Cormac McCarthys No Country for Old Men Essay - 921 Words

Ignorant souls will probably tell you that No Country for Old Men is a film of thirst for blood, material wealth and a sheriffs investigation. Those that suggest this, however, are the same that tune in weekly for their dose of Big Brother: The Evictions and are swayed by the words of their local car salesman. The Coen brothers’ masterful 2005 adaption of Cormac McCarthys No Country for Old Men is a standout in recent cinema history, pushing aside this year’s spit-out of Transformers from explosion-junkie Michael Bay. Taking a different approach from their usual quirky, humour films littered with three word profanities (cue: Burn after Reading Osbourne Cox fans), the Coen’s have successfully stepped into a dark, deeply disquieting drama†¦show more content†¦In the relentlessly vindictive manner of McCarthy’s novel, Bell delivers a welcomed voice of sanity and justice to the human mind; his old-school morals and philosophical reminiscences offering a sanction in a world dominated by evil. But it is Vietnam Vet, Llewellyn Moss, who levels best with the audience. Playing the wild card of the three, Brolin delivers a human centre to the film; the man most identifiable with, even as the odds steepen against him. As the minutes fly by, unnerving notions about the determined yet futile attempts of humankind to guide their obdurate fate – that serves as an unwelcome side-dish to the sachet – becomes increasingly clear. The dominant hunter of the film, characterised by an out-of-place Mod beetle-cut, is the epitome of the Coens’ ability to point to biblical themes. Bardem plays the overpowering force that pervades the audience even when off-camera – his malevolent presence is constantly felt and the aftermath of his actions are unpardonably viewable. If the pneumatic hiss of Chigurh’s killing device isn’t enough to suggest his vindictive nature, then his sadistic taunting of his prey as he tightens his grip on their fate undoubtedly solidifies his role as the modern incarnation of the devil. This â€Å"living prophet of destruction† is watched from afar by disillusioned sheriff, Ed Tom Bell, who struggles to accept his damned world for the crumbli ng mess it has become. Bell,Show MoreRelatedThe Presentation of Women in ‘The Great Gatsby’, and in Cormac McCarthy’s ‘No Country for Old Men’1909 Words   |  8 Pagesgiven to really change? For Jordan this is an exciting transition but Tom will cling to the traditional past. When a threatening situation looms over them will they run and hide or confront the problem head on, the only way they know, as in ‘No Country for Old Men’? Both novels deal with times of women’s liberation and an introduction to a new era. In the ‘roaring twenties’, women were expected to be housewives and mothers before making careers for themselves, however Jordan Baker defies this imageRead MoreFemale Characters in ‘The Great Gatsby’ and Cormac McCarthy’s ‘No Country for Old Men’? 2004 Words   |  9 PagesFor Jordan this is an exciting transition but more traditional characters such as Tom cling to the past. When a threatening situation looms over them will they run and hide or confront the problem head on, the only way they know, as in ‘No Country for Old Men’? These contrasting reactions could be a result of Fitzgerald deliberately creating ‘no important women characters’. Both novels promote women’s liberation and introduce to a new era. In the ‘roaring twenties’, women were expected to beRead More The Three Generations Represented in No Country For Old Men Essay1256 Words   |  6 PagesCormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men follows three very different men in a tense cat and mouse chase through several border towns. It begins with a drug smuggling deal gone very wrong in the middle of the desert that leaves behind a truck bed full of cocaine and a sack with 1.4 million dollars left for someone to discover. When on a hunting endeavor, Llewelyn Moss discovers the scene and the million dollars. When he takes the money, he seals his fate with a brutal killer named Anton Chiguhr,Read MoreThe Evil Within No Country for Old Men Essay897 Words   |  4 Pagesevil. This is exceptionally true in the movie No Country for Old Men by the Coen brothers. The dominant theme in the Coen brother’s movie is evil. The movie No Country for Old Men is based on a book by Cormac McCarthy. According to Lan Buckwalter, â€Å"McCarthys bloody and beautiful novel comes to life under the Coens able touch† (1/1). The movie No Country for Old Men tells a tale of Sheriff Ed Tom Bell’s life as he tries to exonerate the country of the increasing evil in a region where his fatherRead MoreNo Country For Old Men By Cormac Mccarthy1986 Words   |  8 PagesHieu Nguyen English Writing 301 Professor Tittle 27 July 2015 Biographical Perspective of No Country for Old Men Upon reading the book, No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, readers may be shocked to see the way it is written. Cormac McCarthy’s style of writing differentiates from other famous authors. He does not use correct punctuations such as apostrophes for contraction words and quotation marks around dialogues or use correct sentence forms. His rhetorical mode makes it difficult for theRead MoreContext, Violence and Leadership in Cormac McCarthys Blood Meridian1885 Words   |  8 PagesCormac McCarthy’s â€Å"Blood Meridian† does a marvelous job of highlighting the violent nature of mankind. The underlying cause of this violent nature can be analyzed from three perspectives, the first being where the occurrence of violence takes place, the second man’s need to be led and the way their leader leads them, and lastly whether violence is truly an innate and inherent characteristic in man. Cormac McCarthy once said, â€Å"I think the notion that the species can be improved in some way, thatRead More Development of Character in Cormac McCarthys All the Pretty Horses1357 Words   |  6 PagesDevelopment of Character in Cormac McCarthys All the Pretty Horses In a journey across the vast untamed country of Mexico, Cormac McCarthy introduces All the Pretty Horses, a bittersweet and profoundly moving tale of love, hate, disappointments, joy, and redemption. John Grady sets out on horseback to Mexico with his best friend Lacey Rawlins in search of the cowboy lifestyle. His journey leaves John wiser but saddened, yet out of this heartbreak comes the resilience of a man who has claimed hisRead MoreAnalysis Of `` No Country For Old Men ``1247 Words   |  5 PagesIn Cormac McCarthy’s â€Å"No Country For Old Men,† fate plays a significant role in the novel and is present in the lives of each of the characters he portrays. Fate, as defined in the dictionary, is â€Å"the will or principle or determining cause by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as they do.† The theme of fate is demonstrated in all of the characters in the novel, but most evidently in Llewellyn Moss, Ed Tom B ell, Carla Jean, Carson Wells, and Anton ChigurhRead MoreSuttree by Cormac Mccarthy: Critical Analysis and Review Essay1875 Words   |  8 Pagesembodied Cormac McCarthys fourth novel and personified the main character, Cornelius Suttree, who traveled through the wasteland of the Tennessee River valley as a fisher of men. Scholarship: D. S. Butterworths Scholarly Essay on Suttree In Pearls As Swine: Recentering the Marginal in Cormac McCarthys Suttree D. S. Butterworth argued that McCarthy treated the condemned characters of the Knoxville outcasts as geological and archaeological finds. According to Butterworth, McCarthys charactersRead MoreNo Country for Old Men Scene Comparison Essay1244 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Scene Comparison: The Coin Toss The award winning film, No Country for Old Men, adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s 2007 novel, is a riveting tale of a brutal chain of events related to money, murder, and drugs, which rolls through West Texas in the 1980’s. Told through the perspective of the stories three main characters – a soulless killer, an old time sheriff, and an experienced country boy – both the novel and the film keep the audience anxiously waiting for the next gun fight or brutal killing

Sunshine Chapter 13 Free Essays

Oh gee. Don’t pull your punches like that. I can take the truth, really I can. We will write a custom essay sample on Sunshine Chapter 13 or any similar topic only for you Order Now I said something like, â€Å"Unnngh.† â€Å"I believe it will work.† â€Å"I’m delighted to hear it.† â€Å"Your wound is worse.† â€Å"Oh well. No biggie.† I was a trifle preoccupied with his little revelation about our joint even-more-immediate-than-Bo impending doom. He’d said he wasn’t sure what he was doing. â€Å"It comes and goes.† â€Å"Will you remove the bandage?† Or you will? I thought nervously. I unbuttoned the top two buttons of my nightgown again and peeled the gauze away. Ouch. Of course the cut began to bleed at once. â€Å"Er – I don’t suppose you want to tell me what you’re going to do?† Badly phrased question. â€Å"No,† he said. â€Å"Will you please tell me what you are going to do.† â€Å"If you would take your knife, and open the blade.† My heart, having tried to accustom itself to vampire in the room, began to thump uncomfortably. The knife lay between us on the bed, where I had set it down. I looked at him a little oddly as I picked it up, and he, I suppose, well accustomed to blood-letting and thinking nothing of a little more or less of the same, misinterpreted my look. â€Å"I would prefer not to touch your knife, it will burn me. And it is better if you cut me yourself.† EEEEK. â€Å"Cut you?† â€Å"Yes. As you are cut. Here.† And he touched the place below his collarbones. A lot less bony on him, it occurred to me. I hadn’t registered it before, but he was a lot more filled-out-looking generally than he had been when we first made acquaintance. When he was half-starved and all. I hadn’t seen him with his shirt off four nights ago. Well. I could have sat there quite a while thinking ridiculous thoughts – anything was better than thinking about the prospective hacking and hewing: a two-and-a-half-inch blade is plenty big enough to do more damage than I wanted to be around for – but he said patiently, â€Å"Open the blade.† The knife seemed much heavier in my hand than usual, and the blade more reluctant to unfold. I snapped it open and the blade flared silver fire. â€Å"You said it would burn you.† â€Å"And so it will. I would appreciate it if you made the cut quickly.† â€Å"I can’t,† I said, panicky. â€Å"I can’t – cut you – at all.† â€Å"Very well,† he said. â€Å"Please set the tip of it, here,† and he touched a spot below his right collarbone. I sat there, frozen and staring. I even raised my eyes and looked into his: green as grass, as my grandmother’s ring, as my plaid socks from last night. He looked steadily back. I could feel my own blood – my poisoned blood – seeping slowly down my breast, staining my nightgown, dripping on the sheet. He reached out, and gently closed his own hand around mine holding the knife. He drew hand and knife toward him, set the point where he had indicated. I felt the slight give of his flesh under the blade. His hold tightened, and he gave a tiny, quick twist and jerk, and the knifepoint parted the skin; I felt the moment up the blade into my hand when the skin first divided under the glowing stainless-steel blade, when it sank into him. There was a sound, as if I could hear that sundering of flesh, or perhaps of the undead electricity that guarded that flesh, a minute fizz or hiss; then he drew the sharp – the burning sharp – edge swiftly across his chest in a shallow arc – just like the wound on me. And pulled the knife away again. It was over in a moment. The slash he had made was deeper, and the blood raged out. I was – whimpering, or moaning: â€Å"Oh no, oh no,† – I dropped the knife and reached toward him as if I could close the awful gash with my hands. The blood was black in the moonlight, there was so much of it, too much of it – it was hot, hot, running over my hands†¦ â€Å"Good,† he said. He took my bloody hands and turned them back toward me, wiped them down the front of my poor once-white nightgown, firmly, against the contours of my body; pulled my hands toward him again, smeared them across his chest, and back to press them against me: repeated this till my nightgown stuck to me, sopping, saturated, as if I had been swimming, except the wetness was his blood. I was weeping. â€Å"Hush,† he said. â€Å"Hush.† â€Å"I don’t understand,† I said, weeping. â€Å"I don’t understand. This cannot be – healing.† â€Å"It can,† he said. â€Å"It is. All is well. Lie back. Lie down,† he said. â€Å"You will sleep soon now.† I lay down, bumping my head against the headboard. My tears ran down my temples and into my hair. The smell of blood was thick and heavy and nauseating. I saw him leaning, looming over me, felt him lie down upon me, gently, so gently, till our bleeding skins met with one thin sodden layer of cotton partially between: till the new wound in him pressed down against the old wound in me. His hair brushed my face as he bowed his head; his breath stirred my hair. â€Å"Constantine,† I cried, â€Å"are you turning me?† â€Å"No,† he said. â€Å"I would not. And this is not that.† â€Å"Then what – â€Å" â€Å"Do not talk. Not now. Later. We can talk later.† â€Å"But – but – I am so frightened,† I pleaded. In the moonlight I could see his silhouette clearly. He raised his head away from me, arching his neck backward so our bodies remained touching. I saw him rip, quickly, neatly, his upper lip with his lower teeth, his lower lip and tongue with his upper. He bent his head to me again, and when he stopped my mouth with his, his blood ran across my tongue and down my throat. It was still dark when I woke. I had turned on my side – I always sleep curled up on one side or the other – but this time I was facing the room. My first thought was that I had had a terrible dream. I was alone in the bed. I looked down, along my body. Gingerly I touched my white nightgown. It had been a dream. I had imagined it. I had imagined all of it. Although my nightgown felt curiously – tacky, as if I had worn it too long, although it had come fresh out of the dryer this morning. But it was white. The sheets were white too. No bloodstains. I had imagined it. I knew he was sitting in the chair. After four nights he had returned after all. I couldn’t bear to look at him – not yet – not while the dream was so heavy on me – so shamefully heavy. What a horrible thing to dream. Even about a vampire. At least he wouldn’t know that I’d dreamed – at least he wouldn’t know. I didn’t have to tell him. I sat up, and as I sat up, I felt a small heavy something fall to a different position on top of the bedclothes. My small shining knife. The blade still open. No. I looked at him. Although the chair was in shadow I saw him with strange clarity: the mushroomy-gray skin, the impassive face, the green eyes, black hair. I knew it was nighttime – I felt it on my own skin – why could I see as if it were daylight? It occurred to me that he wasn’t wearing his shirt. No. I had climbed out of bed and taken the two steps to the chair and laid my hands on his unmarked chest before I had a chance to think – before I had a chance to tell myself not to – laid my hands as I had laid them – an hour ago? A week? A century? – with the blood welling out, sluicing out, from the cut I had made with my knife. I touched his mouth, his untorn lips. â€Å"Poor Sunshine,† he said, under my fingers. â€Å"I told you it would not be easy. I did not think how difficult the manner of it would be for you.† â€Å"It – it happened, then?† I said. My knees suddenly wouldn’t hold me, and I sank down beside his chair. I leaned my forehead against the arm of it. â€Å"What I remember†¦I thought it must be a bad dream. A†¦shameful dream.† â€Å"Shameful?† he said. He bent over me, took my shoulders so I had to sit up, away from the support of the chair. The top two buttons of my nightgown were still undone, and the edges fell open as I moved. He put one hand on my breast just below the collarbones, so that it covered the width of my old wound. He left his hand there for two of my breaths, took it away again, held it, palm up, as if he might be catching my tears; but I was dry-eyed. â€Å"You are healed,† he said. â€Å"There is no shame in healing.† I looked down, touched the place he had touched. The skin was clear and smooth: I could see it plainly. I could see plainly too, a thin pale scar, where the wound had been, but this was a real scar. The wound was gone, and would not reopen. â€Å"The blood,† I said. â€Å"All the blood.† â€Å"It was clean blood,† he said. â€Å"It was for you.† I was remembering the real dream I had had after I slept – the blood dream. Daylight, sunshine, grass, trees, flowers, the warmth of life, gladness to be alive†¦ Gladness to be alive. Gladness was the wrong word. It was much simpler than that, more direct. There was no translation of sensation into a word like gladness. It was the sensation itself. Smells, sounds, tastes, all perceptions so different from anything I knew in waking life, so unequivocal, uncluttered†¦uncontaminated. The wide world around me seemed vast and open and immediate in a way I did not recognize. But my sense of self was – there was no thought to it. There was a place where all those strange vivid sensations met, and there I was. A feeling, instinctive, responsive me – but no me. On four legs. This life I dreamed – this life I borrowed – this life I knew so strangely from the inside – this life, I abruptly knew, that had been taken for me – it was no human life. I was remembering life as some creature – she, I knew her as she; I knew her as a grass-eater, a scenter of the breeze, and a listener with wide ears; I felt her long lithe muscles, rough brown fur, smelled the sweet gamy smell of her; I knew her as a runner and a leaper and a hider in dappled shadow. A deer. I searched for the horror of her death, for the fear and the pain, the helpless awareness of coming final darkness. I remembered waking up, sick and dazed but with a kind of drugged tranquillity, after Bo’s lieutenant had used the Breath on me. I looked for some equivalent in my doe’s last minutes. I could not find it. â€Å"The doe,† I said. â€Å"Yes. It would not have been right for you to remember the last day of a human woman.† There was a laugh that stuck in my throat. â€Å"No,† I said soberly. â€Å"It would not have been right for me.† I sagged forward again, but this time I was leaning against his leg, my cheek just above his knee. â€Å"How did she die?† I said dreamily, resting against the leg of the vampire who had cured my poisoned wound with the death of a doe. â€Å"How?† he repeated. There was a long pause while I remembered the wild grass against my slender legs, the way my four hoofs dug into the ground as they took my weight as I ran, how much more fleetly and steadily I ran on four two-toed hoofs than I would ever run on two queerly inflexible platterlike feet and thick clumsy legs. He said: â€Å"There are many myths about my kind. It is not true that we cannot feed unless we torment first. She died as any good hunter kills his prey: with one clean stroke.† â€Å"But†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I said, groping for the answer I wanted. Needed. â€Å"You told me – long ago. By the lake. You have to ask. You can take no†¦blood that is not offered. She has to have said ‘yes.’ â€Å" After a little while he said: â€Å"Animals do not draw the distinction between life and death that humans do. If an animal is caught, by age, by illness, by some creature stronger than it, and cannot escape, it accepts death.† A longer pause. â€Å"Also†¦my kind were all once human. There perhaps can be no truly clean death between one of your kind and one of mine.† I thought: If that is true, then it works both ways. The death of the giggler at my hands is no cleaner than the death he was offering that girl. I shivered. I felt Constantine’s hand on the back of my neck. â€Å"I told you last time that Bo and I chose different ways of being what we are. You magic handlers know you risk, with every sending, the recoil. Bo is burdened by many years of the recoil of the torment that provides the savor to his meals. The savor is real – yes, I too have tasted it – but it is not worth the price.† I was looking across the room, at a corner near the ceiling, where one of the occupied cobwebs hung. I could see the tiny dot that was the folded-up spider at the center. I raised my head and turned round, knelt up, put my hands on his knees, stared into his face, into his eyes. I had looked full into his eyes briefly last night, while I held the knife, before he had taken from me the action I could not perform. I stared at him now, minute after minute, night flowing past us as morning had done by the lake, two months and a lifetime ago, when I told him I would take him with me, through the daylight, out of the trap we shared. â€Å"You used the blood of a doe, to spare me the death of a human. You said you would not – were not – turning me. Why are you not telling me not to look in your eyes?† â€Å"I have not turned you,† he replied. â€Å"In three hours, when the sun rises, you will find that sunshine is your element, as it always has been. I do not think you can be turned. You can be killed, as any human can be, as the poison Bo set in your flesh would at last have killed you, but I believe you cannot be turned. â€Å"There is nothing I can do to you with my gaze, any more, whether I wish it or not. I was not able†¦to give you the doe’s clean blood cleanly. I caught and carried her blood for you, for tonight’s necessary rite, but I am not a clean vessel. Sunshine, we are on territory neither of us knows. We are bound now, you to me as I already was to you, for I have saved your life tonight as you saved my existence two months ago.† â€Å"I think the honors were about even, two months ago,† I said, struggling. He picked my hands up off his knees, held them between his hands. â€Å"That-which-binds did not judge so; the scales did not rest in balance. You will begin, now, I think, to read those lines of†¦power, governance, sorcery, as I can read them. By what has happened between us tonight. Onyx Blaise’s daughter – the daughter who did what you did, that second morning by the lake – always held that capacity. Now you must learn to use it. That-which-binds reckons I have been bound to you by what happened two months ago. I could not come to you if you did not call me, but if you called I had to come. You are now bound to me as well. I did not do this deliberately; to save your life, it was the only choice I had, and I was bound to try. â€Å"When I came to you four nights ago, I had no knowledge of the wound you still carried. I was thinking only of how I could convince you – to go into battle with me. That I should succeed did not seem likely, though you were calling to ask me for help. I came here that night thinking how I might give you – anything I could give you – to help you in that battle, if you agreed. It would have required some greater tie between us, but nothing like†¦ â€Å"I do not know what I have given you tonight.† Another silence. He added, â€Å"I do not know what you have given me.† Another, longer silence. â€Å"Well,† I said, shakily, clinging to his hands holding mine, â€Å"I think I can see in the dark.† PART THREE So, I would have said that not much could be worse – short of being dead or undead – than those first weeks after the night I went out to the lake and met some vampires up close and personal. I would have said that being paralyzed from the neck down or having an inoperable brain tumor would be worse. Not a lot else. Just shows how limited the human imagination can be. The first weeks after Con healed the wound on my breast were worse. It’s funny, because I had thought, living through those first two months after the nights at the lake, that the great crisis was about What I Was or Who I’d Become or What Terrible Thing Was Wrong With Me (and About to Go Wronger) and Why All Was Changed As a Result. But I was still struggling against the idea that all was changed. Sticking the giggler with the table knife should have shaken me out of this fantasy even if the sucker-sunshade trick hadn’t, but I was too busy being grossed out by the sheer grisliness of the latter experience to have thought much about the philosophical implications. What the little chat with Jesse and Pat had revealed to me had done my head in worse, and the news that the suckers were on to conquer the world within the next century had been worse yet. I felt like a pancake in the hands of a maniac flipper. But when you’re being caromed around your life like a squash ball you haven’t got leeway to think about what happens next. When you’re feeding the second coachload of tourists that day you aren’t thinking about the birthday party for fifty next week. Maybe you should be, but you aren’t. Now is more than enough. Before the detox night with Con I still thought I could say no somehow, could still stick my head back in the sand. Hey, I wasn’t going to be around in a hundred years – unless maybe I started handling a lot of magic, which I didn’t want to, right? That was exactly what I didn’t want to be doing; magic handling extending your lifespan was a myth anyway – so what did I care? You can be a really nasty, selfish little jerk when you’re scared enough. I was scared enough. Of course I had had this apparently permanent leaking wound on my breast, I had had these nightmares, and I had been doing a pretty bad job after all of suppressing thinking about what it all meant, what had happened at the lake. But I was still obstinately trying to pretend I’d only had a piece of very, very bad luck, and the fact of my having survived it wasn’t†¦irredeemable. My gran had shown me all that transmuting stuff fifteen years ago, and I’d never used it before. Maybe it would be another fifteen years before I used it again. Maybe thirty this time. And one vampire more or less? Who cares? And the table knife venture was just that the giggler’d been the one who cut me, poisoned me. It was a one-off. There was an answer in there somewhere: it wasn’t me, it wasn’t my warped, screwed-up genetic heritage. And if I’d delivered the world of one sucker, sort of accidentally having preserved it another one, then my final effect on the vampire population was nil, invisible, void. Which was exactly the profile I’d choose. I told myself I had always been my father’s daughter. I was facing what had been there all the time. But I was also facing stuff that hadn’t been there. Being able to see in the dark sounds great. Never trip over the bathroom threshold on your way for a pee at midnight again, right? But it’s not that simple. Human eyes don’t see in the dark. They don’t have the rods and cones for it or whatever. Therefore you are doing something that isn’t human. It’s not like you’ve awakened a latent talent, like someone who finds out they have a gift for playing jazz piano after a life previously devoted to Bach. That may be odd, but it’s within human scope. Seeing in the dark isn’t. And you know it. That doesn’t mean I know how to explain it; but trust me, you can tell the difference between seeing because there’s enough light and â€Å"seeing† because something weird and vampiry is going on in your brain that chooses to pretend to be happening in your eyes because that’s the nearest equivalent. Like if some human had had a poisoned wound healed by some weird recip rocal swap with the phoenix, maybe they’d be able to fly afterward, apparently by flapping their arms. (Mind you no one has seen the phoenix in over a thousand years, and it has never been inclined to do humans any good turns. Rather the opposite. Very like vampires, I suppose. Except a lot of people think the phoenix is a myth, and not many are stupid enough to think vampires are. I think the phoenix has at least a fifty-fifty chance of being true, because it’s nasty. What this world doesn’t have is the three-wishes, go-to-the-ball-and-meet-your-prince, happily-ever-after kind of magic. We have all the mangling and malevolent kinds. Who invented this system?) I saw in the dark pretty well. I thought, do I want to see Bo coming? Oh yeah, and seeing in the dark doesn’t mean when the sun goes down. It also means all the shadows that fall in daylight. This would not be a big issue for a vampire, of course, but it troubled the hell out of me. Even an ordinary table knife throws a shadow – although I didn’t really need any more reminders that table knives would never be ordinary to me again. It throws your balance off, seeing through shadows. Your depth perception goes wrong, like trying to look through someone else’s glasses. Everything has funny dark-light edges to it, and sometimes those edges have themselves threadlike red edges. You get your new looking-through-bad-spectacles distortion on everything, including your own hands, your own body, the faces and bodies of the people you love and trust. Oh, the one time this goes away is when you look in a mirror. Or it did with me. Just in case I needed reminding that I got it from a vampire. Thanks. How to cite Sunshine Chapter 13, Essay examples

Business Develop Business Management †Free Samples for Students

Question: Differences Between Businesses Develop Business Management? Answer: Introduction: ITSM is usually considered as a shortcut but the fact is it is difficult and need a lot of time, in order to use ITSM a lot of skills and time is required. Mostly business organizations do not use any management tool, these results in more time consumption as well as more man power. Mostly ITSM tool is used to bridge the communication gap between the customer and employers. There are many ITSM tool in the market at the moment but it is very important to analyze the importance of the management tool. Just a little research can save you a lot of money and time, there are a lot of management tools that are easy to use and they are not very expensive. A right business management tool can help your business to flourish and develop easily. Basic Overview: The basic use of ITSM tool is that it help and support not just one but many other process within the information technology system management. All these tools control the incidents and the request; they also help with problems, changes and managing the workflow within the organization. These types of tools also include the configuration tool that helps in managing the database. Background problem and solutions: Mostly IT companies globally have project management tools or they have to select a tool that suits their criteria of management or their business model. A good tool that suits the business strategy of an organization helps in project management without any glitch in the process. All the task tracking have to done by the organization can be easily done by the tool. JIRA comes handy for them, it provides specific features that are suitable for the story creation as well as big tracking, and this is perfect for someone who is working specifically for agile development. Most of the time technology solution require the involvement of some activities in the process, all these activities help in the creation of a specification which is the part of the project. Analysis of Celanese During an organization change, organization may require the employee to change according to the requirement of change, they need to change the organization culture along with the attitude and believes of the employees, this is a long process because it take a lot of time to change the believes that the employees have developed over time. The organization change management basically aim the individuals and teams within an organization, this helps them to change the culture of the organization along with determine the future culture of the organization that they want to adapt. Tool choice and your decision-making: There is a lot of scope for the ITSM tool especially when the organization needs to improve the delivery service for the client or when there is a constant gap between the supply chain and the management. While selecting the solution it is very important to keep this in mind that a lot of work will be required to keep the existing work and new implementation run side by side. This tool will help to make sure business revive good management as well as good IT services. Most of the time change in an organization requires a lot of effort and responsibility, these things are much more simplified when it comes to a management tools. It reduces the effort and makes it easy to manage everything for the organization. The recommended tool for the management of the organization in my prospective is JIRA; it is the tool that was developed by Atlassian for the management purpose and especially for software development management. In this tool there are many other features that include bug tracking, issue tracking and also project management function. With all these advance features it is becoming the top priority of most of the business organization, it is very versatile with a lot of different features. Most of the software development companies prefer to use this tool in order to track their activities and also many companies are using this software along with other software in order to full fill their requirements. Most of the software development companies prefer to use agile in order to develop their projects. Ticketing and service desk model JIRA also has service desk module, theses module help to create and also track the service tickets. One of the best thing about this except the data access is that this tool also helps you to stay in contact with everyone in the team. So if you have this tool it means not only you can easily provide access to your employee while you keep track of their work but also this is very helpful when you want to talk to your team mates it will be easy for the manger to keep in contact with the workers. So, whenever changes are required you can easily dictate it accordingly. One of the best features is that it helps the manger to create short term goals and assign work to everyone. So if once during the development requirements are finalized, he can set a story and assign everyone their work. One the work is done he can easily assign them other work by rescheduling the story and setting other short term goals. This helps the employees to stay motivated and increase the work flow as well. This way the manger will keep check on the work performance on daily basis. Not only can the receiver see the review but also the sender and other people can also see the feedback. This helps the employee to change the work according to the requirement of the client. In this way it is easy to develop the project, the employee can easily ask the question about the changes and process where as the manger can help the employee easily whenever it is needed. It helps in gathering the information and request from the vendors and help the organization to implement all these information in order to develop the system according to the request of the vendor. The evaluation of the response basically helps the organization in developing a project that is according to the response that is generated after the evaluation. Shortlisting a vendor basically plays a very important role in developing a project. When the required part is done it actually needs to be demonstrated to the vendor. Visiting the vendor is also considered as an important part of the project, infect it is considered as a key part. It helps in the proper identification of the problems as well as requirements in the initial phase of the project. This can also help to gain the customer satisfaction; this improves the system record the feedback and also helps to keep track of the services that are provided to the client by the organization. If the client is giving feedback, this is a good sign and if the problems and glitches in the system are tackled there is a likely chance that client will trust the organization and will come back for the services. The final selection and improvement just according to the requirement of client. If the organization takes requirements and feedback by the client very seriously, this will help in successful delivery of a project. All the effort, time, resource and money is required before and during the process of development before the purchase, once it is done the whole process is very smooth. SLA: Keeping up-to-date makes businesses even more successful. Just to keep the workers up-to-date of all the latest news, technology and inventions in the market, another feature of relevant news is also included in the portal. As described above, the portal will be interlinked with external sources for getting access to all the latest news. Maturity Ratings There are basically three types of ratings one is general which mean it has safe contests related to personal life. And its behavior should be appropriate including children and people at work place. Second is moderate which means there would not be anything that can affect adults. There should not be anything illegal. Third is that all material should be compiles with term of services. Maturity rating is basically used to hide inappropriate behavior and in relevant contents. Self-assessment JIRA is basically a commercial software product; it helps in running the applications. In order to get a legal permission or in other words in order to get license for the use of this tool it is important to purchase it from the original website. It is easily available in the hosted application, on the original website of the organization. The price however varies, there are a lot of factors that determine the price of the software. The price depends on the maximum number of users that will be using the tool later. So, if you are buying the product for the whole company it will be obviously expensive, however if a small group need this software for their use, it will be relatively cheap. This software is also available as an open source projects, if certain criteria is met, and also it is available for only some of the organizations. If an organization has the license and access to this management tool they can share the tool and provide a complete control of the system as well as the data to their every employee. If an organization is willing to use a management tool, it is very important for them to buy it or have license. This helps in keep things legal and avoids any problem later. Discussion of ratings JIRA is used worldwide, according to estimate it is used in more than 112 countries. Where majority of the organizations use JIRA for bug detection, it is also helpful commenting as well as questioning the project detection. One of the best things about this software is, it is very helpful when it comes to project management, and it helps in making flow charts for the work and also helps in keeping an eye on the progress of the work. This actually means that while using this software or while managing through this software it is very easy to keep a track on the amount of work done and the work in progress. It is perfect for magenta, it helps in functionality as well as it has a wide range of tools. There is a toolbar that contains very useful and unique tools, all these tools have necessary functions and unique features that help the vendor to manage the project very easily without any assistance from a skilled person. The process will be very easy to understand from this example. So, if you need to execute the functional testing and you have this tool. This tool will help you to track the process of testing along with its status so that you can keep a track. This tool will also help you to find the problem, if there is a problem in the system. This means it will increase the wok flow and help you to manage the project easily. If you have a project for agile development this will also help you to detect the bug whenever it is needed. Although most of the time it is considered perfect for the agile development but the system is very flexible which means it is easy for other waterfall cycles as well. Limitations It has some limitations. It is very hard to setup this tool. JIRA is not user friendly. It has some missing features. It gets a lot of time in development. Its boards are not recommended for planning on boards. It has too many unnecessary features that can confuse a user. Recommendations: One of the major reasons to promote and recommend JIR is that there are similar tools in market but it provides visibility and help to promote the sense of owner ship. It also improves the efficiency and increase the collaboration that helps to make any project successful. Like other tools in market it is very important to focus on the information, you need to choose the right tool and also you need to know how it is to be used along with for what purpose this must be used. Most of the time clash begins in using the tool, and this reduce the efficiency and as a result blame comes on the tool. Reducing the other problems that are included is not the part of management that is to be done by the too. This is to be done by the management. So one the tool is finalized make sure to talk to your team about the possible purpose and method of the use of the tool. Using JIRA as a management tool is very beneficial. Some of its important benefits are listed below: Workflow -JIRA helps in customization and maintaining the customized workflow. All the workflow in this software can be designed graphically. Extensible JIRA has other plugins that help in further extension whenever it is needed. For this specifically JIRA has a wide range of plugins, these plugins are both paid and free. They can be easily found whenever they are needed for any project on their website. Usability -JIRA is no more just a simple software that it was before, a lot of changes according to the requirements of the clients have taken place. Over the years it has transformed completely, the sustainability is still user friendly as compared to other tools that are available in the market. Community a lot of people are finally using JIRA now. These users include third party vendors because of the plugins and the possible extensions. So, this makes JIRA a suitable choice for management tool for a lot of organizations around the globe. Linking JIRA provides easy link up, it is best for linking of any task. If a task has dependency on the other task, it is very easy to see this in the history of the task, by the linkage of the dependent tasks. The basic feature of JIRA is for agile development. For agile development it is best for bug tracking which is a must have property when it comes to agile, it is one of the properties that most of the user want their tool to have. This also helps to create the tickets for other issues tracking. Recommendations Arising from Your Analysis Globally it is estimated that more than 122 countries are using JIRA. It is developed in JAVA language which means it is easy to understand. It is was first released and published in 2002 which means it is not very old. It helps in easy management for most of the users as well it also create major task and sub task. It is used for several other purposes. When an organization introduces a management tool, it is not just a random tool in the system, it has a great impact on the whole management system, and this also includes the application of change management. Some of the useful characteristics of JIRA are as following. This tool increase the proficiency and it also helps in easy step by step management of the project. This bridge the gap of communication between employee and manger. This helps to keep check on work. This helps in easy management as well as assigning the work to the suitable person. This also helps to change the development according to the client requirement in between, whenever needed. This is helpful for both managements as well as the worker. This also helps in data sharing. For management it is very easy to keep track of who can access to data and who cant. This is perfect for bug detection. The first task that has to be done in order to change the team mind and prepare them for the change is very important. The first step is to initiate the need of need; there must be an urgency of change. This will motivate everyone to come up with a better way to overcome resistance. This system will also help in making new roles and initiating next responsibilities that are to be introduced by the management in order to keep the work flowing and increase the speed of the work. So every time a client comes up with some changes the manger will easily install all the requirements in and the worker can easily see what changes rea to be made. So whenever a new task is assigned the manger can send feedback and the employee will know what else is required in order to improve the work. In an organization this tool will be a game changer. Mostly people dont consider the business point of view, most of the time the goal of every business is to reduce the time and money and increase the speed o f work as well as the efficiency. This is the major goal, this tool has the power to do both without any problem. Not only this will increase the work flow but also help everyone to stay connected and reduce the money expenditure that will happen due to the extra connection and sources for the communication. Conclusion This tool is specially designed to focus on the communication, this is one of the biggest reason people prefer JIRA over other tools. There are a lot of reasons to use JIRA but the problem is that organization need to address the problems that are taking place inside the organization first. Introducing just a tool may improve a little but if employees are not ready to accept the change this will have adverse effect. Reference: Brenner, M. (2006, April). Classifying ITIL processes; a taxonomy under tool support aspects. InBusiness-Driven IT Management, 2006. BDIM'06. The First IEEE/IFIP International Workshop on(pp. 19-28). IEEE. Jaferian, P., Botta, D., Raja, F., Hawkey, K., Beznosov, K. (2008, November). Guidelines for designing IT security management tools. InProceedings of the 2nd ACM Symposium on Computer Human interaction For Management of information Technology(p. 7). ACM. Tan, W. G., Cater-Steel, A., Toleman, M., Seaniger, R. (2007). Implementing centralised IT service management: drawing lessons from the public sector.ACIS 2007 Proceedings, 94. https://www.myflorida.com/apps/vbs/adoc/F25253_FDLERFP1428Final.pdf Gacenga, F., Cater-Steel, A., Toleman, M., Tan, W. G. (2012). A proposal and evaluation of a design method in design science research.Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods,10(2), 89-100. Salle, M., Rosenthal, S. (2005, January). Formulating and Implementing an HP IT program strategy using CobiT and HP ITSM. InSystem Sciences, 2005. HICSS'05. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on(pp. 236c-236c). IEEE. Sarkan, H. M., Ahmad, T. P. S., Bakar, A. A. (2011, December). Using JIRA and Redmine in requirement development for agile methodology. InSoftware Engineering (MySEC), 2011 5th Malaysian Conference in(pp. 408-413). IEEE. Barabino, G., Grechi, D., Tigano, D., Corona, E., Concas, G. (2014, May). Agile methodologies in web programming: a survey. InInternational Conference on Agile Software Development(pp. 234-241). Springer International Publishing.

The Product free essay sample

Congratulations, consumer! You have just purchased the new and improved Ryan Ferland College-Bound Superhuman Action-Figure. Enhanced to graduate from high school in three years, your action-figure is guaranteed for hours of exciting conversation and intellectual stimulation. The Ryan Ferland College-Bound Superhuman Action-Figure is also a surety of creative enterprise, equipped with many diverse accessories for those consumers who have an eclectic range of needs they would like Ryan to fulfill. Enclosed is a brief list of those accessories. We at Ferland Family products ask you, the consumer, to please carefully read over the list and verify that each item is included with the Ryan Ferland College-Bound Superhuman Action-Figure. Included Accessories: One classical guitar and one Martin acoustic guitar. Let Ryan serenade you with his extensive repertoire of minuets and etudes. He comes with three and a half years of formal musical instruction and has the patience and determination to master his instrument. We will write a custom essay sample on The Product or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page One large sketchbook, one set of drawing pencils, and one set of pens and ink. With three years of drawing experiences, the Ryan Ferland Action-Figure has a vast portfolio expressing his many moods and desires. Each action-figure has a passion for art and creativity to exhibit wonderfully rendered pieces, pleasing to the eye. One hard cover writing journal and one set of black ball-point pens. Each Ryan Action-Figure believes that the art of expression through the written word is a valuable commodity in lifes adventure. Ryan is a proficient writer. Last year alone he filled four complete writing journals, covering a wide variety of themes and forms. Ryan action-figures are known for their bluntness and articulation. One current library card. Ryan enjoys reading for pleasure and relaxation. He strives to read as many works of literature that he can to satisfy his many tastes. One set of working papers. Your Ryan action-figure has acquired work experience through the two jobs he has had the past two years. He has worked as a page at the Arlington library and as an audio-visual assistant at the Stetson University Library in his home own of Deland, Florida. One valid passport. Your Ryan action-figure is an expert traveler. His first airplane voyage was before he reached the age of one. He has been all over the earth, living at times in Paris, France and in Freiburg, Germany at the edge of the Black Forest. While in Europe, Ryan also journeyed to London for two two-week visits, walking the streets of Soho and immersing himself into the English life-style. Your Ryan action-figure has also walked through the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, climbed the alps in Switzerland, driven through the former Czechoslovakia to Prague and spent a week in Austria. He is also a veteran explorer of North America, roaming throughout the states of the eastern seaboard to the freezing streets of Quebec in the center of a ferocious snowstorm. We hope that your new purchase grants you the hours of pleasure that this unique figure was designed for. After checked the accessories list, please proceed to the Owners Manual before attempting to operate the Ryan Ferland College-Bound Superhuman Action-Figure. Ferland Family Inc. is not liable for any damages caused by the improper handling of the action-figure.

Free Essays on Bombing Of Hiroshima

In 1938 German scientists discovered how to split the nuclei of a uranium atom. Releasing nuclear energy. They feared the Hitler would use this weapon against the US. The scientists searched for a way to contact the US and warn them of the potential threat of other nations creating a nuclear weapon. They look to American-German scientist Albert Einstein, who signed a letter to president Roosevelt warning of the chaos that would be released from an nuclear attack. The letter helped initiate the first American Atomic Bomb Project. In 1941, even before Japan attacked the US at Pearl Harbor, Americas bomb project was growing. On October 9, 1941 President Roosevelt approved research on the actual possibility of creating an Atomic Bomb. The US Government established the top secret Manhattan Project in 1942 to develop an atomic device. The leader Leslie R. Grooves and his team of 129,000 thousand specialists, worked in several different locations but mainly in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Under the direction of American physicist J. Robert Oppenhiemer they designed and tested the first atomic devices in little then four years. An atomic bomb is fueled by the splitting the nuclei of specific elements such as uranium and plutonium. The first atomic bomb, code named â€Å"Trinity†, was successfully detonated in Aamogrado, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945. The energy released from the explosion was equivelent to that realesed by the detonation of 20,000 tons of TNT. An atomic explosion causes an enourmous shockwave followed instantaneously by a rapid expansion of air called the â€Å"blast†. These are roughly half the energy released by an atomic explosion. In addition to its nearly unimaginable destructive force made up of pressure waves, flash burns, and high winds, a nuclear explosion also produces deadly radiation in the form of gamma rays. On June 18, 1945, President Truman gave preliminary approval to the invasion plans presented ... Free Essays on Bombing Of Hiroshima Free Essays on Bombing Of Hiroshima In 1938 German scientists discovered how to split the nuclei of a uranium atom. Releasing nuclear energy. They feared the Hitler would use this weapon against the US. The scientists searched for a way to contact the US and warn them of the potential threat of other nations creating a nuclear weapon. They look to American-German scientist Albert Einstein, who signed a letter to president Roosevelt warning of the chaos that would be released from an nuclear attack. The letter helped initiate the first American Atomic Bomb Project. In 1941, even before Japan attacked the US at Pearl Harbor, Americas bomb project was growing. On October 9, 1941 President Roosevelt approved research on the actual possibility of creating an Atomic Bomb. The US Government established the top secret Manhattan Project in 1942 to develop an atomic device. The leader Leslie R. Grooves and his team of 129,000 thousand specialists, worked in several different locations but mainly in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Under the direction of American physicist J. Robert Oppenhiemer they designed and tested the first atomic devices in little then four years. An atomic bomb is fueled by the splitting the nuclei of specific elements such as uranium and plutonium. The first atomic bomb, code named â€Å"Trinity†, was successfully detonated in Aamogrado, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945. The energy released from the explosion was equivelent to that realesed by the detonation of 20,000 tons of TNT. An atomic explosion causes an enourmous shockwave followed instantaneously by a rapid expansion of air called the â€Å"blast†. These are roughly half Hemstad 2 the energy released by an atomic explosion. In addition to its nearly unimaginable destructive force made up of pressure wave... Free Essays on Bombing Of Hiroshima In 1938 German scientists discovered how to split the nuclei of a uranium atom. Releasing nuclear energy. They feared the Hitler would use this weapon against the US. The scientists searched for a way to contact the US and warn them of the potential threat of other nations creating a nuclear weapon. They look to American-German scientist Albert Einstein, who signed a letter to president Roosevelt warning of the chaos that would be released from an nuclear attack. The letter helped initiate the first American Atomic Bomb Project. In 1941, even before Japan attacked the US at Pearl Harbor, Americas bomb project was growing. On October 9, 1941 President Roosevelt approved research on the actual possibility of creating an Atomic Bomb. The US Government established the top secret Manhattan Project in 1942 to develop an atomic device. The leader Leslie R. Grooves and his team of 129,000 thousand specialists, worked in several different locations but mainly in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Under the direction of American physicist J. Robert Oppenhiemer they designed and tested the first atomic devices in little then four years. An atomic bomb is fueled by the splitting the nuclei of specific elements such as uranium and plutonium. The first atomic bomb, code named â€Å"Trinity†, was successfully detonated in Aamogrado, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945. The energy released from the explosion was equivelent to that realesed by the detonation of 20,000 tons of TNT. An atomic explosion causes an enourmous shockwave followed instantaneously by a rapid expansion of air called the â€Å"blast†. These are roughly half the energy released by an atomic explosion. In addition to its nearly unimaginable destructive force made up of pressure waves, flash burns, and high winds, a nuclear explosion also produces deadly radiation in the form of gamma rays. On June 18, 1945, President Truman gave preliminary approval to the invasion plans presented ...

An Analysis Of The Sudanese Darfur Conflict Politics Essay

An Analysis Of The Sudanese Darfur Conflict Politics Essay Sudan is the country that spread broad field and has the richest underground sources. Sudan has the different ethnic and religious elements. In Sudan from time to time the conflicts occurred because of the economic and political reasons between these elements. In 80s and 90s South Sudan crisis emerged, but in the 2000s this conflict can solved. But after a short time another conflict, Darfur Conflict, emerged between the government and rebel groups. Darfur conflict can be seen as the ethnic, economic and cultural conflict rather than religious conflict. In this paper I will mention firstly the background of the conflict. Then I will explain the basic reason of the conflict core parties and third parties and their affect in the conflict. Finally I will evaluate the conflict at the state, regional and international level. A-) Background of the Darfur Conflict 1- ) Maps of Area Map of Area- Sudan 1 Map of Area- Darfur 2 2- ) Basic Information about Sudan and Darfur In general perspecti ve, the formal name is Republic of Sudan and it is the largest country in Africa, located in northeastern Africa. Sudan is counted as an undeveloped country but lastly because of the natural gas and petrol reserves its importance increased in the international arena. Sudan’s economy based on mainly agricultural and stockbreeding. Muslims which located in the North are compromised the %70 of whole population. In the South African blacks and Christians are compromised the other part of the population (%30). Also in Sudan there are 570 clans and there are 595 different languages in Sudan. Sudan country separated 57 different ethnic groups. It is neighboring the countries of Egypt, Libya, Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Eritrea.   [ 3 ]    Darfur located in the Western Sudan. Its population includes different ethnic groups and clans and its population is 6 million. Its neighboring states are Libya, Chad and Republic of Middle Africa. Darfur separated in 3 regions, west, north and south. Khartoum government appointed a governor to the each region. In general in Darfur there are two ethnic groups, Arabs and black Africans. Because of the marriage between the different ethnic groups borders between regions became undefined.   [ 4 ]    3- ) Outline and Background of the Conflict 26 February 2003 Darfur Liberation Front attacked to highlands which name is Gulu. (The headquarters of Jebel Marra District) 25 March 2003 The rebels usurped the garrison town of Tine along the Chadian border and captured the huge quantities of supplies and arms.   [ 5 ]    25 April 2003 Sudan Liberation Movement (SLA/M) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) attacked the region. With this attack 75 soldiers, pilots were killed, also many buildings and helicopters were destroyed.   [ 6 ]    May 2003 Janjaweed entered the conflict.   [ 7 ]    8 April 2004 Negotiation about the cease-fire between JEM and SLA.à ‚   [ 8 ]    May 2004 International Crisis Group declared that over 350,000 people were effectively debarred from the aid. Also in this year United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan made an attention the situation of genocide risk in the Darfur. December 2005 Chad- Sudan Conflict. An attack was actualized in Chadian region in the border of Sudan and 300 hundred people were dead. Sudan was blamed for the attack and death of people. Government of Chad declared their hostility to Sudan government.   [ 9 ]

Logistics as a Customer-Focused Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Logistics as a Customer-Focused Strategy - Essay Example As the world of business and trade continue to expand globally, surviving in such a competitive market is no longer enough to buy the right goods at the right cost - business must also get them to the right place at the right time, and with the right operational costs. Doing this well requires the best possible logistics, combining the information that establish buying decisions with how the product arrives to customers at the most cost-effective way. In view of this, the vice president for logistics and electronic commerce for Asia-Pacific at FedEx, William Conley stressed that one of the four areas represented the future of the logistics industry is time compression, along with globalisation, electronic commerce and supply chain management. He said companies needed to understand essentially what logistics was and how it could benefit customers (Panozzo, 1999, p. 6).In further elaboration, logistics is centred on creating value, not just for customers and suppliers of the firm, but also value for the firm's stakeholders. Value in logistics is primarily expressed in terms of time and place. Products and services have no value unless they are in the possession of the customers when (time) and where (place) they wish to consume them (Ballou 2004, p. 6). However, value is added when customers are willing to pay more for a product or service than the cost to place it in their hands. To many firms throughout the world, logistics has become an increasingly important value-adding process for a numerous reasons. Looking at logistics through the perspective of the total supply chain, the ultimate Bowersox, Closs & Cooper (2002) emphasized that the customer is the end user of the product or service whose needs or requirements must be accommodated. It has historically been useful to distinguish between two types of end users. According to them, the first is a consumer, an individual or a household who purchases products and services to satisfy personal needs. When a family purchases an automobile to be used for personal transportation, that family is the consumer of the supply chain. The second type is an organizational end user, whose purchases are made by organizations or institutions to allow an end user to perform a task or job in the organization. When a company buys an automobile for a sales person or buys tools to be used by an assembly worker in a manufacturing plant, the company is considered to be a customer and the salesperson or assembly worker is the end user of the supply chain's products. A supply chain management perspective demands that all firms in the supply chain focus on meeting the needs and requirements of end users, whether they are consumers or organizational end users (p. 66). Moreover, Bowersox, Closs & Cooper (2002) insisted that the customer being serviced should be the first priority and the driving force in establishing logistical performance requirements, regardless

Neonatal Nurses' Perceptions of a Work-based Learning Approach Personal Statement

Neonatal Nurses' Perceptions of a Work-based Learning Approach - Personal Statement Example More importantly, through the work-based module, I could be able to relate theory with practice and thus develop applicability of what I lean in the classroom. Furthermore, the motivation for the work based module that I took is the need to develop my health care career in the most efficient way. Through the work based module, I was aware that would obtain an opportunity of learning the basic workplace behavior. This includes communication and interaction with other health care professionals at the workplace (Miller, Chalmers and Swallow, 2004). These concepts are important in the provision of my assistance during the care of patients and people who require nursing care. In addition, I took the work based study module to enable me to develop the required skills in health care which I would apply in my future career and thus achieve effectiveness in the workplace. Moreover, I considered the work-based learning module as the most appropriate way to acquire the relevant occupational kno wledge which will enable me to relate what I lean in the classroom with its practical application at the workplace. Reflection on my Expectations My expectations were many when I took the work-based learning module. ... These expectations were motivated by my prior knowledge that I acquired on health care and the attitudes and perceptions which I attained during my classroom learning experience. Later, I discovered that the actual situation in the workplace was quite different from my expectations. The work environment was friendlier than I had expected. The health care staff was willing to provide me with assistance when I required. Nonetheless, it was my cooperation and enthusiasm which motivated some of them to assist in the attainment of skills and more knowledge on effective care. Additionally, health care workers are more communicative than I had considered before. As a result, I was able to collaborate in the provision of care. This collaboration enabled me to be an effective learner and I was now able to relate my classroom knowledge with occupational practices. However, as opposed to my initial expectations, I discovered that classroom knowledge was much less adequate in practice. This is b ecause I realized that if I had to be an effective health care assistant, I had to apply my talents, skills, and intuition so that I would achieve quality in care.  

Mind soul Essay Example for Free

Mind soul Essay 1. How are Platos and Descartes views of the soul/self similar? Both Plato and Descartes believe that the soul/self is best (or only) to think and learn separate from the body and its faculties. According to Plato, â€Å"the soul reasons best without bodily senses. † Plato claims that sight, hearing, pain, and pleasure are a distraction to the soul in its search for reality, and that true knowledge can only be achieved with pure thought alone. â€Å"The body confuses the soul and prevents it from acquiring truth and wisdom whenever it is associated with it. † Descartes very similarly believes that the body and its faculties, namely imagination and again the senses, are â€Å"distinguished from the self as modes from a thing. † According to Descartes, the essence of the self consists entirely on being a thinking thing. The body can perceive pain and pleasure, but nothing beyond that, it is up to the intellect to â€Å"conduct its own inquiry into things external to us. † Thus, much like Plato, Descartes claims that it is this thinking essence, and not the body, and though alone, and not perception, that is the key to true knowledge. 2. How are Humes and Nietzsches views of the self similar, and how are they different? Both Hume and Nietzsche believe that the self is a summation of ones actions and perceptions. According to Hume, the self is â€Å"a collection of perceptions in perpetual flux and movement. † There is no simplicity or identity in the self, but only an infinite system of perceptions in an infinite â€Å"variety of postures and situations. † These perceptions are then linked by the relations of cause and effect, which mutually influence, modify, alter, create, and destroy each other. Nietzsche similarly believes that the self is merely a relation of human desires to each other. According to Nietzsche, desires and pleasures or human drives are the â€Å"commander. † This human drive controls everything else, and the strongest drive is a tyrant, even â€Å"reason and conscience bow down. † Both philosophers ultimately agree that there is no pure forms or simplicity of the self, but that it is rather driven by actions and perceptions, as well as desires and pleasures. Humes main idea of the self is that there is no self that is stable over time, rather the self is merely a series of transient feelings, sensations, and impressions of oneself at any given moment. That is, there is no unified self that ties all perceptions together. Nietzsches main idea of the self is different as it reaches a little into the very motivation for the self and life. Nietzsche argues that the self is composed of drives, but unlike Hume, goes further to say that these drives almost vie with each other to be â€Å"the ultimate purpose of existence and the master of all other drives. † Nietzsche calls this the will to power and illustrates the point accordingly: â€Å"ever living body within which individuals treat each other as equals does to another body what the individuals within refrain from doing to each other. † The will to power is to grow, spread, seize, and become predominant; it not only drives the self but also the reality of the universe. 3. How is Platos view of the worlds creation similar to the ordinary religious view, and how is it different? Similar to the â€Å"ordinary religious view† of the creation of the world, Plato believes that the universe was created by a maker or a god, who not only made the world to be as excellent and supreme as nature would allow it, but who also endowed it with soul and intelligence. Platos views also coincide with the â€Å"ordinary religious view† when he claims that the universe is physical and changing, that god is good and fair, and that there is order rather than disorder. Plato however differs from the â€Å"ordinary religious view† of the creation of the world when he claims that there is a second type of universe other than the physical: eternal universe, that never changes. According to Plato, god uses this eternal model of the universe and the forms (of beauty, good, etc. ) as a template to create the existing world. â€Å"The universe resembles an ideal living thing of which all other ideal living things are a part of the ideal living thing comprehends in itself all other intelligible ideal living things. †

Vietnam and its Effects :: essays research papers

When many people think about the 1960s, Vietnam and President John F. Kennedy (JFK) come to mind, and for a good reason for that period in history changed millions of lives. Faced with the possible spread of communism through Asia, JFK stayed with his word to fight communism, thus the Vietnam conflict as we know today was started. In the early 1900s, France conquered Vietnam and made it a protectorate, which is a relationship of protection and partial control assumed by a superior power over a dependent country or region For about forty years Vietnam had not experienced settled peace, as a result, The League for the Independence of Vietnam (Viet Minh) was formed in 1941, which sought independence from the French. On September 2,1945, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed Vietnam independent from France. The French government wanted to reestablish their rule in Vietnam but were beaten at the battle of Dien Bien Phu on May 7, 1954. The French Expeditionary Force wanted to prevent the Viet Minh from entering Laos, they made their attack at Dien Bien Phu. Poor planning on the French's part led to their airway support at Hanoi to be cut-off by the Viet Minh. After fifty-five grueling days of battle, the French surrendered. Ho Chi Minh led the war against France and was victorious.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After the war, at the Geneva Conference of 1954, Vietnam was divided into two parts along the seventeenth parallel. North Vietnam was mostly Communist and supported Ho Chi Minh, while South Vietnam was anti-communist and supported by the United States and France. There were still some Communist rebels remaining within South Vietnam, they were known as the Viet Cong. The ruler at the time of South Vietnam was Ngo Dinh Diem who was anti-Communist. Also at the Geneva Conference of 1954, Laos and Cambodia became independent states. North Vietnam disliked the division of Vietnam, and wished to unify North and South Vietnam. Since the United States feared the spread of communism in Asia, John F. Kennedy provided military support and economic relief to South Vietnam to prevent a takeover by North Vietnam. At this point in time, Vietnam is in the midst of a civil war, so the United States was not officially involved.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The North Vietnamese opposed the support that the United States was providing to the South Vietnamese, so in retaliation three torpedo boats targeted and fired upon the United States destroyer Maddox on August 2, 1964.

Julius Caesar Editorial

On the day of March 15th, Rome lost an important civilian whose name was Julius Caesar. A group of conspirators lead by Cassius and Brutus planned Caesar’s killing for the good of Rome. They lead him into the capitol while Caesar was completely oblivious to what was going on. The men were discussing if Caesar would bring back Publius Cimber when Caesar became king. Caesar refused since his decisions weren’t easy to sway. This and all the hate they had build before drew the men to stab Caesar to death. The first being Casca and lastly Brutus while Caesar said the famous word â€Å"Et tu, Brute?† before dying.The conspirators then bathed their arms in Caesar’s blood and ran through the streets of Rome celebrating their victory. But was this act victorious? Some people would disagree with the conspirators; they believe Caesar was a good and loyal man to Rome and that they failed him by killing him. They believe someone who was that great could not be forgotte n easily or could have become the person the conspirators said he would. Which is why after his death there was a scandal in the streets. We can see this when plebeian said after Antony spoke greatly of Caesar â€Å"Marked ye his words?He would not take the crown. Therefore ’tis certain he was not ambitious. † Others believed that this ambition was dangerous; it would drive Caesar into a bad ruler, which was not in the interest of Rome. Therefore Brutus was better for the crown since he saved them from Caesar. Brutus said â€Å"not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. † Which people truly believed and hail Brutus for doing such honorable thing â€Å"Caesar’s better parts. Shall be crowned in Brutus! † What do I think? I believe Caesar’s death was unjust! No men should be penalized for something he will do.No one really this if these assumptions would have come true. So why pay the price when you have done something wrong? Ca esar possessed more good things about himself than bad, and Rome should focus on the facts of the good things he has done instead of the possibility of â€Å"too much ambition†. I believe Brutus and the conspirators say that what they did was honorable and for the good of everyone when really it was to satisfy themselves. Caesar never offended one of them personally; they kept feeding themselves on negatives ideas of Caesar that drove them to his assassination.Caesar was a good man and even if he had many flaws he is human, and all humans have a right to live! Especially, all humans have a chance to live if they have not done anything wrong. Antony shared these ideas when he said â€Å"Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept. Ambition should be made of sterner stuff. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man†¦I thrice presented him a kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? Caesar shou ld not have died like that and should have had a chance to prove them wrong.

No Place to Hide

‘No place to hide’? The realities of leadership in UK supermarkets SKOPE Research Paper No. 91 May 2010 * Irena Grugulis, **Odul Bozkurt and ***Jeremy Clegg * Bradford University School of Management, **Lancaster University Management School, ***Leeds University Business School Editor’s Foreword SKOPE Publications This series publishes the work of the members and associates of SKOPE.A formal editorial process ensures that standards of quality and objectivity are maintained. Orders for publications should be addressed to the SKOPE Secretary, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3WT Research papers can be downloaded from the website: www. skope. ox. ac. uk ISSN 1466-1535 Abstract This article explores the realities of managerial work in two major British supermarket chains.While the prescriptive literature welcomes the displacement of bureaucratic management by rote with leadership, empirical account s of what managers actually do underscore how the purported tenets of leadership tend to disappear upon closer inspection, even at the discursive level. This study observes and discusses the discrepancy between the rhetoric of leadership articulated by executives at the corporate head offices and the actual roles and responsibilities of managers in stores.Work was tightly controlled and managers had little real freedom. We draw on empirical evidence to argue both that while leadership in practice secured only trivial freedoms such freedoms were highly valued and that academic analysis should follow these managers in their ability to distinguish between rhetorical flourishes and reallife job design. Leadership in practice is mundane and local. Keywords: leadership, leaders, managers, control, deskilling, supermarkets, retailIntroduction This article explores the realities of managerial work in two major British supermarkets chains. While the prescriptive literature welcomes the displ acement of bureaucratic management by rote with leadership (see for example Zaleznik 1992), empirical accounts of what managers and leaders actually do underscore how the purported tenets of ‘leadership’ tend to disappear upon closer inspection, even at the discursive level (Meindl et al. 1985, Alvesson and Sveningsson 2003a, 2003b, Tengblad 2004).Kelly (2008) has taken issue with the tendency in the leadership literature of discounting the ordinary everyday work activity of managers in lieu of a continued effort to theoretically pin down how leadership really ought to be conceptualised. He argues that the common terminology used by various writers conceals a wide diversity of practice and that leadership is locally produced. We join Kelly’s contention that ‘the apparently mundane practices that are made accountable and therefore observable remain unexplicated and actively ignored’ (2008:774) and that this is regrettable.We diverge from his emphasis on the reification of leadership through language games, however, and focus instead on the dissonance between the salience of leadership in the popular and practitioner representations of management jobs and the actual limits to the discretion, initiative and control that managers are able to exercise in the concrete, routine and core practices associated with their roles. This dissonance was actively exploited by the supermarkets’ business models.Celebratory accounts of leadership were cascaded down the managerial hierarchy, from the corporate head office to the departmental managers, to spur managerial staff to greater efforts in routine work. The empirical material we use to support these claims comes from a study of managers and managerial work in the stores of two of Britain’s largest supermarkets. In the four store sites where research was carried out, the work of managers was heavily prescribed, with ordering, product ranges, stock levels, store layouts, pricing , special offers and staffing policies all set out by respective functional divisions at head ffice. Their work was also closely monitored, and their personal performance assessed, through the constant and close inspection of the sales, profit and customer service performance scores of the stores and departments they were responsible for. In line with Hales’ (2005) observations, these managers were not entrepreneurial visionaries, but links in a chain with little real influence over policies and procedures. 1Their work was generally confined to striving to meet a range of very demanding performance targets over which they themselves had little, if any, control. In both supermarket chains, leadership by managers in stores was considered vital for company performance, with ‘the importance of people’ to competing with rival chains and ‘keeping customers satisfied’ repeatedly stressed by the full range of interviewees. Yet this leadership was to be exerc ised in specific and specified ways.Both managers in charge of stores and those in charge of departments had little power over most aspects of their work but were expected to lead, inspire, motivate and monitor staff on customer service (in the widest sense). Head office executives and store-level managers themselves in both chains repeatedly stressed the charismatic and inspirational elements of leadership. In particular, this depiction of leadership required managers to mediate between the dual pressures of much service sector work, to minimise costs but maximise customer service (Taylor and Bain 1999, Korczynski 2001, 2002).In this context, leadership appeared to be a euphemism for the demand that managers mobilise their personal physical, emotional and social resources to make up for the discrepancies between targets and resources and be ardent pursuers of the employer’s end of the wage-effort bargain. This type of contained leadership bears little resemblance to the cele bratory accounts but it is probably a far closer reflection of the realities of workplace practice. While the article stresses the mundane nature of managerial jobs in supermarket stores, it also highlights the way both individual managers and shopfloor workers use the leadership rhetoric.This rhetoric was valued by the managers largely because of its unreality; while they ostensibly ‘bought in’ to the rhetoric, in practice, most were adept at negotiating the dissonance between it and real work and none sought to put its wider tenets into practice. On the shopfloor, the dramatic language of leadership and transformation was used to legitimise managerial freedoms; these were trivial but they nevertheless proved an escape from scripting for people management and were deeply valued by the managers themselves.We elaborate on the constitutive parts of our arguments in the rest of this article. First, we provide a critical review of the popular ways of conceptualising leaders hip in the literature and the way these are problematic in relation to managerial work in practice. Then we introduce the specific context of retail work and of our study to highlight the significance of both to an inquiry into the discrepancy between leadership rhetoric and managerial practice. This is followed by a discussion of the contradictions inherent in 2 eadership on the supermarket shopfloor and the nature of the spaces that remain for initiative and freedom. Managers, Leaders and ‘Real Work’ It is popular to claim that managerial work is changing, that hidebound and bureaucratic managers who impede workplace performance are being (or should be) replaced with charismatic and visionary leaders who know when to subvert rules, inspire enthusiasm in their followers and contribute to corporate dynamism (Zaleznik 1992, Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe 2005). Such claims, clearly, need to be tempered with caution (Storey 2004a, 2004b).Students of business and manage ment have long suffered from those thrills of novelty, which set critical descriptions of the existing and unfashionable against enthusiastic predictions of what an ideal type of the latest fad might look like. An unfair but recurrent practice which, as Storey (2004a) notes, is being repeated for leadership. This advocacy is rendered possible, at least in part, by the paucity of empirical accounts of who leaders are and what it is they actually do (see for example Jackson and Parry 2008).When data is available, authors rarely write about transformational activities. Rather, they stress how ordinary leaders are and how mundane their work is (Carlson 1951, Meindl et al. 1985, Alvesson and Sveningsson 2003a, 2003b, Tengblad 2004). Even charismatic leaders are not unfettered (Robinson and Kerr 2009). Empirical enquiry strips leadership of its universal grandeur and helps depict a practice that is both contested (Collinson 2005) and locally defined (Kelly 2008). Bureaucratic forms of con trol are still going strong (Power 1997, Hales 2002, Protherough and Pick 002) and old-fashioned supervision rather than inspirational leadership is at the heart of most jobs (Delbridge and Lowe 1997, Hales 2005). Kelly (2008), in his analysis of the nature of leadership and the various discourses that surround it, has argued that leadership as a practice is locally defined and here we propose one example of such local definition:. In this study, the requirements of customer service did indeed shape the demand for leadership skills, but not quite in the way that the proponents of the spread of transformational leadership suggest.What was at stake was not an entrepreneurial transformation. On the contrary, managers’ actions were tightly controlled and those controls were increasing. As well as following orders from head office, store and department managers were simultaneously required to inspire, enthuse and motivate the front-line 3 staff they were responsible for. The posit ive connotations of the word leadership helped to motivate individual managers, as they in turn sought to motivate others (Etzioni 1961).Here the dissonance between the leadership rhetoric and workplace realities was not an analytical lacuna but an important part of the process since images of leaders needed to be inspirational rather than accurate. Retail Work Retail work accounts for a significant proportion of the working population, with 12 per cent of UK workers employed in retail (Burt and Sparks 2003). While this work can be skilled, from the glamour of the ‘style labour markets’ (Nickson et al. 2001), to the product knowledge of expert assistants in France (McGauran 2000, 2001), the wide-ranging skills of apprentice-trained workers in Germany (Kirsch et al. 000) or the impressive educational achievements of Chinese retail workers (Gamble 2006), most British jobs are not. For the majority of British supermarkets, the main skills policy pursued is one that is â₠¬Ëœtantamount to a personnel strategy based on zero competence’, zero qualifications, zero training and zero career (Gadrey 2000). Margins are tight and the extensive centralisation and standardisation of supply chains and products (Baron et al. 2001) extends to work and work processes (Felstead et al. 2009).Workers are valued for their presence and their temporal flexibility, not their skills, and presence and temporal flexibility are seldom highly paid. The retail sector accounts for 26 per cent of British low paid workers (Mason et al. 2008) with 75 per cent of sales assistants and 80 per cent of checkout operators compensated at rates below the low pay threshold (Mason and Osborne 2008). Part-time and women workers, who dominate the sector (Arrowsmith and Sisson 1999, Burt and Sparks 2003) are particularly badly affected. Some stores deploy sophisticated human resource anagement techniques such as psychometric tests (Freathy and Sparks 2000) and merit-based pay but these are set against generally low wage rates, rigid control mechanisms and limited discretion (Arrowsmith and Sisson 1999, Broadbridge 2002, Burt and Sparks 2003). Against this backdrop, recent writing on retail employment from a strategic perspective has increasingly emphasised the role of management and managers in the overall performance of companies (Booth and Hamer 2006, Hart et al. 2006). It argues that the link between managers’ work and store (or firm) performance is 4 hrough ‘lay’ workers, in one example, asserting that ‘without strong management and leadership skills, store and employee productivity suffers together with lower staff motivation, ultimately leading to lower profits’ (Hart et al. 2006:281-282). However, lists of actions such as ‘providing good pay and benefits, praise and encouragement and support and training, or even at the most basic level, ensuring employees receive their correct rest periods at work’ (Booth and H amer 2006:299) do not accurately depict the real remit of managers in large-scale retail organisations.Methods and Methodology This research was part of an EPSRC/AIM funded project on the organisation and experience of employment in retailing. Since our main interest was in the processual aspects of work, a multi-pronged, qualitative approach was adopted, as this was best suited to compare and contrast official organisational statements with real life practices and experiences. Research was conducted in two of Britain’s largest supermarket chains, here referred to as Retail 1 and Retail 2, respectively.Retail 1 had 356 stores and employed over 160,000 people. Retail 2’s portfolio of stores included the convenience store format, which brought its total number of stores to 823, but it had slightly fewer employees at around 150,000. By and large, their target clientele overlapped and they were direct competitors with similar market shares. In each supermarket, detailed in terviews were conducted with head office staff who were responsible for determining strategies, setting policies and designing business processes.We were able to review a large amount and range of company material pertaining to company strategy, business models, performance indicators, human resource policies, recruitment and training programmes and change initiatives. Interviews were carried out with top executives in strategy, human resources, training, marketing, accounting, customer services and profit/productivity/performance improvement departments. In addition to this, in each chain, two locations were selected for store-level research; store A and store B at Retail 1, store C and store D at Retail 2.In the stores interviews were conducted with the (general) store managers, who would be managing anywhere between 200 and 400 employees, the secondary tier of between three and five senior managers, who had store-wide responsibility and supervised and coordinated the work of depa rtment managers, and the managers of the 12 to 15 different departments such as produce, customer service, or bakery, as well as a number of shopfloor workers. All of the managers were salaried, while all 5 of the shopfloor workers were hourly-paid. Store interviews with hourly paid workers were the most challenging.Our informants were welcoming and supportive but, owing to the tight margins and pressure on staff, few had time for interviews. The length of interviews with managers ranged from half an hour to multiple sessions of several hours, typically averaging an hour and a half to two hours. Some of the interviews with workers also lasted over an hour, but a number of them had to be interrupted after less than half an hour. All formal interviews were recorded, professionally transcribed and coded using NVivo Qualitative Data Analysis software.In total, 86 interviews were carried out, 46 in Retail 1, 34 in Retail 2, and the rest with a range of outside key informants including a top level executive of a third supermarket chain, industry experts based at the Institute of Grocery Distributors (IGD) and trade union representatives. In addition to the interviews, participant and non-participant observation was carried out by one of the research team at the Retail 1 head office and, more extensively, at one of the two Retail 1 stores included in the study (store A).In addition to observing recruitment group interviews, new employee induction sessions and a range of daily activities in the store, the researcher also worked shifts of 10 to 15 hours a week for six weeks on the delicatessen, fish, rotisserie, pizza and ready-meal counters. A research diary was kept during this part of the fieldwork and transcribed. ‘No Place to Hide’ Leadership was a ‘quality’ that was extensively referenced in the public presentations of managerial career paths in both supermarket chains.Retail 1’s literature on career prospects described the traini ng programme for shopfloor workers who wished to become department managers as being ‘built upon’ their ‘current leadership skills’ through on-the-job training, while that for department managers with ambitions to be store managers or deputies was said to help them ‘perfect their leadership style’. Retail 2’s careers information on the company website directed those with some previous retail management experience and ‘looking to grow into a leadership role’ to the ‘fast-track to Store Manager Development Program’.Hitting the link, interested parties were informed that nobody played a more important role in the supermarket’s everyday operations (turnaround) than the managers in the stores, whose leadership ‘inspires our people to deliver a great everyday customer experience’. Retail 2’s recruitment process for senior managers included psychometric tests that were, among 6 other qualitie s, designed to pick up leadership skills and potential. Retail 1’s rogrammes for management development included selection hurdles such as roleplay sessions where future managers were expected to stand out from among their peers by displaying the desired abilities, with ‘leadership’ prominent among these. While leadership skills and qualities were presented as core to the work of everyone and as particularly central for progression into managerial roles, in stores almost every aspect of work for every kind of employee, from shopfloor workers during their training period all the way to the general store manager, was set out, standardised and occasionally scripted by the experts at head office.Buyers sourced goods and set prices at the head offices, with computer networks monitoring sales in stores and re-ordering supplies. The corporate human resources department set wages and provided clear targets for store managers in terms of staffing, leaving stores with a ba lancing act between resources and targets. Checkout tills used electronic scanning, shelf-stackers followed planograms that provided detailed layout plans for displays, price guns printed out price tags, including reductions, as decided by head office software depending on the time of day. According to long-serving informants, limits on discretion were increasing.The remaining specialist departments, such as the delicatessen counter (which included meats, cheeses and fish) and the bakery, were coming under increasing levels of central control. A trained butcher (now the manager of a non-food department) revealed that most meats were now cut and packaged before arrival in store. The same was true for cheeses. In the smaller stores bakeries worked entirely from deliveries of frozen goods which they re-heated, and in larger stores there was a mix of supplier-packed, frozen, ambient and chilled products and goods baked in store.But even breads baked in store arrived ready made up with i nstructions on times for mixing, proving and baking. The only formally accredited staff in stores were pharmacists employed in special stand-alone units on some sites. Such a policy of standardisation was deliberate and referred to with pride. The wageplanning manager in the Business Improvement Group at Retail 1 head office summarised the challenge as ‘how lazy we can make it†¦ make the process easy for them so it becomes a natural habit’.This close prescription and standardisation of work tasks was not a surprising observation to make of hourly-paid workers, or in the context of retail employment, traditionally known for its reliance on low skills and low wages. What was unusual was that the same restrictions applied to managers. In fact, the managers were under 7 far greater surveillance in terms of observable results. Because performance and productivity measurements were taken at both department and store level, which were then linked back and traceable to ind ividual managers, their performance evaluation was quantified and routinised.There was no comparable performance evaluation of individual shopfloor workers except for those at the tills, although Retail 2 had just introduced a new performance enhancement programme to track the performance of individual workers. Yet these practices, too, only increased the number of indicators by which managers’ performance could be monitored, as the ultimate responsibility for meeting unit-based targets, as well as ensuring that individual workers showed the head-office dictated levels of performance, still lay with the managers.An executive in the productivity improvement division of Retail 2’s head office operations, who had risen through the ranks, observed that the role of store managers had changed considerably over the last twenty years: I think what we probably lost was a bit of the entrepreneurial or tradesmanship of the store manager to say, ‘Oh next week that’s g oing on offer, I want 200 of them next week’. Because they were good traders and experienced. And they knew how they were going to present it. Honestly, when I joined†¦ he store manager where I trained was a bit of a wide boy I suppose, but he would do things like – well he made me do it – Saturday afternoon if we were overstocked, I remember him saying ‘We’re overstocked on lettuces. [Name] go to the front door and stand there and sell your lettuces! ’ And you’d do things like say ‘Come on, here’s your lettuce! Get one for the rabbit! Half price! ’ And you’d literally drop them in people’s baskets as they walked through the door so they almost got no choice but to have your lettuce. productivity improvement manager, Retail 2, Head Office) But in the current arrangements, because of the focus on what Pye (1968) terms the ‘workmanship of certainty’, the emphasis in store for both manag ers and workers was on obedience to instruction. In fact, much of a manager’s work was about ensuring such obedience. [The parent company] is very much about†¦ they use a word quite a lot called compliance and there is a lot of compliance and the phrase they used†¦ was ‘there is no place to hide’ [Was that like an official thing? No, it was kind of like – you know with all the systems, their systems monitor everything, they monitor everything. Every little thing is monitored so there is no place to hide. I am not saying in terms of hiding things that are wrong but they see everything. (senior manager, Retail 1, Store B) A policy backed up by the motto ‘comply then complain’, which had clear implications for the way work was conducted. 8 [I]f the company says to you 9am Monday morning stand on one leg in the oyer, I want you to do it, at 9am and if that’s all of you, I want you to do it but then you’ll all stand there th inking why on God’s earth are we doing this, then ask the question, why do we need to do this? What benefit am I getting from it? But do it in the first place before you even complain about it, because until you’ve tried it you don’t know what it’s going to do, but it’s driving that culture. (general store manager, Retail 1, Store A) This approach was generally greeted with enthusiasm. I love this comply and then complain.You know because you put it right, you do it the way they want you to do it and then if it is not right you feed back what is wrong with it so you complain after you have had a go at it at putting it right. And I think that is absolutely vital. You know we have a duty to feed back and give that feedback but you know we don’t have that right until we have had a go at it†¦ the right way first. (training manager, Retail 1, Training Store) Unsurprisingly, such an approach influenced the skills expected of both workers and managers as well as leaving little space for transformational leadership.Skill levels were low and product knowledge in particular was a welcome, but almost optional part of work. Several of our informants did possess expertise and boasted strong personal interests in electronics or fish or experience in bakeries, but while this might allow front-line workers to develop a personal pride in aspects of their work it was not a job requirement and was rarely shared by the senior management team in stores, whose career progression was based on obligatory movement between different departments.Head office executives spoke of promoting people with an interest in a particular area of work, a ‘passion about food’ or ‘a personal interest’, and management training did provide product information as part of the process, but the demand for and emphasis on specialist knowledge was limited.Mason and Osborne’s (2008) comparison of supermarkets with electrical retail ers reveals that the (often supplier provided) training in product knowledge that characterised electrical goods had few parallels in supermarkets, while Gamble’s (2006) research into Chinese retailers showed a well educated workforce and a highly demanding customer base not reflected in our study. In these supermarkets, workers could apply for entry-level managerial posts as soon as their twelve weeks of initial training were complete (although the graduate training schemes in both supermarkets were rather different).Graduates were more noticeable in the head offices and in certain specialisms (three of the four store-based human resource (HR) managers we spoke to were graduates, compared to three of the 23 managers in Retail 1 Store A). But while one 9 of the HR managers thought that having a degree was useful for ‘the analytical side of what (managers) need to do’, in general formal qualifications were not a significant criteria for managerial posts. The vast majority of managers had come up from the ranks of hourly-paid shopfloor workers.Interestingly, the non-graduate managers all spoke of the encouragement they had received from their managers to embark on management training. In the absence of a universal demand for specialist training or knowledge, leadership, both demonstrated and potential, was presented as the key element in selection decisions for such career progression: I mean, when I interview managers to join my team, I’m not necessarily looking for ‘Do they know what baked beans and yoghurts are? ’ and ‘Have they filled them before? ’ I’m looking for attitude, I’m looking for personal resilience and I’m looking for a track record.What have they done before? What have they done in the past? But it doesn’t necessarily mean that if I’ve got a grocery manager position I want a grocery manager from another store. Because it’s about managing people, itâ₠¬â„¢s about managing hearts and minds really. (general store manager, Retail 1, Store A) But while store language focused on obedience and hearts and minds, the structural features of promotion ensured that, in practice, most managers and leaders were men. Moving between departments was an integral part of career mobility in both supermarkets.Promotion, even for the first foray into managerial duties, involved a switch of departments, while subsequent expansions of responsibility meant managers would be moved to increasingly larger departments in the stores. For general store managers, and for the second tier of senior management, geographical mobility was required and managers were expected to move between different stores in the same ‘regional cluster’ (generally between 15 to 25 stores, depending on the region). Interestingly, managerial informants stressed how lenient their superiors were when imposing these travel requirements. Annual performance appraisals istingu ished between preferences for a 30-minute or a one-hour commute. Retail 2 store managers were told by their regional bosses to prioritise their families and the general manager of Store B asserted proudly that he would not be despatched to the other end of the country against his will. But, while all managers seemed to accept that mobility was required, for others the geographical differences between managerial and front-line worker posts discouraged progression and helped to account for the fact that, while the lower ranks of supermarket workers were dominated by women, the managers were predominately male. 0 Many of the workers we interviewed were attracted to retail by the fact that it was part-time: women with caring responsibilities, students, young people and older workers dominated the workforce. People worked in their local stores and their limited hours often suited their other responsibilities or desire for education. Managerial posts, by contrast, were almost universally full-time despite, given the length of opening hours (24 hours for Retail 1 and 8am to 10pm for Retail 2), no one manager would be able to control their store continually (see Dalton 1966, Moss-Kanter 1977).We did meet two women managers in shared posts but these were rare and had been specifically created to accommodate these informants’ demands for job-sharing (see also Mason and Osborne 2008). Small Freedoms Unlike the transformational visionaries of the leadership literature, the freedoms enjoyed by the supermarket managers in this study were generally minor and illicit. Despite the recurrent official emphasis on ‘comply then complain’, most created their own small discretionary spaces.The most commonly cited example was in store, counter or shelf layout. Detailed specifications were sent down from head office dictating the number and placement of products. But these were based on national averages of other stores in that category with little sensitivity for local geography, tastes or customer-base. Accordingly, in practice local knowledge, personal interest and the desire to personalise space often triumphed over the formal specifications. It was, of course, possible to protest against layouts officially.The general manager of Retail 1 Store A had done so when he wished to re-site the movie and video booth in his city centre store, taking it out of the foyer where it was vulnerable to repeated thefts and switching it with a sandwich booth which would have benefited from being more readily accessible. His request involved developing a detailed business case and visits from senior management but was eventually turned down (or indefinitely postponed pending a fuller refurbishment to include a pharmacy).Others were less regulation bound. I just did it, I got told to do it. They put trust in me to change the layout in the store of Home and Leisure, to move products around if I believed it would gain sales. And for example all the Home secti on wasn’t together, DIY and water was with pots and pans, party ranges weren’t with disposable paper tableware, so I put a new shopfloor plan together to move it all around and we did that†¦ [A]t [names other store] I’d gone through a couple of revamps where I’d actually 11 hanged over 200 bays in [other store] because we went through revamps to get bigger and better ranges in so I’d done a lot of work in the past on how a department should flow and how it should look and how we get the best out of the ranges and stuff like that so putting that experience into here and grouping the departments together†¦ [Did you have to negotiate with Head Office? ] No, we just did it. (senior manager, Retail 1, Store B) Occasionally re-siting compensated for inadequacies in the briefing documents.One manager liked to get experienced staff to adapt official shelving briefs to suit the store: They know if they’ve been doing that for a couple of yea rs, they know what will sell and what won’t. Now [if] it’s a novice then they wouldn’t, so I’d need them to do it in space flexing which will tell them the quantity. The plan would tell them how many facings so, say, it was like that it wanted a capacity of 70 on four facings but you can fit that 70 on two facings I would expect you to do it to two facings.And that’s where you gain space as well on the plan if you needed to open up on something else because it wasn’t lasting on the shop. [So you’ve got to play around quite a bit? ] Yes, you’ve got to play around with it, yes. Everything’s not as easy as black and white on paper. (general merchandise manager, Retail 1 Store B) Occasionally individuals also needed to over-ride the computer systems to over-come limitations.The demand for hot dog rolls on bonfire night, more salads and fresh vegetables for barbecues on unexpectedly hot days and ensuring that local tastes wer e provided for through particular fish or flavours of roast chicken were matters of relative individual discretion. But most of these practices were heavily discouraged officially and many were formally denied. One manager of a Retail 2 supermarket during a first interview and guided tour of his store was enthusiastic about the way Retail 2’s head office experts designed and laid out the shelf space.An enthusiasm which lasted until one of the researchers took out a camera to photograph the excellent layout. He was immediately asked not to take photographs, since the manager had exercised his own discretion and did not want news of this individuality to get back to head office. People and Leadership Amidst the widespread use of regulation, standardisation and constraint there was one area where managers were both encouraged and expected to use their own discretion and, in the rhetoric of their head offices, exercise ‘leadership’.This was in the area of people mana gement. The structural means for doing this was very limited. Wages, 12 staffing levels and worker tasks were all pre-set by head office, although some local adjustments were possible. Store managers who recruited staff would be told how many ‘hours’ they could hire, but it was up to them to decide how to divide this up, so, for example, twenty hours might translate into three new part-timers working distinctive shifts. This often proved difficult to implement, since computer staffing levels did not always translate into viable recruitment.The personnel manager, she cares a lot, but [for] the company [it’s] all about its process, [it’s] not really about the people. And so the process is sort of disguised as this ‘caring’ – but it’s not. So these people, they just expect you to do more and more, and we take more and more sales but we don’t necessarily get the hours. Produce was given 20 extra hours for quarter three in line with sales and things, but I can’t recruit for these 20 hours because all that’ll happen is they’ll get taken away after Christmas or the sales won’t be there so I’ll never see them anyway.You know they’re not tangible, I can’t take them and use them. (produce manager, Retail 1, Store A) Much of this was work intensification. Head office staff expected local managers to know who they could allocate to particular tasks to save a few hours on the timesheet and this was considered excellence in leadership. [S]o we’re looking for the managers to not be creative in the ways they do their processes, I want them to follow the processes exactly how the systems define them†¦I want them to lay the store out how the system devises and I want them to fill the shelves how it says on the tin, if you like, but then absolutely be as creative as possible in the way you service the customers. More the way we would be going. (business impro vement director, Retail 1, Head Office) This ‘creativity’ was also set down in systems and structures of the stores. The performance of their departments or stores in terms of customer service was assessed through monthly ‘mystery shopper’ visits, while regular staff meetings provided managers with an opportunity to motivate.The morning shifts in both supermarkets began with caucus-style meetings, held in a central location on the shopfloor in Retail 1 and in a staff area in Retail 2, between the store manager, the upper management team and all the departmental managers who were on shift. Department managers held the same sort of ‘getting the day started’ meetings with their respective department staff. News about how the store or unit was doing in terms of the performance criteria was often a major theme; good performance was usually emphasised as a reason to feel good and underperformance as grave and in need of immediate attention.In the bri efing templates handed down from the head offices, spots were allocated for events to note, improve or celebrate. Managers’ motivational 13 role (whether through generating pride or alarm) was possibly most necessary during these meetings, as announcements, for example about the roll-out of new uniforms could be rendered exciting, or a letter of appreciation from a customer as emotionally touching, through their performative skills. Performance related pay was extensively used.For general store managers it could amount to as much as 40 per cent of salary and even hourly paid workers might earn over ? 100. Individual performance was supposed to be assessed separately, as one informant noted: ‘sometimes you can have a department which hasn’t performed well on paper but what that manager’s contributed to that maybe it’s a total different story’. But in practice, greatest weight was placed on store and overall company performance in a given tradi ng year. Both supermarkets used some version of recognition schemes where small monetary awards from ? 10 to ? 0 could be given out, and this was largely at managers’ discretion to ‘celebrate success’, as there was ‘a lot of pressure on everybody to perform all the time’ (bakery manager, Retail 2). But managers appreciated that the effectiveness of such schemes was limited: [A] lot is spending time with them and motivating them. You know if you motivate them they work far better than – [How can you motivate them? What do you have at your disposal to motivate them? ] You don’t really have any financial really, apart from you’ve got the yearly bonus, you know colleagues get a yearly bonus.So you’ve got the bonus to aim for. I don’t know really†¦ I think everyone is motivated by doing a good job and job satisfaction and spending time with people and I think a lot of it as well is getting to know colleagues, I know just about everyone by their first name and things like that. (senior manager, Retail 1 Store A) The financial outcomes of managers’ work were assessed through daily checks and monitoring of sales, waste, loss of products and the profits their departments or stores generated. Many were factors over which they had little control.Describing her Key Result Areas, which included absences, sales, labour turnover, waste and the customer service score, the HR manager (Retail 1, Store A) commented, ‘[s]o all my key result areas are linked with everybody else’s, so it’s my influencing skills that are really being looked at for that†¦ As a manager, you’re paid to manage; you’re not paid to fill the shop necessarily’. This confidence was widespread. But as the store managers pointed out structural conditions, including local labour markets, might be ignored in head office plans but heavily influenced how effective such work intensification could be.One, who was responsible for staffing a city centre store in a University town, spoke with 14 envy of a friend who managed a rural outlet. If workers in the city centre felt unfairly treated, they had a choice of part-time service sector jobs to move to. Their rural counterparts, in the absence of other local job opportunities, stayed in post (many had been there since the store opened). Yet this was the area over which managers were deemed to have most control and many seemed to accept this. When our informants spoke about leadership, their most common reaction was to emphasise the difference that they, as individuals, could make.A graduate departmental manager in his early 20s noted that he needed to ‘work on leadership and people skills’. It was not that these managers did not appreciate the impact that computer breakdowns, local labour markets, employee turnover, stock levels and the weather could have. They did, and dealt with such problems every day. But they also saw them as excuses for a lack of leadership. It was the managers’ job to enthuse and inspire others, even when policies and practices had not been explained to them and even if they disagreed with head office decisions (see also Smith 1990, Watson 1994).According to three of our informants: The depot might have been short of people and deliveries haven’t turned up on time. That could throw things off. Or promotional stuff hasn’t turned up. But there’s nothing in a store that we can’t fix, and it’s all about driving the right attitude in the management teams. Because if you drive that attitude well, you can fix anything. (general store manager, Retail 1, Store A) At the end of the day we’ve got to be the leader†¦ I think there’s a difference between being a manager and being a leader and we have to become leaders and†¦ e need to keep a real positive approach, because if we turn round to staff and say yes, wh at we may think in our heart of hearts is one thing, but when we go out there we’re out on stage, we’ve got to perform and say, ‘OK, it’s tough, but however if we all do this that and the other and get stuck in, we’re going to win this’. And you’ve somehow got to inspire your people out there, you know, so you’ve got to leave that at the door, because we can’t do anything about that.Somehow, what you have got to do is deal with the colleagues you have got, to ensure that they’re motivated, trained, they’re quick to do the job, and hyped up, and they’re going to go out there and deliver it. (senior manager A, Retail 2, Store C) OK, if I’m in store today and we get the [mystery shopper] man and I get 90 per cent, then that’s on my watch so was I here, was I up in the office looking at the PC or was I downstairs driving the availability, saying, ‘Where are those cauliflowers, whereâ⠂¬â„¢s that, where’s that, where’s that? Or did I allow there to be nobody on produce because both the departments’ managers†¦ are on the same day off, and when they came in there was no cauliflower or lettuce because the person 15 down there was actually on the till and I didn’t actually know†¦ Yes, so if I’m going to be running a store tomorrow, for instance, I should really know who’s in what’s going on and any problems. (senior manager B, Retail 2, Store C) Leadership in these supermarkets was very specific and very detailed. Formal HR practices, meeting templates and detailed systems were in place.Informants gave examples that included monitoring work to ensure people were achieving their targets, retraining those who were not; monitoring stock levels; and being present on the shopfloor. However ultimately encounters with people, whether employees or customers, could not be scripted. The leadership rhetoric, because of its lack of links to the reality of daily work, was used as a motivational tool to persuade managers to work more intensively themselves and encourage others to extra effort. Discussion and Conclusions This article has presented an empirically based discussion of leadership in British supermarkets.The managers we observed were constrained by extensive regulation. Their experience of deskilling and discretion, consent and control bears little resemblance to the entrepreneurial visionaries described by writers on leadership. Yet despite that, most of our informants described aspects of what they did as leadership, maintaining proudly, and often in defiance of the evidence, the difference that they as individuals could make. Evidence from elsewhere confirms the impact that line managers have (Rainbird and Munro 2003) but this impact is not without limits.Here, head office systems, computerised schedules, pre-packaged and automatically ordered goods, design planograms and set hours and pay rates provided internal constraints just as location, labour market and the local economy supplied external ones. Our informants needed to accept the leadership rhetoric enough to assert that they could make a difference, but not so much that that difference was extended to questioning the constraints on them; a difference accepted in practice by most. This leads us to two conclusions. Firstly that leadership was a small freedom rather than a radical transformation (see also Rosenthal et al. 997, Edwards and Collinson 2002 on empowerment). It affected only the minutiae of the work but even this trivial level of discretion made a great deal of difference to the individual managers. The illicit freedoms of revising store layouts and adjusting stock orders, which managers engaged in to make their mark on work and improve store 16 performance, were matched by official and acceptable areas of freedom in the unscriptable areas of people management. These trivial freedoms lead us to ou r second conclusion on the implications for academic analysis. Leadership is, at least in part, what leaders do, how they do it and who they are.If, as here, mainly male managers worked to pre-set routines with tightly monitored targets then this needs to feature in our understanding of leadership. Yet to date, most accounts have neglected the mundane aspects of work, the very elements highlighted as core in this study. The leadership rhetoric, valued for its emotive qualities and its unreality, was used by managers and their superiors to value, inspire and intensify their input. Managers showed a sophistication missing from many academic writings in their ability to distinguish between rhetorical flourishes and real-world job design.Given this, we suggest that future research may wish to focus more clearly on the unexciting, hackneyed and everyday aspects of work and to consider the form the language of leadership really takes on the shopfloor. The unrealities of leadership are imp ortant but they have already absorbed too much academic attention and need to be clearly distinguished from the realities. Future studies, developed through empirical evidence, need to provide a nuanced, local and empirically based understanding of what really happens. 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