The Estidama Project Towards a Sustainable Building Design

Understanding the MBA Degree

Understanding the MBA Degree The MBA (Master of Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree that is awarded to students who have mastered the study of business. This degree option is available to students who have already earned a bachelors degree. In some cases, students who earn a masters degree return to school to earn an MBA, though this is less common.   The MBA degree is widely believed to be one of the most prestigious and sought-after degrees in the world. Students of MBA programs study the theory and application of business and management principles. This type of study equips students with knowledge that can be applied to a variety of real-world business industries and situations.​ Types of MBA Degrees MBA degrees are often split into different categories. For example, there are full-time MBA degree programs (which require full-time study) and part-time MBA programs (which require part-time study). Part-time MBA programs are sometimes known as Evening or Weekend MBA programs because classes are typically held on weekday evening or weekends. Programs like this allow students to continue working while they earn their degree. This type of program is often ideal for students who are receiving tuition reimbursement from an employer.   There are also different types of MBA degrees. For example, there is the traditional two-year MBA program. Theres also an accelerated MBA program, which takes just one year to complete. A third option is an executive MBA program, which is designed for current business executives.   Reasons to Get an MBA The main reason to get an MBA degree is to increase your salary potential and advance your career. Because graduates who hold an MBA degree are eligible for jobs that would not be offered to those who hold only a college degree or high school diploma, an MBA degree is almost a necessity in today’s business world. In most cases, an MBA degree is required for executive and senior management positions. Some companies will not even consider applicants unless they have an MBA degree. People who hold an MBA degree will find that there are many different types of employment opportunities that are available to them. What You Can Do With an MBA Degree Many MBA programs offer education in general management along with a more specialized curriculum. Because this type of education is relevant to all industries and sectors, it will be valuable regardless of the career that is chosen after graduation. Learn more about jobs for MBA grads.   MBA Concentrations When it comes to the MBA degree, many different disciplines can be pursued and combined. The options shown below are some of the most common MBA concentrations/degrees: AccountingBusiness ManagementE-Business/E-CommerceEconomicsEntrepreneurshipFinanceGlobal ManagementHuman Resources ManagementInformation SystemsMarketingOperations ManagementStrategic/Risk ManagementTechnology Management Where You Can Get an MBA Degree Much like a law school or medical school education, the academic content of a business school education does not vary much between programs. However, experts will tell you that the value of your MBA degree is often directly related to the prestige of the school which grants it. MBA Rankings Every year MBA schools receive rankings from various organizations and publications. These ranking are determined by a variety of factors and can be very useful when choosing a business school or MBA program. Here are some of the top-ranked business schools for MBA students: Best U.S. Business Schools: A ranking of the best business schools located in the U.S.Best Canadian Business Schools: A list of the business schools in Canada.Best Part-Time MBA Programs: A ranking of the best part-time MBA degree programs. The Cost of an MBA Degree Cost Getting an MBA degree is expensive. In some cases, the cost of an MBA degree is four times as much as the average yearly salary earned by recent MBA graduates. Tuition costs will vary depending on the school and the program that you choose. Luckily, financial aid is available to MBA students.   Nowadays, there are many different options for potential MBA candidates, but before making a decision, you should evaluate each one before settling on the MBA degree program that’s right for you.

Information Systems Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Information Systems Paper - Essay Example The latter is typically referred to as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. A typical ERP platform would encompass all major functions in an organization such as Operations, Inventory & Stores, Accounting, HR, Payroll, etc. Most clients tend to purchase an off the shelf product, and contract a software deployment specialist to make the required customizations to the platform and adapt the system for use at a particular company. I was involved with the specific deployment of an ERP system at a ceramics manufacturing company with roughly 1300 employees. The company was migrating from a legacy FoxPro based system to an MS .net based client-server ERP system, which would encompass all departments and be written in the newer Microsoft .net framework with a user friendly Graphic User Interface (GUI) as opposed to the text based interface for the legacy system. The specific departments that the ERP presently covers is Accounts, HR, Payroll, Inventory & Stores, Commercial Department, Sales, and Fixed Asset Control. The Manufacturing module is being developed and will be integrated into the ERP system over the next 10 - 12 months. The ERP platform, in its present state controls virtually every business process in the company. A closed loop workflow ensures tight knit integration between departments with electronic authorizations and checks at every stage of the process. Global connectivity of the system with users in 2 factories and 4 sales offices meant that user groups had to be able to interact with the system in a secure environment to manage workflows in these remote locations. For the factory locations, the company decided on connectivity through leased lines with direct point-to-point connectivity. However, with the geographically diverse locations of the 4 sales offices, leased line connectivity was not feasible. The company decided to utilize Internet based connectivity using Virtual Private Networks (VPN) to be establish connectivity from these remote locations to the main server housed in the corporate office. Connectivity to the system was a critical requirement for all remote locations. In the factory environment, the only way for the factory warehouses to check-in and enter fresh production into inventory is by utilizing the Stores & Inventory module to generate an inward bound Material Note. The Warehouse in turn is required to generate the Material Receipt Note to complete transactions. Similarly, when the Warehouse receives an electronic request to dispatch new products to one of the four remote sales locations, it uses the system to create a Material Dispatch Note that is closed once material is received by the remote location and the ticket workflow is closed in the system electronically. In case of an unplanned system downtime or a network outage, the company's operations come to a standstill since workflows cannot be completed. One of most critical workflows that get affected is the inventory process. No inventory can move in and out of any warehouse of the company until the sys tem electronically updates its records. The company had to put in exception handling for these circumstances, which involve emailing data packets to update inventory and complete workflows when there is scheduled maintenance of the system, or where longer system shutdowns may be required. System security was another important aspect of the system.

Inter-racial Face Recognition Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Inter-racial Face Recognition - Research Paper Example The participants were briefed at the beginning of the experiment, and were debriefed after the experiment. Bearing in mind that the issue of inter-racial identification could be sensitive (e.g. participants may feel uncomfortable if they fail to recognize some of the faces) the participants were told about the possibility for them to withdraw their data whenever they wish, and also that, if they wish, their results can be removed from the final outcome data of the experiment. Table 1 shows that the Caucasian race is slow in face recognition than the Black race. This means that the Caucasians have some difficulties in recognizing faces of every individual they met in their life. This also implies that the Caucasian have some problems in familiarization. Table 2 shows the Black Recognition time (second and counts) Black formally dressed (neutral faces) have computed F value of 206.640, and the white Recognition time (second and counts) Black formally dressed (neutral faces) have computed value of 52.414 and the tabular value of F statistics 247. This means that we accept Ho because the computed value of F statistics is less than its tabulated value. This also means that white individuals are more sensitive to Cross-racial impairment than Black individuals. This implies that white individuals may have visual problems connected to the cones of the eyes which are responsible for fine detail detection and color recognition. APPENDICES Regression of Black Recognition Variables Entered/Removed(b) Model Variables

Discussion Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 10

Discussion Questions - Assignment Example Unearned revenue is recognized as an asset and liability. But when the service has been provided for it is then recognized as an earned revenue. They issue bond in order to help them obtain a long term finance. I would rather buy the bond at a discount because it will be cheap with a higher interest rate. The determining factor is the interest rate reflected in the market. It is a method that spreads the discount evenly over the periods during which interest is paid. When dealing with bonds payable, it involves crediting interest expense and debiting on bond payable. It also spreads the premium evenly over the months. The number of months the bind is held is divided by the number of months from the beginning of the tax period to the maturity date. The result is then multiplied by the bond premium, which is a reduced amount each year. This is because of the bond amortization form earlier years which also helps in calculation of the premium each year They are both treated as liabilities. Notes payable are recorded by the company as a liability while the other party, for example a bank, records the entry as notes receivable. Then the company makes another entry, debiting the interest expense and crediting the interest payable. On the other hand for accounts payable the company do not accrue any interest. Therefore the creditors recognize it in their books as accounts receivable and the company credits its accounts payable. Statement of cash flows enables a company displays information about the inflows (receipts) and outflows (payments) of cash of a company. It includes information about the income statement, balance sheet and the retained earnings statement. It is divided into three ways that tell us on how the company receives and uses its money. Operating section outlines money received from the daily operations of the company. On the other hand, the investment activities section outlines the price

Counterculture Analysis: The Manson Family

Counterculture Analysis: The Manson Family Sarah Blonarowycz In a world full of different continents, countries, and beyond, there are a vast variety of different societies, and within those societies, different cultures. While there is a general culture set by the majority of society, there are also branches of other cultures with their own set of values and norms. Some are simply referred to as subcultures, and others are referred to as countercultures. A counterculture refers to a group of people within a society that creates new norms outside the general culture that make coexisting difficult between the larger and smaller cultures (Sociology 39). While there are have been and continue to be countercultures living inside the culture of the majority, some countercultures have gone down in history for their notorious actions-countercultures like the Manson Family. The 1960s were quite a change from the modest 19050s. The Beatles took the world by storm, and half the American population were impressionable teenagers ready to take their lives by the horns, like questioning the validity of mainstream religious (PBS), and giving drugs like marijuana and LSD power (University of Virginia Library). Also, the rise of the civil rights movement influenced the opinions of citizens all across the country (History). All these concepts were new to the Americans, which made culture a volatile entity among society. Charles Manson, an ex-convict, saw the fluctuation in culture as an opportunity to display his ideas of utter chaos in front of the public in attempt of gaining followers and support, to which he succeeded. Manson utilized his charisma in manipulative ways by using sex as a way to gain followers, starting with his first lover after the time he did in California State Penitentiaries, Mary Theresa Brunner. After Brunner, other women began to band together in support of Manson, satisfying his ever desire, officially creating the group the world now knows today as the Manson Family (Virginia). The idea of this counterculture was created by Manson as a concept later coined Helter Skelter, the same name originally given to a The Beatles song. Helter Skelter was essentially the idea that the world was lingering on an impending apocalyptic race war between the white people and the black people. Manson believed that the blacks would dominate, but would fail to maintain their dominance, which would be Manson and his familys cue to weasel their way into power after surviving the war through hiding (Virginia). Mansons theory took the norms of this time period and added an element of violence and chaos. He took this theory into his own hands and made that violence and chaos a reality. In order to induce the race war he predicted, Manson had a plan. During this time of the clashing beliefs between black people and white people over civil rights, Manson and his family committed heinous crimes against white celebrities in attempt to frame black people and create more conflict between the two races (Virginia). The most famous cases held responsible by the Manson family were the murders of Gary Hinman, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, and Sharon Tate. The murder of Gary Hinman was carried out primarily by the Family members Charles Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Mary Brunner, Bobby Beausoleil, and Charles Manson himself. After a scam played by Watson under the orders of Manson, Hinman allegedly owed Manson Money. When Hinman was unable to cooperate under the pressure of Beausoleil, Atkins, and Brunner, Beausoleil stabbed and killed Hinman, finishing Mansons job after slicing Hinmans ear with a sword (Crime Museum). Atkins and Watson, along with Manson, were also discovered to have involvement in the murder of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca as well as other Family members, Steve Grogan, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel (Crime Museum). After attending a party at their house a year before their murder, Manson mercilessly killed the innocent grocery-chain owner and his wife in attempt to inflict more conflict to provoke his race war (Crime Museum). Both murders between Hinman and the LaBiancas were equally morbid, but the murder of Sharon Tate garnered the most attention. Actress Sharon Tate, pregnant with her baby, had had ex-fiancà ©e and celebrity Jay Sebring and heiress Abigail Folger and her boyfriend Voytek Polanski over as guests the night she was murdered, all of which fell victim to the Manson Familys schemes as well. The murder was carried about by Watson, Atkins, Kasabian, and Krenwinkel under Mansons instruction. After investigating this crime scene, police found drugs which initially lead them to believe the Tate case had no connection with the other murders, but eventually discovered the truth with the help of Atkins cooperation (Peacock). Sociology has coined terms in order to help people look at a situation that involves others actions that they might have not otherwise understood. The sociological perspective views society in a scientific manner, which prompts people to look beyond what they might personally believe and know in order to explain why people are the way they are (Sociology 4), which leads to the sociological imagination which conveys the idea that when having a sociological perspective, a person is able to connect personally values to the world outside of them (Sociology 5). For example, looking from the outside, the Manson Familys actions were completely inexcusable, but reading into those actions, their beliefs reflected the pop culture of that time greatly. Mansons theory was named after a The Beatles song, who were incredibly famous at that time especially. Furthermore, like a large portion of the population, the Manson Family were under the influence of drug, which influenced their decisions and a ctions. The Manson Family are a counterculture not because they lived in an entirely different culture than the rest of the American population at that time, but because they took pop culture to an entirely new level. Ethnocentrism is a concept that has its negatives and its positives, and each culture fails victim to it, including the Manson Family. Ethnocentrism is the belief that one culture is superior to all others, or culture bias (Sociology 35). The Manson Family had no regret for anyone else in the world but their own Family. They believed they could take over the world when it would be at its weakest. They killed people for their own gain. The Manson Family showed signs of ethnocentrism in their strongly loyalty and devotion to each other and their community, but ultimately their beliefs of superiority lead them to commit murder over and over again. Cultural relativism is used in sociology in order to eliminate bias of ones own culture. Cultural relativism states that culture should be judged independently and apart from the standards of all other cultures (Sociology 36). For example, by applying cultural relativism to this situation, one can evaluate the culture of the Manson Family by labeling them as violent, savage people that have committed horrible crimes, however, when it their own norms and values are taken into consideration it might not seem so out of character. People all around the world since the beginning of time have relied on religion, and they use that to make excuses for their behavior, which is generally socially acceptable. The Manson Family committed their crimes partly because they thought they were following their own beliefs. Some members of the Manson Family believed that Charles Manson was Jesus Christ, including himself (Peacock 78). When other factors that might not be so obvious are taken into consid eration, the actions behind the motives may be emphasized with. The Manson Family committed murder for their own selfish gain. The factors of sociological perspective, sociological imagination, ethnocentrism, and cultural relativism can be used in every direction possible, but their actions cannot be excused. Yes, they played their values and norms in a sense like any other culture that ever lived has done, but the degree the Manson Family took it to was unhealthy and unacceptable. The Family was misguided by their infatuation for their leader and, ignorantly unbeknownst to them, his manipulative ways. Charles Manson gathered his Family in order to carry out his theory of Helter Skelter by murdering people so he could take the reign of the world. The Manson Family will remain a counterculture with its negativity toward humankind. References Crime Museum. 2017. Web. 6 March 2017. History. 2010. Web. 11 March 2017. PBS. 2005. Web. 10 March 2017. Peacock, Nancy. Great Prosecutions. The Trial of the Manson Family. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2002. 73-81. Print. Sociology. Thomas, W. LaVerne. Cultural Diversity. Austin: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2003. 4-36. Print. University of Virginia Library. n.d. Web. 11 March 2017. Virginia. n.d. Web. 8 March 2017.

Impacts Of Urbanization :: essays research papers

Many villagers and small town dwellers want a living in big cities. With some expectations, they make a movement from villages to big cities. This migration from rural areas to big cities is called urbanization. There are two kinds of factors why rural people seek for urban life. The first one is urban pull factor. They dream for higher wages, better housing and utilities, better school and hospital, more jobs opportunity, and more experience that they can get it all from a living in big cities as they think. The second one is urban push factor. We know that most of rural areas people are farmers. There’,s not much else to do anymore in the village but wait for harvest time and without higher level of education, availability of media, or facilities that they need, they might be stimulated to move to urban areas. But after they reached what they called their dreamland, most of them must face more problems than what they had when they lived in villages. They will face some problems because of their insufficient abilities, experience, education, and skills those are needed for a good living in big cities. For instance, they can’,t provide housing or maybe they can’,t find any job. And then they just stranded with the option of staying in cities or coming back home. As the result of urbanization, cities have more problems to overcome such as pollution, overpopulation, drug abuse, congestion, crime, poverty, traffic jam, slum areas, and many more. There must be something to solve these problems. Government and citizens should be involved because taking care of city problems can’,t be done entirely by government. The community can be even more successful because it deals directly with problem areas. As the solution to solve those problems government can provide housing, create a new regulation transmigration program, provide skills training program, or start to develop in rural areas. Impacts Of Urbanization :: essays research papers Many villagers and small town dwellers want a living in big cities. With some expectations, they make a movement from villages to big cities. This migration from rural areas to big cities is called urbanization. There are two kinds of factors why rural people seek for urban life. The first one is urban pull factor. They dream for higher wages, better housing and utilities, better school and hospital, more jobs opportunity, and more experience that they can get it all from a living in big cities as they think. The second one is urban push factor. We know that most of rural areas people are farmers. There’,s not much else to do anymore in the village but wait for harvest time and without higher level of education, availability of media, or facilities that they need, they might be stimulated to move to urban areas. But after they reached what they called their dreamland, most of them must face more problems than what they had when they lived in villages. They will face some problems because of their insufficient abilities, experience, education, and skills those are needed for a good living in big cities. For instance, they can’,t provide housing or maybe they can’,t find any job. And then they just stranded with the option of staying in cities or coming back home. As the result of urbanization, cities have more problems to overcome such as pollution, overpopulation, drug abuse, congestion, crime, poverty, traffic jam, slum areas, and many more. There must be something to solve these problems. Government and citizens should be involved because taking care of city problems can’,t be done entirely by government. The community can be even more successful because it deals directly with problem areas. As the solution to solve those problems government can provide housing, create a new regulation transmigration program, provide skills training program, or start to develop in rural areas.

Drinking culture Essay

Alcohol marketing is a global phenomenon, in which an increasingly small number of companies spend considerable sums to establish and embed their brands in the lives and lifestyles of populations. Market research data offers insight into the size and extent of the global alcohol trade, and the magnitude of alcohol advertising expenditures. Recent examples of alcohol marketing in a variety of national contexts illustrate the techniques used by the global companies. The effects of this marketing on young people are described in reviews of recent research studies on youth exposure to alcohol marketing and the effects of that exposure, interpretive models to explain the effects of alcohol marketing on young people, whether alcohol advertising targets young people, and assessments of the effectiveness of regulatory restrictions on marketing and other countermeasures. Despite the failure of public health research to keep pace with newly developing marketing technologies, there is a growing body of evidence that alcohol marketing influences young people’s drinking behavior. Measures to reduce that impact should be considered by national governments seeking to limit the public health burden caused by harmful use of alcohol. KEY WORDS: alcohol, advertising, youth, globalization, marketing. AUTHOR ’ S NOTE : Support for development of an earlier version of this paper was provided by the World Health Organization.  © 2010 by Federal Legal Publications, Inc. 58 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING From a public health perspective, alcohol marketing matters. While there is tremendous diversity in the kinds of alcohol available throughout the world, from communally-produced traditional beverages to globalized mass consumer products, the globalized beverages play a particular role. They are, of their essence, marketed products, and as such are often the most visible manifestation of alcoholic beverages in a society. In this sense they lead the market for alcoholic beverages, providing an affordable badge of participation in western culture. As socioeconomic status rises in a developing nation, the likelihood of using these products tends to increase, along with western cultural orientation (Eide, Acuda, & Roysamb, 1998). Globalized alcoholic beverages are branded products, and benefit from the latest developments in marketing technology designed to embed the brand in the lives and minds of the target consumers (Aaker, 1996). Branding and marketing knowledge are critical to their globalization because, according to one researcher working from the standpoint of the survival of global firms, â€Å"in non-science-based industries such as alcoholic beverages .. . brands and marketing knowledge rather than technological innovation are central in explaining the growth and survival of multinational firms† (Lopes, 2003). Using this marketing knowledge, the global brands gain ubiquity through traditional media, sponsorships, and on-premise promotions, as well as â€Å"new media† such as mobile phones, podcasting, and the Internet. Both research on the health effects of this marketing activity and public health responses to mitigate those effects are hard pressed to keep up with the industry’s pace of innovation. Given this situation, this article reviews the shape and size of the global supply of marketed alcoholic beverages, describes some of the forms this marketing is taking in developed and developing societies, summarizes research on the effects of that marketing, and then outlines possible public health policy responses. 59 The global alcohol market: An overview According to Impact Databank, a leading market research firm serving the alcoholic beverage industry, premium globalized (branded) spirits account for approximately 44% of the total spirits products available around the world (Banaag, 2009). The alcohol industry funded International Center for Alcohol Policies reports that branded beer accounts for at least 38% of globally-available beer, and branded wine makes up at least 27% of the global wine supply (International Center for Alcohol Policies, 2006). Global value of the branded sector is unknown; however, sales volume of a single market—the United States—was estimated at $154. 9 billion in 2004 (Adams Beverage Group, 2005). Advertising expenditures (on broadcast, in print, and out-of-home) in that market in 2005 were $2 billion (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2007b). According to the U. S. Federal Trade Commission, total alcohol marketing expenditures in the United States are approximately double this figure, with the remainder spent on â€Å"unmeasured† marketing activities such as sponsorships, product placements, campus promotions, and point-ofpurchase advertising (Federal Trade Commission, 2008). According to Adams Beverage Group, another industry market research firm, spirits and beer marketing account for more than 93% of measured alcohol advertising expenses in the United States. These two sectors likely dominate in the rest of the world as well, and this section will focus on the activities of global marketers in these two categories. Within the global beer and spirits industries, a small number of companies dominate. As of 2007, 44. 9% of global branded spirits were marketed by the ten largest companies, as shown in Table 1. High levels of concentration have been the rule in this segment of the industry since at least 1991 (Jernigan, 2009), through multiple waves of mergers that have increased the size of the top five companies (now with a market share of approximately 36%) relative to the rest of the market. * 60 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING TABLE 1 Ten largest global distilled spirits companies, 2006 and 2007 *Not in the top 10 in 2006. SOURCES: Impact Databank 2008a, Impact Databank, 2008c. TABLE 2 Ten largest brewers, 1979/80 and 2007 *Not in the top 10 in 1979/80. SOURCE: Cavanagh and Clairmonte, 1985; Impact Databank 2008b) 61 The majority of the market share for globally-branded beer, in contrast, has only recently concentrated in the hands of the ten largest brewers. The five leading brewers directly control more than half of the global market as estimated by Impact. As of 2008, concentrating and combining continue: InBev recently acquired Anheuser-Busch, which in turn has the majority ownership stake in Grupo Modelo but does not have management control, and which also owns 27% of Qingdao; while SABMiller merged with Molson Coors to form MillerCoors. (Market share information after these mergers is not available at this writing—Table 2 reflects the most recent data available. ) According to Advertising Age, six of these alcoholic beverage producers are among the world’s 100 largest advertisers (Wentz, 2007). As Table 3 shows, the spending of these companies is heavily concentrated in the United States and Europe. Global advertising expenditures of these six companies alone totaled more than $2 billion in 2006. Advertising Age’s figures are probably not complete, and they do not add spending of wholly- or majority-owned subsidiaries into the spending of the parent company. The publication provides data on advertising spending in 86 countries, but only provides the top 100 globally, and the top 10 spenders by country. As shown in Table 4, the leading companies or their subsidiaries are among the top 10 in 15 of the 86 countries—12 developing countries, one emerging market, and two developed nations. The shape of contemporary alcohol marketing As branded products, alcoholic beverages build their identities with a complex mix of marketing technologies. As a leading marketing theorist has written, â€Å"The presence of a brand (or even the attitudes held toward it) can serve to define a person with respect to others† so that the â€Å"brand becomes an exten- 62 TABLE 3 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING World’s largest alcoholic beverage advertisers and their advertising expenditures by region, 2006 SOURCE: Wentz, 2007. Other includes Canada, Africa and the Middle East. TABLE 3 Alcohol marketers among the ten largest advertisers in a country, by region, 2006 63 SOURCE: Wentz. 2007. The Shape of Contemporary Alcohol Marketing. 64 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING sion or an integral part of the self† (Aaker, 1996). Marketers accomplish this extension of the self by embedding brands in the lives and lifestyles of the target consumers, positioning them as an integral part of cultural and sporting events, as well as cultures, lifestyles, and even value systems (Fleming & Zwiebach, 1999; Klein, 1999). The mix of technologies employed to accomplish this include traditional advertising as well as sponsorships, sweepstakes, couponing, product placement, new product development, point-of-purchase materials and promotions, person-to-person and viral marketing, distribution and sale of branded merchandise, and the use of new and emerging technologies such as mobile phones and the Internet. The advertising spending figures above are for traditional or â€Å"measured† advertising activity alone. In this arena, alcohol marketing gains enormous exposure to the population, both that of legal drinking ages and below that age. Researchers in China have estimated that a city-dwelling young person who watches an average of 2 hours of evening television will see more than 900 alcohol ads a year (Zhang, 2004). In Australia, a Curtin University research group used advertising industry data to compare the exposure of underage and young adult drinkers to alcohol advertising on television. The researchers found that 13- to 17-year-olds were exposed to the same level of alcohol advertising as 18- to 24-year-olds (the legal drinking age in Australia is 18), and that 90% of alcohol ads, mostly for beer and premixed â€Å"alcopop† drinks, were screened when more than 25% of the viewing audience was underage (MacNamara, 2006). In Spain, researchers analyzed alcohol advertising in youthfocused written mass media from 2002 to 2006. The study found that alcohol advertising comprised 3. 8% of all magazine advertising and 8. 6% of the advertising in magazines which permitted alcohol advertising in their pages. Three out of six youth-oriented magazines identified permitted alcohol advertising (Montes-Santiago, Muniz, & Bazlomba, 2007). 65 In the United States, the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University has also used market research databases to find, for example, that U. S. television advertising for alcohol in 2007 reached 96% of the adult population (defined in the U. S. as those 21 and over) an average of 446 times. At the same time, the advertising reached 89% of youth under the legal drinking age (i. e. , ages 12 to 20) an average of 436 times (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2008). Magazine advertising for alcohol in 2006 reached 94% of the adult population an average of 77 times, and 90% of youth (ages 12 to 20) 89 times (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2007a). On radio, analysis of a sample of 67,404 airings of advertisements for the 25 leading brands of alcohol found that nearly half (49%) of the advertisements were placed in programming with disproportionate numbers of listeners below the legal drinking age, while 14% of the placements violated the 30% voluntary maximum for youth audience composition set by alcohol industry trade associations (Jernigan, Ostroff, Ross, Naimi, & Brewer, 2006). Because of disparities in access to health care, youth of Hispanic and African heritage in the U. S. are at higher risk of alcohol problems if they drink (Galvan & Caetano, 2003). They are also often exposed to substantially more alcohol advertising than youth in general: In English-language national magazines in 2004, Hispanic youth saw 20% more advertising per capita and African-American youth were exposed to 34% more alcohol advertising per capita than was the average for youth in general (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2005b; Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2006). Analysis of Nielson television ratings data from September 1998 to February 2002 confirmed that young African-American males (ages 6 to 17) were exposed to 31% more alcohol advertising on television than white youth, and that young AfricanAmerican females were exposed to 77% more television advertising for alcohol than their white peers. Furthermore, the racial differences in levels of exposure appeared to be increasing over time (Ringel, Collins, & Ellickson, 2006). 66 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING. As stated above, this â€Å"measured† marketing activity is only a fraction of what the global alcohol marketers spend each year. According to Klein (1999), in the early 1990s the amount of money spent by marketers on â€Å"unmeasured† activities increased dramatically. In 2008, the U. S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported for the first time on the measured and unmeasured marketing expenditures of 12 of the largest companies, accounting for approximately 73% of sales of alcohol in the U. S (Federal Trade Commission, 2008). According to the FTC, these manufacturers spent 44% of their marketing dollars on the traditional measured media of print, radio, television and outdoor. Other significant categories included point-of-sale advertising and promotions (18. 8%), sponsorship of sporting events, sports teams or individual athletes (10. 9%), and promotional allowances to wholesalers and retailers (7. 5%). The balance between measured and unmeasured activities may vary by company as well: In its 2005 Annual Report, Diageo reported spending ? 1,023 million ($1,760 million) on marketing, far more than the $409 million reported by Advertising Age as its expenditure on advertising for 2004. Alcohol companies typically employ a mix of unmeasured activities, tailored to the brand as well as to the cultural, religious and regulatory context. For example, sponsorship is a huge area of activity. Within this category, sponsorship of sporting events is widespread. Anheuser-Busch, for instance, sponsors the FIFA World Cup, while nearly every team in World Cup competition has an alcohol sponsor. In fact, Anheuser-Busch is the second highest spender on sponsorships in the U. S. , behind PepsiCo, Inc. , spending $260-265 million in 2004 (Sparks, Dewhirst, Jette, & Schweinbenz, 2005). Beer company sponsorship of sports in China is increasing, with Anheuser-Busch sponsoring the Budweiser University League Soccer Games, amateur soccer tournaments, the 2004 Chinese Olympic Team, and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, while Heineken sponsors the Heineken Open Shanghai tennis tournament (Sparks et al. , 2005). 67 Such sponsorships increase the televised visibility for alcohol brands. Various researchers in the U. S. have monitored alcohol advertising during televised sporting events every five years since 1990-1992. The most recent study, covering the years 2000-2002, found an increase from 10 years earlier in the number of alcohol commercials airing during professional sports telecasts, the appearance of ads for â€Å"alcopops† only during college sporting events, as well as substantial numbers of alcohol-themed on-screen graphics such as â€Å"Bud Play of the Day† or â€Å"Busch Racing Leaders† appearing at the same time that the amount of alcohol signage within stadiums themselves has declined (Zwarun, 2006). Sports are not the only events receiving sponsorship dollars from alcohol producers. For example, the two leading breweries in Nigeria—one controlled by Guinness/Diageo, the other by Heineken—sponsor the National Annual Essay Competition, fashion shows and beauty contests on university campuses, university sporting events, musical segments of radio programs, radio call-in shows about particular alcohol brands in which correct answers win prizes, tours of foreign musical stars, and end-of-year carnivals at beaches or in parks (Jernigan & Obot, 2006). Faced with marketing restrictions, alcohol producers have also carried their alcohol brand names into other areas, such as the Carlsberg Hot Trax stores selling comic books, sports trading cards, and compact disks in Malaysia in the mid-1990s (Jernigan, 1997). Point-of-purchase is another important form of marketing. Researchers in the United States studied 3,961 retail outlets selling alcohol in 329 communities across the country. The majority of the stores (94%) had some form of point-ofpurchase alcohol marketing, while close to half (44%) had interior alcohol marketing materials placed at low heights, that is, within 3. 5 feet of the floor, where it would be more likely to be seen by children and adolescents than by adults (TerryMcElrath et al. , 2003). 68 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING Product placement in film and television is another means to increase the visibility of alcohol brands. According to Anheuser-Busch’s website, in the past 20 years it has placed its products in Wedding Crashers, Batman Begins, Seabiscuit, Spider Man, Oceans Eleven, Terminator 3, Dodgeball, Collateral, Good Will Hunting, As Good As It Gets, Jerry Maguire, Children of a Lesser God, Mission Impossible, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Forrest Gump, The Silence of the Lambs, Platoon, Dirty Dancing, Working Girl, Top Gun, Rain Man, Erin Brockovich, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. These placements ripple into theaters all over the world, and then onto television, where they promote alcohol brands even in markets with restrictions on broadcast advertising of alcohol. Product placement has also become common in popular music, particularly rap and hip-hop. A recent study of alcohol mentions in rap music found that from 1979 to 1997 such references increased five-fold, with a particular increase in appearances of liquor and champagne brands after 1994. From 1994 to 1997, 71% of the rap songs that mentioned alcohol in this study’s sample named a specific alcohol brand (Herd, 2005). Content analysis of 1,000 of the most popular songs from 1996 and 1997 revealed that this phenomenon is far more pronounced in rap music (47% of rap songs in the sample studied had alcohol references) than in country-western (13%), top 40 (12%), alternative rock (10%) or heavy metal (4%) (Roberts, 1999). These mentions were not always paid placements, but some certainly were according to news reports (Campbell, 2006). In Africa, Diageo went one step further than product placement in films. In 1999, the company introduced a fictional spokesman, Michael Power, for its Guinness Stout brand. Power appeared in billboards and in a series of mini-adventures on radio and television, culminating in a starring role in a full-length feature film, Critical Assignment, which Diageo offered for free throughout the continent, spending $42. 4 million on the brand in 2003 alone. The company’s commercial director for Africa credited this campaign with increasing sales of Guinness in Africa by 10% in 2003, five times the 69 increase the brand enjoyed worldwide that year (Jernigan & Obot, 2006). Mobile phones are a new frontier for alcohol marketing. Market research firms estimate that by 2010, spending on mobile phone advertising and marketing will total â‚ ¬700 million in Europe and $1. 3 billion in the United States (Pfanner, 2006). According to Advertising Age, 81% of 18 to 21 year-olds, 68% of 16 to 17 year-olds, and 49% of 13 to 15 year-olds in the United States have cell phones, with the latter group the most likely to use their phones to participate in TV or radio polls, purchase ringtones, play games, and send text messages. Despite these statistics, Anheuser-Busch recently announced its intention to broadcast 18 ads per hour in programming from ESPN, Fox, ABC, and MSNBC distributed over MobiTV’s 30 channels of programming for cell phone users (Mullman, 2006). For years, in the United States Anheuser-Busch has run its own sports programming production unit, filming sporting events that feature the company’s logo prominently for broadcast on commercial outlets such as ESPN (Buchanan & Lev, 1989). In August 2006, the company announced the establishment of its own entertainment programming production unit to produce humorous shorts and sitcom-type programs. The company announced a new distribution channel for this programming in September 2006, â€Å"BudTV,† a new on-line entertainment network that would carry at least six types of programming, including comedy, reality, sports, and talk. According to company vice president Anthony T. Ponturo, going forward â€Å"the Internet will be equal to or better than television,† particularly in reaching the company’s target audience of males 21 to 34 (Elliott, 2006). The company announced it would double its annual spending on Internet advertising, to an estimated $90 million. Alcohol marketing on the web easily transcends national boundaries (and regulations). Research in the U. S. has found 70 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING large numbers of underage persons making in-depth visits (i. e. , visits beyond the age verification screens at the front end of many alcohol Web sites) to branded alcohol Web sites (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2004). According to a survey of alcohol Web sites in 2003, the sites were filled with â€Å"sticky content† that may be attractive in particular to youth: video games, downloadable audio and video files and screensavers, make-your-own-music-video features, opportunities to create an online avatar and interact with others, practical joke postcards, and humorous customizable e-mail features that have the advantage of turning users into marketers, engaging in â€Å"viral† marketing that makes them inadvertent promoters of the brand to their friends by sending branded ecards and the like. Evidence of the effects of this marketing on youth When the U. S. Federal Trade Commission looked at the issue of alcohol advertising and youth in 1999, it concluded that â€Å"while many factors may influence an underage person’s drinking decisions, including among other things parents, peers and media, there is reason to believe that advertising also plays a role† (Federal Trade Commission, 1999). In 2000, a special report to the U. S. Congress on alcohol decried the lack of longitudinal studies assessing the effects of alcohol advertising on young people’s drinking behavior, and concluded that, â€Å"survey studies provide some evidence that alcohol advertising may influence drinking beliefs and behaviors among children and adolescents. This evidence, however, is far from conclusive† (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). The intervening years, however, have witnessed an outpouring of new studies, looking particularly at alcohol advertising’s impact on youth. The most recent systematic review identified 13 longitudinal studies published in peer-reviewed literature, following up a total of more than 38,000 young people. The 71 review concluded that these studies consistently suggest that exposure to media and commercial communications about alcohol is associated with a greater likelihood that adolescents will initiate alcohol consumption, or drink more if they are already drinking at baseline (Anderson, De Bruijn, Angus, Gordon, & Hastings, 2009). Beyond documenting youth exposure to alcohol marketing (described above) and quantifying the effects of that exposure (this literature has been systematically reviewed three times in recent years—see Hastings, Anderson, Cooke, & Gordon, 2005; Smith & Foxcroft, 2007; Anderson et al. , 2009), researchers have also sought to develop interpretive models to explain the effects of alcohol marketing on young people, to assess whether alcohol advertising targets young people, and to quantify the effectiveness of regulatory restrictions on marketing and other countermeasures. The following sections will review developments since 2004 in each of these three categories. Interpretive If alcohol advertising affects young people’s decision making models regarding alcohol use, how does this occur? Early work on alcohol advertising and youth tended to rest on a simple theoretical basis: Exposure to alcohol advertising influences youth drinking behavior. However, more recent studies have pointed to the importance of alcohol advertising in shaping youth attitudes, perceptions and, particularly, expectancies about alcohol use, which then influence youth decisions to drink. Thus, in addition to measuring exposure and drinking behavior, researchers have increasingly included measures of attitudes and expectancies about alcohol use, integrating these variables into media effects models. For example, the Message Interpretation Process (MIP) model posits that children process media messages using a combination of logic and emotion or wishful thinking, and that the latter may override the former, a viewpoint consistent with the neurobiological evidence described above. In the case of alcohol advertising, the MIP model has been shown in cross-sectional research to suggest a cognitive progression from liking of alcohol ads (an 72 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING affective response associated with the desirability of portrayals in the ads and a resulting identification with characters in the ads) to positive expectancies about alcohol use, to intentions to drink or actual drinking among young people (Austin & Knaus, 2000; Austin, Pinkleton, & Fujioka, 2000). What young people appear to like in alcohol advertising is elements of humor and story, with somewhat less appreciation of music, animal characters, and people characters. Liking of these elements significantly contributed the overall likeability of specific advertisements, and then to greater likelihood of intent to purchase the product and brand advertised (Chen, Grube, Benjamin, & Keefe, 2005 ). The same study also found that young people are not interested in alcohol advertising stressing product attributes or discouraging underage drinking, and exposure to these was associated with less desire to purchase the product. Testing of the MIP model on cohorts of young people (defined as ages 15 to 20) and young adults (ages 21 to 29) provided further evidence of the validity of this model for describing youth decision-making processes. While exposure to alcohol advertising shaped attitudes and perceptions about alcohol use among both cohorts, these attitudes and perceptions predicted only the young people’s positive expectancies about alcohol and intentions to drink, but did not affect the young adults’ expectancies and alcohol consumption (Fleming, Thorson, & Atkin, 2004). While improved specification of the model of how alcohol advertising may affect young people’s drinking has in turn strengthened the statistical relationships found in this body of research, the studies thus far have continued to be hindered by their cross-sectional designs, which render conjectures about causality more difficult than longitudinal surveys. The fourth group funded by the NIAAA to study alcohol advertising and youth is focused on this question of how young people’s interpretive processes might explain the influence of alcohol advertising on them. A cross-sectional analysis of the first 73 wave of data collection from the study confirmed that adolescents progressively internalize messages about alcohol, and that these messages affect their drinking behaviors. Subjects who watched more primetime television found portrayals of alcohol in alcohol advertising more desirable, and showed greater desire to emulate the persons in the ads. These were associated with more positive expectancies about alcohol use, which then positively predicted liking beer brands as well as alcohol use (Austin, Austin, & Grube, 2006). Early analysis of longitudinal data from the work of this research group has revealed a positive relationship between liking of alcohol ads at baseline and alcohol consumption over a follow-up period of three years, among a cohort of 9- to 16year-olds from nine counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. The effects of liking the ads were mediated through expectancies about alcohol use, as well as through normative effects of the exposure to alcohol advertising. Young people who liked alcohol advertising not only believed that positive consequences of drinking were more likely, but also were more likely to believe that their peers drank more frequently, and that their peers approved more of drinking. All these beliefs interacted to produce greater likelihood of drinking, or of intention to drink within the next year. Furthermore, the causal arrows all pointed in one direction—that is, positive expectancies about alcohol use did not predict greater liking of the alcohol ads, nor did assumptions about peer drinking or peer opinions of drinking (Chen & Grube 2004). While most alcohol advertising on television is for alcohol products, alcohol companies also place substantial amounts of what are dubbed â€Å"responsibility† ads, which may discourage drunk driving or underage drinking, or otherwise encourage people to use alcohol responsibly and in moderation. According to the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, from 2001 to 2003 alcohol companies placed 21,461 such ads, compared with 761,347 product ads. Youth were substantially more likely to be exposed to product than to responsibility 74 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING ads: in 2003, they were 96 times more likely to see a product ad than an industry-funded ad about underage drinking, and 43 times more likely to see a product ad than an industry ad about drinking-driving (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2005a). A recent study attempted to assess the impact of these messages on young people, and concluded that the advertisements were examples of strategic ambiguity, defined as â€Å"the strategic and purposeful use of messages with high levels of abstraction to simultaneously accomplish multiple, and often conflicting, organizational goals† (Smith, Atkin, & Roznowski, 2006). More so with teens (age 16 to 18 in the study’s sample) than with young adults (age 19 to 22), young people drew diverse messages from the advertisements. In the context of little evidence that such advertising is effective in encouraging responsible drinking behavior (DeJong, Atkin, & Wallack 1992), the study found that young people’s evaluative responses about the brewers who placed the ads were predominantly favorable, while interpretations taken from the ads were mostly pro-drinking. Grube and Waiters (2005) recently reviewed the evidence on the content of alcohol messages in the mass media and their effects on drinking beliefs and behaviors among youth. They begin by pointing to the largely positive message environment about alcohol that exists in the mass media outside of paid advertising, including television programming, film, popular music and music videos, Internet content (as opposed to paid Internet advertising, and including alcohol company Web sites), and magazine content. The impact of this content on young people’s drinking behavior has mostly gone unexamined in the scientific research literature. Their review of the evidence regarding alcohol advertising’s effects concludes that â€Å"survey research studies on alcohol advertising and young people consistently indicate that there are small, but significant, correlations between awareness of and liking of alcohol advertising and drinking beliefs and behaviors among young people† (Grube & Waiters, 2005). 75. Whether alcohol advertising targets young people Even if there is a relationship—which longitudinal research studies suggest may be causal—between youth exposure to alcohol advertising and youth drinking behaviors, is the level of youth exposure to alcohol advertising in the mass media the result of intentional targeting, or simply incidental to the alcohol industry’s efforts to reach its principal target (usually identified in the United States as young adults age 21-34 [Theodore, 2001; Riell, 2002])? In 2003, an article appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association alleging that magazine advertising by beer and liquor companies is associated with adolescent readership (Garfield, Chung, & Rathouz, 2003). Based on a census of the alcohol advertising in 35 major U. S.magazines appearing from 1997 to 2001, the study used market research data to estimate adolescent (ages 12 to 19), young adult (ages 20 to 24) and older adult (ages 25 and above) readers of those magazines, and found that, after adjusting for magazine characteristics, every additional million adolescent readers predicted a 60% increase in the rate of beer or distilled spirits advertising appearing in the magazine.

Vietnam Post 1950 essays

Vietnam Post 1950 essays Describe and assess the role of the USA in Indo-China in the period 1945-1954 In 1943 President Roosevelt suggested that Indochina come under the control of four powers after the war, proposing that the eventual independence of the Indochinese might follow in twenty to thirty years time. No one knew whether the policy would require American troops, but America was firm on the fact that independence could not be taken by the Vietnamese, but would be granted to the Vietnamese by the Great Powers at their convenience. At the Yalta conference Roosevelt repeated his desire for a trusteeship but during March 1945 he considered the possibility of French restoration in return for their promise that independence would eventually occur. At the Potsdam Conference of July 1945, the issue of Indochina was resolved by authorizing the British takeover of the nation south of the 16th parallel and Chinese occupation north of it. This meant that the French, whom the British had supported since 1943, would return. This effectively made the USA responsible for the French reoccupation. USAs support for the French return to Indochina was logical, as this provided a way to stop the Communists from advancing in the East. By mid-August French officials were hinting that they would give the USA and Britain equal economic access to Indochina. At the end of August De Gaulle went to Washington, where the President told him that the United States was in favour of a French return to Indochina. Proof of this came in the form of financial aid. The USA worked with the Viet Minh who were led by Ho Chi Minh, during the final months of the war where they provided arms in exchange for information and assistance with downed pilots. They eventually came to know Minh and the other leaders. American military men who arrived in Hanoi during the first heady days of freedom were unanimous in believing that Ho ... is an old revolutionist ... a product o...

The Best Music for Studying - 20 Songs

The Best Music for Studying - 20 Songs    According to Nick Perham, a researcher published in Applied Cognitive Psychology, the best music for studying is none at all, which is sure to make all the music aficionados upset to hear.  Perham recommends complete quiet or ambient noise, like a soft conversation or muted traffic for the optimal study background. Websites like SimplyNoise.com and apps like White Noise have millions of users testifying to the fact that ambient noise helps people focus and study. But purveyors of white noise have an equal number of music lovers who would beg to disagree.   Some people, despite Perhams research, believe that music is a must for studying everything from the SAT to the MCAT. They believe that music can really enhance the study experience since music brightens peoples moods and increases positive feelings - both of which are important factors for successful study. Lyric-Free Music Music researchers do agree on one thing, however: music for studying should be free from lyrics, so the songs arent competing for your brains memory space.   The individual songs listed below can give you an idea of the wide range of lyric-free study music available to you. There is an entire  world  out there dedicated to study music that you may have never even heard about. Try Pandora and Spotify stations by genre and artist and download the music apps to help you focus on your studies and NOT on the sweet beats of the songs.   20 Songs for Studying These twenty songs represent a wide variety in musical genres. Everything from classical music by Mozart to covers by Modern Rock Heroes is listed, hopefully hitting a lyric-free genre youd be willing to crack open the books to.   Song: Adagio from Serenade No. 10 in B Flat Major for Thirteen Winds Gran Partita ListenArtist: Wolfgang Amadeus MozartSong: Aloha Ia O Waianae ListenArtist:  Ledward KaapanaSong: Be Still My SoulArtist: David NevueSong: Blues After Hours ListenArtist: Pee Wee CraytonSong: Braveheart Film Score ListenArtist: James HornerSong: Concerto for Violin, String and Harpsichord in C R. 190 I. AllegroArtist: Antonio VivaldiSong: Desfinado ListenArtist: Stan GetzSong: Here Comes The Sun ListenArtist: Piano Music SongsSong: In The Shadow Of Your Wings ListenArtist:  John TeshSong: Love Theme From Romeo and Juliet ListenArtist: Henry ManciniSong: Palladio ListenArtist:  EscalaSong: Étude-Tableau in C Major, Op. 33, No. 2 ListenArtist: RachmaninoffSong: Sigh Listen to SighArtist: PrafulSong: Silence Magnifies Sound ListenArtist: The Six Parts SevenSong: So Long, Lonesome ListenArtist: Explosions in The SkySong: South Street ListenArtist:  Bobby Ross Avila and NaturalSong: Take Five Lis tenArtist: Dave Brubeck Song: Viva La Vida ListenArtist:  Modern Rock HeroesSong: Whiskey Before Breakfast ListenArtist: Doc WatsonSong: You Wish ListenArtist:  Nightmares on Wax

Interaction and Memory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Interaction and Memory - Essay Example An excellent case is the New Cooper Union Building at 41 Cooper Square. Designed and completed back in 2009 by Thom Mayne, it promises to be one of the more popular landmarks of New York with its striking design and well-thought concept. Seen from afar, say from the Cooper Triangle Park, the New Cooper Union Academic Building poses a stark contrast to the old buildings and some forgettable edifices within the vicinity. One will be immediately arrested with its modern design, characterized by sleek and shiny glass materials that declare "contemporary" and the "future" in bold letters while depicting a seemingly humungous art element straight out of a Picasso canvas. The overall impression is a forward-looking, solid and imposing structure that is also a point of convergence and a mecca for creative thinking – all at the same time. Indeed, Mayne emphasized that "the building is conceived as a vehicle to foster collaboration and cross-disciplinary dialogue among the collegeâ€⠄¢s three schools, previously housed in separate buildings." (p. 96) In this respect, it appears that the building designer achieved his objective triumphantly, at least in the battle for perceptions. As an academic structure it successfully integrated the crucial functional elements with the aesthetic and most things in between in order to establish a conducive environment for learning with the limited resources (i.e. space) it has in its disposal. A fundamental characteristic of the building is the breaking of the hierarchy of circulation into a burst of open spaces that serve different purposes. There is the vertical circulation concept in addition to the spaces for different functions designed so that people can move through and interact with lectures and perform other social/learning activity that could change into a different experience once one transfers into another space or meet another or hold a different conversation. The key concept in the design is space. This is the el ement that holds all the other design considerations together such as the desire to enhance learning, the attempt at achieving freedom, collaboration and interaction. From the outside the view is welcoming because it communicates a degree of openness that comes with the visual transparencies and the accessibility of the building to visitors or those outside. A passerby, for instance, will have no difficulty or reservations entering since the entrance and the entire ground floor is seemingly connected to the external environs such as the street and the community it is in. â€Å"The facade registers the iconic, curving profile of the central atrium as a glazed figure that appears to the carved out of the 3rd Avenue facade, connecting the creative and social heart of the building to the street. â€Å"[Architecture and Urbanism 2010 page 96] Then the glass materials allow the exposure of the activities inside to those from without especially in the ground level Once inside, there is t hen the vertical 20-foot grand staircase that connects all the four stories, functioning as the central atrium at the same time. Those students streaming out of their classrooms, their lectures, the library, and from wherever else within, converge at this atrium/staircase. This is fundamental why

Organizational Analysis Paper on Railroads of Pittsburgh Term

Organizational Analysis on Railroads of Pittsburgh - Term Paper Example Corporate culture, in theory, is one of the most critical treadles that could boost or bust the progress of a business. Unfortunately, its real value is almost impossible to quantify. The Railroad of Pittsburgh is one of the many businesses whose success is largely measured by its net revenue and measuring the financial contribution of cultural values and beliefs is and was never an exact science. This difficulty is compounded as culture changes, influences come in, and new communication technology is demonstrating new forms and intensity of power to the point of forcing changes to the internal organizational communication processes. The challenge for Railroads, as in any organization, is to develop an organizational communication process that is stable and strong enough to protect the company’s internal and external cultural identity. All the while being adaptable enough to adjust with the evolving customer and employee needs that dictate the level of cultural diversity withi n and outside of the business. Railroad’s organizational communication set up largely follows Henry Fayol’s Theory of Classical Management. The communication culture is highly structured with each employee expected to produce outputs that are measured and defined and fuelled by nothing else but salaries and quantifiable benefits (Miller 20). There have been many studies that mention how difficult it is for traditional or old companies like Railroads to adjust and adapt to new communication trends or accept the changes that are slowly reshaping their employees. One of the fundamental reasons companies like Railroads is often struggling to keep traditional communication process is the threat new technologies and its corresponding constructs post to changing the corporate identity altogether. Miller mentioned this concept in the Pervasiveness of Power (p. 101). Miller showed 14 sources of power as identified by Morgan (p. 103) and on top position is formal authority follo wed by other factors present in Railroads such as control of resources, boundaries and control of technology. Railroads believe that traditional organizational set-up secure the company’s cultural identity. This organizational barrier was also explored by Ronald Arnett in Communication and Community: Implication of Martin Buber’s Dialogue. Arnett summarized this situation in the concept of Polarized Communication or the process of someone’s inability to bend or adjust their belief including their own concept of power and authority (p. 15). Perhaps Railroad’s apprehension to change comes from the nature of its business. It provides a basic need, one that does not, at least to the management’s opinion, require any stimulant to be purchased. Unlike other companies whose products are forced to evolve in order to keep up with competition, Railroad’s winning selling point is as natural as the geography of Pittsburgh. It feels no need to change or progress. That framework is carried within the organization. Managers feel no need to adapt any new form of internal communication. It is also a part of a bigger organization which is the government and it is assumed that any changes in identity and process is bound by a larger ideology. The result is a classic example of the Max Webber’s Bureaucratic Theory of Management as discussed by Miller (p. 23). It has exhaustive spheres of obligation and ultimate power is bestowed upon authorities. Statement of the Problem Arnett (p. 94) believes that companies who are able to adapt to the changes and still maintain their strong cultural identity often result to company growth in branding and revenue which makes studying the company’s strategy critical and government is not an exception. In fact, the fact that it is owned and backed by the government that makes it even more critical for Railroad to examine how its organizational communication is affecting productivity and inte rnal and external identity. It is largely financed by government