Malaysia-Singapore Raltions

ABSTRACT Malaysia and Singapore have a unique and special relation due to the geography, ideology history, culture, , economy, politics and ethnicity factors. Even though with the unique and special factors, its sometimes create tensions between both countries. However, it is said that the relations between both countries have evolved from an inherently unstable into a more mature and positive relationship. This paper will be discussing the current major conflict issue which distressing relationship between both countries and also the resolve issue.This paper also will analyse the relationship during various Prime Minister and their foreign policy towards each other’s. Finally it will discuss why the relationship becomes warmer and the factor that influence the positive relationship. INTRODUCTION Singapore merged with Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to form the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. However, this political union proved to be short-lived as Singapore was ousted from the Fed eration in 1965 due to political and ethnic differences.This failed political union, and the resulting stigma of separation has continued to cast a shadow over Singapore-Malaysia’s bilateral ties. Furthermore, due to the geographical proximity between these two states, bilateral problems are prone to exaggeration by both sides, often a case of â€Å"virtuous self and the stereotypical other†. Malaysia and Singapore relations are unique and special due to factors such as geography, history, politics, ideology, economy, culture and ethnicity. These factors sometimes have created tensions between both countries.The uniqueness of the relationship is reflected by the various terms used to describe the state of rivalry between the two countries such as â€Å"Siamese twins†, â€Å"sibling rivalry† or â€Å"family quarrel†, suggesting a complex love-hate relationship that has grown out of a shared common history and cultural background, coloured by politic al differences and, ironically, by economic competition and interdependency. DISPUTES AND SOLUTIONS KERETAPI TANAH MELAYU (KTM) – In 1990, Malaysia and Singapore had signed an agreement concerning Tanjong Pagar railway station.Malaysia had agreed to relocate the station to Bukit Timah to allowed development of the land that located in the premium area. On 24 May 2010, a meeting between Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong in Singapore resolved the relocation issue. They announced that Malaysia's national railway company Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTM) will be move out from Tanjong Pagar railway station and establish a station at the Woodlands Train Checkpoint (WTCP) by 1 July 2011.Malaysia also will relocate its customs, immigration and quarantine facilities from Tanjong Pagar to the WTCP to ensure the systematic and integrated border crossing facility between Malaysia and Singapore . A joint holding company (60 % Malaysia ow nership, 40 % Singapore) will then develop the abandoned KTM properties. WATER SUPPLY – Malaysia provides Singapore with about half its water. On 1 September 1961, the Federation of Malaya signed an agreement giving Singapore the right to draw up to 86 million imperial gallons (390,000 m3) of water per day with effect through 2011.On 29 September 1962, a further agreement was signed providing Singapore the right to draw up to 250 million imperial gallons (1,100,000 m3) per day from the Johore River, with effect through 2061. Both agreements stipulated the price of RM 0. 03 per 1,000 gallons. In turn, the Johor Government pays Singapore RM 0. 50 for every 1000 gallons of treated water. On 31 August 2011, the 1961 water agreement expired and the waterworks and facilities were handed over to the Johor state government.The handover included the Skudai and Gunung Pulai water treatment plants, which were built and managed by Public Utilities Board (PUB) for 50 years, as well as two pump houses in Pontian and Tebrau . JOHOR-SINGAPORE CAUSEWAY- The state of Johor currently already has developed ports including Pasir Gudang and Tanjong Pelapas. Under the former Mahathir administration, the Malaysian government scheduled to build a new customs, immigration and quarantine complex on a hilltop near the Johor Bahru railway station.A bridge is planned to link the new customs complex with the city square. The proposals on replacing the old causeway with a new bridge have resulted in a political rift between the two countries since the early 2000s. Singapore has hinted that it might agree to a bridge if its air force is allowed to use part of Johor's airspace. Malaysia refused the offer and negotiation is said to be still on going. In September 2003, Malaysia first announced its intention to replace its half of the Causeway with a new bridge.On 5 January 2004, Singapore's Foreign Minister Prof Jayakumar commented that it did not make sense for Singapore to replace its half of the bridge with a new bridge, as it would cost, along with revisions to customs, immigration and quarantine facilities, more than $500 million. On 2 February 2004, Malaysia said it would present Singapore with a new design for the proposed bridge to replace the Causeway, as Malaysia is still interested in building the new bridge.However, in September 2004, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi announced that Malaysia would defer the half-bridge project as part of its effort to pare down its huge fiscal deficit by deferring big ticket projects. In April 2006, Abdullah Badawi announced that Malaysia would drop the half-bridge project altogether. PEDRA BRANCA (PULAU BATU PUTIH) – On 21 December 1979 Malaysia published a new map which showed the island to be within its territorial waters.This ignited a 29-year territorial dispute which, together with the issue of sovereignty over the nearby maritime features of Middle Rocks and South Ledge, this disputes was presented to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for resolution. On 23 May 2008 the ICJ ruled that Pedra Branca is under Singapore's sovereignty. THE CENTRAL PROVIDENT FUND (CPF) issue has still not been resolved after many years. It is hoped that the Malaysian Government will pursue the long standing issue pertaining to the dilemma of Malaysians who have left the republic for more than a decade and are still unable to withdraw their CPF savings.Under the present CPF withdrawal regulations, Malaysians from Peninsular Malaysia are only able to withdraw their CPF savings at the age of 50 if they have not been working in the republic for the last two years. The CPF law on withdrawal seems to discriminate against Malaysians from Peninsular Malaysia as other foreigners, including Malaysians from Sabah and Sarawak, are allowed full withdrawal of their CPF savings when they leave Singapore. Land Reclamations Issue – Singapore had extensively conducted the land reclamation activity within its territorial water.Plans for the Tekong reclamation project were made publicly available since 1991, and for the Tuas project, since 2001. Until January 2002 there is no objection from neighbouring country. However in 2002 Malaysia had objected the activity. After that, Malaysia embarked on two legal tracks to stop Singapore's land reclamation works. First, on 4 July 2003, Malaysia served notice to Singapore that it wanted arbitration to decide whether Singapore has the right to reclaim the land off Tuas and Pulau Tekong.This arbitration tribunal, comprising five members agreed on by both sides, was formed on 9 Oct 2003. Then, on 5 September 2003 Malaysia applied separately to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) for an order on provisional measures, seeking to put an immediate stop to Singapore's reclamation works pending the setting up of the arbitration panel. The hearing took place between 25 and 27 Sep 03 in Hamburg, Germany. On 8 Oct 2003, ITLOS unanim ously decided that Singapore could continue its land reclamation activities.In April 2005, Singapore and Malaysia formally ended the reclamation dispute by signing a settlement agreement. FACTORS AFFECTING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE Looking at the leadership style of both Prime Minister after the independent of Singapore, there is a high and low relationship which creating the foreign policy towards both countries. We can observed during the Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak and also Tun Hussein Onn, the relationship is calm and interdependent towards each other.During this era also, Mr Lee Kuan Yew as the Prime Minister His leadership style have a strong influence in the manner of bilateral issue between both countries. He is serious in dealing with the issue and also influence by his past experience and the pre and post separation political baggage. To show the difficulties in the relationship, Singapore first Deputy Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong says: à ¢â‚¬Å" its relationship with Malaysia is one of its important and complex foreign relation† And Tun Mahathir also had a remark that saying: it’s impossible to be friendly with Singapore because of the neighbouring city states unfriendliness towards Malaysia. Singapore gets into that kind of mood that they reject anything that comes from Malaysia. We try to be friendly as possible but it’s impossible† Relations with Singapore under Mahathir's tenure have been stormy. Many disputed issues raised during his administration have not been resolved. Many of these international issues have been raised up under Mahathir's Premiership term, but no significant headway had been made then to resolve them bilaterally.Both sides had stubbornly refused to compromise, with the result of bilateral relations turning frosty. Tun Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi became the fifth Prime Minister in 2003 and he was Dr Mahathir’s choice. Since Abdullah Badawi took over, bilateral relations between Singapore and Malaysia have undergone a sea change. Part of it was due to Abdullah warm personality, non-confrontational, consensus-seeking characters and sincere attempts to improve ties together with his policy are to give in to almost every request, and relations have begun to thaw.And this was reciprocated by Singapore leaders, as reflected in the flow of many senior Singaporean leaders to the funeral of Datin Seri Endon, Mr Abdullah’s latewife – which certainly went beyond the call of protocol. During Pak Lah era, few discussion has been made such as the causeway issue, air space issue and also the KTM land in Tanjong Pagar. They are trying to resolve the issue through the win-win situation. When Dato’ Seri Najib taking over the Prime Minister of Malaysia, the relationship is grow warming.The effort of Najib in clearing major bilateral issue concerning both countries make that relation becoming more mature and good. Since the effort of cle aring the implementation of the point of agreement (POA) which had been negotiated and agreed upon in 1990 which involved the KTM land in Tanjung Pagar that cleared in 2010, more bilateral relationship and opportunities is open. WARMING TIES BETWEEN MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE There is several issue and factors that make the relationship between Malaysia Nad Singapore becoming warmer. The economic factor is one of the most important relations and always had a high degree of inter dependence.Malaysia and Singapore have been each other's main trading partners for many years. Data from Malaysia's Department of Statistics, for instance, show that bilateral trade between Malaysia and Singapore was valued at RM175. 5bil last year, up from RM161. 7bil in 2011. Malaysia remains Singapore's largest trading partner, while Singapore is Malaysia's second largest trading partner after China. Malaysia and Singapore economic interdependence is just not reflected in the bilateral trade only, it also inv olving the investment in both countries.From the data tabled by the Malays Malaysian Industrial Development Authority show that Singapore remains one of the top investors in the country, with total value of approved projects standing at RM2. 2bil last year, down slightly from RMRM2. 5bil in 2011 because of the global economic weakness. Singapore's investments in Malaysia are mainly concentrated in the manufacturing sector. Recently, the development of Iskandar had attracted the Singapore investors and that had make their investor is the largest single group of investor there which accounting about 17% of the total money invested there.In the other sides, Malaysia investors also actively invested in Singapore. It had been showed with involvement Malaysian company like YTL Corp, SP Setia and Selangor Dredging in real estate business, Maybank in financial sector, Axiata Group in telecommunication and also Genting Berhad in the leisure and hospitality sector. The government investment a rm from both country namely Khazanah from Malaysia and Temasek from Singapore also had form a joint venture in developing the commercial land parcels in Singapore such as Marina South and Ophir-Ophir .In Iskandar they are also establishing the joint venture company to invest in two wellness related project with a gross development value of RM 3b. To increase connectivity between both countries, few projects has been agreed and initiated. The extension of MRT from Singapore to Johore Bharu is planned to be built to reduce the traffic congestion in both entrance in Singapore and Malaysia. The High Speed Train from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore also planned to reduce travel time to 90 minutes. This infrastructure development also will increase the economic development in the area.In security and defence matters, both states share a serious concern over the emergence of JI in the region. They have coordinated on police work and intelligence sharing, and even synchronized the initial arrests of JI members in December 2001. JI members were imprisoned in both countries under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which both Malaysia and Singapore patterned after the British law that allows for detention without trial for up to two years for supposedly dangerous suspects. Also, both countries have put pressure on Indonesia to take a more active role in confronting the terrorism problem.In the military, several bilateral exercise and operation is conducted to reduce the crime in Straits of Malacca, Eyes in The Sky Operation is jointly conducted to scout the strait for pirates. The flights are undertaken by crews with nationals from the different countries so they can better share information. Intelligence gathered on pirates is also disseminated among governments, including on a Web-based network for quick and easy access. These actions, taken together, made it far more costly and difficult for the pirates to operate.Both military forces also involve in the Five Power Defence Ar rangement that are a series of defence relationships established by a series of bilateral agreements between the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore signed in 1971, whereby the five states will consult each other in the event of external aggression or threat of attack against Peninsular Malaysia (East Malaysia is not included as part of the area of responsibilities under the FPDA) or Singapore. FACTORS THAT MAKES THE RELATIONSHIP GROWING TIES The first factor is the leadership role and function. With the new eneration of leader ship which is the second generation of previous leader, Najib is son of Tun Abd Razak and Lee Hsien Loong is son of Lee Kuan Yew, they are trying actively to resolve the bilateral issue of both countries. With the new generation thinking they realised the interdependence both country each many matters. The second factor economic interdependence which shows that both country are main trading partner each other. Malaysia also inviting the investors from Singapore to invest in the economic development project initiate in many region in Malaysia such as IRDA, ECER and also NCER.The encouragement by both governments through their public and private sector to collaborate with their counterpart shows there relationship will going stronger. The third factor is massive people to people contact which encouraging tourist from both countries visiting each other will develop this contact. This will created necessary goodwill and tolerance among others. This also had been expanded through sport activity which we can see that the football team from both countries is participating in the league. CONCLUSIONWe can conclude that due to their historical, cultural linkages and their geographical proximity Malaysia and Singapore had enjoyed and share a special relationship. The issue and challenge between each other had brought a god point for both countries to sit down and discussing the way to move forward. Both of the leaders ar e aware the important of each other in many factors. Both new generation leaders is trying hard to improve the relationship with each other’s even though there is a few issue that not resolve yet.But their mutual agreement in developing economic sector each other shows the positive prospect towards very warm relationship. Both leaders also seem in the same view in settling issue through win-win situation and compromise. With the realisation by the leaders in win-win situation and compromising each other, it may lead towards prosperous relationship in the future. It’s the leader and their foreign policy which is determining the future of these relations. Thus, the leader should take every effort to ensure the warming of the relationship is preserve to ensure the mutual benefits.The security and military activities is to be enhanced to ensure the safety of both countries. With the firm security the development of economy can be planned and develop towards higher level. W ith the interest of Singapore investors in IRDA is high, it is not possible Singapore will extend the security watch in the area to ensure safety of their investment. Thus this will benefit both countries towards long and warm relationship. Despite all the bilateral issue, it is observed that, both country is dependant each other in economy, social, and also security aspect.With that the warming relations that initiated by both the new generation leader is a good step towards more close relation. 3117 words Reference: Ganesan, 2005, p. 58 Rusdi Omar, et. al. (2005). Hubungan Malaysia-Singapura Era Mahathir. Sintok: Penerbit Universiti Utara Malaysia. p. 2. Joint statement by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak at the Singapore-Malaysia Leaders' Retreat on 24 May 2010, 24 May 2010, , retrieved 2010-05-25 Water Conflicts Between Malaysia and Singapore. Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia Star. (1999). June 5. p. -2. 1961 water agreement w ith Johor expires on Wednesday. The Straits Times. 14 October 2011 â€Å"Johor-Singapore Causeway†. Wikipedia Rusdi Omar. 2007. Malaysia-Singapore Relations: Issues and Strategies. Working paper presented at the International Conference on Southeast Asia in 3-4 December 2007 at University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia M'sia Stops Construction Of Bridge To Replace Johor Causeway. Prime Minister's Office, Malaysia. 12 April 2006. Pedra Branca, Singapore. Wikipedia Solve CPF Withdrawal Issue With Singapore. The Star Online. 12 November 2008 Kyodo News. (2005).Singapore and Malaysia resolve land reclamation dispute. April 26. http://www. channelnewsasia. com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/144527/1/. html Rusdi Omar, Mohd Ainuddin; Mas Juliana Mukhtarudin. 2005. Malaysia-Singapore Relations During Mahathir’s Era. Sintok, Kedah: UUM News Straits Time. (2003). May 5. p. 22. Asian Economic News. (2002). Oct 14. p. 19 Malaysia’s Foreign Relations: Issues and Challen ges. Ruhanas Harun. Page 24 The Star (2013) Mac 16 Malaysia-Singapore Relations: Never Mind the Rhetoric . Anthony L. Smith. October 2004 ——————————————– 1 ]. Ganesan, 2005, p. 58 [ 2 ]. Rusdi Omar, et. al. (2005). Hubungan Malaysia-Singapura Era Mahathir. Sintok: Penerbit Universiti Utara Malaysia. p. 2. [ 3 ]. Joint statement by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak at the Singapore-Malaysia Leaders' Retreat on 24 May 2010, 24 May 2010, , retrieved 2010-05-25 [ 4 ]. Water Conflicts Between Malaysia and Singapore. Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia [ 5 ]. Star. (1999). June 5. p. 1-2. [ 6 ]. 1961 water agreement with Johor expires on Wednesday. The Straits Times. 14 October 2011 [ 7 ]. Johor-Singapore Causeway†. Wikipedia [ 8 ]. Rusdi Omar. 2007. Malaysia-Singapore Relations: Issues and Strategies. Working paper presented at th e International Conference on Southeast Asia in 3-4 December 2007 at University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [ 9 ]. M'sia Stops Construction Of Bridge To Replace Johor Causeway. Prime Minister's Office, Malaysia. 12 April 2006. [ 10 ]. Pedra Branca, Singapore. Wikipedia [ 11 ]. Solve CPF Withdrawal Issue With Singapore. The Star Online. 12 November 2008 [ 12 ]. Kyodo News. (2005). Singapore and Malaysia resolve land reclamation dispute.April 26. http://www. channelnewsasia. com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/144527/1/. html [ 13 ]. Rusdi Omar, Mohd Ainuddin& Mas Juliana Mukhtarudin. 2005. Malaysia-Singapore Relations During Mahathir’s Era. Sintok, Kedah: UUM [ 14 ]. News Straits Time. (2003). May 5. p. 22. [ 15 ]. Asian Economic News. (2002). Oct 14. p. 19. [ 16 ]. Malaysia’s Foreign Relations: Issues and Challenges. Ruhanas Harun. Page 24 [ 17 ]. The Star (2013) Mac 16 [ 18 ]. Ibid [ 19 ]. The Star (2013) Mac 16 [ 20 ]. Ibid [ 21 ]. Malaysia-Singapore Relations: Never Mind the Rhetoric . Anthony L. Smith. October 2004

As You Like It as a Romantic Comedy

AS YOU LIKE IT by William Shakespeare THE AUTHOR William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born into the family of a prosperous tradesman in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. While in his mid-teens, he was forced to leave school because his family fell into a period of poverty, so that he had only a rudimentary education. In 1582, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior and already three months pregnant. The marriage produced three children in three years, but in 1585, Shakespeare left Stratford to go to London to seek his fortune in the big city.In London, he embarked upon a career on the stage, becoming a popular actor by the early fifteen nineties. In 1591, he penned his first play, Love’s Labour’s Lost. His early plays were comedies, and show nothing of the depth that characterized his later works. His plots were borrowed from a variety of sources, both ancient and contemporary. During his career, he wrote 37 plays, three narrative poems, and 154 sonnets. His writing brought him fame and popularity, but he continued to act as well as write (critics love to speculate about which of the characters in his plays would have been played by the author).He eventually became a shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later the King’s Men when James I ascended the throne). Most of his plays were performed at local theaters like the Rose, the Globe, and the indoor Blackfriars. When the Globe burned to the ground in 1613 (a cannon misfired during a performance of Henry VIII), Shakespeare retired, and died in Stratford three years later on his fifty-second birthday. As You Like It (1600) has for the last two centuries been one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies. It is a pastoral romance – a genre originating in ancient Greece and still popular in Elizabethan England.As he did in so many of his plays, Shakespeare borrowed the basic story from an earlier work – in this case, Thomas Lodge’s prose romance Rosalynd e, or Euphues’ Golden Legacy. Into Lodge’s basic framework Shakespeare introduces rollicking comedy absent from the original, along with new characters like Touchstone, Audrey, and Jaques. No one, either in Shakespeare’s day or ours, expected realism in such a story. Instead, characters and audience alike find joy in the freedom of the forest and countryside, where stock characters do improbable hings and meet with unlikely coincidences. And where, of course, (almost) everyone gets married in the end and lives happily ever after. MAJOR CHARACTERS †¢ Duke Senior – The rightful duke, he is forced into exile in the Forest of Arden by his jealous brother. Duke Frederick – He forces his brother into exile and usurps his throne, but eventually is converted and returns the dukedom to its rightful ruler. Jaques – A lord under Duke Senior, he is incurably melancholy, even when all around him are rejoicing. Charles – Duke Frederick’ s prize wrestler, he is defeated by Orlando.Oliver – Eldest son and heir of Sir Rowland de Boys, he has deprived his brothers of their rightful inheritance and is terribly jealous of his noble youngest brother. When seeking Orlando in the Forest of Arden, he meets, falls in love with, and marries Celia, yields his inheritance to his youngest brother, and decides to live the life of a shepherd. Orlando – Youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys, he is forced into exile in the Forest of Arden by his brother, where he is reunited with his love Rosalind. He eventually regains his inheritance from his father.Touchstone – The fool in Duke Frederick’s court, he too departs for the Forest of Arden, where he meets and marries Audrey. Adam – Orlando’s eighty-year-old servant who finances his flight with his life savings and accompanies Orlando into exile in the Forest of Arden. Corin – An elderly shepherd in the Forest of Arden. Silvius – A y oung shepherd madly in love with Phebe, a shepherdess who constantly scorns his affection. Eventually they marry with the help of Rosalind. Rosalind – Daughter of Duke Senior, she flees to the forest disguised as a man named Ganymede to find her father, and there encounters and eventually marries Orlando.Celia – Daughter of Duke Frederick and Rosalind’s best friend, she accompanies Rosalind to Arden, also in disguise as Ganymede’s sister Aliena, and falls in love with and marries a reformed Oliver. Phebe – A shepherdess beloved of Silvius, she falls in love with Rosalind in male disguise but eventually yields to the faithful attentions of her fellow shepherd. †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Audrey – A country wench who falls in love with and marries Touchstone. NOTABLE QUOTATIONS â€Å"Love no man in good earnest, nor no further in sport neither than with safety of a pu re blush thou mayst in honor come off again. (Celia, Iii, 26-28) â€Å"The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly. † (Touchstone, Iii, 83-84) â€Å"Sir, you have wrestled well, and overthrown More than your enemies. † (Rosalind, Iii, 255-256) â€Å"Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything: I would not change it. † (Duke Senior, IIi, 12-18) â€Å"O, what a world is this, when what is comely Envenoms him that bears it! (Adam, IIiii, 15-16) â€Å"I can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs. † (Jaques, IIv, 11-12) â€Å"All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven stages. At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress’ eyebrow.Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound.Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivio n, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. † (Jaques, IIvii, 149-176) â€Å"Those that are good manners at the court are as ridiculous in the country as the behavior of the country is most mockable at the court. † (Corin, IIIii, 45-48) â€Å"Do you not know I am a woman? When I think, I must speak. † (Rosalind, IIIii, 248249) â€Å"Sell when you can; you are not for all markets. (Rosalind, IIIv, 65) â€Å"I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad. † (Rosalind, IVi, 25-27) â€Å"The poor world is almost six thousand years old, and in all this time there was not any man died in his own person, videlicet, in a love cause. † (Rosalind, IVi, 89-92) [Editor’s note: Ussher’s famous chronology appeared almost fifty years later, but apparently his estimate of the age of the earth was commonly accepted long before he published his work. ] â€Å"Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten the m, but not for love. (Rosalind, IVi, 101-102) â€Å"Your brother and my sister no sooner met but they looked; no sooner looked but they loved; no sooner loved but they sighed; no sooner sighed but they asked one another the reason; no sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy; and in these degrees have they made a pair of stairs to marriage, which they will climb incontinent, or else be incontinent before marriage. † (Rosalind, Vii, 31-38) â€Å"A poor virgin, sir, and ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own. A poor humor of mine, sir, to take that that no man else will. (Touchstone, Viv, 61-63) NOTES Act I, scene 1 – The play begins with Orlando, the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys, complaining of his treatment by his eldest brother Oliver. Oliver, the heir of his father’s estate, has withheld from Orlando the small inheritance left him by his father and has refused to provide for his education. When Orlando confronts Oliver, he refuses to honor his f ather’s wishes. After Orlando leaves, Oliver meets Charles Duke Frederick’s wrestler. We discover from their onversation that Duke Frederick has usurped the dukedom from his brother Duke Senior, who has fled to the Forest of Arden with some of his faithful nobles. Duke Senior’s daughter, the lovely Rosalind, remains at court under Duke Frederick’s protection, largely because she is the best friend of Duke Frederick’s daughter Celia. Charles intends to stage a wrestling exhibition the next day, and Orlando plans to challenge him. Oliver paints a picture of Orlando as a great villain and advises Charles to dispatch him in order to avoid the treachery that the young man will surely bring to the ring.In a brief soliloquy, however, we find that Orlando is a noble young man despite his lack of education, and is hated by his brother because of his sterling character. Act I, scene 2 – Rosalind and Celia are talking outside the duke’s palace. Rosalind is unhappy because her father has been banished. Celia, trying to cheer her up, speaks of their friendship and the kindness of Frederick toward Rosalind, and promises that, when she inherits her father’s kingdom, she will return to Rosalind what Frederick had stolen from her father Duke Senior. As they exchange clever quips, Touchstone, the duke’s jester, enters.Further witticisms follow, after which Le Beau, a courtier to Duke Frederick announces that the wrestlers are approaching. Charles has already broken the ribs of three challengers, and is about to wrestle the young Orlando. Celia and Rosalind, fearing for his safety, try to dissuade him from taking up Charles’ challenge, but he refuses to relent. To the astonishment of all, Orlando wins the match. Frederick asks who he is, but scowls on finding that he is the son of is old enemy Sir Rowland. The girls congratulate Orlando, and Rosalind gives him her necklace.The two are obviously attracted to on e another. After the girls leave, Le Beau returns and warns Orlando to flee to avoid the duke’s wrath; he also tells him that Frederick is becoming jealous of Rosalind’s popularity and is likely to turn against her as well. Act I, scene 3 – Rosalind has fallen head over heels in love with Orlando, and Celia tries to break her out of her melancholy. Their banter is interrupted by Duke Frederick, who abruptly has decided to banish Rosalind for no better reason than that she is her father’s daughter; she is to leave the realm within ten days on penalty of death.Celia pleads for her cousin, to no avail, and then insists that, because she cannot live without her best friend, she will accompany her into exile. After Frederick leaves, the two girls decide to seek Duke Senior in the Forest of Arden. For safety’s sake, Rosalind will disguise herself as a man and be called Ganymede, while Celia will dress like a peasant and present herself as Ganymedeâ€℠¢s sister Aliena. They also determine to take the court jester Touchstone with them to provide amusement on their journey.Act II, scene 1 – The scene now moves to the Forest of Arden, where Duke Senior and his attendants are waxing philosophical about their plight. Jaques alone among the Duke’s attendants remains depressed, mourning over the despoliation of the wilderness by the hunters of Senior’s party. Act II, scene 2 – Duke Frederick discovers the flight of Rosalind, Celia, and Touchstone and suspects that Orlando, with whom Rosalind is clearly enamored, had something to do with it. He orders Oliver brought before him, intending to make him find his brother and the rest of the refugees.Act II, scene 3 – Orlando’s elderly servant Adam warns him that Oliver intends to kill him. Orlando is at a loss, not wanting to take to the road where his only mean of survival would be begging or thievery. Adam offers him five hundred crowns, his life sa vings, and the two together flee the vengeance of Oliver. Act II, scene 4 – Rosalind, Celia, and Touchstone arrive in the Forest of Arden in a state of exhaustion. There they encounter Corin and Silvius, two shepherds. The two are speaking of Silvius’ profound but unrequited love for the shepherdess Phebe.The conversation reminds Rosalind of her love for Orlando. After Silvius runs in search of his beloved, Touchstone approaches Corin to try to buy food for the party. Corin tells them he is in the employ of a churlish farmer who is trying to sell his farm. Rosalind offers to buy it and continue to employ Corin in running it. Act II, scene 5 – Elsewhere in the forest, Jacques luxuriates in his melancholy mood while another courtier, Amiens, sings to him. Amiens tells Jaques that Duke Senior has been looking for him, but Jaques replies that he has been trying to avoid his master in his search for solitude.Act II, scene 6 – Orlando and Adam arrive in the For est of Arden. The elderly Adam is near exhaustion, so Orlando tells him to rest while he goes in search of something to eat. Act II, scene 7 – Duke Senior and his men go in search of Jaques. When they find him, he tells them of meeting Touchstone and reports their conversation. Jaques then wishes that he could be a fool so he could speak his mind without anyone taking offense. At that point Orlando bursts in upon them with sword drawn and demands food. Much to his surprise, they respond like gentlemen and offer him part of their repast.He then goes to fetch Adam. Jaques then meditates on the futility of life in the play’s most famous speech. Orlando then returns with Adam, and as they eat Duke Senior discovers that he is the son of his old friend Sir Rowland de Boys. Act III, scene 1 – Duke Frederick, furious at his inability to locate the runaways, seizes Oliver’s property and swears that he will return it only when Oliver produces his brother Orlando, d ead or alive. Act III, scene 2 – As the scene opens, Orlando is hanging verses in praise of Rosalind on every tree of the forest and carving her name into their trunks.After he leaves, Corin and Touchstone banter about the differences between the court and the country. Rosalind and Celia then enter, having found Orlando’s verses. Touchstone mocks them, but Celia pulls Rosalind aside and tells her that the author wears Rosalind’s chain about his neck and is none other than Orlando. Rosalind then barrages her with questions faster than Celia can answer. The girls hide as Orlando enters with Jaques. The melancholy courtier wants nothing but to be left alone and scorns Orlando for the folly of his love.After Jaques leaves, Rosalind, still disguised as Ganymede, approaches Orlando. The two exchange sallies about Time, then Orlando, marveling at Ganymede’s educated speech, asks the youth if he is native to the forest. Ganymede responds that he is, but was educa ted by a scholarly uncle who warned him against the wiles of women. Orlando asks him to inform him of these dangers, admitting that he is the one who has been decorating the forest with love poems. Ganymede tells him that he nothing of the lover’s appearance about him, but says that he could cure him of love if he really had been victimized by it.He asks him how, and he says that he must pretend that he is his beloved, and he will be as pettish and inconstant as any woman alive, and thus cure him of his malady. He really has no desire to be cured, but he agrees to come to Ganymede’s cottage every day and woo him in the name of â€Å"Rosalind. † Act III, scene 3 – Touchstone is wooing a country wench named Audrey. He becomes frustrated because she is unable to comprehend any of his sallies, but he offers to marry her and engages Sir Oliver Martext for the purpose, calculating that rites performed in such a setting are not likely to be very binding.Sir Oliv er, however, insists that they be married in the church with witnesses, so Touchstone puts him off. Act III, scene 4 – Rosalind is angry because Orlando has not appeared at the appointed time and tells Celia that his love must not be genuine. Celia tries to help by telling her that all men are thus, but Rosalind is not to be comforted. Corin then enters and tells the girls that Silvius is nearby, still pursuing the scornful Phebe, and they decide to watch the sport; Rosalind, in disguise as Ganymede, will even play a role in the romance.Act III, scene 5 – Silvius is mooning after Phebe, who plainly tells him that she does not love him and begs him to leave her alone. At this point â€Å"Ganymede† intervenes, chastising Phebe for rejecting the true love of a good and loyal man despite the fact that she bears little in the way of beauty and wondering why a fine youth like Silvius would waste his time on such a scold. She advises Phebe to turn away from her pride a nd accept Silvius’ overtures of affection. Much to Rosalind’s surprise, however, Phebe quickly falls in love with Ganymede despite the repeated insults rained upon her.After Rosalind, Celia, and Corin leave, Phebe reluctantly allows Silvius to accompany her, but can do nothing but talk about Ganymede, though she professes not to love him and wants to send him a bitter missive in response to his insults. Act IV, scene 1 – The scene begins with brief banter between Rosalind and Jaques, after which Orlando enters, an hour late for his appointment. He addresses the youth he knows as Ganymede by the name Rosalind, and she torments him about the follies of love, going so far as to have Celia conduct a mock wedding.Orlando then leaves for dinner with the Duke while Rosalind counts the minutes until his return. Act IV, scene 2 – Hunters return to the Duke’s camp having killed a deer and sing a song of celebration. Act IV, scene 3 – Orlando is again late, and Rosalind’s fretting is interrupted by Silvius, who brings a letter from Phebe. The missive is a love letter, pouring out the shepherdess’ affection for Ganymede; while she dismisses Silvius, she swears she will die if Ganymede will not have her.Rosalind, disgusted at Phebe’s lack of appreciation for Silvius and the lad’s persistent affection for one so false, nonetheless sends him back to his beloved with the message that, if Phebe truly loves Ganymede, she will love Silvius for â€Å"his† sake. After Silvius departs, Oliver arrives with terrible news: Orlando has been seriously wounded in combat with a lion. Apparently Oliver, on his way to seek Orlando on behalf of Duke Frederick, had a change of heart and determined to seek his brother in order to make amends. He fell asleep in the forest and was set upon, first by a snake, and then by a lion, both of which Orlando drove off.The two brothers were then reconciled, and Orlando introduced Oliver to Duke Senior, who received him gladly. When Orlando fainted from the wound he had received from the lion, he sent Oliver with a message for Rosalind. Hearing of her love’s injuries, Rosalind too passes out, causing Oliver to wonder about the character of this youthful Ganymede, but she claims that she was merely continuing to play the part of Orlando’s love Rosalind. Act V, scene 1 – Audrey is still upset that Touchstone refused to let Sir Oliver Martext marry them, but he promises that he will yet wed her.Soon William, a previous suitor of Audrey, arrives, and Touchstone runs verbal rings around him and tells him to leave Audrey alone at peril of his life. Act V, scene 2 – The Forest of Arden clearly has strange powers – we now find that Oliver and â€Å"Aliena† (Celia) have fallen in love at first sight and intend to marry the next day. Oliver tells Orlando that he will yield to him all his father’s estate so he and Celia can live in pastoral bliss in the forest. Orlando then tells Rosalind of the sudden romance of Oliver and Celia, but bemoans the fact that he still has not obtained the object of his affections.Rosalind, still in the guise of Ganymede, tells him that she has studied under a great magician, and promises that if he comes to the wedding the next day prepared to marry, she will bring his Rosalind there to wed him. Silvius and Phebe then enter, creating an interesting little love quadrangle – Phebe loves Ganymede, Silvius loves Phebe, Orlando loves Rosalind, and Ganymede loves â€Å"no woman. † Rosalind attempts to sort out the confusion by telling Silvius that she will help him if she can, and that he ill be married on the morrow; telling Phebe that she would love her if she could, and would marry her if ever she marries a woman, but that she will wed on the morrow; and promises Orlando that she will satisfy him, and that he will be married on the morrow as well. All, then , are to meet the following day at Oliver and Celia’s wedding. Act V, scene 3 – Audrey and Touchstone look forward to their wedding the next day, and they are joined by two of the Duke’s pages, who sing a love song. Act V, scene 4 – The following day, all gather at a clearing in the forest.Rosalind, still disguised as Ganymede, makes Duke Senior promise to give his daughter to Orlando should she appear and makes Phebe promise to marry Silvius if she decides not to marry Ganymede. She then leaves with Celia to prepare for the nuptials. While they are gone, Touchstone and Audrey appear and the Fool banters with Jaques and the Duke. Hymen then enters with Celia, and Rosalind in her own character. Duke Senior recognizes his daughter and Orlando his love, while Phebe recognizes that her Ganymede is not what he appeared to be and settles for Silvius after all.After a wedding song, Jacques de Boys, the middle brother of Oliver and Orlando, enters and announces t hat Duke Frederick, on h is way to the forest with vengeance in his heart, had met a holy man and been converted. He had then restored the dukedom to Duke Senior and restored the lands of all he had deprived. Frederick intends to retire to a religious life in the forest. Jaques decides to join him while the others begin a dance of celebration. Rosalind then delivers a brief Epilogue. ESSAY QUESTIONS Discuss the following in a five-paragraph essay: 1.Compare and contrast the courses of the love between Silvius and Phebe in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It and that between Helena and Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Be sure to consider the relationships between the wooer and the wooed, the language used to express their quarrels, and the ways in which the playwright resolves the relationships. Compare and contrast the roles played by the forest in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Though the two settings are tran sformative in different ways, both play significant roles in changing those who enter their precincts.Relate these changes and they ways in which they occur to the central themes of the two comedies. Setting plays a major role in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Discuss the contrast between the Duke’s court and the Forest of Arden. Be sure to consider its impact on the behavior and attitudes of the characters, giving special attention to those who experience changes when moving from one environment to the other. In the movie version of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It directed by Kenneth Branagh, the same actor plays both Duke Senior and his brother Duke Frederick.Comment on this decision. What possible advantages and disadvantages could such a casting choice have? How might it contribute to the effective communications of the leading themes of the play? In William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Duke Senior waxes philosophical about his exile in t he Forest of Arden in these words: â€Å"Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything: I would not change it. How does the play demonstrate the â€Å"sweet uses of adversity†? In what ways do the central characters benefit from separation from their normal lives and forced exile to a strange environment? Choose three characters and describe how their experience in the Forest of Arden brings about positive changes in their personalities. Discuss the role of Jaques in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. How does the incurably melancholy courtier help to bring out the central themes of the play? Is he an insightful social critic or a boring pessimist?Support your conclusions with specifics from the play. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. In William Shakespeare’s As You Like It , Duke Senior intones, â€Å"Sweet are the uses of adversity. † Is this statement true in the context of the play? Does the statement correspond with biblical teaching? Do the two treat the idea in the same ways? Why or why not? Support your assessment with specifics, both from the play and from Scripture. Perhaps the most famous speech in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It is delivered by Jaques in Act II, scene vii.After bemoaning the fact that â€Å"All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players,† he speaks of the seven stages of man, ending, as is typical with him, on a melancholy note. Critique the message of the speech. In what ways is it accurate and in what ways is it not? Be sure to consider not only the context of the play, but also biblical teaching about both the dignity and sinfulness of man and the meaning of human life on earth. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It contains one of the most famous lines in the ent ire Shakespearean canon: â€Å"All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. Appropriately enough, many characters in the play engage in playacting, taking on roles to mask their true identities. In addition to serving as a device to drive the plot, what is the significance of these frequent masquerades? Consider the major themes of the play along with the restrictions imposed by the theater of Shakespeare’s day in your answer. One of the central ideas in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It is the contrast between court and country life. In Act III, scene ii of the play, Touchstone and Corin argue about the differences between the two.In the process, Corin says, â€Å"Those that are good manners at the court are as ridiculous in the country as the behavior of the country is most mockable at the court. † Is Shakespeare here arguing for what today would be called Cultural Relativism, or does he favor country life over court life (or t he other way around)? In answering the question, consider the ending, giving attention to the significance of some characters returning to court and others remaining in the country. In Act III, scene ii of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Rosalind says to Celia, â€Å"Do you not know I am a woman?When I think, I must speak. † In general, the play at times seems to promote gender stereotypes such as this, while at other times those stereotypes are challenged, especially through the character of Rosalind herself, who is surely one of Shakespeare’s strongest heroines. Evaluate the view of women presented in the play, being sure to include specific quotations and incidents in your analysis. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It seems at the same time both to ridicule and to promote romantic love.The same Rosalind who says, â€Å"Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love,† falls head over heels in love with Orlando , a man to whom she has spoken only once, and few love affairs could be more improbable than those between Touchstone and Audrey and Oliver and Celia. Does Shakespeare value the ideal of romantic love, or is he mocking it? Evaluate the view of love presented in the play, being sure to include specific quotations and incidents in your analysis. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It ends with four marriages.Which of those marriages do you think will be the happiest, and which the most torturous? Why do you think so? Consider what you know about the characters, their patterns of behavior, and the environments in which their marriages will be lived out in answering the question. In literature, a foil is a character who brings out the salient characteristics of another by contrast. In William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, whom would you consider the most effective foil for Rosalind? Would you choose Celia, Orlando, Touchstone, or someone else?Defend you r choice by noting why that character is a better foil for the heroine than the other possibilities. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It contains a fool, Touchstone, and a character who is foolish in his melancholy, Jaques. Compare and contrast these characters and the roles they play with Feste and Malvolio in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Use specific incidents and quotations from the two plays to support your analysis. In Shakespeare’s day, women were prohibited from performing on stage. Instead, women’s parts were played by boys whose voices had not yet changed.Consider the implications of this practice for the character of Rosalind in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. When Rosalind disguises herself in the Forest of Arden as Ganymede, then entices Orlando to make love to â€Å"him† in order to learn how to win his beloved, we see a boy playing a girl disguised as a boy pretending to be a girl in order to help a boy win a girlâ€℠¢s love. In addition to the obvious possibilities for humor such gender confusion provided, what do you think Shakespeare may have been trying to say? How might this have differed from the predictable homoerotic interpretations given by modern commentators?In William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, characters who espouse extreme views of life and love are subject to ridicule. If Aristotle presented the Golden Mean as the midpoint between two extremes, explain how this Golden Mean is held up as the ideal in Shakespeare’s play. Who represents this Golden Mean? What characters serve as the extremes between which this sensible center is located? Use specifics from the play to support your argument. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It focuses on conflicts between two sets of brothers, Duke Senior and Duke Frederick and Oliver and Orlando.Compare and contrast these conflicts to that between Jacob and Esau in the book of Genesis. Consider the characters of the siblings, the driving motives behind the conflicts, and the resolutions with which the conflicts are brought to a close. Discuss the treatment of class distinctions in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Be sure to include not only the conversation between Touchstone and Corin on the subject, but also the issues raised when those of noble birth disguise themselves as commoners. To what extent does the play affirm class distinctions and to what extent does it undermine them? 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 0. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It is full of songs befitting a pastoral romance. Discuss the significance of these songs. Are they intended merely as entertaining interludes, or do the words of the songs help to convey the themes of the play? Be sure to cite specifics from at least three of the songs in your answer. Discuss the significance of the title of William Shakespeare’s romantic comedy As You Like It. Critics have proposed a number of possibilities, from the aud ience appeal of the pastoral genre to the ambiguity with which many of the play’s themes are treated to the reference to the title in the Epilogue.Choose the meaning that you think most appropriate and defend it with specifics from the play. Elizabethans believed in the Divine Right of Kings – that monarchs were appointed to their positions by God, thus equating rebellion with blasphemy. Not surprisingly, many of Shakespeare’s plays are driven by rulers who have usurped their crowns from their rightful owners. Such is the case with Duke Frederick in As You Like It. Compare and contrast him with another Shakespearean usurper; possibilities include Macbeth, Richard III, Claudius in Hamlet, Antonio in The Tempest, or any other candidate you can think of.Pay attention to the characters and motives of the usurpers, their roles in driving the plots of the respective plays, and the outcomes of the resulting conflicts, especially in light of the genre differences among the plays. Analyze the stylistic variations in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Note that the script moves back and forth between blank verse and prose, with some characters always speaking in verse, some always in prose, and some switching from one to the other. Why do you think Shakespeare made these choices?Support your analysis with specific quotations from the play. William Shakespeare’s As You Like It demands contradictory skills of its audience. On the one hand, the audience is expected to take pleasure in the dramatic irony of Rosalind’s disguise, since the viewers know something the characters don’t know and can thus gain pleasure from the inside jokes in the dialogue. On the other hand, the audience must exercise a voluntary suspension of disbelief, accepting the fact that, not only does Orlando fail to recognize his beloved, but Duke Senior also fails to recognize his own daughter!What qualities of the play itself equip the audience for th e needed responses. Do you think a modern audience would be able to handle this contradiction as well as an Elizabethan one? Why or why not? Critic Mark Van Doren, writing on William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, said, â€Å"There is only one thing sillier than being in love, and that is thinking it is silly to be in love. † In what way is this sentence an apt summary of Shakespeare’s popular romantic comedy? Support your conclusion with specifics from the play.In many of William Shakespeare’s comedies, the forest is symbolic of the breaking down of society’s values. Compare and contrast the way this theme is handled in The Two Gentlemen of Verona and As You Like It. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. Both Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer and William Shakespeare’s As You Like It center around a young woman who disguises herself in order to win the love of a man to whom she is attracted. Compare and contrast the characters of Kate Har dcastle and Rosalind with regard to their motivations, methods, and successes. Which do you find more admirable, and why?

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Ethics - Assignment Example Since Deborah is working as nursing practitioner at a private hospital, she forgets the very reality that private clinics and medical centers keep profit motif in priority while offering their services and pecuniary gains are of vital interest for them. Furthermore, the private health centers are run on the basis of self-reliance doctrine, the administration of such organizations has to device money generating schemes in order to keep the ball rolling. Though in the professions, other than health and medicines, the people do not pay much care to the mercenary motifs of the organizations, the healthcare centers are criticized and condemned for such avaricious purposes due to the very fact that they are expected to serve the humanity by saving their lives in one way or the other. Consequently, the tricks and crookedness observed by these organizations are looked down upon in society. The same is applied to the community hospital in which Deborah has been working as nurse. Deborah has t wo divergent moral obligations: one towards her organization, violating the rules of which may put her job at stake. However, her second obligation is towards her Lord and the humanity at large.

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112 mind paper - Article Example Geographical locations have influenced people’s habits, beliefs, and customs because they define the norms. Therefore, the degree of influence of cultural factors to consumer behavior varies in accordance to age, gender, marital status, religion, and location. People are increasingly adapting to the electronic environment and thus the increasing urge to own electronic gadgets. Apple iPhone is arguably the best electronic gadget in the current world and thus people across all age groups consider it worth possessing one. Since the new culture has been developed in accordance to owning expensive items, I bought the Apple iPhone because it was appealing and it did not in any way interfere with my cultural beliefs and wanted to fit in a social class that is associated with expensive and cool gadgets. Social factor stem from cultural factors because they involve family, reference groups, and role and status (Solomon et al, 2009). Family molds perception and influence of future buying behavior because it prepares people into understanding what is good and bad, what is necessary and leisure, and what preferences to consider. Reference groups include friends, and the rest of the world, which provide insightful information about new products and their efficiency thus influencing behavior. Everybody is talking about Apple iPhone and due to it, I was influenced to try out and see how it looks like to make sure I get first hand information for myself. Role and status is in relation with roles played by people in society. Currently, I am a student, meaning my role in society is to research and learn new things. This is a major factor in my decision of purchasing the Apple iPhone because I need to research wherever I go, take pictures which can be used as evidence in my assignment submiss ion, and interact with friends and family even when am away from them. Age and life style, occupation, life style,

The environmental and economic effects of local coal mining Research Paper

The environmental and economic effects of local coal mining - Research Paper Example Towards the northern end potatoes, wheat is grown along with cattle that are used to make dairy products. Towards the southern end farmers grow corn, tobacco and because the ground is flatter, poultry which provides eggs. The valleys of the Appalachian Mountains are ideal to grow alfalfa, hay and apples. Most of the forests that cover the ancient mountain range consist of hickories, maples and oaks. In the fall they change color from deep green to orange and crispy brown. The trees are chopped off for their wood and then taken to North Caroline furniture makers. The peaks are rich in coal, thus coal mining has emerged as a major industry and provides employment to many natives of the Appalachian Mountains. The upper land is also rich in mineral resources such as Iron, stone and crude oil. Of course the vast timber forests are worth their weight in gold as the international demand for timber for various chemical and furniture industry rises. Tourism is also a booming industry which provides a steady source of income for most people living on the mountain tops. There is a Mount Mitchell National Park which was established in 1915 and named after the scientist Dr. Mitchell who was the first one sent to the mountain to collect the accurate data on its height. He fell to his death while he was climbing one of the mountains in the Appalachian range. Mining for various minerals have taken the toll on the mountain range and their inhabitants. Mining especially, surface mining where the surface is blasted off and the mineral collected and in strip mining where a side of a mountain is due in and then the mineral is accessed. When we consider mining for coal we have to consider two things, the heat trapping carbon dioxide it generates and the solution to the environment damage that is incurred when the cheap source of fuel is dug out of the ground in massive quantities. Never has the question been so vital to survival more

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In Compensation and Benefits - Case Study Example While my primary role will be to inform them about the salary alignment process, their views and propositions will be taken into consideration to bring sex equality, rationalization of salaries and bolster the team spirit that is necessary for Acme’s triumph. In the first place, the company got into this ghastly situation due to erroneous preconceived notions, underestimation of the female workers and a startling ignorance in job appraisal. As the president, George significantly contributed to Acme’s present problem firstly by believing that women had working husbands hence did not require huge salaries, and also be awarding pay increment based on his association with an employee evident through the personal bargains common during his regime. The HR director too held the preconceived notion that the female employees should be paid less since they supervise less skilled and proficient employees as compared to their male counterparts. The local culture exceedingly swayed the compensation process. Whether the spouse is salaried or not is not part of the professional compensation plan, but in Acme, the management allowed such a preconceived notion to drive the company into problems. Moreover, considering the sheer fact that the company was formed 35 years ago when underestimation of women was the norm, and Acme was small, it is likely that only men were employed. When it eventually started hiring women, they had meager professional experience, and as the equal pay rights were implemented, George overlooked the idea of increasing women’s salaries while he increased men’s salaries. Acme’s current problem is also attributable to its defective job evaluation process. Job evaluation allows the organization to determine the worth of a job basing decisions of skills, competency and experience. The process was ineffectual and failed to pinpoint weaknesses

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MHE509 - Emergency Planning and Methodology Module 3 - SLP - Essay Example This emergency management and disaster preparedness plan is developed to save the lives and assets of the Barnard college student’s society in the situations of emergencies. This also protects the arranged operation of the college society throughout disasters. This policy will also facilitate in to manage and deploy the right help, manpower and resources in the occurrence of a disaster. For the critical analyses of the emergency or disaster management plan for the Barnard college I have reviewed the whole report and tried to find out the main weak points and flaws that are present in this emergency or disaster management policy. From the section onward I will discuss these points in detail. As we study the mission statement of the Barnard College’s emergency or disaster management plan or policy then we will be able to perceive lot of weaknesses in the better management of any critical situation. Here I will elaborate few of them. The main weakness I have perceived is about the handling of that situation. Here this emergency or disaster management plan it is mentioned that in case of any disaster situation will be assessed and then the necessary resources will be made available for that situation to address the emergency. As I perceive this is not feasible in state of emergency because at the time of emergency we have very short time to handle the situation. Assessment and planning at that time will take time and we would not be able to handle the situation properly. In this disaster management policy the main flaw is the lack of preplanning for all type of critical situation. There is a strong need of preplanning for all the types of situation in case of any mishap. So we can say that the Barnard College needs more established preplanning for better handling of the situation and circumstances. The weakness and failure of the emergency or disaster management plan is the lack of the enough

Labor Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Labor Relations - Essay Example . According to Mithra (2009), binding arbitration is a case whereby a party is asked to make an agreement which provides that if they have a dispute with the contracting partner then they opt to be heard by private arbitrator rather than normal litigation through courts. The contracting parties are bound totally by the decision of the arbitrator hence their case can not be appealed in a court of law. The arbitrator is usually a third party and has the authority to make final decision in accordance to prior arrangements of contracting parties. It can not be stated with certainty when formal processes of arbitration were established in the world but it is known that arbitration as method of resolution of disputes is far much older than courts litigation. Arbitration use can be traced far back from ancient civilizations e.g. Greece, Roman and Egypt. The arbitration act of 1697 was the first English law on arbitration, though arbitration was in common use even before the law came to be. Arbitrations before this law was usually never strong this was mainly due to the parties to arbitration terminating the arbitrators authority if the deemed things were not going well with their expectations on the arbitration Arbitration is a resolution of a dispute by a non partisan third party who gives the final word on the settlement which is final to the parties in arbitration. Arbitration is distinct to mediation, determination by experts, alternative dispute resolution and judicial proceedings. In practice some cases of disputes are not able to be subjected to arbitration this is usually depending on the content of the case that involve arbitration. Examples of procedures that can not be subjected to arbitration include; Where the resolution of the dispute does not require the parties to the dispute to enter any form of agreement e.g., court processes that bind all members of the public or institutions or a dispute that involves public interest, this can be highlighted by the example that antitrust matters in U.S were not arbitral until recently (1980s). Another example of cases not arbitral is ones relating to family, status and crime. This is because the authority of the parties to enter into arbitration on these matters is limited. Private rights disputes are however arbitral. The other case where arbitration cannot apply is where relevant authority would want to protect weaker member who can be easily be disadvantaged by the agreement in arbitration e.g. consumers In arbitration, parties enter into agreement by consensus not by force, however in real life arbitration agreements are usually put in circumstances where like the workers or consumers have very limited or no power to speak for themselves. In some instances clauses on arbitration are placed in areas which render their useful meaning to be unrealistic e.g. within sealed user's manual in products. These agreements are of two kinds; Agreement with a provision for solution of any arising dispute by arbitration they are in most cases normal contracts and usually contain arbitration clauses; Agreements made due to dispute that has arisen consenting that

Human Capital, Inequality and Growth in Transition Economies Essay Example for Free

Human Capital, Inequality and Growth in Transition Economies Essay Human Capital can be defined as the accumulation of competences and knowledge in individuals gained through education and experience, not forgetting their personality attributes. All these put together enable individuals effectivley perform profitable and revenue generating economic activities. Such competent persons in a society are at times reffered to as a workforce or laborforce. Some examples of investments in humans that result in human capital are education, health and training. As Becker says, human capital investments raise the earning ability of individuals, improve health and add to an individuals’ good habits. The term inequality generally refers to disparities in access to opportunities or resources amongst individuals, groups or even countries. Some of the common causes of inequality are; gender, race, age, geographical location and even cultural practices. Inequality normally results in observable differences in levels of growth and development of individuals or from one society to another. Education is the process through which individuals are able to acquire basic skills necessary for life. It is the understanding and interpretation of knowledge that empowers individuals to develop a logical and rational mind. The rational mind is then is able to determine relationships amongts pertinent variables, thereby fostering understanding. Education involves completing curriculum based fixed time achievements, aimed at building professional capabilities. At the individual level, it develops the capabilities and potentials of the individual so as to prepare them to be successful in a specific society or culture. In this case therefore, education serves an individuals’developmental needs. When education happens at the societal level, it is thus defined as a process by which society transmits to new members the values, beliefs, knowledge and symbollic expressions that make communication possible within that society. In this sense, education serves a social and cultural function. Roland (2000) says that transition economics, also known as transformation economics refers to a state whereby economies have gradually changed over from socialism to capitalism, an example being the former socialist economies. There is a shift from standardized prices and monetary theories to institutions geared towards a higher efficiency. This transition can only thrive if there is sustained government and political support. The Soviet Union in full, is known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), It was characterised by a single communist political party, a planned economy and the KGB security agency which closely monitored activities within the union. USSR was formed in December 1922 and by 1956, it was comprised of 15 countries with Moscow being the capital city. The fifteen countries included; Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Dissolution of USSR begun in 1985 and continued upto 1991, with the fifteen member states gaining their independence a few months before the Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, restructuring of the administrative functions and development of a market based system was immediately embarked on through Yeltsins’ shock program. The aim was to improve standards of living, ensure equitable resource allocation, create new production avenues, promote liberalization, and provide incentives through privatization activities. However, a free and liberalised market did not come without ny challenges. By 1992 Russia suffered a deppressed life expectancy, twenty five percent of the population lived in abject poverty, there were low birthrates, and a downward sloping Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, due to increased investment activities, exploitatation of valuable natural resources and increased business development activites, the economy begun to make significant improvement. The aim of this paper is to explore how education as a factor of human capital and inequality influenced growth in transition economies, with respect to the former Soviet Union countries (FSU). Theoretical research Human capital with regard to education and levels of inequality both have an impact on the growth experienced in transition economies. This growth is therefore an end result of quality educational investments and equitable distribution and allocation of vital resources across a country. Such a hypothesis makes growth the dependent variable whose outcome is influenced by two independent variables namely; education and inequality. Observation of growth and development trends in transition economies and the developing world, have shown that education can have both positive and negative impacts on an economy. One of the positive impacts is that persons who possess the relevant knowledge and skills required by organizations are able to access better job opportunities as opposed to those who are poorly educated. In addition, high levels of education enable individuals to secure jobs in other countries, thus helping to alleviate the problem of unemployement in their mother country. Spagat (2002) observed that during Russia’s transition, intellectual individuals were more motivated to pursue more education opportunities and in return, became very successful in their careers. In regard to the economic transition in the former Soviet Union countries (FSU), educated parents who still held education in high esteem, were very focused on ensuring that their children acquired the same level of education as them or even higher. While on the other hand those parents who viewed education as a burden rather than an investment focused on the bare minimum, that is, basic education. The result of this attitude was that these particular families remained trapped at a basic education level and so was their access to income generating opportunities. Through education and training, individuals acquire problem solving skills and entrepreneur management skills which inturn, help them set up and operate successful ventures, in the process creating employment opportunities. In addition, as the field of education grows within a country with more universities, colleges, high schools and primary schools being constructed, more job opportunities are created in the education sector. Persons who are well educated are likely to secure better paying jobs, which inturn increases their purchasing power plus it increases the demand for goods and services available in the economy. The net effect of this, is creation of more job opportunites in the production and service sectors. These persons are able to improve their standards of living including those of their dependants. In addition, issues of health and fertility are decided upon from a knowledgeable point, (Newell and Reilly, 1999). Through education, individuals are exposed to society and they acquire important attributes and values that can help them enhance their capacity to interact and relate with other persons in society. As a result, they able to adapt and cope with the dynamics of the workplace. Last but not least, education as a contributor to human capital enhances economic growth and development in a country, since the human capital is equipped on how to exploit the countrys’natural resources profitably. Countries lacking this human capital are neither able to exploit their resources adequately, nor are they able to develop their economy at the desired pace. Barro (1998) argues that human capital enhances absorption and application of superior technologies from other countries. Young and educated persons under the guidance of the older folk are able to conduct research and development. The improved technology in a transitional economy enhances the speed and quality of production of goods and services, through improved and more cost efficient work processes. The young industries are in turn able to meet rising demands, both domestic and foreign hence increasing their revenues and taxes to the government. Munich et al (1999), argue that in a transition economy, government support and positive attitude towards investments in human capital is essential. The government has to allocate funds for example for building schools and also for enticing people to enroll in this schools. However, the maintenance of the enrollment levels is a continued process whose economic benefits are only realised over time as was seen in the Czech Republic. In support of this argument, Spagat (1995) warns that it is even though human capital takes years to accumulate, it actually takes a very short while to deteriorate, hence governments cannot afford to postpone this investment, even temporarily. The governments must ensure that education and other skills are transferred effectively from one generation to the next. Restructuring of education, needs to be done from the very beginning of the transition from socialism, in order to immediately improve educations’ quality. There is a multiplier effect that comes with better quality education. The first being an increased access to job opportunities, higher wages and consequently more tax revenue for the government. The major effect however, is that it sets the standards for future generations, both in terms of quality of education and future incomes, (Spagat, 2002). Fan et al (1999) said that the young people of Russia during the transition had little or no motivation to put effort to pursue education. This is because the education system had not been restructured to match the market-oriented system and therefore the returns were not high. World Bank (1995) accused Russia of concentrating on spewing out scientists and engineers instead of producing a mixture of professionals who would support the different sectors of Russia’s’ economy. They only increased between 1991 and 1994, but this human capital investment deteriorated again by 1996, (Brainerd (1998). In order to make ends meet, many dropped out of school and opted for jobs such as taxi drivers, street vendors and some even joined the Mafioso for a quick buck. All was not lost however, when we remember individuals like the Hungarian–American entrepreneur George Soros, who provided funds that would help these countries implement reforms for a better future. OECD (1996) advised that schools and tertiary institutions should not be the only avenues through which education is attained. OECD (1996) advised that adult learning should be encouraged in order to help the older generations access more income. In addition, pre-schooling of children below the age of formal schooling, which was a common feature of the FSU countries fostered child development and also prepared these children for formal education. In these former Soviet Union countries, the major advantage of pre-schooling their young children was in the fact that it freed the women to participate in economic activities, and it also reduced education disparities between children of the educated parents and those of the less educated parents. Micklewright (2000) wrote that investment in learning institutions ensures sustained educational gains. For example, in some of the Soviet Union countries, teachers earned wages so low that they spent their time looking for more income instead of teaching. In addition, repair and maintenance of the buildings was neglected and with lack of heating during winter, schools would be closed. The other problem was the shortage of textbooks. However, these countries tried to salvage the situation by offering meals at school between 1989 and 1996, in order to entice parents to take their children back to school. In countries such as, Yugoslavia, Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan and Albania, the transition was characterised by serious geographical disparities caused by war, civil and ethnic strife. Facilities were destroyed, hundreds of families were displaced out of their homes and schools were closed, (World Bank, 1997b), thus slowing down the ongoing projects. Human capital is vital for growth of transition economies. Growth should be stimulated across all sectors of the economy and in each part of the country so as to rapidly raise the standards of living and reduce inequalities between urban and rural areas. Keen interest should be paid especially to rural areas, in order to eliminate the possibility of mushrooming of pockets of poverty across the country. According to Flemming and Micklewright (1999), ensuring that access to education is recognized by FSU countries as a human right as stipulated in international law, will greatly boost growth of human capital. Equal rights promote equal access to opportunities and it also reduces discrimination based on gender, race, religion or economic status. Income inequality rose in the Czech Republic and Russia and was very high between 1988 and 1996. In order to support a transition economy, Spagat (2002) suggests that a balance should be created between skilled and unskilled labour. This is because most young people either worked on a full time basis and neglected pursuit of higher education, or they pursued higher education and then begun working at a later stage. One of the negative impacts of education on a country is that by having too many educated persons, the labor market gets saturated thus resulting in a drop in the amount of wages that employers are willing to offer. In turn this acts as a demotivator of the labor force and may also result in brain drain whereby qualified personnel leave their mother country for better opportunities in other countries. The unemployed persons are normally seen resulting to social ills such as alcoholism, drug abuse and robbery amongst others. These social ills inturn dissuade local and foreign investors from putting their money in an unsafe country.

Learning Organization Essay Example for Free

Learning Organization Essay The evolution of Organizational Learning has started in 1938 when John Dewey, in his book Experience and Education, publicized the concept of experiential learning as an ongoing cycle of activity. But, how did this concept emerge? Or, what does it really mean for the businesses? In order to understand this, we have to analyze the problems and needs. The core idea behind learning organization is that organizations of all kinds will not survive, let alone thrive, if they do not acquire an ability to adapt continuously to an increasingly unpredictable future. Or in other words, in order to survive and succeed for businesses, it is essential to establish or build stronger relationships with customers, where there are rapidly changing, turbulent and/or highly competitive market. Through learning, organizations may be better equipped to meet the challenges caused by continuous environmental turbulence. In addition, where products and processes can rapidly be copied, according to Arie de Geus, head of strategic planning department of Royal/Dutch Shell, the only real source of competitive advantage is to stimulate learning by employees. This may allow these individuals to identify new ways of working more closely with customers, which in turn permits the organization to differentiate itself from competition. However, the style of learning has to reflect the operational needs of the organization. For instance, a manufacturer which has adopted a transactional marketing style would probably choose to operate in a relatively stable market, produce standard components and focus primarily on offering adequate quality goods at a competitive price. In such circumstances, assuming that the organizational systems are based around repetition of routine procedures, the firm would probably be well advised to focus upon creating a single-loop learning environment as the most appropriate way fur sustaining employee development aimed at organizational efficiency. 2 On the other hand, in market situations where firms face periods of significant, discontinuous change and/or there is a desire to differentiate  the firm from competition through the adoption of a relationship marketing style, then possibly an incremental, more adaptive learning style, which is called double-loop learning may be more appropriate, so to involve the exploitation of new knowledge to evolve new practices, perspectives and operational frameworks. Figure 1: Single- vs. double-loop learning. II. DEFINITION OF LEARNING ORGANIZATIONS Keeping in mind what we have so far discussed, now let us check some definitions of the Learning Organizations. Peter M. Senge, who is also named as the father of this concept, describes learning organizations as organizations where people can continuously expand their capacity to create results which they truly desire. In such organizations, new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, and collective aspiration is set free. Individuals learn to learn together. He declares Deep down, we are all learners. It is not only our nature to learn, but we love to learn. Chris Argyris and Donald Schon defined the concept of learning organizations through the help of the definition of organizational learning: where the process of detection and correction of errors rules. 3 Moreover, how de Geus defined learning organizations is very remarkable: Forget your tired old ideas about leadership. The most successful corporation of the 1990s will be something called a learning organization? The ability to learn faster than your competitors, may be the only sustainable competitive advantage. One last definition might be the one of Kim, D., a learning organization is one that consciously manages its learning process through an inquiry-driven orientation among all its members. III. FIVE DISCIPLINES OF SENGE I have already mentioned that Senge was called as the father of the concept of Learning Organizations. When he first published his book The Fifth Discipline: The Art Practice of The Learning Organization in 1990, he caught a significant attention from academics and the business world. Peter M. Senge (1947- ) was named a ? Strategist of the Century by the Journal of Business Strategy, one of 24 men and women who have ? had the greatest impact on the way we conduct business today. Moreover, Senge has founded the Center for Organizational Learning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1991 while he is also the founding chairperson of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL) and a senior lecturer at MIT. Being maybe the most important, namely the person having the most influence in Learning Organizations I will study his so called five disciplines in my project. 4 3. 1 PERSONAL MASTERY 3. 1. 1 Introduction to Personal Mastery  Senge says, Organizations learn only through individuals who learn. Individual learning does not guarantee organizational learning. But without it no organizational learning occurs. The people are the main active force in every aspect of the business. Since, people have their own will and mind, and their own way of thinking; it is essential that they be sufficiently motivated to challenge the goals of growth and complexity. In todays practices, the manager should not be willing to dominate controlling, planning and organizing the workers activities. Instead they should be enabling the people in the business have their own enriching lives through establishing and maintaining the conditions needed. One should be living his own life from a creative viewpoint, so as to turn the life into a creative work. Personal Mastery is the phrase Senge and his colleagues use for the discipline of personal growth and learning. People with high levels of personal mastery are continually expanding their ability to create the results in life they truly seek. From their quest for continual learning comes the spirit of the learning organization. 3. 1. 1. 1 Mastery and Proficiency. There are two main underlying movements when personal mastery becomes a discipline, one of which is always continually making clear what is important for oneself, whereas the other movement is to continually learn how to see the current reality more clearly. It is vital to know where you are now in moving toward a desired destination. People with a high level of personal mastery share several basic characteristics, one of which is that they have a special sense of purpose that lies behind their visions and goals. 5 For such a person, a vision is an aspiration rather than simply a good idea. One other characteristic is that they live in a continual learning mode, where they never arrive. They know that personal mastery is not something one possesses, but is a process, a lifelong discipline. Those with a high level of personal mastery are acutely aware of their ignorance, their incompetence; and they know, or better to say truly believe that the journey itself is the reward. 3. 1. 1. 2 Why We Want It We want it because people with high levels of personal mastery are more committed, take more initiative, have a broader and deeper sense of responsibility in their work, and learn faster. Kazou Inamori, founder and chairman emeritus of Kyocera Corporation and president of the Inamori Foundation, who holds a bachelor of sciences in applied chemistry, says that Our employees agreed to live in a community in which they would not exploit each other, but rather help each other so that we may each live our life fully. 3. 1. 1. 3 Resistance One of the issues against the personal mastery is the resistance, which in turn is a valid fear for companies in which the managers couldnt build a shared vision along with shared mental models. It is useless to have personal mastery as solely without other disciplines of the organizational learning. Thats why we always have to keep in mind that personal mastery must go together with a shared vision and the other disciplines. 6 3. 1. 2 The Discipline of Personal Mastery 3. 1. 2. 1 Personal Vision Most adults have goals and objectives, but these are not visions. Thus, we can say that most have little sense of real vision. When asked what they want, many adults will say what they want to get rid of, as if they delineate themselves as given-ups, rather than grown-ups. Senge points that The ability to focus on ultimate intrinsic desires, not only on secondary goals, is a cornerstone of personal mastery. Vision is different from purpose, since purpose is similar to a direction, a general heading, whereas vision is a specific destination, a picture of a desired future. Vision is the image of your desired future. It shouldnt be confused with competition; it shouldnt be isolated from the idea of ones purpose. It is something which has personal aspects along with material aspects, such as where we want to live and how much of savings we want, or issues like health or freedom contribute, relatively. 3. 1. 2. 2 Holding Creative Tension One testimony of Senge says that there is something called the creative tension which is the source of energy derived from the gap between ones vision and where it stands in reality. This gap can push someone forward to get closer to the vision; however it might also discourage some other people, so as to leading to feelings and emotions associated with anxiety. Imagine a rubber band, stretched between your vision and the current reality. When stretched, the rubber band creates tension, representing the tension between vision and current reality. What does tension seek? Resolution or release. There 7 are two possible ways for the tension to resolve itself: pull reality toward the vision or pull the vision toward reality. Which occurs will depend on whether we hold steady to the vision. Figure 3: Creative Tension Negative emotions caused by anxiety of the creative tension, shouldnt be realized as the creative tension itself. What Senge argues, is that after some time what we call emotional tension will arise due to the negative emotions. In such cases, we feel deeply discouraged about a vision that is not happening and tend to lower the vision as an immediate so called remedy. It is clear that escaping emotional tension is easy; but what we really pay against is giving up something what we profoundly want, our vision. In the context of organizations we can say that goals are slowly lowered because of low tolerance for emotional tension. What we have to do is to understand thoroughly what the creative tension is and allow it to operate without lowering our vision; only then the vision becomes an active force in personal mastery. The gap in between should be used to generate energy for change. 8 Mastery of creative tension transforms the way we judge failure. It is simply an opportunity for learning. 3. 1. 2. 3 Structural Conflict: The Power of your Powerlessness A research done by Robert Fritz has shown that practically all of us have a dominant belief that we are not able to fulfill our desires. This in turn, is an obstacle one should get rid off. These beliefs, which are mandatory as a child to survive, were taught us so that we learnt our limitations. Most of us hold one of two contradictory beliefs that intrinsically limit our ability to create what so called we really want. The more common belief is in our powerlessness, namely our inability to bring into being all the things we really care about, whereas the other belief focuses on unworthiness, that we do not deserve to have what we truly desire. Fritz uses a metaphor to describe how contradictory underlying beliefs work as a system, which he calls the structural conflict, the metaphor counter to achieving our goals, through symbolizing the concept by another rubber band example. Figure 4: Effect of structural conflict to the creative tension. Later on, he identifies three generic so called strategies to cope with the forces of structural conflict, each of which has its own limitations. Accordingly, one is letting 9 our vision to erode. This strategy will lead to the sacrifice of what we truly want as discussed earlier. The second strategy is to conflict manipulation which is actually the strategy of people who mostly worry about failure. What they do is to focus on avoiding what they do not want to happen. This strategy makes one to spend his/her life in worry and fear. For those following this strategy, which is also called the negative vision, there is little joy in their life, even when they achieve their goals because this time they immediately tend to begin worrying about losing what they have gained. The last and most favorable strategy is defined as the willpower, where we simply psyche ourselves up to overpower all forms of resistance to achieving our goals. Simply saying, motivating through heightened will. In the next section, we will discuss Senges strategy for dealing with structural conflict: telling the truth. 3. 1. 2. 4 Commitment to the Truth People often want a technique that they can apply to solve the problem of structural conflict. But, in fact, being committed to the truth is far more powerful than any technique. So, what does it actually mean? It means a relentless willingness to root out the ways we limit or deceive ourselves from seeing what is, and to continually challenge our theories of why things are the way they are. The first critical task in dealing with structural conflicts is to recognize them, and the resulting behavior, when they are operating. This helps us to develop so called internal 10  warning signals, such as when we find ourselves blaming something or someone for our problems. What Senge suggests in this context is that we have to work on developing skills to discuss such situations with the people involved without producing defensiveness. We shouldnt always act in a manner where we always think of what others have done in the situation, rather we have to concentrate on what we can do. This in other words, relates to the fact that we have to understand, or better to say, realize the situation, the current reality in which we are, so to use this as a generative force. This has even been concluded in religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Jewish, Buddhism. One example might be the statement of The truth shall set you free. 3. 1. 2. 5 Using the Subconscious One of the most fascinating aspects of people with high levels of personal mastery is their ability to accomplish extraordinarily complex tasks with grace and ease. But, how does this come to happen? It is through the subconscious that all of us deal with complexity. What distinguishes people with high levels of personal mastery is they have developed a higher level of understanding between their normal awareness and their subconscious. Even the daily activities of us like walking, talking, eating or putting on your shoes are enormously complex tasks, for which we have learned the required skills of the tasks, which in turn led that the whole activity gradually shifts from conscious attention to subconscious control. People with high levels of personal mastery focus on the desired result itself, not the process or the means they assume necessary to achieve that result. This allows the person in focusing on the artistry of the result as well. 11 In other words, we can say that we must work at learning how to differentiate what we truly want, from what we think we need to do in order to achieve it. In order to develop a subconscious understanding it is also important to commit to the truth, because when not telling the truth, most people create some level of internal stress. The principle of creative tension recognizes that the subconscious operates most effectively when it is focused clearly on our vision and our current reality. One effective way to focus the subconscious is through imagery and visualization. For instance, world-class swimmers have found that by imagining their hands to be twice their actual size and their feet to be webbed, they actually swim faster. Mental practicing of complex tasks has become a routine psychological training for professional performers from different areas of interest. A strict reliance on only conscious learning could never have achieved this level of artistry, even if there was all the willpower in the world present. Contradictorily, it had to depend on a high level of subconscious understanding. 3. 2 MENTAL MODELS 3. 2. 1 Introduction to Mental Models  Mental models can be described as the views and assumptions we hold in our minds about how things are and how things work. A mental model is like ones way of looking at whats happening in the world. In other words, it determines how we think and act. Mental models depend on the past experiences, and the perception as a result of those experiences, and observations. In the introduction I had introduced the experiential learning, which was the style of learning through past experience and some other elements 12 like concrete experience, observation and reflection, and forming abstract concepts. Accordingly, a child without knowing that it might cut his hand might take a knife in his hand and try to push it in his hand. This in fact, will hurt him a lot. However, grown ups already know how to deal with a knife, so they wont do the same mistake as the child does. All the experiences learnt are added up so to form or build up the mental models. 3. 2. 1. 1 Why the Best Ideas Fail? From the business point of view, one thing which is known by all managers is that many of the best ideas never get put into practice. Even brilliant strategies fail to get translated into action. New insights fail to get put into practice because they conflict with deeply held internal images of how the world works, images that limit us to familiar ways of thinking and acting. That is why the discipline of managing mental models ? surfacing, testing, and improving our internal pictures of how the world works- promises to be a major breakthrough for building learning organizations. Our mental models determine not only how we make sense of the world, but how we take action, namely they shape how we act which puts them into an active sense. But, why are mental models so powerful in affecting what we do? In part, because they affect what we see. As psychologists say, human beings observe selectively. Mental models also exist in the organizations, and also in management. Mental models could cause big losses in the business world as it can also prevent us from seeing the current situation. Loosing Americas car market share to German and Japanese countries was a result of the mental models of the management, where they are prevented to see the situation because of their models in mind, and perceptions. 13 The problems with mental models lie not in whether they are right or wrong-by definition, all models are simplifications. The problems with mental models arise when the models are tacit-when they exist below the level of awareness. 3. 2. 1. 2. Overcoming The Basic Diseases of the Hierarchy In the traditional authoritarian organization, the dogma was managing, organizing, and controlling, whereas in the learning organization, the new dogma will be vision, values, and mental models. In addition, in traditional organizations, merit means doing what the boss wants, openness means telling the boss what he wants to hear, and localness means doing the dirty stuff that the boss doesnt want to do. However, in learning organizations these concepts will get new understandings. 3. 2. 2. The Discipline of Mental Models Developing an organizations capacity to work with mental models involves both learning new skills and implementing institutional innovations that help bring these skills into regular practice. 3. 2. 2. 1 Managing Mental Models Throughout An Organization A concept of scenarios should be adapted in pursuit of mental models, so to force managers to consider how they would manage under different alternative paths into the future. This offsets the tendency for managers to implicitly assume a single future. When groups of managers share a range of alternative futures in their mental models, they become more responsive to those changes. 14 Mental modeling should be implemented as a philosophy. It is important to note that the goal in mental modeling is not agreement or congruency. Many mental models can exist at once. What is important is that we have to consider all of them and test against situations that we confront. Only after the process works it leads to congruency. 3. 2. 2. 2 Managing Mental Models At Personal and Interpersonal Levels The learning skills of action science practitioners such as Chris Argyris fall into two broad classes: skills of reflection and skills of inquiry. Where skills of reflection concern slowing down our own thinking process so that we can become more aware of how we form our mental models and the ways they influence our actions, inquiry skills concern how we operate in face-to-face interactions with others, especially in dealing with complex and conflictual issues. Reflection skills start with recognizing leaps of abstraction, which mean that our minds move at lightning speeds. Ironically, this often slows our learning, because we immediately leap to generalizations so quickly that we never think to test them. Namely, leaps of abstraction occur when we move from direct observations to generalization without testing. Here it is important to distinguish direct observation from generalizations inferred from the observation itself. To distinguish it, explicitly separate it from the data which led to it. A second technique from action science is the left-hand column, which in turn is a powerful tool for beginning to see how our mental models operate in particular situations. It reveals ways that we manipulate situations to avoid dealing with how we actually think and feel, and thereby prevent a counterproductive situation from improving. The most important lesson that comes from seeing our left-hand columns is how we undermine opportunities for learning in conflictual situations. Here, a process called balancing inquiry and advocacy comes into action. 15 Managers are mostly trained to be advocates. In many companies, being a competent manager means, being able to solve problems, figuring out what needs to be done, and enlisting whatever support is needed to get it done. In such organizations, employees are rewarded according to their ability to debate forcefully, and influence others, where the inquiry skills are unrecognized. Those rewards unfortunately can bring the employees to managerial positions, where they suddenly face the fact that they do not learn while they should learn. Advocacy without inquiry between two people can end up in vicious circle. The more vehemently one argues, the more it creates a threat to the others position, so that the latter argues vehemently, which causes a threat to the first ones position, therefore, the first one argues even more vehemently. This reinforcing advocacy can be stopped by inquiring. Then it gives a chance for the both parts to understand each others conflicts, and reasoning. When in pure advocacy, people do not want to show the weak parts of their reasoning, and discard them. Definitely it does not bring any learning to us. Instead it brings polarization within the group. When operating in pure advocacy, the goal is to win the argument; however, when inquiry and advocacy are combined the goal is no longer to win the argument but to find the best argument out of all. This combination allows us to discover completely new views. What we have to keep in mind is that practicing inquiry and advocacy means being willing to expose the limitations in your own thinking, namely the willingness to be wrong. 16 3. 3 SHARED VISION 3. 3. 1 Introduction to Shared Vision 3. 3. 1. 1 A Common Caring A shared vision is not an idea, it is rather a force in peoples hearts, a force of impressive power. It may be inspired by an idea, but once it goes further ? if it is compelling enough to acquire support of more than one person? then it is no longer an abstraction. It is tangible. People begin to see it as if it exists. Few forces in human affairs are as powerful as shared visions. At its simplest level, a shared vision is the answer to the question, What do we want to create? Just as personal visions are pictures or images people carry in their heads and hearts, so too are shared visions pictures that people throughout an organization carry. When people truly share a vision they are connected, bound together by a common aspiration. Shared vision is one of the vital fundamentals of learning organizations, because it provides energy and also focus for learning. People should have something that really matters to them, something that makes them excited. A shared vision is not one dictated by that top management; it only exists when people are personally committed, since it is their personal vision. 3. 3. 1. 2 Why Shared Visions Matter? In an organization, a shared vision changes peoples relationship with the company. What they so far called as their company, becomes our company. It helps to create a common identity. Only this way, a learning organization can really succeed. You cannot have a learning organization without shared vision. 17 How can a commitment to the long term be fostered is the key question in efforts to develop systems thinking in management. People do not focus on the long term because they have to, but only because they want to. 3. 3. 2 The Discipline of Building Shared Vision Shared visions emerge from personal visions. This is how they derive their energy and how they foster commitment. The management should encourage individuals so as to let them create their own visions, as was told earlier in this project. However, these visions are not the shared vision itself. This is needed so that it will be easier for the individuals to accept visions of others and work in the same manner. In this way, the synergy which will be established is needed for the organization indeed. The shared vision shouldnt be written and taught to employees because this will establish a fear. Instead, everyone should adopt this vision and commit itself to the whole vision of the organization. 3. 3. 2. 1 From Personal Visions to Shared Visions To make it clearer, lets imagine a picture of a landscape. When you cut this picture into smaller parts, you will not be able to see the whole sight. However, if you have a picture of an ocean in which all the organisms, like fish, plants, etc. live, and you cut it into pieces, you will still be able to see the whole sight because the vision of the ocean is the same in that part. Its like the shared vision. When you take the shared vision person by person into consideration youll see that they match each other and reflect the whole image. 18 So, it is the fact that when more people come to share a common vision, the vision may not change fundamentally. But it becomes more alive, more real in the sense of a mental reality that people can truly imagine achieving. Writing a vision statement, which is often a one-shot vision, can be a first step in building shared vision but, alone, it rarely makes a vision come alive within an organization. Another problem with the so called one-shot vision that was prepared by the top management is that the resulting vision does not build on peoples personal visions. Contrarily, it only reflects the personal vision of one or two people at the top. The last problem might be explained in the manner as the vision is not a solution to a problem. Building a shared vision must be seen as a central element of the daily work of leaders. It is ongoing and never-ending. It is not truly a shared vision until it connects with the personal visions of people throughout the organization. Moreover, visions that are truly shared take time to emerge. They grow as a by-product of interactions of individual visions. Experience suggests that visions that are genuinely shared require ongoing conversation where individuals not only feel free to express their dreams, but also learn how to listen to each others dreams. 3. 3. 2. 2 Spreading Visions: Enrollment, Commitment, and Compliance There is a big difference between compliance and commitment. The committed person brings energy, passion and excitement, which in turn brings the synergy; he does not play by the rules of the game, instead feels responsible for the game, and will not hesitate to change the rules of the game if they stand in the way of achieving vision. On the other hand compliant followers only accept the vision, but do not have a personal desire. They may want it in order to keep their job, or to get a promotion etc. , but they know that its not their vision at all. For an organization to survive, it must ensure that a shared vision with the commitment of the individuals is established. 19 However, there are the types of genuine compliant followers, which may often be mistaken for enrollment or commitment. What then is the difference between being genuinely compliant and enrolled and committed? The answer is deceptively simple. People who are enrolled or committed truly want the vision, where genuinely compliant people accept the vision. They may want it in order to keep their job, or to get a promotion etc. , but they know that its not their vision at all. 3. 4 TEAM LEARNING 3. 4. 1 Introduction to Team Learning 3. 4. 1. 1 The Potential Wisdom Teams In order to understand team learning, it is important to understand what teams are. The word team can be traced back to the Indo-European word deuk (to pull); it has always included a meaning of pulling together. (The modern sense of team, a group of people acting together, emerged in the sixteenth century) We define teams as any group of people who need each other to accomplish a result. This definition is derived from a statement made by former Royal Dutch/Shell Group Planning coordinator, Arie de Geus: The only relevant learning in a company is the learning done by those people who have the power to take action. Team learning is a process of aligning and developing the capacity of a team to create the results its members truly desire. It builds on the discipline of developing shared vision. It also builds on developing personal mastery, for talented teams are made up of talented individuals. But shared vision and talent are not enough. The world is full of teams of talented individuals who share a vision for a while, yet fail to learn. 20 Here we can discuss the terms unaligned and aligned teams. The fundamental characteristic of the relatively unaligned team is wasted energy. Individuals may work extraordinarily hard, but their efforts do not efficiently translate to team effort. By contrast, when a team becomes more aligned, a commonality of direction emerges, and individuals energies harmonize. There is less wasted energy. In fact, a resonance or synergy develops, like the coherent light of a laser rather than the incoherent and scattered light of a light bulb. There is commonality of purpose, a shared vision, and understanding of how to complement one anothers efforts. Individuals do not sacrifice their personal interests to the larger team vision; rather, the shared vision becomes an extension of their personal visions. In fact, alignment is the necessary condition before empowering the individual will empower the whole team. Team learning is possible in every area, sports, business, performing arts, science, etc. It can even have extra ordinary results where the teams can be coordinated and even intelligence of the team can exceed the intelligence of its members totaling. In such an environment, team members can also show a rapid growth, than they could gain individually, namely constructing the synergy. With the changes in the organizations, team learning has never been that important. No matter if its a product development team, management team or cross-functional task forces. As they are teams, they are the people who need one another to act. The three critical dimensions of Team Learning can be described as; 1. Insightful thinking is necessary for complex issues. Teams must learn to end up with one more intelligent solution when compared to each of the participants solutions. 2. Innovative and coordinated action is vital.