Cultural Baggage Essay

In the essay, â€Å"Cultural Baggage† by Barbara Ehrenreich believed that you do not have to be the religion or culture you were raised with. Ehrenreich believed that everyone was their own person and could be who they want to be. She was apart of her own culture called â€Å"nothing† culture, that meant she didn’t follow any of the cultural acts that her family would. She believe she could do whatever she wanted even if it wasn’t like her culture. I think she was right with everything she said in this essay. I believe everyone should have their own beliefs and do things the way they want to do them. Because in life once you 18, you are able to do whatever you want without your parents permission. Her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother referred to the family as â€Å"nothing†. Her mother always told her to try new things because they all ate different kinds of foods and did what other ethnicities did. She didn’t believe in a certain type of culture. Close to the end of the essay, she asked her children if they felt any ethnic or religious identity. The children said ‘none† which made her very proud to hear that her children picked up on their own tradition to think for themselves and hoped for them to carry it on. The author believes that people today have a problem.

Ntu Career

Score: 120 out of 120 points (100%) 1. award: 10 out of 10 points Which of the following valuation measures is often used to compare firms which have no earnings? Price-to-book ratio P/E ratio Price-to-cash flow ratio Price-to-sales ratio 2. award: 10 out of 10 points When Google's share price reached $475 per share Google had a P/E ratio of about 68 and an estimated market capitalization rate of 11. 5%. Google pays no dividends. What percentage of Google's stock price was represented by PVGO? 92% 87% 77% 64% 3. award: 10 out of 10 points A firm is expected to produce earnings next year of $3. 00 per share.It plans to reinvest 25% of its earnings at 20%. If the cost of equity if 11%, what should be the value of the stock? $27. 27 $50. 00 $66. 67 $70. 00 g = . 25 x . 20 = . 05; P = 3. 0/(. 11 – . 05) = 50. 00 4. award: 10 out of 10 points The free cash flow to the firm is reported as $198 million. The interest expense to the firm is $15 million. If the tax rate is 35% and the n et debt of the firm increased by $20 million, what is the market value of the firm if the FCFE grows at 3% and the cost of equity is 14%? $1,893 billion $1,893 billion $2,497 billion $2,585 billion $3,098 billion FCFE = 198 – 15(1 – . 35) + 20 = 208. 5. Value = 208. 25/(. 14 – . 03) = 1893. 5. award: 10 out of 10 points If a firm has a free cash flow equal to $50 million and that cash flow is expected to grow at 3% forever, what is the total firm value given a WACC of 9. 5%? $679 million $715 million $769 million $803 million Total value = 50/(. 095 – . 03) = 769. 23 6. award: 10 out of 10 points A firm has a stock price of $54. 75 per share. The firm's earnings are $75 million and the firm has 20 million shares outstanding. The firm has an ROE of 15% and a plowback of 65%. What is the firm's PEG ratio? 1. 50 1. 25 1. 10 1. 00 7. award: 10 out of 10 pointsAce Frisbee Corporation produces a good that is very mature in their product life cycles. Ace Frisbee Corporation is expected to pay a dividend in year 1 of $3. 00, a dividend in year 2 of $2. 00, and a dividend in year 3 of $1. 00. After year 3, dividends are expected to decline at the rate of 2% per year. An appropriate required return for the stock is 8%. Using the multistage DDM, the stock should be worth __________ today. $13. 07 $13. 58 $18. 25 $18. 78 8. award: 10 out of 10 points Caribou Gold Mining Corporation is expected to pay a dividend of $4 in the upcoming year. Dividends are expected to decline at the rate of 3% per year.The risk-free rate of return is 5% and the expected return on the market portfolio is 13%. The stock of Caribou Gold Mining Corporation has a beta of -0. 50. Using the CAPM, the return you should require on the stock is _________. 2% 5% 8% 9% 9. award: 10 out of 10 points You are considering acquiring a common share of Sahali Shopping Center Corporation that you would like to hold for one year. You expect to receive both $1. 25 in dividends and $35 f rom the sale of the share at the end of the year. The maximum price you would pay for a share today is __________ if you wanted to earn a 12% return. 31. 25 $32. 37 $38. 47 $41. 32 10. award: 10 out of 10 points Each of two stocks, A and B, are expected to pay a dividend of $7 in the upcoming year. The expected growth rate of dividends is 6% for both stocks. You require a return of 10% on stock A and a return of 12% on stock B. Using the constant growth DDM, the intrinsic value of stock A _________. will be higher than the intrinsic value of stock B will be the same as the intrinsic value of stock B will be less than the intrinsic value of stock B more information is necessary to answer this question award: 11. ward: 10 out of 10 points If a firm increases its plowback ratio this will probably result in a(n) _______ P/E ratio. higher lower unchanged unable to determine 12. award: 10 out of 10 points If a stock is correctly priced then you know that ____________. the dividend payout ratio is optimal the stock's required return is equal to the growth rate in earnings and dividends the sum of the stock's expected capital gain and dividend yield is equal to the stock's required rate of return the present value of growth opportunities is equal to the value of assets in place

Commercial law case analyse Essay

Commercial Law Term Paper (Case Analysis) Pro-Gordon C. Johnson June 18, 2013 9th Edition Chapter 5-Case 5 Summary: Marie-Claude operated a bowling alley in a commercial area that was adjacent to a residential area. Many small children used the parking lot near the bowling alley as a playground, and Marie-Claude was constantly tell these children leave the parking area maybe they will get injured. However, one six years old boy climb onto the flat roof of the bowling alley and while he is running, tripped and fell to the ground. But Marie-Claude continued to order the child off the roof by several times when he was on the roof. Analysis: this situation can apply on Trespassers of Occupier Liability and Negligence of the concept of Foreseeability through the Supreme Court of Canada. For plaintiff: the occupier of the building warns the child of any dangers that exist on the property. Meanwhile, according to the concept of Foreseeability part, a very small child of tender years would not be held liable in tort, but children in their early teens, depending upon the extent of their maturity and level of understanding, nay very well is held responsible for their actions. This case belongs to unintentional acts of a person caused injury to others. For defendant: Owners of buildings, construction sites or those who construct dangerous structures on their premises in neighborhoods where small children live have a special duty to protect the children from harm or injury. On the other hands, the outcome for this situation maybe is Compensatory damages or Nominal damages. For compensatory: the loss suffered by a person in a negligence case in the loss of or damage to property. For nominal: when a person trespasses on the land of another without inflicting physical damage to the property. Chapter 7-Case 3 Summary: Armstrong Aggregates Co. wrote a letter to Bishop on May 2nd offering to sell him 200 tons of scrap mica at $180 per ton. Bishop received the letter on May 3rd. A few weeks later, Bishop checked the price of mica which is $185. On May 22nd, Bishop wrote to this company that is accepting this offer. But this company did not receive this letter until May 30th. And Armstrong refused to sell mica to Bishop at $187 instead of $180 because the price was increasing. Analysis: This situation should belong to Offer and Acceptance Section. An offer is not valid until it is received by the offered, and the offeror is not limited by the offer until such time as it is accepted according to Communication of an Offer. So in this case, Bishop received the letter on May 3rd, before May 3rd, it is not bounded. On may 22nd, Bishop wrote to this company and accepted this offer. According to Acceptance of an Offer, the acceptance must take the form if certain words or acts in accordance with the offer that will indicate to the offeror that the offeree has accepted the offer. In addition, the acceptance of the offer takes place when the letter of acceptance, properly addressed and the postage paid, is placed in the postbox or post office. So for Bishop (defendant), it obeys the rules of an offer and acceptance. For Armstrong Aggregates Company (plaintiff), they cannot change their offer by increasing the offer because Bishop had already accepted the offer and sent to this company on May 22nd. Meanwhile, the company did not communicate with Bishop about change the price. Therefore, this action is not valid and this company should still accept this offer at $180. Chapter 10-Case 2 Summary: Habitation Apartments Ltd. borrowed $500,000 from their Good Times bank and secured the loan by way of a three-year mortgage on its apartment building. And the president of the corporation personally guaranteed repayment of the loan. Several years later, as a result of dispute between shareholders and a new president and Board of Directors were selected by the shareholders. As part of organization, they rearrange its mortgage loan with  the bank. The bank agreed to extend the loan for a further three-year term but at a higher interest rate. A year later, as a result of tenant problems and a high vacancy rate, the corporation was unable to meet its mortgage payments and the mortgage went into default. Analysis: This case should address in the Guarantee of Assumed Liability section. The guarantee always involves at least three parties: a principal debtor, a creditor, and the guarantor. The guarantor’s role in a guarantee agreement is to provide a promise of payment in the form of a contingent liability. In this case, Habitation Apartment Ltd and the bank are only two parties and they do not have formal writing document. Because of the unique relationship between the parties, the guarantee must be in writing to be enforceable. For plaintiff: the Habitation Apartment Ltd should mortgage on its apartment building, because the president of the corporation guaranteed repayment of the loan and they should obey their contract. For defendant: before the contract come into effect, the leader of the bank should consider these problems, for example, the interest rate will be go up. They should tell the corporation this situation will happen and a condition that must be satisfied. In addition, they should as their original contract to conduct their liabilities no matter they rearrange the financing or increase their interest rate. The corporation of the apartment should return repayment as the original interest rate. Chapter 13-Case 4 Summary: Hansen admired a sports car that Sports Motor Sales Ltd. wished to sell. Hansen informed the company salesman that he would buy the automobile if he could obtain a loan from the bank to cover part of the 17000 asking price. The salesman agreed to hold the car until Hansen could check with his bank. And Hansen discussed a loan with his bank manager and he said he would be prepared to make a 5000 loan through approval from the regional office. As a result, Hansen then entered into a written agreement with Sports Motor Sales Ltd. Then both parties signed the agreement. A few days later, the bank manager said he had problem with the loan approval. As a result, he could lend 4000 instead of 5000. Analysis: According to Condition Precedent, when a condition precedent is agreed upon, the agreement is prepared and signed; only the performance is postponed pending the fulfillment of the condition. Once fulfilled, performance is necessary to affect discharge. If the condition is not met, it then has the effect of discharging both parties from performance. Because the loan approval has some problems, both parties did not fulfill the condition of the approval, so the Moto Sales Ltd. should charge for this mistakes. At the same time, a Material Alteration of the terms of existing agreement has the effect of discharging the agreement and replacing it with a new one containing the material alternation. The alternation of the terms of the existing agreement must be of a significant nature before the contract will be discharged by the change. If the loan approval has some problems, so the bank can agree Hansen to discharge it and replace it with a new agreement. So the bank does not need to give himself 1000 short. In addition, according to Novation, the parties may also discharge an existing agreement by mutually agreeing to a change in the terms of the agreement or to a change in the parties to the agreement, so at least one party should agree to substitute or replace it.

Biological significance of water Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Biological significance of water - Essay Example Water is found on the earth in three forms: solid, liquid and gas; or ice, liquid water and gas respectively. It is essential for all living things and it is often referred to as a universal solvent because many substances dissolve in it. These unique properties of water result from the ways in which individual H2O molecules interact with each other.Water is the chemical substance with chemical formula H2O: one molecule of water has two hydrogen atoms covalently bonded to a single oxygen atom. Oxygen attracts electrons much more strongly than hydrogen, resulting in a net positive charge on the hydrogen atoms, and a net negative charge on the oxygen atom. The presence of a charge on each of these atoms gives each water molecule a net dipole moment. Electrical attraction between water molecules due to this dipole pulls individual molecules closer together, making it more difficult to separate the molecules and therefore raising the boiling point. This attraction is known as hydrogen bo nding. Water can be described as a polar liquid that dissociates disproportionately into the hydronium ion (H3O+(aq)) and an associated hydroxide ion (OH(aq)). Water is in dynamic equilibrium between the liquid, gas and solid states at standard temperature and pressure, and is the only pure substance found naturally on Earth to be so. Water's has a melting point of zero degrees and boiling point of 100 degrees Celsius respectively. These properties are higher than would be expected based on similar compounds. Thus, water remains a liquid under a higher range of temperature compared to other compounds. As a result, plants and animals do not start freezing at lower temperatures or boiling at higher temperatures. Viscosity Because of its comparatively smaller molecular weight, it is unusually viscous. Water has the ability to act as either an acid or a base depending on the circumstances, and by its nature it is perfectly neutral (it's the standard for balance between acids and alkalines [bases]). Universal Solvent Water is the most universal of solvents and though polar in its make up, it exhibits properties that indicate a sort of polymerizing link between its molecules similar to heavier organic non-polar compounds. Existence in three forms: solid, liquid, gas It exists on earth in all three basic states, solid, liquid, and gas, High Heat capacity Water is also extremely useful due to its high heat capacity. It has an enormous ability to absorb and transmit energy. For example the amount of energy it would take to melt 1 kilogram of ice at zero degrees Celius would be enough to lower the temperature of 1 kilogram of Aluminum over 570 degrees Celsius. While the amount of heat it would take to melt that kilogram of ice, heat it and boil away, 720 Calories, would be enough to raise that same amount of Aluminum to its melting point! This is why water is ideal as a insulation or a heat dissipation source. It holds more heat than just about anything. Easily reacts with other compounds Water reacts with more substances than any other compound. It reacts physically with several compounds to add to their crystal structure. Compounds like copper and magnesium sulfate are two examples of many compounds that almost always found in nature with water molecules physically attached to their crystal structure. These type of compounds are often "dried out" or dehydrated and used to absorb water from their surroundings. Some of these compounds, have water as such an important part of their structure that they will even extract all available moisture from the air. These compound are natural dehumidifiers, dependent on water to complete their structure.

Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 4

Research Paper Example The youth will opt to join this rebel groups and get a source of income no matter how low instead of having nothing. This leads to the growth of rebel groups that cause chaos and fight against the government’s regime causing political instability. Higher rates of youth unemployment lead to higher chances of rebel groups forming and rising against the government. Poverty has been noted to breed violent character. Unemployed youth will often find themselves in a state of poverty. This will force them to do anything to gain access to the resources they require such food, shelter, clothing, and money. Areas that portray high rate of youth unemployment also show an increase in crime. Unemployed youth will turn to robbery and looting to get what they do not have. This causes insecurity and unrest among the public and people will protest against the environment due to the insecurity. This can lead to political instability because people have lost faith in their governmentii. Unemployed youth look up to the government to create job opportunities for them. If the government fails to do this, the youth revolt and protest against the government for not being able to take care of the youths needs. This will lead to a need of overthrowing the government and putting into power people who will most likely look after the needs of the people. Many coups in history have taken place due to the people losing faith in their government. This leads to unrest and political instability. The labor market is directly related to youth unemploymentiii. If the labor market cannot absorb the sudden ‘youth bulge’, frustrations occur among the youth causing demonstrations and riots against the government. This will lead to disruption of economic activities and affect a country’s economical development. Employed people will also be affected and the whole country will generally move

Sickle cell disease Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sickle cell disease - Essay Example The chance of one of her parents being a carrier is 1 in 2 (1/2). Assuming that one of her parents had normal copies of CFTR and the other parent was a carrier, the chances of their siblings being a carrier is 1 in 2 (1/2). So the chances of my friend being a carrier is x , i.e , one out of four. Assuming that both my friend and her fianc are carriers, the chances of their baby having the disease are 1 in 4. Therefore, the overall chance of their baby having cystic fibrosis is x x . 1/32, one in a 32. Sickle cell disease: Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder caused by mutations of the -globin gene. There is a mutation of one single nucleotide from A to T, which results in a glutamic acid being replaced by valine at position 6 of the -globin gene. GAG, a codon, which codes for glutamic acid is changed to GUG resulting in replacement with valine (Pauling et al., 1949). In several forms of this disease, the red blood cells (RBC's) change their shape (Herrick, JB., 1910), upon deoxygenation caused by polymerization of abnormal sickle hemoglobin (Hanh and Gillespie, 1927). This results in the damage of the RBC's and can lead to these cells getting stuck in capillaries. The downstream tissues that are supplied by these capillaries are deprived of oxygen causing ischemia, leading to organ damage, as in stroke.

Risk Management Program Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Risk Management Program - Research Paper Example Risk is the uncertainty surrounding future outcomes and events, and it is an expression of the impact and likelihood of the occurrence of an event, which is regarded to have the potential of influencing the achievement of the objectives of an organization. For every risk, there are two calculations needed, including its probability or likelihood, and the extent of the consequences or impact. Schwartz  (2014) recognizes that in certain organizations, risk management is used in issues that are predetermined as causative of unwanted and adverse consequences. In such firms, risk is understood in terms of the function of probability of the unwanted or adverse event, as well as the magnitude or severity of the event consequences. Effective application of management requires that the organization develops a risk-management culture, which should support the general mission, vision and objectives of the organization. There should be establishment and communication of boundaries and limits in relation to the acceptable risk outcomes and practices (Pà ©rez-gonzà ¡lez & Yun, 2013). Since the management of risks is directed towards the uncertainty associated with future outcomes and events, it is assumed that all exercises for planning incorporate a certain level of risk management. As a manufacturing company, Nike understands that production innovation, through a sustainability lens, is important towards the achievement of the company’s growth vision, which is independent of the constrained resources. In fact, creation and building of a business that acknowledges and accommodates constraints, as well as thriving through them within the natural setting is the sole way through which an organization can realize growth within the modern world, and this would not affect the company’s ability to succeed in the long term. The transition has been evidently challenging for the company as a

Corporate Governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Corporate Governance - Essay Example Representative government was an essential aspect of the corporation more than partnerships. Since the corporate government’s inception, the responsibility and functions of the board and organization around corporate elections have been the core theme. There is always a problem of how to control limits on executive will and small stakeholder protection. The corporate suffrage gave every member a vote (Becht, Bolton & Roell 2005, p. 2). This was to remove privileges enjoyed by other members over others. The debate on management’s power to solely run a corporation is extremely old. Corporate governance has become a largely outstanding issue in the last two decades. This is because of several issues. First, there has been growth in the global privatization wave for the last two decades. Second, there have been reforms in pension fund and a growth in private savings. Third, it was influenced by the 1980s takeover wave. Fourth, there has been an integration and deregulation of capital markets. Fifth, there has been a concentration on corporate governance due to the East Asia crisis of 1998. Sixth, it has been influenced by a sequence of USA corporate breakdowns and scandals that have grown (Becht, Bolton & Roell 2005, p. 7). The pragmatic information on corporate governance is extremely large. Conversely, there are several techniques that can be employed to resolve issues within conflicting shareholders. They include: shareholders suits and fiduciary roles; hostile takeovers; incentive schemes; large investors; and board of directors. In addition, corporate boards have three core duties: strategic oversight, corporate accountability, and senior level staffing and evaluation. Corporate boards have a duty to assess and endorse core capital investments, strategic plans, and risk management practices and policies. They also supervise implementations that may comprise effectiveness,

Regulatory and Compliance Issues Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Regulatory and Compliance Issues - Assignment Example This might include insurance policies (Corporations Act 2001, Section 763C). Non-cash payments refers generally to alternatives to cash payments such as cheques, credit cards, debit cards, travellers cheques and so on (Corporations Act 2001, Section 763D). B. Plain English Definition A plain English definition of financial advice is guidance and recommendations from an individual who is qualified and knowledgeable about financial products, estate planning and asset protection. Financial advice is not only based on knowledge, but also based on due diligence. In this regard financial advice is given after taken into account investment, savings, debt creation, debt management and so on that is compatible with the client’s needs and resources. C. Examples of Financial Products in Australia Examples of financial products available in Australia include, managed investment portfolios, derivatives, securities, and foreign exchange agreements. Managed investment portfolios refer to a c ollection of investments made by and on behalf of the owner of financial assets. The idea is to invest those assets in particular undertakings with the expectation that the owner of the assets will acquire some returns. ... Securities are documents that substitute for actual assets or interests in assets. Examples of securities are bonds, stocks, debentures and certificates such as share certificates. Foreign exchange agreements are contracts in which a party agrees to purchase foreign currency at a specified rate on a specific date. Question 2: The Role of the Financial Planner The role of the financial planner in Australia is to evaluate the client’s financial needs and his or her financial circumstances with a view to preparing and implementing a financial plan that realistically helps the client meet his or her financial needs. In this regard, financial planners in Australia provide a variety of services including retirement plans, income planning, superannuation, fund investments, the acquisition of shares, managing risks, managing or reducing debts, implementing savings plans, investing in futures and/or securities, filing taxes, insurance plans, business planning, estate planning and so on (Toten, 2006). Each of these services are tailored toward financial planning and/or asset protection depending on the client’s needs and resources. For example, estate planning would involve the distribution of assets during the life time of the client with the expectation that the estate will not be subject to probate. In such a case, the client might be advised to create a trust deed in which trustees manage the client’s estate for the benefit of the client and his or her children. An insurance plan will also involve financial planning as it would involve making interim payments toward an insurance policy that would insure the client’s life or medical care and thus ensure that the client leaves money to loved ones upon death or has access to

Unemployment Halts Globalisation (Pros and Cons) Essay

Unemployment Halts Globalisation (Pros and Cons) - Essay Example Unemployment Halts Globalisation (Pros and Cons) The fourth section before the conclusion will discuss the pros and cons of the fact that unemployment halts globalization. Unemployment With reference to the writings by Stringham and Workman (2004), they wrote that unemployment is a situation whereby people who are willing and able to work are not able to work since they do not have employment opportunities. The causes of unemployment are classified into two categories that include transitional unemployment causes and structural unemployment causes (Stone and McCraw, 2009). Under transitional causes, it is stated that unemployment is caused by temporary reasons such as; Turnover of unemployment whereby people leave their jobs to take up other jobs Casual unemployment which occurs on employees who are engaged as casual workers Seasonal unemployment, which is experienced in an industry that faces seasonal demand for its goods and services. Under structural causes, Layard et al. stated that unemployment is caused by structural changes in the economy such as: †¢ Economic depression, which normally results in low demands of goods and services meaning that employment opportunities diminishes †¢ Technological changes causes unemployment to a group of employees who are not fully conversant with the operational use of the newly introduced technology †¢ Rural to urban migration, which results in urban unemployment Other causes of unemployment include: †¢ Overpopulation †¢ Lack of capital †¢ Lack of proper training and education †¢ Lack of occupational specialisation ... s, local governments, and citizens of different countries, with investments and international trade acting as the driving force and is catapulted by information technology is known as globalization. Greenaway et al. (2008) further added that the integration and interaction of different economies and people of different economy has a very huge impact on the political system of these countries that integrate and interact as their cultures, environment, economic success and development are also greatly affected by globalization Godinot (2012) wrote in his book that the main distinctive characteristic of globalization is capitalism as it promotes self-sufficiency and reliance on individuals in order to enable them to become masters of their own destiny. Jagdish (2004) on his part stated that globalization is mainly concerned with making people and the market free. In addition, it is a system that allows economy to grow without any interference and with the assumption that there is no pov erty and the main pillars or building blocks of globalization constitute of technology, economy, market, and capital. The relationship between unemployment and globalisation From the causes of unemployment that were listed above it can be stated that the impact of globalization also contribute to unemployment, in the sense that Dreher et al. (2005) stated globalization is facilitated by high advanced technology and relocation of people from rural areas to urban areas, which has been touted as one of the causes of unemployment. On the other hand, Nadeem (2009) stated that increased levels of unemployment result in lower demands of goods and services, which means that both local and foreign goods and services will not experience high demand thereby, mostly limiting foreign companies from

Pros and cons of using technology Essay Example for Free

Pros and cons of using technology Essay For many years, people have invented new technology equipment which became part of our lives. With existence of technology, people tend to depend on modern machines like smartphone, laptop, television and others. Moreover, the sharp development of technology has extremely expressed the human’s intelligence and creativity. Thanks to technology, everything becomes easier, more convenient and enjoyable for us. However, the matter is whether or not we use these technology efficiently. This essay will tell you more about advantages and disadvantages of technology Once upon a time, people did everything by their own hands. They washed clothes beside the rivers, cooked meals by firing wood, walked on foot from one place to others. At that time, the communication was so limited and inconvenient. People who were far from each other were difficult to connect. Nonetheless, technology appeared and obviously changed the whole world so far. Technology apparently has become part of our lives since it brought large benefits to us in communication, entertainment, business, education†¦.It appeared to make people’ matters easier, to save time, to bring people closer and closer. In the past, a woman was always busy with the housework, taking care of children, cooking for meal manually. Contrarily, nowadays everything becomes faster and easier with the support of washing-machine, microwave, television and many technical equipment. Instead of spending more than hour only in order to wash clothes by hands, they save time and energy by putting it into machine and doing other stuff. With microwaves, you just spend few minutes even few seconds for a meal. Thus, with much developed technology, you can save times and feel like you have more than 24 hours a day. With smart phone and internet, we are able to talk and see our friends and relatives who living far from us and feel like they are beside us. Moreover, the development of digital technology helps people not only expand relationships over the world but also learn more new things. With a laptop connected to the internet, we can easily find information from many sources and relax with many online games or music. It is also so amazing that we can find our old friends through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and share information to any part of the world only milliseconds. The communication becomes cheaper and more convenient thanks to people’ great inventions. Especially, we must consider how effective technology can help work. Amount  of modern applications and devices help people easily manage their work and their time such as take-note schedule, remind tasks and important events. In the past, we took at least two or three days to send a letter to another place. Now we can send an email just by click â€Å"send†, it takes only few seconds. Moreover, some people also might choose to work at home and j ust connect with other by network. Even though technology brought us many advantages, have people utilized it as efficient way? It will be negative effort if we abuse of it too much. Unfortunately, almost every one of us are depending on modern equipment and not realizing the unpredictable consequences. While people are able to talk with their friends who are far from us, they may have difficulty in communicating with others around them. They are more comfortable with hiding behind the screens rather than talking face to face. It is actually sad to say that we are becoming less social interaction and insensitive to each other. Young people tend to be alone and passive with smartphone, laptop and uncommunicative to people around them. With state-of-the-art devices, we work more efficiently than before. However, there are also some drawbacks. Abusing of technology might make us become a machine: work, work and work. Some firm owners try to extend more time work and employees probably become workaholic because of the benefit and convenient devices. Businessmen tend to bring work to home and no more time watching TV with their children and family. Obviously, their wives and children extremely don’t like that. Moreover, life of people are under the heavy threat by internet crimes. Exploiting the development of social networks or computer tricks, they steal information, documents from other device. More dangerous, they also rape the young girls who have the habit check in on Facebook, Instagram or kidnap children for a ransom. Therefore, the more developed of technology also internet, the more dangerous people have to face with. Every part of our daily life is almost related to technology and its development continuously satisfy our demands. Unfortunately, our dependence on technology currently is too much, it is considerably alarming. The impact of technology on our lives can be devastating if we don’t keep ourselves in check Technology is like a coin which has both positive and negative sides. We should decide and choose how to use it. The advantages of technology are  very helpful for people if we use it right, it will be effective to our lives and society. Nobody can deny positively development of technology, but it must be the positive developed and shouldn’t have any negative affected in present or future. Comments: Good argument, perhaps you guys can add more argument about using technology, because I saw no clear argument about it. Does people today really using technology effectively? You can write also about the crime using technology. For example: People who rape young girl who they knew from facebook. (Renitha – 02910116) Interesting topic with good explanations and examples. Although there are some unclear parts but in the end, readers can get the points. There are some grammatical and colloquial errors, hope you can put on more attention on it. Overall, this is a fine essay (Danny – 02911741)

The Peculiar Institution of Slavery Essay Example for Free

The Peculiar Institution of Slavery Essay Slavery in America Northern Colonies Southern Colonies Slave Labor The African Slave Trade -10 to 11 million africans kidnaped and brought to usa most of those slaves went to south and latin america those who came to america were a minority europeans don’t create slavery and don’t invent the slave slave they tapped into existing slave trading in africa it already was apart of the african culture myth the white people go and bring them back to own a human being you need to dehumanize them lavery creates racism not the other way around this racism emerges in this myth that africa was backward and it was the dark continent. that africans were lesser civilized beings. estimated on the eve that euro tapped into slavery that africa had as big of a population as eruope and it was diversified middle class, rich, poor, etc agriculture in africa was as sophisitcated as it was in paris, rome, etc many socities in africa had their own legal system and codified laws The Kingdom of Mali Timbuktu and islamic universities huge studied math and astronomy education and scientific progress was apart of africa Europe and the Slave Trade they got through the slave trade through the portuguese Price Henry went through the african waterways and this was when theyt apped into the slave trade portugese got slaves in return for equal valued goods iron, guns, brass pots, etc equitable business trade europeans alter slavery expands it scope and the number of slaves bc of new crops sugar in Caribbean, rice, etc. the capture and transport of slaves from the west cost of africa 3 stages of getting them to the plantations First Leg frican agent would have bought stolen bartered for african slaves and they would have been marched to the coast leg is from the inland to coast this is the beginning of brutilization of slaves slaves march in a single line with chain around their neck waste legs walking upward of 500 miles this is where first slave rebellions began they couldn’t run away so the salve rebellion came in the form of suicide. they’re being ripped from their families and villag es and they don’t know what’s going to happen so there were two ways the slaves found to commit suicide 1. hey had their hands free, the soil turned into clay after rain, they would scoop up some of the clay and would choke to death 2. through rocks at hives of killer bees and allow themselves to be stung to death those who survive get to the coast and they’re sold to a european ship captain they’re branded with the companies logo on the back and inside of the cheek then put into the canoes to the harbor to the big slave ships another form of suicide they would tip the canoes and drown because they didn’t know how to swim Second Leg middle passage ships were cargo ships not passenger ships squished together because you want as many â€Å"product† to get to the new world to sell delicate situation for captain they didn’t want to waste food on them but they couldn’t die of starvation slave owners allowed to happen allowed the slaves to act out their tribal dances (this is how you get the transfer of african cultural music to the united states) despite what the ship owners did 0-15% didn’t make it through starvation and rebellion attempted mutinies wanted to take the ship back to africa when they failed the punishments were brutal you don’t kill a slave because you’re killing your economic property instead you would cut out a tounge or brand them again in really sensitive areas won’t kill because doesn’t make economic sense Third Leg in the ports auctions if a family was somehow able to survive first two legs, this is where they would be auctioned off and split up the slaves were poked and prauded to see their physical stance and their cavities were checked for disease compaired to cattle acution Slavery in America irst africans came to america in 1619 and were brought over by the dutch and sold to americans those first africans were indentured servants and not slaves 7 year contract when it was up they got their own land and materials slavery takes a long time to develop by the 1660’s we have black slave labour in america not because they’re african but because they need a labour force The Virgina Codes further the path to racism 1660s if you’re born under a slave mom the child is a slave for life Norther Colonies there were slaves here but very small in number white families owned maybe 1 or 2 slaves and they lived in the house with them. They sat down and ate meals together many were allowed to marry and have children different institution part of the reason it’s different because of the Quakers Quakers all about social equality and the first abolitionists racism is against moral code and gods plan bigger reason slaves were not as necessary and an economic drain economically not needed smaller farms type of agriculture is different and you don’t need the labour force industrialization and there are mechinized ways to pick apples or milk a cow immigration, to the north the poor immigrates go and many are catholic. or many norther colonies africans were higher on the scale from catholics. many of the few african slaves had rights and some could own property and shops ( cottage industries ) some were able to have children and marry so different that by the 1800’s there were no slaves (mason-dixon line) Southern Colonies slavery defines the south with their economy, politics, race structure huge implication through southern society Free Black Persons former slaves that are now free and exists in an odd world most had to carry identification papers saying they’re a free black person how achieved freedom bought freed military participation work out a deal with master to buy freedom money could be made by having your own side business other salves were freed by masters often seen in will lave owners in western regions of south that were facing indian wars and white masters would make deals with slaves to fight with them against natives and they would grant freedom some of these free black people were slave owners and gave two reasons to whyt hey onwed slaves as a black person themselves they would be more humane than the white slave owner would this was usually bunk and never the case simple economics black slave owners wanted to be rich and the cheapest source of labour were slaves (one black owner in louisiana had 91 slaves)

Rewards System in HRM

Rewards System in HRM Chapter 1 The basic idea of HRM is first appear from 1980s; and defined in very simple term as managing people in organization and now in modern society, technological changes and production of product and services demand more than just managing people in an organization (Newell and Scarbrough, 2002). The term Human Resource Management and Human Resource emerged after replacing the term Personnel Management with almost same definition of managing people in an organization; it is a deliberate and consistent approach of managing organizational imperative asset (i.e. people) in order to operate business smoothly and achieve objectives which functions through human resource system including HR strategies, HR policies, HR process, HR practices and HR programs (Armstrong, 2006). HRM systems can be drive through organizational competencies to permit firms and industry to discover and utilize existing and upcoming opportunities (Ulrich and Lake, 1990). Organizational effectiveness, Human Capital manag ement, Knowledge Management, Reward Management, employee relations, Meeting Diverse needs, bringing the gap between rhetoric and reality are the specific aim of human resource management (Armstrong, 2006:8). Consider all human abilities to be either innate or acquired. Every person is born with a particular set of genes, which determines his [sic] innate ability. Attributes of acquired population quality, which are valuable and can be augmented by appropriate investment, will be treated as human capital (Schultz, 1981, p.21 quoted in fitz-enz, 2000, p. xii). Motivation 1.2 Purpose of Study The primary purpose of this research is to analyse the reward system and its impact on employees behaviour in McDonalds. Furthermore, this research will try to evaluate whether reward proper reward system would be the better tools for improving employees performance. This research analysis would be conducted through accessing opinion and interest of employees by distributing well designed questionnaire set. On the basis of this analysis, the research will try to advice the strategies and concepts for achieving employees satisfaction through proper and well designed reward policies in McDonalds. 1.3 Objectives of study The reward management system is an integral part of modern business infrastructure; each and every business is operating through optimum utilization of human resource; therefore, employee satisfaction and reward system are vital factors in order to achieve organizational goal (Armstrong, 2009). The fundamental objective of this research is to examine the relationship between employees performance behavior and reward system with in the organization. Furthermore, the specific objectives of this investigation are as below: To analyze how reward system helps to achieve organizational goal and reduce labor turnover. To investigate why rewards are essential to boost employees performance. To find out what type of reward system are mostly implemented by McDonalds in order to motivate employees. Reward system within an organization have major role in generating total reward based upon organizational values and objectives; It helps to provide memorandum about the importance in term of behavior and outcomes; Well designed reward system support to increase performance culture and positive job relationship as well as psychological contract (Armstrong and Helen, 2004). Furthermore, this study offers information and data to help in other relevant research and study to achieve knowledge and better understanding of downsides. This study targets not only issues on reward system but also add and find out the various alternatives like: non-financial rewards can replace the financial rewards if applied after detailed study of employees interest and needs. This study will try to find out whether or not; quality of service in McDonalds depends upon reward system within organization. This research findings and outcomes might helps to make better understanding between employees satisfaction performance and reward system. It ultimately helps to the new HR managers to design better reward system based upon employees interest and needs. Various kind of rewards, employees expectation, employees satisfaction, employees needs and organizational goals are the key factors of this research. 1.4 Research Questions How reward system helps to achieve organizational goal and reduce labor turnover? Why rewards within an organization are essential to boost employees performance? What types of reward system are mostly implemented by organization in order to motivate employees? 1.5 Assumptions Assumption A A/0: It is assumed that there is relationship between reward system and employee behavior. A/1: It is assumed there is no relationship between reward system and employee behavior. Assumption B B/0: It is assumed that there is relationship between employee satisfaction and employee reward system. B/1: It is assumed that there is no relationship between employee satisfaction and employee reward system. Assumption C C/0: It is assumed that there is relationship between employee satisfaction and quality services. C/1: It is assumed that there is no relationship between employee satisfaction and quality services. 1.6 Research Structure In order to analyse reward system and its impact on employees behaviour, this study will review the existing and current literature under the circumstance of reward and reward theory implemented by various industry in chapter two. This research will also inspect the employee satisfaction in relation with reward provided at McDonalds with the help of primary data collected from employees. For this reason, in the literature review chapter, different theories relating to rewards, issues on rewards and its types will be thoroughly reviewed. The third chapter, Research methodology will address philosophy, approach and methods of research undertaken for this research. It will also explain the sampling, case study, research strategy, data collection tools, source of data and the method for data analysis. The fourth chapter, Data analysis and Presentation will present the results of the study in relation with demographic analysis of the respondents and their satisfaction level in McDonalds r eward system. Various figures and charts will be mentioned in this chapter in order to make simple and detailed report on research. In the fifth chapter, conclusions and recommendations will be made based upon data analysis and Presentation. This researcher will offer recommendation to the company (i.e. McDonalds) with due deliberation to the results of the primary data and the review of the literature. After wards, References and appendices will be included in research paper for better understanding and authenticity of study. Chapter 2 Literature Review Theoretical Framework This chapter highlights on the literature that is available in the topic especially the basic concern and aims of the research is to primarily focus on the relationship between organization goal and its reward system of selected fast-food restaurant. It includes literature regarding theories on the topic and review of the observed evidence of previous studies. As for concern several books, articles, journals, research studies have been reviewed in this subject. The main objectives of the literature review is to find out what research studies have been conducted in ones selected of developing research design. Thus the previous studies cannot be unobserved because they provide the foundation of the present study. 2.2 Conceptual Framework Before getting into the core subject matter of Reward system in profit making organization, it is imperative to be acquainted with the general concept of reward, benefit and other related topics and general profile of organization. To understand it better, the following sections and sub-sections will be examining the conceptual matter of the reward system and give brief introduction of the organization under research. 2.3 The context of Reward management In 1960s and 1970s the main cause behind introduction of incentive schemes was to build path of giving workers wages and salaries at a time of government controls (Bowley et al 1982). Due to lack of proper strategy and policies, some of employers gain reduced cost and even below 50% of increased outcomes; in 1980s and 1990s the concept of paying people was changed where worker were paid for their performance rather than attendance; similarly taxation policy was slightly changed as lower rate in income tax (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2005). Payment system has been drastically changed in Britain over the last twenty years and lots of concepts are emerged in relation to compensation and remuneration which are directly in control of management; similarly, in USA, a new concept of payment has emerged under the rubric of the New Pay. This new pattern has great influence on Britains management practice and government as well (White and Druker, 2000). The new pattern of thinking about New Pay in Britain is reward management (term used by Armstrong and Murlis 1988) has same management concern. Then, these concepts fall upon two grounds: 1) rewarding employees for work done and 2) remuneration system to be conditional upon business policy. Furthermore, the interest in reward system concept had been boosted by IPD professional syllabus which includes lots of unit and title on employee reward and a specific text book (Armstrong, 1999). The new syllabus by IPD provides higher emphasis on rewarding employees and employees satisfaction towards job. However, this holistic approach of payment has not, to date, reflected in academic literature, where controversy arises between micro-economics literature of labor economists and human resource literature. The former concern was about effect of pay on whole economy and impact on inflation, productivity and employment. Afterward, in contrast, draws both upon the industrial with regulation with employment relationship and organizational behavior (White and Druker, 2000). Now, the existing textbook focused largely realistic than imaginary, which ignore collective bargaining and employee voice, continue to play in lots UKs organization (Armstrong, 1999).The parallel employee relation also include title to describe pay bargaining systems (Gennard and Judge, 1997). Most importantly, the impact of control relation with in the work area and its impact on reward management plans and policies are polished over IPD texts. Core personnel and Development text (Marchington and Wilkinson, 1966) being an honorable exemption to this approach. Reward management has fascinated increased attention in recent years. Pay structure and system of payment are collectively determined and influenced by context of society in which they implemented (Steven, 1996). 2.4.1 Reward For most of the work is, in the main, a source of disutility, and they therefore require payment to compensate them for the time they devote to it. (Elliott, 1991:) Reward management is not only about money. It is also concerned with those non-financial rewards which provide intrinsic or extrinsic motivation (Armstrong and Murlis, 1988:) Reward is about how staffs are rewarded and valued in return of their performance towards organization which may includes both financial and non financial rewards and embrace the plan, policies , strategies, and reward layout prepared by an organization to maintain smooth reward system (Armstrong, 2009).It signifies one of the vital factors supporting the employment relationship (Kessler, 2005). It can be defined as fundamental expression of job relationship. It is concerned with the formulation, and implementation of plans and policies to reward employees fairly, equitably and consistently on the basis of their performance. The development, maintenance, designs and implementation of reward system is done to fulfill needs of both organization and employees (Armstrong, 2009). Both organizational and employees values are significant for align reward practices (Brown, 2001). It can influence a number of human resource policies, processes and practices which have great impact on organiza tional performance (Lawler, 2000a). It becomes an essential tool to coordinate, communicate and reinforce the organizational goal because it incentivizes staffs to achieve objectives and apply required capabilities and skills supporting them (Brett, 2006). As a result employee feels that they are considered as valuable asset of an organization (Jaques, 1961). All the organization has their own reward system without that employee would not join, come to work and perform less than they are supposed to perform with the mission statement of organization (Wilson, 2002). Business Strategy Reward system is a system which contains various interrelated process and activities done effectively in order to fulfill organizational goal and maintain employees value (Armstrong, 2009). It consists of monetary reward (Fixed and variable) and non monetary (employee benefits) which together mixed and form total remuneration. The main sections of reward system are process, practice, structure, scheme and procedure. Process includes job evaluation, market rate analysis and performance management, Practice includes financial benefits and non financial benefits provided to employees, Structure describe level of rewarding people on the basis of structure and their performance, Schemes explain financial rewards and incentives provided to employees, Procedure for maintaining system and ensuring that worker work according to standard and value of money. Reward system provides systematic way to deliver positive consequence (Wilson, 2002). Cost is the vital factor in reward and for service oriented organization, labor cost have important proportion on overall cost; however, lower labor cost doesnt always minimize cost , some time high labor cost leads towards increased turnover because of excellent performance due to motivation (Pfeffer, 1998). The proper implementation of strategic reward management helps to change employees behavior and attitude towards organization due to effective reward strategy; there are number of factors which mix along these type of straight-forward cause effect relationship; therefore, there is high possibility that reward strategy might helps in organizational change (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2005). 2.4.2 International Reward Management To achieve knowledge about importance of international organization and transnational organizational activity for employees reward system, 2007 World Investment Report (UNCTD, 2007) is suitable; where 78000 transnational companies with 780000 international affiliation and employing approximately 73 million people around the world (Perkins and White, 2008). This circumstance involves lots of areas and scopes for regulation, policies and practice work, human resource specialists critical responsibility for structuring the better reward policies become much more complex and difficult (Briscoe and Schuler, 2004:305). 2.5 Reward Issues Boardroom pay has been brought back under the attention after it emerged that CEO of FTSE100 companies receive around  £3.2 m in 2006 where analysis also emphasize that there is narrow gap between American and British pay (The Times, 29 October 2007).Employees of the largest UK companies are ultimately starting to contribute the decent amount of defined contribution and pension; Employers are tends to put much less defined into the defined payment pensions that has largely replace salary scheme for new employees- only 6-7% of salary, Paul Macro, senior consultant with the firm saidà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦approximately 15% of the salary that generally accepted as being the level of contribution needed to provide a decent income in retirement (Financial Times, 14th November 2007). Employee compensation, remunerations and reward (terms that may be used interchangeably in the literature, although compensation tends to predominant US commentary) may be defined as all forms of financial returns and tangible services and benefits employees receive (Milkovich and Newman, 2004:3). In United States of America (USA), both old and new style organization are taking on board total reward strategy; however, same writer observe that too often, when companies talk about Total Reward they simply mean providing generous benefits and positive workplace. Guaranteeing jobs, supporting an attractive work-life balance, adding benefits and pay- scale, cheering development and opportunities and making work place interesting all makes lower class business logic without considering the needs of high performance; they feel most existing solutions which ignore performance and encourage power (Zingheim and Schuster, 2000). 2.6 Reward Objectives The success of any reward system fully depends upon clear and concise objectives; the first step in consulting a strategic corridor through the reward jungle is to set achievable objectives, basically, to make employees satisfied and get work done from them is a primary objective of reward system (Brown, 2001). Organizations are starting to understand that pay should not de considered in term of particular job and financial results; the compensation should be inextricably being attached to employees, their performance and organizational vision and goals as well as most valuable and important tools for communicate, coordinate and reinforce the attitude and behaviors for results (Flannery et al, 1996). Reward management aims to support the achievement of organizations strategic and operational objectives, helps to communicate, drive and support expected attitude and behavior, promote continuous development, compete in employment market, enhance teamwork, and promote flexibility, gain f airness and equity (Armstrong and Murlis, 1998). Similarly, support culture management and change through matching pay and organizational culture as a whole, where as it cannot drive change or lead change process, cannot define change, cannot establish values and cannot establish effective leadership (Flannery et al, 1996). Furthermore, the European study under total rewards underpinned the following as a objectives and themes of rewards: introducing more flexible and changeability reward rather than control oriented and highly structured, market driven rewards, more flexible employee based, focused on variable pay, promoting boarder concept of reward in relation to contribution in their organization, implementing variety of reward tools, involving managers and staffs in those rewards cases and so on (Perrin, 1999). 2.7 Total Reward Reward that include not only traditional, financial component (salary, wage, pay, benefit etc) but also non-financial component (job responsibility and accountability, career opportunities, training and development etc) provided by an organization in order to motivate its employees (Thumpson, 2002). Reward that covers not only tangible pay like pay and benefits, but also intangible factors, such as opportunity to work flexibly, career development, trainings and environment where employees feels respect and valued (Brett, 2006). It includes direct as well as indirect and intrinsic as well as extrinsic (Manus and Graham, 2003), which embrace everything that employee values in employment relationship (Oneal, 1998). The combination of both monetary and non-monetary reward which helps to address every staff whether they want financial or non financial; the tools that are used to attract, retain, motivate and satisfy employee in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness that drive desired attitude in workplace (World Bank, 2000). Total reward is vertically integrated organizational strategy and horizontally integrated with HR strategies to gain internal consistency (Armstrong, 2009). The success of totals reward strategy is almost all depends upon monetary and non-monetary rewards provided to employees by employers (Davis, 2007). an approach to providing a package of reward to employees in the way that optimize employee satisfaction with reward from their work, and which does this in such a fashion that the employees contribution to employer is optimized at an acceptable cost -Vicky Wright, CIPD vice president (CIPD National Conference, 2001) It is fairly simple to understand but very complex in operation owing to the wide -ranging implications forà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..reward management (Richards and Hogg, 2007:4) All the employers available tools that may be used to attract, retain, motivate and satisfy employees, this encompasses every single investment that an organization makes in its people, and everything its employees value in the employment relationship. (World Bank, 2000) The termà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦adopted to describe a reward strategy that brings additional component such as learning and development, together with aspects of the working environment into the benefit package. It goes beyond standard remuneration by embracing the company culture, and is aimed at giving all employees a voice in the organization, with the employers in return receiving and engaged employee performance. (Richards and Hogg, 2007:1) Whistling the initial definition on offer, the relationship might be distinguish between total reward and various thoughts and ideas like employee well-being and psychological contract (Guest and Conway, 2004); similarly, emotionally intelligent leadership (Brown et al, 2006; Goleman, 2002; Palmer et al, 2001); mutual gain'(Bacon and Blyton, 2006); as well as employee involvement program (Cox et al, 2006) and high involvement work practice'(Huselid, 1995) and so on. Therefore, adopting the wide concept of reward, everything that employees get in return of their efforts is total reward (Davis, 2007). Therefore, the total reward component of World at Work can be summaries as follows: compensation, benefits, work-life, performance and recognition and development and career opportunities (Perkins and White, 2008). In the above given figure, upper two boxes (i.e. Pay and Benefit) indicate transactional reward which are financial in nature. In other hand, lower two boxes (i.e. Learning development and work environment) indicate rational reward which are non-financial in nature. The effective reward is the one which consist of both transactional and rational rewards (Thompson, 2002). The success of organization depends upon its staffs. If staffs are satisfied and loyal towards organization than overall goals can be achieved. However, some business organization fails to motivate their employees in aspect of reward. So, considering the fact, organization should apply both financial and non-financial reward (i.e. Total reward). 2.7.1 Financial/Extrinsic Reward Rewards like pay, benefit, salary, incentive are financial or extrinsic reward; various kinds of benefits and perks provided to employees in non-cash as a benefits and helps to motivate employees to perform better, similarly it also shows employers interest in employees well being (Perkins, and White, 2008). 2.7.2 Non-Financial/Intrinsic Reward Intrinsic reward can be divided into two parts; environmental reward and development oriented reward (Kessler, 2001). Environmental rewards are like employees value shown by senior supervisor, managers in work place, sensitivity of supervision and leadership excellence; similarly, development oriented reward are individually targeted to enhance career development and opportunity as well as helps to built sense of accomplishment in employees (Milkovich and Newman, 2004). 2.8 Reward Theory 2.8.1 Wage Gap Theory Another neo-institutionalist approach was Wage Gap Theory which indicate the same dominant power exercise by employers on their product market to distribute higher part than the normal profit with the employees and employees commitment towards organization for enduring of production (Heery, 2000). Wage rate across six OECD nation remained almost equal and controlling labor quality and effectiveness. (i.e. USA, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Norway and Germany); the wage paid to employees in return of their effort seems less considerable comparing with rate of trade union and collective bargaining (Zweimuller and Barth, 1992). Criticism of neo institutionalist arguments The practical role of employees reward construction and level of typical social science whether at national level or organizational level; management has required employment relationship on more flexible pattern in order to transfer risk from employer to employee and to facilitate organizational product market or to enhance return on shareholder investment (Rubery, 1997). During 1980-1990, the institutional approach of designing fair wage and arrangement with reward enjoy by employees were reduced, supported by government policies that pay should be based upon organizational ability to pay which reduce the power of trade union and popularity of the collective bargaining (Beaumont and Hunter, 2000). The existing reward determination theory was found ineffective in its overruling importance on stability and mutuality building where as majority of interest is on employment relationship thats why labor market policies should be reconsider; more attention should be given for disputes that profit values are redistributed between organizational stakeholders to privilege economic capital over human capital; the expectation between groups, balance of policies have courageously transfer in the side of management (Rubery, 1997). 2.8.2 Efficiency Wage Theory According to Efficiency Wage Theory, the managerial policy to gain more efficient employment agreement in medium term; worker will employ their capita; to secure optional work boost pay rate but it cause loss to the employer so, paying higher reward levels is a logical employers reaction in order to hold skilled employees (Perkins and White, 2008). This theory also describes a possible corrective aspect, concentrating on what economists do to labeled soldiering on the part of worker; more optimistically, this theory theoretically introducing a sorting effect'(Perkins and White, 2008). Those organization who needs more and skilled human capital to operate their business use above-market wage levels in order to attract expected employees; where close supervision will be reduced; this relates to Responsible autonomy policy (Friedman, 1984). Paying above-market reward for skilled workforce might be suitable option than to employ additional supervision; this concept will be attractive in case of knowledge workers (Rubery, 1997). 2.8.3 Labor Market Theory The term Labor Market implies that, the struggle on labor in capitalist society where product and services are traded in market; employee tries to spend their labor in maximum best prices and similarly employer bargain to purchase labor in minimum best price (Perkins and White, 2008). Classical labor Market Theory The concepts of constant choice by the groups to effort-reward relationship emphasize classical labor market theory; the demand of labor meets supply of labor exactly where pay will be determine in labor market is known as Market Clearing (Black, 2002). The only effective policy is to pay what other do (Garhart and Rynes, 2003:15). S Value of Marginal productivity of Labor D Quantity of labor Figure: 2 (Wage determination in a competitive labor market, balancing Demand (D) and Supply (S) of labor.) Source: (Perkins and White, 2008:34-35) According to above figure, the supply of labor is equal to demand of labor where worker will accept the job at the price that offer by employer: it is a value of marginal productivity of labor. This theory explain that there is tough competition among employer in term of paying their employees but finally every employer has to pay same as everyone pays. This theory indicates that paying strategy always leans toward symmetry where demand and supply of labor meets. This model of the employment system address the famous classical economist Adam Smith and its neo classical restatement by other neoclassical economists like: Jevons, Menger and Walrus; every one is free to choose their best price either employees or employers, employee compete with other employee for wages and similarly employer compete with other rivals for labor (Watson, 2005). Logically looking for Maximum utility, worker will accept work after comparing overall benefit of different works; thus work that are less satisfying, include more threat and hard to achieve mastery will require higher amount of wages compare to other work whose feature are opposite (Perkins and White, 2008). However, the concept of labor market was changed form middle of twentieth century, number of research indicate that the real situation of labor market doesnt run according to previous assumption given by classical economists; the paying system might effect in market force whereas some economists argues that it needs to remove market distortion (Garhart, and Rynes, 2003). Whether or not, labor supply by employees to employers is not the single economic issues; it is the effort employed by employees when employed (Rees, 1973) Stand as alternative economic theory of classical labor market theory, Institutional Labor Economic Theory describes the different wage level and dependent on organizational issue; employees and employers anticipation will be rest on maximizing in their financial concern (Perkins and White, 2008). In term of strategic initiative, higher level executive plan the contract in such a way that it minimizes the economic cost by putting labor satisfaction in effective and efficient ways; in other word, both employees and employers make a decision about work relationship comparing all the economic issues and interest; rationality between both party and their interest and wants remain significant Transaction Cost Theory Assumption (Williamson, 1975). Similarly, Resource Based Theory of Firm explains that economic effectiveness and efficiency will be increase through subsidiary scheme to take benefits of organizational resources; employee reward are parallel to HRMs other features and is arran ged to maintain organizational culture (Kessler, 2001; Purcell, 1999). Whereas, new institutional approach strategy theory describes the number of political and social issues tackling employees in an organization; organizational system (both internal and external) helps to design better employees reward system (Perkins and White, 2008). 2.8.4 Human Capital Theory Human Capital Theory makes an assumption that individuals gather human capital by investing both time and money in training and development, education, and other various opportunities based program in order to increase their efficiency and productivity and as a result employees value to employers (Abercrombie, et al, 2000). Human Capital Theory (developed by Schultz and Becker in the 1960s) differentiates between expenditure made on human capital and employees consumption; market are for the service of capital, not the reserve capital itself. In order to achieve HRM objectives of motivating employees and get work done through them, manager must balance between cost and skills (Hendry, 2003). Exchange Theory explains t

William Faulkners A Rose for Emily Essay -- A Rose for Emily, William

William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily In the story â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, William Faulkner, the author talks about a life of a woman and the town she lived in. The story begins just when miss Emily died. The author doesn’t tell us much about that time except that many people were interested to see what was in her house. As the story progresses, the author decides to jump all the way to the beginning when miss Emily was still a young woman and her father was still alive. During that time, the town felt bad for poor miss Emily and thought that she was going to die with out a husband by her side, since her father didn’t like any men that liked his daughter. Later on, the author gets to the time when her father just died. Miss Emily felt so alone that she decided to keep her dead father’s body in the house, and not let anyone take him away from her. After the neighbors kept coming to the city council and complaining about the fowl smell that was coming from miss Emily’s house, the judge sent a few men to put lime around the house to kill the smell. As the reader later finds out, the smell was coming from miss Emily’s father’s decaying body. Finely the authorities took the dead body out of the house and buried it. As the story goes on, the reader is told that the town was being renovated, streets being paved and such. With the renovators, came a young man, by the description, he was a handsome young man. The town kept talking as they always did, gossiping about miss...

Henry David Thoreaus Integrity Essay -- Henry David Thoreau Essays

Henry David Thoreau's Integrity Although his actions were admirable and act as evidence to integrity, the writings of Henry David Thoreau and Emerson reveal a haughty and pretentious individual. Thoreau's courage was noble. He was quick to immerse himself in his beliefs and abandon any obligation to social norms despite the risk in damaging his reputation. His rejection of societal limitations and steadfast individualism was truly commendable, however, his mannerisms were extremely rude. He cast aside all tact and consideration of others because he was so consumed with himself. â€Å"He coldly and fully stated his opinion without affecting to believe that it was the opinion of the company. It was of no consequence, if every one present held the opposite opinion.† (p. 1237) The motivations for a number of his decisions seem unclear. Integrity and discipline can be easily confused with conceit and narcissism. The extent of his appeal can be argued because his actions can be interpreted in a negative or positive light, depending on the audience. Thoreau was quick to retur...

What might cause an appreciation of a floating exchange rate? Essay

What might cause an appreciation of a floating exchange rate? Discuss whether an appreciation of a country's exchange rate will always be beneficial to that country. a) what might cause an appreciation of a floating exchange rate? b) Discuss whether an appreciation of a country's exchange rate will always be beneficial to that country. (15) A free, fluctuating or floating exchange rate means the existence of a free or competitive foreign exchange market where the price of one currency in terms of another is determined by the forces of supply and demand operating without any official interference. ====================================================================== A rise in the price of a currency in terms of another currency is called an appreciation. ================================================================= The following figure shows the equilibrium price of pounds in terms of U.S dollars. Short and long-term movements in the exchange rate, like any price, are caused by changes in market demand and supply conditions. The appreciation of a country's currency will occur due to either an increase in demand or fall in supply of that currency. The demand for sterling (pounds) in the FOREX markets comes from many sources UK goods and services are exported overseas - . if there is an increase in exports this will create an inflow of currency into to the UK which needs to be turned into sterling this will increase demand for the sterling . When US consumers but British Whisky they supply dollars and this is eventually translated into a demand for pounds. This will cause an outward shift in the demand curve for sterling, thus causing the currency to appreciate. Foreign long te... ...viously cause a serious fall in living standards. Exchange rate and inflation: An appreciation of the exchange rate helps to control cost and price inflation in the economy. A fall in import prices means that it is cheaper to import raw materials, components, finished manufactured products leading to an outward shift in Short Run Aggregate Supply shown in diagram - this has a direct impact on the Retail Price Index Tougher for domestic companies to compete with cheaper imports - lower profit margins as businesses have to adjust (less pricing power in their markets) Slower growth of exports (leading to a slowdown in aggregate demand - possibly the emergence of a negative output gap where actual GDP A bigger trade deficit represents a net outflow of demand from the circular flow of income and spending - leading to less demand-pull inflation.

Event Marketing – the Lessons from Red Bull Strategy

There are few brands that can offer more lessons in how to approach the next generation of marketing than Red Bull. Focusing their strategy on earned media, cultural integration and value creation, Red Bull’s approach is pioneering, and a template that many brands would love to follow. However it’s also proven a difficult strategy to replicate, specifically because just how different it is from the traditional marketing model. It’s definitely not just about sponsoring a couple of youth events and calling it a day. The scale of Red Bull’s commitment to non-traditional marketing is unprecedented. As far back as a decade ago, Red Bull was spending more than 80% of their significant marketing budget on non-measured media. That’s completely inverse to the traditional marketing formula of focusing on packaged communication messages and the broadcast media to spread them. Core to Red Bull’s success has been their unique strategy of focusing on brand-owned events. It struck me that one of the best ways to make the point about what it takes to seriously succeed at their level and at this game was to show the scale they are operating on. Creating vs sponsoring After sponsoring a handful of existing events early in the brand’s history, Red Bull made a strategic decision to create their own events and have followed this direction consistently ever since. This is a hugely important differentiator for them, and sets them a league apart from sponsor brands : . Early investment becomes equity As a sponsor brand, the more important and popular the event becomes, the more it costs. However Red Bull’s initial investment in creating the event quickly starts paying compound interest, and as the event grows in stature they reap all of the rewards while costing them only the maintenance of re-running the event. 2. Sole-branding Most big events have their platinum, gold and silver sponsors. How much are brands really getting out of these sponsor ships? And if you want to distinguish your brand by putting your name on the event, be prepared to shell out mega bucks. Red Bull on the other hand is the title sponsor for every one of these ninety events, and their branding is ubiquitous and seamlessly integrated into the event rather than tacked on and diluted amongst a hundred other sponsors. There is no question who is putting on the event and responsible for bringing it to everyone and making it happen. 3. Authenticity and credibility For me there is a big difference with a brand simply paying to have their logo attached to something, and with a brand who puts their energy, resources, and creativity to work in bringing something to life themselves, even if it is of course delivered behind the scenes by a host of event and activation agencies. There’s a different level of commitment involved, and a different type of authenticity and credibility is conferred to the brand as a result. Successful creation signals commitment to and deep understanding of the space, whereas anyone can pay to logo-ize something. I’m not saying sponsorship is always a bad thing by any stretch, but I’d argue it definitely lacks the same resonance with the audience. 4. Underground up There is something powerful about how so many of these Red Bull events started out small and local, and have grown to be big and hugely important and influential amongst the athletes and their fans. Athletes themselves say voluntarily that many of these events are as important or second only to the X-Games in stature and importance to their career. This is huge for authenticity with their target. Red Bull has grown up with it’s audience, and them with it. 5. Control Last point on creation vs sponsorship is about control. Namely, when you own the event, you do what you want with it. You control the promotion, the PR, the messaging, the branding, when it happens, where it happens, who’s involved. Everything. Even as a long-term sponsor of an event, you are ultimately at the mercy of the event’s owners and along for the ride. Longevity Many brands flit from campaign to campaign, with their event activation a tacked on component that is rarely addressed consistently. Getting ommitment to ongoing events from a brand can be near impossible. Red Bull is fundamentally different in this regard. They create experiences that generate value for the brand and then they build equity in them consistently over time, just as most brands would do with important product innovations and sub-brands. This is hugely cost effective compared to reinventing the wheel every year, a nd it ensures the brand becomes fundamentally woven into the lives of the athletes and influential consumers they wish to reach, as Red Bull is guaranteed to be part of their year, every year. Plus the audience often scales in size annually. Flugtag and Red Bull Soap Box race are now yearly highlights for many consumers, reaching in-person audiences of hundreds of thousand of people in many cities. In Brazil over one million people turned up for the Red Bull Air Race. From the list below you can see sponsorship of some events such as Flugtag reaching back all the way to 1991, but the vast majority of the events they’ve created over the years are still ongoing, year after year. Depth and breadth. Another key differentiator with Red Bull is the incredible effort they have gone to in order to â€Å"own† action sports and become embedded in youth culture across the board. They have quite literally gone after every action sport you can think of, and in a number of cases essentially created their own sports. They’ve since started attacking music and art with the same vigour. Where most brands are happy to tack on their logo to a handful of events in a year and call it a sponsorship strategy, Red Bull is literally ubiquitous. In many cases they are absolutely essential to the vitality of the sports they sponsor. Use creativity to reinforce the brand and create cut-through Looking down the list, another thing becomes immediately clear — all of the events sound awesome. â€Å"Last Man Standing†. â€Å"Down and Dirty†. â€Å"Exodus†. â€Å"Chopper Assault†. â€Å"City Rage†. â€Å"Heavy Metal†. Red Bull have used crazy sounding and subversive names to build excitement around events before you’ve even heard of them to and to indelibly stamp them as â€Å"Red Bull†. Additionally, Red Bull seek out and create a sense of drama and the spectacular with each event to rival anything Evel Knieval could’ve ever imagined. Downhill bike racing through Rio’s most notorious barrios? Wakeboarding in the dark in a flooded mine? Motocross duelling in bullrings? Roller derby on ice skates? Red Bull has made it their mission to bring barely imaginable experiences into existence, and give them all the spectacle and pomp of a â€Å"real† sport. And then to do it again, year after year. Create shareable content and earn your media How can Red Bull possibly afford all this? Well, they do the opposite thing most brands do. Most brands spend a tiny bit on content, and then 10x as much on media to try and spread that content as far as possible, because people aren’t really that interested in what they are saying so they have to get it in front of eyeballs by force. Which of course then diminishes the value of reaching those people, given they would rather you weren’t. Red Bull was doing earned media before it was a buzzword. They invest in unique, compelling experiences, and in the creation of content from those experiences. They get a significant amount of very deep and powerful brand interaction at the actual experiences themselves, both from participants and spectators. And then through a combination of PR, word of mouth, and pull media channels they get an absolute ton of exposure of their content. And through platforms like their popular Facebook page, content-rich website, Red Bulletin, and a legion of popular microsites and brand communities like FMXWorld, Red Bull can legitimately claim to be a media brand in its own right at a time when most brands are still talking about the idea. The reason Red Bull is so exciting as a brand and a case study to so many is they’ve flipped the traditional advertising model on it’s head. They invest most of their budget in experiences, content and media assets, and allocate comparably little to actual media itself. They trust if they build cool things, people will seek it out and talk about it, and they are right. From a Brandweek article from 2001: In the antithesis of any major’s marketing plan, Red Bull buys traditional advertising last. Only when a market is deemed mature does the company begin a media push. The idea is to reinforce, not introduce, the brand. â€Å"Media is not a tool that we use to establish the market,† said vp-marketing David Rohdy. â€Å"It is a critical part. It’s just later in the development. † The brand spent $100 million in the U. S. last year, according to the company Measured media spending was only $18. 9 million last year, up from $9 million in 1999, per Competitive Media Reporting. In a way their model is to first build targeted, ubiquitous relevance rather than broad mass awareness. They don’t blast out, they focus deep and then bubble up. And the latter approach gives them a much stronger and longer-lasting foundation for their activity, and costs them less. Paid media fits into the mix later to solidify the position, but it’s an enhancer rather than the foundation. Mix global platforms and local activation Red Bull is looking for the ultimate blend of local relevance and cost-effective impact. So they have a chaotic but effective mix of global platforms such as Flugtag and Air Race and tens of locally focused events. Many events start out locally and then get rolled out across regions as the template is perfected. Living and creating with your audiences I think I got this insight out of one of the many great Mobile Youth presentations on Red Bull. Basically the point is everything Red Bull do is about creating and living with their audience, rather than messaging at them. What else? I think you can probably tell from this post and the preceding list that I’m a massive fan of Red Bull’s strategy. It’s unique, it’s effective, and it has a lot to say about where the next generation of marketing is heading. Would love to hear what other lessons you’ve taken from Red Bull’s approach, and what other brands you think are doing this right.

Coyote Blue Chapter 28~29

CHAPTER 28 Hope Is Bulletproof, Truth Just Hard to Hit As Minty Fresh drove back to Las Vegas he thought about what Sam had said: â€Å"You have a mother, don't you?† And the question set Minty Fresh to thinking about a phone call from his mother that had changed his life. â€Å"You're the only one left can do something, baby. The others are too far or too far gone. Please come home, baby, I need you.† (Even when he had to duck to pass through her front door she still called him â€Å"baby.†) That tone: he'd heard it in her voice before, when she was tugging at her husband to get him to stop strapping her youngest. But he hadn't gone back for her, had he? It was a call deep with duty and silent pride that brought him home. He went back for Nathan. Nathan Fresh had never been home when any of his nine children were born. He was a sailor, and as far as he knew, when you came home from sea a new child would be waiting for you. The others grew an inch or two at a time, and the shoes that one was wearing when you left would be on the next one down when you got home. He loved his children, foreign creatures that they were, and trusted his wife to raise them – as long as they could line up, snap to, and pass inspection when he came home. And although he was gone most of the time, making the high seas safe for democracy, he was a presence in the house: photographs in crisp dress whites and blues stared down from the walls; commendations and medals; a letter once a week, read out loud at the supper table; and a thousand warnings of what Papa would do to a doomed misbehaver when he got home. To the Fresh children, Papa was only a little bit more real than Santa Claus, and only a bit more conspicuous. On the ship, Chief Petty Officer Nathan Fresh was known only as the Chief: feared and respected, tough and fair, starched, razor creased, and polished, always in trim and intolerant of anyone who wasn't. The Chief: did you notice that he was black? only five foot five? barely 130 pounds? No, but did you see his eyes, like smiles, when he was showing the pictures of his kids – when he was telling tales of lobbing shells the size of refrigerators into the hills of Korea? Did you ever mention retirement to him? That's a frost, that's a chill. Minty Fresh, the youngest of nine, the one born with golden eyes, knew the chill. â€Å"He's not mine,† Papa said – said it only once. Minty stayed out of Papa's way when he could, wore dark glasses when he couldn't. At age ten he stood six feet tall and no amount of slouching would roll Papa's resentment off his back. His place in the family was a single line at the bottom of a letter – â€Å"Baby's fine too† – far enough from â€Å"Love, Momma† to deny the association. At night, by flashlight, he wrote his own letters: â€Å"My team is going to the state championships. I was voted all-conference. The press calls me M. F. Cool, because I wear tinted goggles when I play, and sunglasses during interviews. The colleges are calling already and sending recruiters to the games. You'd be proud. Momma swears you're wrong.† In the bathroom he watched the letters go, in tiny pieces, around the bowl, down, and out to sea. Minty Fresh left for the University of Nevada at Las Vegas the week after high school graduation, the same week that Nathan Fresh took his mandatory retirement from the navy and came home, to San Diego, for good. The coach at UNLV wanted Minty to lift weights all summer, beef up for the big boys. The coach gave Momma Fresh a new washer and dryer. Nathan Fresh put them out on the porch. The day before the first game, when UNLV was going to unleash its secret weapon on the unsuspecting NCAA – a seven-foot center with a three-foot vertical leap who could bench-press four hundred pounds and shoot ninety percent from the free-throw line – M. F. Cool got the call. â€Å"I'm on my way, Momma,† he said. â€Å"My father needs me,† he said to the coach. â€Å"When we brought you up from nothing, gave you a full scholarship, put up with the goggles and the shades and the silly name? Gave your mother a washer and dryer? No. You won't miss the season opener. You're mine.† â€Å"How touching,† Minty said. â€Å"No one has ever said that to me before.† Perhaps, he thought later, stuffing the coach in that locker had been a mistake, but at the time a few hours in seclusion, among socks and jocks, seemed just what the coach needed to gain some perspective. He broke the key off in the padlock, tore the M. F. Cool label off the locker, and went home. â€Å"He's been gone four days now,† Momma said. â€Å"He drinks and gambles, hangs out at the pool hall 'til all hours. But he always came home before. Since he retired, he's changed. I don't know him.† â€Å"Neither do I.† â€Å"Bring him home, baby.† Minty took a cab to the waterfront and ducked in and out of a dozen bars and pool halls before he realized that Nathan would go anywhere but the waterfront. There were sailors there, reminders. After two days of searching he found Nathan, barely able to stand, shooting pool with a fat Mexican in a cantina outside of Tijuana. â€Å"Chief, let's go. Momma's waiting.† â€Å"I ain't no chief. Go away. I got a game going.† Minty put his hand on his father's shoulder, cringing at the smell of tequila and vomit coming off him. â€Å"Papa, she's worried.† The fat Mexican moved around the table to where Minty stood and pushed him away with a cue stick. â€Å"My friend, this one goes nowhere until we get what he owes us.† Two other Mexicans moved off their barstools. â€Å"Now you go.† He poked Minty in the chest with the cue stick and Nathan Fresh wheeled on him and bellowed in finest chief petty officer form. â€Å"Don't you touch my son, you fucking greaseball.† The Mexican's cue caught Nathan on the bridge of the nose and Nathan went down, limp. Minty palmed the Mexican's head and slammed his face into the pool table, then turned in time to catch each of the two coming off the bar with a fist in the throat. Another with a knife went airborne into a Corona mirror, which broke louder than his neck. Two more went down, one with a skull fractured by a billiard ball; one, his shoulder wrenched from its socket, went into shock. There were seven in all, broken or unconscious, before the cantina cleared and Minty, dripping blood from a cut on his arm, carried his father out. Momma met them at the hospital and stood with Minty as Nathan came around. â€Å"What are you doing here, you yellow-eyed freak?† Minty walked out of the room. Momma followed. â€Å"He don't mean it, baby. He really don't.† â€Å"I know, Momma.† â€Å"Where you going?† â€Å"Back to Vegas.† â€Å"You call when he sobers up. He'll want to talk to you.† â€Å"Call me if you need me, Momma,† he said. He kissed her on the forehead and walked out. She called him every week, and he could tell by her whisper that Nathan was home, was fine. It made him fine too – not M. F. Cool, just M.F., the one who handled things. All that was missing was the feeling of being needed, essential, bound to duty. Sam had said, â€Å"You have a mother, don't you?† Minty steered the limo off the next exit, across the overpass, and back on the highway, headed back to King's Lake. -=*=- It had taken Steve, the Buddhist monk, only a half hour to put the car back together. When Sam tried to figure out a way to pay for the repairs, Steve said, â€Å"All misery comes from desire and connection to the material. Go.† Sam said thanks. Now he was driving the Z into Utah. Calliope was asleep on Coyote's lap. Coyote snored. Sam passed the time trying to figure out how long it would take to get to Sturgis, South Dakota, the location of the rally that the Guild was going to. About twenty hours, he thought, if the car held together. From time to time he looked over at Calliope and felt a twinge of jealousy toward Coyote. She looked like a child when she slept. He wanted to protect her, hold her. But it was that childlike quality that frightened him as well. Her ability to dismiss facts, deny the negative, to see things so clearly, but so clearly wrong. It was as if she refused to accept what any reasonable adult knew: the world was a dangerous, hostile place. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face before looking back to the road. She murmured, and came awake with a yawn. â€Å"I was dreaming about sea turtles – that they were really dinosaur angels.† â€Å"And?† â€Å"That's all. It was a dream.† Sam had been thinking about it too long, so there was anger in his voice when he asked her, â€Å"Why didn't you call me before you went after Lonnie?† â€Å"I don't know.† â€Å"I was worried. If it weren't for Coyote, I would have never found you.† â€Å"Are you two related?† She seemed to be ignoring his anger. â€Å"You look a lot alike. He has the same eyes and skin.† â€Å"No, I just know him.† Sam didn't want to explain, he wanted an answer. â€Å"Why didn't you call me?† Calliope recoiled at his harshness. â€Å"I had to go get Grubb.† â€Å"I could have gone with you.† â€Å"Would you have? Is that what you wanted?† â€Å"I'm here, aren't I? It would have been a hell of a lot easier if I didn't have to chase you across two states.† â€Å"And maybe you wouldn't have done it if it was a hell of a lot easier. Would you?† The question, and her tone, threw him. He thought for a minute, looking at the road. â€Å"I don't know.† â€Å"I know,† she said softly. â€Å"I don't know much, but I know about that. You're not the only man that ever wanted me or wanted to rescue me. They all do, Sam. Men are addicted to the wanting. You like the idea of having me, and the idea of rescuing me. That's what attracted you to me in the first place, remember.† â€Å"That's not true.† â€Å"It is true. That's why I had sex with you so soon.† â€Å"I don't get it.† This was not at all how Sam had expected her to react. His brief moment of self-righteousness had degraded into self-doubt. â€Å"I did it to see if you could get past the fantasy of wanting me and rescuing me, to the reality of me. Me, with a baby, and no education, and a lousy job. Me, with no idea what I'm going to do next. I can't stand the wanting coming at me all the time. I have to get past it, like I did with you, or ignore it.† â€Å"So you were testing me?† Sam said. â€Å"That's why you took off without telling me?† â€Å"No, it wasn't a test. I liked you, but I have Grubb to take care of now. I can't afford to hope.† She was starting to tear up. Sam felt as if he'd just been caught stomping a litter of kittens. She took Grubb's blanket from behind the seat and wiped her eyes. â€Å"You okay?† Sam asked. She nodded. â€Å"Sometimes I want to be touched and I pretend that I'm in love – and that someone loves me. I just take my moments and forget about hope. You were going to be a moment, Sam. But I started to have hope. If I'd called you and you had said no, then I would have lost my hope again.† â€Å"That's not how I am,† Sam said. â€Å"How are you, then?† Sam drove in silence for a while, trying to think of something to say – the right thing to say. But that wasn't the answer either. He always knew the right thing to say to get what he wanted, or had until Coyote showed up. But now, he didn't know what he wanted. Calliope had declared wanting a mortal sin. Talking to a woman, to anyone, without having an agenda was completely foreign to him. Where was he supposed to speak from? What point of view? Who was he supposed to be? He was afraid to look at her, felt heat rise in his face when he thought about her looking at him, waiting. Maybe the truth? Where do you go to find the truth? She had found it, let it go at him. She had laid her hope in his hands and she was waiting to see what he would do with it. Finally he said, â€Å"I'm a full-blooded Crow Indian. I was raised on a reservation in Montana. When I was fifteen I killed a man and I ran away and I've spent my life pretending to be someone I'm not. I've never been married and I've never been in love and that's not something I know how to pretend. I'm not even sure why I'm here, except that you woke something up in me and it seemed to make sense to run after something instead of away for a change. If that's the horrible act of wanting, then so be it. And by the way, you are sitting on the lap of an ancient Indian god.† Now he looked at her. He was a little out of breath and his mind was racing, but he felt incredibly relieved. He felt like he needed a cigarette and a towel – and maybe a shower and breakfast. Calliope looked from Sam to Coyote, and then to Sam again. Her eyes were wider each time she looked back. Coyote stopped his snoring and languidly opened one eye. â€Å"Hi,† he said. He closed his eye and resumed snoring. Calliope bent over and kissed Sam's cheek. â€Å"I think that went well, don't you?† Sam laughed and grabbed her knee. â€Å"Look, we've still got twenty hours on the road and I'm going to need you to drive. So get some sleep, okay? I don't trust him at the wheel.† Sam nodded toward Coyote. â€Å"But he's a god,† Calliope said. â€Å"‘As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods;/They kill us for their sport. â€Å" â€Å"What an icky thing to say.† â€Å"Sorry. Shakespeare wrote it. I can't get it out of my mind this week. It's like an old song that gets stuck.† â€Å"That happened to me once with ‘Rocky Raccoon. â€Å" â€Å"Right,† Sam said. â€Å"It's exactly like that.† CHAPTER 29 Shifting Sam drove through the day and into the night and finally stopped at a truck stop outside of Salt Lake City. Calliope and Coyote had been awake for the last few hours, but neither had spoken very much. Calliope seemed embarrassed about talking to the trickster, now that she knew he was a god, and Coyote just stared out the window, either lost in his own thoughts or (Sam thought this more likely) absorbed in some new scheme to throw people's lives into chaos. From time to time someone would break the silence by saying, â€Å"Pretty rock† – a statement which covered the complete observational spectrum for Utah's landscape – then they would lapse into silence for a half hour or so. Sam led them into the truck stop and they all took stools at a carousel counter among truckers and a couple of grungy hitchhikers who were hoping to cadge a ride. A barrel-shaped woman in an orange polyester uniform approached and poured them coffee without asking if they wanted it. Her name tag read, Arlene. â€Å"You want something to eat, honey?† she asked Calliope with an accent warm with Southern hospitality. Sam wondered about this: no matter where you go, truck-stop waitresses have a Southern accent. â€Å"Do you have oatmeal?† Calliope asked. â€Å"How 'bout a little brown sugar on that?† Arlene asked. She looked over rhinestone-framed reading glasses. Calliope smiled. â€Å"That would be nice.† â€Å"How 'bout you, darlin'?† she said to Coyote. â€Å"Drinks. Umbrellas and swords.† â€Å"Now you know better'n that – come into Mormon country and order drinks.† She shamed him with a wave of her finger. Coyote turned to Sam. â€Å"Mormon country?† â€Å"They settled in this area. They believe that Jesus visited the Indian people after he rose from the dead.† â€Å"Oh him. I remember him. Hairy face, made a big deal about dying and coming back to life – one time. Ha. He was funny. He tried to teach me how to walk on water. I can do it pretty good in the wintertime.† Arlene giggled girlishly. â€Å"I don't think you need any more to drink, hon. How 'bout some ham and eggs?† Sam said, â€Å"That'll be fine, two of those, over easy.† Sam watched Arlene move around the counter, flirting with some of the truckers like a saloon girl, clucking over others like a mother hen. She snuck a cinnamon roll to a scruffy teenage hitchhiker with no money and asked after him like an older sister, then moved across the counter and found the kid a ride with a gruff cowboy trucker. One minute she was swearing like a sailor, the next she was blushing like a virgin, and all the customers who sat at her counter got what they needed. Sam realized that he was watching a shape-shifter: a kind and giving creature. Perhaps he was meant to notice. Perhaps that was what he needed. She was good. Maybe he was too. He turned to Calliope and caught her in the middle of losing a bite of oatmeal down her chin. â€Å"We can do this,† he said. â€Å"We'll get him back.† â€Å"I know,† she said. â€Å"You do?† She nodded, wiping oatmeal off her chin with a napkin. â€Å"That's the scary thing about hope,† she said. â€Å"If you let it go too long it turns into faith.† She scooped another bite of cereal. Sam smiled. He wished that he shared her confidence. â€Å"Did you ever go to South Dakota with Lonnie? Will we be able to find them?† â€Å"I went to the big summer rally, not this time of year. They don't camp with the other bikers. They rent land from a farmer in the hills. All the Guild chapters stay together there.† â€Å"Could you find it again?† â€Å"I think so. But there's only one dirt road leading in there. How will we get Grubb out?† â€Å"Well, I guess just walking in and asking for him isn't going to work.† â€Å"They usually have guns. They get drunk and play shooting games.† Coyote said, â€Å"Wait for them to go to sleep, then sneak in and count coup.† â€Å"They don't really sleep,† Calliope said. â€Å"They do crank and drink all weekend.† â€Å"Then we will have to trick them.† â€Å"I was afraid you'd say that,† Sam said. He spun on his stool and looked out the windows of the truck stop to the gas pumps, where a black stretch Lincoln was just pulling away. -=*=- Sam woke up in the passenger seat. The Z was parked sideways on the side of the road, the headlights trained over a pasture. The driver's seat was empty. Coyote, who was curled up in the tiny space behind the seat, growled and popped his head out between the seat. â€Å"What's going on?† â€Å"I don't know.† Sam looked around for Calliope. It was raining out. â€Å"Maybe she stopped to take a leak.† â€Å"There she is.† Coyote pointed to a spot by the barbed-wire fence where Calliope was standing by a young calf, working furiously on something at the fence. A mother cow stood by watching. â€Å"The calf's tail is stuck on the barbed wire,† Coyote said. Sam opened the car door and stepped out into the rain just as Calliope finished untangling the calf, which scampered to its mother. â€Å"It's okay,† she called. â€Å"I got him.† She waved for him to get back into the car. She ran to the car and got in. â€Å"Sorry, I had to stop. He looked so sad.† â€Å"It's okay. Pasture pals, right?† Sam said. She grinned as she started the car. â€Å"I thought we could use the karma balance.† Sam looked for a road sign. â€Å"Where are we?† â€Å"Almost there. We have to get going. There's been a car behind us for a while. I got way ahead of it, but I felt like it was following us.† She pulled onto the road, ramming through the gears like a grand prix driver. Sam was peeking at the speedometer when he saw a colored light blow by in the corner of his eye. â€Å"What was that?† â€Å"The only stoplight in Sturgis,† Calliope said. â€Å"I'm sorry, guys, it sort of snuck up on me. The Z goes better than it stops.† â€Å"We're here already?† Sam said. â€Å"But it's still dark out.† â€Å"It's a few more miles to the farm,† Calliope said. â€Å"Sam, if a cop saw me go through that light can you take the wheel? My license is suspended.† Sam checked his watch, amazed at their progress. â€Å"You must have averaged ninety the whole way.† â€Å"I had to go to jail the last time they caught me. Three months. They taught me to do nails for vocational training.† â€Å"You did three months for a traffic violation?† â€Å"There were a few of them,† Calliope said. â€Å"It wasn't bad; I got a degree. I'm a certified nail technician now. In jail it was mostly LOVE/HATE nails, but I was good at it. I would have had a career except the polish fumes give me a headache.† Coyote pulled Grubb's blanket out of the hole in the back window and looked through. â€Å"It's clear. There's a car behind us but it's not a cop.† The sleeping town was only a block long – a stoplight with accessories. Calliope drove them through town and turned south on a county road that wound into the Black Hills. â€Å"It's a couple of minutes up this road to the turnoff, then about a mile in on a dirt road.† Sam said, â€Å"Turn off the lights when you make the turn. We'll drive halfway in and walk the rest of the way.† Calliope made the turn onto a single-lane dirt road that led through a thick stand of lodgepole pines. The road was deeply rutted, the ruts filled with water. The Z bucked and bottomed out in several places. â€Å"Keep it moving steady,† Sam said. â€Å"Don't hit the gas or the wheels will dig into the mud. Christ, it's dark.† â€Å"It's the trees,† Calliope said. â€Å"There's a clearing ahead where they camp.† Sam was trying to peer into the darkness. To his right he thought he saw something. â€Å"Stop.† Calliope let the Z roll to a stop. â€Å"Okay,† Sam said. â€Å"Hit the parking lights, just for a second.† Calliope clicked the parking lights on and off. â€Å"That's what I thought,† Sam said. â€Å"There's a cattle gate back there to the right. Back the Z in there so we can turn it around.† â€Å"Giving up?† Coyote said. â€Å"If we have to get out of here fast I don't want to have to back down this road.† He got out of the car and directed Calliope as she backed the Z in and turned it off. â€Å"We walk from here.† They got out of the car and started down the road, stepping between the puddles. The air was damp and cold, and smelled faintly of wood smoke and pine. When the moonlight broke through the trees they could see their breath. Calliope said, â€Å"Wait.† She turned and ran back to the car, then returned in a moment with Grubb's blanket in hand. â€Å"He'll want his wubby.† Sam smiled in spite of himself, knowing the girl couldn't see his face in the dark. Never face heavily armed bikers without your wubby. Coyote and Cottontail It's an old story. Coyote and his friend Cottontail were hiding on a wooded hill above a camp, watching some girls dance around the fire. Coyote said, â€Å"I'd sure like to get close to some of them.† â€Å"You won't get near them,† Cottontail said. â€Å"They know who you are.† â€Å"Maybe not, little one. Maybe not,† Coyote said. â€Å"I'll go down there in disguise.† â€Å"They won't let any man get close to them,† Cottontail said. â€Å"I won't be a man,† Coyote said. â€Å"Here, hold this.† Coyote took off his penis and handed it to Cottontail. â€Å"Now, when I come back into the woods I will call to you and you can bring me my penis.† Then Coyote changed into an old woman and went down to the camp. He danced with the girls and pinched them and slapped their bottoms. â€Å"Oh, Grandmother,† the girls said, â€Å"you are wicked. You must be that old trickster Coyote.† â€Å"I'm just an old woman,† Coyote said. â€Å"Here, feel under my dress.† One of the girls felt under Coyote's dress and said, â€Å"She is just an old woman.† Coyote pointed to two of the prettiest girls. â€Å"Let's dance in the trees,† he said. He danced with the girls into the woods and tickled them and made them roll around with him laughing. He touched them under their dresses until they said, â€Å"Oh, Grandmother, you are wicked.† â€Å"Cottontail, come here!† Coyote called. But there was no answer. â€Å"Wait here for your old grandmother to return,† Coyote told the girls. He ran all over the woods calling for Cottontail, but could not find him. He went over that hill to the next one and still no Cottontail. He was excited and wanted very much to have sex with the girls, but alas, he could not find his penis. Finally the sun started coming up and the girls called, â€Å"Old Grandmother, we can't wait for you any longer. We have to go home.† Coyote stalked the hills cursing. â€Å"That Cottontail, I will kill him for stealing my penis.† As he walked he passed three other girls coming out of the woods. They were giggling and one of them was saying, â€Å"He was so little, but he had such a big thing I thought I would split.† Coyote ran in the direction the girls had come from and found Cottontail sitting under a tree having a smoke â€Å"I'll kill you, you little thief,† Coyote cried. â€Å"But Coyote, I pleasured the three many times and four times I made each of them cry out.† Coyote was too tired from tickling and dancing all night to stay mad. â€Å"Really, four times each?† â€Å"Yep,† Cottontail said, handing Coyote his member. â€Å"I feel like I was there,† Coyote said. â€Å"You got a smoke?† â€Å"Sure,† said Cottontail. â€Å"Are you going to need your penis tonight?† Coyote laughed and smoked with Cottontail while his little friend told the story of his long night of pleasuring.