Dollar Diplomacy Definition and Examples

Dollar diplomacy is the term applied to American foreign policy under President William Howard Taft and his secretary of state, Philander C. Knox, to ensure the financial stability of Latin American and East Asian countries, while also expanding U.S. commercial interests in those regions. In his State of the Union Address on December 3, 1912, Taft characterized his policy as â€Å"substituting dollars for bullets.† Despite some successes, dollar diplomacy failed to prevent economic instability and revolution in countries like Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and China. Today the term is used disparagingly to refer to the reckless manipulation of foreign affairs for protectionist financial purposes. Key Takeaways Dollar diplomacy refers to the U.S. foreign policy created by President William Howard Taft and Secretary of State Philander C. Knox in 1912.Dollar Diplomacy sought to bolster the struggling economies of Latin American and East Asian countries while also expanding U.S. commercial interests in those regions.U.S. interference in Nicaragua, China, and Mexico in order to protect American interests are examples of dollar diplomacy in action. Despite some successes, dollar diplomacy failed to achieve its goals, resulting in the term being used negatively today. American Foreign Policy in the Early 1900s During the early 1900s, the U.S. government largely abandoned its isolationist policies of the 1800s in favor of using its growing military and economic power to pursue its foreign policy goals. In the 1899 Spanish-American War, the U.S. took control of the former Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico and the Philippines, and also increased its influence over Cuba. Taking office in 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt saw no conflict between what his critics called American imperialism and demands by political progressives for social reform at home. In fact, to Roosevelt, control of new colonies represented a way to advance the American progressive agenda throughout the Western Hemisphere.    In 1901, Roosevelt moved to build—and control—the Panama Canal. To gain control of needed land, Roosevelt supported an â€Å"independence movement† in Panama resulting in the reorganization of the government under a pro-canal American sympathizer. In 1904, the Dominican Republic was unable to pay back loans from several European countries. To prevent possible European military action, Roosevelt toughened the Monroe Doctrine of 1824 with his â€Å"Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine,† which stated that the United States would use military force in order to restore order, stability, and economic prosperity in other nations of the Western Hemisphere. Along with weakening European influence in Latin America, Roosevelt’s corollary further established the U.S. as the world’s â€Å"policeman.†Ã‚   Roosevelt’s foreign policy of â€Å"confident intervention† was not limited to Latin America. In 1905, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for leading negotiations that ended the first Russo-Japanese War. Despite these apparent successes, the backlash from the anti-American violence of the Philippine-American War drove Roosevelt’s progressive critics to oppose U.S. military intervention in foreign affairs. Taft Introduces His Dollar Diplomacy In 1910, President Taft’s first year in office, the Mexican Revolution threatened U.S. business interests. It was in this atmosphere that Taft—with less of Roosevelt’s militaristic â€Å"carry a big stick† bluster, proposed his â€Å"dollar diplomacy† in an attempt to protect U.S. corporate interests around the globe. William Howard Taft Campaigns from a Train. Bettman / Getty Images Nicaragua While he stressed peaceful intervention, Taft did not hesitate to use military force when a Central American nation resisted his dollar diplomacy. When Nicaraguan rebels attempted to overthrow the American-friendly government of President Adolfo Dà ­az, Taft sent warships carrying 2,000 U.S. Marines to the region to put down the insurrection. The rebellion was suppressed, its leaders were deported, and a contingent of Marines remained in Nicaragua until 1925 to â€Å"stabilize† the government. Mexico In 1912, Mexico planned to allow Japanese corporations to purchase land in the Mexican state of Baja California, which included Magdalena Bay. Fearing that Japan might use Magdalena Bay as a naval base, Taft objected. U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge secured passage of the Lodge Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the U.S. would prevent any foreign government—or business—from acquiring territory anywhere in the Western Hemisphere that might give that government â€Å"practical power of control.† Faced with the Lodge Corollary, Mexico abandoned its plans. China Taft then tried to help China withstand Japan’s increasing military presence. At first, he succeeded by helping China secure international loans to expand its railroad system. However, when he tried to help American businesses become involved in Manchuria, Japan and Russia—having won shared control of the area in the Russo-Japanese War—were outraged and Taft’s plan collapsed. This failure of dollar diplomacy exposed the limitations of the U.S. government’s global influence and knowledge of international diplomacy. Impact and Legacy While it was less dependent on military intervention than Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy, Taft’s dollar diplomacy did the United States more harm than good. Still plagued by foreign debt, the Central American countries came to resent U.S. interference, fostering anti-American nationalist movements. In Asia, Taft’s failure to resolve the conflict between China and Japan over Manchuria further heightened tensions between Japan and the United States, while allowing Japan to build its military power throughout the region. Aware of the failure of the dollar diplomacy, the Taft administration had abandoned it by the time President Woodrow Wilson, took office in March 1913. While he attempted to maintain U.S. supremacy in Central America, Wilson repudiated dollar diplomacy, replacing it with his â€Å"moral diplomacy,† which offered U.S. support only to countries that shared American ideals. Sources and Further Reference â€Å"Dollar Diplomacy, 1909-1913.† U.S. Department of State. Langley, Lester D. â€Å".†The Banana Wars: United States Intervention in the Caribbean, 1898–1934 Rowman Littlefield Publishers (2001). Beede, Benjamin. â€Å"The War of 1898 and U.S. Interventions, 1898 to 1934.† p. 376. Books.google.com.Bailey, Thomas A. (1933). â€Å".†The Lodge Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine The Academy of Political Science

3D Viewing of Geology Settings in Specific Areas - 704 Words

1: Study Area: The target area of the potential for oil extraction is about 20km2 (Figure 1), located in east of London, the bottom river of the outline area is river Thames. Figure1. Study area outline 2: Aim of the project Built a 3D model through Arc-scene of outline area, find the oil bearing rock then calculated the potential oil reserves. 3: Methodology used and tools Main software used: Arc-scene. Arc-scene is three-dimensional (3D) modelling software that allows you to view your GIS data in three dimensions .cause the main aim of the project is find the oil reservoir and calculated the reservoir volume in outline area. A 3D model can directly shows the under- ground geology condition using available borehole data (the surface is provided in project). And is really helpful for calculating the oil reservoir volume. i. Create a raster surface of deposits layers according to the borehole data(the surface is provided ) through â€Å"IDW† tool. ii. Using â€Å"Raster to Tin tool† to transform raster surface to tin surface. iii. Creating multipatches between each tin using the tool â€Å"Extrude between†. iv. As the oil reservoir exist in layer4 and the upper and lower boundary is already known, we can create a multipatch to confine the upper and lower boundary of oil reservoir (the data is based on the provided contact depth) and using â€Å"Intersect 3D† tool to build the oil reservoir v. Calculate the volume of oil reservoir using the tool of â€Å"Add Z information†. 4:

Project Management International Conference on System

Question: Delivering successful projects is increasingly becoming a daunting task for most of the organisations that work on projects that deliver strategic, business and operational outcomes. Today there are many project management practices in use by project managers depending on the industry, organisation and its culture, in order to deliver project successfully. PRINCE2 is claimed to be a rapidly growing project management practice used internationally and specially in the UK Government sector, to manage projects regardless of its type and size. (PRINCE2.com) Task 01 (60 Marks) Select an organisation that has a implemented a successful Project Management Methodology and critically evaluate the process related to the following areas of Project Management: Project Selection Management of the Triple Constraints Risk Management Your answer should explain the practices, tools and techniques used and should be elaborated with suitable and relevant sample artefacts. Task 02 (40 Marks) Critically evaluate the PRINCE2 methodology against Waterfall and Agile methodologies and assess its suitability in using to manage and successfully deliver projects in Sri Lanka. Answer: 1: Project Selection The case study selected for the task is Portbase. This case has been selected for the reason that this is a very huge project, which has been built and developed based on the traditional Waterfall project management methodologies. The project has been working for longer period of time and has been experiencing various stages of positive and negative. Eventually, the management and administration has decided to transition the methodology to a new one, which has more Agility. The Portbase is a natural and reliable hub that is located through the Dutch ports for the logistic information necessary. It is the port-transcending Port Community System that has been developed to benefit the companies with many services that are intelligent for exchange of information between both the public and private sectors as also the companies. The project allows the optimization of the logistic processes by the participants, for the competitive position to be improved (Bannink, 2012). The non-profit organization works as non-profit organization and also serves for the port community. Portbase has been serving over 10,000 end users in over 2300 companies, through over the services of about 42. The project has been facing many challenges with the Waterfall methods, with which it has been operating. The Portbase project is developed with the methodology called Waterfall. There are many challenges that have been faced by the organization, from the Waterfall methodology. The waterfall method has been a viable project management methodology, when the project was developed initially. At the point of time, this methodology was considered as a standard methodology and eventually, the same methodology had been selected. However, in the later stages, the problems and challenges associated with the methodologies have been discovered. Though Waterfall methodology is completed structure methodology, certain challenges have been resulting and it even demanded to transition the project towards the Agile management methodology (Bannink, 2012). The following are the challenges of the project, being used by the Waterfall project management methodologies. Triple Budget Constraint The project has gone through many issues, in terms of time management. The reason is that the Waterfall method has the process, in such a way that the final product or outcome can be checked only at the end of the project. If there are any errors or missing of the features and any incompleteness, the process has to be started overall again. Eventually, the overall design and development tasks would be delayed and consume a lot of time. When the entire process has to be repeated, the overall budget or cost of the project has also been increasing to an extent that there will be no surprise if the budget is doubled or even more that. Challenges of delayed design Since, the entire process is completely structured, where each and every process is to be executed only one after the other, the process of design has taken the time, than the expected time. It is because of the major flaw associated with the methodology (Hajjdiab, et al., 2012). The result, which is the outcome after the ending stages of the process, may or may not meet the expectations or the objectives defined, at the time of commencement of the project. At that point of time, the result may need to modify, as there may be new developments or there may be new challenges that could be discovered, as the time goes on. The Waterfall methodology does not give any opportunity for the project manager or the team of the project to assess the quantity and quality of the result of the outcome, during the design and development of the product. If the challenges and developments are discovered after testing of the product at the end of the methodology, it would be disappointing for the team of the project. When the deviations are minor, the customer or sponsor may get compromised with the unsatisfied product. However, if the deviation is long and does not give the result as expected and does not fulfil the object of the project, it is definitely going to make a tedious challenge for the project team. Eventually, the correction and development of the objective of the product is going to take, almost double the time and duration of the project. If the final product after the development during the repetition of the product, it has been taking more than double the time of the project. Doubling the time or eve n more would make the resources to be wasted and it will have a definite and huge impact over the budget and resource allocation for the project. Risk Management The project is huge and involves thousands of customers from hundreds of companies. The risk management involves anticipation or prediction of the possible risks, associated with the hub. The risks are more of physical and eventually, they do have influence over the health and welfare of the employees, resulting in massive losses to the company and eventually over the reputation of the company. Poor communication, between the control of perception and phases Another major problem associated with the Portbase project development is the hierarchy and the level of communication among various levels of the management. The middle and upper level managements follow the approach of the command and control, would give least powers and privileges to the team of development of the product. It eventually, gives a lot of pressure ot the team of the project and they have not been able to take any decisions independently, even though there is a minor change proposed (Hajjdiab, et al., 2012). The protocol is completely designed and developed by only the management and the workforce or the team of the project would be left with the only option of following the commands. This kind of command and control approach involved in the Waterfall management methodology, would primarily effect the communication between the management and the members of the team. The communication here is made almost from one way, rather than two ways (Mahalakshmi Sundararajan, 2013). The Portbase project eventually, has taken a decision to transition the project management methodology from Waterfall to the new and modern methodologies that have been proven working better (Mahalakshmi Sundararajan, 2013). 2: Project Management Methodologies PRINCE2 Project Management Methodology PRICE2 is an acronym for the projects IN Controlled Environments and is developed in the UK. The methodology consists of six variables, timescales, risk, quality, benefits and scope. The methodologies include the focus and approach on stakeholder involvement, control through review, and business involvement right from the initiation till the end of the project with continuous and consistent improvement (Reid Amy, 2013). The design of PRINCE2 roles is very specific in design that includes customers, management, suppliers and other stakeholders. Relevance of Methodologies There is a perception in the project management methodologies that PRINCE2 is based on the approach of the traditional waterfall, where the waterfall approach was considered to be a good and standard for the project and software development. In the same way, Agile approach is also a relevant approach to PRINCE2. So, eventually, a new approach called PRINCE2 Agile has been developed, as an extension to PRINCE2. It is an indication of the modernization of the PRINCE2, which is variant deviation from the waterfall method. In a nutshell, PRINCE2 had been synonymous to Waterfall method and now has been associating and integrating with the Agile method, because of its flexibility and application that suits to the modern complex business project management. PRINCE2 is more about associating with the process. It is more of a linear structure that starts from the starting up a project, initiating project, managing the delivery of project, having the necessary stage boundaries and finally closing the project towards handing the business for its operations. Figure: PRINCE2 Project Management Methodology Source: Zen Ex Machine 2013 According to the expert and the project management body opinion, this process is more describes more of the waterfall approach to the execution of the project. This perception is because of the following factors. A stage of PRINCE2 is equivalent to the stage of Waterfall There would be a stage for each of the processes of analysis, development, design and testing The project needs to be locked down, before the design is moved towards development and comprehensively complete the a detailed set of the proposed requirements Waterfall method is usually assumed to be suitable for the larger projects to manage and develop. And it is not quite suitable for the smaller projects. When it comes to the Agile method, it is suitable for more of small size projects, instead of the larger projects. PRINCE2, has built the perception that this methodology is more suitable for the larger projects and inappropriate for the smaller projects (Reid Amy, 2013), is suitable for small projects too. It is because of the perception that the smaller projects would be inappropriate, as the methodology needs longer process in the development of the logs, lists, registers and documents. However, according to the OGC (Office for Government Commerce) in the UK, THE PRINCE2 processes can be tailored and more importantly can be scalable to implement for smaller to larger projects, so that it can be made suitable for various unique requirements and projects in various environment. With no tailoring of the processes, which are needed for the project to adapt quickly for varied environments, needs of the user, business and systems, the project will become bogged down in reporting, red tape, committee meeting and approval processes that are lengthy, which would paralyse instead, than enabling the projects quickly to act to move towards the direction of change. Such difficulty could enable to adapt to change would ultimately stands as a primary reason for the failure of the Waterfall methodology. The same reason, the project management methodology, PRINCE2 is enabled to be implemented in UK, UK and in Sri Lanka. Figure: Waterfall and Agile Project successes and failures Combining Prince2 And Agile PRINCE2 can be made flexible and scalable based on the application of the project management methodology, PRINCE2. This is the characteristic, which is close to Agile, which is flexible and iterative process. So, integration of the PRINCE2 and Agile is considered to be more effective. The key considered for unlocking the PRINCE2 methodology with the Agile is towards using it in the stage of the Management Product Delivery (Reid Amy, 2013). Agile processes help the project team to focus intensively, over the delivery of each of the Sprint that would coincide the requirements of management reporting of PRINCE2 and committee meeting cycles of the project. Here, the opportunities and potentials that would render better outcomes and results, from the integration of the PRINCE2 and Agile to some extent. Project Plan Stage Plans Work Packages Lessons Learned Reporting The PRINCE2, as opposed to the perception of application to only larger projects, it can be utilized to a better extent, to move towards the Agile, from the inherent similarities of the Waterfall methodology (Reid Amy, 2013). References: Bannink, S, Challenges in the Transition from Waterfall to Scrum A Casestudy at Portbase, University of Twente. Friis, D., Ostergaard, J. Sutherland, J. 2011 Virtual Reality Meets Scrum: How a Senior Team Moved from Management to Leadership. In Proceedings of the 2011 44th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) Guidelines for Managing Projects (fully consistent with PRINCE2)from the UK Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) Hajjdiab, H., Taleb, A. S. Ali, J 2012, An Industrial Case Study for Scrum Adoption. Journal of Software Karhatsu, H., Ikonen, M., Kettunen, P., Fagerholm, F. Abrahamsson, P 2010, Building blocks for self-organizing software development teams a framework model and empirical pilot study. In Proceedings of the 2010 2nd International Conference on Software Technology and Engineering (ICSTE) Mahalakshmi, M. Sundararajan, D. 2013, Traditional SDLC Vs Scrum MethodologyA Comparative Study. International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering Marchenko, A. Abrahamsson, P 2008, Scrum in a Multiproject Environment: An Ethnographically- Inspired Case Study on the Adoption Challenges. In Proceedings of the Agile, 2008. AGILE '08. Conference. OGC (Office of Government Commerce), 2009, Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2(2009 ed.). TSO (The Stationery Office) Overhage, S., Schlauderer, S., Birkmeier, D. Miller, J. 2011, What Makes IT Personnel Adopt Scrum? A Framework of Drivers and Inhibitors to Developer Acceptance. In Proceedings of the 2011 44th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) Reid, Amy, 2013 "Capita acquires majority stake in ITIL and PRINCE2".Association for project management. International project management association Sumrell, M. 2007, From waterfall to agile-how does a QA team transition? In Proceedings of the Agile Conference (AGILE), IEEE Winston, R 1970, Managing the development of large software systems. IEEE WESCON Zen Ex Machine, 2013, PRINCE2 Processes Vs. Agile Development Methodologies, viewed 19 July 2016, https://zenexmachina.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/prince2-processes-vs-agile-development-methodologies/f

Fast Track Couriers Pty Ltd †Get Free Sample Solution Click Now

Question: Describe about the Fast Track Couriers Pty Ltd? Answer: 1. Review Of Scenario Information Introduction The firm named Fast Track Couriers has been in to the market since long and is a courier organization that has always been operating within New South Wales for last 15 years. The primary business of the firm is all related to delivering the medium towards large size parcels across the metropolitan Sydney. Currently the firm wants to expand its market and aims towards two vital goals. They are: Goal A: It is all about implementing a proper PDA otherwise GPS usage in the productivity function upon truck fleet within first quarter of end of the financial year 2012. Goal B: It is about Implementing one person per truck policy utilizing habitual lift gates within first quarter of 2012 financial year Does The Intricacy of The Topic Intimidate You? Tame Your Fear with Unmatched Assignment Help Services from Professional Writers 2.Report On The Change Needs For The Fast Track Analysis of organisational objectives to identify change needs for the Fast Track Couriers: Identify change goals- Goal A actually is essential for the businesstowards ensuring that the firm attains all its operational as well as strategic aims and goals. The firm aims at enhancing its market reach and wants to expand to several locations where it does not exists till date. This will require the firm to develop it technologically so that it becomes capable of giving a tough competition to its competitors. Also technological enhancement will help the firm to attain better market share. Also this will enable the firm to track its delivery persons and reach them on time when needed and in case of emergencies it might prove to be very much beneficial for the firm. Goal B is also essential to the business toand it is needed as the firm company provides data and information regarding the strategies and policies procedures via a documented manual which are actually held in every truck like employee manual. This can be made advanced and employees will feel more developed and enhanced technologically through this system. One person per truck system will also ensure optimum use of the human resource as well as proper usage of all other resources in order to make the production of the firm extra efficient and effectual. The automation of the gates will help the drivers as well as they will no longer be required to lift the gates manually. This will alsomotivate the drivers and makes them feel that the firm even thinks and is concerned about the issues being faced by the drivers (Bowman and Jarrett, 1996). Who: The goal A of the firm which is all about implementation of a GPS system for tracking the trucks in order to enhance delivery time and system will directly impact the truck drivers. Also the other employees of the firm like local delivery staffs, loading and unloading workers and even the middle level managers will be affected by the implementation of this system. How: These changes will be needed to get implemented very carefully and will require a vast lot of concern. If any firm is not liking and not ready to embrace alterations and changes then that firm is going to suffer in the long run. The staffs in attainment process of both the goals will be supplied a proper training which will help them to know and better understand the changes and make it easy for them to adapt such changes. The management department will need some experts for training the staffs who would supply the knowledge of the new technology and also encourage the staffs to use novel technologies with each passing day which will help them as an individual and also the firm on a whole. When: The changes will be implemented by end of July 2011 and the results are to be evaluated in the end of financial year 2012. 4. Change Goals Related To Firms Strategic Goals STRATEGIC GOALS RELATED CHANGE GOALS To grow as well as expand the business in metropolitan locations The goal A which is about implementation of GPS will help the firm to become very fast and extra efficient in its processes of delivery and supplies. This will make the firm attain extra market share and thereby expand its market To deliver small plus medium packages and enhance the market share by 7.5%. The enhancement of market share will require more technologically developed system which will help the firm grow more and more. To develop properly integrated loom towards management of distribution using the technology GPS will integrate the management with the distribution staffs and the employers will be able to locate the trucks. To make and maintain very cohesive as well as well-aggravated workforce The truck drives through automated gate system will be made to feel that the firm cares for what hard labor they do manually, this will motivate them to great extent. 5. Cost Benefit Analysis Change requirement- The change will include many new people that is several novel employees will be recruited which will incur great cost for the firm. The main budget for the implementing of this change strategy will exclude the cost of novel trucks, technology as well as lift gates and even lost productivity commencing truckers is some $25,000. But this will be beneficial as it is expected to grow the market share of the firm by some 7.5% and even the benefit is expected to be some (By and Macleod, 2009) Cost of changes- The main budget for the implementing of this change strategy will exclude the cost of novel trucks, technology as well as lift gates and even lost productivity commencing truckers is some $25,000. Also the change will need inclusion of some 8 novel trucks for enhancing the delivery patter and decreasing the delivery time as well as this will also incur cost for the firm as buying truck will need heavy investment. Yet this will have extra advantage on the firm. Small distribution outlets will be also be positioned at the Maitland and Goulburn, Nowra as well as Bathurst and also each of them will be manned by about two staffs within next 8 months. This will also include relocation of some staffs or recruitment of new employees which again would incur cost for the firm. Even building of new hubs will bring in expense for the organization. But through all this Fast Track will complete some 20% of the deliveries towards the regional locations within next 3 years, this wil l help the firm to attain what it has planned and thereby the whole expense will be regained back by the firm. Risks- There is several risks related with the firms investments as well as changes. They are: 1. In past it was seen that the employees specially truck drivers have not accepted changes within the firm and has worked as hurdle for the implementation of the change. This might be a case in this situation as well.2. There is very vast investment and inclusion of money in the process of implementation of this change, if change does not works properly and is a failure then the firm will have to suffer a vast loss of both financial as well as human resources.3. Some old employees who might not accept the change may tend to get de-motivated and also might leave the firm Possible benefits of every change- Implementation of GPS might enhance the firm technologically The GPS system will help the firm to track its staffs all time and handle them more appropriately. The implementation of the eight new trucks will bring in extra efficiency for the firm and will enhance its delivery process. Implementation of a system of one person per truck will make many other staffs feel free as the gate system will be made automated Drivers might feel relaxed as they will not have to load and unload the parcels manually through automation of the gate Employees might feel extra happy and motivated. Assessment of benefits all against costs plus risks- CHANGE COST RISK BENEFIT Implementation of GPS system Drivers might feel that management is interfering in the process they deliver the consignments The repetition of past results which was about non-acceptance of the changes by the staffs Technologically advancement of the firm The firm might become extra competent in the market The firm might properly recognize the outstanding performance of the staffs Bringing in new trucks Need new trucks will incur cost to some 5000000 Fast Track will be able to complete some 20% of the deliveries to all the regional locations within next 3 years. The firm will be able to enhance its delivery capability Better market reach One driver per truck change Wages and salaries that will be paid to all new recruitments Automation of gate will incur cost for technology implementation Drivers might not accept the change totally Drivers might feel unhappy with the decision Most well-organized use of the resources to wrap market needs and requirements Reduced requirement for hiring external truckers Reduced probability of the lifting injury Source: (Carnall, 2001) Categorized changes- 1. Structural:The firm is attempting and finding it essential to redesign structure of firm due to some influences from the external environment. These structural changes will involve hierarchy of the authority, goals and also structural characteristics as well as administrative procedures, plus the management scheme. Almost all of the changes in the firm is the way in which First flight will manage the falls under category of the structural change. 2. Process oriented:The firm needs to reengineer the processes to attain optimum workflow as well as productivity. This Process tilting change will be related to the firms delivery process otherwise the way in which the firm will assemble all its procedures and products otherwise services (Tidd, Bessant and Pavitt, 2001). 3. People oriented:This form of change will alters attitudes and behaviours, skills, as well as performances of the drivers by training them and encouraging them towards change acceptance. Feasible- Yes the change will be highly feasible for the firm. Though it would incur much cost for the organization yet will intend to bring in vast advantages and great benefits for the firm by ensuring that it attains all its strategic as well as operational goals through enabling the staffs and changing the whole process of the working of the firm. 6. Risk Analysis of Change Requirements: CHANGE RISK BARRIER GPS implementation The employee indulged in the process might prove to be a wrong selection Technological change is most of the time not accepted totally by the old employees Training will not be completed in an evening and will require much more time and money Will need recruitment of novel experts of software as well as hardware field and finding such professional will not be an easy task The staffs might reject the change as they have done in the past Drivers and other staffs might feel they are being tracked and firm is not happy with them. Gate automation The drivers might feel they are being underestimated Incur vast cost The expert might feel difficult in implementation of this change One driver per truck The drivers who will be left surplus might become a burden on the firm Firm might lose some staffs as well It will not be an easy task to convince the staffs It will need new drivers and also new trucks Mitigation strategy- The risk mitigation strategy and planning will be a procedure of developing all the options as well as actions towards enhancing the opportunities plus reducing threats towards attainment of aims and objectives. Implementation of the risk mitigation will help the firm to execute risk mitigation activities. Risk mitigation will include tracking of the identified risks and also identification of novel risks, as well as evaluation of the risk process and even effectiveness all through the change process (Carter, 1994). Handling of risk mitigation options will include: Assuming plus accepting:Acknowledgement of the existence of the risk, as well as taking of a purposeful decision towards accepting the change without engaging within the special efforts towards controlling it will be done. The approval of the project otherwise program leaders will also be needed. Avoidance:Here the program requirements will be adjusted otherwise constraints towards elimination otherwise reduction of risk will be done. Such adjustment will be accommodated by the change within funding, schedule, otherwise technical needs. Controlling: Here actions will be implemented to minimize impact otherwise likelihood of risk. Transfer:In this plan accountabilities will be reassigned to the staffs. Watch plus Monitor:Now the change will be monitored. 7. change management plan: Change in Fast track is vital part of the organization. Moreover, several managers manage the change poorly in the firm and do not accept it wholeheartedly causing the distrust otherwise confusion for the employees as well as clients. There are several steps to this plan: a) Determine what, precisely, needs to get changed- As per the report and the strategic as well as operational aims and goals of the firm the firm needs to attain better market share in the coming future and also wants to develop its reach and aims to target new customers at metropolitans. This that is working well is to be identified and what does not requires any change also needs to be kept constant. The original problem for the Fast track is less efficient use of resources and not good market reach; also the staffs are rigid and not habituated to change (Readiness for Change, 2010).b) Brainstorm probable solutions- Here the firm needs to evaluate and analyse all possible solution to the problem. As per Fast track the firm has found two major solutions that are indulgement of GPS system and automation of the gate for enhancing the effectiveness of the firm as well as the drivers and better reach the customers. Here the firm will consider wide variety of the options so that the fir m can make proper logical decision regarding the ways to move further. For this the firm will browse websites and blogs, as well as books regarding problems the firm is facing. c) Decide the way to move further- Though people in the firm had their own voice about change to happen, the managers need to actually set direction for rest of the firm. This will need a proper time period to open, and conduct honest discussion all amongst managers about things to be changed and things not to be changed.d) Write the action steps. Then will be task to decide the way in which Fast track will address the changes plus then write it like part of the change management strategy. Here the decisions about communication of the change to all the level of employees will be done.e) Set the time frame. The actual speed of the change will be decided in this phase and decisions about the way in which change will be implemented effectively, plus the way in which people would respond to the change needs to an alysed and decided properly. Here managers need to move slowly and carefully. Moving too fast can also confuse the staff members and also make them unsettled. And then this change management strategy is to be written to reflect the appropriate speed for the firm (Connor and Lake, 1988).f) Reflect upon the way in which these changes would affect different sets of staffs- Here managers often search for ways in which the change would affect entire firm, failing towards considering the way in which each department would need to deal with change. In this case drivers, middle level managers and other staffs will all have different perspective about the change and all of them need to be handled differently.g) Identify obstacles- Then the firm ahs to identify obstacle in this case like non-acceptance of the change by staffs, need for money, budgetary obstacle and recruitment of new employees incurring vast cost for the firm as well as building of hubs in many locations and even brining inn of novel trucks are many things which could get in way of change being implemented efficiently. h) Put plan upon paper. Once the firm gets a essential change management strategy figured out, the same is to be written down and properly documented. Fat track will use all the format works that are best for the firm like approval from the manager and many more. 8. components in the plan: a. Stakeholder management:i. Main stakeholders plus roles- Stakeholders of the change will be the firms management department i.e. all the top level managers Because the change is in the whole structure of the firm and also in the functioning system.ii. Commitment level- The level of commitment needs to be very high as this change indulges vast amount of risk. It has been seen that employees of the firm have not accepted any change easily in the past thus the management needs to be very careful about this new change going to take place.iii. Issues- For attainment of these two goals the firm needs to implement a proper change in the system of the organization and also will affect the drivers and many other stakeholders. Achievement of such goals must increase the net profit within next financial year somewhat by $200,000 as of increased effectiveness and increased trade. The changes that will be implemented needs to be handled carefully and managed efficiently for attainment of better results. The actual change management plan and strategy, once accepted by General Manager, needs to be implemented without delay. Any delay might result in loss for the firm as the investment and budgets will already be allocated and delay might decrease the value of the money for the firm.b. Communication plan:i. Audience- The target audience will be drivers and also middle level as well as top level managersii. Message- The message will be conveyed regarding the change of system and gate automations as well as indulgence of GPS system in the process so hat tracking would be made more easyiii. When communication will take place- The communication will take place in a meeting organized by the firm in which all the stakeholders will be included.iv. How to communicated- The message will be communicated face to face and personally to the staff member. v. Person responsible- A leader for each group will be co=hosen and they will communicate the message to their groups (Gill, 2002). 9. Measuring success- Later the employees will be observed and also the profit of the firmin the year 2012 will give detail about the effectiveness and success of the change that took place in the firm How to report success: i. format of reports- The format of the report will be a company yearly magazine where the firm will write all its profits that will be attained after implementation of the planii. When- Yearlyiii. A copy of the report will be submitted to the management and board of directors as well. 10. List of resources a) Expert to handle technological changesb) Training rooms and proper arrangement to influence the staffs towards changec) Good motivation program for the staffsd) Proper incentives for good performing staffse) New systems and computers to handle things technologically (Kavanagh, 1994) Review Of Virtual Workplace Information Intended For Fast Track Firm- The firm is capable of communicating properly with the staffs via email for the employees in the head office and through a printed newsletter for the drivers. The firm also provides information related to policies and procedures via documented manuals which are also held in every truck like a staffs manual. All the trucks are actually fitted with the GPS system towards assisting the drivers with the navigation towards every pick up plus drop. Trucks also are assigned proper PDA which provides the drivers with details of every pick up as well as drop off plus records the time when the job starts plus finishes. Employees of the Head office work very intimately together as well as are extremely cohesive as well as motivated team. They also are very positive regarding organizations direction as well as respond properly to any change. Drivers have in the past reacted unenthusiastically to any change. Change implemented within past has always met with confrontations and was thus difficult to get implement. The firm Couriers currently has two drivers in each truck to make sure that the drivers are capable of handling loading and unloading task of heavy parcels. The plan moving is to remove need for maintaining two drivers in every truck through installing the automatic lift gate. These surplus drivers will be indulged in driving new trucks which will be bought to enable firm to extend services to the regional locations. Drivers are presently happy with work environment. The firm typically leaves drivers alone now management is trying to change the system. Results Of Survey The results of the survey showed that managerial staffs like the HR managers and other top and middle level managers were very happy with the change taking place. They felt that with technological advancement and enhancement of the firm their workload will come down to some extent and things could be handled more easily. But lower level staffs like drivers and other line mans were not seen very happy. Even the delivery staffs were unhappy with the change. Better means could have been used to communicate like the managers were informed through mails whereas a meeting could have been called up by the management team and staffs of middle level could have been given more details information regarding the decided change which could have made them feel extra happy and contended. Also c particular leader could have been allotted for some groups of staffs and the information could have been made easier and well understandable. Revised Communications Plan Analysis of old plan Evaluation of the plan Finding the drawbacks Filling the gaps left Altering the plan Making face to face communication more important Using power point presentation to communicate the changes to the staffs and explanation of the same. Needs Of Stakeholders All the stakeholders of the firm will need- 1. Proper understanding of the need for change and requirement for its proper implementation as well as management2. Stakeholders will need timely information about the change3. All the details be its major or minor related to the change which is going to take place4. All the financial details and budgets allocated as well as a total risk and return analysis and also the details brought in through the survey (Graetz and Smith, 2010) Creative Technique Maintaining transparency among the management and the other working staffs Development of better employee employer relation Being friendly with all the staffs Communicating face to face so that two way communications can be developed. Plan To Communicate With Truck Driver Analysing all the drivers that will be targeted Bring out most problematic ones Make a proper plan and call up the trade union Negotiate with the union leader Try to explain the facts and details of the change and the benefits the firm as well as the drivers will attain through the change Making of a proper power point presentation that would pictorially represent the facts and details Indulging proper motivators and counsellors Arranging for a meeting with the drivers Conducting the meeting Conclusion: Any change management task is not easy and includes several step and procedures. Its vital for nay firm to move on a new path and that when it needs to handle so many staffs at same time. Thus the firm needs to concentrate a lot on the facts and details regarding the change management and also indulge theories related to the issue for attainment of better results. In a nutshell here are all the facts related to the case that happened in the Fast track courier firm and the way in which the firm managed to handle the issues and implement as well as communicate the change effectively. References Bowman, C. and Jarrett, M. (1996). Management in practice. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. By, R. and Macleod, C. (2009). Managing organizational change in public services. London: Routledge. Carnall, C. (2001). The Change Monster. Journal of Change Management, 2(1), pp.91-91. Carter, W. (1994). Managing organizational change. New York: McGraw-Hill. Connor, P. and Lake, L. (1988). Managing organizational change. New York: Praeger. Gill, R. (2002). Change management--or change leadership?. Journal of Change Management, 3(4), pp.307-318. Graetz, F. and Smith, A. (2010). Managing Organizational Change: A Philosophies of Change Approach. Journal of Change Management, 10(2), pp.135-154. Kavanagh, M. (1994). Change, Change, Change. Group Organization Management, 19(2), pp.139-140. Readiness for Change. (2010). Journal of Change Management, 10(4), pp.445-447. Tidd, J., Bessant, J. and Pavitt, K. (2001). Managing innovation. Chichester [England]: John Wiley.

Mergers, Acquisition, and International Strategies in McDonald and Carls Jr. Corporations

Introduction A merger is a business expansion strategy in which two or more companies combine to form one new company. On the other hand, an acquisition is a business venture in which one company purchases another one without formation of a new company. In general, a merger and an acquisition entail consolidation of two or more corporations to form a competitive joint synergy.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Mergers, Acquisition, and International Strategies in McDonald and Carl’s Jr. Corporations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In this paper, McDonald and Carl’s Jr. Corporations have been chosen to illustrate the effectiveness of mergers and acquisitions as business expansion strategies. McDonald’s Corporation is one of the leading fast food restaurants that have gained global competitive advantage through acquisitions. Unlike McDonald’s, the competitive advantage of Carl’s Jr . is product differentiation and effective customer service. Carl’s Jr. operates mainly in the United States of America. McDonald’s Corporation McDonald’s is the largest chain restaurant in fast food industry. The company started in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant in California. Its main products are hamburgers, breakfast items, cheeseburgers, and soft drinks. Today, McDonald’s Corporation serves over 65 million customers on a daily basis in 120 countries around the world. Its main expansion strategies are competitive customer service, high quality products at affordable prices, product differentiation, effective marketing and acquisitions (Mujtaba Patel, 2007). During its initial business expansion phase, McDonald’s Corporation employed high quality customer service and product differentiation as strategic marketing tools to gain a strong market presence in the United States of America. By mid 1980s, McDonald’s was among the biggest fast foo d restaurants in the United States of America. This strong market presence prompted the need to explore overseas markets. A stronger domestic market presence was essential in propelling the fast food leader to the international scene. Acquisitions were among the effective strategies that would ensure quick expansion of McDonald’s Corporation. Acquisitions were also thought to be strategic management tools that would help McDonald’s overcome the challenges of new markets. McDonald’s Corporation hoped to use the already established market presence and successful business models of existing companies in new market environments (Mujtaba Patel, 2007). In response to these needs, it acquired Donatos Pizza, Chipotle Mexican grill, and Boston Market between 1998 and 2000 (Derdak Pederson, 2004). The above acquisitions made McDonald’s the biggest chain of fast food restaurants in North and South America. The acquisitions were strategic because they increased the product line and domestic market presence of McDonald’s Corporation. Donatos pizza is based in Columbus, Ohio with over 200 outlets in the United States of America. Its acquisition made McDonald’s Corporation the dominant fast food restaurant in Ohio with an entry in the pizza industry.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Chipotle Mexican grill had over 1200 restaurants in 43 states and countries in the world. Among its market strongholds are Canada, England France, and Russia. It specializes in tacos and burritos as the main products. Its acquisition by McDonald’s in 1998 made the latter the biggest fast food restaurant in Canada and England (MarketLine, 2012). It also extended McDonald’s product line by inclusion of tacos and burritos. By the year 2000, McDonald’s Corporation was the leading fast food restaurant in Washington, DC, Ontario, T oronto, Quebec, and Paris thanks to the acquisition of Chipotle Mexican grill. McDonald’s Corporation acquired Boston Market (Formerly known as Boston Chicken) in 2000. Boston Market had 550 restaurants in 28 states in the United States of America, Australia, Sydney, and Canada prior to its acquisition by McDonald’s Corporation. Thus, the acquisition of Boston Market by McDonald’s Corporation expanded the market presence of the latter in Australia and Canada. McDonald’s was able to use human resources and the success story of Boston Market to enter into new market environments without incurring establishment and administrative costs. In general, the decision to acquire the above three fast food restaurants by McDonald’s Corporation was strategic. This is because it enhanced quick expansion into international markets without incurring establishment and administrative costs. According to MarketLine report (2012), many organizations fail to establish themselves in new markets because of the inability to adapt to new consumer cultures. Thus, acquisitions are effective tools of overcoming cultural shocks in new market environments. Carl’s Jr. Corporation Carl Karcher and Margaret Karcher started Carl’s Jr. as a hamburger restaurant in California in 1941. It was initially called Carl’s Drive-In barbecue until 1956. The stiff market competition of the 1990s made it difficult for Carl’s Jr. Corporation to establish itself in Texas and Arizona. Its expansion has been slow due to its management strategies that discourage mergers and acquisitions. The major challenge to its expansion is the competition from McDonald’s Corporation, which has the largest market presence in the United States of America. Currently, Carl’s Jr. is planning to expand its operation into international markets. The first proposed destinations are Singapore, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, and Brazil among others. The most effective and profitable company for a merger or acquisition for Carl’s Jr. is Starbucks Corporation. This is because of its wide international market presence that makes it the third biggest chain restaurant in the world. Starbucks Corporation is the leading coffeehouse restaurant in the world with over 20300 stores in 61 countries. Its strongest international market presence is Japan, Canada, China, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Taiwan, Philippines, and India among others.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Mergers, Acquisition, and International Strategies in McDonald and Carl’s Jr. Corporations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Besides hot and cold coffee, Starbucks Corporation also deals in snacks, sweet pastries, salads, and cold sandwiches. The joint venture of Carl’s Jr. and Starbucks Corporations will be profitable for the former because of expanded product line. Carl’s J r. will also benefit from the international market locations of Starbucks without incurring extra administrative and establishment costs. The business and corporate strategies of McDonald’s Corporation The mission of McDonald’s Corporation is to be the customers’ favorite place to eat in the world. The business strategy for McDonald’s is market led, and customer focused innovations. To achieve this, McDonald’s undertakes extensive market research to establish its customers and their needs. It then designs its products to meet the needs of all age groups. The prices are also varied to meet the needs of people from all social classes. The wide market presence ensures that McDonald’s is the restaurant of choice for majority customers in the world (Mujtaba Patel, 2007). McDonald’s corporate strategy is business diversification and international expansion. McDonald’s employs related diversification by proving various meals that mee t all customer needs. Recommendations for improvement The most effective recommendation for McDonald’s Corporation is vertical integration. This is a cost cutting strategy, which is achieved by using an organization’s own inputs and distribution channels. McDonald’s Corporation should produce its own inputs and develop its own transportation and distribution systems. This will reduce overall costs and increase the company’s profitability. Proposed business and corporate strategies for Carl’s Jr. The most effective business level strategy for Carl’s Jr. is high quality product branding. Effective branding of Carl’s Jr. Corporation and its products will attract the attention of new customers in new market environments (Gussoni Mangani, 2012). This will offer it a competitive advantage against other market players. For corporate level strategy, the most effective recommendation for Carl’s Jr. is international expansion. This will provide the company with a global market for its products (Stoy Kytzia, 2004). References Derdak, T. Pederson, J.P. (2004). â€Å"McDonald’s†. In Derdak, T Pederson, J.(Eds.), International directory of company histories. 3rd Ed (pp. 108-109). New York: St.James Press. Gussoni, M. Mangani, A. (2012). Corporate branding strategies in mergers and acquisitions. Journal of Brand Management, 19, 772-787.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More MarketLine (formerly Datamonitor), Financial Deals. (2012). McDonald’s Corporation – Mergers Acquisitions (MA), Partnerships Alliances and Investment Report Nov 27, 2012. New York, NY: Alacra Store. Mujtaba, G.B. Patel, B. (2007). McDonald’s Success Strategy And Global Expansion Through Customer And Brand Loyalty. Journal of Business Case Studies, 3(3), 55-66. Stoy, C. Kytzia, S. (2004). Strategies of corporate real estate management: Strategic dimensions and participants. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 6(4), 353-370. This essay on Mergers, Acquisition, and International Strategies in McDonald and Carl’s Jr. Corporations was written and submitted by user Wesley S. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

James McPherson - Civil War James McPherson - Army of the Tennessee

James McPherson - Civil War James McPherson - Army of the Tennessee James McPherson - Early Life Career: James Birdseye McPherson was born November 14, 1828, near Clyde, Ohio. The son of William and Cynthia Russell McPherson, he worked on the familys farm and aided with his fathers blacksmith business. When he was thirteen, McPhersons father, who had a history of mental illness, became unable to work. To aid the family, McPherson took a job at a store run by Robert Smith. An avid reader, he worked in this position until he was nineteen when Smith aided him in obtaining an appointment to West Point. Rather than immediately enroll, he deferred his acceptance and took two years of preparatory study at Norwalk Academy. Arriving at West Point in 1849, he was in the same class as Philip Sheridan, John M. Schofield, and John Bell Hood. A gifted student, he graduated first (of 52) in the Class of 1853. Though posted to the Army Corps of Engineers, McPherson was retained at West Point for a year to serve as an Assistant Professor of Practical Engineering. Completing his teaching assignment, he next was ordered to aid in improving New York Harbor. In 1857, McPherson was transferred to San Francisco to work on improving fortifications in the area. James McPherson - The Civil War Begins: With the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and the beginning of the secession crisis, McPherson declared that he wished to fight for the Union. As the Civil War began in April 1861, he realized that his career would be best served if he returned east. Asking for a transfer, he received orders to report to Boston for service in the Corps of Engineers as a captain. Though an improvement, McPherson desired to serve with one of the Union armies then forming. In November 1861, he wrote to Major General Henry W. Halleck and requested a position on his staff. James McPherson - Joining with Grant: This was accepted and McPherson traveled to St. Louis. Arriving, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and assigned as chief engineer on the staff of Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant. In February 1862, McPherson was with Grants army when it captured Fort Henry and played a key role in deploying Union forces for the Battle of Fort Donelson a few days later. McPherson again saw action in April during the Union victory at the Battle of Shiloh. Impressed with the young officer, Grant had him promoted to brigadier general in May. James McPherson - Rising through the Ranks: That fall saw McPherson in command of an infantry brigade during the campaigns around Corinth and Iuka, MS. Again performing well, he received a promotion to major general on October 8, 1862. In December, Grants Army of the Tennessee was reorganized and McPherson received command of XVII Corps. In this role, McPherson played a key part in Grants campaign against Vicksburg, MS in late 1862 and 1863. In the course of the campaign, he took part in victories at Raymond (May 12), Jackson (May 14), Champion Hill (May 16), and the Siege of Vicksburg (May 18-July 4). James McPherson - Leading the Army of the Tennessee: In the months following the victory at Vicksburg, McPherson remained in Mississippi conducting minor operations against the Confederates in the area. As a result, he did not travel with Grant and part of the Army of the Tennessee to relieve the siege of Chattanooga. In March 1864, Grant was ordered east to take overall command of Union forces. In reorganizing the armies in the West, he directed that McPherson be made commander of the Army of the Tennessee on March 12, replacing Major General William T. Sherman, who was promoted to command all Union forces in region. Commencing his campaign against Atlanta in early May, Sherman moved through northern Georgia with three armies. While McPherson advanced on the right, Major General George H. Thomas Army of the Cumberland formed the center while Major General John Schofields Army of the Ohio marched on the Union left. Confronted by General Joseph E. Johnstons strong position at Rocky Face Ridge and Dalton, Sherman dispatched McPherson south to Snake Creek Gap. From this undefended gap, he was to strike at Resaca and sever the railroad which was supplying the Confederates to the north. Emerging from the gap on May 9, McPherson became concerned that Johnston would move south and cut him off. As a result, he withdrew to the gap and failed to take Resaca despite the fact the city was lightly defended. Moving south with the bulk of Union forces, Sherman engaged Johnston at the Battle of Resaca on May 13-15. Largely inconclusive, Sherman later blamed McPhersons cautiousness on May 9 for preventing a great Union victory. As Sherman maneuvered Johnston south, McPhersons army took part in the defeat at Kennesaw Mountain on June 27. James McPherson - Final Actions: Despite the defeat, Sherman continued to press south and crossed the Chattahoochee River. Nearing Atlanta, he intended to attack the city from three directions with Thomas pushing in from the north, Schofield from the northeast, and McPherson from the east. Confederate forces, now led by McPhersons classmate Hood, attacked Thomas at Peachtree Creek on July 20 and were turned back. Two days later, Hood planned to attack McPherson as the Army of the Tennessee approached from the east. Learning that McPhersons left flank was exposed, he directed Lieutenant General William Hardees corps and cavalry to attack. Meeting with Sherman, McPherson heard the sound of fighting as Major General Grenville Dodges XVI Corps worked to halt this Confederate assault in what became known as the Battle of Atlanta. Riding to the sound of the guns, with only his orderly as an escort, he entered a gap between Dodges XVI Corps and Major General Francis P. Blairs XVII Corps. As he advanced, a line of Confederate skirmishers appeared and ordered him to halt. Refusing, McPherson turned his horse and tried to flee. Opening fire, the Confederates killed him as he tried to escape. Beloved by his men, McPhersons death was mourned by leaders on both sides. Sherman, who considered McPherson a friend, wept upon learning of his death and later wrote his wife, McPhersons death was a great loss to me. I depended much on him. Upon learning of the death of his protà ©gà ©, Grant was also moved to tears. Across the lines, McPhersons classmate Hood penned, I will record the death of my classmate and boyhood friend, General James B. McPherson, the announcement of which caused me sincere sorrow...the attachment formed in early youth was strengthened by my admiration and gratitude for his conduct toward our people in the vicinity of Vicksburg. The second highest ranking Union officer killed in combat (behind Major General John Sedgwick), McPhersons body was recovered and returned to Ohio for burial. Selected Sources Sherman Loses his Right Bower by Wayne BengstonCivil War Trust: James McPherson Major General James B. McPherson

I dont know chose the one that fits the story Essay

I dont know chose the one that fits the story - Essay Example Many examples are given in this paper of how Gates has used monologue as an exposition device to convey his audience his intended message. The paper concludes with a concise summary of the main points in the paper. To begin with, Henry Gates begins this memoir by drawing a vivid picture of how their kitchen looked like when he was young, Gates says, â€Å" we always has a gas stove in the kitchen, in our house in Piedmont, West Virginia where I grew up. Never electric, though electric became fashionable in Piedmont in the sixties, like using Crest toothpaste rather than Colgate, or watching Huntley or Brinkley†. In this quotation, Gates gives a perfect exposition of his family’s kitchen and lifestyle when he was young and growing u. This exposition is meant to connect his audience with his childhood lifestyle. The use of monologue as an expository device helps Gates to connect his audience with his childhood lifestyle in a very clear way. In explaining his humble background, Gates says the following, â€Å"Mama would wash her hair over the sink, towel wrapped over her shoulders, wearing just her slip and her white bra. (We had no shower- just a galvanised tub that we stored in the kitchen†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . This quotation expresses the humble background of Gates, the fact that Gates’ family did not have shower, but just a galvanised tub that they stored in the kitchen means that Gates’ family was poor. Gates uses monologue to make this exposition about her poor and humble background. Through the use of monologue as a literary device in this exposition, Gates connects his audience with his humble background. This exposition will help his audience to better understand the main message that he wants to express in this memoir. It is good to note that Gates’ intended audience in this memoir is the Black Americans who were constantly trying to emulate the white people’s standard of beauty. Through the exposition of his humble background, Gates intended audience will be

Critically examine the relationship between war and underdevelopment Coursework

Critically examine the relationship between war and underdevelopment - Coursework Example War has been characterised as an activity involving methodical physical violence and slaughter carried out for political purposes -- to achieve or prolong political power. Within this wide-ranging intention, specific groups also chase economic objectives which can become justifications for prolonging conflict beyond that point when political objectives appear viable (Stewart and Fitzgerald, 2000: 4). Likewise, war must be perceived as an authentic, deliberate and pervasive armed conflict between political communities. Plain awareness for war to erupt or existence of a collective contempt between political communities does not make conclusive indicators of war. Conflict of arms must be real and not merely suppressed; likewise, it must be both deliberate and extensive -- unrepeated collisions between military scoundrels cannot be considered acts of war. Essentially, the inception of war necessitates a premeditated commitment from parties involved considerable recruitment of men. Finally, there is no actual war until the â€Å"fighters intend to go to war† and until they execute such with a heavy quantum of force (Walzer, 1996: 95-112). Is war always regressive? Since war always has a high economic cost attached to it, is there a prudent and impartial manner to instigate such activity or is it all desperate, barbaric massacres? Does war have a role in the development of a nation? More importantly, is there a direct relationship between armed conflict and a nation’s economic underdevelopment? In recent decades, the world has witnessed the surfacing and intensification of an extensive array of fierce conflicts. Regardless of the motivations, brutal clashes are, more often than not, socially and culturally catastrophic, economically shattering and politically disastrous. In many cases, conflict is triggered by lack of development, whether economic, political, social or a

Reading Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reading Analysis - Essay Example The author has listed the central role that parliments attain in the establishment and acknowledged familiarity; parliament receives as being the highest decision-making body of the nation. The author explains that initially it was the government sector who worked on the economic’s transformation but the changing government and political parties have enabled bureaucracy to manage a major portion of economics. Politicans of the state favor the development of the private companies that will, in turn, support their political activities. Author has created a very convincing statement for the dominance of bureaucracy by implying the facts like control and regulation; Amakudari and administrative guidance in the favor of bureaucracy dominace. The author further argues that national bureaucracy control and regulates the functioing and production of business community and strictly holds its authority over private-sector companies in Japan. The dominance of bureaucrats over private business sector is well-acknowledged. To support this argument regarding bureaucracy hold on private sector business world, the author has provided some details of the rights that bereaucracy have, like selection of intelligent graduates from university for their management abilities and incorporating them in government sector. By controlling the official’s appointment in government sector, bureaucracy is often believed as real power holder of the nation by many people. Government sector is capable to hold its control over the developme nt of private business sector by managing the activities of production, sales and distribution; but the insight regarding the dominance of bureaucracy over private sectors appears quite appealing. The author adds further weight to the perception of bureaucracy control by exposing the dependency of muncipal governments on the subsidies from natural government as they have restricted rights for

Effects of Health Insurance on Small Businesses in the US

Effects of Health Insurance on Small Businesses in the US 1. Problem statement With over half of the American workforce employed by small businesses, these organizations are the backbone of the American economy. Small businesses are the innovators and the main employers in the American work force; they play a vital role in the nations economic recovery. But with the increasing government regulations over health insurance affecting their revenues, small business owners are facing peril in their near future which will affect not only the owners but the work force as a whole. 2. Description: How Small Businesses are being affected by Health Insurance? 2.1. Increased Health Insurance Charges Increased government regulations in terms of health insurance may cause increased financial strain on owners while decreasing their revenues dramatically. Many employers have a difficult time purchasing coverage for their workers because they have fewer employees, so the cost of health insurance per worker is higher than that for a corporation who has a larger employee pool. Insurance costs for small businesses have increased 129 percent since 2000. Small businesses with less than five hundred employees create more than two-thirds of the jobs in the American economy, but an excessive amount of their revenue is going toward inflated health insurance premiums, and not where it should be directed growth and expansion, which would lead to the employment of more individuals(Landrieu, 2009). 2.2. Payments of Small Businesses Employees Small business employees pay an average of 18% more in premiums than those in large firms for the same benefits. Small businesses and their employees are frequently charged more for the same health insurance coverage than large employers and their workers. Due to this the employers of the small businesses have to face greater difficulty in providing the facilities to their employees. 2.3. Health Insurance State Laws In many states, if business owners purchase insurance for themselves they must cover their employees as well. This leaves many sole-proprietors unable to afford the luxury of health insurance. They desire to cover their workers, but unlike bigger corporations and firms, they are unable to deduct the expense on their tax return. 2.4. Higher Administrative Costs The prices that small and large firms paid for health insurance and the value of the products purchased are similar. However, insurers of small health plans have higher administrative expenses than those who insure larger companies. Also, operating expenses are all higher for small health plans too. Small firms received slightly less generous health insurance benefits, according to calculations of actual value. For these reasons, small businesses offer health care coverage to a lower percentage of their work force and are a different type of customer than large firms. 3. Solution Improving access to credit by small businesses is a crucial step in supporting economic recovery and job creation. Since the financial crisis began, small businesses have faced a perfect storm: the pulling back of lending by banks, deterioration in the value of real estate that they often rely on for collateral and weakened sales. The following proposals can help solve our problem to an extent. 3.1. The Proposed Solutions Small business owners can benefit from a new proposal that would allow their workers to be pooled with the employees of other smaller businesses (Anonymous, 2009). The proposed solutions are Allow Insurance To Be Sold to Associations. There are some 16,000 associations in the United States, and six million people are already insured through such organizations as the National Association for the Self-Employed. Association health plans allow small business owners to pool resources, negotiate with insurers and purchase insurance plans for members. However, the existence of 50 sets of state regulations is a barrier to low-cost health insurance. If small firms could buy health insurance with uniform federal regulations, they could enjoy the same lower administrative costs and greater bargaining power as large firms. Let Businesses Purchase Health Insurance from Insurers in Other States. Protection from interstate competition allows politicians to impose expensive mandates and costly regulations. Allowing businesses to purchase coverage across state lines would create more competitive insurance markets. Interstate compe ­tition would give more people access to affordable insurance. Let Businesses Contribute to the Cost of Employee-Owned Insurance. Health insurance in the United States is largely tied to employment because employer contributions for health insurance are tax deductible business expenses and do not count as taxable income for employees. Premiums for employer-paid health benefits avoid all income taxes and the (FICA) payroll tax. By contrast, employees of small businesses without employer-provided health benefits get no tax relief. Small business employers should be able to contribute to the cost of health policies purchased by their employees. Their workers would get portability, but at premiums closer to the cost of group insurance. As a result, insurance coverage would follow people from job to job and workers would not face a disruption in benefits when their employment changes. 3.2. Benefits of the proposed solutions The proposed solutions can help the Small businesses in the following ways The insurance company would then be able to offer them lower rates; more employees would be pooled together, thus lessening the cost per person. Loosening government regulations and offering health insurance relief to sole-proprietors would bring about other benefits. The gained revenue could then be used to train employees properly, incorporate the tools necessary for their work to be completed in a timely and effective manner, and hire qualified, motivated employees with a strong work ethic. Their businesses would then be able to grow, thus decreasing the unemployment rate. This in turn would stimulate the economy and increase the betterment of life not only for the employees in question but for Americans as a whole. As the businesses will grow, this will develop greater struggle amongst the businesses and as a result will help in increasing the Competition. Competitive market always results in betterment. Small business owners and their workers will be focused Small business owners will be passionate about their businesses. Innovative small businesses are prize targets of larger corporations that often find it more cost-effective to acquire than to innovate on their own. By decreasing the pressure on these businesses, they will able to make more innovations. Small businesses know that their livelihood is based on their customers. Small is great for customers. Therefore, by reducing stress of these businesses, they will be able to provide better customer care. This topic has been researched using a number of different sources. For instance, ProQuest provides an abundance of information regarding the nature of the health insurance regulations that are being imposed on sole-proprietors. Two of the cited articles addressed the issue specifically from the sole-proprietors point of view which helps to shed some light on the issue on hand as to how these owners are directly affected by stringent health insurance regulations, what impact it has on both them and their employees and what would be the best course of action to take to make this work for everyone involved (Landrieu, 2009). The other article chosen was written in an objective point of view, stating the struggling nature of sole-proprietors, how they long to provide adequate health insurance for their workers but cannot manage to do so since it is not tax deductible. Some pertinent facts and statistics are also utilized in all of the cited publications in order to explore the effects of this issue and evaluate their implications. These articles do provide some quantitative statistical grounding, based on which some conclusions can be drawn. At the same time, most of the research on hand will be qualitative. In order to curb the limitations inherent to using the qualitative method exclusively, we must utilize the quantitative part as much as these resources allow. While the resources available wont solve the problem once and for all, the closeness of all the writers to both the insurance sector and to the small businesses promises to provide some valuable insight on the issue, from a both qualitative and quantitative approach. 4. Conclusion   People should be able to purchase, with pretax dollars, health plans that are portable from one job to the next, just as group plans do. Employers should be able to help pay the premiums on those individual plans. To avoid costly state mandates, small businesses should be allowed to purchase plans similar to those purchased by large companies that self-insure. If a solution for this problem of health insurance effecting small firms is solved, small businesses could create a national marketplace where insurance companies and care providers compete for individuals on price and quality. References Mary Landrieu. (2009,October9). Health Costs Are Crushing Small Businesses.Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition), p.A.17. Retrieved October 21, 2009, from ProQuest National Newspapers Expanded. (Document ID:1875612881). Michael Weiser. (2009,October9). Insurance woes of a small business.Chicago Tribune, p.23. Retrieved October 21, 2009, from ProQuest National Newspapers Expanded. (Document ID:1875818001). NCHC | Facts About Healthcare Health Insurance Costs. (n.d.). Retrieved October 21, 2009, from http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml Small businesses now have a difficult time.(2009,September8). The Washington Post, p.A.9. Retrieved October 21, 2009, from ProQuest National Newspapers Expanded. (Document ID:1854901361), Small Employers Struggle to Offer Health Insurance BusinessWeek. (n.d.). Retrieved October 21, 2009, from http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/oct2009/sb2009106_487565.htm Small Business HealthInsurance Retrieved October 21, 2009, from http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba642 Network services and consulting corporation Retrieved October 21, 2009, from http://www.enetsc.com/doctorebiz.htm

education in society :: essays research papers fc

With so many problems surrounding public schooling, it is difficult to understand where public school is headed. In the article â€Å"Taking Sides,† William J. Bennett and Forrest J. Troy tackle the problem from two opposing views. Both sides present a compelling case, while at the same time helping readers to understand the difficulty of creating a program that functions the fullest potential. The article examines one major topic; â€Å"Have Public Schools Failed Society?† I hope to answer this question while taking a look at both sides of the coin. As the former secretary of education, William J. Bennet has a good understanding of what could possibly be right and wrong with public schooling. After placing â€Å"goals† schools the United States realized, years later, that they have fallen into a lull. In other words, Bennet believes that the United States has reached a point where the schooling system cannot improve based on the goals they put in place fifteen years ago. This makes perfect sense. Why would a nation as powerful as the United States place â€Å"limitations,† on what schools can and cannot do? Learning is constantly growing. With this being said, I believe that the direction that the United States public schools are heading is failure. Teachers and students understand this more than anyone. Each student is completely different, in their own right. To make a blanket statement for the every school and setting the same goals is ridiculous. There are many critics to this status quo idea. They believe that â€Å"young Americans are not learning enough for their own or their nation’s good, that international comparisons rank the U.S. academic performance from the middle to the bottom year after year, and that many employers say that they cannot find people who have the necessary skills, knowledge, attitudes, and habits to do the work.† (Noll 173) If education is supposed to aid in the development of an entire nation, then why do so many people disagree with the system the United States have in place at the moment? If the country continues on this path there will never be room for improvement. I think what Bennet is trying to say is that the world is ever changing, so in the same regard so should education. Chester E. Finn takes the criticism of education in another direction. Instead of focusing on the downfalls of the education system he believe that the problems stem from society. education in society :: essays research papers fc With so many problems surrounding public schooling, it is difficult to understand where public school is headed. In the article â€Å"Taking Sides,† William J. Bennett and Forrest J. Troy tackle the problem from two opposing views. Both sides present a compelling case, while at the same time helping readers to understand the difficulty of creating a program that functions the fullest potential. The article examines one major topic; â€Å"Have Public Schools Failed Society?† I hope to answer this question while taking a look at both sides of the coin. As the former secretary of education, William J. Bennet has a good understanding of what could possibly be right and wrong with public schooling. After placing â€Å"goals† schools the United States realized, years later, that they have fallen into a lull. In other words, Bennet believes that the United States has reached a point where the schooling system cannot improve based on the goals they put in place fifteen years ago. This makes perfect sense. Why would a nation as powerful as the United States place â€Å"limitations,† on what schools can and cannot do? Learning is constantly growing. With this being said, I believe that the direction that the United States public schools are heading is failure. Teachers and students understand this more than anyone. Each student is completely different, in their own right. To make a blanket statement for the every school and setting the same goals is ridiculous. There are many critics to this status quo idea. They believe that â€Å"young Americans are not learning enough for their own or their nation’s good, that international comparisons rank the U.S. academic performance from the middle to the bottom year after year, and that many employers say that they cannot find people who have the necessary skills, knowledge, attitudes, and habits to do the work.† (Noll 173) If education is supposed to aid in the development of an entire nation, then why do so many people disagree with the system the United States have in place at the moment? If the country continues on this path there will never be room for improvement. I think what Bennet is trying to say is that the world is ever changing, so in the same regard so should education. Chester E. Finn takes the criticism of education in another direction. Instead of focusing on the downfalls of the education system he believe that the problems stem from society.

Homoeroticism in Bram Stoker’s Dracula

The evolution of time and the changes in socio-cultural faculties directly reflect on the type and the mainstream of culture within the literary and visual arts genre. Following the parade and proliferation of ‘feminism’ and ‘women empowerment’ in literature and popular media, a new type of theme evolved or branched out—homoeroticism—which had invaded the literary categories. Homoeroticism generally pertains to ‘homo’ or same-sex depiction of love and desire (Murray and Roscoe, 1997). Perhaps one of the most famous and horrifying stories of the twentieth and the contemporary century is the Bram Stoker’s Dracula.While the narrative is typically horrendous and strangely lulling to the reader, there is probably a deeper implication on the psychological responses, which hinges on ‘deviant behavior’ of the story’s main character Count Dracula. Strangely, the character Dracula is an atypical archetype of the â €Å"third† genre. In the subsequent paper, an analysis on the psychological behavior [and his erstwhile characteristics] of Bram Stoker’s Dracula will be conducted and correlate it to the possibility of ‘homoerotic’ inundations that normally defines ‘gay’ literature.Additionally, the paper aims to define the ‘psychological state/conditioning/behavior of the author Bram Stoker by investigating given and known literatures/readings on his biography. Such undertaking can also possibly suggest the presence/absence of homoerotic front of the author.II. The Third Gender and Queer Theory Modernity in the late 1960’s to the contemporary period explores the fundamentals and the notion and ideologies of heterosexuality which extends to thematic concepts in literature.The tenets of gender is questioned and hereto put forth as social equity, an underlying idea of democratization, contests the precepts of gender and sexuality. What is biologica lly ‘straight’ is devolved with identity reconstruction and partiality towards sexual orientation. Accordingly, the new gender—the third gender—a referral to gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and closets play ‘minority’ in the modern society. Homosexuals, in its simplest sense, are the non-heterosexuals. They have distinct preference for the same biological sexual orientation.They are the basket term for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and closets. Faculties of psychosocial behavior explore the deviance and the non-normative sexual practice of homosexuals. It is acknowledged that gays are ‘psychosocial’ deviance, not a sickness but a social reality. The queer society, bearing some forms of behavior and principles, and language materializes in several literatures as some queer theorist claim. Thus there is manifestation and imposition of ‘third gender’ structures and labels from an external mainstream culture of the ‘homosex ual’ minors into literature.Here we explore the unconscious inclusion of pronounced homosexuality of the author Bram Stoker through the vampire Dracula. Bram Stoker’s vampiric Dracula is thus scrutinized using queer theory—process of discovering and exposing underlying meanings, distinctions, and relations of power in larger culture that others oversimplify. The capitalization of overt heterosexuality of the vampiric Dracula is examined overlaying the bounds of the character as simply being a ‘blood-sucking’ un-dead organism.A major proponent of the queer theorist Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and the Psychosocial Principle of Sigmund Freud will be utilized as a tool for understanding [the literature and] Dracula and explicate the vampire’s [methods] of homoeroticism.III. A Background on Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Eroticism Dracula is an epistolary novel—-consisting of a series of diary entries, telegrams, and letters from the characters , as well as fictional clippings from the Whitby and London newspapers and phonograph cylinders—originally published in 1897 and authored by Bram Stoker.Its’ literary classification [/ genre] is extensive covering that of ‘vampire literature’, ‘horror fiction’, ‘gothic’ and ‘invasion literature’. The novel enjoyed the peak of its literary success in the twentieth century with the proliferation of television and media; several adaptations of the novel’s ‘vampire’ found in theater and film interpretations [Dracula (1931); The Horror of Dracula (1958); Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992); Nosferatu (1922)].Modern accounts always of Dracula always universally agree that it exudes and distorts strong sexual energy: What has become clearer and clearer, particularly in the fin de siecle years of the twentieth century, is that the novel's power has its source in the sexual implications of the blood exchange betwe en the vampire and his victims†¦ Dracula has embedded in it a very disturbing psychosexual allegory whose meaning I am not sure Stoker entirely understood: that there is a demonic force at work in the world whose intent is to eroticize women.In Dracula we see how that force transforms Lucy Westenra, a beautiful nineteen-year-old virgin, into a shameless slut (Wolf 1992). Strong ‘dammed’ sexual energy either repressed or expressed, agitation, fear, anxiety, and excitement are inundated in the Dracula. The ‘demonic’ and ‘psychosexual’ allegories of the Dracula suggest inversion, a repression behind the monstrosity, a Freudian analogy of desires and hetero/homosexuality.III. Homoerotism and Dracula Homoerotism refers to the illustration of homosexual love and desire manifested through visual arts and literature.Although, it is more of a modern concept, Sedgwick acknowledged the pre-existence of such ‘process’ in the Victorian Era that hinges on pathological explanation of the ‘homosexuals’ veering on the predisposition towards both depravity and paederasty (Kaylor 2006). Dracula contains several obvious and not-so-obvious hints on the homoerotism that probably characterizes the restrained movement of the homosexuals of the Late Victorian Era. A. Parodies of Sexual Excesses of Dracula The narrative of the story contains heavy sexual undertones and indulgences that encompass even that of the human characters of the story.Jonathan Harker exhibits sybaritic tendencies towards the dark and desirous evil passions during his encounter with the Brides of Dracula: All three had brilliant white teeth, that shone like pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips. There was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked and burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips. Stokes brings insight to the darker passions that a re discretely enjoyed in the Late Victorian Era. Sex is not a sacred act but an indulgence of the senses and brain.The conscious aim is to explore sexuality in its most banal and radical sense. Through the Brides of Dracula, Stokes suggests the exploration of multiple sex partners. There is no limit to sexual freedom; it exceeds gender and number, even. Such decadence or feast is patterned from the Greek paedaristic tradition and is patterned throughout the cascade of the story. The excitement of the underlying sexual tones is unmistakable and obviously intentional given the pariah treatment for the ‘unconventional’ during the Victorian Period. The homoerotic desires will continually persist throughout the entirety of the gothic novel.The eroticism for the narrative is strangely luring and animalistic. Dracula bades Harker into the world of secrecy, indulgence and delight, saying â€Å"Welcome to my house! Enter freely. Go safely, and leave something of the happiness y ou bring! †¦ I am Dracula; and I bid you welcome. † Control is mocked; Desire, satisfaction and all that suggests [sexual] indulgence are offered by Dracula. Beneath the civilized veneer of the aristocrat Dracula lay a perverted nature which implies the status of the homosexuals and the repressed sexuality of the stuffy Victorian Period.Sexual harem, incestuous relationships, and men-to-men relations are discretely portrayed in the Bram Stoke’s Dracula albeit in a hyperbolic manner. The Brides of Dracula are not ‘legal’ brides but in actuality, family relations of Dracula who bear a striking and similar morphological features with him which suggests, on the long run, a degree of incestuous relationship enjoyed by them. Aside from sexual harem and a hint of incest, men-to-men relation has played an important element in the development of the sexual undertones of the Gothic novel.Ambiguity in sexual preference and the flexibility of Dracula for sexual pr edisposition is implicit when he admonishes his Brides who want to ravish Harker, â€Å"This man belongs to me! † Such possession and temperamental display of possessive attitude differs from his statement on—â€Å"Yes, I too can love. You yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it not so? Well, now I promise you that when I am done with him you shall kiss him at your will. † Dracula psychosexual conditioning is not clear.However, it is asserted that the ambiguity and the his sexual inversions may have been an indicator for the confusion and the psychological meanderings of a homosexuals presented in a strict and stuffy society. B. Effeminate Dracula Perhaps the most striking quality of Dracula is his striking and handsome appearance which deviates from the ‘ugly’ vampires of Eastern European folklore: [Dracula's] face was a strong – a very strong – aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples, but profusely elsewhere.His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years. For the rest, his ears were pale and at the tops extremely pointed; the chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm though thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor. The general effect of Dracula is a Byronic ideology of ‘handsome’ man.Beauty is not just a female concept but for the male Dracula as well with the perfection of his features which are highly popular during the Victorian times. The allusion of having ‘red’ lips and ‘long’ pointed nails are physical attributes or endowme nts of female genre. Additionally, Dracula’s innate effeminate characteristics extends to his housekeeping capacities—maintaining Jonathan Harker’s bed and readying of his meals. Dracula is representation of the ‘beautiful ‘morphological male, not necessarily masculine but neither does it approach the feminine standards.C. Unmasking the Monstrosity of Dracula through Queer Theory As Sedwick puts it, to gain a better understanding of the third gender, it is necessary that a thorough study must be conducted that transcends the barriers the standard binary oppositions that limit understanding on sexuality. A careful examination of the psychological constructs of Dracula reveals the ‘heteroerotic’ chasm behinds his monstrosity and vampiric qualities. One of the major proponents behind a true understanding of individuality and motivation is Sigmund Freud.Freud posits that unconscious portion of the mind, the submerged ‘thoughts’ as one puts it, is the major motivating force behind an individual’s actions and thoughts. What is essential is not the actual conscious thoughts but the unconscious thoughts. Could it be that behind the monstrosity of Dracula lay a barrage of confused emotions on gender position and preference, which, is poured into his ‘vampiric tendencies? Dracula is portrayed as an infernal monster by Dr. Van Helsing: The Nosferatu do not die like the bee when he sting once. He is only stronger, and being stronger, have yet more power to work evil.This vampire which is amongst us is of himself so strong in person as twenty men, he is of cunning more than mortal, for his cunning be the growth of ages, he have still the aids of necromancy, which is, as his etymology imply, the divination by the dead, and all the dead that he can come nigh to are for him at command, he is brute, and more than brute, he is devil in callous, and the heart of him is not, he can, within his range, direct t he elements, the storm, the fog, the thunder, he can command all the meaner things, the rat, and the owl, and the bat, the moth, and the fox, and the wolf, he can grow and become small, and he can at times vanish and come unknown. The hyperbolic portrayal of the monstrous proportions of Dracula’s supernatural capacities denotes a deeper meaning behind the literaty texts.An important venue to consider is the role of speech acts which is use as labels for the gay ‘lingo. ’ Beyond morphology and monstrous appearance and punctuated by speech acts and behavior, covers an ambiguity, a sexual inversion that characterizes the hidden and anonymous desires of the third gender minority in the Victorian Period. The dissolution of the boundaries of the self and the thorough subversion of the conventional Victorian gender codes, constrains the mobility of sexual desire of Dracula. Dracula exhibits erratic behavior and sexual excesses that denotes the male activity or supremacy of the old times. Dracula secretely covets Jonathan Harker during his address to his brides—He is mine!Such statement defies the normative concept of heterosexual relations; Dracula, in this single statement of truth exposes once his secrets and his homosexual side. The repeating element of the story—Dracula is a highly sexed creature which spews the wickedness and vagaries on sexual enjoyment. The annotation of the Vampiric mouth is corollary to an orifice that denotes the hidden soul of the count: â€Å"There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive†¦I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp teeth†. The eroticism of the vampiric mouth presents the dis-ambiguity between males and females. Dracula constantly victimizes local individual with no ‘gender preferences’ sinking his sharp teeth into an erogenous spot on the neck.On the whole scale, such vampiric qual ities reveal lurid representations on the binary subversion of gender. Woman is not just ‘receptors’ or ‘vessels’ [sunk with Dracula fangs] and neither are men simply the ‘penetrator’. The role of Draconian mouth extends beyond hyperbole into an equivocation of gender roles. Such is the power of the mouth! The Brides of Dracula have the equal capacity to ‘sink’ their sharp teeth, an allusion to females’ position in ‘sexual’ proclivities. The transfusion of blood and any bloodily fluids across humans is not just about sucking the life force but on the whole this pertains to the unity and social equity beyond gender categorization.Dracula being a homosexual extremist ‘transfers’ blood when sucking; an equivocation of gender roles and a unwitting question of the association of the gay minority into the bilaterally determined society. Blood ties and acceptance. Blood. This is what ties humans together a nd the rejection of Dracula’s blood coupled with the fear and anxiety that characterizes the society during vampire hunts presents a parallelization of the misunderstood and an unaccepted presence of gay roles. The Dracula is a ‘monster’, and ‘a new order’ of humanity that is not understood by the old Victorian society. The monster presents un-comfort, distention, and somewhat weird and curiously entrancing but otherwise shunned away because it is not normal.Heterosexual association of Dracula with ‘women’, his imminent victimization of them presents Dracula as not simply just the ‘un-choosey’ attacker; within the psychological premise, the deliberate choice of Dracula for women is a ‘displacement method’ for his unfulfilled sexual ambition with Jonathan Harker. Dracula’s desire with a male Harker and his victimization is always postponed by a series of events. In the end, to alleviate his sexual frustrat ion for the male species, Dracula poured his frustrations in extreme proportions in the female genre. Dracula’s homoerotic desires is gratified by his three Brides; Dracula’s daughters offer masculine version for penetration with Harker as the recipient:Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of my mouth and the chin and seemed to fasten on my throat†¦I could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips on the supersensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dents of the two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. I closed my eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited—waited with a beating heart. This is the final and most pronounced text wherein there is a direct representation of male ‘penetration’ vis-a-vis the female anatomy (from the mouth down anyway) and the referral to languor state ‘ecstasy’ prior to penetration. Harker anticipated the penetrated ‘waited—waited with a beating heart but th e act was not bound to happen since Dracula barges in and shouts, â€Å"How dare you touch him, any of you?How dare you cast eyes on him when I had forbidden it? Back I tell you! This man belongs to me. † The interruption suggests, more so the line, ‘This man belongs to me’, denotes homoeroticism on the part of Dracula, but such libidinous desires will never be realized its focal recipient Harker but instead will be displaced with other women. There are actually no male-to-male aggressions on the narrative but rather suggestive implications covered under sexual undertones and motivation inset under the Draco’s language. IV. Homoeroticism and Bram Stoker The publication of Dracula and the homoerotic themes scandalized under the narrative, created a question on the motivation of the author Bram Stoker.It has been noted above that the horror story is a social commentary on the misunderstanding and the treatment of homosexuals as well as exploration on the â⠂¬Ëœhomoerotism’ of Dracula. Perhaps Dracula is merely an extension of the true author. We contend that the vividness of the character Dracula is either a representation of the closet Bram Stoker or if not his close friend and correspondent, the multi-sex oriented (bisexual, paederastic and homosexual [even metrosexual with current standards] Oscar Wilde. It must be realized that Stokes began writing the story one month after Oscar Wilde was legally cross-examined for sodomy. The ignorance of connection between the two was due to the absence of literature that would connote Wilde’s name.Yet what is not apparently there may exist there by using using deliberate names to fulfill the gaps in communication. It is very possible that Dracula is Wilde; a horror allegory for a gay closet ‘trapped’ and ‘afraid’ during the trial. The Oscar Wilde trial is one of the most scandalous and expository nature of the Victorian underground in the nineteenth cent ury. The trial commences the legal prosecution of the gays under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 which states the condemnation of homosexual acts not amounting to buggery. The crisis of the closet is untenable; whereas Stokes wanted to embraced the ideology of homosexuality, common fear for persecution of gays forced him to be discrete and displaced his ideas on Dracula.Stoker has been many times associated with Withman and his open correspondent with him. His admires Whitman for ‘function[ing] as badges in homosexual recognition in England fin-de-siecle. ’ Stoker writes an insidious letter to Whitman: I would like to call you Comrade and to talk to you as men who are not poets do not often talk. I think that at first a man would be ashamed, for a man cannot in a moment break the habit of comparative reticence that has become a second nature to him, but I know I would not be long ashamed to be natural before you†¦. You have shaken off the shackles and your w ings are free. I have the shackles on my soldiers and still—but I have no wings.If you are going to read this letter any further I should tell you that I am not prepared to give up all else so far as words go. The ‘love letter’ address to Whitman suggests the fight for gay freedom of movement vis-a-vis his literary writings. The metaphysical connection between the two men is demonstrated in the letters. Gays are not simply gays because of their sexual quirks or fancies but more on their emotional predisposition. As Stokes further asserted, â€Å"How sweet a thing it is for a strong healthy man with a woman’s eye and a child’s wishes to feel that he can speak so to a man who can be if he wishes a father, and brother and wife to his soul. †Stokes believed that he is different from the normative ‘kind’ of human species. It is not known if Stoker’s presumed gayness resulted from the classical Oedipus imbalance or is a genetica lly determined trait. However it is clear that he identifies himself to be a different kind, those who practiced sodomy and has distinct preference for young males. While it is true that he is a proud member of the third class, tradition and fear of experiencing societal pariah urges him towards complacency and discretion. Stoker cannot openly write his intellectual positions on the assertion of third gender roles in the Victorian society and their so-called coming out.Stokes later became a member of the organization of gays with Whitman as a ‘special’ comrade. Oscar Wilde’s trial prove to be the turning point of decisions for his literary career. The infusion of homoeroticism within Dracula is so discretely hidden that, for a common reader, Dracula is nothing but bat-like demon. Within the realms of persecution, Dracula is perhaps the safest route for gay literary ideology and at the same time, avoiding inspection from the anti-homosexual Victorian law enforcers . Wilde’s trial forces the author Bram Stoker to secrecy. Irving also enjoys a strong emotional discourse with Irving, a gay poet: In those moments of our mutual emotion he too had found a friend. Soul had looked into soul!From that hour began the friendship as profound, as close, as lasting can be between two men†¦And the sight of his picture before me, with those loving words, the record of a time of deep emotion and full understanding of us both, each for a time of deep emotion and full understanding of us both, each for the other, unmans me once again as I write. The souls of the two distinguished individuals commune; it borders beyond physical adoration. They understand each other’s needs and ambitions depicting mutuality among men—a mirror of homosexuality that is very misleading and the parameters rather abstract. Stoker’s love for Irving is open, honest and metaphysical; there were no records to the consummation of their love but Stoker, many times, admitted to the alluding most profound male relationship of all time. Note that in Dracula, there is no consummation between the vampire Dracula and the human Jonathan Harker.Perhaps Stoker wants to project the essential element of third gender relations which hinges on emotional and intellectual connections. That is perhaps, why, Stoker condemns the vulgar representation of the third gender of Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde, during his trial, exposing the darker sides of the third sex legion. He commented, â€Å"Vices so flaggitous, so opposed to nature, even in its lowest and crudest forms that the poignancy of moral disgust is lost in the horror. † Stoker argues that some gay literature are censorious and exploits and denigrates the essentials of gayhood. Stoker always asserts discretion even in his letters and literary works.Such discretion fed under rigidity of censorship allowed him to explore the subtextual tools in implicating homoeroticism within his Dracula story. Wilde was Stoker’s primary rival but whether he sympathizes with his enemy’s crimes is another story. One thing is certain: the Oscar Wilde trial forced Bram Stoker to methodically used discretion in several of his correspondence. V. Conclusion The paper discussed the homoeroticism in Dracula and the psycho social ideologies that lay basic foundation to the horrorific nature of the epistolary literature. Beyond horror, the Freudian theory of subconscious explained the motives of the antagonist Dracula. Sedwick’s principle on exceeding structured binary opposition to categorized the atypical Dracula.In understanding Dracula and its’ author Bram Stoker, subtextual language and discrete elements embedded within the horror story and the correspondence of Stoker to some of his friends reveal insights in the subversive gay literature. Homoeroticism of Dracula reveals the culture of third gender during the late Victorian period. Dracula, a homosexual closet bey ond the hyperbolic monster demonstrates effeminate morphology and behavior. More so his strange attraction to Jonathan Harker. Displacement behavior explained his opinion on sexual gratification. Dracula, is perhaps, Wilde, a representation of the archenemy of Bram Stokes during his collegiate years.It is the literary by-product of the censorious laws of old England which was heightened during Wilde’s trial.Works CitedDalby, R. and Hughes, W.. Bram Stoker: A Bibliography. Westcliff-on-Sea: Desert Island Books, 2005.Freedman, Alfred M. and Harold I. Kaplan. Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry . Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins Company, 1967.Hughes, William. Beyond Dracula: Bram Stoker's Fiction and its Cultural Contexts Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000.McKenna, N. The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde. Random House, 2004. Sedgwick, E. K. Epistemology of the Closet. California: UP, 1990.Wolf, L. . Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Signet Classic Edition. USA: Penguin, 1990.