Experience and Other Evidence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Experience and Other Evidence - Essay Example (Ricks, 2006) Placing Ricks' findings and observations in Epicurean terms, I was able to synthesize the following argument: One could interpret America's continued occupation of Iraq as a manifestation of 'partiality', in this case toward so called national interest, which in turn translates into the interests of military contractors and oil corporations based in the country. The destruction of lives and resources on both sides is as a result of America 'troubling' itself and 'troubling' its distant and weak enemy in the form of Iraq. Further, consistent with the tenet, the invasion implies 'weakness' on part of the aggressor, more specifically a 'weakness' for material wealth (in this case fossil fuel). It is interesting to note that the wisdom of Epicurus, set out two millenniums ago, finds application in contemporary political actions as well as in an individual's personal life. In the case of the latter, I myself have been found falling short of being a 'blessed and indestructibl e being', for my occasional imprudent anger and partiality has gotten me into hot water a few times. One lingering memory in this respect is when I got into a verbal scuffle with a member of the audience during a college football game. I was slightly inebriated when my team was way behind in the game and the chance of winning was slim. At that point I over-reacted to a snide remark from a fan of the opposing team and got into a heated exchange. In retrospect I realized that though his remark was offensive it was not a defeat to my team and it did not mean anything significant. At that point I got the insight that my reaction is comparable to the way our government has conducted itself in the ongoing War on Terror... The researcher of this essay describes the element of his personal philosophy of life, regarding the dynamics of 'contentment'. Since the whole canon of Western Philosophy is centered on the causes, states and conditions of contentment, it is fair to say that contribution through this narrative is a minuscule one. Yet, the researcher would like to voice his assessment of this universal human concern and try to refine his theory through the responses it will elicit from the audience. The researcher has synthesized hispersonal experience with a larger political event and has studied them both in a philosophical framework. The researcher states that, in order for civilization to progress, parochialism and narrow-mindedness will have to be overcome by embracing principles of solidarity and compassion toward fellow humans. Bringing about this transformation at the level of nations is a highly challenging project, given the power and efficiency of propaganda systems in place. But transform ation at the individual level is more plausible. The researcher personally has endeavored to mould himself in the Epicurean fashion with reasonable success and he implores members of the audience to consider this path. By embracing this philosophy, that was discussed in the essay in details one can acquire a high degree of sophistication and refinement as a person. The researcher then concluds that it will also enable an individual to navigate challenging phases in life with equipoise, stoicism and mental tranquility.

Branding community Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Branding community - Essay Example The paper describes the concept of community branding, which is based on consumer behavior as well as the scope of the market, which refers to the variety of goods and services available within the market. Once given communities have found specific brands appealing, both consumers and the manufactures of the products stand to benefit. The consumers often benefit in the sense that they get value for their money hence are left satisfied with the goods and services that they are offered. According to (Hill, 2013), the level of wastage that is often witnessed from the consumer's end is often reduced; as they know the exact product they are to buy. The reduction of wastage according to Hill often comes out in the sense that the consumers do not often waste their funds on other goods that they do not prefer. Hill argues that in many situations, the fact that customers are left satisfied after buying a given product implies that means that the community at large always benefits as they get quality goods and services (Hill, 2013). As mentioned above, both communities and the manufacturers who are involved in the production process stand to benefit. The manufactures benefit in the sense that the brand provides name and recognition for not only the product for the company involved in the production of a specific good or the delivery of the service. Hill (2013) asserts that the aspect of a product or service being a brand is an entity that is so identifiable and makes a promise of value for the future.

PERFORMANCE AND CULTURE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

PERFORMANCE AND CULTURE - Essay Example Brecht invented and introduced the use of alienation effects in the theatre and plays. He is among the pioneer artist to develop a form of drama that has been called epic theatre in which ideas and didactic lessons are supposed to be more important and attention catching as compared with the other features and elements of the play (Frederic, 1992). Bertolt Brecht used his invented technique in many plays to attain his aim to encouraging people to think about the end, lesson and message rather focusing upon the emotions and characters. The following essay aim to discuss the way Brecht changed the traditional style in which the plays were written and staged. In this regard, the essay describes the efforts of Brecht in innovating new technique and style for the theatre and its use in his dramas. It has been unveiled that in the beginning Brecht was not completely successful to practice the alienation technique for gaining the desired results however; as his work grew mature he proved th e significance of the technique in form of several successful epic plays (Frederic, 1992). Bertolt Brecht and modernist theatre – Alienation technique and epic plays Bertolt Brecht held the firm belief that the actors should always strive to produce alienation effects in the drama in order to discard the traditional style of persuading the audiences with their characters in the play. Rather putting the audience into a trance the actors should go into the trace their selves so that they can present natural and lively performance in front of the audience. He believes that the way of speaking and the movements of the artists must be convincing and effective enough that audience can feel the real message behind the play rather getting lost in the fabrication of dialogues delivery. His dramas are considered as most importance and original work pieces in the European drama and he has widely recognized as most influential and prominent European materialist writer of the 20th century (Weber, 1984). The theatre practice of the twentieth century was heavily influenced and developed from the contributions of Brecht to the theatrical production and dramaturgy. He spent several decades in experimenting and developing the theory and practice of his epic theatre and devoted lot of time and efforts to bring something new and useful in the process of play making. He was inspired from the ideas of early theorists Erwin Piscator and Vrevolod Mayerhold regarding the use of theatre for as platform for the propagation of the political ideas. He believes that drama and theatre are medium for the transmission of ideas and thoughts and the audience should not stop thinking when the drama ends but the drama should be meaningful enough that the audience could initiate the thinking process during and after watching the drama (Willett, 1977). Brecht wants to support re-functioning of theatre in to a social use rather becoming a source of entertainment. His concentrated efforts and research work around the topic have resulted in the evolution and popularity of Brechtian theories and techniques that were widely uses in the theatre and cinematic practice. In the early days of his career in theatre and play making Brecht was more interested in doing experiments with dada and expressionism. However, as he proceeds with his work he attained maturity and new ideas and within few years he succeeded to develop a unique style of

According to Ghaye (2001) there is a growing body of knowledge which Essay

According to Ghaye (2001) there is a growing body of knowledge which suggests that reflective practice has the potential to transform who we are and we do. Dis - Essay Example This model purports that the first phase of reflection is awareness. This may be triggered by either disturbing or positive thoughts or feelings about a situation or event – which in this case is the critical incident. During the second phase of reflection, the person undertakes a critical analysis of what transpired. He draws upon his significant knowledge and experiences, and on the application of novel knowledge. Such realizations, in the form of new knowledge, are the expected output of the analysis. This entails critical thinking and self-assessment – this comes with increasing awareness about the self (Scanlon & Chernomas, 1997). The last stage is the development of a novel approach in accordance with one’s critical analysis and the implementation of novel knowledge onto the context or situation for which one has undergone the reflection. The new approach that one intends to adopt may be characterized by cognitive, attitudinal and behavioural modifications. A logical expectation would be adaptive when one considers that the person increases in his effectiveness both as a person and as a team member. Apparently, learning has transpired. In effect, this perspective of reflective learning suits a handful of theoretical models. These include that of Schon (1987) which advocates the reflective practitioner and â€Å"knowing-in-action† framework. Reflective learning journals are significant tools in translating theory into viable action, that is, praxis. Reflective learning journals have been utilized for quite some time now, specifically in the nursing and teacher education disciplines, to improve individual learning effectiveness, encompassing critical and creative thinking (Kobert, 1995; McCrindle & Christensen, 1995; Meyers & Jones, 1993). In an early application, Hahnemann (1986) had nursing undergraduates spend 10-15 minutes in class time doing their journal entries over the semester. She reported

Organisation Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Organisation Behaviour - Essay Example According to Rahmati and Fard (2012) and Sease (2013), metaphors refer to a form of speaking where one thing would be expressed in the light of another so as to describe the character of the subject. They play an important role in understanding and interpreting organisations. To bring this into perspective in this paper, two metaphors borrowed from Images of Organisation, namely, organisation as an organism and political organisation will be used to describe Apple Inc., as the chosen case organisation. Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is a multinational corporation with its headquarters in Cupertino, California dealing with designing, developing and selling personal computers, computer software and consumer electronics. The American company known for its hardware products such as Mac computers, iPhone smartphones, iPad tablet computers and iPod music players and software such as iTunes media browser and Safari web browser among others was founded by Steven Wozniak and Steven Jobs in 1976 and in corporated in the following year. In the first year of its incorporation, the firm released the first Apple computer, Apple I. Today, Fortune 500 Magazine (2012) documents Apple Inc. as the second largest information technology company globally, after Samsung Electronics, by revenue and has been ranked third largest as a mobile phone maker. In 2008 through 2012, it was documented by Fortune 500 Magazine as the most admired firm in America and globally. Going by market capitalisation, it ranks second among the largest publicly traded corporations globally with its value as of January 2013 estimated at USD 414 billion. Its 2012 annual revenue was USD 156 billion as retrieved from its website (http://www.apple.com/). The Late Steve Jobs has been widely accredited for the success that Apple Inc. enjoys today. Together with Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Computers Inc. in 1976, having both dropped out of college (Mittan, 2010). Following the success of their computers in the market, Steve Jobs and the then president, Michael Scott got entangled in power struggle. Though Scot resigned in 1981, tension continued to escalate causing Jobs to quit the company he had co-founded in 1985. NeXT, the company consequently formed by Jobs was purchased by Apple in 1996 seeing the re-entry of Jobs who later in 1997 became the CEO, steering the firm to greater achievements. In 2011, Tim Cook took up Jobs’ roles after his resignation from being the Chief Executive so as to have ample time to concentrate on his deteriorating health, but died later in the same year. Cook has since steered forward the corporation in its operations. Analysis of Apple using Morgan’s Metaphors Apple as an organism Morgan (2006) uses this organism metaphor of organisations to describe their survival through varied environments. According to Black (2003), this metaphor makes humans to view organisations as living units or organisms which must adapt to the changing environment in order to survive. In this case, Apple Inc. considered as an organism would be pegged on its evolution through varied business environments over time. On its inception in 1976, the firm started as a company dealing purely in computers. With time and due to demand, the company

Wk 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Wk 5 - Essay Example One’s own composite model for change management is as follows: (1) establish the need for change; (2) communicate the proposed change; (3) solicit participation and feedback from those to be affected by the change process; (4) develop the implementation plan; (5) monitor the change process through regular feedback; (6) incorporate significant inputs in the change process, as required; (7) institutionalize the change. These sequences of change were deemed essential because it initially provided the rationale or the need for change, which is seen as the crucial step in justifying change within the organization. Then, after communicating, the management team must enjoin participation of those to be affected by the change process to solicit inputs and minimize resistance. The rest of the steps would focus on the development of strategies for initiating and implementing change. Finally, monitoring and incorporating any significant changes within the outlined process must be include d before finally institutionalizing the change process within the organizational setting. The management skills that must be ingrained within the change management process are enforcing the functions of planning, organizing, directing and controlling these various steps. The strongest skills require addressing resistance to change by enjoining the participation of people affected by the change process. The weakest would be failure to communicate the crucial information required. Through one’s experience of organizational change, the steps identified to be crucial and best handled was communicating the need for change by providing the rationale and justifying its urgency. Apparently, the change that was proposed did not solicit inputs from the personnel and therefore forms of resistance were eminent. The management team therefore had to

Communication Between Men and Women Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Communication Between Men and Women - Essay Example Tannen, in her book entitled â€Å"You Just Dont Understand†, argues that even if boys and girls are brought up in the same house, on the same block or in the same locality, they grow up in different words or worlds. These communication differences between the two sexes begin at very early stage. According to her, these sex differences in ways of communicating are evident even in three-year-old children, about the time when language is developed. While they want to get their way, both girls and boys use language differently to do so. She explains that while little boys talk to boast, little girls often talk to be liked. Little boys make demands; little girls make requests. Little boys prolong conflict; little girls speak to build harmony. Little boys talk directly; little girls talk more indirectly. Additionally, while little boys use more actions, little girls talk more with words (Kelley, 2010). Recently, there has been the study of men and women’s communication styles scientifically and researchers as well as linguists have documented the apparent distinctions that characterize gender communication. Tannen, a well-respected linguistics scholar and professor who has carried out research and written books regarding gender communication, asserts that women and men express themselves differently and for different reasons. These differences in communication are evident during opposite gender and same gender conversation, during one-on-one and small group communications. Women and men express gender communication distinctions in style, structure and content. Women often talk about feelings, relationships and people while men most often discuss money, sports and business. Women most often express themselves/talk to connect, to understand and to support while men often talk for competition, to resolve or fix problems. While talking, women are more