Southwest case Essays

Southwest case Essays Southwest case Paper Southwest case Paper Southwest stock outperformed all other U. S. Stocks. 7 This and Southwests position as the only consistently profitable U. S. Airliner validated its unconventional methods (see Exhibit 2 for financial performance and Exhibit 3 for comparison of Southwest Airlines to other U. S. Carriers). On the customer service side, Southwest won the airline industry Triple fewest delays, the fewest complaints, and the fewest mishandled bags-?not only for individual months but for entire years-?1992 through 1996. Southwest also prided itself on consistently offering the lowest fares in the industry. The US. Department of Transportation in 1 993 published a report on the so-called Southwest effect, documenting the impact on fares and passenger volumes when Southwest entered a market. According to the report, when Southwest announced service on a new route, other airlines serving that route almost immediately reduced their fares, and moieties increased their frequencies as well. The effect reduced fares by an average of 65%, and increased passenger traffic by up to 500% (Exhibit 4 shows the Southwest effect on the 6 James Highest, Southwest Airlines: 1 993 (A), HOBS case No. 94-023, p. 3. 7 Calculations performed on data supplied by CROPS. 8 Southwest was profitable in all but the first of its 30 years. 3 Baltimore-Providence market). Southwest employees liked to point out that their net impact was to offer the freedom to fly to a larger segment of the traveling public, expanding the overall market rather than just taking market hare. By January 2001 , Southwest served 58 airports in 29 s tates and was the fourth largest domestic carrier in terms of customers boarded. The company operated more than 2,650 flights a day using a fleet of 342 Boeing sass with an average age of 8. 4 years-?one of the youngest pure jet fleets in the domestic industry. Southwests success inspired competitors-?including People Express, Midway, Value Jet, Continental Elite, Delta Express, Metro and the United Shuttle-?to copy elements of its strategy, but none had generated sustainable profits from doing so. Getable was the newest airline to imitate elements of the Southwest model, and though its early performance was impressive, the jury was still out on its longer-term success. Even so, Southwest performance had slipped over time; the company had not earned a Triple Crown since 1996. The Baltimore Station In 1993, Southwest selected the BOW airport in Maryland, 30 miles from Washington, D. C. , as its first East Coast gateway and began service from BOW to Cleveland and Chicago on September 15. One year later, the airport broke ground on a $27. 6 million expansion project to extend the terminal and create six more domestic gates. Southwest signed up for all of them. Through the 1 9905, Southwest added more cities to its non-stop service from Baltimore (see Exhibit 5). After just seven years, Southwest share of BOW passengers reached 34%, displacing the perennial leader, US Airways (28. 5%). Baltimore had become one of Southwest eight mega-stations-?so called because it offered more than 100 flight departures per day. (Exhibit 6 lists all cities served by Southwest. ) Given the continued growth in number of flights projected by management, Southwests Baltimore gates would reach capacity limits later in 2001. Southwests bag sorting area had reached its capacity already. BOW was planning to renovate Concourses A and B to provide more gates for the company. Executive Vice President of Operations Jim Weinberg explained the importance of BOW to Southwest: Baltimore plays an important role in Our system, competitively, given its location in the center of the East Coast. Weve had a lot of serious discussions internally about how much more Baltimore can take given the facility constraints that we have, and the shortage of employees that we have there. Its a customer service issue because we dont want to put our customers through [an] experience in an airport where we cant deliver the type of reduce that our reputation stands on. One specific operational challenge in Baltimore was the volume of connecting passengers and their impact both on station performance and on the customers experience with Southwest. Exhibit 7 compares Bis Southwest passengers to those at other large Southwest stations. Passenger Connections as an Operational Challenge Matt Heaven described the effect of passenger connections on Baltimore operations: Over the past year, 800,000 passengers made connections here-?about 25% of our total passengers at Baltimore-?with probably an equal number of transferred bags. This makes us one of Southwesters biggest transfer stations. Right now, our reservations system generates 4 602-1 56 passenger itineraries with a minimum connecting time of 35 minutes. This means that passengers cant book connecting flights with less than 35 minutes scheduled between the arrival of the first flight and the departure of the second flight. Today, 83% of Southwests revenue is from direct one-stops or non-stop flights. The other 17% of our revenue is from connecting flights. We do not want to leave 17% of our revenue on the table, but these connecting flights have complicated our service design. We might have three people a month going from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Spokane, Washington, yet the computer system carefully adjusts the entire system schedule to make that flight convenient. This is compounded by the fact that we have given our people at individual stations and at customer service in Dallas the authority to make decisions about holding a flight. Our employees want to serve the customer-?thats their job-?so we end up holding flights pretty often. Now we are rethinking the practice of holding the 100 passengers ready to leave Nashville for Spokane-?a hold that will ripple throughout the system-?for the nee person whose flight has not yet arrived from Fort Lauderdale. Jim Weinberg placed Bowls case within the context of the total system: Connections definitely are a challenge. Its not that the percentage of our passengers who connect has changed that much. Overall, for the system as a whole, connections have been relatively constant over the past 10 years, in the 20% range. What has changed is that we have some cities like Baltimore that have a disproportionate number of connecting passengers. So connections have become more concentrated in certain cities than they used to be in our system. For example at Baltimore, I think theyre closer to 30%. Colleen Barrett, Southwests President and Chief Operating Officer, pointed out that any workable solution would have to fit Southwests particular vision: Most airlines schedules are operationally driven. Ours is marketing driven. When we develop a new flight schedule, our first priority from a marketing standpoint is, Where do we need non-stop flights? The second priority is to create the optimum number of one-stop and two-stop direct flights from a marketing standpoint. The last priority is, What can we make from connections? Connections are a significant part of our revenue, but from a marketing standpoint, based on what the customer wants, it is our last priority. Coordinating Southwests Baltimore Operations: Flight 110 Southwests airport operations were unique in the U. S. Industry. Unlike other carriers such as American Airlines, which centralized aircraft turnaround and ground operations and managed each of its daily flights from its headquarters using an integrated computer system,l O Southwest decentralized this coordination, leaving it to employees on site at its airport stations. Coordination had two aspects: the coordination of Southwest flights not and out of a given station, and the coordination of each flight turnaround. Operations coordinators and supervisors managed the former task, and operations agents the latter, as discussed below. Like American, Southwest had managers responsible system-wide traffic flow based at Dallas headquarters. Unlike American, these 9 In which ongoing passengers to a final destination would stay onboard while an aircraft took on additional passengers at an intermediate airport. 10 See Aspen Andersen and F. Warren McFarland, American Airlines: Object Oriented Flight Dispatching Systems, HOBS case No. 195-046. Southwest supervisors on duty (SOD) did not orchestrate local changes from Dallas but worked with the operations supervisors at individual airport stations to manage overall traffic flow. Consistent with its high supervisory ratios, Southwest relied on operations supervisors to look several hours ahead of the course of the daily flight schedule in order to identify potential problems before they emerged. Constant contact with Dallas SOD kept the ops supervisors informed of systemic developments likely to affect traffic in and out of their station, 1 1 and also helped assure that the solutions they reposed did not unduly burden the system beyond their station. The ops supervisors, in coordination with the SOD, would then work to design solutions to these challenges. In practice these included holding planes or resolving delays, coordinating gate usage accordingly, changing planes, and so on. In addition to monitoring the schedule, the ops supervisors also mentored ops agents and were frequently at the gate with them helping with difficult turnarounds created by overbooking, delays, or baggage issues. Southwest staffed its ops agents at much higher levels than other airlines did. Ops agents coordinated all aspects of flight turnaround, effectively span inning the boundaries of the 12 participating groups of handlers, and were empowered to organize and coordinate all aspects of the turnaround, from beginning to end, to maximize speed, productivity, and efficiency. 12 The high staffing levels allowed Southwest to assign a single flight to each ops agent (rather than the industry norm of multiple flights per agent). That agent would begin preparing for and tracking the single aircrafts turnaround an hour prior to its arrival and be totally focused on that flight up through its aperture and the transfer of paperwork and information downstream to the ops agent at the unwounded flights destination. The ops coordinator brought all the strands of activity together from the Coordinators Room, a communications nerve center at the station, managing the execution of decisions made by the supervisory team and communicating with Dallas, ops supervisors, ops agents, and pilots in flight to ensure that all concerned were informed. The ops coordinator role was filled by ops agents on a rotating basis. The following pages recount the how the Southwest team at Baltimore managed the turnaround of Flight 110 on June 7. The Operations Coordinators Alice, the on-duty ops coordinator, and Darlene, her assistant coordinator, worked from the Coordinators Room on the tarmac level to bring in arriving flights and assign them to gates. In the room with them were the ramp coordinator and the customer service coordinator. The ops supervisors worked just outside the coordinators office, and streamed in and out constantly with updates and information. During their 3:00 p. M. To 1 1 p. M. Shift, Alice and Darlene were expecting 63 flights at Southwests 16 gates, a typical evening. Their colleagues on the morning shift had brought in 64 lights to the same 1 6 gates. Alice and Darlene could view two of the gates directly through the large window facing the tarmac, and the other 14 via television screens mounted above and to their right. At a glance they could watch aircraft being marshaled into their gates, getaways being placed into position, and aircraft being serviced by the ramp crew assigned to each gate. They 1 1 Delays caused by weather, or back-ups at particular airports, etc. 12 Jody Hoofer Getting, Coordinating Services Across Functional Boundaries: The Departure Process at Southwest Airlines, in Ron Kemp and John Wood, des. Best Practices in Customer Services: Case Studies and Strategies (Amherst: HARD press, 1999). 6 were in radio contact, through a company specific frequency, with Southwest airplanes arriving or departing Baltimore. 3 Throughout the day, Southwest employees continually updated OTIS (Operations Terminal Information System)-?an internally developed system for tracking flight information. OTIS contained anticipated passenger totals (revenue passengers as well as non-revenue passengers such as Southwest employees), in addition to all the information that each station sent down-line o the ne xt station receiving a flight. OTIS included information pertinent to Southwests operations, such as the weather, system-wide, and particular flight delays. Each delay was tagged with its location and cause-?boarding passengers, late arrival, equipment, radar, and so on. Lices OTIS screen tracked all flights bound for Baltimore. The left side of the screen listed all the incoming flights with their scheduled and expected arrival times. For every incoming flight, the right hand side of the screen listed its outgoing number and the scheduled departure time. Each flight entry had multiple status indicators, and double-clicking on them provided additional information about the flight (see Exhibit 8 for a screen view of OTIS). Flights that were expected to arrive late or early required particular attention, since either event could require changes to gate assignments, with possible repercussions for all departments preparing to turn those flights around. Darlene helped Alice coordinate maintenance responses to requests called in by inbound pilots, and by discussing with the dispatch SOD at Southwests Dallas headquarters any local changes that might affect the scheduling of flights, lanes, or crews beyond Baltimore. Darlene was also responsible for updating the Flight Information Display System (FIDS) that displayed information on gate assignments and arrival and departure times throughout the airport for Southwest employees and passengers. Alice and Darlene had already noticed that Eight 1 10 from Nashville had left 40 minutes later than expected. Regularly scheduled to arrive at 8:15 p. M. , now showed up on OTIS as expected in at 8:55 p. M. Onboard were 33 passengers due to make connections in Baltimore. Six of them were connecting to Flight 232 to Buffalo, departing at 8:40 p. M.

Stellers Sea Cow - Facts and Figures

Stellers Sea Cow - Facts and Figures Name: Stellers Sea Cow; also known as Hydrodamalis Habitat: Shores of the northern Pacific Historical Epoch: Pleistocene-Modern (2 million-200 years ago) Size and Weight: About 25-30 feet long and 8-10 tons Diet: Seaweed Distinguishing Characteristics: Enormous size; small, flexible head About Stellers Sea Cow Although its much less well known than the Dodo Bird or the Giant Moa, Stellers Sea Cow (genus name Hydrodamalis) shared the unfortunate fate of these famous birds. Widespread across the northern Pacific Ocean for hundreds of thousands of years, by the mid-18th century this giant, 10-ton ancestor of modern dugongs and manatees was restricted to the obscure Commander Islands. There, in 1741, a population of a thousand or so survivors was studied by the early naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller, who remarked on this megafauna mammals tame disposition, undersized head perched on an oversized body, and exclusive diet of kelp (a type of seaweed). You can probably guess what happened next. As soon as word of Stellers Sea Cow got out, various sailors, hunters and traders made it a point to stop over at the Commander Islands and bag themselves a few of these gentle beasts, which were valued for their fur, their meat, and most of all their whale-like oil, which could be used to fuel lamps. Within three decades, Stellers Sea Cow had breathed its last; fortunately, though, Steller himself bequeathed his studies of live specimens on future generations of paleontologists. (Its important to realize that Stellers Sea Cow had been on the decline for tens of thousands of years before Europeans arrived on the scene; according to one theory, early human settlers of the Pacific Basin overhunted sea otters, thus allowing the unchecked proliferation of sea urchins, which feasted on the same kelp as Hydrodamalis!) By the way, it may yet be possible for scientists to resurrect Stellers Sea Cow by harvesting scraps of its fossil DNA, under a controversial research program known as de-extinction.

My Final Exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

My Final Exam - Essay Example Bottom-up mode, on the other hand, rooted for rural development and distributional issues through small-scale bottom-up projects that directly engaged the urban and rural poor population in income-generating schemes. The advocated activities are envisaged to generate profit, savings, and investment at the grassroots level, thus reducing the need for income to trickle down via the market hierarchy (United Nations 2009, p.4). Bottom up initiatives highlight the participation of the local community in development initiatives and empower the communities to establish their own goals and the means of attaining those goals. One of the most significant and critical issues regarding international development is getting the right resources to places where they are needed most, and guaranteeing that the resources remain integrated in a sustainable manner. In fact, some authors assert the catastrophe of aid is the absence of accountability and meaningful investment. The authors assert that the massive monetary allocation to developing countries projects has failed to deliver the envisaged objectives, and the countries manifests shockingly minimal growth. This may flow from bureaucratic interventions by governments, foreign agencies, or multinationals, which frequently impose top-down solutions that ignore the needs and wishes of the bottom. Conversely, acknowledgement and addressing of community issues through community-developed remedies is critical to the understanding of the delicate intricacies of local issues, as well as to the success and sustainability of such projects (United Nations 2002, p.65). Capacity building can be delineated into four interventions directed at producing sustained change. These include top-down approach; bottom-up approach; partnership approach; and community organizing approach. Participatory approaches to development require redefining of the relationship between donors, development workers,

The goal of an artist is to express his vision regardless of the Essay

The goal of an artist is to express his vision regardless of the publics reaction - Essay Example The first point that comes to mind is that the purpose of art is to give pleasure. At this juncture, a look in to ‘The nature of Art’ by Cothey will be useful. According to Cothey (21), a commonly used analogy is that ‘art is the food for the mind’. Now, one has to read the explanation provided by Tolstoy, the greatest artist of all times. In ‘What is Art?’, he says that ‘the satisfaction of our taste cannot serve as a basis for our definition of the merits of the food†¦. In the same way, beauty, or that which pleases us, can in no sense serve as a basis for the definition of art’. (Cothey, 21 ). Now, it becomes easy to have a clear idea about the purpose of art. It is evident that the quality of art cannot be measured by the extent to which it is pleasing to the general public. Instead, its nutritional value might lie somewhere else. To illustrate, the work â€Å"Loose Lips Sink Ships† by Peter Langenbach portrays forme r President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky in a bathtub. It is an admitted fact that neither Clinton nor his admirers would be able to enjoy the art though the artist hugely succeeded in creating humor, having both aesthetic and nutritional value. At this juncture, it seems beneficial to incorporate the Aristotle view that tragedy can result in a catharsis of emotions. Now, if someone analyses the controversial art works of the past, one can identify the fact that each of them, though presented in the most erratic, insane and inhuman way, has a social reality to say, either presented in a direct way or indicating to the issue subtly. To illustrate, Renee Cox, in â€Å"Yo Mama’s Last Supper† presented a nude African-American portraying Jesus. Though many find this highly offensive, for the sake of argument, one can say that the artist wanted to show the attractiveness of the Church, the alluring nature of Jesus, and so on. In other words, the beauty of art really lies in the eyes of the beholder. One cannot forget how Leonardo da Vinci still creates confusion in the ‘Last Supper’ through the presence of Mary Magdalene and how Dan Brown wrote ‘The Da Vinci Code’. Now, it seems evident that the beauty of art lies in vivid imagination that knows no boundaries. Erecting barriers in the name of social norms, religion, culture and ethics can only kill the essence of art. In other words, had there been strict imposition of rules on art, many of the masterpieces of the history would not have been developed. They all had their birth because of the intellectual freedom enjoyed by the artists. As V. S. Ramachandran and William Hirstein observe, â€Å"all art is caricature† (Ramachandran and Hirstein, 18). Their study points towards the purpose of art, according Hindu view, as conveying ‘rasa’ or ‘essence’ (17). To achieve this purpose, the artists often amplify the features they observe. As an exam ple, the researchers point out how artists amplify the feminine features of a female while portraying a female, and how they overemphasize the masculine features of a male to convey ‘essence’. In addition, the researchers point out the fact that if the purpose of art is to merely present a reality directly, it could be more easily done using a camera (Ramachandran and Hirstein, 16). Thus, the essence of art lies in enhancing, transcending, and even distorting reality. Artists, throughout history, were well

How Christianity and Judaism are Alike and Different Essay Example for Free

How Christianity and Judaism are Alike and Different Essay Judaism and Christianity are two of the many religions of the world. Both of these religions can be found in the Middle East. Although they are very similar, they also differ in many ways. People who believe in the Jewish religion are called Jews. Jews believe that the Messiah is yet to come. In the world there are about 13 million Jewish followers. Jews go to a synagogue to worship their Messiah. They also read the Torah, which is their Holy Book. Abraham founded Judaism in 1700 B.C.E. Jews consider Jerusalem a holy city because of the Wailing Wall is located there, (which is the last remnant of the second temple.) Finally, Jews believe that they are the Chosen People and that Israel is the Promise Land. On the other hand you have Christianity, these followers are called Christians. Christians believe that Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah. They also believe that Jesus suffered and died for peoples sins and then that he rose from the dead. There are over 1,000 million Christian followers all over the world! Christians believe that Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem so they consider Jerusalem to be a Holy City. They also believe in God and read about their religion in a Bible in a Church. Finally, Jesus established Christianity in 4 B.C.E. Now youve learned all about the differences between Judaism and Christianity but now you have to learn the similarities between the two religions. Both religions are monotheistic meaning they have one God who created the universe. Also, both consider Jerusalem a holy city in different ways. Both religions also have a sacred book that they read to discover things of their religion, although these religions have different books they still learn many similar things, and finally, both religions recognize Jesus in some way, either as a prophet or a Messiah. So, as you can see Judaism and Christianity are very similar but also very different.

Minorities Essay -- Minority Race Gender Essays

Minorities A minority group is made up of people who share a common set of cultural or physical characteristics that marks them as different from the powerful dominant group and for which they often suffer social disadvantages, because of their lack of power. As in the case of race and ethnicity, minority group membership is given by society. The most common minority groups are African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Women. African Americans Low status jobs In 1997 African Americans were considered 12.5% of the U.S. population and 64.7% of their race participated in the labor force. African Americans were also considered for 21.6% of all guards, 21.5% of all service occupation, cleaning, and building. Also 30.8% of all health service occupation (Macionis 1998). Less Education A mere of 75% have graduated high school, and 38% of all African Americans have completed at least one year of college. On the other hand 84% of European Americans have graduated high school , and 51% of them complete at least one year of college.(Macionis 1998). Less Medical Care In 1996 there was 19% of African Americans who didn’t receive health coverage under the age of 65, while only 15% of all the European Americans had not received it as well. Over the age of 65 with members of their population 30.1% had Medicare only. The European Americans had a low of 16.9% of Medicare. (Horner 1999). Crime infested ghettos Almost one third of all African Americans live in crime infested ghettos three times that of European Americans. An approximate percentage of African Americans that live in ghettos in 1997 was 80%. (Robertson). Large percent of prison population In 1997 African Americans were considered 42% of all jail inmates. In 1998 African Americans were considered 12.5% of the U.S. population, yet they were 32.4%of those arrested.(Macionis 1998). Women Low status jobs They have been considered that 98.4% of all women are secretaries. Household and child care workers is 86.5%, and 94.3% of all private household cleaners or maids are women. (Macionis 1998). Less Education In 1970 women had earned only 17% of a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering computer science, and natural sciences. In 1995 though, the proportion was still low but it increased to 31%. (Macionis 1998). Unequal Pay for Equal Work In 1998 women had... ... in the view. They allow themselves into fulfilling the prophecy to take place, as they see it as an uncontrollable variable in their lives. Women in society have been said to be weak, sensitive, and home making, in that they are better suited in the house. False explanation gives that views of women are physically inadequate to do the job of the man. A numerous amount of men still perpetuate this explanation as they would like to maintain their status as the head of the house. They believe that women’s equality would diminish their dominance, especially in the catholic society. Many women still believe this ideology because of the strong religious belief, ethnic or cultural backgrounds and the personal perspective. People are not created equal, and some races are not considered with respect. As you can see if there is no inequality then there cannot be a society. Works Cited Black Americans: A Statistical Source book & Hispanic Americans: A Statistical Source book . By Louise L. Hornor published 1999. Society: The Basics 1998-00 by John J. Macionis Society: A brief Introduction 1989 by Ian Robertson Gangs In America 2nd ED. 1996 by Ronald C. Huff

Of MIce and Men: Curley’s Wife Essay

Names have been an important facet of society for as long as Homo sapiens have existed. A name is defined as â€Å"a word or symbol used in logic to designate an entity. † In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck teaches a lesson about the nature of human existence and shows how grim and isolated people become without hope. Steinbeck neglects to address Curley’s wife’s character by name in order to emphasize her position as a literary element and provide commentary on society in the time period during which he lived. Curley’s wife is never named because Steinbeck wished to emphasize the ubiquitous dislike of her throughout the farm. Whilst reading the novella, it is implied that no one on the farm likes Curley’s wife. However, there isn’t necessarily a flaw in her personality from which this aversion to her stems. The characters avoid interaction with her because they fear retribution from her possessive, short-tempered husband. The men on the farm begin to foster hatred toward her because her constant need for attention puts their livelihoods in danger. The men can’t ever get too familiar with her because they are distanced by the fact that she is Curley’s wife. Steinbeck constantly reminds the readers and the characters in the book of this fact by denying her a proper name. Second in the litany of reasons why Curley’s wife remains unnamed throughout the entire novella is that Steinbeck wishes to superimpose over the entire story the idea that she was a possession of Curley’s and not an independent entity. During the course of the novella, we run across multiple instances in which Curley is angered by even the idea of his wife consorting with other men, even in a platonic manner. As previously stated, Curley would even resort to firing men if he was unpleased with the way the interacted with his wife. The reader is able to draw a parallel between the way Curley treats and acts toward his wife and the way someone would act when dealing with an object of theirs. It is very clear that she is expected (by Curley and the other men, save Lennie) to obey Curley at all times. At the period in time in which the novella is set, women are expected to submit to their husband wordlessly and this is thoroughly explored in Of Mice and Men through Curley and his wife’s relationship. The zeitgeist of 1937(the year in which the book was published) and its subsequent influence on literature written around that time period is another reason Curley’s wife remains nameless. In that time, women were considered inferior to men and weren’t nearly as important in the public eye. One must remember when reading Of Mice and Men that the 19th amendment which gave women the right to vote only became an addendum in 1920. The novella was set during The Great Depression a time during which women did not have the amount of authority in society as they do today. Curley’s wife was used to depict women as troublemakers that disrupt the flow of life for men. Steinbeck failed to assign Curley’s wife a name because it was acceptable at the time for women to be undermined and overlooked. By constantly referring to her as â€Å"Curley’s wife† Steinbeck undermines her character as an independent person because she is forced to always be associated to Curley. With this â€Å"minor oversight† Steinbeck was able to use her character in idiomatic ways to enhance his writing. As indicated previously, Steinbeck writes Curley’s wife as a literary element to enhance the story as opposed to a character in the story. Almost humorously, one of the outcomes of refusing her a proper name (which I suspect was intentional) is that it caused the reader to direct more attention to her than anyone else in the story. Steinbeck is commonly known as an author who utilizes descriptions as a way to portray his characters. Curley is often mentioned as â€Å"the boss’s son. † Slim is introduced as the â€Å"jerkline skinner. † Crooks is solely referred to as â€Å"the stable buck† or simply ‘nigger’ until chapter 4. Despite the fact that all these characters have names, they are relatively miniscule parts of the story when push comes to shove, the nameless wife is the one who causes things to happen and mandates attention from every angle, be it real or fictitious (by which I mean from both readers and characters within the story). The most convincing reason yet as to why Curley’s wife remains unnamed lays in something Steinbeck once said in an interview. Steinbeck described her character as a symbol. He was recorded to have said â€Å"She has no function, except to be a foil – and a danger to Lennie. † She was the antagonist who provided the main characters something to be anxious about; she was the force that put up massive hurdles for the protagonists to overcome. A villain is defined as â€Å"The person or thing responsible for specified trouble, harm, or damage. † Inadvertently, such was the purpose of Curley’s wife. It wasn’t her plan to end Lennie’s life. She simply pursued what she felt she deserved: male attention. Her need to fill this desire for attention became so intense that it ultimately caused tragedy. In conclusion, Curley’s wife not being assigned a name was not just a mere oversight at the hands of John Steinbeck. She was an instrument used to undermine the position of women in society. Steinbeck purposefully left out her name in order to enhance his writing, and address issues during the time period in which he lived. Curley’s wife was used to depict women as the ones who threatened the happiness and well-being of men. Denying Curley’s wife a name was an integral part in the writing of Of Mice and Men. (c) Raquel Bracey, December 2012

The Challenges Involved With Business Leadership

The universe today is involved with the challenges of leading with assorted coevalss. As the work force contains differing coevalss with different values and positions of the universe, there is an sum of struggle that can happen and how one can turn to these concerns. In her article Generational Diversity Roberta Jackson provinces, â€Å" For the first clip, four coevalss work side by side in the work force † ( Jackson, Paragraph 1 ) . â€Å" This is an exciting clip because a work force comprised of assorted coevalss brings a alone profusion to our work force † ( Jackson, Paragraph 1 ) . In endeavoring to convey these coevalss together to work efficaciously, this paper will present the assorted coevals ‘s thoughts, values, and work moralss. The paper will research thoughts and recommendations on how to take such a diverse group of persons. In order to add a successful generational differences constituent to the company, it ‘s critical to understand the three coevalss and the features of each. Existing in the work force today are baby boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. Together, the different personalities of each coevals work together to organize the work force that exists today. Baby Boomers consist of those that were born between 1946 and 1964 ; they are characterized by societal alteration and increasing richness, because they grew up in a clip of richness. As a group, they were the healthiest and wealthiest coevals to that clip, turning up truly anticipating the universe to better with clip ( Simons, 2010 ) . Baby boomers tend to believe of themselves as a particular coevals and the blackwashs of the Kennedy brothers and Dr. Martin Luther King, profoundly affected them and fueled their fire in rejecting or redefining traditional values. Their concern and authorities patterns focus on physical, centralized, and institutionalised paper filing. Baby boomers have important regard for institutional information ; and they view engineerings used for pull offing affairs of record as artefacts of the organisational civilization ( Simons, 2010 ) . This coevals grew up in a clip when people had to do forfeits. They were besides the mark of persuasive doses of optimism, and of authorities pledges to brush out all corruptness and inefficiency from public disposal. They besides experienced a military coup d'etat and witnessed the transmutation of the construct of democracy into a extremist rejection of upset ( Motta & A ; Schewe, 2008 ) . Generation X Generation X consists of those born between 1965 and 1981. They are usually characterized as misanthropic, pessimistic and individualist and are known for being comfy with alteration and diverseness. Some feel that they are non likely to be loyal to a company as a consequence of being independent and self-sufficing. Because of this, they are seen to be more likely to go forth a occupation and seek out more ambitious options, a higher salary, or improved benefits ( Wong, Gardiner, Lang & A ; Coulon, 2008 ) . Xers are disbelieving and unimpressed with authorization, and necessitate immediate, uninterrupted feedback. They tend to value a strong work-life balance ; caring for personal values and ends more than work-related ends ( Wong, Gardiner, Lang & A ; Coulon, 2008 ) . This coevals grew up in a clip of their parents acquiring laid away and their female parents traveling to work to back up the household. Since both parents were at work, members of this coevals were seen as â€Å" latch key † childs. Sing their parents laid away, made them set household before work, larning to ne'er set all their trust in one company. Generation Y Generation Y consists of those born between 1982 and 2000. This coevals has grown up with engineering and is used to holding engineering as a big portion of their life. Besides known as the Millennials, they are really comfy with alteration and less likely to see occupation security as an of import factor in the workplace. This coevals is merely get downing to graduate and travel into the work force, conveying a overplus of thoughts ( Gibson, Greenwood & A ; Murphy, 2009 ) . They were raised with MTV, cell phones, iPods, and computing machine games and are wholly at place with instant communicating and societal networking. This digital coevals is optimistic, realistic, globally cognizant, and inclusive by nature. They accept diverseness and different types of households ; they are civic-minded and prone to volunteerism. Like babe boomers, they truly value work/family balance and independency, but they are besides funny, oppugning and results-oriented ( Gibson, Greenwood & A ; Murphy, 2009 ) . This coevals can greatly prove the forbearance of the Baby Boomers and Generation Y. The passion for entrepreneurship, answer-seeking behaviours coupled with their sense of personal duty and demand for feedback can be diminished by their dissatisfaction with entry-level occupations and their inclination to alter occupations often. This group wants a say in how they do their work. They are collaborative and work good within the modern sceptered workplace every bit long as there are adequate challenges and chances to maintain them interested ( Gibson, Greenwood & A ; Murphy, 2009 ) . The other coevalss tend to be intimidated by this coevals. Millennials are really vocal and will state what they think and mean. Being cognizant of their juvenility, if they are non happy with their current state of affairs at work, they will easy go forth and acquire a new occupation. They are cognizant that they have a spot of clip to acquire their act together. Even being cognizant of this, gen Y are really capable and ready to organize a calling. Recommended Reading Journal Articles Psychologist Constance Patterson, Ph.D. , provides information sing her surveies sing the generational values of Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y along with how these coevalss can get down to work better together in the workplace: Dittman, Melissa. ( 2005 ) . Generational Differences at Work. The Monitor, 36 ( 6 ) , 54. Keith Mackey, an associate professor at AUT, conducted extended research associating to the differences between the coevalss in the workplace. His research findings non merely assist to â€Å" expose † common myths about the coevalss, but besides help to nail how to decently pull off each group based upon the universe events that have taken topographic point throughout their life-time: Reid, Ellen. ( 2007 ) . PEOPLE MANAGEMENT: Myth-busting Gen Y – Generational differences at work.Do n't understand your younger co-workers? Think they have different work attitudes to you? Always blamed it on the Gen Y factor? Well those yearss may be over as a major survey on workplace attitudes in New Zealand dispels the ballyhoo about the differences between coevalss X, Y and Baby Boomers. New Zealand Management. P. 63. This article focuses on a subject which many research workers have stated is of import for the success of intergenerational undertakings – mentoring. Not merely is mentoring explained in great item, along with the importance of implementing a mentoring plan, but besides a bit-by-bit program of how to get down and go on to offer a mentoring plan is provided: Anonymous. ( 2010 ) . Share Baby Boomer ‘s Knowledge with Intergenerational Mentoring. HR Focus, 87 ( 2 ) , 7 Online Periodicals & A ; Online Journal Articles Within her article, writer Dr. Lynne Curry, Ph.D. provides clear differentiation between the values held by persons that can be classified as a portion of the Traditionalist, Baby Boomer, Generation X and Generation Y. Understanding the values of each group is the first measure in understanding how to decently take or pull off these persons: Curry, Lynne ( 2003, November ) . Pull offing the Gen X/Y Employee. Alaska Business Monthly. Retrieved on February 12, 2010 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.allbusiness.com/north-america/united-states-alaska/685962-1.html. Knowing how to interact with persons from each coevals represented within the ever-changing market topographic point is a undertaking within itself. Knowing how to make it good is something wholly different. In his article, Ian Shapiro speaks about the methods and tactics that Anne Loehr, a generational guru, explains during her seminars around the state. Loehr non merely explains the huge differences in the values of each coevals, but besides focuses a great trade on cultural markers. For illustration, the importance of the cyberspace, web logs and other technological understanding ways of communicating for Generations X and Y. This is genuinely an of import piece of work that should be read by each individual go toing preparation Sessionss associating to communicating between coevalss: Shapiro, Ian. ( 2009, July ) . Talking to Generation Nexus. Guru explains Gens X, Y, Boomer to One Another. Washington Post. Retrieved on February 12, 2010 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/08/AR2009070803986.html. Other Online Documents With more than 25 old ages of leading experience in the corporate environment, Anne Houlihan is able to supply a wealth of penetration sing the transitioning of the â€Å" leading reigns † from the Baby Boomers to Generation X. Within the article, Houlihan provides concise points that help the readers to â€Å" better understand the leading manner, how to tackle it and how it impacts everyone in the company: † Houlihan, Anne. ( N.D. ) From Baby Boomers to Gen-X: An Development of Leadership Style. Retrieved on February 12, 2010 from hypertext transfer protocol: //reliableplant.com/Read/10518/leadership-style. Throughout this capturing 45-slide presentation, Richard A. Lewis provides indispensable tools in better understanding the behaviours that are frequently exhibited by Generation X and Generation Y. His presentation tactics are really appealing, and could easy capture the attending of an audience during a preparation seminar. By presenting games such as Human Bingo one can truly understand what occurred during each coevalss lifetime, and in bend better understand why they are the manner they are: Lewis, Richard A. ( 2005 ) . Organizational Behavior Meets Generation X and Y – A Practical Approach. Retrieved on February 12, 2010 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.healthpronet.org/about/Organizational_Behavior_Meets_Generation_X_and_Y.ppt. A big part of this study has been focused on what the Baby Boomers can learn Generation X and Y, and this article helps to remind us that there is still a great trade that Generation Y can learn the Baby Boomers. In this article, Jim Taggart references a few leading writers and provides information on how to better prosecute Generation Y in the work force every bit good as how to in bend Teach older coevalss how to break interact and learn from this group younger of persons. Taggart, Jim. ( 2009 ) What Can Gen Y Teach Baby Boomers? Retrieved on February 12, 2010 from hypertext transfer protocol: //changingwinds.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/what-can-gen-y-teach-baby-boomers/ Enhancing our preparation plan Adding a generational differences constituent to the company ‘s preparation plan would be a value added constituent to the organisation. With three different coevalss being active in the work force it would be ideal for employees to cognize and understand the cultural differences between them and their colleagues. â€Å" Market competition and demographic alterations in the labour force are two of the forces disputing organisations to develop more effectual leading preparation, and execution plans. Understanding more to the full what traits or behaviours seem to be associated with how each babe boomers and Generation Xers perceives effectual leading will merely be good easing the passage as one group leaves and the other replaces it † ( Ree,2003, Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, pg 2, paragraph 2 ) . This plan would be even more good to the Baby Boomer coevals because in most organisations they are the leaders of the Gen Xers and Yers. With Baby Boomer ‘s holding the most economic power with a population of 78 million versus Gen X with 50 million and Gen Y with 70 million, they need to cognize what is of import to their followings and what their followings feel â€Å" can take a back place. † For illustration, the current province of the economic system has truly taken a toll on the motive of Gen X and Gen Y. The Baby Boomers have experienced and survived difficult economic times with things such as The Great Depression so they are able to pull off and work through all the obstructions they are confronting during our current economic ruin. â€Å" Both the MetLife survey and the Business Week article make it clear that those pull offing younger employees need to happen ways to assist those employees handle the force per unit area the recession is doing in their perso nal and working life † ( Mack, 2009, paragraph 5 ) . Each coevals needs to cognize the strengths and failings of each other to work efficaciously as a squad. Baby Boomers are approaching the age of retirement and the Xers are taking on their functions as leaders. Baby Boomers need to prepare the Xers into being great leaders, while the Xers need to be developing the Yers to take their topographic point in the work force. Each coevals has their ain alone manner and characteristic which distinguishes them from one another, but collaboratively they can do a great squad. With accomplishments runing from being able to take and accommodate in any state of affairs to being tech understanding, all are valuable to the success of an organisation. Leaderships must understand that their younger workers are an of import facet of their squad. Additionally, Baby Boomers must cognize that the ulterior coevalss do non hold the same work moralss as them, so they can non be managed the same manner. â€Å" Thirty-two per centum Gen Xers believe the â€Å" younger coevals † lacks a good work ethic and that this is a job ; and 13 per centum of Gen Yers say the difference in the work moralss across the coevalss causes clash † ( Gelsten, 2009, paragraph 6 ) . Baby Boomers need to cognize what involvements the younger coevalss ; such things as the music they listen to and what type of people they look up to. Generation X and Y want a professional and personal relationship with their leaders. Those leaders who connect with their followings on a personal degree and acquire to cognize what makes them thrive and what de-motivates them will be able to acquire more out of their employees and in return have more productiveness. Decision This paper has reviewed the differences between the coevals ‘s thoughts, values, and the work force environment. This paper gives thoughts on how the babe boomer coevals can efficaciously take all the coevalss to work together efficaciously. The reappraisal of books and articles provide suggestions on taking all coevalss to work efficaciously while esteeming each values and work moralss. In order for this work force of Baby Boomers to take Generations X and Y the recommendations are as follows: Baby Boomers must hold a clear and concise apprehension of Generation X and Y. Baby Boomers need to esteem and pass on with Generation X and Y. All coevalss need to cognize the strengths and failings of each other. Have a direction manner that will accommodate to all coevalss. Baby Boomers need to be unfastened to reexamine articles and books to help in taking Generation X and Y. Include constituents in a preparation manual that will turn to Generation X and Y that will turn to their values. Baby Boomers need to understand that all coevalss need to hold picks. Finally, a better apprehension of all coevalss will take to shut relationships in the work force and make better communicating between all coevalss and less discontent for all involved. The stairss listed supra should be a utile usher for the Baby Boomers to take Generation X and Y efficaciously. Generations X and Y will cognize they are on the same squad and their thoughts are lending to a productive work force.

Famous Steven Wright One-Liners

Famous Steven Wright One-Liners Steven Wright is an American comedian who is famous for his deadpan expression while performing on stage. His one-liners seem intelligently designed, focusing on absurdities that we take for granted. In 1985, Steven Wright featured in an HBO special titled, Steven Wright Special, which had a huge fan following. Apart from comedy, Steven Wright has also created short films. He won an Academy Award for Best Short Live-Action film in 1989. Steven Wright does not use coarse language to create jokes. His one-liners make you marvel at his sharp wit. He shakes every belief system and pulls you out of your comfort zone. Steven Wrights one-liners create a riot of laughter. If you are good at dialogue delivery, use these one-liners to sharpen your speech. Use them as ice-breakers in a meeting or as a punch-line in your presentation. I wrote a song, but I cant read music so I dont know what it is. Every once in a while Ill be listening to the radio and I say, I think I might have written that.I brought a mirror to Lovers Lane. I told everybody Im Narcissus.I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five.For a while, I didnt have a car... I had a helicopter... no place to park it, so I just tied it to a lamp post and left it running...[slow glance upward]For my birthday I got a humidifier and a de-humidifier. I put them in the same room and let them fight it out.George is a radio announcer, and when he walks under a bridge, you cant hear him talk.Hermits have no peer pressure.I didnt get a toy train like the other kids. I got a toy subway instead. You couldnt see anything, but every now and then youd hear this rumbling noise go by.I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol.I put my air conditioner in backward. It got cold outside. The weatherman on TV was confused. It w as supposed to be hot today. I rented a lottery ticket. I won a million dollars. But I had to give it back.I replaced the headlights in my car with strobe lights, so it looks like Im the only one moving.I saw a bank that said 24 Hour Banking, but I dont have that much time.I saw a close friend of mine the other day... He said, Stephen, why havent you called me? I said, I cant call everyone I want. My new phone has no five on it. He said, How long have you had it? I said, I dont know... my calendar has no sevens on it.I saw a sign: Rest Area 25 Miles. Thats pretty big. Some people must be really tired.I saw a small bottle of cologne and asked if it was for sale. She said, Its free with purchase. I asked her if anyone bought anything today.I saw a subliminal advertising executive, but only for a second.I spilled spot remover on my dog. Now hes gone.I stayed in a really old hotel last night. They sent me a wake-up letter.I still have my Christmas tree. I looked at it today. Sure enough, I couldnt see any forests. I think Gods going to come down and pull civilization over for speeding.I think its wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly.I took a course in speed reading. Then I got Readers Digest on microfilm. By the time I got the machine set up, I was done.I took a course in speed waiting. Now I can wait an hour in only ten minutes.I took lessons in bicycle riding. But I could only afford half of them. Now I can ride a unicycle.I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldnt park anywhere near the place.I was a peripheral visionary. I could see the future, but only way off to the side.I was born by Caesarian section... but not so youd notice. Its just that when I leave a house, I go out through the window.I was going 70 miles an hour and got stopped by a cop who said, Do you know the speed limit is 55 miles per hour? Yes, officer, but I wasnt going to be out that long...I was in a job interview and I opened a book and started reading. Then I said to the guy, Let me ask you a question. If you are in a spaceship that is traveling at the speed of light, and you turn on the headlights, does anything happen? He said, I dont know. I said, I dont want your job. I was in the first submarine. Instead of a periscope, they had a kaleidoscope. Were surrounded.I was in the grocery store. I saw a sign that said pet supplies. So I did. Then I went outside and saw a sign that said compact cars.I was reading the dictionary. I thought it was a poem about everything.I was sad because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet. So I said, Got any shoes youre not using?I went over to the neighbors and asked to borrow a cup of salt. What are you making? A salt lick.I went to a fancy French restaurant called Deja Vu. The headwaiter said, Dont I know you?I went to a garage sale. How much for the garage? Its not for sale.I went to a general store. They wouldnt let me buy anything specifically.I went to a haunted house, looked under the kitchen table, and found spirit gum.

10 Productivity Tips for NaNoWriMo

10 Productivity Tips for NaNoWriMo Staying Productive During NaNoWriMo: Shaelin's Top Tips Shaelin Bishop is a writer, YouTuber, and a member of the team here at Reedsy. She’s also a veteran of the 30-day novel  writing competition NaNoWriMo, having taken part in it for three years. In this lightly edited transcript of her video, she'll show you how to be more productive during NaNoWriMo with her top ten tips. How to stay productive during #NaNoWriMo from @shaelinbishop Continuing my NaNoWriMo prep series, I'm going to talk about productivity tips. Of course, some of these tips can apply at any point of your writing life - but with November coming up, I thought I would share some stuff that's worked for me in the past when I've done NaNoWriMo. How to really make the most of that time and get the 50,000 words done.Winning is not everything, as they always say, and it's very true for NaNoWriMo. You can succeed whether you win or not. So with that out of the way, here are 10 things that can help you be more productive.Tip 1: Have multiple writing sessions per dayWrite in multiple sessions every day. If you write earlier in the day, it's going to be so much easier to write later in the day - whereas if you start writing in the evening, it's going to be much more difficult. Even when you first wake up, before you go to work, just write two sentences. Then it's going to be so much easier to pick up the book and just start writing when you write on your lunch break, or when you write after work.Writing in multiple sessions also helps you break down the word goal. It might be a lot for you to sit down and write 1,700 words. If you can break it up into smaller writing sessions throughout the day, it makes the word goal so much more manageable.Have you done NaNoWriMo before? What are your best productivity tips? Tell us in the comments below!

Leases. Principles for Financial Reporting, ASB Essay

Leases. Principles for Financial Reporting, ASB - Essay Example Operating leases are known to be one of the off-balance sheet obligations; therefore, the placement of lease accounting continues to be one of the priorities for Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) and the International Accounting standards Board (IASB). During March 2009, these boards issued paper referred to as Leases: â€Å"preliminary view† which clearly outlined the proposal for new global lease accounting standards. The proposed standards would need the replacement of all operating leases with the capital leasing thus, triggering a shift of billions of dollars to the balance sheet across North America which was estimated that 70% of the total lease value would be capitalized if it involves commercial real estate. Then the end result of these change of the magnitude will be vast shift rippling through all financial reporting, the processes and merits across all us and global industries. Introduction: In the current UK accounting standard, it is important to underst and that for any accounting purpose leases are generally classified as being either financial or operating standards: First, the word lease simply means an agreement between two parties involving a hiring of asset. The lesser is a legal owner who lets out the asset to the lessee and then at the end of the lease, the asset is returned to the lesser; The only thing that the lessee will do, is to continually pay a lease rental to the lesser for using the assert. Under the SSAP 21, the term financial lease is defined as any lease contract that transfers substantially all the risk as well as the reward of ownership to the lessee, There is a reputable presumption that if, at the inception, the total percent value of a minimum lease payment amounts to at least 90% or even more of the value of the leased asset (Patterson, R., 2002). In order to rebut this presumption, the preparers of financial statement might consider looking for other indications about the risks as well the rewards, thoug h rebuttal is usually expected only to happen in exceptional circumstances. On the other than, operating lease, is that type of lease where risk and reward of ownership of the assets remain with the lesser concerns regarding off-balance sheet nature for operating lease, different treatment of similar transaction as well as the whole approach have lead to many standards-setting bodies to treat leases consistently. Accounting treatment for leases: Accounting treatment for operating lease: It is generally very easy and straight forward for both the lesser and the lessee. Under operating lease, the lessee is the one who incurs the operating expenses, thus, lease rental payable are written off in the profit and loss account (Alexander, D., Britton, A., & Jorissen, A., 2005). This must to be disclosed in the notes to the account showing the amount charged in the year as well as those of payment which the firm is committed at the end of each year. The leaser continues to earn revenue out o f renting out the asset and accordingly recognizes the amount of lease rental receivable as an income in the profit and loss account. Accounting treatment of financial lease by the lessee: When any lessee enters into a financial lease, then it gets access to the risk and rewards of the asset and therefore, the lessee reflects the substance by recognizing all assets leased in separate accounts which is also consistent with the ASB’s statement of principle which defines recognition criteria of assets. Then the lessee capitalizes the present value of all the minimum lease payments as fixed assets and the amount is recorded as a liability (Bircher, P, 2006). The PV of minimum lease pay