American Revolution Essay Example for Free

American Revolution Essay In many societies, music has been a way of life uniquely defining a particular society. Centuries ago, the now African Americans were taken to America as slaves. They went with a rich African musical culture applying it in their places of work like the fields. There they sung work songs, field hollers, chants and shouts. In the 19th century they were granted freedom under the American Revolution and this had an effect on their lives. They could no longer meet in the field where they sung communally they still needed a way to self express themselves. They therefore adopted a more self centered and personalized kind of music the so called blue music. Blue music was not actually a new kind of music, but it was a new concept in music that was personalized. Much of the former songs they involved a group of people in performance. There were soloists and the respondents. However, this new concept in music was more personified, the singer responded to himself or herself. There were teachings that existed, the Haratio Alger model, and which also led to emergency of blue music. The assumption that one self destiny was influenced by him/herself motivated personalized kind of life and therefore the blue music (McElrath, J 2000) Blue music is very important in African American music platform. Over the years, it has evolved from blue, to rhythm and blues (RB) to the hip hop a popular kind of music in the modern world. The introduction of the guitar to the rural black habitations in the post civil war periods was significant in the emerging of blue music. They could now play more flattered notes otherwise called the blue notes. It also influenced other kind of music for instant the rock music, jazz tunes, guitarist music. (New York Times, 2007) Blue music was not limited to anyone. Unlike other kind of music, they were not based on age, season, setting or even location. In fact, they were played by all ages, at any season, any setting for instant workplaces, homes churches. Their main target was expressing immediate individual feelings, pain, hope, desire, pride and suffering. (Campbell et al, 2004) Blue music evolution can be classified in terms of time and location. The Mississippi Delta area came up with a highly charged style of blue music performance which was of high degree. These were termed as Delta Blues. They were mainly slow tunes pioneered by music icons like Charley Patton (1934) Son House and Robert Johnson (1937). They guitar acted as a vocalist where it was played using a glass slide. This was different from the Ragtime Blues that existed in the middle south. These blues were light hearted. The singers used their fingers especially the thumb establishing a recurring bass picking a melody that emphasized the off beats. Blind Boy Fuller (1941) and Blind Blake (1933) pioneered this kind of blues. The religious blues is another classification in blue music. Mainly they were sacred drawn from the ring shouts and spirituals that came before them. Blind Willie Johnson (1949) pioneered this class. There was migrating to the urban centers by the African Americans. There was need to reformat this kind of music to be more attractive and involve dancing. Previously, it was surrounded by some irregularities. This led to a class of blues called the Urban Blues. William Christopher Handy (1958) is an important icon in this type of music. This was significant to Jazz singers. As time went by, the blacks needed to adapt to the urban cities. Those talented in singing had to be vigorous. They started singing even in clubs and bars. These places are generally noisy and needed an improved guitars sound to counter the noise. They started using the electric guitar evolving blues to what was called the electric blues. This occurred the period after the World War II. Important icons included Muddy Water, Howlin’ Wolf and B. B King. Thereafter, blue music influenced the emergency of RB that combined Jazz and pop too. (New York Times, 2007) The migration to the cities came with its impact. The African American women popularized the classic blues. In the cities, they had freedom over rural beliefs and stands. They could now sing out of the church. On the other hand, there was need to perform in entertainment, theaters clubs and dance halls. Women therefore started performing in these places. 1920s was significant for this kind of blues after Mimic Smith’s recorded ‘crazy blues’ which motivated other classical blues singers. (Arc Catalging Genre Help sheet, 2002) The classical blues popularity declined with the rise of the country blues. The success of classical blues motivated recording companies to market more as those recording classical music made a lot of profits. There emerged competent male singers taking over the blue music field. (Chart communication Inc, 2006) Like any other kind of music, the blues have had an impact in the previous society, the present and will continue to the generations to come. Far from influencing the emergency of RB music and hip-hop, it has changed the lifestyle of people. Most of music stars are modeled by many people especially in their personality and fashion a base where many fashion developers advertise their products. Many people especially the youth have modeled these stars adapting their dress cord, personality, dancing style and others. Most of their video shooting incorporates seductive and suggestive moves if not romantic. Therefore it has had an influence on people’s sexuality behaviors. Due to its music culture, it has promoted drug abuse in the society especially among the youth. Some music stars are substances abuser and a model can adapt such personality. Music has an effect on people feelings. In fact, blues are associated with personified feeling and therefore can influence crime by either promoting it or causing incitement. In history of blues, its evolution was highly characterized by performance in leisure places. It has influenced clubs, entertainment, dancing and alcohol use among other issues. (Jelsoft Enterprises, 2008) Generally, the nature of blue music has influenced not only the entire music industry the lifestyle of human beings but also other dimensions of life; economic, culture religion, politics and social. The notion music is life is real considering its impact in the society. We can not derive that humanity is directly influenced by music and its effects that ranges from relaxation to incitement. Blues music is not an exception in this. Its popularity not only in United States but also in the entire world has economically empowered nations. African Americans economical capability has relied on entertainment, primarily on blue music. It has in turn influenced the economy of the entire nation. The recording firms have emerged providing employment to the entire population and economically empowering the stars. The hip hop music has its roots on blue music. The rise of hip hop culture therefore can primarily be based on the blues music. It has therefore influenced culture significantly. In religion, music is one element of communication especially in it information delivery target. Indeed, most of the inspiring gospel music, the so called worshiping music, is blues. They have influenced prayers and the entire religious doctrines. In politics, blues have been composed to send messages and inform people about issues related to politics. In fact, they have been used in political rallies to emotionally move people. In Russia it was associated with post communist phenomena’s. Not only have they been used in politics but also in social context. Blues have a reputation of being a base for most re known love songs and emotion expressions. These songs have been used in marriages, reconciliation and have had a big impact in social settings. Music impact on humanity is profound. Their influence on life dimensions seeks its greater attention. Over the past years, the industry has recommendably been exploited changing the whole world. Pointing to the African Americans, their reputation has been characterized by their impact on entertainment industry especially the music industry, of course their music superiority rooting from blues. It is therefore worth to lift blues music, modernize them and mod it in a way that it will affect many other generations to come. We need to lift the burn that music is life and therefore, there is life in music. References: Arc Catalging Genre Help sheet (2002) classic blues. Retrieved on Friday, November 14, 2008 from http://www. arcmusic. org/features/blues_guides/classic_blues. pdf Blood. Retrieved on Friday, November 14, 2008 from http://www. colinlinden. com/Media_Room/Reprints/chartattack. com_- _Jan_25_2006_-_Country-Blues_Runs_Deep_In_Colin_Linden_s_Blood. pdf Campbell, J, Chilcoat, L, Derby, S, Greenfield, B Heller, B. C (2004) USA: Lonely Planet. Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd (2008) Sociological Observation: Impact of Music on Society. Retrieved on Friday, November 14, 2008 from http://path-to- peace. com/community/showthread. php? t=23 McElrath, J (2000) The Blues and the Development of Personalized Song: about. com. Retrieved on Friday, November 14, 2008 from http://afroamhistory. about. com/od/bluesmusic/a/bluesmusic. htm New York Times (2007) The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind: Macmillan.

Mica and men review :: essays research papers

Of Mice and Men Review Of mice and men was such a great movie it was shocking that it didn’t receive any Academy Awards. Gary Sinise made a heart effecting very well done adaptation on Steinbeck’s classic novel. It is set in the great depression, where men travel around trying to get any work they can. It is based around two characters George (Gary Sinise) and Lennie (John Malkovich). Both characters care for each other deeply and take care of one another. Lennie has a mental disability but is very strong, whereas George is very intelligent and cunning and he does the thinking for both of them, while Lennie does a lot of the work. Both Lennie and George find themselves working on a ranch during harvest season with a variety of other quaint characters. The foreman of this ranch is named Curley and Curley’s unnamed wife who plays an important role. The life of these two men is held up by a dream of one day owning their own piece of land. Candy(Ray Waltson) is an old cripple and old ranch hand, he finds out about George and Lennie’s plan to buy land he wants to buy into it. Crook's is another character, a black labourer that is left lonely because he is excluded, and Slim who is a labourer who the others tend to look up to. Curley’s wife likes to show off the fact that she’s good looking and in turn, tends to get people into trouble. Sherilyn Finn quite convincingly plays the character of Curley’s wife. Unfortunately Curley’s wife can’t find anyone to pay attention to her leaving her lonely the same way some of the other characters feel. The film has some very strong acting throughout the film. The acting was led by the always wonderful John Malkovich as Lennie.

To What Extent Does Restructuring Transform Corporate Market and Financial Performance?

To what extent does restructuring transform corporate market and financial performance? Discuss using an extended example. Restructuring is simply the reorganisation of a company’s structure to combat external or internal forces that hinder the maximisation of shareholder value. The term restructuring is quite broad an is an umbrella term for any action taken by a firm to maximise shareholders wealth (Wright et al) or a company’s reaction when it’s under pressure (Usui and Colignon, 1996). These actions â€Å"bracket mergers and acquisitions with much else† (Froud et al. , 2002, P. 2).This essay should explain in great detail how restructuring can transform corporate market and financial performance. It will focus on financial, portfolio and organisational restructuring and more specifically the following restructuring actions: mergers and acquisition and outsourcing and off-shoring. In addition Marks and Spencer and British Airways would be used interchan geably as extended examples to further illustrate stated points. Restructuring actions usually occur to revive failing businesses. By delayering or merging with another business firms are likely to become more competitive and more profitable.It is also not uncommon for restructuring to be used as a preventative measure to stay ahead of the game and react to competition. If done correctly and when necessary, it should result in economies of scale, decreased operational costs and easier communication. Financial restructuring refers to changes in a company’s financial structure. It involves managing debts, stocks and shareholder payments. Portfolio restructuring on the other hand deals with products, acquisitions and diversification. Finally organisational restructuring is mainly concerned with the human resources in the company.Mergers and Acquisitions are the most common forms of restructuring. â€Å"In value terms, the merger of whole companies through (often hostile) takeov er continues to be the most important form of restructuring†. (Froud et al P 3). Companies prefer to restructure in this manner as it brings numerous instant benefits and can aid in transforming market and financial performance immediately. Firstly, merging with or acquiring a company gives an instant increase in market share. It is the easiest way to enter into a new market and have a larger customer base overnight.British Airways' recent merger with Iberia has been beneficial to shareholders, employees and customers. According to the airline their corporate market would be transformed as they would be flying to more destinations, own more aircrafts and have more passengers. Thus making it more competitive and strengthening the company's image and brand. In addition, their financial performance would be transformed as they stand to benefit from a significant decrease in costs and benefit from economies of scale the merger is bound to provide.These costs savings can be then pa ssed on to the customer and might enable British Airways to be competitive on price; a luxury it might have not been able to afford prior to the merger. The merger might also help British Airways break into the South American market; a market in which it had no prior expertise or significant market share in. In addition to an increased market share, Kotler’s 8 C framework details how a firm’s market power could be increased through mergers and acquisitions (Kotler et al 2005).Firms gain greater control of every aspect of their products, greater efficiency, greater control of customer experiences and increased buying power if they have links with their competitors, challengers, collaborators, commodities, components, customers or consumers. Despite aiding in transforming corporate market and financial performance to some extent, mergers and acquisitions aren't exempt from critique. This form of restructuring despite being the most common is also the most critiqued. Firs tly, there is the issue of Monopoly and fair competition. The Acquisition of a competitor could instantly make a firm the market leader.Consumers suffer as a result. There might be little product differentiation, increased prices and barriers to new entrants could be put to prevent other smaller companies from entering the market thus giving a single organisation too much power. The government sometimes has to step in to minimise the formation of monopolies. British Airways were hopeful for a merger with American Airlines which would have made them a dominant airline in major airports across the world. The deal was eventually stopped because of its anti competitive nature. In addition to monopolies, a popular critique on mergers and acquisitions is they just don't work. †¦ the Boston consultancy group estimate that 64% of recent US acquisitions actually destroy value for the acquirers shareholders† (Kotler et al 2004) â€Å"rather than increased profitability, mergers an d acquisitions have come to be associated with lowered morale, job dissatisfaction, unproductive behaviour†¦ † (Meeks 1977, Sinetar 1981, Attendorf 1986, Cartwright & Cooper 1993). Three major reasons for the failure of mergers and acquisitions are a clash of organisational culture, human relations dilemmas and abandoning core competencies. Different organisations have unique styles of going about their day to day operations.When a company merges with or acquires another the dominant culture usually prevails however employees from the organisation with the less dominant culture might still carry on doing things the way they've always done it thus causing this clash. Errors associated with clashing cultures could range from minute to disastrous and if this carries on for a prolonged period of time, the opposite of the perceived benefits of mergers and acquisitions is most likely to occur. Employees also tend to feel worried about their job security when any form of restruc turing takes place.Their insecurities are manifested through their actions that usually prove costly for the newly merged or acquired organisation and can eventually drive it to failure. High labour turnover, absenteeism and decreased productivity are some of the actions that could be manifested as a result of job insecurity. A disparity in core competencies is a final reason why mergers and acquisitions are becoming more prone to failure. Hamel and Prahalad (1994) argue that an organisation can never gain long term financial rewards if its core competencies are ignored.Thus merging with or acquiring a company with contrasting core competences isn't likely to be successful. The merger between Daimler Benz (makers of Mercedes Benz) and Chrysler is a perfect example of a failed merger. Due to a clash of organisational culture and contrasting core competencies, the merger eventually ended in failure. There were good intentions behind the merger but finding the balance between Daimler B enz's high end auto mobiles and Chrysler's middle of the road range proved more difficult than anticipated thus Chrysler was eventually sold off.Druckers (1985) critique of mergers and acquisition argued that managers often seek to restructure in this manner to spread risk but it doesn’t guarantee success and usually results in failure. His five rules for successful acquisition give useful steps that managers might want to take into consideration prior to restructuring their organisation in this fashion. Outsourcing is another restructuring initiative used by firms when they find it necessary. Outsourcing aids in transforming the corporate market and financial performance of a firm to a great extent.It enables firms to focus completely on their core competencies as other organisations are hired to carry out activities that aren't directly related to the company's operations. It saves costs, improves efficiency and aids in the implementation of rapid change. In addition, findi ng workers with the necessary qualifications and skill in a specific country required might be difficult, thus offshore outsourcing becomes a necessity (King, 2009). One of the most outsourced operations in the United Kingdom and the USA is Information Technology. †There are more IT positions in the USA than there are graduates† (Morrill, 2009).Mark's and Spencer's indulge in offshore outsourcing to aid with its IT operations. As a result they have been able to focus on areas of more importance to them which is the quality of their products and their customer service. Additionally, offshore outsourcing aids in creating jobs in developing third world countries where unemployment rates are high. Some of the accounting and research operations on Wall Street are outsourced offshore. The companies are usually based in India where the best candidates are selected for the job and would be paid a good wage according to the standard of living in India.However if the very same ope rations were to be performed in New York, the staff may not be as skilled as those in India and would demand triple the salary in accordance to the higher standard of living in New York. All in all, Outsourcing is intended to ensure that the most skilled and most efficient people do the job at a mutually beneficial financial cost. On the other hand, there are so many ethical and political concerns associated with outsourcing. Many believe that it’s damaging to the economy as creating employment offshore decreases employment in the company's home country. â€Å"†¦ utsourcing is a poor alternative to a firm's internal management of Information Technology and services because it is tantamount to selling your ‘birthright'†¦ † (Clark et al, 1995). Also, ethical issues such as exploiting local workers in offshore countries in a desperate bid to keep overheads to a bare minimum and maximise profits have been connected to outsourcing. Numerous companies have be en scrutinised and criticised for this. The likes of Nike and Primark have endured the embarrassment and scandal of engaging in child labour in an attempt to keep overheads unrealistically low.Pisano (2009) argues that outsourcing operations especially manufacturing can provide a leak in information which might enable competitors overseas to hone their skills and possible surpass the skills of the company outsourcing. Other criticisms of outsourcing include quality control, loss of managerial control and hidden costs or the service being outsourced proving to be more costly in the long run. British Airways outsources almost all its operations. Back office operations, finance and accounting and its in-flight retail business are all outsourced.This has resulted in poor employee relations, a breakdown in communication and poor customer service amongst a host of other things. Whilst Marks and Spencer's restructuring included outsourcing IT operations which resulted in some employees bei ng made redundant and other transferred to their outsourced off shore location. To conclude, restructuring transforms corporate market and financial performance to a significant extent. Every firm needs to change especially when it is at risk of failure or it’s not as profitable as it once was.Mark's and Spencer’s restructuring ensured the company was re-branded in the customer's mind and an emphasis was placed on quality. As a result sales soared and market share was gained. On the other hand their restructuring initiatives also led to the company making the strategic decision to close all shops in France; thus bringing about bad press, criticism from trade unions and the French government, law suits and parties calling for consumers to boycott Mark's and Spencer's stores. Restructuring is however necessary if a business is to remain competitive.If competitors are changing and a firm decides to remain stagnant, it is only a matter of time before it becomes irrelevant. The decision to restructure must be dependent on the overall business strategy. â€Å"Strategic management as a discipline is concerned with how firms formulate and implement strategies in order to accomplish desired performance goals. † (Schendel and Hofer 1979). A more aggressive proactive strategy might be better suited for companies pursuing mergers and acquisitions whilst an organisation with a cost saving and value adding strategy might prefer to outsource.Restructuring does transform corporate market and financial performance but should only ever be used in synch with the overall corporate strategy to reap maximum benefits. Bibliography * MN220 Strategic Management: Lecture 18- Restructuring. Sukhdev Johal. 2012 * Restructuring for Shareholder value and its implications for labour. Cambridge journal of economics. Julie Froud, Colin Haslam, Sukhdev Johal and Karel Williams * Bbc. co. uk/business – Why firms bother to restructure. 12 Feb 2003: http://news. bbc. c o. uk/1/hi/business/711722. stm * Caterpillar: Two stories and an argument.J. Froud, K. Williams, C. Haslam, S. Johal, J. Williams. Accounting organisations and societies vol 23, 1998 * Globalisation, shareholder value, restructuring: The (Non)Transformation of Siemens Alexander Borsch * The Psychological impact of mergers and acquisition on the individual: A study of building society managers. Sue Cartwright, Larry L. Cooper. 1993 * Principles of Marketing. Phillip Kotler, Veronica Wong, John Saunders, Gary Armstrong. Fourth European Edition * The Outsourcing of information services: Transforming the nature of business in the information industry.Thomas D. Clark Jr, Rober W. Zmud, Gordon E. McCray. 1995 * An evaluation of the impact of corporate strategy and the role of information technology on IS functional outsourcing. V Grover, M Cheon, J TC Teng * Theoretical perspectives on the outsourcing of information systems. Myun J. Cheon, Vraun Grover and James T C Teng. 1995 * The U. S is outsourcing away its competitive edge. Gary P Pisano. HBR Blog network. 2009 * Offshore outsourcing: Practical and ethical arguments for and against from a small business perspective. Danny King. 2009 *

An Effective Information Security Program - 1289 Words

SETA programs are effective tools in helping to change an employee’s attitude and opinion on information security, by making them take the initiative in protecting information. This creates an information security culture in which everybody undertakes accountability for security. Chen, Ramamurthy, and Wei-Wen support the idea that while building the mindset of a security consciousness culture may be a long-term process SETA programs offer substantial support building a security culture within organizations (Chen, Ramamurthy, Wei Wen, 2015, p. 18). A decent information security program will not be sufficient enough. SETA is essential in having an effective information security program in an organization by helping to reduce the loss of†¦show more content†¦In 2005 a MSSP was the victim of theft which resulted in 40 million credit cards stolen. Restaurants in the states of Louisiana and Mississippi sued a MSSP for not being compliant with current PCI DSS standards and poor business practices lead to several cases of identity theft. Studies have shown that although there are inherited risks with MSSPs, with implementation of stricter security requirements and larger clientele the risk could be offset (Hui, Hui, Yue, 2012). According to Merriam-Webster ethics is an area of study that deals with philosophies around what is good and bad behavior and what is morally right or wrong (Definition of, n.d.). In a generic sense it is the common comprehension of what constitutes proper behavior, basically doing the right thing. Behavior is connected to three things: the favorableness felt towards the behavior, social pressures concerning the behavior, and the awareness about the capability to carry out the behavior (Chatterjee, Suprateek, Valacich, 2015, p. 53). There are several professional associations required by law to have clear-cut guidelines governing ethical codes of behavior in their work environment. Physicians and lawyers and other professionals who can have an impact on other individual’s lives receive formal training concerning communal ethical issues in their occupation. If any of these professionals commit any type of flagrant ethical violation they can be removed from their