Feminism, Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Feminism, - Essay Example While it is important to appreciate that these practices happen within a cultural context we then mirror the same aspects through the western culture and knowledge, global health, feminist and humanitarian perspective to come up with themes of similarity and contrast. â€Å"The Pain of Thinking too Much, dolor de cerebro and the Embodiment of Social Hardship among Nicaraguan Women† is the main article in this report. Yarris mentions about families whose sons and daughters migrate to Costa Rica, Panama, Spain and the U.S in search for work and better lives for their families. The migration of sons and daughters is equated to combating poverty and those left behind have to assume caregiver roles and responsibilities, which is often an added burden. The women worry over the security and safety of their children as they transcend borders using illegal means to gain entry. In Nicaragua, the economics of migration sees households making a decision of send one or more members to neig hboring countries to work as a strategy to increase the income and economic security. The capitalistic economies create inferior jobs under pathetic working conditions in order to remain profitable with nationals unwilling to accept working in these conditions. This line of thought perceives the economics of the well to do countries exploiting and destroying poor countries through social fragmentation (Yarris 230). While some contemplate genital female mutilation with horror, others exalt and translate the process as purification and to constitute an important part of shaping and defining feminine sexuality, aesthetic and religion. Amidst the pain and discomfort, there is pride, joy, satisfaction and emotional attachment with girls who undergo the practice as initiates. Both authors converge in similarity on how history and human society use pain as a social mechanism to manipulate women and transform their identity. Human beings spend most of their lives in pain or suffering. Pain and suffering can be viewed punishment, sacrifice, reward or destiny. Aristotle spoke of pain as passions of the soul and to this day, we associate these emotions with matters of the soul and spirituality. Social forces through social institutions, global systems and culture cause social suffering. This is as witnesses in horrifying inhuman global acts and the role of institutional policies in producing greater suffering to human beings. In the era of organized religion pain and suffering was attributed to superior powers. The gods would determine when, how, who, where and the kind of suffering to give to human beings as an indication of their displeasure. In Christianity, suffering is not considered a bad thing or experience, but an essential aspect to get closer to God. In eastern cultures, self-inflicted pain is a religious tradition and believed to be manageable (Walley 406). According to â€Å"Searching for Voices, Feminism Anthropology and the Global Debate on Female Genital Operations†, the worrier syndrome among Nicaragua women and genital mutilation as embedded in traditions may have serious effects on the health of populations. The older women suffer both mentally and emotionally as the worry and feel anxious for family members who are away especially if the person is a son, daughter or both. They are

The dialog between jonathan cullers essay and to the light house

The dialog between jonathan cullers and to the light house - Essay Example Stream of consciousness is the technique used by Woolf to explore the thought processes of the characters. However, Woolf does not employ it in the fragmented prose form that is identified with James Joyce. Instead she brings order within the disorderly working of individual consciousness by making her prose lyrical. Through apt and vivid imagery, Woolf is able to knit together the disjointed thoughts of several of the novel’s characters into a unifying whole. What emerge through this exercise are themes of human loneliness, insecurity, loss, anguish and longing. But the overall experience of the novel is far from tragic. To the contrary, the reader is taken on an intimate journey into the most personal and most inaccessible reaches of the character’s inner churnings. A successful cathartic effect is experienced by the reader through the linguistic virtuosity of Woolf. â€Å"Literariness is often said to lie above all in the organization of language that makes literature distinguishable from language used for other purposes. Literature is language that ‘foregrounds’ language itself: makes it strange, thrusts it at you – ‘Look I’m language!’ – so you can’t forget that you are dealing with language shaped in odd ways.† (p.28) Woolf’s prose style is exemplary in achieving this form of foregrounding. She accomplishes this through various stylistic and thematic features. Through lyrical exposition of inner monologues, Woolf deliberates on subjects as profound as ‘the meaning of life. The foregrounding of language in general and English in particular is evident from how it is made the only possible medium of communication. Moreover, one can see how the literary form of the novel itself is foreground even if not intended by the author. For example, the following is an illustration of a stream of consciousness which only works on

Software Engineering Essay Example for Free

Software Engineering Essay Like most of the things, quality attracts the person it signifies the performance and appearance of the product. It matters a lot of the standards in a business for the outcome of the products. Just like this, Software has also good quality requirements and better ways to ensure its outcome. The following are the measurement methods and acceptance criteria for assessing the characteristics of the software: 1. Software Engineering Culture and Ethics Ethics can play a significant role in software quality, the culture, and the attitudes of software engineers. 2. Value and Costs of Quality The notion of â€Å"quality† is not as simple as it may seem. The customer will have some maximum cost in mind, in return for which it is expected that the basic purpose of the software will be fulfilled. 3. Models and Quality Characteristics [Boe78; McC77] ISO/IEC has definedthree related models of software product quality (internal quality, external quality, and quality in use) (ISO9126-01) and a set of related parts (ISO14598-98). Software Quality Management Processes defines processes, process owners, and requirements for those processes, measurements of the process and its outputs, and feedback channels. It involves: (1) Defining the required product in terms of its quality characteristics. (2) Planning the processes to achieve the required product. Through this we can assure Software Quality, this means ensuring that the problem is clearly and adequately stated and that the solution’s requirements are properly defined and expressed. And then we can verify and validate for assessing the intermediate products. For purposes of brevity, reviews and audits are treated as a single topic in this Guide. Five types of reviews or audits are presented in the IEEE1028-97 standard: 1. Management reviews 2. Technical reviews 3. Inspections 4. Walk-throughs 5. Audits Of course the management also has to review the software, the purpose it is to monitor progress, determine the status of plans and schedules, confirm requirements and their system allocation, or evaluate the effectiveness of management approaches used to achieve fitness for purpose. After this is the technical review to evaluate a software product to determine its suitability for its intended use. During the technical review the management should also inspect to detect and identify software product anomalies. The audit is to provide an independent evaluation of the conformance of software and processes to applicable regulations, standards, guidelines, plans, and procedures. The definition of Software Engineering is broad, so it needs to discuss its disciplines which it shares common boundary. These are two Related Disciplines: 1. An informative definition (when feasible) 2. A list of knowledge areas Related Disciplines Areas: 1. Computer Engineering computer engineering embodies the science and technology of design, construction, implementation and maintenance of software and hardware components of modern computing systems and computer-controlled equipment. 2. Computer Science identifies the following list of knowledge areas (identified as areas in the report) for computer science. 3. Management 4. Mathematics 5. Project Management – is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. 6. Quality Management is defined in ISO 9000-2000 as â€Å"coordinated activities to direct and control an organization with regard to quality.† 7. Software Ergonomics the field of ergonomics is defined by ISO Technical Committee 159 on Ergonomics as follows: â€Å"Ergonomics or (human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of the interactions  among human and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance. 8. Systems Engineering is an interdisciplinary approach and means to enable the realization of successful systems.

Review of Leading In a Culture of Change

Review of Leading In a Culture of Change Leading in a culture of change by Michael Fullan is a small but powerful book on the dynamics of change and the role of leadership in managing and coping with the change process. Michael Fullan, the dean of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toranto is an international authority on educational reforms .Fullan opens by quoting Robert Steinberg: The essence of intelligence would seem to be in knowing when to think and act quickly, and knowing when to think and act slowly (p. x). Fullan is concerned with not only the decision, but the timing involved in making the correct decision. He argues that good leadership is not inborn rather one must learn to lead by mastering five core competencies- moral purpose, understanding change process, relationship building, knowledge building and coherence building. Fullan devotes an entire chapter to each competency and illustrates each concept with a solid and provocative collection of public education and private corporation cases. This makes the book a useful tool for an administrative team workshop or school board. It would stimulate excellent discussion on mission and purpose and the clima te in which a healthy organization can change for the better. He also articulates three personal characteristics (energy, enthusiasm, hope) that all effective leaders possess. This book offers a realistic perspective to those who are at the beginning of their leadership career and should be inspiring to those who have attained their peaks. The ambiguities of change forces in the schools are more easily understood after considering Fullans insights into organizational change and leadership. He neither oversimplifies the mission of the school administrator nor makes the work appear impossible. Fullan offers advice for leaders to help them rise above the challenges of the new technology, a changing market place and the crises in the public scenario. He argues that leadership today requires the ability to mobilize constituents to do important but difficult work under conditions of constant change. Fullan demonstrates that successful leaders in education and business have much in common. He took an equal number of change case studies in education and in business and examined leaders behavior and mindsets. The first chapter, A Remarkable Convergence, conveys the theme of the book. The author advises that change cannot be managed. It can be understood and perhaps led, but it cannot be controlled. This chapter is devoted to the discussion of effective leadership, stating within the first page this is not the book about super leaders. Charismatic leaders inadvertently often do more harm than good because, at best, they provide episodic improvement followed by frustrated or despondent dependency. Superhuman leaders also do us another disservice: they are role models who can never be emulated by large numbers (p. 1). The author weaves the business world and the educational world together as learning organizations, stating that if they fail to evolve together they will fail to survive. He suggests five themes for successful leadership: moral purpose, understanding change, developing relationships, knowledge building and coherence making. Fullan argues that when the goal is sustainable change in a knowledge society, business and education leaders increasingly have more in common. Like the business leader, the principal of the future the Cultural Change Principal must be tuned to the big picture, a sophisticated conceptual thinker who transforms the organization through people and teams In chapter 2, Moral Purpose, Fullan argues that all five components are strongly connected with each other. Moral purpose is seen as both an end and means. In education, every leader, whether an administrator or teacher must see an important end, making a difference in the lives of students. He continues by stating that, if you dont treat others fairly, you will be a leader without followers (p. 13). Fullan describes two excellent examples of moral purpose. The Monsanto Companys remarkable transformation, under its new CEO, Robert Shapiro, started with a series of town hall meetings discussing the unsustainable problems of hunger facing humanity. That discussions lead to ten thousand of Monsantos employees becoming involved feeding the world. The second example is the national Literacy and Numeracy strategy, the nation wide initiative to improve both the literacy and numeracy of Great Britains twenty thousand schools in which Fullan has been an active participant. The author clearly makes his point; social consciousness and the concept of being a good citizen apply internally as well as externally whether in the business or educational system. In chapter three Understanding Change, Fullan states that the purpose of this book is to understand change in order to lead it better. . . .the goal is to develop a greater feel for leading complex change, and to develop a mind-set and action set that are constantly cultivated and refined. Page 34 of this book states that, change can be led, and leadership does make a difference. He suggests that having innovative ideas and understanding the change process is not the same thing. Indeed, the case can be made that those firmly committed to their own ideas are not necessarily good change agents because being a change agent involves getting commitment from others who might not like ones ideas. Fullan quotes Kotter`s eight step process for initiating top down transformation (1996, p. 21) Establishing a Sense of Urgency Creating a Guiding Coalition Developing a Vision and Strategy Communicating the Change Vision Empowering Broad-Based Action Generating Short-Term Wins Consolidating Gains and Producing More Change Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture Further he quotes Beer, Eisenstat, and Spectors observations (1990) about drawing about bottom-up ideas and energies Mobilize commitment to change through joint diagnosis(with people in the organization) of business problem Develop a shared vision of how to organize and manage for competitiveness Foster concerns for the new vision, competence to enact it, and cohesion to move it along Spread revitalization to all departments without pushing it from the top Institutionalize revitalization through formal policies, systems and structure Monitor and adjust strategies in response to problems in the revitalization process Then Fullan shares Hamels advice (2000) to lead the revolution Step 1: Build a point of view Step 2: Write a manifesto Step 3: Create a coalition Step 4: Pick your targets and pick your moments Step 5: Co-opt and neutralize Step 6: Find a translator Step 7: Win small win early, win often Step 8: Isolate, infiltrate, integrate He offers the following guidelines for understanding change: The goal is not to innovate the most. Innovating selectively with coherence is better. Having the best ideas is not enough. Leaders help others assess and find collective meaning and commitment to new ways. Appreciate the implementation dip. Leaders cant avoid the inevitable early difficulties of trying something new. They should know, for example, that no mater how much they plan for the change, the first six months or so of implementation will be bumpy. Redefine resistance. Successful leaders dont mind when naysayers rock the boat. In fact, doubters sometimes have important points. Leaders look for ways to address those concerns. Reculturing is the name of the game. Much change is structural and superficial. Transforming culture changing what people in the organization value and how they work together to accomplish it leads to deep, lasting change. Never a checklist, always complexity. There is no step-by-step shortcut to transformation; it involves the hard, day-to-day work of reculturing. The Cultural Change Principal knows the difference between being an expert in a given content innovation and being an expert in managing the process of change. This principal does not make the mistake of assuming that the best ideas will carry the day. Instead, the Cultural Change Principal provides opportunities for people to visit sites that are using new ideas, invites questions and even dissent, and expects the change process to proceed in fits and starts during the first few months of implementation. Nevertheless, such a principal forges ahead and expects progress within a year because he or she has nurtured the conditions that yield results sooner rather than later. The title of chapter four, Relationship, Relationship, Relationship, is self explanatory. Success of any venture depends upon the people involved in the change process. Leaders must be skillful relationship builders with diverse people and groups. The single factor common to every successful change initiative is that relationships improve. If relationships improve, things get better. If they remain the same or get worse ground is lost. Effective leaders constantly foster purposeful interaction and problem solving. They are wary of easy consensus. Emotional intelligence is at the core of leaders who are continuously successful in a culture of change. Fullan makes an excellent point concerning change while discussing high stakes testing. We must resist the urge to focus on short term results by placing our emphasis on long-term results and the systemic improvements that will generate the lasting change we are seeking. The chapter five is knowledge building. Leaders need to commit themselves to constantly generating and increasing knowledge inside and outside the organization. Effective leaders understand the value and role of knowledge creation; they make it a priority and set about establishing and reinforcing habits of knowledge exchange among organizational members. Fullan describes a number of strategies used in education, business, and the military for turning information into knowledge by engaging people in an orchestrated social process. The key skill here is to convert information to knowledge through purposeful social interactions. In chapter six, coherence building, the author takes the reader on a journey of guiding people through their differences and enabling those differences to surface. He builds on the hypothesis that creative ideas and novel solutions are often generated when the status quo is disrupted. He discusses the frustration felt by many when a school district has a large number of improvement programmes operating at the same time. Fullan argues that we are in complex (rather than chaotic) times and that the central tendency of dynamic, complex systems is to constantly generate overload causing fragmentation, uncertainty and confusion. Effective leaders guide people through differences and enable differences to surface while creating coherence. They tolerate enough ambiguity to keep creative juices flowing, but seek coherence along the way. They ensure strategies are in place to keep people focused and moving in a purposeful direction. In chapter seven, The Hare and The Tortoise, Fullan refers to the Fontaines Fable of the hare and the tortoise. Developing leaders are more tortoise-like than hare-like. Three powerful lessons about leadership are identified: the vital and paradoxical need for slow knowing overtime, the importance of learning in context , and the need for leaders at all levels of the organization, in order to achieve wide spread internal commitment. Good leaders foster leadership at other levels. Leadership at other levels produces a steady stream of future leader for the system as a whole. Fullan concludes that leaders in a culture of change will be judged as effective or ineffective not simply by their results and who they are as leaders, but by the leadership they develop in others. Fullans writing style is more familiar than authoritative with liberal amount of case histories from both the business world and the world of education. The theme of this book is that all of us can improve our leadership abilities simply by focusing on a small number of key dimensions. Fullan ties each chapter to the previous one re-emphasizing the previous chapter through reinforcement in the current one. This book states that two things have occurred in recent times that have aided the discovery and pursuit of effective leadership. The first is that the knowledge base of what it takes to be an effective leader is getting broader and deeper, and with more insight. The second thing that happened is that there are many more examples of transformation in both business and education. In reading this text and then reviewing it, I concluded that there were three basic premises that were utilized to accomplish the purpose of the book. I think that the first premise was found within the verbiage of the preface, which related that this book is about how leaders can focus on certain key change themes that will allow them to lead effectively under messy conditions. This book is also about how leaders foster leadership in others, thereby making themselves dispensable in the long run (p. x) The second premise is that each and every leader, whether the CEO of a multinational corporation or a school principal, can become much more effective by focusing on a small number of core aspects of leadership and by developing a new mind-set about the leaders responsibility to himself or herself and to those with whom he or she works (p. 2). The premise this book uses to achieve its purpose is that it delves into the complexities of leadership . . . It provides insights, strategies, and, ultimately, better theories of knowledge and action suited to leadership in complex times (p. 10). The book lists five components of leadership that were discussed and reviewed (in detail in separate chapters) to support the three premises that were utilized to achieve its purpose. These five components were: moral purpose (which means acting with the intentions of making a positive difference in the lives of employees, customers, and society as a whole), understanding the change process (I think this is self-explanatory), relationships (which means consummating relationships with diverse people and groups; effective leaders constantly foster interaction and problem solving, and are wary of easy consensus), knowledge creation and sharing (which represents a merging of the previous three components to arrive at something new to help or facilitate the change or an understanding of it), and coherence (which is eliminating the ambiguity associated with new knowledge created and shared connecting the new knowledge to existing knowledge). The book argues that by utilizing these five components, we have the correct checks and balances for simultaneously letting go and reining in. When leaders act in the ways recommended, they will disturb the future in a manner that approximates the desired outcomes, Leading in a Culture of Change integrates the most current ideas and theories on effective leadership to support and illustrate five core competencies for leading in complex times. Fullan links components of his leadership framework with concrete examples and cases used in education and business. Moreover it allows the reader to apply the methods gradually. I found the book easy to read and quite enlightening, reinforcing some of my personal beliefs concerning successful leadership styles in the culture of change. Leading in a culture of change deals with the complexities of leadership; it provides insights, strategies and better theories of knowledge and action suited to leadership in difficult times. This book is a call for action, equipping leaders with ideas and strategies for deep success. I found this book both enjoyable and enlightening. Each page offered positive in sight into leading the change process. I would recommend this book to all administrators, whether at the central office level or on the campus. It would be an excellent centerpiece for staff development revolving around the change process. Fullan does not lead the reader to believe that by following simple steps all will work out fine. Instead he offers a path to change with many positive examples of companys and educational systems growing, developing, and maturing towards a common goal.

Marketing Strategy for Unilever South Africa Essay -- Business Marketi

Marketing Strategy for Unilever South Africa UNILEVER COMPANY MISSION "Our purpose in Unilever is to meet the everyday needs of people everywhere - to anticipate the aspirations of our consumers and customers and to respond creatively and competitively with branded products and services which raise the quality of life". "Our deep roots in local cultures and markets around the world are our unparalleled inheritance and the foundation for our future growth. We will bring our wealth of knowledge and international expertise to the service of local consumers - a truly multi-local multinational." "Our long-term success requires a total commitment to exceptional standards of performance and productivity, to working together effectively and to a willingness to embrace new ideas and learn continuously. " "We believe that to succeed requires the highest standards of corporate behaviour towards our employees, consumers and the societies and world in which we live. " "This is Unilever's road to sustainable, profitable growth for our business and long-term value creation for our shareholders and employees" 2. COMPANY BACKGROUND Unilever is part of an Anglo Dutch fast moving consumer goods manufacturer and marketer, one of the largest of its kind in the world. Unilever South Africa is headquartered in Durban with facilities in Johannesburg, Stellenbosch, Durban as well as Pietermaritzburg and consists of four Operating Companies: Lever Pond's, Unifoods, Ola and Hudson & Knight. Unilever is also represented in South Africa by Elizabeth Arden. Because Unilever has a policy of marketing the brands and not the company. The result is that they have been an integral part of life in South Africa without the consumer bei... ...n, while 70% of the market is based in Gauteng.  It is also recommended that a Lube Engineer who is familiar with the pulp and paper industry be employed. Two people have already been brought on board for the retail sector and additional two have also been employed for cutting oils.  Another recommendations is that the current Training budget be increased from R17 000 to R67 000 in order to meet the training needs of this sector. The cutting oils sector, is very lucrative and will enable Caltex to meet its objective of attaining and increase in the market share of 5% by year end.  The detailed promotional strategies should also be embarked upon to ensure that increased brand awareness is attained, the financial implications of it, will be evident in the bottom line, as we forecast a 3.5% increase in sales by the end of 4 months.

Music - Bonos Path Towards Spiritual Enlightenment Essay -- Explorato

Bono's Path Towards Spiritual Enlightenment While most celebrities keep their religious beliefs private, the music of the Irish rock group U2, with lyrics written by lead singer Bono, contains many religious references and ideas. A closer analysis of the song lyrics shows an evolution of the religious ideas contained within. The changing and development of these ideas corresponds to many psychological and sociological theories of faith evolution, including those of Alfred Adler and James Fowler. Adlerian theory posits that "Our ideas about God are important indicators of how we view the world. According to Adler these ideas have changed over time, as our vision of the world—and our place in it—has changed" (Nielson). There are two kinds of changes that may occur: those that advance the faith, and those that incite doubt or stagnation, as reported by Paul Fritz. Fritz, a minister, incorporated the ideas of sociologist Jean Merton into his theory of faith evolution. Fowler, in Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Hum an Development and the Quest for Meaning, states that faith evolves as individuals move through life, changing at each stage the way they make sense of existence. Commenting on Fowler's theory, John Testerman writes, "The stages of faith can be thought of as the different lenses through which we view the world as we journey through life." A careful study of Bono's lyrics can show what kind of "spiritual glasses" he wears at that stage of his life, and how his outlook on the world shapes the portrayal of his beliefs. While the evolution of faith and spiritual beliefs may be divided into stages, a person may be in between stages at any time, exhibiting the characteristics of more than one stage. In Fritz's model, a b... ... Cambridge Bible. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Fowler, James W. Stages of Faith: the Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning. Harper: San Francisco, 1995. Fritz, Paul. Home page. 10 Mar, 2002. "8 Stages of Faith." . Nielsen, Michael. Home page. 3 Nov. 2003. Psychology of Religion Pages. . "The Stages of Faith." The Journal of Religion and Society. Home page. 1 Nov. 2002. . 2 Nov. 2002. Testerman, John. Home page. Mar. 1995. The Stages of Faith. . U2. Achtung, Baby. Island, 1991. U2. All That You Can't Leave Behind. Island, 2000. U2. The Joshua Tree. Island, 1987. U2. October. Island, 1982. U2. POP. Island, 1997. U2. War. Island, 1980.

Katherine Mansfield’s short story Essay

Katherine Mansfield’s short story â€Å"Miss Brill† is the story of a woman who is lonely and isolated from the world around her although she tries to make herself believe that she belongs to the community and is connected to the rest of the people who live in her little world. This theme of loneliness and isolation and Miss Brill’s attempts to waive them away would recur many times throughout the plot. Miss Brill is an old maid and that in itself makes her an outsider in a society that believes that being married is the norm rather than the exception. Every Sunday afternoon she visits the park and spends the entire time looking at the people and delighting in the activity going on. She compares herself to an audience watching a play unfolding before her. However, by regarding the world around her as a stage, she is unconsciously referring to her own life as another plot in a make-believe play of life. She is a lonely woman pretending that everything is fine with her life as much as everything looks fine with everyone during that afternoon in the park. While walking, with her ermine fur around her shoulders, she â€Å"breathed something light† which she denies as â€Å"sadness†. When she listens to the band playing, she feels a certain â€Å"chill† that she insists is not â€Å"sadness†. Her ultimate denial happens when she comes home after having eavesdropped upon a young couple making fun of her. While she replaces the fur in its box, â€Å"she heard something crying. † Every time, Miss Brill waives away the pangs of loneliness so that she is even able to pretend that the crying comes from inside the fur box. But at every instance of denial, her sadness and isolation only becomes more obvious to the reader. Work Cited Mansfield, Katherine. Miss Brill.