Guns control Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Guns control - Research Paper Example The issue of guns can be reviewed based on a social approach, the criminal approach and the political approach. There should be stricter gun control to avoid the repeat of killings by gun owners. In the wake of shootings across America, republicans and democrats have been at it spreading their agenda about the existing gun laws. The political approach in the debate deals with the laws and political players that have a voice in the debate (MacKay 17). This approach is a key player in the debate because the decisions taken by the political leaders have a wide impact on the citizens. Democrats and republics find themselves in different sides of the debate. The pro-gun faction is strengthened by the support of the republicans who are largely doomed as conservatists. The national rifle association is also a strong force that has an association with the republicans in the pro-gun movement. The democrats are largely in support of the gun control. The key role of the government is to guarantee the citizens a high level of security. There should not be fear of attack but use of guns from other people who were let to recklessly use them because of less strict laws. The role of government in making laws that guarantee safety is very much on demand based on the statistics over the recent years. These who rally for the anti-gun control initiatives argue on the basis of individual rights to security and ownership of a weapon to keep safe. While this could be true and very worthwhile to pursue, it is imperative to consider the wider scope. The social impact of the presence of guns is significant to factor in. The second amendment does much to give freedom of owning firearms by common American citizens. While this freedom is necessary, it should be checked whether there is a significant social cause for ownership of a firearm. In times where people conduct random shootings in the streets and raid schools, there should be a concern on what the freedom

Case study Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Case study Economics - Essay Example The first term on the right hand side depicts the amount that is demanded if the product is freely available, i.e if p = 0, Qd = 100. Since, this term is oblivious to price movements, and it is the coefficient of the second term on the right hand side that actually determines the extent of influence price changes can exert on demanded quantities, the second term is relatively much more important from the aspect of decision making perspective of the suppliers in particularly deciding the price to charge. More than the direction of the relation (inverse in general), it is the exact nature of the relation reflected in the extent to which demand is influenced by price movements which is considered important in most cases and in our case specially as we are dealing with the issue of tax incidences. This extent of influence that price changes have on the quantity demanded, or in other words, the degree of responsiveness of quantity demanded to price changes is known as the price elasticity of demand. In more specific terms, the percentage change in quantity demanded due to a percentage change in price is known as the price elasticity of demand. There are two alternative ways in which we can calculate such percentage changes: Observe in this measure, the elasticity of demand is measured for a particular point only. For a different value of p in the function, we are measuring the elasticity for a different point on the demand curve1 and get different values of price elasticity. For this very reason this particular measure of price elasticity is known as ‘point price elasticity of demand’. The alternative that shows the way out of this difficulty is the ‘arc’ elasticity measure. It measures the elasticity over an arc of the demand curve using the midpoint of the arc as a reference. The p and Q values are essentially averages of their

Literature Review of Research related to Performance Appraisal

Literature Review of Research related to Performance Appraisal This chapter served as the foundation for the development of this study. An overview of the extensive historical research related to performance appraisal,as well as the theories of motivation related to performance appraisals is presented. 2.1 Performance Appraisal System 2.1.1 Meaning of performance: There are different views on what performance means. According to Brumbrach (1988, cited in Armstrong, 2000): Performance can be actions as well as their consequences. Behaviours originate from a performer and convert performance from a concept to an act. Not just the instruments for results, behaviours are also outcomes in their own right the product of mental and physical effort applied to tasks and can be judged apart from results. The above definition considers performance to be involving both the actions, in other word behaviours, taken during the process in attempting to achieve goals and outputs obtained as a result from the effort. Following this, Armstrong (2000) emphasizes the need for managers to deal with the potential of employees and accomplishments while managing performance. To determine if performance has been achieved, measures have to be developed to appraise the accomplishments and establish the rate at which it has been accomplished. Above all, performance should be about the decision and action taken with available information at any existing situation. 2.1.2 Performance Management System (PMS) Noe et al (2006) define performance management as the process through which managers ensure that employees activities and outputs are congruent with the organisations goals.The concept of performance management has contributed a lot in the development Human Resource Management in recent years. The concept was first coined by Beer and Ruh in 1976. However, it is barely in the mid 1980s that it had been accepted as a distinctive approach. Performance Management is widely being used in organizations so as to obtain the best results by trying to improve performance of the workforce. Goals and standards are being planned well beforehand in order to get satisfied outcomes. 2.1.3 Performance Appraisal System (PAS) Performance appraisal also known as performance review, formally documents the achievements of an individual with regards to set targets. It is a component of PMS. The system has become an essential management tool in todays organizations. Managing employees performance can be said to be as important as any other work that all managers execute during the year. Grote (2002) describes performance appraisal as a formal management tool that helps evaluate the performance quality of an employee. Schneier and Beatty as cited in Patterson (1987) define it as a process which apart from evaluating also identifies and develops human performance. According to Karol (1996) performance appraisal includes a communication event planned between a manager and an employee specifically for the purpose of assessing that employees past job performance and discussing areas for future improvement. 2.1.4 History of PAS The history of performance appraisal is fairly concise. Appraisal really began with the Second World War. It was used to assess results. Dulewicz (1989) says that there is an indispensable human inclination to judge the work of other people as well as ones own work.It can thus be said that appraisal is both unavoidable and universal. Even without the existence of a planned appraisal system, one can have a tendency and find it natural to evaluate the job performance of another easily and subjectively. Performance appraisal was seen in the industry in early 1800. Randell (1994) identified its use in Robert Owens use of silent monitors in the cotton mills of Scotland. The Silent monitors were in terms of blocks of wood with different colours painted on each visible side and it was hung above each employees work station. At the end of the day, the block was turned so that a particular colour, representing a grade of the employees performance, could be seen by everyone. (Weise and Buckley, 1998) Subjective evidence indicates that this practice had a facilitating influence on subsequent behavior. Spriegel(1962) and Weise and Buckley(1998) affirm that by the early 1950s, 61 per cent of organizations regularly used performance appraisals, compared with only 15 per cent immediately after World War II. DeVries et al. (1981) pointed out the primary tool to be the trait-rating system, which focused on past actions, using a standard, numerical scoring system to appraise people on the basis of a previously established set of dimensions. The main tool, used under here was trait rating system. The concept of Management by Objective (MBO) was first proposed by Peter Drucker in 1954. Mcgreror then used it in the appraisal process in the year 1957. He suggested that, employees should be appraised on the basis of short-term goals, rather than traits, which are jointly set by the employee and the manager. Weise and Buckley (1998) affirm that this method was very advantageous as it lead to a transformation of a managers role from being a judge to a helper. It also showed that employees productivity ultimately leads to performance. However, when employees performance was measured on the basis of units, then MBO was ineffective. This lead to new development in the appraisal process and the employees were evaluated on the basis of behaviour based rating. Smith and Kendall (1963) designed the first tool to focus on behaviors and it was the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS). 2.1.5 Modern Appraisal Todays performance appraisal process has evolved into a more planned and formal process. It is used as a means which helps identify and compare employees performances. The appraisals data are frequently being used to review several Human Resources decision. It can determine any need for career developments and trainings. For issues such as raise in salaries, rewards and promotions, employers are more and more making use of the appraisals results. Appraisals have now developed into a regular and intervallic system in organizations, normally carried out at least once a year. When talking about the modern approach to appraisal, the term feedback cannot be ignored. The one-to-one discussion between supervisors and subordinates gives rise to feedback and is referred to as the feedback process. This process can improve communication all through the organization but also it can reinforce employees relationships with their superiors. This is so as the workers have the feeling that they do matter to the organization and that their needs are being taken into consideration. The performance appraisal system has most likely become a future-oriented approach as it aims to improve future performances by considering present problems. 2.1.6 Purposes of PAS The most known purpose of performance appraisal is to improve performance of individuals. Cummings and Shwab (1973) held that performance appraisal has basically two important purposes, from an organizational point of view and these are: 1. The maintenance of organizational control 2. The measurement of the efficiency with which the organizations human resources are being utilized. Still, there are also a variety of other declared purposes for appraisal as per Bratton and Gold (2003) and Bowles and Coates (1993) and some are; improving motivation and morale of the employees, clarifying the expectations and reducing the uncertainty about performance, determining rewards, identifying training and development needs, improving communication, selecting people for promotion, discipline, planning corrective actions and setting targets. Furthermore, Bowles and Coates (1993) conducted a postal survey of 250 West Midland companies in June 1992, where organizations were asked questions pertaining to the use of Performance management in the organization. These questions included the apparent purpose of PA in the management of work, its strengths and weaknesses. Through their survey they found out that PA was beneficial in the following ways: PA was favorable in developing the communication between employer and employee It was useful in defining performance expectations It helped identified training needs. Performance appraisal can thus be used as an effective tool to improve employees job performance by identifying strengths and weaknesses, meeting of targeted goals and providing training if needed. 2.1.7 Techniques of PAS There are several commonly used techniques of performance appraisal as reviewed by Oberg (1972). They are as follows: Essay Appraisal, Paired Comparison, Graphic Review Scale, Weighted Checklist, Person to Person Rating, Forced Ranking, Critical Incidents. The above techniques were the traditional ones but the methods most widely used today are: Management by Objectives Employees are requested to put up their own performance objectives. They are then judged through these objectives by verifying whether they were satisfied or not. However, in many cases organizations themselves set their standards and goals even after consulting employees. 360 Degree Feedback 360 Degree Feedback is a process in which employees receive private and anonymous feedback from the people who work around them. Kettley (1997) says that when an individual receives feedback from different sources of the organization, including peers, subordinate staff, customers and themselves, the process is called 360 degree feedback or appraisal. The employee is then assessed using those received feedback 2.1.8 Feedback Feedback about the effectiveness of an individuals behavior has long been recognized as essential for learning and for motivation in performance-oriented organizations. Ilgen et al.(1979) stated that feedback is considered as an important tool in performance appraisalprocess. Feedback can be a useful tool for development, especially if it is specific and behaviorally oriented, as well as both problem-oriented and solution-oriented according to Murphy and Cleveland (1995). One of the basic purposes of formal appraisal process is the provision of clear and performance based feedback to employees. Carroll and Scheiner(1982) affirmed that some organisations use feedback as a development tool,while in some organizations it is used for merit evaluation and compensation adjustment. McEvoy and Buller(1987),Wohlers and Gallagher( 1990) contributed that feedback is very essential for the employees because it forms a baseline for the employees which help them to get a review of their past perfo rmance and chance to improve their skills for the future. Ashford (1986) says that when feedback is considered as a valuable resource, then only the individuals feel motivated to seek it, which helps in reducing uncertainty and provides information relevant to self-evaluations. There is also evidence that performance feedback (if given appropriately) can lead to substantial improvements in future performance (Guzzo et al., 1985; Kopelman, 1986; Landy et al., 1982) Fedor et al. (1989); Ilgen et al. (1979) identified that it is commonly accepted that negative feedback is perceived as less accurate and thus less accepted by recipients than positive feedback.Furthermore, Fedoret al. (1989) found that negative performance appraisal feedback was less accepted and perceived as less accurate than positive performance appraisal feedback. 2.1.9Views Organisations Employees have on P.A.S Evans (1986) asserts that many employees believe that their promotion or salary increments depend mostly on their performance. Employees therefore are in a dilemma and consider this situation as survival of the fittest. They know for a fact that, their performance will only be taken into consideration at the end of the day. So, in order to grow in the company they need to be proactive towards their work. The feedback the employee receives from his superior, may simply describe the level of performance achieved. Hence, it becomes important for the managers to conduct the appraisal technique correctly. Employees can only accept criticism if it is useful and important to them. Managers should therefore know how to give information regarding progress made in performance and how to present criticism as well. Meyer et.al (1965) carried out a study in General Electric Company where certain points relating to performance feedback was highlighted. In this study, 92 employees were appraised by their managers on two occasions over two weeks. The study was carried out using questionnaires, interviews and observation. The first appraisal highlighted performance and salary while the second one underlined performance and improvement. It was observed that lots of criticisms were pointed out by the managers, which lead to defensive behaviour of the employees. The conclusion of the study was that criticism leads a negative impact on the motivation and performance of the employees. Also feedback sessions designed to improve performance should not at the same time consider salary and promotion issues. Ilgenet. al (1979) add that employees who believe that the appraisal system is under any kind of bias, are most likely to be dissatisfied by their work and can also leave their jobs. On the other hand Murphy and Cleveland highlighted one possible reason for the widespread dissatisfaction with performance appraisal in organization as the systems used by these help neither them nor their employees in meeting the desired goals. Landy et al. (1978), Klasson et al. (1980), and Tang and Sarsfield-Baldwin (1996) found evidence that the assignment of raters influences perceptions of fairness and accuracy in performance appraisals and hence about the whole process itself. Nevertheless, according to Jacobs, KafryZedeck (1980) employees perceive PA to give them a proper understanding of their duties and responsibilities towards the organization. Likewise, organization sees it as a tool to assess employees on a common ground and one which helps in salary and promotions decisions, training and development programs. In many circumstances appraisal plans are interpreted by managers as a system that helps an organization to change regular priorities and usual ways of working and in so doing to alter its strategic direction. Hence, in circumstances where change cannot be attained by managerial proclamation, appraisal takes on the character of an engine of change. When managers look at appraisal from this angle they hope that it will bring about a change in strategic direction and organizational behaviour. Researchers have suggested that reaction to performance appraisal is critical to the acceptance and use of a performance appraisal system (Bernardin Beatty, 1984; Cardy Dobbins, 1994; Murphy Cleveland, 1995). Reactions may even contribute to the validity of a system (Ostroff, 1993). Cardy and Dobbins (1994) suggest that with dissatisfaction and feelings of unfairness in process and inequity in evaluations, any performance appraisal system will be doomed to failure (p. 54). Murphy and Cleveland (1995) stated that reaction criteria are almost always relevant, and an unfavorable reaction may doom the carefully constructed appraisal system. 2.1.10Benefits of PAS Possibly the most important benefit of appraisal is that, in the rush and pressure of todays working life, it allows the supervisor and subordinate to have time out for a one-on-one discussion of indispensable work problems that might not otherwise be addressed. Likewise, the existence itself of an appraisal system indicates to employees that the organization is genuinely concerned with their individual performances and advancement. This only can have a positive impact on the employees sense of worth, commitment and belonging. Appraisal offers the rare chance to focus on employment activities and objectives, to spot and correct existing problems and to enhance favorable future performance. Thus the performance of the whole organization is improved. Performance appraisal usually provides employees with acknowledgment for their work efforts, if any and as a result it brings them satisfaction. Actually, there are facts supporting that human beings will even prefer negative recognition in rather than no recognition at all. During performance appraisals, feedbacks are obtained. These provide vital information on whether training and development needs should be considered. The presence or lack of working skills, for example, can become very obvious. The supervisor and subordinate can thus agree upon any demand for training. As far as the organization is concerned, the overall appraisal results can provide a regular and efficient training needs audit for the organization as a whole. The information obtained from appraisals can also give indication on an organizations recruitment and selection practices. This can be done by screening the performance of recently hired workers. The general quality of the workforce can also be monitored by assessing any improvement or decline performances. Changes if needed in the recruitment strategies can then be considered. 2.1.11Criticisms related to P.A.S There are several problems in the actual performance appraisal primarily due to rater bias. Some supervisors are too lenient and thus have a tendency to rate all employees positively rather than really measuring their performance. Another problem is the central tendency where supervisors position the majority of the employees in the center of the performance scale, even though they deserve a better or worse grade. The halo effect is another error usually made during appraisals. This arises when a supervisors general feeling about an employee influences the overall judgment. Performance appraisal systems are at times criticized for weaknesses in the system design itself. Sometimes they assess the wrong behaviours or consequences, or focus on employees personality instead of on their work performances. Very often standards for appraising employees are not related to the work itself. As a consequence employees may not likely be interested in such a system where performance standards are unsuccessful in highlighting important aspects of the jobs. Some organizations founds that PAS is a constant cause of tension, since evaluative and developmental concerns come often into disagreement. It is said that the appraisal can serve only one of them at a time. Also they find it dehumanize and demoralize to pass on judgments which then become source of apprehension and stress to employees. Many researchers such as Derven (1990) expressed doubts about the effectiveness and dependability of the appraisal process. Some found the process to be imperfect in nature. Moreover, Gabris Mitchell found a disturbing bias in the appraisal process called the Matthew Effect. It is said to take place in cases where employees keep on receiving the same evaluation each year. This denotes that there is the belief that if an employee has work well, he or she will continue on that pace. The Matthew Effect advocates that even if employees struggle to do well, their past appraisal reports will discriminate their future progress. Accuracy is important in appraisals. However for raters to appraise employees accurately, they should give unbiased results. Unfortunately accurate ratings are quite impossible as researchers affirm that personal liking, look, former impressions, gender and race will certainly manipulate appraisals, that is, there will always be some kind of biasness. 2.1.12Conclusion about PAS There are various schools of beliefs as to the validity and reliability of performance appraisals. While Derven (1990) doubts about its dependability, Lawrie (1990) finds it to be the most important aspect of organizations. A recent survey concluded that more than fifty per cent of the workforce wishes that their supervisors list the performance objectives much more specifically and clearly. The same survey revealed that 42 per cent of the employees were rather disappointed their organisations performance appraisal system. Many supervisors make the wrong use of appraisal. They use it as a punitive tool rather than helping their subordinates to improve their performance and overcome work problems. According to Shelley Riebel, as in the Detroit News (April 11, 1998) often managers are unsuccessful to explain what they really expect from their employees and fail to well describe the criteria used for assessing their performance. The data obtained during the appraisal process should be wisely used and considered. Still, for performance appraisal to be successful, it is important to carry it out on a regular and consistent basis. This will allow supervisors to follow and review employees work. Raters often make the mistake of emphasizing too much on mistakes committed by the employees. Rather, if ever some problem is spotted by the supervisor, the issue should be discussed with the employee concerned and both should try work on a solution. 2.2 Motivation Performance Appraisal System 2.2.1 Introduction to Motivation Motivation can be defined as the driving force that moves us to pursue a certain goal, or trigger a particular action. It can be considered as the desire within a person causing him or her to act. People generally act for a motive and that is to achieve a specific objective. Two main types of motivation have been noted, namely intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation comes from the inner self while extrinsic motivation arises when external factors require one to perform something. According to Passer and Smith (2004) the concept motivation refers to a course of action that influences the determination, direction and dynamism of goal-directed behaviour. Similarly, Kreitner and Kinicki (2007) assert that motivation represents psychological practices that stimulate voluntary actions. In the work context, as confirmed by Coetsee (2003), motivation entails the readiness of individuals and groups to put much effort so as to achieve organizational goals. From the above, it can be construed that there exists no single and general definition for motivation. Yet, Boje and Rosile (2004) regard motivation as an authoritarian ideology, a way to manipulate performance and where visions of self-actualisation need gratification. This view might be too negative to consider, but the rise in capitalism has been driven by high concentration motivation programmes which sometimes turn employees into production machines. 2.2.2 Motivation and P.A.S in Organisation Today Motivation can be the key to a successful organization. It is often claimed that the best businesses have the best motivated workers. Well motivated employees are said to be more productive and perform quality work. It remains however one of the most challenged tasks for managers to motivate their staffs as everyone is unique. A supervisor should strive to tie in the companys goals together with the employees individual goals through performance management. Moreover, the whole performance appraisal process and its result can affect an employees motivation. As highlighted by Cummings and Swabs (1973), employees performance is the outcome of the employees motivation to perform. In an organisational context, the performance is appraised by assessing the employees aptitudes and potentials to achieve the set goals. 2.2.3 Theories of Motivation related to P.A.S 2.2.3.1 Edwin Lockes Goal Setting Theory A main element for efficiently coaching employees is by using goal setting. Edwin Locke (1968) introduced the Goal Setting Theory whereby employees get motivated to work for the organisation when they are given specific and pronounced goals to achieve. This theory emphasizes that hard goals produce a higher level of performance than easy goals. Secondly, particular hard goals produce higher level of output and lastly, behavioural intentions lead to choice behaviour. Many, who study the relationship between performance and motivation in organizations, will agree that goal-setting and explanation creates confidence in the workers. By clearly explaining the meaning of the goals, employees will have a clear view on what the organization wants to achieve. Coetsee (2003) affirms that the most performing workers are goal-directed. Set goals allow employees to accomplish organisational vision, aims and strategic objectives. The assumption made here is that when people recognise and understand what is expected from them and how they are to be met, they will be motivated to achieve them within the time-limit. With regard to coaching, goal-setting theory has been used more than any other as a framework to motivate employees to improve their performance. The early work of Maier (1958) and Meyer et al. (1965) emphasized goal setting in the appraisal process. In a study, Latham et al. (1978) found that consistent with the theorys predictions, employee participation in setting the goals resulted in higher performance than assigning them, not because of greater goal commitment, but rather due to high goals being set. According to Dossett et al. (1979), a similar result was observed with Weyerhaeusers word processing employees. Goals and objectives set by the employers and employees should be discussed regularly. Erez (1977) asserted that for difficult goals to result in high performance, sufficient feedback is very important. 2.2.3.2 Behaviour Maintenance Model (BMM) Cummings and Swabs presented the Behaviour Maintenance Model (BMM) to illustrate how people are motivated to perform efficiently in an organisation. This model emphasises on the significance of outcomes in the motivational process. Fig.1: Behavior Maintenance Model This framework shows that goal aspirations results in goal attainment and motivation. When goal attainment is achieved by the employee, it leads to job satisfaction which in turn leads the employee to become motivated. 2.2.3.3 Victor Vrooms Expectancy theory Expectancy theory is an idea that was introduced by Victor Vroom. The theory as explained by KreitnerKinicki (2007) is based on the assumption that people are motivated to act in ways that will be followed by valued and desired outcomes. The theory says that an employee might be motivated when there is a belief that a better performance will result in a good performance appraisal which will help in the realization of personal goals. The theory focuses on motivation as the combination of valence, instrumentality and expectancy. Valence is the value of the alleged result. Instrumentality is the point of view of an individual whether he or she will really obtain what they want. It shows that successful act will eventually lead to the desired result. Expectancy refers to the different level of expectations as well as confidence regarding ones capability. Employees believe that these create a motivational force and this force can be represented by the formula: Motivation = Valence x Expec tancy The theory focuses on three things: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Efforts and performance relationship à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Performance and reward relationship à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Rewards and personal goal relationship 2.2.4 Conclusion: Performance Appraisal as Motivator? From the above reviews, it can be seen that no such research has been done to show if performance appraisal really acts as a motivator to employees. Bratton and Gold (2003) and Bowles and Coates (1993) claimed motivation to be one of the purposes of appraisals. It remains unconditional to know whether performance appraisal has a role to play in employees motivation. The research will therefore try to answer the following research questions: Does the Performance Appraisal System affect employees motivation? Does the system affect more a specific category of employees? How do employees perceive the PAS at the MRA? How do employees perceive feedback? Does the level of importance given to the system directly affect the employees motivation? Does the trust put on the appraiser influences the employees motivation?

The Harlem Renaissance, Jazz and Billie Holiday Essay -- Billie Holida

The Harlem Renaissance, Jazz and Billie Holiday In Harlem, the people sit on their front porches in protest of the summer Sunday sun, fanning themselves with the morning paper as the day slides away. Out on the streets, neighbors call to each other. A woman’s voice is audible from an open window, singing nonsensically as she scrubs. Her melodies tumble out the window and intertwine with the trembling harmonica rising from the heat of the pavement and venture into the store on the corner. The boisterous laughter of men on the porch mixes with the skip of the jump rope slapping the sidewalk and the shrieking of children. All the faces on the streets, inside the houses, and emitting the shrieks are not the same ones to be found along Fifth Avenue, across town. This small portion of Manhattan is entirely black, except when the sun sets. Dusk somehow radiates calm to the slightly jittery Whites that pour into the city for an evening of entertainment. Only in darkness is when the Whites feel safer in making the pilgrimage to Harlem. Differentiating skin color isn’t a chore when pedestrians are only a possibility-- when the sun doesn’t make lightness or darkness so apparent. People parade into the city dressed up to the nines, out to hear the latest style of music, dance the latest dance, or see the latest revue. Creation spewing from this cultural Mecca is insatiably sought after and people of all ethnicities wish to embrace it as their own. High heels and wingtips carry stocking feet into various downtown dumps and dives for a change of pace, clamoring for Black artists to whom they would never give the time of day if the sun were out. Yet the patience of nighttime is incontestable. The rhythms and rhymes coinciding with th... ... to break into show business at all. The great "Lady Day" lived her whirlwind life, making decisions that would have made any mother’s head spin. But her unbelievable life helped pave the way for other Black female artists, so that they had a strong female example that didn’t back down in the face of Racial and Sexist tensions and worked so hard to overcome them that the stress was too much, and she sought solace in narcotics because the pressure was too great. Today, the legacy of Billie Holiday lives on. People are continuously intrigued by her life, inspired by her music, and impressed with the difficulties she faced. Armed with her music, Billie Holiday faced the world on the offensive, constantly battling those who presented her with obstacles. Though she did not fight flawlessly, her ambitions and her dreams carried her through life as best they could.

Hypermarket Impact on Small Retailer

ABSTRACT Kedai runcit or sundry shops have been a standard feature of our housing estate landscape ever since there were housing estates. These mom-and-pop operations have been selling to their surrounding residents everyday essentials such as groceries, fresh produce, poultry, toiletries, etc. Their reasonable price and close distance have made them popular among residents of the housing estates in which they are located. Lately, though, their popularity has been on the decline due to competition from wholesale markets or hypermarkets which can offer the same items cheaper and conveniently under one roof.Local and foreign-bred hypermarkets such as Giants, Tesco and Carrefour have been invading our towns, big and small, leaving the traditional sundry shops fighting for their business. Many of these small-scale individually-owned shops have since closed their operations permanently or moved them a little further outskirt of town, away from the hypermarket catchment. Just how serious i s the impact of these hypermarkets on the operation of the sundry shops has so far not been fully investigated in Malaysia although many studies have been carried out elsewhere.Thus, this paper presents a study that has been carried out by the authors to investigate how serious the impact is in Johor Bahru. A sample of three hypermarkets was chosen for this study. Using GIS, we spatially showed the annual changes in the density of sundry shop licenses issued by the local authority within the catchment of each hypermarket, three years before as well as three years after the inaugural date of the hypermarket. Also using GIS, we corroborated the decline in the number of sundry shops within the surrounding housing estates with the residing addresses of the surveyed customers of the hypermarkets.The results obtained confirmed that the operation of hypermarkets does contribute to the decline in the number of sundry shops and the degree of the decline decreases radially outward from the lo cation of the hypermarkets. The findings from this study suggest that some rethinking needs to be done about the manner in which hypermarket licenses, or sundry shop licenses for that matter, are issued. Even our current policy of allowing a certain percentage of new housing development to be set aside for shoplots may also need to be reviewed.Keywords: Hypermarkets, sundry shops, GIS spatial analysis 1. INTRODUCTION Kedai runcit or a sundry shop is any shop that sells groceries and other daily items directly to its customers in small quantity (Osman, 1988). Normally, sundry shops are owned by individuals or shared by several individuals and offer limited number of items and quantity. In Malaysia one can find sundry shops in almost every housing estates and villages and they normally have a limited cathment area.A hypermarket, in contrast, is a big-scale retail store that offers a variety of goods and services all conveniently under one roof (Duncan, Hollander and Savitt, 1983). A h ypermarket commands a wide catchment area and it is normally owned by big companies who have numerous branches of the hypermarkets in many places. Among the more-popular chains of hypermarket operating in Malaysia are the locally-owned Giant Hypermarkets, and foreign-owned Tesco Hypermarkets and Carrefour Hypermarkets.Like in any modern country, hypermarkets in Malaysia have been expanding their operation to meet the demand of current generation for quality, convenience, product variety and long operation hours (Malaysian Ninth Plan, 2006). However, there are ever growing concern on the negative impacts of hypermarkets on the business of nearby neighborhood sundry shops (Johor Structure Plan 2002-2020, 2005). This is supported by Bennison & Davies (1980) and Seiders & Tigert (2000) whose study concluded that a hypermarket did have a negative impact on the growth of small sundry shops in the area.In spite of the same concern in Malaysia, there have been no study to investigate the sp atial extent of the impact. Thus, a study was set up by the authors to investigate the spatial extent of the impact and also to find out the factors that attract customers to hypermakets, leaving their neighborhood sundry shops struggling for business. 2. OBJECTIVES The objective of the study was to spatially investigate the impact of a hypermarket on the operation of the surrounding sundry shops.In order to achieve the objectives the following tasks needed to be carried out: 1) identifying the suitable samples of hypermarkets; 2) identifying the market catchment of the hypermarkets; 3) collection of data pertaining to the number of business licenses issued to sundry shop operators within the catchment areas three years before as well as three years after the operation of the hypermarkets; 4) identifying factors that influence the decisions by the customers to shop at these hypermarkets.The method used to conduct the study is discussed in details in the following section. 3. METHOD The first step of the study was to choose a number of hypermarkets as units of analysis. Among the criteria taken into consideration in choosing the hypermarkets were: 1) the year they were opened for business to ensure that the chosen hypermarkets have been operating for at least three years; 2) the distances between each other to avoid overlapping of the market catchments; and 3) the types of goods sold at the hypermarkets so that they match those sold at the neighborhood sundry shops.Of the total of about ten hypermarkets in the City of Johor Bahru, three hypermarkets met these criteria and were chosen for the study. The three hypermarkets were from a locallygrown hypermarket chain known as Giant Hypermarket that are located in Southern City (in Johor Bahru City Centre), in Plentong and in Skudai (10km outskirt of Johor Bahru) (Refer Figure 1. 0). These three hypermarkets served a number of residential areas, known in Malaysia as taman perumahan or housing estates, located betwee n 0 – 20km surrounding them.The next step was the distribution of questionaire sets to 200 customers per hypermarket (100 during weekday and 100 during weekend) containing questions concerning their home addresses and the reasons for choosing to shop at the hypermarkets. Their home addresses were then inputted into the city plan in GIS format to dertermine the extent of each hypermarket’s cathment area. One way to measure the impact of a hypermarket on the neighborhood sundry shops is to actually count the number of sundry shops that are in business several years before and after the hypermarket is in operation.This is difficult to conduct since the monitoring would take as long as the number of years that we are interested in investigating. One way to expedite the process is to actually study the records of the number of annual business licenses issued to sundry shops and assume that each sundry shop that holds such license is actually operating a sundry shop. On this basis, the number of business licenses issued to sundry shops within three years before and after a hypermarket was in operation were obtained from the local authority (Johor Bahru Tengah Municipal Council).The locations of the business premises of these licenses were then plotted on the city map and then rasterised into a 50m grid format to give a density of sundry shop licenses per fifty square meters for each of the three years before and after the operation of the hypermarkets. The changes in the sundry shop density were then used to explain the impact of the hypermatkets on the business of the sundry shops. 2. Impact on Neighbourhood Sundry ShopsIf most of the customers that patronize these hypermarkets come from the surrounding housing estates as described previously, what is the impact on the sundry shops within those housing estates? The least impact would be slowing down of business for these neighborhood sundry shops while the worst impact would be closing down of busines s. While business slowdown can be investigated, this study only looked at the closing down of business by tracking the number of sundry shop licenses issued annualy by the local authority.Since the impact normally materializes a few years after the opening of a hypermarket, records of licenses three years before and after the opening of the hypermarket were inventoried. Changes in the number of sundry shops were investigated by studying the changes in the density of sundry shop licenses for every 50m2 area surrounding each hypermarket. This is done spatially in GIS by rasterising the 50m2 area into grids and varying the color of the grids according to the number of licenses within the grids for each particular year. Figures 5. 0 – 7. show the annual changes in the density of licenses within the grids for all the three hypermarkets studied. In general, the figures show the decreasing trend in the densities of sundry shops even before the opening of these hypermarkets except fo r the Plentong Giant Hypermarket. The decreasing number of sundry shops surrounding the Southern City Hypermarket (Figure 5. 0) could be attributed to competition among themselves and the operation of another hypermarket chain at the very building occupied by the Giant Hypermarket before it took over the operation.Meanwhile the decreasing number of sundry shops surrounding the Skudai Hypermarket (Figure 7. 0) could be attributed to the opening of another Giant Hypermarket just 4km away the year before the Skudai Hypermarket opened, apart from competition among themselves. The number of sundry shops surrounding the Plentong Hypermarket (Figure 6. 0) on the other hand was on the increase prior to the opening of the hypermarket. Investigation revealed that this was due to the opening of several new housing estates in the area which normally, as the case is in Malaysia, come with a number of shoplots.

Mise-En-Scene Essay

Forrest Gump For over a century now, individuals have been flocking to witness the magic of motion pictures. It is a world made possible by a director and a dream. Unbeknownst to many, the making of a motion picture is a tedious event, involving scripts, takes, re-takes, and an abundance of post-production editing. Many people sit and enjoy a movie without realizing the complexities and the amount of individuals involved in creating the film. These individuals create the landscapes and backboards for us, the ultimate image also known as the mise-en-scene. My favorite film of all time is Forrest Gump. Forrest Gump will go down in history as one of the greatest films ever made. This film was nominated for thirteen Academy Awards, and took home six of them. This is in part because of the phenomenal cast and crew members involved in the production of this film; individuals such as the director, cinematographer, and art director, to the actors, sound people, and most importantly the editor, who pulled everything together and created the final cut. All of these plus additional elements such as sound, style, societal impact, genre, and film criticism make the film such a masterpiece. In this paper I will go into detail about these elements and as to why they add character and zest to the overall success of the film. Forrest Gump is a film that draws out every emotion that is available to the viewer; at times it draws empathy, as well as sympathy and sadness because of the real-life elements that are a part of the plot. The film is also loaded with irony and many opportunities to laugh at the naivety of the main character, Forrest Gump. Forrest Gump is a story about an â€Å"Unusual man doing unusual things† (Groom, 1996, pg. v). As a result of how fantastic the film was, and how great the crew and cast were, Forrest Gump was nominated for thirteen Oscars at the Academy; which is a highly prestigious honor. Almost all elements of this film were up to be recognized. The list of elements that won an Oscar: best actor, best director, best effects (visual effects), best film editing, best picture, and best writing. However, the list goes on even further when me ntioning the additional ones that were nominated but did not win. This would include: best supporting actor, best art direction-set decoration, best cinematography, best effects (sound effects), best make-up, best music, and best sound (Dirks, 2010). Every one of these elements is crucial to the popularity and overall success of this film. What I plan to take notice of first is the director, Robert Zemeckis. Robert has led a successful career of directing many blockbuster hit movies. Movies such as the Back to the Future trilogy, Cast Away, Contact, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, just to name a few. It is no wonder why Robert is such a successful and well-known name in Hollywood. Robert is a director that continually makes great films that have recurring actors, Tom Hanks being one of these actors. The style of storyline that Robert chose to use in this film is mostly in chronological order; however, the story is narrated by Forrest in the future, so the story also has moments of incongruous editing. The text states that incongruous editing is when a film jumps around in time (Goodykontz & Jacobs, 2011). You see ’future’ Forrest is telling the story of his life to numerous people who are sitting next to him at the bus stop. The story that he tells is in chronological order, basically catching up to where he is at that moment, at the bus stop. I highly enjoyed this approach that the director used; the story would continually flip back to ‘future’ Forrest as the movie went on. I believe that the movie would have been dull, had it not been from the perspective of Forrest in the future. Excitement is added by the way that he remembers the events in his life, and how even today he is still excited about them. This movie was adapted from the book of the same name, written by Warren Groom and the screenplay was written by Eric Roth. Although much of the story was changed, between the book and the film, it still remains based on the book. This is a story of a man who is highly naive, some would say slightly mentally challenged, who travels the world and is involved with many political events that occurred from the 1960’s to 1990’s. He faces hardships and overcomes adversity. In the final scenes devastating news is given to Forrest; the conclusion in this movie really pulls the whole movie together and makes it very satisfying. The exposition of this movie is right out the box with this film. It starts with a feather floating high in the shy aimlessly, drifting down towards the ground. At first the audience thinks nothing of it, however, as we later on see, this feather floating and landing on the ground in front of a dingy, worn pair of running shoes, is a symbol of the story. It is a symbol of the life of Forrest Gump, a man who drifts everywhere and becomes a part of many cultural events. We then come to realize that Forrest is a little slow and does not perceive the world as the majority of people do; with this we find a lot of verbal irony on Forrest’s behalf. The set-up is that Forrest is pushed away by his peers except a little girl named Jenny. Forrest is the protagonist in this film and his friend Jenny is the antagonist. Goodykoontz and Jacobs describe a protagonist as the main character in a movie; they also describe the antagonist as the character in conflict with the main character (Goodykontz & Jacobs, 2011). Forrest is highly conservative, and Jenny is an outright liberal. As the story goes on, Jenny becomes more and more rebellious towards society’s standards. The confrontation is that Forrest is forever seeking to save Jenny, and to get her to conform to the way of life that he lives. However, Jenny is highly rebellious and wants to live the unhealthy lifestyle that she lives. Jenny was abused as a child and she lives very domineering to the men in her life, and since Forrest is good, she pushes him away, because all she knows is destruction. The conclusion brings everything to a head. This is where Forrest goes to Jenny’s house where she lays on him that she has a son and it is his. This is where it gets all fuzzy, emotionally, because we find out that finally Jenny is settling down and accepting Forrest and his conservative ways. However, in the final moments of the film the story turns sad and Jenny dies of an unknown illness; which leaves Forrest to care for his son that he previously knew nothing about. The main character in this movie, Forrest, is played by Tom Hanks, who is a career veteran of great movies; he is a wild card actor because he is able to play various types of roles (Goodykontz & Jacobs, 2011). There are a couple of secondary actors, Jenny, played by Robin White; Lieutenant Dan Taylor, played by Gary Sinise; and Benjamin Buford â€Å"Bubba† Blue, played by Mykelti Williamson; all of these actors would be classified as character actors, because they have been in other various films, but were always secondary characters (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). Sally Field is also in this film as Forrest’s mother, but the audience does not see too much of her. Tom Hanks won an Oscar for his grand performance in Forrest Gump. He also won many other prestigious awards such as a Screen Actors Guild award, a Golden Globe, a Kansas City Film Critics award, and an American Comedy award. Robin White and Gary Sinise were nominated for a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award, but neither won. The cinematographer in this film is a man by the name of Don Burgess. Don was also the cinematographer in other Robert Zemeckis films, such as Contact, Cast Away, and The Polar Express (the latter two films had Tom Hanks in them). The cinematographer in a film is the one who directs the camera and chooses what kind of shot will take place, whether it be a long shot, a close-up, or somewhere in between. They also control the lighting and determine what will be best for each particular scene. The cinematographer designs the mise-en-scene. In the beginning we see a medium shot of a feather floating in the wind; the feather then lands on the ground which the cinematographer uses an extreme close-up of the feather and Forrest’s sneakers. Following this the camera zooms out and moves up to display Forrest sitting on a bus stop bench, next to a woman, as he is commenting about her shoes. This series of events and different shots really adds to the zest of the film. Right off we can hear Forrest’s manner of speaking, in addition to the way that he perceives the world. Another scene that I would like to point out is when Forrest is in Vietnam, and he finds Bubba shot. In this scene the cinematographer uses a lot of close-up shots of Forrest and Bubba. I believe this is to hype up the dramatics of the situation. However, a few moments later Forrest picks up Bubba and runs with him out of the jungle. In this scene the cinematographer uses an extreme long shot; the scene lasts a full 25 seconds, which is a long time for a shot in a movie (Goodykontz & Jacobs, 2011). In this scene, Forrest and Bubba start from far away as they exit the jungle, it continues to progress until finally they run past the camera. This is a very important scene in the film where Bubba eventually dies. The cinematographer did an excellent job of capturing the planes overhead bombing, while Forrest is trying to save his friend. This scene is very meaningful. The editor of this film is Arthur Schmidt. An editor is the person who pieces all the appropriate shots into the final cut, basically rearranging the story into a plot (Goodykontz & Jacob, 2011). Arthur Schmidt won an Academy Award for his stupendous work in this film. There was a ton of post-production done on this film. There was a scene where Forrest meets, President John F. Kennedy, the visual effects team along with the editor made this scene possible; since John F. Kennedy is currently diceased. Another scene takes place where Forrest is running rom some boys because they are chasing him down. In this scene Forrest is wearing leg braces, but there is a moment when Forrest begins breaking out of the braces, while he is running. The editor slows this scene down and closes in on Forrest’s legs, in order to emphasize him breaking out of the bondage that the braces caused. This is a pivotal scene, it is the prelude to the rest of the movie where Forrest is constantly on the move; his legs are a way for him to escape. In addition, this scene is full of direct cuts and jump cuts. A jump cut is when there is an obvious jump in the action during a transition, and a direct cut is when one shot instantly takes over for another shot (Goodykontz & Jacobs, 2011). The various elements that the editor used were simply fantastic; it is no wonder why he won an Oscar for this film. There are many moments in this film where all types of sound are utilized, specifically sound effects and music. Each of these effects boosts the emotional value of scenes. There is a scene where Forrest is getting on the school bus for the first time. He is having trouble finding a seat because all of the students are denying him there seat. All of a sudden he hears the voice of a little girl saying, â€Å"you can sit hear†. During this scene, sentimental music plays in the background, simply adding emotional value to what Tom Hanks is saying. Forrest says to the woman on the bench next to him, as he is narrating the scene, that he finds it, â€Å"amazing what a young man recollects,† how he doesn’t, remember many of his ‘firsts’, but he cannot forget the first time he heard Jenny’s voice, he says that, â€Å"she was like an angel† (Finerman, Tisch, & Newirth, 1994). In addition to the music, every sound other than dialogue was a sound effect that was added post-production. This film was also recognized for its phenomenal soundtrack. In some movies songs are intentionally written for that particular movie, but in Forrest Gump these are previously existing songs that the director thought would fit the tone or mood of the particular scene(s) (Goodykontz & Jacobs, 2011). It is the soundtrack of the 60’s, filled with political songs such as â€Å"For What it’s Worth,† by Buffalo Springfield, and â€Å"Fortunate Son,† by Creedance Clearwater Revival. It also contained songs suitable for the action that was taking place, like â€Å"Sloop John B,† by The Beach Boys, while Forrest is in Vietnam. The song mentions the lyrics, â€Å"This is the worst trip I’ve ever been on,† and, â€Å"I feel so broke up, I wanna go home, let me go home,† these lyrics seem highly fitting for the scenario that the troops were in. The soundtrack won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. In our text it quotes that, â€Å"even though we go to films to be entertained†¦movies are something more than that†¦they are also historical documents that help us see—and perhaps more fully understand—the world in which they are made† (Goodykontz & Jacobs, 2011). Forrest Gump touched on a lot cultural events and stigmas. First off is that Forrest is disabled and still was able to do more than most people who are not disabled do in their life. In addition, Forrest saw all people as equal, no matter what skin color they had. He also gave money to Bubba’s family, even though Bubba had died before Forrest created the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Forrest gave Bubba’s half of the profits to Bubba’s remaining family. Bubba gave Forrest the idea and Forrest was paying due to his lost friend, through his family. This is something that he definitely did not have to do. He stands for anyone who has ever felt inadequate. Forrest Gump will go down in the history books as one of the greatest films ever made. This is because a huge number of cast and crew made this possible, from the director, cinematographer, and art director, to the actors, sound people, and most importantly the editor, who pulled everything together and created the final cut. Additional elements should be recognized as well for the overall success of the film, such as sound, style, societal impact, genre, and film criticism. A lot of hard work, time and effort go into making a movie, and unfortunately not a lot of the public are aware of this. However, once they learn a few things and realize the distinct meaning behind a slow-motion shot or the color of a characters costume, they take a more appreciative look as to what they are viewing. The mise-en-scene makes all the difference; it is what makes or breaks any movie.