Driving Force of Regionalism Essay Example for Free

Driving Force of Regionalism Essay To what extent and in what ways have the driving forces of regionalism in South-east Asia changed since the end of the Cold War? Regionalism has become a trend in many regions of the world. Among them, Europe, North America and Asia (Asia Pacific region) are crucial ones. Some observers argue that the world order have been divided between these three regions with the existence of the European Union (EU), the North American Free trade Agreement (NFTA) and The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This divergent part of the world requires comprehensive realization to make sense of how they have developed throughout history. In particular, writing the history of Southeast Asia remains a challenge as it involves the understanding of ‘societies that often took quite different view of the past †¦(and) a region where the implications of that historical tradition may have a political significance’[1]. Clapham notes that it is even more challenging to analyse foreign policy making in Southeast Asia region[2]. The early 1970’s was a significant period for the states in this region as it was during this time that five countries decided to join together and define their position in the Cold War between two superpowers and claimed their neutrality. The fact that ASEAN has come up with such a policy is interesting to look at as it gives not only an insight of the driving forces of regionalism in Southeast Asia but also how these developing states saw themselves and formulate their foreign policy in the post-Cold War period. This paper aims to analyse ASEAN’s behaviour in order to access to what extent regionalism has changed since the end of Cold War in Southeast Asia. In that, regionalism would be conceived as ‘a state-led or states-led project designed to reorganize a particular regional space along defined economic and political lines’[3]. The discussion is divided into four parts. The first part discusses the useful theoretical insights of security community to explain why ASEAN states cooperate in the midst of new security challenge in the region. The second part identifies the diplomacy of ASEAN during the post-Cold War period. Given the confine of this paper, the discussion specifically examines the event of the Spratly Islands and the creation of ARF. In the concluding section, achievements and prospects for ASEAN will be addressed. The central argument that this paper advance is that regionalism in Southeast Asia has changed and the changes have been  driven and constrained by the security condition during the post-Cold War era where a regional power vacuum is found. ASEAN emerged from the Cold War as a regional organization in 1967. With the accession of Cambodia, it seemed to be fulfilling the aspirations of its founding fathers to expand membership to include all ten Southeast Asian countries. However, with the end of Cold War and the settlement of Cambodian conflict, ASEAN is facing a new challenge related to issues of security and stability in the post-Cold War regional environment[4]. According to the Bangkok Declaration of 1967, the goal of ASEAN is to ‘accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region; to safeguard the political and economic stability of the region against big power rivalry; and to serve as a forum for the resolution of intra-regional differences’[5]. The formation of ASEAN should be seen as a means of maintaining peace and stability by providing a forum for the discussion and resolution of regional issues relating to security. There are indeed a number of incidents to show that security issue is the major concern of ASEAN such as the call for a Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality (ZOPFAN), the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation and ASEAN’s role in the Cambodian conflict in the 1980s. However, with the end of Cold War, ASEAN faced a new challenge to its goal when the security environment of South-east Asia was transformed by the change from the old bipolar Cold War security system to the new emerging multipolar system. The new power pattern in the region forced the ASEAN states to cooperate as they realized the security could be in danger if they do not collaborate to improve the situation. This kind of behaviour of the ASEAN states can be best explained by Deutsch’s discussion of security communities. This was especially evident in the study of regional integration and some scholars argued that the concept of security community provides the most useful framework to analyze ASEAN regionali sm. According to Deutsch, a security community is a group that has become integrated and accompanied by formal or informal institutions or practices in order to assure peaceful change among members of a group over a long period of time[6]. Essentially, members within the community retain their independence and sovereignty. The two attributes of such a community are marked by the absence of war and organized violence. To be more specific, as  Yalem notes, a regional security community is a group of states which have ‘renounced the use of force as a means of resolving intra-regional conflicts’[7]. Deutsch further adds that there should be no contingency planning or war-oriented resource mobilization against other members within a security community. This could be acted as an indicator of whether states have developed ‘dependable expectations of peaceful change’[8]. Furthermore, whether a security community has been achieved can actually ‘be tested operationally in terms of the absence or presence of significant organized preparations for was or larger-scale violence among its members’[9]. When applying the concept of security communities into the study of regionalism, it is import ant to make a distinction between security community and a security regime. Buzan defines security regime as ‘a group of states cooperate to manage their disputes and avoid war by seeking to mute the security dilemma both by their own actions and by their assumptions about the behaviour of others’[10]. Although this seems similar to the concept of security community, there is a major difference in that a security regime refers to a situation where the interests of the actors are both not wholly compatible and competitive. Thus, the resulting relationship is rather hostile and the use of force is hindered only by a balance of power[11]. In comparison, a security community is based ‘on a fundamental, unambiguous and long-term convergence of interests among the actors regarding the avoidance of war’[12]. In this context, ASEAN regionalism is more likely to be conceptualized as the process of building the security community rather than the latter. Although a security community seems to be constructed on the ground of interests and identities rather than the idea of common threat, recent literature sketched by Adler and Barnett stress that a security community can actually be triggered by common threat such as ‘cataclysmic events’[13]. As Adler puts it, the concept of a community is ‘the idea that actors can share values, norms, and symbols that provide a social identity, and engage in various interactions in myriad spheres that reflect long-term interests, diffuse reciprocity and trust, strikes fear’[14]. Furthermore, Hurrell attempts to suggest a series of approaches to study contemporary regionalism. He notes that cooperative arrangements in regional cooperation could serve a number of purposes ‘on the one hand, they can serve as a means of responding to external challenges and of coordinating regional positions  in international institutions or negotiating forums. On the other, they can be developed to secure welfare gains, to promote common values or to solve common problems arising from increased levels of regional interdependence. In the security field, for example, such cooperation can range from the stabilization of a regional balance of power, to the institutionalization of confidence -building measures, to the negotiation of a region-wide security regime.’[15] The concept of security community can be applied to explain the creation and the behaviour of ASEAN. During the time of the Cold War, great power rivalries between the Soviet Union and the US in the region has turned Southeast Asia into a battleground with the regional states being used by the opponents with the attempt to create blocs which support their positions or ideologies in the war. Simultaneously, many states in the region have been oppressed by external powers for centuries and not being treated as a respectable actor in the international agenda. Facing with the same hardship, therefore, they came together and create a region free from external interference. However, with the end of Cold War, the security order in this region is characterized by new factors of conflict and instability and ‘regional policy-makers have expressed misgivings about the strategic uncertainties and conflict-creation potential of a post-Cold War order at the regional level’[16]. Among the regional powers, China, Japan and India are generally being seen as the three leading contenders for influence[17]. For some, the involvement of US in the region as the balance of power is still desirable and the possibility of its withdrawal remains a major worry of the region’s stability[18]. In fact, there are a number of unsolved tensions in the region and most of them revolve around China’s strategic ambitions such as its claims for the Spartly Islands. In responding to the new challenge, the ASEAN states have to reconsider and adjust some of the assumptions and principles underlying ASEAN regionalism in order to contribute to regional security and order embedded in the 1992 Singapore Declaration. In order to examine in what ways the driving forces of regionalism in South-east Asia have changed since the end of the Cold War, it is essential to look at some case studies of ASEAN’s post-Cold War diplomacy: China’s claims for the Spratly Islands and ASEAN’s response Situated in the South China Sea, the Spratly Islands consists of islets and reefs with suspected deposits of oil and gas[19]. The disputes involve China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. Many worried that the dispute will turn into a potential source of armed conflict involving ASEAN members particularly because ‘the likelihood of any agreement on the joint development of the islands involving all the claimants, as proposed by some regional policy-makers and analysts, has limited plausibility’[20]. In view of this, other ASEAN members initiated efforts to address the security issue which was seen as a destabilizing force in the region in the post-Cold War period. Finally in 1989, it was Indonesia alone launched the South China Sea Workshop (SCSW)[21] to promote peaceful settlement of the dispute by emphasizing the lessons of Cambodian conflict and the lessons from ASEAN regional c ooperation. Although the workshop has been extended to include China, Vietnam and Laos in 1991, there were no collective ASEAN position or action on the dispute. The irony lies on the fact that ‘the Spratly seminars are a unilateral Indonesian initiative, resulting from diplomacy not by ASEAN or even a group within ASEAN but by one member country’[22]. The regional community sense was missing in this incident particularly because Malaysia and the Philippines feared that multilateral forum could lessen their negotiating ability thus making bilateral settlements impossible. As a result, they were not willing to support ASEAN to settle the dispute involving other member states[23]. This indicates their determination to uphold national autonomy and also their perspective to view ASEAN only as a confidence-building forum rather than a regional community[24]. Consequently in 1992, China passed a Law on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone of the People’s Republic of China. The aim of this legislation is for China to formalize far-reaching claims in the South China Sea. The assertiveness of China caused doubt over the effectiveness of the previous launched workshops and made ASEAN members realized that China insisted on unilateral means to solve the problem. ASEAN responded to China’s claims with the ‘ASEAN Declaration on the South China Sea’ issued in the same year. The Declaration emphasized the need to ‘resolve all sovereignty and jurisdictional issues pertaining to the South China Sea by peaceful means  without resort to force’ and it urged all parties ‘to exercise constraint’[25]. It has been pointed out that ASEAN has claimed some success by placing the dispute on the agenda of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) with the support of intense lobbying[26]. At the same time, ASEAN has been criticized for failing to negotiate codes of conduct in that China continued to carry on its bilateral agreement with Vietnam in 1993 and Philippines in 1995[27]. However, in a bigger picture, it made clear that all AS EAN members has developed a respect for the codes of conduct enshrined in the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation on issues relating to peaceful settlement of conflicts and the non-use of force. Evolution of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) The ASEAN Summit of 1992 declared that ‘ASEAN shall seek avenues to engage Member States in new areas of cooperation in security matters’, therefore, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) was established in 1993 which ‘serves as a multilateral consultative forum aimed at promoting preventive diplomacy and confidence building among the states in the Asia-Pacific region’[28]. Through the ARF, ASEAN hoped to create regional order based on its own norms as well as the new norm of inclusiveness which is essential to cooperative security[29]. In this content, the ARF provided a test of ASEAN’s norms as the membership of ARF included all the major powers of the international system whereby the regional order in this region would also base on the inclusive approach meaning that the major powers would engage in the management of regional order. In 1995, the Philippines discovered the incident of Mischief Reef by China while ASEAN responded by issuing a joint statement criticizing China[30]. It seems this stand of ASEAN fulfils the idea of community, however, it is only a partial fulfillment due to the fact that the ASEAN members have different interpretations of the conflict. ASEAN consensus is always revolved around the norms of peaceful settlement of conflict which is being seen as the guarantee for stability. However, they did not identify with the position of the Philippines, for instance, Thailand considered the dispute as bilateral and not a dispute between ASEAN and China. Again, the event actually put a test on the ASEAN member’s ability to come up with a collective position. As Malik comments on the future of the Southeast Asia regionalism, he points out that to maintain  peace in the region, it is ‘not only founded on the stability of a balance but is sourced in a sense of shared aspirations and common destiny’[31]. In view of this, the lack of consensus among ASEAN member states indicated their unwillingness to demand standards of behaviour from China which only reinforced the ASEAN’s partial fulfillment as a community. In general, the post-Cold War period has posed unleashing of conflicts in the Asia Pacific region which were effectively suppressed during the colonial era and the subsequent period of superpower rivalry[32]. With the end of bipolarity, there is a greater potential of conflict. This paper has examined ASEAN’s behaviour in security affairs during the post-Cold War ear with the objective of assessing the validity of the idea of community. Many scholars have widely acknowledged ASEAN’s potential to become a regional security community from both within and outside the region. Snitwongse notes that although ASEAN may not be able to fully achieve self-reliance, its most striking achievement has been community building[33]. Simon claims that ASEAN is perhaps a security community in which no member would consider the use of force against each other to settle disputes[34]. In the aftermath of the end of Cold War, the absence of war among the ASEAN members is indeed being recognized by many as a great achievement. Based on the discussion of this paper, it has proved that ASEAN has developed some of the attributes of what Adler and Barnett call it as a ‘nascent security community’ where a number of triggering mechanisms including threat perceptions, shared identity and organizational emulation are present. After three decades of progress in promoting peaceful intra-regional order, ASEAN faced its greatest challenge since the end of Cold War as the current regional security environment remains in a state of uncertainty. Nonetheless, the prospect of a regional power vacuum implies the possibility of ASEAN’s further progress while the question remains whether ASEAN itself can fill the security gap by mobilizing its collective diplomatic and political resources. Bibliography Acharya, A., A New Regional Order In South-East Asia: ASEAN in the Post-Cold War Era, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Adelphi Paper 279, London, 1993 Acharya, A., Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia: ASEAN and the problem of regional order, London, 2001 Adler, E Barnett, M., ‘A framework for the study of security communities’, in Adler, E. Barnett, M (eds.) Security Communities, Cambridge, 1998 ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN: An Overview, Jakarta, 1995 Buszynski, L., ‘Declining Superpowers: The Impact on ASEAN’, Pacific Review, 3/3, 1990 Buzan, B., People, States and Fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era, New York, 1991 Catley, B. Keliat, M., Spratlys: The Dispute in the South China Sea, Aldershot, 1997 Deutsch, K.W., ‘Security Communities’, in Rosenau, J (ed.) International Politics and Foreign Policy, New York, 1961 Dewitt, D.B., ‘Common, Comprehensive and Cooperative Security’, Pacific Review, 7/1, 1994 Haacke, J., ‘Seeking Influence: China’s Diplomacy Toward ASEAN After the Asian Crisis’, Asian Perspective, 26/4, 2002 Hill, C., ‘Theories of Foreign Policy Making for the Developing Countries’, in Clapham, C. (ed.) Foreign Policy Making in Developing States: A Comparative Approach, Farnborough, 1977 Hurell, A., ‘Explaining the Resurgence of Regionalism in World Politics’, Review of International Studies, 21/4, 1995 Leifer, M., The ASEAN Regional Forum, Adelphi Paper 302, London, 1996 Payne, A. Gamble A., Regionalism and World Order, London, 1996 Simon, S., ‘The Regionalization of Defence in Southeast Asia’, Pacific Review, 5/2, 1992 Snitwongse, K., ‘Meeting the Challenges of Changing Southeast Asia’, in Scalapino, R., Sato, S. Han, S.J. (eds.) Regional Dynamics: Security, Political and Economic Issues in the Asia Pacific Region, Jakarta, 1990 Tarling, N., Southeast Asia: A Modern History, Oxford, 2001 Tow, W.T., Asia-Pacific Strategic Relations: Seeking Convergent Security, New York, 2001 Whiting, A.S., ‘ASEAN Eyes China: The Security Dimension’, Asian Survey, 37/4, 1997 Yalem, R.J., ‘Regional Security Communities’, in Keeton, G.W. Scharzenberger, G. (eds.) The Yearbook of International Affairs, London, 1979

Reflection on Inter-professional (IP) Working

Reflection on Inter-professional (IP) Working Introduction. Professional development and up to date practice is a requirement of the nursing profession. Reflection is a vital component of this (Gustafson and Fagerberg, 2004) and allows nurses to critically and actively evaluate their practice in the light of current research and their own learning. Reflection has been defined as a process of describing experiences and then using reflection as a basis from which to ask questions about practice (Bowden, 2003). The NMC (2004) states that nurses should use professional standards of practice to self-assess performance. This essay evaluates my own learning in relation to the NMC Standards through the use of a reflective cycle by Gibbs (1998) (see Appendix). The focus of the reflection is Inter-professional (IP) working. IP is a fundamental component of education programmes for Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions (Pollard et al, 2004). The NMC (2004) states in the standards of proficiency for entry to the register that student nurses sh ould: â€Å"consult other health care professionals when individual or group needs fall outside the scope of nursing practice.† (p26). â€Å"utilise a range of effective and appropriate communication and engagement skills† (p 27). â€Å"seek specialist/expert advice as appropriate.† (p28) â€Å"establish and maintain collaborative working relationships with members of the health and social care team and others.† (p32) â€Å"participate with members of the health and social care team in decision-making concerning patients and clients.† (p32) â€Å"review and evaluate care with members of the health and social care team and others.† (p32) Description: What Happened. In providing care for clients allocated to me on the general medical ward, I engaged with the case of Mrs B, who had been admitted seven days previously from a nursing home with dehydration and confusion. Mrs B was registered blind, and required full nursing care which was delivered according to a care plan. Having been treated with IV fluids and encouraged with diet and oral fluids, she had made a good recovery and my role was to implement a discharge planning process with her, so that she could return to the nursing home. In order to assess her discharge needs, I consulted occupational therapy colleagues, dieticians, medical colleagues and social work colleagues to ensure that her needs would be met in her home environment. I also attended the ward rounds with the medical consultant and his team, to gain the expert advice needed to ensure all Mrs B’s needs were met and that she was well enough for discharge. In collaboration with other nursing colleagues and the occupational therapist, dietician and social worker, I reviewed the care plan, carried out a thorough reassessment and evaluation of Mrs B’s condition, medication and ongoing care needs, and drew up a comprehensive discharge plan, including communication to the receiving nursing home. I also discussed all of her needs with Mrs B, and her family, and ensured their input was included into the discharge plan. Feelings The sense of responsibility attached to discharge planning is considerable, and I was aware that I needed to ensure all Mrs B’s needs had been addressed. I felt uncomfortable in some of my interactions with other professionals, and frustrated at times with communication issues. Evaluation I felt confident in care planning and evaluation, having had ample opportunities to develop these skills over my training, but was also aware of the scrutiny of colleagues. This kind of scrutiny was double-edged, in that I felt uncomfortable to be the subject of scrutiny but that it also helped me to focus on the highest standards of care. It was difficult sometimes to ensure timely communication with these colleagues, and the responsibility for ensuring collaborative working and good communication was also somewhat stressful. Analysis At this stage of my training, I was very aware of requirements that I meet standards of competency related to the nursing role. This led to an initial reconsideration of what competency actually is. For example, competency has been described as being able to complete tasks (Gonczi 1993), but professional competence is much more than this. In this case, the ability to complete single tasks was evident in my ability to plan and manage care. Identifying individual nursing tasks in relation to Mrs B was a part of this process, and the process contains in-built mechanisms of evaluation which, if applied objectively, allow the nurse to ‘tick off’ tasks as achieved or in progress. But the complexity of care planning does not led itself to a simple task-based approach, and it is here that the greatest challenge to competence can be identified. The holistic approach to nursing requires the nurse work in a collaborative, inter-professional manner. In particular, it is important to take into account the context of nursing care and presence and contribution of others, including their effect on performance (Ashworth and Saxton, 1990; Field, 1991; Collins, 1991). The NSF for Older People demands the provision of care services which are based around the needs of older people and their carers (DOH, 2001). In order to meet these needs, there is a need to employ â€Å"an integrated approach to service provision†¦ regardless of professional or organisational boundaries.† (DOH, 2001, p9.) Thus IP working can be seen to be fundamental to the process of discharge planning for Mrs B. One of the challenges for my practice was to identify all the other professionals who might need to be engaged in this process. Some of these were obvious, such as the medical team, other nurses, and the dietician, who already played a fundamental role in her care management and implementation. The other professionals involved were not as obvious, and I had to consult with senior nurses to identify where other professional colleagues might be important in discharge planning. There were also other challenges in this process, in engaging with other professionals and carrying out individualised discharge planning. The NSF for Older People recognises that this has been a problem in the past, acknowledging that organisational structures have hitherto had the effect of impeding the provision of individualised care management packages (DOH, 2001.) One of the difficulties I reflected upon was the conflicting demands of such an individualised process which formed only one of my many nursing duties in a busy medical ward environment. And the sense of achievement I felt in taking such responsible role was not always reflected in the ways in which other colleagues interacted with me. Discussion with other nursing colleagues, and some exploration of the theoretical and research literature on this subject identified that this is no new experience for nurses engaged in IP working. Research seems to indicate that medical hegemony leads to the pivotal role of nurses in IP working being largely unacknowledged, which can affect the development of collaborative care practices (Coombs and Ersser, 2004). However, a new awareness of this issue made me more confident and proactive in engaging with other professionals, which led to a negotiation of sorts, during the communication process, between my role and some of their perceptions of my role and position in the institutional hierarchy. There were definite lessons to be learned from this in particular. Adapting modes of communication, paying attention to communication, and formalising communication through detailed record keeping all supported this process. I also learned how vital the nursing role is in inter-professional, client-centred working, if the highest standards of care are to be consistently achieved and maintained for every client. Some authors argue that nurses, as the primary care contact for the majority of patients, should seek to distinguish and celebrate their practice as professionally discrete from that of others because of their intimate and sustained knowledge of their clients (Price, 2006). This is a really important point, and one which allows me to take my experience forward into future practice and build on my confidence in addressing challenging situations. Conclusion I felt that I ‘matured’ through this particular care incident and my own reflections upon it, coming to terms with a sometimes uncomfortable reality of persistent hierarchies, stereotypical beliefs and defensive protection of professional role boundaries. My own competence in achieving an excellent discharge process, engaging in communication despite considerable challenges, and ensuring individualised care in an IP context were all signposts of considerable achievement in my professional journey. However, I could also have perhaps worked more collaboratively with other colleagues, qualified nursing colleagues in particular, who might have been able to give me some advance warning of these issues and perhaps identified ways in which I could overcome them. Instead, I learned the hard way. Action Plan Explore alternative strategies for inter-professional communication. Carry out further research into the challenges of IP working and its benefits. Explore ways to safely challenge rigid roles and hierarchies whilst still providing client-centred care. Seek out support from colleagues when challenging situations arise and build on this experience in future nursing practice. Carry out future cycles of reflection on similar clinical issues, and compare these to previous reflections to clearly signpost my own learning and development. References Ashworth, P. and Saxton, J. (1990).On competence. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 14, 3-25. Bowden, S.D. (2003) Enhancing your professional nursing practice through critical reflection. Abu Dhabi Nurse Summer 28-31. Collins, M. (1991). Adult education as vocation. London: Routledge. Coombs, M. Ersser, S.J. (2004) Medical hegemony in decision-making – a barrier to interdisciplinary working in intensive care? Journal of Advanced Nursing 46 (3) 245-252. Department of Health, (2001) National Service Framework for Older People. Available from www.dh.gov.uk/publications accessed 22-3-07. Field, J. (1991). Competency and pedagogy of labour. Studies in Education of Adults, 33(1), 41-52. Gonczi, A. (1993). Competence and competencies: A global perspective. Paper presented at the First National Conference on Competencies in Nursing Adelaide: Australian Nursing Federation (SA Branch) Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing. A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechnic, Oxford Gustafsson, C. and Fagerberg, I. (2004) Reflection: the way to professional development? Journal of Clinical Nursing 13 271-280. Knight, P. (1995) Assessment for Learning in Higher Education London: Kogan Page. Neary, M. (2000) Responsive assessment of clinical competence. Nursing Standard 15 (10) 35-40. Nursing and Midwifery Council (2004) Code of Conduct Available from www.nmc-uk.org Accessed 30-4-07. Pollard, K.C., Miers, M.E. Gilchrist, M. (2004) Collaborative learning for collaborative working? Initial findings from a longitudinal study of health and social care students. Health and Social Care in the Community 12 (4) 346-358. Price, B. (2006) Exploring person-centred care. Nursing Standard 20 (50) 49-56. Appendix Gibbs (1988) Cycle of Reflection http://www.nursesnetwork.co.uk/images/reflectivecycle.gif

Employee Motivation Case Study: Specsavers

Employee Motivation Case Study: Specsavers Culture is made up of values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors shared by a group of people. Culture within a organization can also be describe as behavior s that results when a group arrives at a set of general unspoken as well as unwritten rules for working together. Base on data studied the culture at Specsavers is all about serving people. Such culture involves a lot of interaction with customers. As part of its culture Specsavers depends on its people to deliver the highest standards of customer care and service. To accomplish such the organization provides a variety of interesting job roles, as well as opportunities for career development. In culturing the organization the human resource department must play a vital role in paving the way forward. These roles include: Increase workforce activities: In doing so human resource personnel must ensure managers are properly trained as to how to manage and utilize resources from different backgrounds not just efface diversity. Creating and maintaining systems that will motivate and develop individuals employed to the company. Such move will only motivate employees to put their best foot forward thereby going the extra mile where necessary or when needed. Considering the kind of culture in place at the above mentioned company, providing and deploying the right mixture of skills, knowledge and experience will be essential in maintaining the culture type already in place. Create and maintain relationship between the people who work for and with the organization. Thereby catering for the changing needs of those employed to Specsavers. Undertaking measures that will ensure proper execution of action that will promote success for all. Employees are expected to share Specsavers vision of providing patients with the best possible service. In realizing the companys vision Human resource must assist by ensuring proper training for the human resource workforce. Before sharing the companys vision one must first have full knowledge as to what are the companys. Therefore it creating a manual outlining the companys vision and objectives would be a good way to start, then ensure that all staff is furnish with a copy. While not everyone enjoys reading; the next step for human resource would be to host seminars explaining the document in its entirety, giving individuals a chance to voice their concerns and have their questions answered. With full knowledge as to the objectives and vision of the company all parties involve will be better able to embrace and realize the companys vision, thereby enhancing their personal growth as well as the companys growth. One key factor in employee motivation and retention is the opportunity employees want to continue to grow and develop job and career enhancing skills. In fact, this opportunity to continue to grow and develop through training and development is one of the most important factors in employee motivation. Other ways of ensuring staff has the potential to deliver quality customer care and are motivated are: Ask the employee to train other employees with the information learned at a seminar or training session. Offer the time at a department meeting or lunch to discuss the information or present the information learned to others. Expand the job to include new, higher level responsibilities. Provide the opportunity for the employee to cross-train in other roles and responsibilities. Assign the employee to head projects or teams. Provide more authority for the employee to self-manage and make decisions. According to the overview Specsavers depends on its people to deliver at the highest level, thus with such measures and more implemented the directors and owners at Specsavers along with its customers will be in for a treat as it relates to customer care. While all three (3) terms are job related and can be observed within most organization worldwide, one should always bear in mind that there are differences between the terms explained below. Job roles within organizations come with different levels of responsibilities. Such levels are directly related to persons expertise and training. Job description is a written statement that defines the duties, relationships and results expected of anyone in the job. It is an overall view of what is to be done in the job. Typically it includes is a written statement that defines the duties, relationships and results expected of anyone in the job. It is an overall view of what is to be done in the job. On the other hand, job specification can be deem to be a statement of employee characteristics and qualifications required for satisfactory performance of defined duties and tasks comprising a specific job or function. Technology and Human Resources In todays world information cannot be carried out effectively without high-tech tools. Technology has simply changed the way in which companies communicate overall. By extension technology has changed the skills that employees really need. While trying to cope with such changes companies word wide has to also deal another growing disease known as globalization. Globalization simply reduces the autonomy of the nation state. Hence, provide less protection and barriers to trade; allow companies the freedom to move their jobs elsewhere; in the end force companies to choose the lay off or redundancy path. As a result firms today are threatened by globalization, technological advancement and sustainability challenges. In handling each challenge the human resource managers do have a role to play. He or she must direct the firm in dealing with as well coping with the rapid changes. Such HRM must develop systems to ensure that their human resource is highly productive. Such a person must ensure that their way of doing things is highly adoptable. Thereby able to change quickly to suit the needs of the market thereby meet the need of their customer and at the same time outperform their competitor. To further deal with the sudden changes HR must familiarize themselves with sophisticated devices, this while educating others employees. In the same breath use electronic communication to develop measures to safeguard data integrity; protect customer data thereby preventing identity theft. Motivating employees to perform effectively from remote locations; as well as managing IT cost and new developments are also great ways of directing a firm. Raise standards: The human resource manager is responsible for the establishment of standards that provide quality management guidance and quality assurance requirements for business. These standards allow manufacturing to receive certification for complying with world-class standards for quality. This certification is important to have especially if you are handling large global accounts and need for your customers to trust that your product is in compliance with set standards of quality. According to Gary Dressler; Human Resource Management is a process of creating and maintaining relationship between the people who work for and with an organization. At Specsavers a lot depends on its people to deliver the highest standard in terms of customer care. In return staff members are provided with variety of interesting job roles, as well as opportunities for career development. With such culture in place at Specsavers poor management and leadership style will have adverse effects on relationship with staff; thereby interfere with performance of the business. The harmony and quality of the team revolves around good leadership. The impact of bad leadership can turn out to be an expensive experience for the company. Good leadership is the driving force that pushes the members forward to the company objectives. Management must understand the strengths and weaknesses of its members or team and provide the encouragement to the team. Praise and encouragement on good work has immense power to bring out the best in a person. However a poor leader only sees the weaknesses and uses it as a way for blaming the members which results in a low morale within the team. A team with a low morale loses interest in their tasks, leading to delay in the production of outputs. Delay in the results leads to the payment of penalty, thereby eating up a huge portion of the companys revenue. Similarly a highly de-motivated team on losing the passion to work fails to come up with innovative ideas and has a lower level of commitment to the task allotted. This has a negative impact on the productivity of the products and services. Inability to come up with imaginative and innovative ideas can lead to the loss of business, especially in knowledge industry as the customers prefer those companies which can aid to its profitability through significant brainstorms. The team leader assists the team members to identify their individual goals on the basis of their strengths and weaknesses. An individual who lacks the leadership skills fails to assess the strengths and weaknesses of his team and thus would not be able to guide his team in attaining the goals. Absence of an effective counsel leads to ineffective time management. The long hours put in leads to a disruptive work-life balance bringing about a high level of physical and mental stress. High level of stress ends up in physical and psychological diseases, thereby making one abstain from office for days. Failure to provide the output on the pre determined date leads to the payment of huge penalties to the customers and loss of business. Thus a quick recovery from this cycle is inevitable for the survival of the business entity. A poor manager has little control over time management. His ineffective leadership fails to draw commitment to work resulting to long hours in the office. He also fails to understand the individual capabilities of his members, pushing unmanageable work load on the team members. Lack of an effective communication amongst the manager and the team members, the heavy work load, and the immense dissatisfaction forces the individuals to move to another project within the same company or to resign from the company. Thus poor leadership qualities are one of the major causes for labour attrition. The importance of induction training must not be underestimated at anytime, this as it signals the start of the relationship between an employer and employee. It is during this time important standards and patterns are set so as to enhance good behavior for the future. Inductions should develop the skills, knowledge and behavior that an organization needs. These requirements need to be defined beforehand in order to ensure a smooth working relationship. Induction training should entails immediate needs and priorities, so health and safety, facilities and conveniences should always be explained immediately. It is also important to ensure employees understand any contractual relationships they are entering into. Other aspects of such induction should focus on the organization and the job. Regarding the organization, new employees should be given a structured view of the organization by receiving mission statements, structure charts and business plans. They need to know how they fit into an organization, so meetings with appropriate people and accountability charts are vital. Inductees must also be familiarized with the culture of an organization and also need to understand all relevant rules. This way when given the job persons will hit the ground running have full understanding of what is required of him or her; thereby not hampering production in any way. Balanced Scorecard The purpose of the balanced scorecard is to implement a business strategy thereby translating it into a set of performance measures derived from strategic goals that allocate rewards to executives and managers based on their success at meeting or exceeding the performance measures. Balanced Scorecard enables companies to evaluated activities from various perspectives such as: Financial perspective Customer perspective Process perspective Innovation perspective http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTHWuztOjGZ5nZV8Y795LtpIiAs-NryApxcMP3HUYUFSOli2km7wQ Building a Country: Malaysias Development Building a Country: Malaysias Development Abstract In this paper, the major discussion is about the process of building Malaysia country. Besides, it also includes how the Malaysian people accept the revolution from Sultanate perspective until the country becomes a democratic country. Malaysia had achieved their independence day in the year of 1957. In these democratic countries, there are a few political parties which are formed before Malaysia gets their independence day from the British which are United Malays National Organization (UMNO), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Indian through Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC). In that time, they are the three biggest political parties which are occupied by the three biggest ethnic in Malaysia which are Chinese, Malay and Indians. These parties are formed to fight for the independence of our country, Malaya which is now Malaysia. In addition, the factors which affect the process of building our country, Malaysia are also being discussed in this paper. Besides, through this paper, we will also know how our prime minister builds Malaysia. Introduction 31 August 1957 is a historical day in Malaysia because it is the day where Malaysia gained its independence from British which had colonized our country for few decades. At that time, the major politic parties which consists of United Malays National Organization (UMNO), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) which are being separated by their ethnic and different identity. These parties had to cooperate together by putting aside of their own ethnic and misunderstanding to deal with the independency of our country, Malaysia. In this way, these political parties, UMNO, MCA and MIC had formed an association party based on their own ethnic to participate in the election to choose a leader to lead the peoples to fight for independence. On that time, Tunku Abdul Rahman, which has become our first prime minister in Malaysia had changed the current style of setting up an association of government through the election where the winning party does not have suf ficient votes from the peoples to form a government. After that, a new political party, the Alliance party, is being formed after people from different ethnic done with dealing within each other. Tunku Abdul Rahman, our deceased prime minister is the leader of the Alliance party and he has won the election on that time with the agreement from UMNO, MCA and MIC where they cannot be one of the participate where the leader of the Alliance party contest. It is the first in the history in all over the world where a multi-racial together formed a political party. Malaysia, which is located in the middle of the Southeast Asian region in the world map, is directly affected by many other factors. There are some of the important principles which must be examined before analyze the politics in Malaysia, for example, most of the people in Malaysia are Malay, so they are the leader in the politics. Besides, social civilization and politics have a strong bond between them. In addition, culture be tween different religions also has some effect on Malaysian politics. Historical Perspective of Malaysian Politics: Nationality and Politics On 16 September 1963, Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo (Sabah) has combined to become a union called Malaysia. All the states in Malaysia claim that they are Malaysian people and there is no any separation compared to the neighbor country such as Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines. This shows that even though Malays are the dominant in this country and they have the first priority if compared to other clan in Malaysia, they still can tolerate and accept each other with different ethnic and races. There are few states in Malaysia which have their own Sultan which is the head of the state and even though after the federation of Malaysia, those state with the Sultan will still have their own power. While in Sabah and Sarawak, they are given to have their own way to administrate their own states. The unity among the people from different states allowed Malaysia to change from a small country into a big country. After Malaysia has become independence in 1957, they seldom focus ed on the nation building compared to state building. But after Mahathir has taken over the prime minister position, he promoted a ‘Look East’ policy which gives the first priority to the east. Besides, he also makes Malaysia to recognize as an Islamic state and the government is ruling the country with a right view. The Transformation from ‘sultanate nationality’ to ‘nation building’ Malays, who are the dominant in Malaysia, are divided into few groups because of different states and ethnic and they are the main subjects when defining the nation building in Malaysia. Besides, they are strongly influenced by the loyalty, the Sultan and the King except for those who lives in Penang, Singapore and Malacca. These three states do not have any Sultan or King, so, they have to pay their loyalty to who govern the states. There are some divisions of the states in Malaysia which are Pahang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Perak is called Negeri-negeri Melayu Bersekutu, while Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, Johor and Terengganu are called as Negeri-negeri Tidak Bersekutu. While for Penang, Singapore and Malacca which do not have any Sultanate or King are called Negeri-negeri Selat. All this separation had created some arguments which have affected the nation building. UMNO and Malayan Union in 1946 UMNO, a party which united all the Malay association from the Peninsula to fight for the proposal of Malayan Union by the effort of a Johor Malay leader, Dato Onn Jaafar. Malayan Union is to unite all the Malays and non-malays to create an equal citizenship. Besides, Malayan Union also has a new idea which is to replace the traditional leaders, Sultanate, with a Governor. But, the Malays, who claim themselves as a Bumiputera reject this idea because they think that this might harm their identity and leadership of the Malay itself. In addition, they also rejected the concept that created by the British. Due to the strong power from the Malay dominant, the British colonial power to realize that they will not have any chances to win the support of the Malay communities through the rejection. After that Persekutuan Tanah Melayu was formed to replaced Malayan Union which is led by Dato’ Onn Jaafar. ‘Nation Building’ and ‘State Building’ under Tunku Abdul Rahman Tunku Abdul Rahman is the first leaders who balance the races and ethnicity between three major communities. He is the first leaders who gain the trust of all the communities in Malaysia at that time. Furthermore, the compromises between the leaders of different communities towards the power politics also under controlled. In Malaysia, the power politics are used to ensure that the multi religious-custom society is able to govern without any revolution which will cause chaos. Besides, it is also important that the nation building ethnic and the race in a country is stabilizing because it will cause harm if the racial ethnic balance is being neglected. During the general election in May 1969, Tunku Abdul Rahman has made a toleration with the sensitive issues which involves religious and racial. Besides, Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Razak also realized that harmony between the communities is the most important to ensure the peace of Malaysia. In September 1970, Tunku Abdul Razak replaced Tunku Abdul Rahman as the second prime minister in Malaysia. While in 1971, our second prime minister, Tunku Abdul Razak introduced a new policy, Dasar Ekonomi Baru. The purpose of this policy is to abolish the famine, to make equality to the socio-economic and abolish the recognition of the race towards the economic function. In addition, he is the first who formed the Barisan National to take over the Alliance Party which has become a strong party at that time. Until today, our Malaysia Government retains this strong national resilience to make sure the stability of the politic in our country. Besides, he also succeeds in building a good diplomatic relationship between the other countries. Due to the diplomatic relationship with China, it improves the position of Chinese ethnic in Malaysia which they can go to China anytime they wanted to. When our fourth prime minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir led our country, it is the best performance in Malaysia where all the sectors shows a good re sult. Malaysia as a Fundamental Moderate Islamic Country: Malaysia, is it an Islamic or Secular State? When our first prime minister led Malaysia, he ever said that Malaysia has an official religion which is Islam. But this statement has brought many troubles to Malaysia because the others who are non-Muslims and even for the Muslims also unsatisfied with this statement. Some even said that this is an anti-Islamic and causes the Muslims to separate into few different groups which are extreme, moderate and liberal. Many questions have been asked according to that statement and thus causing the worldwide politics become a complicated and brings harm to Islam. Malaysia, which is mostly dominated by Muslims, some of the parties like Pan Malayan Islamic Party (PMIP or PAS) take this opportunity to obtain their support in the election by using Islam as their center. They even use this to influence their supporters that UMNO and BN are the parties who will bring harms to Islam in their campaigns. Besides, they even develop a slogan ‘Membangun Bersama Islam’ to announce Hudud as a part of Islamic law and uses this to win over the votes from the Muslim supporter. Malaysia and Terrorism Dr. Mahathir has clarified the misunderstanding by some of the peoples on Islam in BBC interview due to some people call the Muslims as a terrorist. This has caused Malaysia has been prejudiced by other country due to this kind of statement. But, they do not know the truth which our country, Malaysia, is the only one multi-racial country who wins against the terrorism. Besides, Malaysia uses its democratic system to won against the communism after World War II. Tunku Abdul Rahman, who was the leader of Malaysia at that time, also stated that he has prepared to fight against the terrorism rather than staying there doing nothing and he also encourage the people to fight for it. After that, the spirit of fight against the terrorism has influenced many other countries and thus, Malaysia has become the role model. In addition, Malaysia also shows to the outside world that they can live peacefully and harmony in one country with multi-racial and urge the world community to stop hurting eac h other. Unfortunately, some other people who misunderstand Dr. Mahathir who encourage the people in the world not to fight with each other like copying what Osama Ben Laden said. This caused the foreign people think that we are only acting to the world towards the terrorism but actually we are supporting it. It is bad to judge our country like this because we are really a multi-racial who can live peacefully with each other, tolerate and accept different culture between us. But fortunately Mahathir shown to the world by forming the GERAKAN which is represent by Muslim and non-Muslim. Fundamental Islamic Country When Malaysia firstly announces our country as a ‘fundamental based Islamic’ country, this news shocked all the Malays especially the PAS. Besides, Mahathir also said that whoever does not support the government parties will definitely go to hell after they died. It has frightens a lot of people. In addition, Mahathir also wanted to get rid of PAS because he thinks that most of the Malay will support PAS just because of their ideology. In addition, he also said that when building a country, development is more important than punishment and he said that he dislikes using weapon to rule the country. Furthermore, the non-Muslims know that the announcement given by Mahathir will not bring any harm to them because they have faith with Mahathir that he will guide Malaysia towards a good future. Even the UMNO in Penang, which is a politic party based by Malay, was also run by a Chinese leader. This can show that the harmony between the multi-racial in our country where they can accept each other. Malaysia and Mahathir as an Agent of Change: Malaysian State Building at the Era of the Globalized World Dr. Mahathir, Malaysia fourth prime minister stated that globalization means that it is a world without any border but does not mean everything named globalization is a good thing and must be well prepared if anything bad is happen, an action is needed to be taken. Malaysia is developing well under the lead of Dr. Mahathir and he never give up to guide Malaysia towards a better future. Besides, he also never loses direction when Malaysia is facing crisis. In addition, he also encourages the people to maintain a good relationship with their neighbor’s country. By this way, just can bring a lot of benefit to us while contribute to the economy of our country. Furthermore, Dr. Mahathir also realize that the global effects might bring negative effect to our country, so he hopes that this kind of effect can be minimize. Malaysian Ways: Role Models in Handling the Financial Crisis When Dr. Mahathir flash back the crisis that happened in 1969, he said that all the community should cooperate together to ensure that the crisis will not happened again. He also found an effective ways to reduce the divergence between different races and try to abolish the famine among the community. While dealing with the crisis of economic in Malaysia, he also facing the disturbance of the politic which caused by the other politic party who opposes the Barisan Nasional. But, Dr. Mahathir is good at dealing with the crisis. He was able to find an effective ways to handle the crisis by develop a new strategy to rebuild the economic in Malaysia. He also ever said that Malaysia is a business country where they trade and buy. This is how the economic in Malaysia grow. Besides, we also need the investment by the foreign country and maintain a good relationship with others country. When Dato’ Mustapa Mohamed work as our second finance minister, he bring our country economy back to the right track and thus Malaysia have an excellent achievement on that time. While in 1997, our country faces the crisis of currency but, Dr. Mahathir had decide to find ways to fix the currency exchange rates to save our country from financial crisis. A strategy has been developed to maintain the currency of our country. After the new strategy started, there is a change in Malaysia economic. Then they even build National Economic Action Council (NEAC) to give them some advice on the economic problem faced by our country. With the help of NEAC, some movements have been taken to solve the crisis. Besides, the government also takes some action to control the currency from being flowing out too much from our country. But fortunately this control is just for a while and the share market of our currency has back to normal and the investment from the foreign country is not affected. Many people invest in our country because our currency is in a fixed rate at most of the time and this is a good thing. Furthermore, the way how our country control the flow of our currency has also been recognized and used by the global financial system because it is unexpectedly a good way to solve the financial crisis and thus causing other foreign country to look high on our fourth prime minister, Dr. Mahathir. Meanwhile, some of the investor from western quit from invest on our market and luckily that time China stepped in and lend us a hand. A year has passed and our country has finally revived from financial crisis and many foreign countries started to accept the way how our Dr. Mahathir deals with the financial crisis. After a few years, Bank Negara Malaysia showed that the economy in our country has improved and our currency is now acceptable by the foreign country. This means that Malaysia finally survived from the financial crisis with the help of our prime minister, Dr. Mahathir. Conclusion As a conclusion, the way how our ministers build our country and save our country from many kind of crisis is a history and it should be remembered by every Malaysian. Without those leaders, our country will not have a better life like nowadays with how they fight for our independence from colony of British and save us from crisis. They had shown to the world how a leader should be like and the capability which must have in a leader. Without the leaders, our country, Malaysia will not become a strong country which brings a lot of contribution to the world. Besides, all kind of challenges which faced by our country has become our experience to make us a better country and try to maintain a good relationship between the multi-racial.

The Alcoholic Father Revealed in the Film, William Faulkner: A Life on Paper :: Faulkner Moses

The Alcoholic Father Revealed in the Film, William Faulkner: A Life on Paper While listening to William Faulkner’s daughter, Jill, attempt to describe her father’s personality, I recognized the desire to defend and protect the memory of a provider who was ultimately unknowable to her. It seemed as if each phrase was tentatively spoken as a way of avoiding being untruthful. Mostly, I recognized the inability to truly know an alcoholic parent. I repeat the word ‘recognize’ intentionally. I lived with an alcoholic until I was ten. My stepfather had two personalities: Nick and Earl. Earl was the soft-spoken, earnest hard worker. He was a log cutter for a company that supplied East Texas timber to the local Georgia-Pacific Paper Mill. Each weekday morning he would arise before everyone else, load and fire-up the small woodstove in the living room so that we would awaken to a warm house. By the time my mother aroused my brother and me at 6 a.m. for school, Earl was already gone to work. We would arrive home from school before he finished working and anticipate his return. We would listen for the sound of Earl’s work truck pulling into the yard and run to meet him on the porch. Earl would crouch to greet us and sometimes swing me into the air playfully. My brother and I would follow him into the house and compete to tell him about our school day, and when Earl found his spot on the couch, we would help him unlace his work boots. He would pay us each a quarter for our deed. We would retreat to the yard to play or to our bedroom to watch television while Earl took his evening bath and ate the dinner plate my mom had put aside for him. â€Å"Nick† usually emerged shortly after dinner. He drank pints of Canadian Whiskey from the bottle with the casual speed of a chain smoker. Nick spoke often†¦in loud slurred sentences. His tone toward my mother became very disrespectful. Nearly every sentence began with â€Å"bitch† and was invariably decorated with multiple usage forms of â€Å"mother fucker.† He was not physically violent and posed no such threat. When my mother would tire of his barrage of accusations and complaints, she would sternly tell him to â€Å"shut up.† He would then stumble into their bedroom, fall across the bed fully dressed, and sink into a stupor punctuated by his snore.

Essay on Gregor as Christ in Kafkas Metamorphosis -- Metamorphosis es

Gregor as Christ in Kafka's Metamorphosis In his "Metamorphosis", Kafka utilizes an allegorical technique to compare Gregor's sacrifices to those of Jesus in the Bible. Ultimately, both Gregor and Jesus sacrifice their lives so that they can help their loved ones, despite betrayal.   Kafka uses this biblical allegory to illustrate Gregor's Christ-like actions. In the Bible, God, sacrifices his only son, a respectable, revered "heavenly" figure, allowing Jesus to live amongst sinful people. In human form, Jesus treats the common people's illnesses and performs miracles to help them; above all, he cares for them and loves them.   Jesus is selfless, endlessly devoting himself to helping and serving others, and ensuring that they will have a better life by showing them "the way" to God.   Jesus sacrifices his life in heaven to come to Earth and help his people. Just as Jesus makes personal sacrifices to help his people, Gregor similarly sacrifices his dreams and happiness to provide a good life for his family.   Gregor's life revolves around his job as a travelling salesman.   He is committed to his work, although he dislikes his job, "what a gruelling job I've picked.   If I didn't hold back for my parents' sake, I would have quit long ago" (4).   Gregor's life lacks comfort and joy; he is constantly travelling, and is unable to form quality relationships.   However, he sacrifices his dreams for future happiness so that he can provide for his family.   As the sole 'breadwinner' of his family, Gregor keeps only a few dollars from his paycheque each month, using the rest to pay family debts and sending the money home to his parents.   His family is completely dependent on him for financial security, and Gregor's generosity preven... ...trayed by his family, he is imprisoned in his room; however, he "thought back on his family with deep emotion and love".   His affection for his family results in his conviction that he must disappear, so that he can bring them happiness and peace.   Gregor sacrifices his life and dies during the night to save his family from hardship.   He loves them unconditionally, like Jesus loves his people, and does not criticise them for betraying and mistreating him. Gregor's final sacrifice of his life is the strongest comparison of his Christ-like attributes. In Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" Gregor's sacrifices are shown to be Christ-like by the horrible treatment he receives from others, his betrayal by his family, and his selfless reactions and eventual death. Works Cited: Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Trans. and ed. Stanley Corngold. New York: Bantam, 1972.

Curb Your Enthusiam †an in Depth Analysis Essay

In the year 2000, the legendary comedian, Larry David ,created curb Your Enthusiasm. It is a comedy television series produced by HBO about Larry David, starring Larry David himself. He plays himself as a retired comedian producer and writer. The show follows him through his day to day life, which frequently puts him in awkward situations as he often gets annoyed with the status qua and normal social situations. Larry is extremely vocal about his irritations, involving not only him, but the other characters on the show. The show depicts an unflinching, self-deprecating depiction of his life and the lives of his family and friends. The show is called Curb Your Enthusiasm because Larry David feels that most people live their lives by means of false enthusiasm. He thinks they do this in order to give off the impression that â€Å"we are better than you†. Larry also called the show Curb because he did not want his audience to expect too much from the show following seinfelds enormous success. Curb eventually became one of the most critically acclaimed television series, reaping in numerous awards and fans. There are many versatile characters on Curb Your Enthiusiasm, which makes the show extremely dynamic. His wife and eventually ex wife, Cheryl, played by Cheryl Hines is usually Larrys voice of reason. She often guides Larry in the right direction of the social norms, and vociferously expresses her annoyance with him on his many social faux passe. Larrys best friend, Jeff Greene, played by Jeff Garlin, is another major influence on Larry’s character. He is known to be without morals and scruples, paying little regard to the fact that he is married and with a child. Many times, Jeff gets Larry involved in his infidelities, constantly building to Larrys own drama. His wife, Susie Green , played by Susie Essman, is a bully. She is constantly putting down her husband,Larry, and friends, often using profanity and sheer uncouth behavior. Although she has a foul mouth, she walks on the straight path of morality versus her husband and Larry. Last but not least, Larry himself. Larry is an uncivilized, crude, and neurotic individual. He usually has good intentions, but they are blinded by his selfish and stubborn personality. He is not shy about his thical principles and morals, and continuously voices his opinion when a situation does not go his way. Generally, he initiates his situations on petty details, which snowball into major issues and dilemmas. He pursues what he perceives to be the right path, although the social norms may dictate something else entirely. His actions continuously lead him into awkward, entertaining, and side splitting situations which he is persistent about correcting. His misjudgments are so extraordinary that Larry David created a place for himself in pop culture termed a â€Å"Larry David Moment†: an extremely awkward social situation. Some of Larry’s most famous indiscretions are â€Å"stopping and chatting† with acquaintances and tipping at restaurants. Larry David himself is an extremely talented comedian. He, along with Jerry Seinfeld co-wrote and produced the mega popular Seinfeld. After nine seasons of Seinfeld , it was an end to an era. Seinfeld ran its last episode in 1998. In 1999, Larry produced the first Curb Your Enthusiasm. Originally It was meant to be a one time exclusive, a one hour mockumentary- when the characters are aware of the precense of the cameras and crew. The show turned out to be a major success. The Larry David show quickly snowballed into Curb Your Enthusiasm, one of the greatest and highly acclaimed shows of all time. Television has many different popular genres, styles, and programs. Before Curb Your Enthusiasm arrived on the scene, the most popular programs from the nineties were Roseanne, Friends, Full House, Family Matters, and Everybody Loves Raymond. These television shows formed TV into new directions and defined the humor of the decade. They were the start of television sitcoms- shortened for situation comedies. A sitcom is a show that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue. Originally, sitcoms started as radio shows, but as we evolved to a television-oriented society, sitcoms acclimated as well. One of the most famous original sitcoms is I Love Lucy, known for being one of the best and most popular shows of all time. It was the first show to perform in front of a studio audience. Lucy showed and influenced society in many ways such as the difference between the sexes. â€Å"The I Love Lucy show continued the ever-popular and age-old â€Å"battle between the sexes† scenarios. Ricky and Fred would try to â€Å"teach† the girls a lesson now and then, and vice versa. In many ways the â€Å"Ricky & Fred† team vs. The â€Å"Lucy & Ethel† team put men and women on equal ground, as the two continually schemed against one another with similar rates of successful schemes and backfired ones. This was one way for Lucy to escape the submissive housewife image with some defiance of her own. There was a constant desire to outdo the other sex, which perhaps was a signal of the changing times and changing roles men and women would hold in the coming decades†. Sitcoms used single camera filming style, which was more practical given the visual effects used in these shows. This allowed for the careful creation of special effects and sharp editing, features which were not possible with the same finesse in a multi-camera production. Many of these programs were not filmed before live audiences, and featured a laugh track. Jerry Seinfeld, in 1989, created Seinfield, the mega popular sitcom, known to be one of the greatest shows of all time. Seinfield follows the life and creator Jerry Seinfeld, as he lives his life using absurdism- conflict between the human tendencies to seek inherent value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any. The characters of Seinfeld have no morals, hope, ambition, and compassion. Everything they do leads to failure. The show is a show about â€Å"nothing†, meaning there is no climax or moments of pathos for any of the characters. Curb also uses many of the same attributes. The show is based on absurdism, with the characters having little or no morals whatsoever. It is also a show about â€Å"nothing†, following the characters mundane day to day tasks. Television shows have a major cultural affect on society. Friends, for example, was so popular that its influences still affect us till this day. Of example, Rachels haircut is called â€Å"The Rachel†, Joeys catchphrase â€Å"How you doin† and the Central Perk Franchise are just a few of the cultural affects Friends had on our society. It also changed the format of love and family, thriving on the concept that â€Å"all you need is good friends†. The sitcom depicts the idea that we can choose our family and live life in a more unconventional manner. According to pop-culture expert at the University of Buffalo, Friends is â€Å"one of those rare shows that marked a change in American culture†. Most of the Television shows that premiered when Curb Your Enthusiasm came out were complete opposites of it. For examples, shows such as Gilmore Girls, Smallville, Scrubs, and Degrassi were extremely popular. These shows are all drama comedies, scripted, and the fictional opposite of documentary style. Another popular television show is Grey’s Anatomy. Grey’s Anatomy is a medical drama about a group of surgeons working at Seattle Grace Hospital. The show centers on Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and her life as a resident at the hospital. In addition to her relationship with her neurosurgeon husband, Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), and best friend Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), it also explores her relationships with her peers and the other doctors around her. It is filled with romantic drama and ethical dilemmas that are extremely unrealistic. The characters are also very good looking and impracticable. Curb is unique in many ways that makes it exceptionally hilarious and an instant cult classic. The show is mostly improvised, meaning that there is no real script that the show sticks to. The characters have a storyline, based off of a couple of pages written by Larry David himself. The actors then improvise their dialogue based on the story outline, direction, and their own creativity. Unlike most other popular sitcoms, Curb has basically no writers, no script, and no rehearsal. The characters are raw, and easily believable. They do not dress in high fashions, look like models, or act like people normally would. There is no epic romances or crazy drama. The show is just Larry taking on the social scene in his own unique way. In many episodes, Curb—like its predecessor Seinfeld—tied together apparently unrelated events woven throughout a given episode into an unforced climax that resolves the story lines simultaneously, either to Larry’s advantage or detriment. For example, in the episode The Black Swan ( season seven, episode 7) that is exactly the case. In the beginning of the episode, Larry discovers that his mothers gravestone is misspelled and vows to fix it. Larry and his buddies are then seen at the snobby golf club, which has many rules that Larry constantly breaks, including accidently killing the owners swan and other golf member and refusing to tip the waiter. At the end of the show the grave says â€Å"mother of swan killer† and Larry gets caught. The whole show ties together beautifully, with every detail eventually playing a part in the ending. Another example of the show is Every show displays this brilliance, making it hilarious and highly enjoyable to watch. The show also uses a single camera setup. The single camera setup is generally utilized on comedy series that either require or strive for specific shots and camera angles and visual set-pieces. When the potential of the single camera filming style is fully maximized the camera movement, the way shots are composed and edited, and other directorial flourishes, will be as much a source of comedy as the behavior of the characters. The shows asthetics are also plain and simple, making it seem as if its real life and easy to believe. This leads to the style of the show- a mockmentary. Mockumentarys are in the same style as a documentary, yet shot when the cast is fully aware that the cameras and crews are there- like a fake documentary. It is highly improvised, meaning the characters do not memorize a script and just act. They must be creative with the story and put their own â€Å"sparkle† in it. The show is not filled with the typical dramas and unrealistic actors that other leading television series are famous for. It is therefore easily relatable and loveable. Another example using all these elements is from season eight, episide three- The Palestinian Chicken. Larry relishes his role as a â€Å"social assassin† until it becomes a liability with his friends, on the golf course and at a Palestinian restaurant. The story once again has a beginning, middle, and ends which all ties together towards the end of the episode. Another appealing aspect to the show is its depiction of Jewish characters. Vincent Brook stated, â€Å"Curb’s commitment to Jewish identification greatly enhances its storytelling capacity, as it lends greater realism and dimension to the characters and opens the show up to episodes with meaningful Jewish themes. † Larry’s character mirrors the â€Å"schmiel† from Yiddish folklore. The schlemiel is usually a comic character whose actions lead to his inevitable downfall, but also stands as a form of resistance to social and cultural values and norms. David Gillota wrote: â€Å"As a true schlemiel, Larry’s failure serves as a direct challenge to the status quo and encourages viewers to question the myriad unwritten rules that we follow in our everyday lives. † Gillota also observed: â€Å"Whereas the schlemiel of Eastern Europe encountered problems that mostly affected Eastern European Jews (such as anti-Semitism and economic survival), Larry encounters problems that affect contemporary middle- to upper-class American Jews, namely, Jewish assimilation, secularism, intermarriage, and, as all of these uggest, the Jews’ precarious ethnic identity in an increasingly multicultural environment. â€Å" Alec Berg, one of the writers for Curb and Seinfeld said, â€Å"Structure, structure, structure. Every single thing in a script must advance the plot or define a character more deeply (ideally both, in a hilarious way) or it will die in the edit†. Larry David himself is nowhere near as vivacious as the Larry David he plays onscreen. Larry lives vicariously through his character, acting as a total social piranha wherever and whenever he pleases. He has said in an interview that, â€Å"he is my version of Superman. The character really is me, but I just couldn’t possibly behave like that. If I had my druthers, that would be me all the time, but you can’t do that. We’re always doing things we don’t want to do, we never say what we really feel, and so this is an idealized version of how I want to be. As crazy as this person is, I could step into those shoes right now, but I would be arrested or I’d be hit or whatever. I find the character to be honest. And honesty comes off as cranky or rude, I suppose. But that character is way happier than I am. I’m cranky. He’s not cranky. I’d be much happier if I were more like him. † He also said â€Å"From the character I play on the show? The only difference is he’s much more honest than I am. He’s brutally honest, and I am not. People seem to think that he’s cranky, I get that. I don’t see him as a curmudgeon. I just think he’s honest, and he gets in confrontations with people because he’s honest. I am not honest. Because of this very delicate, socially balanced world we live in, you can’t talk like that†. He feels as if he is breaking through a barrier, an inhibition that he couldn’t do as himself. In conclusion, Curb Your Enthusiasm is not your average Television show. Thanks to the comedic genius, Larry David, the show has become a smash hit success, running a full eight seasons and counting. It has become part of pop culture, establishing its own terms and concepts. The use of mockumentary, absurdism, dry humor, and realism are a major part of the shows charm and success. Filled with quirky and dry humor, Curb continues to break barriers, pleasing and shocking its audience’s episode after episode.

Bhagavad Gita on Krishnas Teachings

5. Bhagavad Gita The story in the Bhagavad Gita with Arjuna and Krishna has many teachings of Krishna about renunciation, selfless services, and meditation. It’s also important why Arjuna doesn’t want to wage war. There are many things that Krishna tells Arjuna. All of this will be brought up throughout the essay. In the story Arjuna does not want to wage war. His sudden reaction is reasoned by his internal feelings for this war. Arjuna doesn’t understand why he should have his family risk their lives in the war. Arjuna also does not agree with this war because he really does not like the kingdom that rules him anyways.Arjuna does not want to renounce his worldly possessions for peace in the action. At this point in time Arjuna doesn’t understand the selfless service in this action of war. Krishna appears in a bright light to Arjuna when Arjuna asked to see him. Krishna came to Arjuna to help him understand why he was being asked to wage war for the kingdo m. Krishna tells Arjuna many things when they are together discussing the war. Krishna begins by telling Arjuna about the life and death cycle of a Hindus. The life and death cycle in Hinduism is based on the persons Karma.Their Karma is what decides the reincarnation process and/or being of their next body. In Hinduism the reason of the life and death cycle is to work on their Karma. Krishna then explains that truly divine humans find peace in serving the gods. Therefore, Arjuna needs to be at peace with what Krishna and the other gods are asking of him in this war. This was to explain to Arjuna that he needs to find peace in his actions but not to renounce his worldly possessions for it. Arjuna again is struggling with allowing his family fight in this war where they could lose their lives.Krishna then wants Arjuna to do this selfless service for him. Selfless service is a way of serving the gods and a good practice of Karma. Meditation is a way of arriving at selflessness. Medita tion helps break the rebirth and death cycle, because meditation is used to focus on achieving the divine. Krishna was able to convince Arjuna that this war was a good thing. Arjuna, after spending the time with Krishna, felt reassured that his worries were for no reason and this action would help in eternity. Krishna explains his reasoning to Arjuna.Arjuna than understood his task and the teachings of Krishna. Renunciation to find peace in the action of war was one teaching of Krishna. Committing this selfless service for the gods was good for Arjuna’s karma was the second lesson that was taught during their meeting. The last teaching of Krishna to Arjuna was about the importance of meditation. All of Krishna’s teachings to Arjuna revolved around creating a better Karma and therefore, ending the rebirth, life, and death cycle. Ending that cycle is over all goal of the Hindus religion.