultimate goal of organization will be never met. So, this is essential to make both manager and workers to understand clear of performance-reward relation. Last, theory relates with perception. No matter what actually happens, a persons perception decides level of effort according from not objective result but from performance, reward and goal achievement. Therefore, there is a need for continuous feedback to match the reality and perception of workers. Case Study  ¿Ã‚ ­ What is Nokia? Nokia is a Finnish multinational network corporation is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo (Nokia in brief (2007) (PDF). Nokia Corporation. March 2008.) Nokias main industry is in the manufacturing of mobile devices and in converging Internet and communications industries, with 128,445 employees in 120 countries, sales in more than 150 countries and global annual revenue of EUR 50.7 billion and operating profit of 5.0 billion in 2008. It is the worlds largest manufacturer of mobile phones: its global device market share is approximately 38% in 2009, (Q3 2009: Quarterly and annual information. Nokia Corporation. 2009-10-15) The Nokia brand, valued at $34.9 billion, is listed as the fifth most valuable global brand in the BusinessWeek, Best Global Brands list of 2009 (first in non-US Company). It is the number one brand in Asia (as of 2007) and Europe. Also Nokia is the 42nd most admirable company worldwide in Fortunes Worlds Most Admired Companies list of 2009, and the worlds 85th largest company as measured by revenue in Fortune Global 500 list of 2009. (Fortune Global 500 2009. Fortune. 2009-07-14.) Nokias Case study for motivation Incentive Program  ¿Ã‚ ­ Monetary Incentives: work performance wage structure, Global bonus plan (when profit exceeded 20%, 5% cash payback), production and researchers incentives.  ¿Ã‚ ­ Non-monetary performance bonus system and Complete and Fair Assessment Nokia motivates employees by providing rewards according to their performance. However, its hard to see that they only motivated people with monetary returns, Non-monetary performance bonus system also help to motivate workers. Things like promotions and possibility to self-development will help and also a clear and fair system for this is needed. Nokia is not in seniority system, there was a case 34 years old man became vice president by his ability. Nokia tried to achieve highest level of work satisfaction. 2. Empowerment organization  ¿Ã‚ ­ Allowing autonomy, leads to motivation Bureaucratic chain of command provides high efficiency, but this has disadvantage of blocking creative ideas coming up from bottom line of workers. And this is one of the factors blocking motivation. Exampling Nokia, they allow significant amount of autonomous decision to workers. This provides sense of belonging to a company and people feel that they are taking part for companys profit. This leads to motivation of workers due to Maslows hierarchy of needs theory (sense of belonging). Case: Nokia immediately supported 6,000,000 dollars for the marketing for Pacific-Asia market as they received idea of competition going harsh in China. 3. Project manager system Technology, marketing, production and salesman unites as one team and work for 1-2 years for specific project and managers for the project are empowered like chairman in that specific project; this stimulates workers as it has venture business attributes. Nokia has number of small projects teams. Those groups decide everything like estimated budgets too. This gives power to agilely response to market changes. 4. Human resource development program Providing self-developing opportunities to employees / Maximizing self-development and self-actualization at work Human resource is crucial factor for economical production in industry f like Nokia with high knowledge and technology. Competitive power is human resources. Modern employees tend to think a company as not only place for earning-money but also as place for self-actualization. Therefore, a company with no self-development lacks power to attract more human resources (Attractiveness, Vrooms expectancy theory). So, firms should provide more opportunities and sense of duty of the company like Nokias human resource development program.(In Nokia, they value employees through 180 inspections list, helps to find out each workers adaptation-skill and decision-making skills in five levels. By doing so, it tells what that employee needs in specific details and gives job according to it and provide staff training service) and they also provided for experience improvement program by going around world branches. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ » Based on Nokias motivation system, 19% of market share in mobile technology in 1999, increased up to 35% in 2001. Also, total sales were increased 48% leaving total profit 56% higher. Matthew J. (1996), à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…’Future management (à «Ã‚ ¯Ã‚ ¸Ãƒ «Ã… ¾Ã‹Å"à ªÃ‚ ²Ã‚ ½Ãƒ ¬Ã‹Å" ) 11à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ , Dae-kyung publishing company. Nokia homepage http://www.nokia.com à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…’Analyzing Nokias successà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  From www.hunet.co.kr Conclusion Managers tend to think that talented-employees turnover is cause by higher financial reward from other company. However, many of employees turnover reasons are like vision-realization, challenging to new work, harmony of both life and work, higher opportunity of recognition and flexibility of culture and organization. These kinds of reasons suggest that motivation is not only from financial issues but also from Non-monetary issues like mentioned above. I believe what employees consider most is winning recognition from their bosses about work-performance. If this is not done, its evitable to demotivate workers. In this contrast, Nokia has well understood workers, with fair assessment; they have suggested sense of duty to their workers for the company and made them feel as important part of Nokia. As conclusion Nokia got grater profit and it can be said that Nokia has successfully motivated their employees. Those kinds of techniques of motivation are all founded from the theories of Ma slow, Adams and Vroom and Nokia successfully adopted in reality.

IQ Tests Are Appropriate as a Part of a Job Interview Essay example --

William Stern in the 1912 took the mental age of an individual, divided it by the chronological age and obtained the ratio, which he called an intelligence quotient. Intelligence quotient (IQ) is a score used to express the relative intelligence of a person. In the modern society with high competition in different areas intelligence tests are widely used. IQ tests starting to appear in job interviews as a part of the application process as well. This is still a controversial issue about whether IQ tests should be included in the employability process, but due to the increasing rivalry for job placements worldwide, IQ tests are one of the options to be brought up. IQ tests are standardised tests, which signifies that the tasks appearing in the examination are the same for all participants, the conditions, given instructions and amount of time for completion are equal for each applicant. Standardised tests help prevent stereotypical errors, for example, there is no preconception related to ethnic or cultural background, age or appearance differences. Although it is argued that there are noticeable differences between genders’ performance on various tasks, it is widely acknowledged disparity, particularly in mental rotation of three-dimensional objects tasks (MRT). (Linn, 1985) Males tend to perform slightly better than women, although females tend to score to a greater degree at verbal skills, for instance linguistic reasoning. IQ tests are administered properly and being evaluated using means and standard deviations - normal distribution measures – which carries no effect on the performance of different genders. IQ tests are meas ured in a standard manner which allows to evaluate every individual retaining their anonymity and rely o... ...Mills, C. (1997). Gifted Children with Learning Disabilities: A Review of the Issues. Kaufman J.C., Plucker J.A. (2011). Intelligence and Creativity. The Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence. Cambridge University Press; Cambridge. Linn, M. C., & Petersen, A. C. (1985). Emergence and Characterization of Gender Differences in Spatial Abilities: A Meta-Analysis. Child Development, 56, 1479–1498. Roid, G.H. (2003). Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition: Technical manual. Itasca, IL: Riverside Publishing. Sattler, J. M. (1992). Assessment of Children (3rd edition). San Diego, CA: Author. Wechsler, David (1939). The Measurement of Adult Intelligence. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins. Wechsler, David (1944). The Measurement of Adult intelligence (3rd edition). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins. Stern, William (1912). The Psychological Methods of Intelligence Testing.

Public Grazing on Bureau of Land Management Land :: Agriculture Farming Environment Essays Papers

Public Grazing on Bureau of Land Management Land The Bureau of land Management is an agency of the department of the Interior. It manages 264 million acres in the western lands and over 700 acres of mineral estate nationwide. The purposes of these lands are mineral development, recreation, timber, and grazing. The on that we are going to talk about is grazing on the BLM lands and how they are improving them. In the 1930's, overgrazing was damaging the Western rangelands to a dust bowl. In Wyoming during 1909 the sheep numbers reached six million. Most of these sheep operations were nomadic, with that meant that some of these operations were keeping their sheep on public land all year round. The range land became deteriorated bye this way of grazing. By the 1920's and 1930's the ranchers and the conservationists wanted something to be done before the land got any worse. Congress knew that they had to do something before they lost their country's biggest asset. The Taylor Grazing Act (TGA) of 1934 was passed. What the TGA did was regulated grazing on public lands through using permits. With regulation of public lands they could control numbers of occupancy and uses on the land. It also could preserve the land from destruction, with that it could improve the land and develop it better. In 1964 Public Land Law Review Commission was established to make recommendations on how to manage the lan d. Congress responded to that by passing the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) in 1976, which keeps the lands in Federal ownership. The Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978 was another act that improved rangelands. It realized that public rangelands were producing less than their potential. This act helps maintain and improve the conditions of the rangelands so that they become productive and usable to their highest potential again. The Executive Order 12548 of 1986, signed by President Reagan, stated that there would be annual fees for domesticated livestock grazing on public rangelands. Just in Oregon and Washington the federal government will receive over $1.8 million annually for grazing about 250,000 animals on BLM land. The BLM has improved the rangeland in Oregon by one hundred percent. With the Oregon Trail having immigrants and their cattle coming through, it destroyed the land with no grass left to graze. The BLM scattered cattle throughout the land and the grazing has improved, so has the water development.

My Last Duchess by Robert Browning Essay -- Last Duchess Robert Browni

My Last Duchess by Robert Browning In his poem â€Å"My Last Duchess†, Robert Browning gives his readers a complex picture of his two main characters. The Duke, who narrates the poem, is the most immediately present but Browning sets him up to ultimately lose the reader’s trust. The Duchess becomes the sympathetic character, a victim of foul play. It is through the various representations of the Duchess within the poem that we come to know both characters. The representations of the Duchess, which focus on her ever-present smile and easily satisfied nature, come in sharp contrast with the desperate, sputtering language of the Duke as he tries to tell their story on his own terms. This contrast is a manifestation of the Duke's frustration with his inability to control the Duchess and her nonchalant but near-total control over him. The Duchess is first introduced as a painting hanging in the Duke’s gallery. The very form in which we meet her gives us an indication of both her passivity and her ability to persist, unchanged, in one mode of behavior. A painting has very little living communicative power, relying on the expressiveness of its subject at the time of painting. It is notable that no mention is made of any background or accompanying objects in the painting—often in portraiture these elements are relied upon to convey key ideas about the subject. It seems that the Duchess relied solely upon herself and the painter to tell her own story. Even if other objects are in the painting, they are unremarkable enough that neither Duke nor poet feels compelled to mention them. From a literary standpoint, this means that the poet felt that we needed no other initial information about the Duchess. Even at the level of chara... ...haunts him, and by placing it both first and last he drives it home very strongly. He can’t help but repeat that phrase when confronted with the Duchess who is both still smiling and â€Å"as if alive†Ã¢â‚¬â€he is driven mad by the idea that he couldn’t even succeed in killing her. His actions, too, are driven by the Duchess. Since she is still smiling and life-like, despite his best efforts to the contrary, he is driven to the irrational extreme of covering the painting and ensuring that â€Å"none puts by the curtain†¦but [himself]† (9-10) His extraordinary desire to control the Duchess leave him vulnerable to her imperviousness. By remaining unaffected by the Duke’s strenuous efforts to alter her behavior, the Duchess forces the Duke to take more and more drastic measures—like killing her and hiding her painting—and eats away at his ability to even keep control of himself.

The Tragedy of a Man

The â€Å"apparition† of Bartleby has confounded many wise men, scholars, critics and the like. The strange, almost inhuman way Bartleby resisted his employer and all forms of contact seemed supernatural—â€Å"Poe-ish†, as some would say (Reed 1). Though in recent times, the story of Bartleby has been used as an allusion of the Communist struggle against the capitalist system.Thus, they explained that Bartleby’s refusal to engage in the regular capitalist work is clearly an act of defiance against the system; and the historical vagueness and background surrounding the story accentuates this implied class struggle.The tragedy of it all, in the end, centers on the limited awareness of the narrator. His scrivener was not the originator of his tragedies; it was his humanity, and fatal defects that could not save his copyist from certain doom. His lack of insight into the depths of the human psyche and his consequent understanding of its workings rendered him u nable to understand and aid his comrade. He was only an ordinary lawyer caught in circumstances he could not understand; though had he the sufficient expertise, the answer would have been simple as to surprise him.Bartleby, if he was anything, was angry. No emotion could have driven him so potently as to his last contemptuous act upon himself and the world. For suicide is often thought of as some great act of despair or utter grief that overpowers the individual and inspire him to â€Å"escape†. It is also an act of great contempt that is needed to give a man the strength to destroy himself completely and blind him to all the protestations of his body.Thus, it was this rage that possessed Bartleby. The narrator was too struck by the pitiable, forlorn countenance as well as quiet insolence of his scrivener to discover the fire blazoning from within. In all fairness to him, he was a well-balanced man—as he readily admitted—free from the mad fits and temperaments t hat has afflicted his scriveners. He could not therefore have guessed Bartleby as anything else, as he assumed that the man was well-rounded in personality.The woes of this misunderstood individual continues on, as Marxists take the tale hostage and use it as a weapon of their own. Bartleby becomes a tool of their hatred, and example of a social revolution. In this essay, then, it is hoped to wrest it back to the individual perspective and back to the man that is Bartleby. To accomplish this, one need glimpse at the perspectives of the Marxists and one divorced from the Communist context; from here it is hoped that the Marxist logic can be successfully deconstructed.This paper will seek to redeem the soul of the story as well as the character immortalized in its pages. Citizen Bartleby Bartleby, the Scrivener’s unique â€Å"Marxist† quality—its ability to identify with the class struggle and the woes of the capitalist system—are inevitably â€Å"pulled o ut† by two critics, Barbara Foley and Naomi Reed, by the use of differing perspectives. Foley accomplished this by de-focusing from the individual and giving more emphasis on the style used in the story and how it relates to historical events of that time.Thus, the mention of John Jacob Astor and Trinity Church, which coincidentally owned huge properties across the New York area where the story’s office was located, become representations of the oppressive land monopolies (Foley 7-10). The narrator’s reducing his staff into â€Å"idiosyncracies† and an ideology of â€Å"patronage† (Foley 6) is representative of an unequal wage slavery; and the ambiguity of the date by which the story probably took place (through careful analysis it was found that there were too many inconsistencies in the dates), may have been intentional as to â€Å"underplay† the Astor Strike of 1849 (Foley 13-16).The last was re-emphasized with telling effect—by cit ing Melville’s â€Å"disillusionment† of the society of the elite and the similarities of another Melville work, â€Å"The Two Temples†. Naomi Reed, meanwhile, while centering on Bartleby the apparition and the â€Å"gentlemanly cadaver†, relates him as such, by way of substance, to the commodity discussed by Marx in Capital. Bartleby is both of two forms: the ghost and the figure between life and death; comparably, a commodity is both physical and non-physical, for it has non-material value (Reed 6-9).His insistent defiance on basic work, as well as other labors, is in fact a refusal to partake in exchange—the ideology behind his work (creating a perfect copy of the document) is that a copy may accurately portray an original document; in exchange terms, a value of one object may be substantially equaled by another. The scrivener’s act of refusing to vouch for the copy would be parallel to the rejection of the accuracy of exchange. Bartleby then represents Marx’s commodity alienating itself from the market forces (Reed 9-12). These two concepts do hold ground, in relating the individual to his environment.Having admitted to this, a third, more personal approach is to be taken: the tragedy of Bartleby’s anger and passive aggressive tendency. Turkey and Nippers Prior to introducing Bartleby, the narrator first gives us a glimpse of his two other scriveners: Turkey was an old man, of almost the same age as his employer, while Nippers was twenty-five. Of the former, it is narrated that after twelve o’clock, this legal copyist suddenly manifests discomfort throughout the day, carelessly spilling inkblots or bursting upon inanimate objects with fiery zeal with little provocation.The employer hinted that this was due to old age. Indeed, fatigue and lack of rest would be enough to wear down the propriety of even the sternest of men, more so with old ones. For his part, Turkey would not, out of pride and th e thought of wages being cut in half, do the sensible thing and stop work after twelve o’clock. Nippers, on the other hand, is most irritated when he is brimming with energy. This is attributed to his youth; though the narrator would much rather call it â€Å"ambition and indigestion†.He is impatient, rash and impetuous and would rather that the time pass and be done with his being a scrivener, as well as to finish his law studies. This here-and-now obsession manifests itself in his table, which probably symbolizes a hindrance to his objective. This impatience gradually dies down after lunch, as impetuosity is readily cured and becalmed by food. At the sight of his two scriveners’ open expressions of anger, the lawyer must not have then detected the same in Bartleby. Indeed, he was looking for a more-balanced individual, and thought that he found it in the man.He therefore was not properly warned to the dangerous patterns within Bartleby’s character. Pref er Not To The employer relates how he was thunderstruck the first time he heard of Bartleby’s quiet refusal. It was peculiarly odd, however, because there seemed to be no reason for this reluctance—he didn’t volunteer anything; he was ever quiet at his post, answering only when spoken to. He was therefore frustrated with what would seem as apparent insolence. Bartleby’s answer â€Å"I would prefer not to† is a classic passive aggressive response.The words â€Å"not to† are indeed an act of defiance and anger, though it could not be particularly directed anywhere. It was couched in the words â€Å"would prefer† because among passive aggressives, fear is commingled with anger. He has a fear of direct confrontation, and readily believes his being weaker to those around him. To say a â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no† would already be such an example of confrontation. Recognizing the â€Å"superiority† of would-be oppressors, he will express his anger, but try to make it as respectful a comment as possible.To a fairly balanced man like the employer, this self-contradiction is absurd and utterly unreasonable; that is what makes it offensive. To a passive aggressive, however, it would be unreasonable to reveal a grievance. There are a myriad of reasons for this, but chief of them is the fear of rejection and condemnation as well as a need to retain some power against his oppressor. Revealing his weakness would strip him of any control or power over the object of his contempt, and make him susceptible to denunciation.His silence then was due to fear for himself. It wasn’t so much that he didn’t want to say, he just couldn’t. The employer could also have detected something dangerously amiss in Bartleby’s refusal to do anything, except copy. He was clearly caught in some internal agony as to render him incapable of even the most mundane of tasks. He clearly needed help, and the lawye r could only ill-afford to prove it. Infernal Solitude His employer was filled with great pity the minute he found out that Bartleby was living alone.The latter did not socialize, knew no one, and generally kept to himself, using the office as a refuge. The narrator believes this as the source of the scrivener’s misery and in many chances as possible sought to connect to him. Tragically, however, Bartleby was trapped in a state of â€Å"forced solitude†Ã¢â‚¬â€while he might believe his state deplorable (though we could only assume), he is nevertheless prevented by anger and fear from reaching out, and this paralysis and stasis aggravates his misery. Bartleby did not loathe company; in his small way, he sought it.Through his dealing with the company errand boy, Ginger Nut, and that one time when he looked his employer square in the eye and said â€Å"Can’t you see it for yourself? †Ã¢â‚¬â€the passive aggressive needs understanding, though he will offer n o aid. The employer, stumbling through ways to help him, merely continues to frustrate his scrivener. Eventually the internal agony had debilitated Bartleby fully. Even copying had become a burden that he would not bear. The lawyer was constantly apprehensive that he would be abandoning Bartleby if he did anything that was not to ensure his safety.He would have been right in assuming that his scrivener would have felt betrayed, for passive aggressives are generally resigned to their misery and see it as normal routine, and to those that they have stuck to with forlorn hope, failure would only accentuate the deathly gloom. His employer felt the barb of this hurt when Bartleby talked to him in jail. His statement then, and his subsequent refusal to eat can only be construed as part of his contemptuous act against self and those he feels has wronged him. Conclusion: RedemptionThe significant sequel of the Dead Letters serves as the crossroads by which Bartleby’s plight is fully understood. The employer later lamented of his finding the significant cause of Bartleby’s desolation: he had worked as a clerk making letters for relatives of the departed. The thought of constantly generating correspondence to those who have recently lost probably destroyed him as a person. It was not only the act of breaking hearts; it seemed as if acting as accomplice to murder. This soon developed to a form of self-loathing, and the genesis of the tragedy of Bartleby.There are two ways to interpret this: The question that was unveiled in the third perspective was the source of Bartleby’s anger. Throughout we have learned that it was generated towards self and collaterally to others. Humanity should be briefly expounded as centered on the act of life. The very nature of a human being is to act to preserve life: eating, sleeping and even social interaction. The task of the Dead Letters was associated with the negation of life. Death. An unnatural and inhuman task, h owever mundane, will gradually wear down an individual.Bartleby became a specter of Death, opposed to life, and therefore opposed to the world, and to society. He was reluctantly opposed, as by nature he was inclined to life. He felt this opposition unconsciously, and felt that all anger is directed against him. Passive aggressives have a source of hatred before the self. As a human being, Bartleby was inclined towards life, and was thus opposed to the Dead Letters system from the beginning. Gradually, his resentment went inward, as he needed the wage and could not conveniently express his anger.He became the figure of rebellion of the individual against the dehumanizing elements of his system as well as prevalent social forces. Reed had a point when she said that this was an act of rebellion against the system. She was, however, wrong in the sense that Bartleby is not a commodity; to admit to this truth would assume that the scrivener is equal to the commodity, comparable to the in animate object of Marx’s work. Using her concept, this is an act of equality that cannot be vouchsafed. There is nothing dehumanizing about circulation, and exchange.The practice of work was not a product of capitalism, but social interaction. Bartleby was merely opposed to the inhumanity of the system, which he was thrust into. He therefore could not trust it, and would not trust it. Having experienced the unnatural task in the Dead Letters office, those that are detached from personal living though not overtly or even covertly opposed to life, would seem the same. This then would explain the scrivener’s insistence of detachment of his private and public life.The Marxist analysts say that the subtitle â€Å"A Story of Wall Street† precludes the social forces that are implied within Bartleby. It must not, however, be forgotten that this is a story about â€Å"Bartleby, the Scrivener†, about an individual finding himself before the deathly coldness of Wall Street. He is the individual in the center of his environment. To belittle him, as Foley would do in her analysis, would again dehumanize him. To make him a slave to social forces, and the context of labor and the collective, would be like the lawyer who could not see the man crying out from within.Maybe, he had an indication of his desolation, but trapped within institutions as cold as the buildings that house it, he had not the knowledge to reach out to him. The lack of scenery around the office windows may agreeably be an allegory to his blindness. His omission of going to church may have become a defect, as he was faced with humanity, and the sermons could at least have taught him how to act before it. The scrivener could not be saved within the pages of the story. The soul of his being, however, has been snatched from the perils that haunted his life.It is hoped that in this simple gesture of understanding, Bartleby may find in death what he could not redeem in life: humanity. BIBLIOGRAPHY WORKS CITED Foley, Barbara. â€Å"From Wall Street to Astor Place: Historicizing Bartleby†. American Literature 72. 1 (2000): n. p. Reed, Naomi. â€Å"The Specter of Wall Street: Bartleby and the Language of Commodities†. American Literature 76. 4 (2004): n. p. REFERENCES Melville, Herman. â€Å"Bartleby, the Scrivener†. The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. Fifth Edition. Ed. Anne Charters. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1999. 984-1010.