Psychosis Leads to Murder Essay Example for Free

Psychosis Leads to Murder Essay Throughout In Cold Blood, Truman Capote writes on the events directly before, during, and the happenings after the brutal murdering of the Clutter family in the quaint town of Holcomb, Kansas. The actions Dick Hickock and Perry Smith attracted Capote and led him to ultimately report on the entire ordeal. Throughout Capote’s masterpiece, In Cold Blood, Hickock and Smith’s deranged and psychotic actions directly correlate to a deep psychosis they both suffered for multiple years. Throughout the novel, In Cold Blood, the two murderers, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, show instances of unwarranted anger and aggression that leads readers into believing that a serious issue with their psyches have occurred. Early in, the novel Hickock states, â€Å"I didn’t want to harm the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft-spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat† (Capote 88). Here, the reader can clearly see Hickock contradicting himself but in in a rather frightening way. Smith also shows an instance of this as well later in the novel when he says, â€Å"I wish she’d been in that house that night. What a sweet scene!† (Capote 259). When Smith says ‘she’ in the previous, quote he is referring to his own sister. He vocalizes that he wishes his sister was among the Clutters in their house the night he and Dick killed them. This allows the reader to truly gage the depth of his psychosis by not even allowing himself to show any compassion to his own family. In Brian Conniff’s article â€Å"Psychological Accidents: In Cold Blood and Ritual Sacrifice,† he agrees with the previous thought by stating, â€Å"Hickock was the one with the ‘sexual intrest in female children’ who wants to stop, in the middle of the burglary, to rape Nancy Clutter,† a direct quote from Smith (5). Furnished from Capote’ s personal accounts, it allows the reader to see further into the extreme violence of the convicted felons. Aside from unwarranted anger and aggression, both, Hickock and Smith show a magnitude of signs that allow outsiders to infer that they, themselves, know of their mental condition and knowingly choose to ignore it. In many instances they vocalize this to each other and even to complete strangers. Shortly after the murders Smith said, â€Å"†¦The kind of psychotic rage it took to commit such a crime† (Capote 83). And Hickock mentioned, â€Å"I think there must be something seriously wrong with us to do what we did† (Capote 108). The context of these two quotes makes it quite easy to understand why readers believe that Hickock and Smith knew of their mental issues prior to the murders but both decided to ignore them. In Conniff’s article â€Å"Psychological Accidents: In Cold Blood and Ritual Sacrifice,† he agrees with the idea above by stating a written portion of an interview with Hickock done by Capote that reads, â€Å"Like all of the rest of the ‘normals,’ as Perry calls them—‘respectable people, safe and smug people’† (3). This is yet another solid acknowledgement of his insanity, which he chooses to blatantly ignore. Throughout the entire novel, Hickock and Smith both suffer seriously from psychotic delusions and emotional rants, which forces readers to perceive Hickock and Smith as mentally insane men. During one of these rants Smith exclaims, â€Å"I WANT TO CONESS!† (Capote 100). Hickock also shows multiple instances of emotional rants also. One of many comes when his sister says she will not contact him and he, overrun by emotion, states, â€Å"I wish she’d been in that house that night. What a sweet scene!† (Capote 259). And also, â€Å"I wouldn’t give a damn if this car caught fire and burned me alive† (Capote 188). Both these quotes appear while suffering severe shifts in emotions, which he could not control, thus proving his mental instability. After authorities caught the two, and while being questioned Smith stated, â€Å"It was part passion- a passion that was pathological,† meaning that he could not control himself (Capote 186). Small indications, such as these, allow readers to see deep into the psyche of Hickock and Smith, displaying disturbing images. Throughout unwarranted acts of anger and aggression, Hickock and Smith’s acknowledgement of their insanity, and the delusions and rants they experience directly correlation between their acts of horror and the deep psychosis they became trapped in late in their lives. This psychosis directly relates to why they did the terrible things they did, and why they didn’t think anything of it. This correlation becomes easily seen by allowing the reader to glance deep within the psyche of these two ruthless killers. Works Cited Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. New York: Random House, 1966. Print. Conniff, Brian. Psychological Accidents: In Cold Blood and Ritual Sacrifice. The Midwest Quarterly: A Journal of Contemporary Thought 35.1 (Autumn 1993): 77-94. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 164. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.

Strategic Planning for Small Business

Strategic Planning for Small Business Business description is the short plan to start up any kind of business. Business description includes all basic information like name of the business, location of the business, type of the business, etc. In it we include the service or products of the business. In this fast moving century everyone is in rush for whole day to satisfy their basic needs. Mainly in the morning everybody is running late for their jobs or schools. Most of the people have no time to cook food for them. To satisfy the appetite of the people in the morning we are thinking to set up an online Packed Meal business. Selling Packed Meals in the morning will be very helpful for those who cannot cook for themselves in the morning. We are planning to deliver the food at the railway stations or bus stops. At these public places people can easily grab the meal. To start this business first of all we are going to create a website by which people can order the food online. They can book the food in advance and accordin g to their orders we can deliver the food. We are planning to provide quick breakfast to the customers at railway station or bus stop. To order the food people can visit the website book an order and can pay online. For convenience of the customer we are setting a plan that customers can book order for the whole week and after week they can pay the amount of the food. It will be helpful for the customers in the sense that they can have food in the morning and secondly they can save time. Numerous surveys have revealed that breakfast is often skipped among Kiwis (Hills, 2012; Impact PR, 2016). Similarly, others have been making poor breakfast choices like leftover party food, pizza, fish chips, ice cream, and even beer (Impact PR, 2016; NZ Herald, 2016). Despite the widespread awareness of the important benefits of breakfast, it is quite alarming to see that many people still forego the need to make time for breakfast. These attitudes and habits towards breakfast are apparently influenced by a hectic lifestyle and poor time management. However, various surveys conducted in the past confirmed that nearly half of New Zealanders acknowledge breakfast as the most important meal of the day (Hills, 2012). It is at this point that a business idea comes to mind: to provide value by satisfying a need (Hartnett, 1998, as cited by Sweeney Soutar, 2001). In this case, it is the need for a good, convenient breakfast. Through an entrepreneurial endeavour supplemented with the col lection of the right information, this idea can become a business opportunity (Massey, 2005). Although a business opportunity does not guarantee success, this business idea requires the support of a business strategy so that it gains a reasonable chance to become a successful operation (Oliver English, 2012) in the near future. The aspired future state of a business or any organisation is described in the vision (Srivastava, Franklin, Martinette, 2013; Duygulu, Ozeren, IÃ…Å ¸Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ ±ldar, Appolloni, 2016). This statement provides a starting point (Kantabutra Avery, 2010) and a sense of direction for the business, hence, it should be clear, appealing and compelling (Srivastava, Franklin, Martinette, 2013; Hill, Jones, Schilling, 2014). The business idea comes with an ambitious but altruistic goal, hence, the vision statement: To cater to a multi-cultural society that does not miss breakfast. This above statement satisfies a number of definitions of vision. It is easy to understand, and represents the fundamental purpose of the business (Srivastava, Franklin, Martinette, 2013, p. 50). According to Kantabutra and Avery (2010), strategists have proposed numerous characteristics a powerful vision should possess, but these can be summarised as being concise, clear, stable, challenging, inspirational, and future-oriented. This bold vision not only indicates a long-term standpoint of the business (Hubbard, Rice, Galvin, 2014); it also offers an inspiring image of the big picture (Alter, 2001) which is a more desireable situation in the future. The mission statement is perceived to be a crucial factor in formulating business strategies that are sustainable (Duygulu, Ozeren, IÃ…Å ¸Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ ±ldar, Appolloni, 2016). It describes the organisations aim, the reasons for its existence, and what it is trying to accomplish (Duygulu, Ozeren, IÃ…Å ¸Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ ±ldar, Appolloni, 2016), all of which are extremely valuable in establishing the organisations major goals (Hill, Jones, Schilling, 2014). This business idea will be guided by the mission statement: Enriching busy Wellingtonians through a delightful breakfast to-go. The above mission statement is expressed in a progressive structure to connote the ongoing process and continuous improvement in developing this business. It is also customer-oriented (Wellingtonians) and does not focus on the products (breakfast items) alone. This broad approach acknowledges the possibility that there will be shifts in demand in the future and the main purpose of the business may need to be served in diversified ways (Hill, Jones, Schilling, 2014). Ultimately, the mission statement establishes what this business intends to excel at (Hubbard, Rice, Galvin, 2014) which is the provision of an enriching and delightful breakfast. The lifestyle preference this business wants to achieve is very evident in the product it aims to serve. The proponents of this business idea are relatively young adults who also constantly miss breakfast due to the demands of both work and studies. Values reflect the underlying behaviours, attitudes and outlooks held and used by the organisation in its operations and activities (Hubbard, Rice, Galvin, 2014). The proponents believe in the value of good health and nourishment a realisation that fundamentally produced this business idea. Innovativeness, the ability to create or adapt to, and implement new ideas into practice and new products (as cited by Lebedeva Grigoryan, 2013), is another essential value preferred by the proponents which should also be integrated into their personal lifestyle. Innovativeness will be a good basis for organisational behaviour once the business becomes operational as innovation is a key factor for survival in a dynamic environment. In the future, th e personal values of the business stakeholders should ideally be aligned with the value statement of the organisation by encouraging participation in its development (Alter, 2001). Social responsibility is integrating environmental and social concerns, apart from the financial aspects, in the strategic decisions of the organisation (Massey, 2005; Hubbard, Rice, Galvin, 2014). The simplest ways to practice social responsibility are by reducing energy consumption (i.e., during food production) and using recyclable food containers. In friendly and creative ways, customers will be reminded to recycle plastic items and dispose of food scraps responsibly. Donating food items to a charitable organisation (i.e., The Free Store, Kaibosh) is also highly considered, and will depend on the size of orders and calculated profit margins. Due to the small size of this business, the proponents will be open to collaborations with other small enterprises in various community involvements. Core values are the inherent principles that guide an organisations actions which eventually become the distinct features of the business entity (Lencioni, 2002). This potential business start-up will possess the following core values: Deliver a healthy breakfast on time. This business idea was formed out of poor time management and a busy lifestyle, hence, time plays a major factor in its implementation. It is extremely important to ensure that the food items are available at the right place and at the right time. In line with the over-arching vision to not miss breakfast, orders must always be on the agreed time of pick-up. Additionally, this core value also highlights the importance of a healthy breakfast which means ingredients are carefully selected, ethically sourced, and hygienically prepared. Listen to serve better. As a start-up business, what the customer has to say will determine its fate. During the first few weeks of operations, suggestions and comments will be proactively collected from customers through the website or direct interaction. Comments particularly about the food taste, variety and options will be taken into account for the subsequent servings. References Alter, S. (2001). Managing the double bottom line: a business planning resource guide for social enterprises. Washington DC: Pact Publications. Duygulu, E., Ozeren, E., IÃ…Å ¸Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ ±ldar, P., Appolloni, A. (2016). The sustainable strategy for small and medium sized enterprises: the relationship between mission statements and performance. Sustainability, 8(7), 698. doi:10.3390/su8070698 Hill, C. L., Jones, G. R., Schilling, M. A. (2014). Strategic management theory: an integrated approach. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning. Hills, M. (2012, 18 September). Busy lifestyles keep Kiwis from breakfast. Retrieved from NZ Herald: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6objectid=10834771 Hubbard, G., Beamish, P. (2011). Strategic management: thinking, analysis, action (4th ed.). New South Wales: Pearson Australia. Hubbard, G., Rice, J., Galvin, P. (2014). Strategic management: thinking, analysis, action (5th ed.). Melbourne: Pearson Australia. Impact PR. (2016, March 16). New Survey Reveals Kiwis Fast Food Breakfast Habits. Retrieved from Scoop Independent News: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1603/S00317/new-survey-reveals-kiwis-fast-food-breakfast-habits.htm Kantabutra, S., Avery, G. C. (2010). The power of vision: statements that resonate. Journal of Business Strategy, 31(1), 37-45. Lebedeva, N., Grigoryan, L. (2013). Implicit theories of innovativeness: cross-cultural analysis. Search (Working Paper), Moscow. Lencioni, P. M. (2002, July). Make Your Values Mean Something. Retrieved from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2002/07/make-your-values-mean-something Massey, C. (2005). Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management in New Zealand. Auckland: Pearson Education New Zealand. NZ Herald. (2016, March 16). Most important meal of the day? Kiwis swapping breakfast for fast food. Retrieved from NZ Herald: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1objectid=11606305 Oliver, L., English, J. (2012). The small business book: a New Zealand guide for the 21st century (6th ed.). Crows Nest, NSW: Leith Oliver and John English. Srivastava, M., Franklin, A., Martinette, L. (2013). Building a sustainable competitive advantage. Journal of Technology Management Innovation, 8(2), 47-60. Sweeney, J. C., Soutar, G. N. (2001). Consumer perceived value: The development of a multiple item scale. Journal of Retailing, 77, 203-220.

The Ionic Column :: Art Columns Architecture History Essays

The Ionic Column Throughout history, art has become the main source for entertainment, enlightenment, and acknowledgement. It entertains those who are bored in the everyday life. It enlightens those who seek another world and those who seek beauty with wild imaginations. It acknowleges those who seek development in nature and their own world. From the cave drawings of Paleolithic art in Lascaux , to the Ancient Egyptian pyramids, and to the classical Greek sculptures, art is a never ending cycle of productions and reproductions passed on from one generation to the next, and from one culture to the next. Art throughout history plays an important role because it tells us about man's development in culture, language, and life. Everyday, the works of art from the past have been reproduced to inspire and attract. As a key strategic method to attract people, advertisement is the common benefactor for the reminesences of art throughout the periods, such as, the classical Greek Ionic columns. So there are ne w uses of older art works in many places, including magazines, newspapers, television, internet, and shopping malls. ( Prof. Smith lecture). In this essay, a trace of the Ionic column may be found from a page in The Wall Street Journal that may have distinctive similarities and differences in its physical usage and psychological meaning. A new usage of an old work of art is found in the Wall Street Journal which has words formed into the shape of an Ionic column in black and white, found in a classical Greek order. The newspaper was dated October 9, 1996 and the new use of this classical Greek order was found in the last page of section B12. This Ionic shaped column is big and long, considering the fact that the size of the newspaper is bigger than 11 by 17 inches. The image of the size in the new use column may have been to imitate the actual size of Greek column approximately of over 12 feet tall. (Refer to picture of 5 columns and the Wall Street Journal). This ionic column is so detailed by the formation of companies' name, letterings, showing distinctive characteristics from other classical Greek orders. It has fluted shaft and the capital was decorated with volutes or two pairs of scrolls with graceful curves joined by a thin abacus, which is a square block to support the entablature.

A Comparison of Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum est to Alfred Tennyson’

A Comparison of Wilfred Owen’s â€Å"Dulce et Decorum est† to Alfred Tennyson’s â€Å"Charge of the Light Brigade† In this essay I will attempt to compare and contrast Wilfred Owen’s â€Å"Dulce et Decorum est† to Alfred Tennyson’s â€Å"Charge of the Light Brigade†. I will examine the use of poetic devices in the poems as well as outline what is happening in each. Wilfred Owen was born on the 18th of March 1893 in owestry, United Kingdom. He was the oldest of four children and was educated in an evangelical school. Though Owen rejected most of his beliefs by 1913 the influence of his education still remains evident in his poems and their themes of sacrifice, biblical language and his vivid, frightening description of hell. One of the main influences on Owen’s poetry was his meeting with Siegfried Sassoon, though Owen soon fashioned his own style and approach to the war. The characteristics of Owen’s poetry are the use of Para rhyme (The rhyming of two words which have the same consonants but whose stressed vowels are different), alliteration, and assonance. Alfred Tennyson was born on 5th August 1809 in Somersby, Lincolnshire and died on the 6th October 1892 to later be buried in the poet’s corner in Westminster Abby. Tennyson was often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry, succeeding Wordsworth as poet laureate in 1850. Wilfred Owen’s poems are inspired by the horrors of his own experiences in World War One from 28th July 1914 to 4th November 1918, the day that he died 1 week before the armistice. At the time of this poem there were excessive amounts of propagandistic poetry for example Jessie Pope’s â€Å"Who’s for the game?† Lord Alfred Tennyson’s â€Å"Charge of the Light Brigade† was written to commemorate the suicidal charge by British light cavalry over open terrain in the Battle of Balaclava (Ukraine) in the Crimean War from 1854 to 1856. This was the first war to have photographic media coverage. Of the 637 men involved in the charge, 247 were killed or injured. Tennyson describes the valiant charge of the light brigade into â€Å"the jaws of death†. Tennyson makes use of repetition, allusion, and personification to paint a vivid picture of the charge and at the same time give the reader an insight into the mind of the brave soldiers of the light brigade. The rhythm of this poem imitates the sound of the horses galloping towards th... ...nly minor injuries can me sustained from war for example a broken leg. I preferred â€Å"Charge of the light brigade† because the pace and rhyming scheme give a sense of action and excitement. Strong metaphors and similes are used to provide the reader with an insight into the minds of the soldiers. I especially like how Tennyson describes the conflict itself in the 4th stanza, as this is a strong example of the sense of action in his work. The perception of war has gone through much change since the time of Tennyson, in Tennyson’s time war was regarded as a good thing but over time the perception of war has completely reversed, and in my opinion it seems these days that war is something that should be avoided at all costs mainly due to the technical advances made giving war much more potential to destroy more than just lives. I will conclude this essay with a quote from â€Å"the charge of the light brigade† which I believe shows the heroism of those men who died for their country and persevered under impossible odds. â€Å"When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made! All the world wondered. Honour the charge they made, Honour the Light Brigade, Noble six hundred.

Universal Acids in Fairy Tales :: Dennett Civilization Essays

Universal Acids in Fairy Tales Dennett's idea of universal acid can be found in many aspects of human civilization. Darwin's universal acid was released into the scientific world as other forms of acid were being released and eating away at foundations society had taken centuries to set up. With the foundation quickly crumbling it became the task of several self selected individuals to patch up the cracks that were quickly becoming giant holes. Universal acid is an idea or thought that has the potential power of disintegrating long held beliefs or truths. " Darwin's idea cuts much deeper into the fabric of our most fundamental beliefs than many of its sophisticated apologists have yet admitted, even to themselves" (Dennett 18). But it can also be an idea which has the means of molding societal norms through its mere existence. An example of this would be fairy tales especially those written by The Brothers Grimm. These stories were not treated as a lethal form of universal acid because they were used to create social norms. In the fairy tales little girls and boys learned how to be women and men. They were also taught the rules of engagement for this new and diverse wilderness called civilization. The fairy tales and other such stories transcended culture and language. All over the world there are variations of Cinderella and other popular fairy tales. The universal acid in these stories was used as a means for eradicating inappropriate or deviant behavior. The acid shaped and molded what made good little girls and boys. Those who were outside the parameters set by these stories would, according to the fairy tales themselves, meet with horrible consciences. They would either not be chosen by the prince or would not receive the award that awaited the good girl. This is displayed in Grimm's rendition of Cinderella's dying mother's words "Dear child, be good and pious, and then the good God will always protect you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be near you" (Grimm 121). Being good is never enough. In order to survive happily in the new wilderness and individual would have to be not only good, but pretty. Beautiful, would be preferred, but being just pretty could be utilized to the individual's and their family's advantage. Through these fairy tales beauty is equated with meekness and even temperedness. These things are then used as commodities to bartered the family's way up the societal ladder and therefore increase their chances of survival in civilization.

The implementation of balanced scorecard in a Chinese car insurance company

It was decided that the best tool to gather data about stakeholders’ thoughts with regard to the Balanced Score Card system in Tian-an Car Insurance Company would be through interviews. A detailed questionnaire and data on the findings is found in the Appendix. 4. 3. Findings. The researcher found out that the implementation of the Balanced Score Card system did not succeed in this company. The reason for failure was not due to the technical nature of the BSC as a system but rather due to how it was implemented.Of great interest were the comments from four of the Tian-an Car Insurance Company branch managers interviewed. Three of the managers interviewed work with the Shanghai branch and one manager with the We Zhou branch. From the managers’ responses it became apparent that there were serious inadequacies in the way the BSC system was implemented. The findings below are arranged in three parts. First, the question that was posed by the researcher, second the answers t hat the managers gave and finally an interpretation of the findings.The findings follow a certain sequence that is intended to reveal the order in which the change agent should have implemented the BSC system so as to attain success. It has been found that implementation should have started with a consideration of the company’s strategy, followed by acceptance by every player, training, motivation and communication. 4. 3. 1. The current status in the company with regard to the BSC: The researcher posed the following question: â€Å"Is the company currently using balanced scorecard as a performance measurement system†?A manager answered that Tian-an Car Insurance Company â€Å"started to use it in June 2008†, but somewhere along the way they started experiencing â€Å"some problems† which forced them to stop to using it. Reasons given for stopping were that; â€Å"we found it is not really suitable for us†, and that â€Å"the duration for implement ation was 8 months. † This finding reveals a lack of appreciation of the BSC system. The BSC as research has shown; is superior to ‘traditional financial performance measures that worked well for the industrial era.’ This is a holistic system that complements the financial measures with operational measures on customer satisfaction, internal processes, and improvement activities –operational measures that are the drivers of future financial performance. (Kaplan and Norton 1992) If the Japanese can successfully transplant their auto plants to America using processes that are superior to the ‘American’ way of doing things then there is no way that the BSC can be faulted in the Chinese business set-up. (Franchesco & Gold 2005) 4. 3. 2. How the BSC was introduced to the company:The response to the interview question: â€Å"Why would you choose it (BSC) as the performance measurement system at the beginning? † reveals a fundamental flaw that led to the failure of the BSC system in this company. The Car insurance sales manager (S) replied that one of their old customers who was employed in an agency that was applying the BSC successfully recommended it to Tian-an Car Insurance Company. S somehow convinced the other branch managers F and H most likely because the company did not have any performance measurement system.Management had a rosy idea of the BSC; that it was â€Å"successful and famous in the world. † They did not take time to figure out how to implement the system but rushed to poach the change agent who apparently lacked the professional ability to implement such a system in a brand new environment. A successful BSC system implementation requires that the spirit of the system be tuned with the business strategy. Before any action is taken top management must fall in love with the idea, and it has to be in sync with the mission and vision of the company.From the strategic level the change agent has to co nvince all stakeholders and through actively involving them in the formulation of divisional Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) make every one to like and own the system. The managers do not even talk about how the employees fare with the system. This shows that information was not being shared from all sides in the company. 4. 3. 3. The BSC as a solution: Despite the management’s failure to implement the BSC system, when the question: â€Å"Why not to use it?† was posed, the We Zhou branch sales manager (O) opined that â€Å"we believed the balanced scorecard would increase our profit† though, he had â€Å"heard about some negative opinions about balanced scorecard. † This positive perception shows that there is hope that the BSC system can be properly implemented in the company. The fact that he associates the BSC system with â€Å"increase [in] our profit† shows that they are yet to grasp the basic BSC truth that; improved financial performance i s a product of a company that has worked on the following key BSC perspectives: innovation and learning, internal business processes, and customer care.(Kaplan and Norton 1992) 4. 3. 4. Training is core to a successful implementation of the BSC system: The training aspect of BSC is two pronged. A thorough knowledge and understanding of the how the system works is a must. Stake holders have to be trained on how to develop individual KPIs, how and individual employee’s efforts ultimately contributes towards the company’s bottom line and how the individual stake holder can benefit from adhering the BSC requirements. Secondly a key perspective of the BSC is innovation and learning.Employees have to be trained on the production processes, about new products and customer care. As some one put it ‘a knowledgeable employee is more productive because he has the tools and know-how, he deals better with clients, and he is more likely to come up with new product development ideas which are key to sustaining the profitability of the company. The honest answers three managers give in response to the interview question: â€Å"At the time you started using it did you have any training on this program? † shows that lack of training greatly contributed to the failure of the BSC system to take off.The Car insurance sales manager (S) admitted that management â€Å"did not set a particular training program† to educate all players about the BSC system. The â€Å"once-a-month-meetings and â€Å"booklets† are insufficient. The responses of the Human resources manager (H) show a common thread. That he has heard some negative tales about the BSC. This manager has ‘just seen’ the BSC booklet; and ‘thinks’ it’s a bright idea. This is not the right attitude! And coming from management for that! It just shows how the initial introduction was flawed. That ‘employee’ did not do a proper job as ‘chan ge agent’ in changing the mindset of the workers.That is why this manager feels that the company does not â€Å"have enough time to train [their] ours employee about the tool. † 4. 3. 5. A reward system must be embedded in the balanced scorecard system: When asked: â€Å"Do you have any reward system related to the balanced scorecard? † The Car insurance financial manager (F): replied that â€Å"Maybe, he thought the reward is about the target to set about each department. † The Human resources manager (H): candidly said â€Å"No, there is no directly reward system about balanced scorecard. † Absence of a reward system is yet another serious flaw revealed in this interview.As a best practices rule for BSC, the reward system should be embedded in the BSC. Every player in the system should know the rewards associated with achieving the goals outlined as well as the penalties for underperformance. When brainstorming on performance indicators consensus should be sought for rewards such as bonus, leave days, vacations, promotions, and so on for good performance on one side, and penalties such as warnings, fines and termination for poor performance. Added responsibilies and promotions and career paths are good rewards for good performers.4. 3. 6. As a performance measurement system, the BSC is rated as better than most others: Despite implementation problems, the managers gave very encouraging views when asked to rate the BSC in the following question: â€Å"In your experience, how do you feel about the balanced scorecard as a performance measurement system? † Advantages of the BSC system were outlines as follows: The Car insurance sales manager (S) correctly responded that: â€Å"it clearly gives detailed information of the company’s performance in both financial and non-financial areas.† â€Å"It shows the detailed strength and weakness of the overall company. The Car insurance financial manager (F): seconde d that with the BSC it is easy to pinpoint â€Å"what areas we need to focus on. † Because of its robustness; F also revealed that â€Å"our shareholders decided to use balanced scorecard to measure the performance instead of only looking at the financial figures. † Human resources manager (H) affirmed that he knew that the BSC â€Å"is a good tool to measure the performance† while O the We Zhou branch manager knows that this too has â€Å"a lot of advantages.† On the flip side the managers made the following comments against the BSC system: S said that â€Å"the target part makes our employees very dissatisfied. They feel it is not fair. † F did not see any â€Å"short-term benefits† accruing from application of the BSC system. H observed that â€Å"a lot of complaints had been raised by employees regularly. † O â€Å"thought† that he wouldn’t â€Å"recommend [the] company to apply BSC because the tools concept â€Å" is not mature in china. † The negativity stems from poor implementation.The reason why employees see the targets as too high to achieve and hence due to frustration â€Å"feel that it is unfair† is because their targets were apparently developed by management. Management wrongly uses the BSC as a ‘control’ tool instead of applying it as a performance measurement tool. If the users of the system are not allowed to choose the targets they can reasonably achieve BSC can change from a friendly system that urges employees to higher levels of achievement to a demanding beast that stresses and drains employees’ power.With so many multinationals relocating production plants to China and advancement in information technology turning the world into a global village, the opinion that the BSC concept is not mature in China doe not wash. 4. 3. 7. Company specific problems that lead to the failure of the implementation: Internal constraints that lead failure in im plementing the BSC system in Tian-an Car Insurance Company were brought out when the following research question was posed: â€Å"Why did you stop to use it, is there any disadvantages you can find?† Following is a raft of company specific difficulties that the company faced during implementation as per the responses of managers S, H, F and O. †¢ An excess of indicators: poor design of the BSC resulted to so many â€Å"indicators† that others were left unaccounted for. †¢ Due to inability to synchronize available resources with demand the company could not sufficiently satisfy the requirements of all the four perspectives. That is why one manager said:† We can not spend too much time on customers and employees’ investigation. †Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ The fear that questionnaire data collected by company employees from clients would be biased and not the true picture of the BSC perspective â€Å"how our Customers view us. † †¢ A completed balanc ed scorecard model for the business took too long. †¢ Expectation of Instant results: â€Å"The agent told us that it need spend some time to see the effect, I think BSC can not help in short-run decision making. † A manager said. The BSC is a performance measurement system that directs decision makers toward long-term value creating activities. It is not meant be a measure of dealing with emergencies.†¢ The problem of size: â€Å"our branch is not large enough, so the advantages were not clearly identified† Said F. â€Å"Comparing benefits against costs (to the agent fee), there was no â€Å"good value for money. † A unified approach would have given better results. The company has eight branches! †¢ Resistance: â€Å"I found that there were many complaints from our employees. Someone felt it waste their time to response each indicator† said H. A change management process would have sufficed. †¢ SBC used as a control tool: management ’s lack of knowledge on how to use the BSC led to strictly following â€Å"targets†, and decreasing staff bonuses.This made â€Å"others to doubt their ability† and increased complaints. This was a case of managing staff instead of managing processes. †¢ After applying the BSC manager O could not fins any noticeable â€Å"good performance in the period† 4. 3. 8. Communication is the life blood of a successful BSC system: That poor communication contributed to the failure to implement the BSC system in Tian-an Car Insurance Company is revealed by responses obtained from the question: â€Å"Do the managers and employees communicate regularly?† The Car insurance sales manager (S) said: â€Å"Not really, because our employees are really busy. But we have employees’ meeting in each Wednesday, we could communicate at that time. † The Car insurance financial manager (F) said: No, unless at employees’ meeting, but I just report so me targets and requires. Comments will not be reflected to me. † While the Human resources manager (H) said: â€Å"Yes, I communicate with employees regularly and they will have some complaints and suggestions. † This finding suggests that the communications structure in this company is flawed.It could just be that the company has a top-bottom but no bottom up, horizontal and diagonal communication. Additionally it is evident that complaints are only directed towards the human resource manager. 4. 3. 9. Tian-an Car Insurance Company management have no regrets and would consider implementing the system if given a second chance: The whole rounded nature of the BSC serves as an eye opener to any one who gets a chance to experience it. When a manager was asked: â€Å"After you quitted using the BSC, have you tried other performance measurement systems?† He answered: â€Å"No, I think BSC [introduced us to the world of] performance measurement systems. Our employees have increased their knowledge about management performance and when our company becomes large enough, we will consider using it again. † 4. 3. 10. Lessons Learnt: To appreciate the impact of implementing the BSC, Tian-an Car Insurance Company managers gave a raft of lessons learnt that shows the true extend of their new understanding of performance measurement. This was in response to the following question: â€Å"Any possible suggestions for using the balanced scorecard in your branch?† †¢ The Car insurance sales manager (S) said that: â€Å"I think each level of a company should understand their Key Performance Indicators and Targets. The training of balanced scorecard should not be neglected. †¢ Company Car insurance financial manager (F) responded: â€Å"Key Performance Indicators and Targets should be set properly† †¢ The Human resources manager (H) advised: â€Å"I think [a good] training on the balanced scorecard is more important than th e other [aspects of the system]. Companies should let their employees understand the whole [BSC] process first.They should [establish] a feedback [feature to facilitate communication from all directions] so that management and employees can discuss and adjust the targets immediately. † A proper appraisal mechanism should also be in place. † The above lessons learnt are excellent and are important ingredients for best practices in the implementation of the BSC system in any company. 4. 4. Conclusion What you measure is what you get. (Kaplan and Norton 1992) Effective managers understand that performance measurement systems that focus on only one aspect like finance and production are not good enough.They realize that no single measure can provide a clear performance target or focus attention on the critical areas of the business. The balanced score card allows managers to look at the business from four important perspectives: the customer, internal, innovation and learnin g and financial perspectives. This checks the company from having too many or too few measures. It is a superior system. It is recommended that the Tian-an car insurance company adopts the balanced Score Card system.

Germany during and after World War II Essay

The Second World War was a global war that was fought between 1939 and 1945. The war essentially begun when Nazi Germany together with other members of the â€Å"axis† went on the rampage and were seeking ways of spreading their occupation on other countries. Such countries like Great Britain, Australia, Denmark, Canada, and later the U. S felt threatened and formed what would be known as the allied powers with the sole purpose of defeating the fast advancing Nazi Germany. (Weinberg G. L. 1994) On 1 September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, it marked the beginning of the Second World War and Poland’s allies in the West that included Australia, United Kingdom, and New Zealand declared war on Germany on September 3. The allies were later to be joined by such countries as Canada, France, South Africa and many others. The U. S joined the War later after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. (Weinberg G. L. 1994) The War is rated as the most expensive war that has ever been fought with an estimated cost standing at about 1 trillion U. S Dollars worldwide as at 1944, and is also rated as the most deadly conflict with an estimated loss of 60 million people. Of these Countries, Germany suffered the most severe devastation to be ever witnessed in the country’s history. It suffered greatly politically, socially and economically especially after its humiliating defeat by the allies and its eventual surrender on 7th May 1945. (Weinberg G. L. 1994) This paper is going to discuss some of the impact that the War had on Germany and how quickly it recovered. Political Impact Adolph Hitler was the undisputed leader of Nazi Germany who had the ambitious plan to expand the Third Reich to occupy the whole world. This expansion idea is what led to the eruption of the Second World War. The expansion strategy had obvious implication of the strength of the leadership in the occupied areas. However when the Allies’ closed in on the Germany Forces, Hitler committed suicide on 30th April 1945 and Germany was left without a leader. This led to the occupation of Germany by the Allied forces who divided the country into four occupation zones between 1945 -1949 these zones included The American zone of occupation, British zone of occupation, Soviet zone of occupation, and the French zone of occupation. However, tension grew between the west and the Soviet Union, which led to the merger of the American, French, and British zones on one hand and the Soviet Union zone on the other. Germany was now divided into two zones of East Germany under the Soviets to form the German Democratic Republic and West Germany under the commonwealth to form the Federal Republic of Germany. Economic and social impact During the War Germany was heavily bombarded by the Allied Forces who concentrated their bombing on the on the industrial parts of Germany. The exercise was aimed at incapacitating completely Germans sources of revenue, which was fueling the War. Between 1940-1942 the English RAF, concentrated much of the bombings on such industrial facilities like oil, aluminum, transport and aero-engine plants. By the end of the war therefore the countries economy was totally dilapidated and the infrastructure had totally collapsed. In total in Dresden alone, with approximately 1300 raids and about 3900 tons of highly explosive bombs there were heavy losses where the cities were completely shattered and many lives lost. By the end of WWII Germany alone had lost approximately 600,000 people who included civilians alone. (Coleman, P. 1999) Coincidentally the war was taking place when the holocaust in Germany and the occupied states was at its highest. Hitler sought to cleanse the areas he occupied of all the Jews and other races that he considered inferior; this alone was to cost the region approximately 6 million lives. There high number of lives had a great impact at the social and cultural front because most of those who lost their lives were young and energetic men that the country would have needed to recover. (Coleman, P. 1999) Recovery Although Germany suffered great losses and the devastation was complete the recover was equally fast and dramatic. This fast recovery was witnessed especially in West Germany, which had now become The Federal Republic of Germany. (Kitson A 2001) The fast recovery was termed an â€Å"economic miracle† by the Times Magazine and was attributed to the United States’ economic aid to Germany and the Marshal plan that was instituted by the Allied countries. However the fast recovery was witnessed because of the currency reforms of 1948, which saw the replacement of the Reichsmark as the legal tender with the Deutsche Mark. The later reason was an effective means of ensuring that runaway inflation was contained once and for all. (Kitson A 2001) By 1990, the west and the East German united and worked together and by December 2nd 1990, there were elections for the first time. Today German has been the center of the European union. It is also rated as the third richest economy, which is set to continue growing. The aftermath of the World War II helped Germany rise economically and unite with other European countries like France. (Kitson A 2001) REFERENCE Coleman, P. (1999) â€Å"Cost of the War,† World War II Resource Guide: Gardena, California: The American War Library Kitson, Alison (2001): Germany 1858-1990: Hope, Terror, and Revival: Oxford University Press Weinberg, Gerhard L. (1994): A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II: New York: Cambridge University Press.