Morphology of a Folktale and the Battle of Two Heroes

Myths are often times very complex and difficult to understand, so in order to attain a better understanding of a myth we apply certain strategies and techniques, such as Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the Folktale, to ensure a more effective or deeper understanding of a myth. Propp’s structuralist approach, when used to analyze the Iliad, creates a very streamlined outline of what should occur throughout the story; however, as Professor Jamison has made very clear during lecture, the things that stand out are what one is supposed to look into. The structured outline makes it much more feasible to pin point the instances that stand out, and because of that one is able to further analyze that specific instance and find its significance in the myth. In the book twenty-two of the Iliad, the two great warriors Achilleus and Hektor clash and Achilleus is triumphant. Thereafter, the question arises of whether or not good triumphed over evil, and my simple answer is no, neither good nor evil triumphed. I say that because it is difficult for one to recognize the fact that neither warrior is explicitly more â€Å"evil† than the other due to the fact that â€Å"even worst enemies are deeply, fundamentally the same—desirous of glory and immortality;† however, as Saul Levin states, â€Å"the Greeks†¦ reinterpreted the Iliad so as to idealize Achilles and ignore Hector,† so it is only natural for one to see Achilleus as the good warrior. In light of that, Hector actually â€Å"moves most modern readersShow MoreRelatedMetz Film Language a Semiotics of the Cinema PDF100902 Words   |  316 Pagesmaking them more easily available, originated with Mikel Dufrenne, Professor at the University of Paris-Nanterre and editor of the series in which this work was published in French. He has my very warm gratitude. C . M. Cannes August 1967 here. On two or three definite and important points, this text no longer corresponds to the present state of the problems it confronts. I have taken this opportunity to clarify it and place it in perspective by means of footnotes, for the method and the structure

Management Styles - 1016 Words

There are several very different types of management styles ranging from democratic which allows the subordinates to play an active role in the decisions that management makes to autocratic which cuts the subordinate out of the decision making process allowing those in management to make a unilateral decision. Both styles have their proponents as well as their detractors. This paper will outline the various forms of management and attempt to clarify and categorize their various strengths and weaknesses. I. AUTOCRATIC ________________________________________ As previously mentioned, this form of management does not consider what the subordinates or employees think; but rather allows the members of management to make unilateral decisions†¦show more content†¦Goleman also warns that â€Å"the democratic style can have its drawbacks. One results when a leader over relies on this approach is exasperating, endless meetings in which ideas are mulled over, consensus remains elusive, and the only visible outcome is to schedule yet more meetings (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee).† III. PARTICIPATIVE ________________________________________ The participative style is a hybrid between the autocratic and the democratic styles of management. This style will often ask for and listen to the opinions of subordinate employees, but in the end they do not have a say in the final decision (Exploring Different Management Styles). This style is an attempt at a compromise whereby the subordinates get to speak their mind and yet the managers are still free to make snap decisions that are in the best interest of the company. Some subordinates may still feel that they are not truly being heard by management. To help promote morale, the managers of an organization need to make sure that any idea that was submitted by a subordinate is publically implemented. If the employees see that as a whole they are being heard then they will not take it personally whenShow MoreRelatedManagement Style1277 Words   |  6 PagesAs you may know, different management styles are required in different parts of the world. It is important to choose the right management style for each situation, which is a key to success for an organization. All managers use a management process which consists of planning, organizing, leading and controlling. So they have to perform many roles in an enterprise. What they can do with various situations will totally depend on their style of management. A management style is an overall method of leadershipRead MoreManagement Styles1486 Words   |  6 PagesThe management culture provides the deve loping direction of a company. It decides the characteristic and company culture in an enterprise. However, the style can be influenced by certain factors, such as, policy, history background, social system, international competition. In this essay, three management styles and two company types will be indentified and discussed. Management style belongs to management strategy; it can be composed of operation strategy, company culture and managers. ToRead MoreManagement Styles Analysis1456 Words   |  6 PagesManagement Styles Management is a far-running subject and there are many definitions of management. From my point of view, management is described as a process to get something done in the business environment. It is the person called Manager who gets various jobs done by assign works to people working with him/her. How the Manager can get the things done effectively and efficiently is an important problem that should be researched. Robert Tannenbaum and Warren H. Schmidt (1958, 1973), who arguedRead MoreThe Autocratic Style Of Management922 Words   |  4 PagesManagement is a key part in any organizations. Managers are the people that make the decisions that affect everybody below them.This job is very demanding and requires people to be attentive to their surroundings, situations, and their co-workers to be truly effective. Naturally, not every person is going to manage a group of workers the same way, but there are predefined terms to describe how managers manage. There is the autocratic style, t he democratic style, the chaotic style, and managementRead MoreThe Autocratic Management Style As A Non Effective Style1077 Words   |  5 PagesThe Autocratic Management style is not hard to distinguish in the workplace. Opinions are kept to themselves concerning the firm’s approach to cases, and all employees know what they are expected to do and not do. In this management style only one attorney is in charge and he or she resolves all issues. This type of management style can be thought of as more of a dictatorship. They can be found in small-scale offices and there is only one attorney proprietor. The staff is never in doubt aboutRead MoreAn Introduction to Management Styles3058 Words   |  13 PagesUnit 4001 - An Introduction to Management Styles 1. Be able to understand assumptions about human nature and managerial behaviour. 1.1 Identify models which make suppositions about human nature and behaviour at work Theory X and Theory Y represent two sets of assumptions about human nature and human behaviour that are relevant to the practice of management. They describe two contrasting models of workforce motivation. Theory X represents a negative view on of human nature that assumes individualsRead More4001 Management Styles3336 Words   |  14 PagesUNIT 4001 – An Introduction to Management Style By: Peter Collins Candidate Number: P04352307 Question 1 a) Select two models that were covered on the training programme, which make suppositions about human nature and how people behave at work, and briefly describe them. b) With reference to these models, discuss how individual attitudes and assumptions can influence your behaviour as a manager. Question 2 a) Describe the three management styles of Laissez-Faire, Participative and AutocraticRead MoreThe Relationship between the Structure, Culture, and Management Styles in Tescos1070 Words   |  5 PagesThe Relationship between the Structure, Culture, and Management Styles in Tescos There is a clear relationship between the structure, culture and management styles in Tescos here are some examples showing this: Tescos uses power culture which has a top down (tall structure) whereby objectives are determined by the individual or individuals. This structure is also linked in with an autocratic management style as this structure tends to have a ‘them and us attitude’ whichRead More The Management Style at Cadbury Essay1083 Words   |  5 PagesA description of the management style used at Cadbury There are three main management styles that a business can have these are:  · Democratic  · Consultative  · Autocratic  · Laissez-faire Cadbury’s management style is democratic. This is when all members of staff work together as a team. The managers listen to the other employees ideas and suggestions before they go ahead with decisions. If ideas are found to be achievable and successful by the senior group, then it is taken forwardRead MoreOrganizational Theories and Management Styles1585 Words   |  7 PagesOrganizational theories and management styles are key factors in the success of an organization. These theories can determine the structure of the organization by defining the best way to organize and work employees and by helping the organization adapt to its environment. Organizations and managers are unique in their own way; however most organizations and managers can be grouped into categories or types depending on their organizational or management styles. Organizational Theories Organizational

Corporate Communication Importance of External Corporate

Question: Discuss about the Corporate Communication for Importance of External Corporate. Answer: Introduction In the recent times, it has been observed that companies are increasingly dedicating their time and resources to promote their public relations initiatives. Corporate communication managers and executives have a wide array of media channels at their disposal. These maybe used to communicate their corporate social responsibility CSR credentials. In fact, businesses are continuously being scrutinized by the declaration of the CSR activities in Annual reports, social media and word of mouth. The external corporate communication is not only driven by unprecedented ideological construct for a change in the society but also the financial return which can be obtained from the various types of endeavors related to corporate social responsibility. Hence, CSR communication is produced, translated and integrated according to the companys requirements (Cornelissen 2014). Companies use broadcast advertising, including TV and radio commercials for the purpose of corporate communication. Several profit-making firms could also utilize print media such as newspapers and magazines to disseminate their message to their target audience. It has been observed that newspaper articles often reflect corporate ideologies of various types of social responsibilities and assumptions stating public expectations and react here with what they perceive as the same. The companies are also seen using various types of outdoor advertisements such as billboards and signage on brick and mortar premises (Colleoni 2013). External corporate communication The external communicators of CSR such as consumer forums, monitoring groups, customers and the media is often observed to emphasize more control of the message of CSR communication by different participants of value chain. The members of the value chain include employees and different types of channel members while the customers and monitoring groups are not considered as a part of the value chain. In order to draw a trade-off between the credibility and controllability of CSR it has been observed that less controllable is the communicator more reliable and credible is its CSR communication to its stakeholders and vice versa (Argenti 2015). According to Hameed et al.(2016), consumer are observed to react more positively to a companys CSR policies when they learn about the fact that such communications are coming from a neutral source which are unbiased evaluations of corporate activities. External corporate communication mainly focuses on companys engagement in different types of social causes. The commitment is based on three key aspects namely the amount of input, the consistency in the input and the durability of the Association. The communication strategy has further provided an insight in the stakeholders analysis such as customers, investors, employees. CSR has been observed with unique ability to endeavor future stakeholder relationships (Amini and Bienstock 2014). Unlike the different types of other marketing information, the external communication to CSR flips a companys character and reviews the attributions of the motives of shareholders thereby underlining crucial activities of the shareholders. The primary elements of both internal and external communication outcomes are shown below with the diagram as follows: Figure 1: Framework of external corporate communication (Source: Conference-board.org. 2016) Use of annual report for corporate communication At present, the most common form of communicating sustainability issues to stakeholders is done through the website of the respective companies although, the next best alternative is via annual report, which encompasses on variety of social responsibility issues. Some of the most prominent companies addressing their CSR activities through annual report are Coca-Cola, IBM, Deutsche Post DHL, Celanese and Unilever. According to a report published by the conference board nearly 35.2% of participants are known to release stand alone annual report for CSR communication. Figure 2: Depiction of companies using annual report to encompass sustainability issues (Source: Conferenceboard.ca. 2016) Use of newspaper for corporate communication As stated by Asemah et al. (2013), CSR communication via news media plays a significant role due to its potential to reach a large audience and in many cases, it is perceived to be more credible than the internal communicators of the company. Some of the major elements addressed the sustainability issues include the relevance to the respective campaigns, mentioning of companys activities, nature of publication and association with CSR campaign. The newspaper media not only reaches to a large number of stakeholders but it also increases the possibility of the company to gain the trust of several other potential consumers. The newspaper media also plays an important role in enhancing the existing sustainability policies by knowing about the efficiency of the present activities (Utz, Schultz, and Glocka 2013). Influence of word-of-mouth for corporate communication Although word-of-mouth is informal medium of external communication, yet it is considered one of the most credible channels to reach among other stakeholder groups. In order to address the several issues related to sustainability issues, companies should not underrate the power and reach of the employees as a medium of external communication. The employees are known to have a wider reach among the different types of stakeholder groups through their social ties and hence companies should often look forward to tune up the internal communication strategy in order to find ways to engage employees and convert them for an effective external corporate communication (Cornelissen 2014). As stated by Kim, Sung, and Kang (2014), the power of word-of-mouth has been seen in form of social media (such as Twitter, Facebook), blogs and several other social media platforms. The use of this has been seen in companies like Stonyfield Farm, which has witnessed consumer ambassadors to deliver their corporate social responsibilities (Gauthereaugroup.com. 2016). Conclusion The importance of external corporate communication is seen in maintaining a more positive reaction of consumers and providing unbiased evaluations of the companys activity. The communication media such as newspaper, word of mouth and annual report only focuses on one-to-one communication between the producer and the consumer of the message translated. To avoid this, external communicators should become proficient in the use of digital media in addition to traditional media to increase their impact of their corporate communication. This is evident by the fact that Internet has completely reshaped corporate communication at different levels. With the advent of Internet peer had been emergence of new participatory public sphere which is mainly based on many to many communication channel where public collaborate in not only listening to the communication but also in the creation of content. Reference List Amini, M. and Bienstock, C.C., 2014. Corporate sustainability: an integrative definition and framework to evaluate corporate practice and guide academic research. Journal of Cleaner Production, 76, pp.12-19. Argenti, P.A., 2015. Corporate communication. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Asemah, E.S., Okpanachi, R.A. and Olumuji, E.O., 2013. Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility Performance of Organisations: A Key to Winning Stakeholders Goodwill. AFRREV IJAH: An International Journal of Arts and Humanities, 2(4), pp.27-54. Colleoni, E., 2013. CSR communication strategies for organizational legitimacy in social media. Corporate Communications: an international journal, 18(2), pp.228-248. Conferenceboard.ca. (2016). 2016 EventCSR Summit . [online] Available at: https://www.conferenceboard.ca/conf/csrsummit/default.aspx [Accessed 31 Aug. 2016]. Conference-board.org. (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.conference-board.org/retrievefile.cfm?filename=TCB%20DN-V3N6-111.pdftype=subsite [Accessed 30 Aug. 2016]. Cornelissen, J., 2014. Corporate communication: A guide to theory and practice. Sage. Cornelissen, J., 2014. Corporate communication: A guide to theory and practice. Sage. Gauthereaugroup.com. (2016). Stonyfield Farms Wide-Ranging CSR Initiatives are World Class - Gauthereau Group. [online] Available at: https://gauthereaugroup.com/stonyfield-farms-wide-ranging-csr-initiatives-are-world-class/ [Accessed 31 Aug. 2016]. Hameed, I., Riaz, Z., Arain, G.A. and Farooq, O., 2016. How Do Internal and External CSR Affect Employees Organizational Identification? A Perspective From the Group Engagement Model. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, p.788. Kim, E., Sung, Y. and Kang, H., 2014. Brand followers retweeting behavior on Twitter: How brand relationships influence brand electronic word-of-mouth. Computers in Human Behavior, 37, pp.18-25. Utz, S., Schultz, F. and Glocka, S., 2013. Crisis communication online: How medium, crisis type and emotions affected public reactions in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Public Relations Review, 39(1), pp.40-46.

Why Has East Asia Grown Much Faster Than Africa Essay Example

Why Has East Asia Grown Much Faster Than Africa? Essay Many nations in Africa observed an impressive growth rate in the early 1990. These were relatively greater than those obtained in the Asian Countries. However, between the 1960s and 1990s, Africa has witnessed a continuous decline in growth and this has raised concerns about what Africa could learn from the miracle of the East-Asian countries. This decline is general for most if not all African countries but emphasis is place on sub-Saharan Africa than on North Africa because the latter is grouped under a different regional economy in the same class with the Middle East. A notable example of comparisms between the growth pace in sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia is that between Nigeria and Indonesia. Prior to the 1970, Nigeria was growing faster than Indonesia but this trend changed markedly in the last quarter of the Twentieth century despite the similar experience of oil boom in a predominately agricultural economy (Collier and Gunning, 1999). We further note that the deterioration in Africa was witnessed both in political and economic terms. This raises further concerns when viewed from the perspective of global economy given that globalization of the world economy is perhaps the most important trend that affects the current environment for economic development. It offers great opportunities for poor countries to accelerate their economic development. But, it also poses new and substantial challenges for economic management. (Aryeetey E. et al 2005) Within this context, there has been a tendency to contrast Africa’s growth tragedy over the last three decades with the economic miracle of East Asia. We will write a custom essay sample on Why Has East Asia Grown Much Faster Than Africa? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Why Has East Asia Grown Much Faster Than Africa? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Why Has East Asia Grown Much Faster Than Africa? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer There are certainly likely to be lessons from the East Asian experiences that policy-makers in sub-Saharan Africa could adapt to their own situations. Lessons can be learnt both from the era of rapid growth in East Asia as well as from the ongoing economic crisis. AN OVERVIEW The Southeast Asian nations Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand would seem to offer the most relevant lessons for Sub-Saharan Africa. Southeast Asia and Africa had similar levels of income in the 1960s and 1970s. This can be seen in the graph below, which highlights the changes in GDP per capita in Southeast Asia and Africa since 1970. The two regions also had relatively similar social and political conditions at that time. The graph powerfully illustrates the sustained growth in Southeast Asia for twenty-five years as well as the marked decline in Africa’s fortunes since the early 1980s. Source: Calculated from World Development Indicators (World Bank, 1997). Over the years there has been a debate of whether the slow growth rate in Africa is due to internal or external factors. Be that as it may, a better judgement of the issues is one that recognises influence of both domestic and exogenous factors in determining Africa’s growth rate. Most crucial is the issue of low level of investment in Africa. This goes in line with the simple Harrod-Dommer growth model which posits that with a constant capital-output ratio, an economy needs to save and invest in order to grow. We therefore look at the endogenous and exogenous factors that has inhibited Africa’s growth rate relative to that of East Asia. DOMESTIC FACTORS Slow growth rate in Africa has been originally associated with some geographic and demographic characteristics. Firstly, most countries in Africa are landlocked and have little access to the sea, besides this the tropical climate experienced in Africa provides a breading ground for mosquitoes which has led to high occurrence of the Malaria infection. This disease has killed millions of Africans. An estimated 300-500 million cases each year cause 1. 5 to 2. 7 million deaths (ARCHI, www ). Furthermore, Africa is known for its high fertility rate. Although it also experienced high infant mortality rates, the improvement in health provisions has led to a dramatic increase in population size. Over the past 40 years Africa has not witnessed the demographic transition experienced in East Asian and Latin American countries, and this is a major contributing factor to Africa slow growth rate (Bloom and Sachs, 1998). This can be looked at from two angles in that high fertility rate can be seen as consequence of low levels of income or as a result of it. Invariable, high fertility rate is associated with poor health standards which affects productivity. China once suffered from this same issue and has over the years implemented demographic policies towards reducing fertility rate. We note that the situation could worsen if the HIV/AID pandemic is not controlled effectively and this would lead to high mortality rate among the adult population and thus, a decline in productive labour supply. World bank figures (1999) show that 20-25% of adults are infected with HIV (Collier and Gunning, 1999) Agriculture constitutes a major source of growth in many developing countries. Africa’s slow growth rate can also be related to poor soil quality as much of Africa is semi arid with unstable rainfalls. The rainfall amount has been on the decrease since the 1960s and this affects the investment plans of rural households who depend on agriculture for employment. A further problem is that Africa has poor population density and this implies high transportation costs in the movement of capital and output. Furthermore, Africa is multicultural which occasionally gives rise to marginalisation, conflicts and wars. Cultural diversification exists in Asia as well but the magnitude is more in Africa. An illustration when comparisms are made between Nigeria and China reveals that China has about 12 ethnic groups while Nigeria has about 250 (World Fact Book). The adverse effects of these cannot be overemphasised as the destruction of property and the loss of lives further deteriorates growth. Domestic Policy The dominance of the public sector over the private sector has been a major contributing factor to the slow growth rate in Africa. Most of Africa, after the pre-colonial era experienced autocratic leadership far from democratic ones. This led to an expansion of the public sector. In Ghana and Kenya for instance, public sector provides about 75% and 50% of wage employment. The large number of public sector employees was reconciled with limited tax revenue by reducing wage rates and no-wage expenditures. The ratio of wage to non-wage expenditure in African public sector is double that in East Asia, and this has lowered the quality of public services (Collier and Gunning, 1999). Inadequacies of the public sector led to shortfall in the provision of basic amenities such as electricity. Private industries are forced to provide own electricity with generators. In Nigeria, own generators accounted for three-quarters of the capital equipment of small manufacturers (Lee and Anas, 1991 in Collier and Gunning, 1999). Conversely, pubic sector intervention in the East Asian intervention which was purely market oriented aimed at proper allocation and productivity growth. Allocation to human capital was high in East Asia when compared with that of Africa. In Uganda, only 30% of the non-wage allocation to primary school education finally got to it due to mismanagement of funds (Ablo and Reinikka, 1998 in Collier and Gunning, 1999) In analysing the rapid growth of the East Asian countries , it is evidently clear that their successes lies on their export-push strategies characterized by a viable combination of fundamentals and policy interventions. Notably, in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand emphasis was placed on creating free trade environment for exporters, providing finance and support services for small and medium-size exporters, and focusing infrastructure on areas that encourage exports. These were done while ensuring macroeconomic stability. Manufactured exports have provided most of this growth. From 1965 to 1990, Japan for instance emerged as the worlds biggest exporter of manufactured goods, increasing its share of the world market from nearly 8 to almost 12 percent(World Bank 1993). However in Africa, government marketing monopolies were focused on ensuring food supply to urban areas and this discouraged farmers from specializing in non-food export crops, since they could not rely on being able to buy food locally. Woods and Mayer (1998) noted that Africa failed to industrialize mainly ecause of its high natural resource endowment which gives it comparative advantage in that area. The over-dependence in Natural resources has landed Africa in a low-productivity gap. This is because firms are oriented in small domestic markets, they are not able to exploit economies of scale, nor are they exposed to significant competition. Moreover with many countries concentrati ng on a limited range of export crops [tea, coffee, cotton, cocoa] in Africa, returns to supply expansion have been dampened by adverse world market price trends for these crops. Thus price distortions was not a major issue in East Asia due to their export diversification with manufactured goods contribution most to growth EXTERNAL FACTORS The fact that Africa is better located than Asia for most developed economy markets raises further questions on Africa’s low export potentials in the examined period. However, a greater population of Africans reside further from the coast or navigable rivers than in other regions. This increase transport costs for exports. In terms of financial flows, Africa has attracted much more aid per capita than any other region. Till date, the debate on whether aid has been detrimental or beneficial for the growth process is still on. A follow up of the early critics who claim that aid reduces the incentive for good governance led to the World Bank and IMF implementation of good policy as a condition for the receipt of aid since the 1980s. Collier and Gunning (1999) argue that where policies are good, aid tends to raise growth rate and vice versa. The latter case results due to diminishing returns rapidly set in and hinders aid’s contribution to growth. Until recently, many African policy environments were not good enough for aid to raise growth substantially. This suggests that aid receipt may not have necessarily contributed significantly to Africa’s slow growth rate. Rather, Africa might have failed to use efficiently, the opportunity for enhance growth which aid offers (Burnside C, and Dollar, D (1999). External Policy On external policy issues, African governments adopted exchange rate and trade policies which were anti-export and accumulated large foreign debts. Exchange rates were commonly highly overvalued, reflecting the interest of he political elite in cheap imports. Nigeria for instance, was said to be a dumping ground for cheap and used items from Europe. While this might have been an attempt by the government to provide for the masses, its adverse effect on growth was obviously neglected. Moreover, tariffs and export taxes were higher in Africa than in other regions of the world, partly because of the lack of ot her sources of tax revenue to finance the expansion of the public sector (Collier and Gunning 1999). This continued to happen in the midst of current account deficit. On the other hand, East Asian nations like Japan imposed general import restrictions to redress balance of payments deficits. Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, China, had no cause to impose such restrictions, since their current account balances never faced serious long-term deficits. . Conclusion Without high domestic savings, broad-based human capital, good macro-economic management, and limited price distortions, there would be no basis for growth and no means by which the gains of rapid productivity change could have been realized (World Bank, 1993). The significance of ascertaining why East Asia grew faster than Africa lies on determining the lessons that could be leant from the Miracle of the East Asian Nations. This relates particularly to developing countries which are still aspiring to grow and develop out of poverty. We note that most of these nations are in Africa. We have noted some of the reasons why Africa grew slowly in the last few decades but we must bear in mind that the recent growth trends of some African nations such as Botswana, South-Africa etc has made it difficult to analyse growth using Africa as a category. While Africa’s problems might be partly domestic and partly external, it is believed that domestic policies largely unrelated to trade may now be the main obstacles to growth in much of Africa. Estimates suggest that the shortfall in African investment is due to low private investment; thus the need for more privatisation in Africa. However, the role of the public sector towards growth and development should not be neglected especially in providing incentives and conducive polices that enhance productivity.