Public Corporation Stock Report. McDonalds Corporation

Corporate summary Company name McDonald’s CorporationAdvertising We will write a custom report sample on Public Corporation Stock Report. McDonald’s Corporation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Mission Statement McDonald’s brand mission is ‘to be our customers’ favorite place and way to eat’ (AboutMcDonalds.com). McDonald’s statement of purpose states that the company aims to be the best in the world at offering its customers quick service restaurant experience. In order to do so, McDonald’s strives to deliver excellent service, cleanliness, quality and value. The ultimate goal is to make every customer leave the restaurant smiling. Industry area McDonald’s is in the fast food industry. It is the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Major products or services McDonald’s main product is fast food. Their main categories of food are chick en, salads, breakfast, beverages, burgers sandwiches and snacks, sides deserts. Head office and the geographic area served by the company McDonald’s was founded in 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois. Its current headquarters address is 2111 McDonald’s Dr., Oak Brook, IL 60523. The company has franchises in over 120 countries across the globe, with over a thousand franchises each in countries like the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. 2009 Revenue In the three months that ended 30th March 2009, the company’s net income was $979.5 million, down from $985 million over the same period in 2008. Press Release and Article Summary Press Release On 19th October, 2011, McDonald’s announced that it had become a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). This was in line with its intention to use only RSPO-certified Palm Oil in all its restaurants and franchises by 2015. McDonald’s is committed to using only susta inable ingredients such as palm oil.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Already, palm oil is used in McDonald’s restaurants as frying oil within the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. This move is in line with its Sustainable Land Management Commitment (SLMC) announced in early 2011. According to its SLMC, McDonald’s will source its raw materials for its food and packaging materials from sustainably-managed lands (McComb). Article Summary An article by Lacey McCraney for NBC Chicago tells of how McDonald’s is making a change to its happy meals, choosing to give a slice of apple and a smaller helping of Fries and either fat-free chocolate milk or 1% white milk in place of the usual soft drink. This change, however, is only optional. Customers can still choose their full portion of fries instead of fruit, and a soft drink. This move is part of the company’s commitment to offer improved nutrition choices. Fruit has been part of McDonald’s optional foods for more than five years, but only 10% of their customers choose this option (McCraney). Justification The choice to study McDonald’s was made for two reasons. First, the company is one of the world’s most recognizable brands in the world and has been in existence for over half a century. Secondly, its prominence all over the globe makes McDonald’s extremely easy to identify with. Analysis McDonald’s operates in nearly 120 countries across the globe, and is known to serve nearly 60 million customers every day. The company’s expansion is attributed largely to its business method of franchising and using joint ventures. Most McDonald’s restaurants offer either drive-through or over-the-counter service. Some franchises also offer outdoor sitting, although this is not common considering they are found in busy and c rowded cities with limited space. Most McDonald’s in highways offer only drive-through service, while those in busy and crowded cities use the counter method or, to a limited extent, walk-throughs. McDonald’s may have started as a fries and hamburgers-selling joint, but it continues to diversify to other foods. It has placed emphasis on the growth of its provision of healthy and diverse foods. Their growth, however, faces certain challenges. According to CNN’s writer Nin-Hai Tseng, McDonald’s faces a number of potential challenges in the coming years. First, the rising cost of food could negatively affect the company’s growth.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Public Corporation Stock Report. McDonald’s Corporation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The price of food continues to rise, and it could lead to a food inflation of between 2% and 3% in the next couple of years, a ccording to the US Department of Agriculture (Tseng). So far, the leading food chains have not been affected. However, that could change. Secondly, there might be a reduction in McDonald’s growth because of limitation of beverages over burgers. Since most McDonald’s restaurants are a preferred choice for customers looking for fast food, the company has created a number of creative drinks for their customers. However, the time taken to serve customers with these beverages has lunch hour sales to slow down over the years. According to the Wall Street Journal, McDonald’s business at lunch-hour has flattened over the last five years (Tseng). Finally, there is a growing concern that McDonalds may no longer provide a satisfactory return-on-investment. This is particularly applicable with the McCafe machines, which cost over $100,000 to install. This is a cause for concern for small investors. Investing in McDonald’s stock presents a measure of risk, as most sto cks do, but it is considered one of the safest stocks to buy. Even during the economic downturn that America has been experiencing since late 2008, the company’s stock remains stable. This can be attributed to two aspects. First, as the recession hit, America turned to McDonald’s restaurants as a source of affordable food. This kept the business afloat as other companies felt the pinch of the credit crisis. Secondly, McDonald’s continues to appeal to a more upscale market, particularly with its specialty coffee. All these aspects pushed the stock of the company from $55 a share in 2008 to $87.09 in July 2011, a 58% rise (Krantz). McDonald’s has been involved in a number of lawsuits over the years, most of which involve defamation, workers’ rights and trademark disputes. A hugely famous case was a defamation case they filed against Helen Steel and Dave Morris, a gardener and a former postman. This case was famously known as the McLibel case. The two were sued after they distributed booklets with damning information regarding McDonald’s record on health, the environment and the exploitation of workers. The trial went on for two-and-a-half years, becoming the longest running English trial ever. Mr. Justice Bell finally delivered his verdict in 1997, condemning McDonald’s for advertisements that ‘exploit children’ and ‘misleading’. The judge also said the company was cruel to animals and apathetic to workers’ rights (McSpotlight). Nevertheless, McDonald’s was awarded a settlement amount by the courts in the United Kingdom. The company stated later that it had no intention of collecting the 40,000 pounds it was awarded. This case was considered a major embarrassment to McDonald’s.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Conclusion From the three sections above, three things about McDonald’s are clear. First, the company is one of the best managed organizations in the world and has been for the last several years. It is highly profitable, has a remarkably healthy stock and operates in many countries. Its business model is easy to follow, and it is easy to see why competitors, who provide highly similar products, have been unable to muscle the company off the top spot. There is a constant pursuit of excellence in the company, b\no matter where a franchise is located. A company does not gain the reputation McDonald’s has by being mediocre and running its business poorly. Secondly, despite the challenges it faces in the market and the odd lawsuit here and there, McDonald’s future appears to be bright. It seems as though this company, which has been at the heart of the fast-food business for over half a century, could last forever. Whether this remains to be true or not, McDonaldâ⠂¬â„¢s is an excellent example of a company well run, well managed and worthy of emulation. Finally, McDonald’s will always face a hard time from competitors, environmentalists and people concerned with the ethics of the business. McDonald’s has been criticized in the past for its business methods, its aggressive style and its distasteful marketing techniques. Using the McLibel case as a good example, the company got into trouble first because of its reportedly poor business practices. The defendants in the case distributed leaflets that the company considered defamatory, so it sued successfully and actually got a settlement. However, the judge still took a swipe at the company, condemning it as a company that practices bad business and operates dishonestly, to the great embarrassment of McDonald’s. Bibliography AboutMcDonalds.com. Student Research. 2011. Web. Krantz, Matt. Is McDonald’s a Good Stock to Buy?  2011. Web. McComb, Lisa. McDONALD’S J OINS ROUNDTABLE ON SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL. 2011. Web. McCraney, Lacey. â€Å"McDonald’s Pushes Apples Over Fries.† NBC Chicago 28 October 2011: online. McSpotlight. The McLibel Trial. 2011. Web. Samples-Help. McDonalds Mission Statement. 2006. Web. Tseng, Nin-Hai. Three challenges to McDonald’s growth. 2011. Web. This report on Public Corporation Stock Report. McDonald’s Corporation was written and submitted by user Allison Z. 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.

Cursive Writing for Learning Disabled

Cursive Writing for Learning Disabled Its not uncommon for special education students to struggle with writing. Dyslexia, dysgraphia, and various kinds of language-based disorders make themselves very pronounced when children are learning to write. But its less common for teachers to make this counter-intuitive move: Try cursive.   Generally considered to be more difficult for children than writing in manuscript (block letters) and losing ground in the battle for productive class time, script is finding a late-career resurgence with the special-ed crowd. Not only are there benefits to cursive writing that bleed into other skills (for example, the fine-motor workout of cursive writing has salutary effects on similar fingerwork), some scientists believe that children who can write neatly in script are better at math and other analysis. Why You Should Consider Cursive If handwriting is a struggle, give cursive writing a shot. Dont worry that handwriting (and reading handwriting) is becoming something of a lost art- all students, especially special ed kids, benefit from successes. Here are some reasons you may want to flip the script in your classroom: The letters flow much more easily, and usually only one movement is necessary. Children often struggle with the many fine movements required to print. For children with motor-planning issues, remembering where to put the circles and sticks, crossing ts and dotting is, and remembering the orientation of each letter is no easy task. How often have you seen these children confuse bs and ds and put the circles on ps on the wrong side?Spaces separate words in cursive, while the letters are joined. Therefore, phonetics are joined together. Many students find that script writing is conceptually easier to grasp in this regard.  Rarely will you see reversals in cursive writing, unlike printing. Children respond well to the left-to-right flow of writing.Teaching cursive saves time. Why spend time to learn printing first, when children will learn it through reading? Its simply not essential to have students print and learn cursive at the same time.  Most teachers report that children who le arn handwriting exclusively show no difficulties reading print. Thats not always the case when children learn printing first. In fact, many teachers moving to cursive writing instead of print report that it was the best move for their students. Some Advice for Teaching Cursive Stick with it.Begin with the letters without loops (t, i, d, p, m, n, r).Show the child how to slant the paper to make writing more natural.Begin with lowercase letters.Remember that motor skills of children with learning disabilities are often weak, provide dotted cursive writing paper for ease and guide the childs hand. Direct teaching is recommended. Remember to be patient, in the long run youre saving teaching time!

Highlights of Late 19th Century Womens Labor Organizing

Highlights of Late 19th Century Women's Labor Organizing Some highlights of American womens labor organizing in the late 19th century: In 1863, a committee in New York City, organized by the editor of the New York Sun, began to help women collect wages due them that had not been paid. This organization continued for fifty years. Also in 1863, women in Troy, New York, organized the Collar Laundry Union. These women worked in laundries making and laundering the detachable collars stylish on mens shirts. They went on strike, and as a result won an increase in wages. In 1866, their strike fund was used to aid the Iron Molders Union, building a lasting relationship with that mens union. The leader of the laundryworkers union, Kate Mullaney, went on to become assistant secretary of the National Labor Union. The Collar Laundry Union dissolved July 31, 1869, in the the middle of another strike, faced with the threat of paper collars and the likely loss of their jobs. The National Labor Union was organized in 1866; while not exclusively focusing on womens issues, it did take a stand for the rights of working women. The first two national unions to admit women were the Cigarmakers (1867) and the Printers (1869). Susan B. Anthony used her paper, The Revolution, to help working women organize in their own interests. One such organization formed in 1868, and became known as the Working Womens Association. Active in this organization was Augusta Lewis, a typographer who kept the organization focused on representing the women on pay and working conditions, and kept the organization out of political issues such as woman suffrage. Miss Lewis became the president of the Womens Typographical Union No. 1 which grew out of the Working Womens Association. In 1869, this local union applied for membership in the national Typographers Union, and Miss Lewis was made corresponding secretary of the union. She married Alexander Troup, the unions secretary-treasurer, in 1874, and retired from the union, though not from other reform work. Womens Local 1 did not long survive the loss of its organizing leader, and dissolved in 1878. After that time, the Typographers admitted women on an equal basis to men, instead of organizing separate womens locals. In 1869, a group of women shoestitchers in Lynn, Massachusetts, organized the Daughters of St. Crispin, a national womens labor organization modeled on and supported by the Knights of St. Crispin, the national shoe workers union, which also went on record supporting equal pay for equal work. The Daughters of St. Crispin is recognized as the first national union of women. The first president of the Daughters of St. Crispin was Carrie Wilson. When the Daughters of St. Crispin went on strike in Baltimore in 1871, the Knights of St. Crispin successfully demanded that the women strikers be rehired. The depression in the 1870s led to the demise of the Daughters of St. Crispin in 1876. The Knights of Labor, organized in 1869, began admitting women in 1881. In 1885, the Knights of Labor established the Womens Work Department. Leonora Barry was hired as a full time organizer and investigator. The Womens Work Department was dissolved in 1890. Alzina Parsons Stevens, a typographer and, at one time, Hull House resident, organized the Working Womans Union No. 1 in 1877. In 1890, she was elected district master workman, District Assembly 72, Knights of Labor, in Toledo, Ohio. Mary Kimball Kehew joined the Womens Educational and Industrial Union in 1886, becoming a director in 1890 and president in 1892. With Mary Kenney OSullivan, she organized the Union for Industrial Progress, whose purpose was to help women organize craft unions. This was a forerunner of the Womens Trade Union League, founded in the early 20th century. Mary Kenney OSullivan was the first woman hired by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) as an organizer. She had earlier organized women bookbinders in Chicago into the AFL and had been elected a delegate to the Chicago Trades and Labor Assembly. In 1890, Josephine Shaw Lowell organized the Consumers League of New York. In 1899, the New York organization helped found the National Consumers League to protect both workers and consumers. Florence Kelley led this organization, which worked mainly through educational effort. Text copyright  © Jone Johnson Lewis . Image:  left to right, (front row): Miss Felice Louria, executive secretary of the New York City Consumers League; and Miss Helen Hall, director of the Henry Street Settlement in New York and chairman of the Consumers National Federation. (Back row) Robert S. Lynd, head of Department of Sociology, Columbia University; F.B. McLaurin, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Michael Quill, N.Y. City Councilman and president of Transportation Workers Union.

International strategy management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

International strategy management - Essay Example will present some of these best practices that Southwest Airlines engaged in as a means of explaining them to the reader and highlighting their importance with regard to the overall success that the airline has experienced over the past several decades. Without even delving into the benefits and utility that the products and services southwest airline provide to the customer helps to increase their profitability and success, the reader should first focus upon the issue of culture and how southwest airlines engage this culture within their stakeholders/employees. Ultimately, far too many firms engage with a business model and seek to promote a given good or service to the customer; only to consider the power and impacts that culture within the organization can have once the business recognizes that this could potentially maximize profitability. However, in the case of Southwest Airlines, since its inception the firm has been focused upon providing high standards of culture, employee loyalty, competitive salaries, and promotion from within as a hallmark of the way in which it engages with its stakeholders. One of the first and most obvious of these is with regard to Southwest Airlines â€Å"no layoff† policy. As anyone remotel y familiar with the airline industry can attest, I and Lowe’s within the market creates hardship on air carriers as they must continually react to the change in demand that air service illustrates. As a function of this, many of the larger airline firms such as Delta, United, and international carriers continually layoff surplus employees during a period in which demand is relatively low and then rehire individuals or hire new ones, when demand is high again. Recognizing that this continual shift in demand was harming employee loyalty, southwest engaged in a â€Å"no layoff† policy; one in which the employee was assured that even if market conditions were poor, their position would be saved and Southwest Airlines would do anything and

Difference Between Conflict Theories Assignment

Difference Between Conflict Theories - Assignment Example Marx and Simmel visualize this as a conflict that arises due to constant change and erosion within the society. The social distribution of power tilts the balance allowing some to be higher than the rest and making others subjects. According to this theory, there are general assumptions that human beings are essentially self-oriented and inclined to pursue their own interests at the expense of others. This means that there will be clashing ideologies that need to be synthesized and a compromise arrived at. As noted, these two theorems look at society from different angles. They both view the society as a source of values and customs but diverge in the area of analysis: structural theorists view it a source of cohesion while conflict theorists look at it as a source of conflict. 2-Explain the Idea of Dialectical Change by way of an Example. According to the dialecticians, any existing notion or thesis has an opposing notion or an anti-thesis. This means that every ideology in the worl d has an equal opposing factor that keeps it in check for equity to be achieved. This equity comes in the form of a compromise which is termed as synthesis. For instance, the best way to define this is by looking at society as a whole. The political class is always on the run for who is best and who is fit to lead the people whether as a senator or as a representative. The campaigning period is the most competitive of all with each trying to woo voters to their camps. They look for all ways through which they can eliminate their opponents by digging deep into the past and coming up with details that may taint their names and present them as unfit for public service. They create slogans that seek to motivate their supporters to shun the other camp. The compromise here is the fact that there are laws that govern this political theatrics and that the others have a chance to cast their votes and choose the very best that they perceive as their ultimate choice.

Vinataba †Philip Morris Graduate Trainee Program Essay Example for Free

Vinataba – Philip Morris Graduate Trainee Program Essay About the program Vinataba – Philip Morris Graduate Trainee Program aims to develop creative, talented and ambitious graduates, helping us to making our business growth ambition become a reality. What we offer Our Graduate Trainee Program offers a real exciting and fruitful development journey to help you as a fresh graduate build your general skills, professional skills and leadership. While you own your development journey, diversified learning approaches will be also offered to foster your career development. With real job assignments, you will be exposed to lots of world-class training workshops, cross-functional rotations, coaching sessions, mentoring chats and exposure opportunities to work in other countries. What we are looking for * Vietnamese nationality * University fresh graduates or graduates with maximum of 2 years working experience * Background in Economics / Commerce / Logistics / Business Management / Finance / Accounting / Marketing / IT is preferred * GPA (Grade Point Average) of minimum 7 out of 10 or equivalent * English fluency and computer literacy * Passionate in Fast-Moving-Consumer-Goods industry with Entrepreneurial Spirit, Courage, Clear and Constructive Communication, High Efficiency and strong Emotional Intelligence. How to apply * Obtain complete Application Form made available at your University Career Center and/or University Portal * Submit application via email to [emailprotected] or send the hard-copy application to: Vinataba Philip Morris Limited, Ho Chi Minh City Branch Level 6 The Kumho Asiana Plaza 39 Le Duan District 1 Ho Chi Minh City * By no later than 28th February 2013. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered. Note: An Auto Reply Message will be sent to your email upon receipt of your application. If you do not receive this Auto Reply Message, please resend your application.

Hitcher, Education For Leisure, My Last Duchess, and The Lab Essay

Hitcher, Education For Leisure, My Last Duchess, and The Lab "Hitcher" By Simon Armitage, "Education For Leisure" By Carol Anne Duffy, "My Last Duchess" and "The Lab" by Robert Browning are all poems that deal with violence or the prospect of violence. "Hitcher" is a poem about a man who is angry at being threatened with the sack, he picks up a hitch-hiker and kills him and then leaves him on the road side. The poetic voice seems to be psychotic and also talks about the attack in a casual manner. "Ed for Leisure" also deals with a bitter person who feels he has been let down by society. As he becomes increasingly demotivated, he gets more and more violent ending with leaving the house with a bread knife. Both poets aim to show us that people are unpredictable and innocent people often fall victim to anger that has gone too far. Both of the poems are arranged in stanzas, "Hitcher" contains some full and half rhyme to keep the poem moving but "Education for Leisure" is in free verse with short abrupt lines showing the characters irrational mind. Both authors ch...

Macbeth’s Downfall Was Brought on by His Ambition

The tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare outlines how the lust for power can bring out the worst in people. This is evident through Macbeth’s vaulting ambition to be king which ultimately leads to his downfall. Through Macbeth wrestling with his conscience about the prophesies of the witches he started to gain the trait of ambition. We also see his ambition continue to grow through the persuasion by his soul mate which is also shown through the 1961 CBC TV production of Macbeth.His want to stay king brought out the tyrant within him and shows the evil side of Macbeth, letting his ambition take over. His growth of ambition through the play leads to his tragic death. Macbeth was given a glimpse of prosperity through the witches prophesies. â€Å"All hail Macbeth, thou art shalt be king hereafter† the use of the prophesises outlines foreshadowing within the play. The witches are telling Macbeth of his future and he is left to wrestle with his conscience.This is shown when Macbeth in his soliloquy says â€Å"this supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good/ if ill why hath it given me earnest success† we see Macbeth wrestling with his conscience and his ambition starting to grow, he is starting to believe the witches and the seed of ambition is planted inside him, which is the first step leading to his demise. We see Macbeth’s ambition continue to grow and lead to his death through the persuasion of lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth uses guilt to talk Macbeth into committing regicide and becoming king.This is shown through the quote â€Å"wouldst thou have that which thou esteemst the ornament of life and live a coward in thine own esteem letting â€Å"I dare not† wait upn â€Å"I would† like the poor cat I th’adage† the simile â€Å"the poor cat I th’adage outlines how Lady Macbeth uses guilt to talk Macbeth into killing the king by calling him a coward. This is also shown in the 1961 CBC tv p roduction of Macbeth when Lady Macbeth is using her feminism to persuade Macbeth, causing his ambition to grow even more.When you durst do it, then you were a man and to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man† this quote shows how Lady Macbeth uses guilt and calling Macbeth a coward to persuade him to commit regicide. The persuasion of Lady Macbeth causes Macbeth’s ambition to continue to grow which another step is leading to his downfall. Macbeth’s desire to stay king brings out the tyrant within him, his vaulting ambition causes wrath on anyone who stands in his path, even his closest friend.This is shown when Macbeth is planning to kill his best friend, Banquo, â€Å"come seeling night/scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day and with thy bloody and invisible hand cancel and tear to pieces tgar great bond which keeps me pale† the use of dramatic irony in this quote shows us how much Macbeth’s ambition has taken over, and how he is not even hesitatint to murder his bestfriend, he is wishing for the night to come when Banquo’s death finally happens so all his fears will be washed away and he will be able to remain king.Macbeth’s desire to stay king causes him to kill his bestfriend, his ambition has taken over fully by this stage which is the final factor contributing to his death. We see Macbeths ambition start to grow when he is wrestling with his conscience about the witches prophesies. Furthermore , his ambition continues to grow through the persuasion of regicide from his soul mate and Macbeths desire to stay king unleashes his ambition, all these aspect contribute to Macbeth’s vaulting ambition, thus leading to his tragic death. Macbeth’s Downfall Was Brought on by His Ambition The tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare outlines how the lust for power can bring out the worst in people. This is evident through Macbeth’s vaulting ambition to be king which ultimately leads to his downfall. Through Macbeth wrestling with his conscience about the prophesies of the witches he started to gain the trait of ambition. We also see his ambition continue to grow through the persuasion by his soul mate which is also shown through the 1961 CBC TV production of Macbeth.His want to stay king brought out the tyrant within him and shows the evil side of Macbeth, letting his ambition take over. His growth of ambition through the play leads to his tragic death. Macbeth was given a glimpse of prosperity through the witches prophesies. â€Å"All hail Macbeth, thou art shalt be king hereafter† the use of the prophesises outlines foreshadowing within the play. The witches are telling Macbeth of his future and he is left to wrestle with his conscience.This is shown when Macbeth in his soliloquy says â€Å"this supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good/ if ill why hath it given me earnest success† we see Macbeth wrestling with his conscience and his ambition starting to grow, he is starting to believe the witches and the seed of ambition is planted inside him, which is the first step leading to his demise. We see Macbeth’s ambition continue to grow and lead to his death through the persuasion of lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth uses guilt to talk Macbeth into committing regicide and becoming king.This is shown through the quote â€Å"wouldst thou have that which thou esteemst the ornament of life and live a coward in thine own esteem letting â€Å"I dare not† wait upn â€Å"I would† like the poor cat I th’adage† the simile â€Å"the poor cat I th’adage outlines how Lady Macbeth uses guilt to talk Macbeth into killing the king by calling him a coward. This is also shown in the 1961 CBC tv p roduction of Macbeth when Lady Macbeth is using her feminism to persuade Macbeth, causing his ambition to grow even more.When you durst do it, then you were a man and to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man† this quote shows how Lady Macbeth uses guilt and calling Macbeth a coward to persuade him to commit regicide. The persuasion of Lady Macbeth causes Macbeth’s ambition to continue to grow which another step is leading to his downfall. Macbeth’s desire to stay king brings out the tyrant within him, his vaulting ambition causes wrath on anyone who stands in his path, even his closest friend.This is shown when Macbeth is planning to kill his best friend, Banquo, â€Å"come seeling night/scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day and with thy bloody and invisible hand cancel and tear to pieces tgar great bond which keeps me pale† the use of dramatic irony in this quote shows us how much Macbeth’s ambition has taken over, and how he is not even hesitatint to murder his bestfriend, he is wishing for the night to come when Banquo’s death finally happens so all his fears will be washed away and he will be able to remain king.Macbeth’s desire to stay king causes him to kill his bestfriend, his ambition has taken over fully by this stage which is the final factor contributing to his death. We see Macbeths ambition start to grow when he is wrestling with his conscience about the witches prophesies. Furthermore , his ambition continues to grow through the persuasion of regicide from his soul mate and Macbeths desire to stay king unleashes his ambition, all these aspect contribute to Macbeth’s vaulting ambition, thus leading to his tragic death.

Forced distribution system

Though many researchers have pointed out several drawbacks in FADS, due to the absence of any suitable alternative, it has been (and continues to be) adopted by many industries over a long period of time. The purpose of this paper Is to point out some serious limitations of this system and propose a simple modification to overcome these limitations. Design/ methodology/approach – FADS determines the relative positions of the employees involved in similar work by comparing them against one another, and based on their performance, the employees receive different grades.Here the authors use the Likelier scaling method to convert these grades into numerical scores, then these scores are used to estimate the average performance of each group of employees, which Is referred to as the group Index. Taking these group Indices Into consideration, the authors propose a modeled performance score of each employee for their final evaluation. Efficiencies of the existing FADS and the propose d modified version are compared using a simple measure of rank correlation known as the Sandal's taut-statistic.Findings – Extensive simulation studies show that the modified algorithm is uniformly better than the existing one over different schemes for allocations of employees to deferent projects, and depending on the allocation scheme, It can lead to substantial Improvement. Relationally/value – This paper can be appraisal system based on a forced distribution and the first that provides a simple but effective solution which can be adopted by the organizations using FADS for performance appraisal.Keywords Performance appraisal, Statistical methods, Human resource management Paper type Research paper 1 Introduction Performance evaluation is regarded as one of the most powerful human resource raciest (Judges and Ferris, 1993; Murphy and Cleveland, 1995, p. 4). It provides a justification for human resource decision such as rewards, career planning, transfers, training , counseling, mentoring, termination, etc.Performance appraisal provides the employer an opportunity to communicate with the employees about the mission, strategy, vision, values and objectives of the organization, and it personalizes organizational strategy into individual performance criteria. It has been observed that employee motivations to perform, to develop capabilities and to improve future reference are influenced by the performance appraisal system (Land et al. , 1978; The authors thank the anonymous reviewer for providing several helpful comments and suggestions that led to substantial improvement of the article.Despite the importance of a performance evaluation system, extensive studies in this field have identified significant shortcomings in its applications that include different types of biases stemming from rating errors, sources of performance information and individual differences (Arrive and Murphy, 1998). Among these various shortcomings, rating bias is the most predominant area of research, which indicates the tendency of the raters to provide lenient or stringent rating (Beret et al. 992; Runes et al. , 2002). This systematic bias leads to lack of discrimination between high and low performance and automatically disrupts the whole essence of performance decades, several researchers have explored different methods to overcome the rating bias and to improve the accuracy of performance evaluation system (Goff et al. , 1996). Studies on performance evaluation are mainly focused on two types of appraisal systems – absolute and relative.In an absolute rating system, individual performance is evaluated against a pre-determined standard, whereas a relative evaluation yester determines the relative positions of different employees by comparing them against one another (Duffy and Webber, 1974). Though there are advantages and disadvantages in both of these systems, some studies have pointed out the superiority of the relative grading system over the absolute one (He-man, 1986; Nathan and Alexander, 1988; Wander and Goofing, 1997).Many renowned organizations including General Electric (GE), Hen, Microsoft, American Express and Goldman Cash have used and some still use relative grading system for performance evaluation in the form of a forced distribution system (FADS) (Grotto, 2005). FADS was developed in an attempt to directly deal with the problems of rater leniency and lack of discrimination while measuring an individual's performance (McCarty, 1988).This system forces the managers to discriminate between high and low performers either by sorting the employees into some pre-determined performance categories based on a pre-defined distribution or by ranking them on the basis of their relative performance (Gurgling et al. , 2004). The first process is also known as the criterion-reference rating, while the second one is known as the norm- reference rating (Visionary and Ones, 2000; Visionary, 2001).The wide use of FAD S as an objective measure of employee performance was mostly popularized by Jack Welch at the beginning of his tenure at GE under the name of â€Å"vitality curve† (Bossily and Charka, 2002; Itchy and Sherman, 2001). Welch introduced this system to develop an objective measure to discriminate between high and low performer so that the culture of â€Å"rewarding doers† can be established, which in turn can be helpful for â€Å"building muscle† of the organization. In GE and many other organizations, FADS is considered as a developmental instrument for achieving a performance-oriented culture.Though FADS has several advantages, many organizations have been observed to perceive this system negatively (Rock et al. , 2007). Many researchers and practitioners have also pointed out that a forced distribution in performance evaluation leads to extreme level of Job dissatisfaction among the employees with high potential to perform (Gray, 2002; Madman, 2006; Prefer and Su tton, 2006). In practice, a relatively low-performing member in a high- performing team can often be better than the best performer in an average performing team.The FADS is used to evaluate the members working in different roofs or teams separately, and the rigidity of this system forces the companies to reprimand all low performers of each and every group. As a result, some high-potential performers may be asked to leave the Job or they may leave the organization voluntarily due to dissatisfaction. The negative consequences of this performance evaluation system have been observed in many organizations. For instance, Ford had a well-publicized unsuccessful experience with a forced ranking support this ranking system at all.Many employees, who had received positive feedback for years, were suddenly categorized as under performers. As a result, dozens of Ford employees and ex-employees sued the company because of this system of evaluation. Vishnu et al. (2006) studied the long-term e ffect of the â€Å"bell curve†, which is a form of forced distribution, on organizational dynamics. According to their views, pressure of the bell curve can facilitate the performance to a certain level, but constant pressure demoralizes the employees. As the company shrinks, the rigid distribution of the bell curve forces the manager to categorize a high performer as a mediocre one.Also, it is often assumed that the employees identified as low reformers, on account of their unsatisfactory performance, are usually replaced every year by fresh talent, who can add up to the output of the organization. Here we may argue that the likelihood of the presence of poor performers amongst these new additions is another possibility, which can adversely affect the system. Moreover, from the financial point of view, replacement of the employees with the fresh talent is also a costly affair. Blame et al. 2009) conducted a study on a student population to understand their reactions towards different types of FADS, and pointed out that â€Å"less trending consequences for low performer† is the most powerful variable in determining the attractions towards different types of FADS. On the basis of this study, we may assume that the organization, where stringency is higher for the low performers, has less chance to get higher number of Job applicants. In order to overcome these limitations of the forced ranking appraisal system and to protect the employees with high potential, Vishnu et al. 2006) proposed to use an evaluation system based on the semi-bell curve, where instead of putting fixed proportions of employees into different groups of performance levels, an organization adjusts these proportions depending on the set of employees it is dealing with. However, the adjustment scheme they proposed was subjective and somewhat ad hoc. Instead of using the semi-bell curve, an organization can use any other curves as well, or it can even use different curves for diffe rent set of workers involved in different projects. It depends entirely on the company policy, and we have no prerogative to decide that.So, in this paper, we do not recommend the use of any particular curve. Here, we repose a modified algorithm for forced ranking performance appraisal that can be used irrespective of the nature of the curve(s) used by the companies for the evaluation of their employees. In the following sections, we assume the bell curve appraisal system for the demonstration of our method. However, the description of our method will make it clear that our modification is not limited to the bell curve system, and it can even be used when a company adopts different types of curves or distributions for evaluation of its employees involved in different projects. . Objectives of the study The main objectives of our study are given below: evaluation of the present appraisal system under different schemes of allocation of workers and identifying the limitations of the fo rced ranking appraisal system; propose a new method for performance appraisal to overcome these limitations; and extensive comparison between the proposed and the existing method of performance appraisal to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed method. The next three sections address each of these objectives in turn. . Evaluation of the forced ranking performance appraisal system First, we carry out emulation studies to evaluate the performance of the existing forced ranking appraisal system. Let us consider an organization with 3,000 employees. Suppose that there are 30 projects run by the organization, and 100 employees are involved in each of these projects. For the time being, we assume that the potentials of these employees are known and they perform according to their potentials.We generate 3,000 observations from a normal distribution with mean 50 and standard deviation 10 (so that almost observation lie in the (O, 100) range) and consider them as true potentials of diff erent employees. Here we consider two different allocation schemes for assigning the employees to different projects, and we will refer to them as random allocation and extreme allocation, respectively. In random allocation, the employees are randomly assigned to different projects. In extreme allocation, employees having similar potentials are assigned to the same project.For instance, the 100 employees having the highest potentials are assigned to one project, the next 100 employees to another project and so on. In each of these two cases, we evaluate the performance of the employees involved in each project, and the grades are located to them following the bell curve system. Assume that the organization uses six different Grades A (best)-F (worst) for its employees, and in the bell curve system, the proportions of employees to receive these grades are PA h if h 1?F(2), BP h PEP h F(2)?F(1) and PC h PDP h F(1)?O. , where ? ) is the cumulative distribution function of a standard no rmal variant ( Johnson et al. , 1995). Now, one may be curious to know how FADS perform in such situations. In order to investigate this, we compute the correlation coefficient between the potentials of the employees and the grades obtained by them and use it as a measure of efficiency of the appraisal system. Same grade, we use the Sandal's t-statistic (Kendall, 1938) as an appropriate measure of correlation.Note that unlike the product moment correlation coefficient, this statistic is invariant under any monotonically increasing transformation. So, instead of normal distribution, if we generate 3,000 observations from any other distribution, the efficiency measure based on the Sandal's t-statistic will remain the same. In the case of random allocation, the existing method performed quite well, and it led to a rank correlation of 0. 716. But in the case of extreme allocation, it had drastically poor performance.The rank correlation turned out to be 0. 024. So, essentially there was no correlation between the potentials of the employees and the grades obtained by them, and the forced ranking system was as bad as random grading. Note that random allocation of workers to different projects is presumed rare in practice. Usually the employees are assigned to different projects based on their expertise, and also depending on the difficulty level of the project.Therefore, it is not so rare that the employees having higher potentials are assigned to high-end projects, and hose having relatively lower potentials are assigned to low-end projects. In such cases, the existing performance appraisal system will perform poorly, and as a result some of the high (low) potential workers will get lower (higher) grades. Being unsatisfied with the grading, some of these high-potential workers may lose motivation to work hard and some of them may leave the organization for a new Job.This is quite harmful for organizational functioning. In practice, in many cases, the allocation of the workers in an organization is somewhere between the totally random allocation and the extreme allocation. From the above discussion, it is quite transparent that in such cases, the existing appraisal system may only have a moderate performance depending on the extremity of the allocation scheme. This clearly shows the necessity to develop a new method for performance appraisal, which can have satisfactory performance even in the case of extreme allocation.We develop one such method in the next section. 4. Modification to the forced ranking performance appraisal system: a new method for performance appraisal The existing method of performance appraisal simply considers the present year's elating performance of the employees involved in the same project, and the grades are allocated to them only based on their present performance. Because of this relative grading, an employee in a high-performing team can get poor grades in spite of performing better than all other members in an average performing team.In order to overcome this limitation, here we take the previous year's grades of the employees into consideration. Suppose that there are n employees working in a particular project, and Gig is the grade obtained by the tit employee (I h 1, 2, y, n) in the previous year's appraisal. In order to develop a modified appraisal system, we assume that the individual performance of the employees may vary from their previous year's performance, but the average performance of these n employees remains almost the same. For computing this average performance, we follow the Likelier, (1932) scaling method.It is a statistical tool that converts the Grades Gig into numerical scores s(Gig) and makes it possible to calculate the mean score I h for this group of employees. Though here we assume that the performance evaluation is done once in a year, this method can be used when the evaluation cycle has shorter or larger eroticism or even when it is periodic. Let us assume tha t a company uses a total of K Grades AAA, AAA, y, AK in the appraisal system, where AAA and AK denote the highest and the lowest grades, respectively.Also assume that it puts the best performing Pl proportion of employees in AAA, the next up proportion in AAA and so on. Therefore, the worst performing PC proportion (here Pl up pep PC h 1) of employees receive the Grade AK. So, if we assume that the performance of the employees are normally distributed (this is the assumption the companies made when they adopt the bell curve system), the mean of a truncated tankard normal distribution with truncation at and above the (1 ?up)the quintile of the standard normal distribution can be used as the score function for AAA .

Creative Writing Prompts for High School Students

Creative Writing Prompts for High School Students Whether youre a student or a teacher, these writing prompts for  high school students are going to come in handy if youre looking to inspire better writing. Often, kids get stuck – confused, exasperated, irritated – putting their thoughts on paper, because theyre bored with the same old book reports, essays and summaries. But one of the only ways to become a better writer is to keep at it whether the assignment is motivational or not. Youre never going to become a better 3-point shooter if you dont stand behind the line and make the shots. Writing is the same way. You have to get in there and give it a go. Here are some writing prompts for high school students that may just inspire you or your students to give those ideas rattling around in your brain some room to breathe. 4-Item 1-Paragraph Story Come up with four things: A specific source of light (a flashing neon light reading: 21 and Over, a flickering fluorescent bulb, moonlight filtering through drawn shades)A specific object (a pink hairbrush with blonde hair matted in the bristles, a discarded replica of a Dali painting, a baby robin poking its wobbly head from a rickety nest)A sound using onomatopoeia (the pinging of a glass bottle ricocheting across a cobblestone street, the ching of a handful of coins in a mans pocket, the wet splat of phlegm hitting the sidewalk from the old lady smoking near the laundromat)A specific place (the dingy alley between Brooks St. and 6th Ave., the empty science classroom filled with glass beakers, hot plates and frogs floating in formaldehyde, the darkened, smoky interior of Flannigans Pub) Once you create the list, write a one-paragraph story using each of the four items and a single protagonist of your choosing. The story has to briefly introduce the protagonist, put him or her through a struggle (large or mild) and resolve the struggle in one way or another. Its much more fun to write if you keep the list items as random as possible and to put them all together at the end. Dont plan your story prior to creating the list! Teacher Alternative Students must write one of each list item (light, object, sound and place) on a slip of paper, and then place each in separately marked boxes on your desk. To write the story, students must draw an item from each of the boxes and write their story after, ensuring they cant plan the story prior to selecting the items. Crazy Lyrical Dialogue Go to a lyrics website and select a song randomly, preferably one youve never heard or one to which you dont know the lyrics. For instance, Fergies A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got).Then, scroll through the song and select the craziest lyric you can find that would be appropriate for school. In Fergies song, it might be What do you think, GoonRock? because its the nuttiest phrase on there.Repeat this process twice more, selecting two more songs and two more crazy lyrics.Then, start a conversation with the first lyric you selected between two people very unlikely to use the phrase. For instance, you might write something like, What do you think, GoonRock? Aunt Ida asked Bernie, sitting two wheelchairs away in Serenity Meadows Assisted Living Center.Once you get the conversation going, insert the other two lyrics elsewhere, shifting the dialogue to make sure the conversation between the two characters makes sense. Continue until you can end the conversation definitively, with a resolution that meets the needs of one of the characters. Teacher Alternative Have the students complete the first part of the assignment themselves, then exchange lyrics with people next to them so they end up with a set of three theyve never seen. Assign a dialogue length or number of exchanges and grade the punctuation. 3 Voices Choose three popular characters. They can be cartoon characters (Ren from Ren and Stimpy, Michelangelo from TMNT), protagonists from plays or novels, (Bella from the Twilight series, Benvolio from Romeo and Juliet) or characters from movies or TV shows (William Wallace from Braveheart, Jess from New Girl). Choose a popular fairy tale. (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Hansel and Gretel, etc.) Write three, one-paragraph summaries of your selected fairy tale using each of your chosen characters voices. How would William Wallaces version of Tom Thumb differ from Bella Swans? Think about the details each character would notice, the words he or she would use, and the tone in which he or she would relate the story. Bella might wonder about the safety of Tom Thumb, whereas William Wallace might commend him on his bravery, for example. Teacher Alternative After going through a novel or play with your students, assign one character from the unit to each of your students. Then, group your students in threes to write a summary of an act in the play or a chapter in the novel from each of the three  characters  perspectives.

Calling All Book Lovers

Calling All Book Lovers Calling All Book Lovers Calling All Book Lovers By Sharon This collection of book words is not for bibliophobes (book haters), but if you love books, then these are great words for you to use in writing and conversation. They all derive from the Greek biblion, which means book. If youve ever researched an essay, then you probably had to provide a bibliography a list of books or sources on your chosen topic. The term is also used for a list of works published by a particular writer or publisher and it also refers to the study of classifying literary works. Derivatives include bibliographer, bibliographic and bibliographical. A collection of books, a library or a bibliographers catalogue is known as a bibliotheca. If you suffer from bibliolatry, then its certain that you love your Bible and rely on it completely. Of course, you could also love books in general, in which case you could also you might have bibliomania. If youre a bookworm, then you are a bibliophage. There are also words for those who hoard (bibliotaphe) or steal (biblioklept) books. If you love books and also collect them, then you are probably a bibliophile, while a bibliopole is a book dealer, especially in rare books. Finally, if you use random passages from the Bible or other books to predict the future, then you are engaging in bibliomancy. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:45 Synonyms for â€Å"Food†"Gratitude" or "Gratefulness"?Charles's Pen and Jesus' Name

Interpersonal Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Interpersonal Communication - Essay Example Discourse analysis involves such aspects as small talk, talk-in-interaction and also computer-mediated communication. Small talk is a causal type of conversation which is used to break an awkward silence between two people (Goffman, 1981). Thus it is considered as a strategy in managing the interpersonal distance. This is vital as sometimes it is not ethical to be without saying anything. There are certain instances and situations in which small talk is considered appropriate. There are also some commonly used topics in small talk. Thus small talk facilitates the creation of a positive face among the people and it can have at the beginning or at the end of the conversation. Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) is described as some form of communicative transaction that occurs between two or more computers which are in a network. Basically this term has been utilized to define interactions that take place through computer-mediated formats such as e-mails, chat rooms and instant messaging (Thurlow, Lengel & Tomica, 2004). However it also involves other forms of communication such as text messaging. Research on CMC concentrates mostly on social impact of computer-supported communication technologies. CMC is a concept that has been evolving over time with the advent of technology. Sometimes there is deviation from the conventional means such as the use of audio visual technologies in contrast to the totally text based forms of communication. Analysis Discourse Analysis (DA) is a method that has been used to analyze written, spoken or signed language in any significant semiotic activity. It is a qualitative approach that has been developed by psychologists (Heritage, 1997). The objectives are; 1. Analyze natural occurring of language, which is not invented before. Related activities are Corpus linguistics and text linguistics. 2. Define coherent sequences of speech acts or sequence of statements 3. Define syntax, lexicon, style, speech act and aspects of interaction 4. Define various types of disclosures in media, education science and business Discourse analysis is begins with research questions which are not formal sense. Aim theoretical positions when preparing questionnaire (Potter, 1997). This can be a text which is deconstructive but relate to identities. Topics can be identified including men's friendships, Family background inquiries, about marriage, and so on. It identifies the theoretical orientation to understand the analysis and also try to understand themes in what people want. With the help of utterance it can be abstracted about what is being said. But there will be inconsistency and sometimes an attempt to arise blame, regular interruption of people, and so on. 1. Report collected information that can be abstracted. 2. Critique own interpretations 3. Reconsider the research question and state what theory and practice in Psychology can be applied. In normal day-today usage it could be mentioned that the term text is used exclusively to define written language, whereas discourse is used to describe spoken language exclusively. However Linguists have in recent times use the term text to define all types of utterances. A few examples of text maybe a magazine article, a television interview or a cooking recipe. Text Linguistics is defined as "the formal account of the linguistic principles governing