What Is Documentary Film

Matthew Foster Intro to Documentary Film Midterm Paper What Is Documentary Film? I once heard a quote from an unknown man who said, â€Å"Words are only words until you invest some meaning into them. † I didn't fully comprehend what he meant by this statement. Surely every word has its own definition, giving it some type of meaning. So why would they being meaningless without me? Not until I entered this class and focused on documentary film did I re evaluate this statement.What the man meant was we can all see the same sentence and read it for its literal translation. But when you apply your unique perspective to the words, they take on a greater meaning, resulting in a unique significance and new perspective on the sentence. Thats what I think documentary film is. An unique outlook of a common ground. Documentary film is the creative manipulation of real historical events to present a certain perspective or point of view. It is a representation of our real world through the eyes of a particular person or party.Many theorists have stated that the true essence of documentary is the actuality, recording life as is with real social actors on real world locations. Actualities, predecessor to documentary, dealt with footage from real events, places, and things without any structure or arrangement into a argument or coherent whole. This gave an stance of objectivity, being free of point of view, relating it more to newspapers in its approach. Without this element of arrangement, recorded content would be just that, a record of historical events.For if we define documentary as â€Å"objective† or as a â€Å"record,† we set an unreachable standard for the genre, and limit our understanding of the ways in which actual documentary films function. (Plantinga, 41) Neither a fictional invention nor a factual reproduction, documentary draws on and refers to historical reality while representing it from a distinct perspective. Documentary films speak abo ut actual situations or events and honor known facts; they do not introduce new, unverifiable ones. They speak directly about the historical world rather than allegorically. Nichols, 7) This is where they differ from non fictional cinema. Documentaries represent the real world, the world that it is depicting. The images and people shown in documentaries are that of the same one we share. The fictional narratives of Hollywood create one world to stand for another, generating a second meaning which we use in turn to help understand the real world we live in. This perspective of historical reality is shaped through the documentaries voice. The voice of a documentary is each films specific way of expressing its way of seeing the world (Nichols, 68).Although history is looked at as being objective, documentaries are not necessarily. While the world being shown in a documentary is shared by the viewer, the voice of the documentary establishes a perspective of a certain individual of the w orld that we share. Documentaries are not necessarily objective. Neither do they imitate or re-present reality. Documentaries are fundamentally rhetorical, expressive constructs which make assertions and implications about reality through their images and sounds, and which express and consider claims about a subject (Platinga, 47).Voice is constructed through the creative manipulation of the documentary process. This manipulation of raw footage employs style and conventions to develop a works perspective and produce particular meanings and effects. Documentary manipulation and interpretation of reality is expressed through representational styles and conventions and forms of argument and narrative which together work to produce a realistic and authoritative representation of the socio-historical world. (Beattie, 14)With the creative manipulation of raw footage, it has been a debate in the cinematic world if the depiction of the socio-historical world is factual and truthful. Documen tary can be defined, generally, as a work or text which implicitly claims to truthfully represent the world, whether it is to accurately represent events or issues or to assert that the subject of the work are ‘real people' (Beattie, 10). This truth claim rest on a contract of trust between filmmaker and viewer.Producers of these documentary films and filmmakers adhere to a list of mandates handed down by governing authorities and associations, having extensive research guidelines and reporting of of witnesses, as well as its structured conventions to shape the audiences perception and interpretation of what is viewed to be an accurate depiction of the world. In conclusion, documentaries would lack to be documentaries if not for the creative manipulation of its content. Without a voice, a subject, meaning, it would merely be records of what happened, much like the guy from Exit Through the Gift Shop.We would have boxes and boxes of raw footage, but with no purpose or direction . We still see the common world we share, just from a different perspective. Works Cited Nichols, Bill. â€Å"How Can We Define Documentary Film? † Introduction to Documentary. Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 2001. N. pag. Print. Platinga, Carl. â€Å"The Mirror Framed: A Case For Expression in Documentary. † Wide Angle 13 (1991): 41-42. Web. Beattie, Keith. â€Å"Believe Me, I'm of the World: Documentary Representation† E. S. Bird Library. Syracuse, NY (2010): 10-14. Web.

The American Dream Reasearch Paper

Zac Duncan Mrs. Hill English 6th February 3, 2013 Many people believe the American Dream today has faded. It is no longer achieved as often as in the past. Although obtaining the Dream has become difficult, people still haven’t stopped pursuing it. Despite the obstacles, the American Dream is still full of hope and enlightenment both financially and emotionally. The American Dream is known for its positive connotation, but there are many obstacles surrounding it. According to, â€Å"Obstacles to the American Dream†, by Eddy Isango, the Dream is toughest for immigrants.Many immigrants have problems learning the English language. When they arrive it is as if they have to start all over. Immigrants also don’t receive state benefits such as health care and food stamps. They have to find jobs that provide these for them, which is tough with the lack of job opportunity and rising cost of living in America. Financial obstacles of the American Dream can be overcome. Riev a Lesonsky encourages people to get over these hills by saying, â€Å"Acknowledge the hard times† (Lesonsky 1). People believe the Dream is changing. â€Å"Today, they say, the ‘dream’ is more likely about making money†, (Lesonsky 1).People have moved towards opening small businesses to achieve their financial dreams. These businesses, over time, increase the revenue of the people. The American Dream is still filling the emotional needs of people. Jeremy Pratt has dealt with a learning disability his whole life, but doesn’t let this stop him from achieving his dream as he says: ‘I’ve always had to work a bit harder than my friends without disabilities,’ says the 28-year-old. ‘But I finally feel like I’m on the way to having what everyone dreams of. ’ Pratt’s diligence in saving money is paying off; he plans to start house hunting as early as 2013. Blatt 1) Jeremy is achieving his life-long goal of buyin g a house filled with his art. He fought through his disability and obtained what he wanted. The American Dream still has appeal to Americans today. People still strive for a better life for themselves and their families. The freedoms of America allow for people to obtain their financial and emotional dreams that they have longed for. Works Cited Blatt, Burton, Jeremy Pratt. Achieving the American Dream. February 5, 2013 Isango, Eddy. Obstacles to the American Dream. February 3, 2013 Lesonsky, Rieva. The American Dream is Alive and Well-and Transformed. February 3,2013

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?

On current news Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

On current news - Essay Example The image that an audience holds of the individual will influence how they will react to the information, whether they will accept or reject it (Edlund and Pomona, 2012) Drawing a difference between kairos and chronos has been achieved through examining the effect that each has on an audience. Whereas kairos focuses on an opportune moment in time, and is more relevant to an audience, chronos focuses on a longer span of time, thus not being appropriate for general audiences (Edlund and Pomona, 2012) The four basic components of visual design are: type of text used in making an appeal, space or layout used, use of color and the use of images and graphics. With regards to type, large font type has been use to make the text easily readable, considering that the text is lengthy. Space or layout within the course has been useful in showing the importance of the discussion and also in creating a clear relationship among the parts. The use of plain color within the course has helped in creating an academic impression. Finally, the lack of images within the course is reasonable, considering that images are only useful in condensing information, whereas the content within the course is of fair

Torsion Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Torsion - Lab Report Example ners, are frequently subject to this perspective of torsion testing mainly for the sake of determining their levels of strength especially under duress (AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR TESTING MATERIALS, 1961).   Torsion test may take place under three major categories. These includes; failure testing, operational testing, as well as proof testing. Failure testing has to do with the aspect of material twisting till it breaks (HELLER, 1975).  Proof testing on the other hand plays a role of observing whether specific material can withstand a certain torque load quantity over a given timeframe. Finally, operational testing is meant for testing particular products for confirmation of their elastic limits before taking them to the market. It is often deemed very critical to take records of each and every torsion test result. This is done through creation of a stress-strain graph with both X-axis and Y-axis bearing the values regarding the angle of twist and the torque respectively. With use of a torsion testing device, twisting is done at quarter-degree level of increments with subsequent recording of the torque it can actually withstand. The twist angle corresponds to the strain, and the measured torque corresponds to the stress. A torsion test is often conducted on various materials so as to determine their torsional features. These properties includes; Ductility, shear elasticity, ultimate and yield shear strengths, as well as the rapture modulus. Torsion test performance is mainly done for various distinct purposes and significance (KEETON, 1975).  This is because, by testing products such as switches, biomedical catheter tubing, automotive steering columns, fasteners, among others; manufacturers gets the ability of simulating service conditions, checking of product quality, designs verification, and the aspect of ensuring adequate manufacturing techniques. The material’s elastic limit refers to the point upon which it will no longer return back to its unique size or

Marijuana Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marijuana - Essay Example Teenagers are naturally inquisitive, one of the justifications given for this age group experimenting with drugs. They also are inclined to become bored easily and experience recurrent emotional highs and lows, all probable factors in teenage marijuana use. Drug use increases the chance that teenagers will contract a social disease, become pregnant, perform inadequately in school and attempt suicide as this paper will examine. State and Support Three Claims Adolescents are in a more vulnerable life circumstance than are adults because teens are still developing in every facet of their lives. Regrettably, it is this same group that has the most access to marijuana as schools have become prolific illegal drug stores. Statistics collected by the National Institute on Drug Abuse demonstrate that schoolchildren have easy access to drugs and alcohol. â€Å"The average age of first alcohol use is 12 and the average age of first drug use is 13. Almost two-thirds of all American young people try illicit drugs before they finish high school† (Anderson, 1996) The relationship between illegal drug use among teens and an increased occurrence of sexual activity is a broadly accepted reality by both researchers and the general public. Many studies have time and again demonstrated an association between unsafe sexual behavior and illegal drug use by teenagers. Drug users are more prone to take risks than do teens that don’t use drugs. This may be an obvious assertion but a tendency to take unnecessary chances with their health combined with a lowering of inhibitions while on drugs and the inherent need of all teens to feel accepted by their peer group leads to increased sexual activity. This problematic circumstance also enhances the chance of teens having multiple sexual partners, having sex at an earlier age and decreases the odds that they will utilize contraception than those that do not use marijuana. â€Å"Teens 15 and older who use drugs are five times mo re likely to have sex than are those teens who do not use drugs and teens who have used marijuana are four times more likely to have been pregnant or to have gotten someone pregnant than teens who have never smoked pot† (The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 1997). Teenagers are more emotionally unstable younger children and adults which explains the higher suicide rate among that age group. A study involving teenagers found that of those who attempted suicide, illegal drug abuse was the most often shared aspect of their lives. Of the teens that committed suicide, 70 per cent were regular users of illegal drugs and/or alcohol. However, this study and current research reveal that drug use alone may not instigate suicide just that drug use and teen suicide is statically related. Teens who experience emotional troubles to a higher degree than their classmates have an even greater likelihood of considering suicide and to use illegal drugs. Additionally drugs could magnify a pre-existing emotional condition and â€Å"may impair the judgment of teens considering suicide, making suicide attempts more likely† (Shaffer et al, 1996). Discussing Arguments: Dialogue The majority and probably all countries of the world face the steady trafficking of illegal drugs across their borders. Countries are increasingly realizing that the illegal importation of drugs, a criminal act, generally involves people of foreign origin, is ultimately more harmful to society than is the use of drugs

How Restorative Justice is used in the UK Essay

How Restorative Justice is used in the UK - Essay Example Restorative justice provides victims with such an opportunity. They are able to encounter the offender through arrangements made by the police or restorative justice officers. The main purpose of restorative justice is ensuring that both the victim and the offender cooperate in repairing the harm resulting from the crime. All the stakeholders must be willing to participate actively if restorative justice is to be effective. The United Kingdom embraces restorative justice to ensure the restoration of justice. Restorative justice highlights that serving justice requires the victims to undergo a restoration process that helps them get over the incident. In addition, the offenders need to embrace responsibility for their crimes recognizing the emotional harm they cause to their victims. In the community, restorative justice serves to maintain public order. There are different programs designed to make restorative justice effective, as this paper will highlight. More specifically, the pap er will discuss how restorative justice is in use in the Youth Justice Board in prisons and in the issuing of dispersal orders. The paper will consider the use of the restorative justice in Northern Ireland. In the United Kingdom, restorative justice relies on programs such as victim-offender mediation, conferencing, victim assistance, community service, ex-offender assistance, and restitution. The different restorative programs ensure that offenders, victims, and members of the community can have an encounter that allows them to discuss the process of the crime and its impacts. In addition, the different programs present the offenders with an opportunity to play a critical role in repairing the harms caused by the crime. The restorative programs facilitate the integration of offenders into the society. Restorative justice programs also promote inclusion of ex-offenders in community projects. Restorative justice can take place during any stage of the justice system. In some

Retailing Industry of UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Retailing Industry of UK - Essay Example This report is structured into four sections. Section two of the paper presents a brief overview of the UK retail sector, using some key players such as Tesco, J.Sainsbury, Morrison and Mark and Spencer. The third part of the report focuses on how the sector is affected by factors in the PESTLE framework. Part four of the paper provides an argument in support of how an understanding of these factors by a firm can create a competitive advantage. The section also provides a brief conclusion and recommendation. Like macroeconomic analysis the analysis of the industry is important because it enables the analyst to make abnormal profits arising from information asymmetry between the proper analyst and competitors who fail to carry out a proper analysis. Just as it is difficult for a firm to do well in a poor macroeconomic environment, so too is it difficult for a firm to perform well in a troubled industry. (Bodie et al, 2002). Similarly, as performance can vary across countries, so too does it vary across industries. (Bodie et al, 2002). This section examines the activities of key players in the UK retail sector. It focuses on the activities of some of the major players such as TESCO, Morison, J.Sainsbury and Mark and Spencer (Report 2008). Tesco PLC is an international retailer. ... (Bodie et al, 2002). Similarly, as performance can vary across countries, so too does it vary across industries. (Bodie et al, 2002). This section examines the activities of key players in the UK retail sector. It focuses on the activities of some of the major players such as TESCO, Morison, J.Sainsbury and Mark and Spencer (Report 2008). Tesco PLC is an international retailer. The principal activity of the Company is food retailing with over 2,000 stores in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Turkey, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan and China. Tesco offers simple travel insurance, food retailing, Tesco personal finance, Telecom, and recycling facilities to the public. J Sainsbury Plc is a United Kingdom-based food retailer with interests in financial services. The Company is principally engaged in grocery and related retailing, and financial services (Report 2008). Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC is engaged in the operation of retail supermarket stores and associated activities. Its business is mainly related to food and grocery. During the fiscal year ended February 4, 2007, it operated 368 Morrisons stores, with 10.5 million square feet of retail space. Through its stores, Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC offers a range of goods, which include fresh foods, groceries, home and leisure products, beers, wines and spirits (Report 2008). 2.0 Growing Trend of the PESTLE framework and How its affects the UK Retail sector In business, environmental analysis is an appreciation of the activities of an organization in relation to its environment (Lin& Lee 2006). Such analysis

Marketing Plan for a Mobile Application Business Plan Coursework

Marketing Plan for a Mobile Application Business Plan - Coursework Example There is extensive requirement of a holistic time management applications in the market, which Personal Time Manager would be able to fulfill. It would be able to assist people to plan out their official and personal activities (Blythe, 2009). Apart from managing the office projects, the time management apps would be also helpful in tracking progress and reminding the user, whether his/ her daily goals are met or not. A single app capable of managing, tracking and reminding every detail would be surely a unique selling proposition (USP) for the company. Moreover, this app would be able to grab the customer base of those apps which do not have multiple usages. This section would be including a comprehensive analysis of the marketing plan for Personal Time Manager. Aspects like market segment, target customers, competitors, buyers, and strategies would be also included in the domain of this marketing plan. 5.1 Marketing Segmentation Market segmentation is a part of the marketing strate gy which assists in segregating the consumers in homogeneous groups based on their needs, preferences, and other criteria. Though there are many products for which segmentation is not required because these are manufactured for the mass, but in this case the product or service is a paid time management application for Smartphone users, such as for customers using Iphone, Android based phones, Mac or iPad. Segmenting the market would assist the company to choose and identify the segment that they want to target for their product or service. However, users of mobile applications can be segregated on the basis of their age, gender, income level, as well as usage (Brassington and Pettitt, 2007). The users or customers can be segregated on the basis of their income level, need for time management, and frequency of usage. Income level is considered because generally students do not prefer to buy apps for mobile phones. They rather download freeware from internet; while professional prefer to have paid services because they find them secure, original and convenient. Further, they also extensively require time management apps to fit in every function within scheduled time. The frequency of usage in such cases is high. Even companies buy such apps for their employees, and it is used consistently in the organizations for scheduling daily operational functions (Buono, and Savall, 2007). 5.2 Competitor Analysis The market of mobile applications is extremely competitive because there is abundant availability of mobile apps. Even when there are various freeware in the market, there is a wide user base for paid time management and productivity apps. In such a scenario, Personal time Manager will face difficulty in the market (Evans, Ahmad, and Foxall, 2009). Personal Time Manager would face competitors like Microsoft OneNote, SmartTime, Microsoft CloudOn, OmniFocus, SpringPad, Wunderlist 2, Google QuickOffice Pro HD, MediaFire, Astrid tasks, Google Docs, Evernote, Remember t he Milk, Any. DO, Toggl Online Timer, TeamWeek, Spotify, Checklist Wrangler, Shopper, Remind You, Things, and many more (Mobi Thinking, 2013). Most of these applications assist the mobile users to keep track of their time, tasks, documents and online files, but none of them can claim to be

Quoting & Paraphrasing (dp4) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Quoting & Paraphrasing (dp4) - Essay Example One should always explain the quotes after using them. A proper analysis of the quotes should always be given in the text. In relation to the above, one should avoid using the quotes as padding. Whenever one omits unnecessary words in a quote, it is important that he or she uses ellipsis in the text. This use of ellipsis should be followed by a space before starting another word. Other than the above, the material has successfully shed light on how to set up a quotation as well as follow up the same quotation. This involves providing contexts for each quotation as well as attributing each and every quotation to their sources. Another way to set up and follow such quotations involves elucidating the importance of such quotations as well as citing those quotations. The material has also exhaustively suggested ways to embed quotations in sentences. These involve attributing the quote to the speaker. This can take the form of either introduction or conclusion. This should be followed by the use of grammatically correct words within the sentence quoted. The material has also dwelt exhaustively on how to combine quotation marks with other punctuation marks. The second material talks about the issue of paraphrasing. This comprises of some of the ways to paraphrase as well as what needs to be considered in order to avoid plagiarism when paraphrasing. According to the material, some of the ways or methods of paraphrasing involves writing whatever one has understood after reading a source. This involves identifying the key ideas or kernel sentences. These should be effectively combined into new sentences without losing the meaning of the original source. These two documents have exhaustively concentrated on the field of paraphrasing as well as the use of quotation marks. The contents within these two materials are very good. They have good information that contributes a great deal towards informing the readers of some of the

Histroy week1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Histroy week1 - Assignment Example Furthermore, history is important to individuals and society given that it harbors the immense beauty of the world. Besides, through numerous ways, history is discussed in order to understand real functions of subjects; in fact, this based on the talents and paths towards understanding meaning of history. Therefore, various definitions in history are utilized to understand fundamental facts identified in the present world. History is also considered a laboratory, where data that was gathered during past event can be accessed, and this can be applied in the quest to understand complexity of occurrences in the present. For instance, history has been applied in understanding of complexity among different species and their behaviors in social settings. History is unavoidable and it offers all-embracing ground that is evidential based on analysis of different functions regarding specific people. Therefore, understanding history help in embracing and acknowledging simplicity of the way peo ple live or coexist in the world. 2. What have been some important events in your personal history? Some of the most important events in my personal history regard to transitions from one way of life to another. For instance, moving out from home and living in order to earn a living and live independently. Though this was accompanied by challenges such as boredom due to change of environment, I was able to recover and proceed to live a good life. Besides, the day that I joined the university was a significant day that marked achievement of my academic objectives. Therefore, I consider my personal history to be important since it offers a basis of evaluation. Moreover, history helps me to determine the extent to which I have managed to achieve my personal objectives. I consider fundamental reasons of studying history to be based on diverse application of in my life. History serves a real purpose through its grounds based on human understanding of events in peoples’ lives. For instance, a story about a person’s live can be done in a way that reveals their functionalities and societies. In this way, history has prompted my thoughts regarding my experiences in life in terms of time and places. Therefore, my goals are sources of inspiration to make effort in reconstructing remote past, which is withdrawn from immediate present day utilization. To me, the encounters are very good as they nurtured my talent, hardened me to be able to handle challenging situation that do arise during my undertakings. This is because both positive and negative challenges we encounter offer an ample ground for learning various aspects of life interaction. 3. What do you know about your family’s history? I was unable to gather information regarding my ancestors due to lack of relevant sources of information. However, some of the relevant information concerning our family’s history regarded, where my parents lived after they got married and before I was born. I managed to access may family’s history of medical records, which indicated a number of significant issues; therefore, history has a great benefit in understanding various occurrences in the present. For instance, I wondered why I ended up to live in the neighborhood that I live in now; in fact, I realized that my ancestors were living in the same area. The historical information gathered can be very

Operations Management in Daimond Manufacturing Essay Example for Free

Operations Management in Daimond Manufacturing Essay Definition Operation Management is the activity of managing the resources which produce and deliver goods and services (Slack et al, 2010). These activities commences from the very initial production stage of information gathering right up to the final stage of consumer consumption of the product. Every organization does operation management even if they do not notice it. All organizations produce goods and/or services and to create goods and/or services, the organization must perform a number of operations which must be effectively and efficiently managed. 1. 2 Role of Operations Management Operations Management is of prime importance in all sectors, cells, functions, units and groups within the organization. An organization is a system and according to the business dictionary, (http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/system. html) a system is ‘An organized, purposeful structure that consists of interrelated and interdependent elements (components, entities, factors, members, parts etc. ). These elements continually influence one another (directly or indirectly) to maintain their activity and the existence of the system, in order to achieve the goal of the system’. Read more: http://www. usinessdictionary. com/definition/system. html#ixzz2QSyXAP1f . All employees are part of this system and have a common interest in making the consumer to receive goods and/or services in the best way possible. So I will say every manager in every part of the organization is to some extent an operational manager. According to James (2011), the role of operations manag ement is to manage the transformation of an organization’s inputs into finished goods and services using processes. Processes are actually present in all areas of the organization from Human Resource to Finance to Marketing to Procurement etc. 1. The ‘Input – Transformation – Output’ process Resources can either be transforming resources or transformed resources. After the transformation process is complete, transforming resources give rise to transformed resources. According to James (2011), there are 2 main types of transforming resources: * Facility which comprises of land, building, plant and equipment. * Staff which comprises of everyone involved in the operation process. There are 3 main types of transformed resources: * Material. Transformation can be physical (manufacturing), by location (transportation), by storage (warehousing), or by ownership (retail). Information. Transformation can be by property (accountant’s information), by p ossession (market research), by storage (libraries) or by location (telecommunication). * Customer. Transformation can either be physical (plastic surgery), by storage (hotel accommodation), by location (airline transport), by physiological state (hospital), or by psychological state (entertainment). Input Output Input that will be transformed * Material * Information * Customer Input that will transform * People * Facility * Goods * Services Transformation Input Output Input that will be transformed * Material * Information * Customer Input that will transform * People * Facility * Goods * Services Transformation Figure 1: The ‘Input-Transformation-Output’ process 2 Operations Strategy 2. 1 Definition Strategy is defined by Johnson et al, (2008) as ‘the direction and scope of an organization over the long term: ideally, which matches its resources to its changing environment and in particular its markets, customers or clients so as to meet stakeholder expectations. ’ 3. 2 Levels of Strategy Strategy can be viewed from 3 levels which are: The Corporate level: This level looks at the long term position of the company. It answers questions like ‘where will the organization be in 10 years? Or are we going to launch a new product in a new market? ’ The Business level: This level looks at the market and is concerned with the goods and services which the organization has to offer. It answers questions like ‘how do we compete? ’ The Functional level: This level deals with the functional aspect of the organization like finance, marketing, human resource etc. It answers questions like ‘how do we manage our financial resources’. . 3 Operations Strategy Operations strategy is the total pattern of decisions which shape the long-term capabilities of any operation and their contribution to overall strategy, through the reconciliation of market requirements with operations resources (Slack and Lewis, 2011). A 5 step structure has been designed by Hill (2005) so as to design and understand a goo d operation strategy. The steps are as follows: 1. Define Corporate Objectives Here, long term objectives are set-up so as to give the company balance and a good direction. At this stage, Sparkle does environmental scanning and the company also looks at its core competences, core processes and its global objectives. Performance Indicators (KPIs) are also established here so as monitor the accomplishment of these objectives. Top management uses a number of models which includes PESTEL, SWOT and Porter’s 5 forces. See appendix A. 2. Set Marketing Strategies Here Sparkle identifies the market it wants to compete in and then it looks on how to compete in these markets. Ansoff’s matrix is used. | New Product| Existing Product| NewMarket| Diversification| Market Development| Existing Market| Product Development| Market Penetration/ Market Growth| Figure 5: Ansoff Matrix. Source: Kaplan Financial Ltd, 2008. Sparkle uses the market penetration/market growth pathway for now. With time, they will start manufacturing out of the UK thus implementing the market development strategy. It is yet not known if they are thinking of one day starting up the production of a new product. 3. How do we gain competitive advantage? At this stage of Hill’s structure, the organization is to find ways to make its product win other products in the market. For this to happen, the organization must have a base to make its competition and this base is usually one or more of the following performance objectives: speed, quality, cost, dependability and flexibility. See chapter 3. Sparkle uses the above performance objectives to gain competitive advantage but it must be noted that, competitive advantage must: * Be real * Add value (to the consumer) and * Be difficult to imitate. 4. Choose a delivery system Here, the organization has to choose an appropriate delivery system so as to meet up with speed and maybe dependability. In Sparkle, most orders are icked up by the customer but if not, Sparkle uses their vans which have a high level of security for close distances or they post the jewelry for faraway distances. 5. Choose your Infrastructure The company at this phase has to choose all necessary infrastructures that it has to obtain so as to gain an edge over its competitors in the market. Different organizations in different industries wi ll need different types of infrastructures. But in the diamond manufacture industry, the infrastructures are almost the same and can hardly give competitive advantage. 3 Performance Objectives In the present congested and very competitive business environment, companies must do something extra so as to stand out of the crowd. For them to do this, they must react to what customers value and these fall into the following category. They are called performance objectives. 1. Cost 2. Quality 3. Dependability 4. Reliability 5. Speed Sparkle is aware of the tight competition in the diamond market and it takes its performance objectives very seriously so as to gain competitive advantage. Before achieving the above performance objectives, they must achieve the 4 Cs (see appendix B). * Cost. The principle of cost is doing things cheaply. Sparkle changes its processes, its materials and its suppliers every now and then so as to operate on a lower cost scale. They buy rough diamonds directly from the companies who buy them from the mine and sometimes the make orders directly from the mine so as to reduce cost because the more intermediaries there are, the higher the final price. They sometimes buy more rough diamonds than what the actually need so as to gain discount for bulk buying. They automate most of their processes to reduce the number of hours worked by human beings thus reducing total wages. Quality. This involves producing durable high standard error-free goods that consumers perceived to the good. In the fashion business, quality is king because consumers are becoming more conscious of what they wear. One can say that everything in the diamond industry is of good quality so in this kind of high standard industry, quality is not the issue but superb quality. Spark le buys the best of the rough stones which are hand-picked one after the other so that their final product will be of the best quality and they will have very little waste during production. * Dependability. This is doing everything on time so as to keep commitments and promises made to customers. Sparkle has a track record and reputation of never keeping its customers waiting. Customers’ diamonds are always fully processed before the pick-up date. Customers love coming to this organization because they know they can rely on them when it comes to delivery. There was a scandal in March 2008 in Real Diamonds where a couple arrange for their wedding rings costing thousands of pounds to be manufactured but the company was unable to meet up with the due date so the couple had to use different rings for the wedding. Flexibility. This is being able to change what you produce or how you produce it. Sparkle is very flexible in regards to their products because they produce apparently anything requested by the customer. We pride ourselves on being different, you won’t find our jewelry just anywhere, we appreciate that you want something special to you (Source: sparlediamonds. com/abo ut). They manufacture dressing rings, marriage rings, engagement rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, bangles and designers jewelry out of diamond. Over the years, they have come up with different diamond designs thought by others as impossible and have now gained a name as being the company that uses diamond to manufacture anything and everything. On the other hand, their production process is flexible too but not very flexible. They change little bits of their production process all the time to cut down cost and to increase the quality of the diamonds but this change is never a big change (process improvement). Figure 5: Different items made out of diamond. Source: * Speed. This can be described as how responsive an organization is to the customers’ demands and complain. It is a measure of the time between a customer’s order or complain to the time when that customer’s order or complain is sorted out fully. Sparkle is very fast in dealing with complains. Any customer who comes to the company with a complaint is not allowed to leave when the matter concerned has not been resolved. Complains made online take a maximum of 2 working days to be dealt with and those by post takes a little more time. Figure 5: Different colors of diamond. Source: 4 Product Design . 1 Definition Product/service design is the process of defining the specification of products and/or services in order for them to fulfill a specific market need (Slack et al, 2009). According to Russell and Taylor (2009), new product designs can provide a competitive edge by bringing new ideas to the market quickly, doing a better job of satisfying customers’ needs, or be ing easier to manufacture, use and repair. Product design is of great importance in any organization because consumers are becoming more and more conscious of the products they consume and their contents. Almost everybody in the organization is involved in product design because bringing in a new product design is not just about the market requirement but it is also about anticipating future demand and this needs imagination and creativity. In coming out with a good product design, market requirements, technical issues, cost, quality, investment information and the target market must be considered and dealt with appropriately. Diamond design ‘step by step’ Various steps are followed when coming out with a good diamond design. 1. Generating Ideas Ideas to bring up a new diamond designs can come from anywhere and comes from everywhere. Some organizations look only within the organization and come up with a diamond design but this approach is very dangerous because it can easily back fire leading to a poor design. Ideas in Sparkle usually come from: * The customers who will use the product. Most at times, the customer comes to the organization with a design in mind. The design team in the organization then sits with the customer and adds ideas to perfect the customer’s request. * The employees who serve the customers. These groups of persons know exactly what customers wants because they are the people who take customers specifications, demands and complaints. They play an important role in the creation of a new design. * Competitors and any new technology. Sparkle sometimes looks at the designs of its competitors like Avi Paz and tries to modify it so as to create something better than theirs. * Research and Development (Ramp;D) Department. One of their major roles in the organization is to look for new possible designs which will entice customers. It is at this stage that the diamond color, size, weight, cut grade, clarity grade, carat weight, laser inscription and shape is decided. Figure 4: Computer simulated diamond designing in progress. Source: www. sparklediamonds. com 2. Product Screening According to Slack et al (2009), not all concepts and ideas generated will be capable of being developed into products and/or services. Each idea generated is taken and examined to see whether or not they are acceptable, feasible and vulnerable. Fig 5 illustrates. Figure 5| Some typical evaluation questions for marketing, operations and finance. | Evaluation Criteria| Marketing| Operations| Finance| Feasibility| Is the market likely to be big enough? | Do we have capabilities to produce it? Do we have access to sufficient finance to develop and launch it? | Acceptability| How much market share could it gain? | How much will we have to reorganize our activities to produce it? | How much financial return will there be on our investment? | Vulnerability| What is the risk of it failing in the market place? | What is the risk of us being able to produce it acceptable? | How much money could we lose if things do not go as planned? | Fi g 5: Slack et al (2009) Some typical evaluation questions for marketing, operations and finance [e-book] p. 89 3. Preliminary Design At this stage, the design is reviewed by the cutters and polishers to see if the can really produce the diamond and any unnecessary complexity in the diamond’s design is eliminated because such complexities can build cost. For example; there are some unnecessary and unnoticed cuts in a diamond’s design but these cuts could split the whole diamond if not done carefully. Because customers will not even notice the additional cuts and even if they do, they will not be willing to pay an addition for it so the cuts are eliminated. Figure 4: Different diamond designs (drawing). Source: Figure 4: Different diamond designs. Source: 4. Final Design After all the above has been done, a prototype is then created out of glass and tested to see if it meets market requirements, technical requirements and the financial limit. Tangible prototypes are created and virtual (computer simulations) model too to properly assess the diamond before production goes any further. Sometimes, customers are called in to see the prototype and give their feedback from which some adjustments may be made on the product’s design. An after acceptance, diamond cutting commences. Figure 5: Prototype diamond made out of fine glass. Source: 5 Process Design 5. 1 Definition Process design is Sequence of interdependent and linked procedures which, at every stage, consume one or more resources (employee time, energy, machines, money) to convert inputs (data, material, parts, etc. ) into outputs. These outputs then serve as inputs for the next stage until a known goal or end result is reached (www. businessdictionary. com). Read more: http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/process. tml#ixzz2QTQAtoBi When deciding a product design, it is advisable to simultaneously come up with a matching process design. This will entail the flow of the process and Barnes (2008) said that the design of processes is different in all organizations and these designs will be based on the volume and variety of the demand for the product in the market. He further categorized the processes under project, jobbing, batch, line and conti nuous. Types of Processes There are different production processes namely project, jobbing, batch, line and continuous. See Appendix C. Sparkle is in a business of very expensive products which are very small in size so they do jobbing. Customers usually give orders which are produced by the company (make to order). They usually hold little or no fully-processed inventory. The Production Process Diamond ore is sorted by density using X-rays. Before that technology became available, grease belts were used to separate diamonds from the rest of the ore, due to the diamonds greater tendency than other minerals to stick to grease. Rough diamonds are then set to be cut as gemstones in the cutting laboratory. A diamond has different cuts and different professional specialize on different cuts. This is the most daunting task of diamond production because a bad cut will cost the company a fortune. Figure 5: Diamond plan before cutting. Source Cutting produces the facets associated with a diamond. The angles of the facets maximize light, giving the diamond its greatest possible luster (dispersion of white light). The cutting process can take as much as 50% of a rough diamonds weight. Figure 5: Illustration of diamond facets. Source: A number of factors come into play when deciding how a diamond should be cut. X-rays are employed to analyze the stones crystallographic structure, its hardness and ability to cleave. The diamonds flaws are considered, and the cutter decides which to remove and which can remain. Either a hammer or a diamond saw can be used to split the diamond – the hammer is quicker, but the saw is surer. Figure 5: Diamond cutting. Source: A number of institutes in the diamond industry offer courses for diamond cutters, but the bulk and most crucial part of the training for this delicate trade take place during the cutters apprenticeship. A diamond may get its final cut from many skilled hands: the diamond marker or designer; the diamond sawyer; the diamond cutter or brute; the cross-worker; and the brillianteer. After the initial cutting, diamonds undergo the polishing stages, usually performed by a technician as the process is a standard one. Polished diamonds are reexamined for flaws, which can be addressed through enhancement techniques or disguised when set in jewelry. Figure 5: Diamond Polishing. Source: Finally, the polished diamonds are sold to individuals, retailers, wholesalers and jewelry shops. Figure 5: Diamond quality check. Source 6 Planning, Control ;amp; Innovation In any good type of project or manufacture to be successful, it must be planned at the very beginning and at the end, it has to be controlled to make sure that the planned processes and cost is not very different from the actual. Businesses must also continuously innovate so as to move line to line with the changing tastes of consumers and to beat numerous designs from competitors. 6. 1 Planning Eur says this about planning â€Å"It lists the phases and encapsulates all the main parameters, standards and requirements of the project in terms of time, cost and quality/performance by setting out the ‘Why’, ‘What’, ‘When’, ‘Who’, ‘Where’, and ‘How’, of the project. † Planning therefore looks at the entire process, product and project but in an imaginary form which has not yet happened but it is wished that it should happen that way. 6. 1. 1 Advantages of Planning 1. It gives direction of what has to be done and how it has to be done. 2. It assigns responsibilities on every person thus answering â€Å"Who does what? 3. A good plan will see problems a project, product or process will encounter before the problem strikes. 4. A plan helps us to manage cost, quality and design side by side with the profit we will want to make on the product. 5. Plans are used to assess how well a product, process, p roject or person has done. 6. 1. 2 Disadvantages of Planning 1. It is usually made up by top management and given to the employees down the management ladder who just follow it. 2. Plans are usually followed to the latter. Even when some changes have to done, it is not because a plan is being followed. 3. Plans are usually just estimates and it has no use in turbulent economic environments as the plan and the actual are usually very different. 6. 2 Control Control involves measuring the actual results against the plan and then taking action to adjust actual performance so that it moves in line with the plan. So in other words, control is only possible when we have a plan. Control has a feedback phase and this involves adjusting the actual to move in line with the plan or reporting differences between actual and budget so that there may be no such discrepancies in the future. 6. 3 Innovation Innovation is defined by the oxford dictionary as â€Å"changing something established by introducing new methods, ideas or products. † Just like there is no control where there is no plan, there is no innovation where there is no control. They all rely on one another. After control has been done, feedback is sent back and improvement or innovation is made. But in the complex business environment operating now, innovation just not just come from within the company but from outside the company like from competitors and especially from the consumers due to the rapid change in customers taste, design and fashion. In the diamond manufacture industry, there are many different innovative ways manufacturing diamonds and Sparkle has had the following innovations: 1. The Supercut design Sparkle has introduced the innovative supercut design into the industry: a patented ideal emerald cut, with more than twice the facets of a traditional Emerald – providing unparalleled brilliance and fire. The culmination of three years of research, the supercut gives extraordinary brilliance and reflection and this innovation gives Sparkle competitive advantage in terms of having good designs with extraordinary glittering. 2. Precision cutting Since 2010, Sparkle has brought in a technology of cutting the diamonds using computer software and this cut is so exact that less than 0. 000002% waste is created from diamond cutting. Waste use to be about 0. 5% during diamond cutting and this innovation has caused drastic cost saving making Sparkle to be more competitive in terms of cost. 3. Sparkle offers a wide range of jewelry manufacturing processes, including design, modeling, prototyping, grooving, setting, finishing and meticulous quality control; all featuring our own fine diamonds, and designed for clients to sell under their private labels. . 4 The ‘Planning – Control – Innovation’ Cycle. From the above notes, it can be seen that planning, control and innovation work together. Sparkle’s cycle looks like this. Plan Procurement of unrefined stones. Process the stones into fine diamond. Sell and make a reasonable gain. Actual Procurement of unrefined stones. Process the stones into fine dia mond. Sell and make a reasonable gain. Control Looks at the difference between what was planned and what actually happened. External Information Customer specific design New tastes and fashion Design from competitors Market Research (Ramp;D) Feedback and Innovation Plan Procurement of unrefined stones. Process the stones into fine diamond. Sell and make a reasonable gain. Actual Procurement of unrefined stones. Process the stones into fine diamond. Sell and make a reasonable gain. Control Looks at the difference between what was planned and what actually happened. External Information Customer specific design New tastes and fashion Design from competitors Market Research (Ramp;D) Feedback and Innovation Figure 7. The ‘planning-control-innovation’ cycle. 6. Changes happening in the diamond industry. * Researchers are on the verge of bringing in new materials which reflect light better than diamond and these materials are stronger and more durable than diamond. But, they will be far cheaper than diamonds and this is going to be a big problem to diamond manufacturers as the demand for diamond will surely drop. An example is synthetic stones. * In response to growing concern over illicit trade in conflict or blood diamonds, the United Nations General Assembly established the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme in 2003. This scheme is going to make sure of the source of every single diamond so as to ensure that they are from a genuine source. This happening will increase the price of diamond because more than 55% of diamonds are from Africa and the mines there are operated by very cheap labor and sometimes by slaves, women and children. The UN will come in and stop this practice thus increasing the cost of labor, working conditions and ultimately the price for diamonds. 7 Quality Management Quality is one of the performance objectives and it is taken very seriously by all organizations because if achieved, may give them competitive advantage. Some organizations rely on quality more than others and the fashion and health industry takes quality as primary considering the fact that people want to look good and in good health. Quality is a matter of perception so what can be called quality for A might not necessarily be called quality for B. According to Garvin (1984), the attributes in quality for a product are: * Performance * Features * Reliability * Conformance * Durability * Serviceability * Aesthetics * Other perceptions Parasuraman et al. (1985), on the other hand listed 5 attributes in defining what is quality of a service? nd they are: * Reliability – Are we always going to get on time delivery? * Responsiveness – Are the always going to respond quickly to our demands and complaints? * Assurance – Are we assured of their competence? * Empathy – Does the organization feel and understand customers’ needs and concerns? * Tangibles – Is the physical surrounding conducive? 7. 1 Qu ality in the Organization But in relation to Sparkle, the best definition of quality is that as per Slack et al. (2009) â€Å"quality is consistent conformance to customers’ expectation† and I will say and even surpassing those expectations. Sparkle uses total quality management as their quality management technique. They look for means and ways to maintain and continuously improve quality at each stage of the production process. All employees meet once a month to discuss on how to improve the organization’s present performance. Books by Deming, Crosby, Juran, Hill and other total quality management gurus are in the company’s library and research department for employees to read and be motivated to contribute into the organization’s performance. All employees are made to know that quality and customer’s requirements being met comes before any other thing. The organization has a suggestion box where employees can write any inspiring idea that comes in mind and this box is emptied every day and read by the research staff and it is summarized and sent to the manager examine. 7. 2 The Cost of Quality Quality has a cost which is like a double-edged sword meaning that good quality will have a cost and bad quality will also have a cost. 7. 2. 1 The Cost of Good Quality This is also known as the cost of quality assurance. Sparkle has a lot of this cost because they are continuously always trying to get better in quality all over the organization so as to better serve customers’ needs. The cost of quality assurance is further divided into prevention cost and appraisal cost. * Prevention cost is the cost of trying to make everything right on first attempt and some of this cost are: * Sparkle does not give a command for precious stones and wait for the stones to come. They go to the supplier’s premises and pick the stones one after the other and not in groups to ensure the best stones are taken. The supplier charges more for this. * The cost of designing the jewelry in a computer automated system and running several checks with other very expensive bespoke software before the design is confirmed. Sparkle trains its employees every 6 months and buys books to update them on new technologies and to keep their skills up and awake. * All employees are taught a wide variety of skills so that if a certain employee is not available to do a specific thing, there will always be another to do it. * Appraisal cost is concerned with controlling quality and this is achieved by testing the process before the product is manufactured and testing the product before it gets to the customer. Some of these costs are: * The cost incurred in testing all equipment, machines and ensuring staffs are fit and able before any diamond is processed. The cost of checking the diamond after manufacture by employees and with the use of a computer aided personalized software which is very expensive to make sure that the diamonds are flawless. * The time spent in testing the diamonds ensuring the pass all the set of test before and after manufacture. 7. 2. 2 The Cost of Bad Quality All organizations including Sparkle wants to evade this cost because it is very dangerous and it can even bring down the entire organization in a blink of an eye. The cost of bad quality is divied into internal failure cost and external failure cost. Internal failure cost is cost incurred before the product reaches the customer. Some of this cost are: * The cost of scrap. Diamonds are very expens ive so any little scrap of badly shaped diamond is worth a whole lot. So Sparkle makes sure the best quality diamond is procured and diamond cutting should be not less than perfect. * The cost of reshaping ill-shaped diamonds and gluing broken once. * The resources lost in repairing diamonds. Labor, machine time, and electricity are used which should have if the diamonds were made right the first time. External failure cost arises after the product has been received by the customer and some of this cost include: * The cost listening to customer complaints and responding to them. * The cost of replacing a defective diamond which a customer has rejected. This can cause the organization a fortune. * The customer might have to take the company to court and the organization will pay a huge sum if the lost the lawsuit. Some compensation may run to millions of pounds and could bring the organization to its end. * One of the most dangerous costs is that which we don’t see. An example is the lost sale and contribution. When a customer is dissatisfied, he will most at times not want to come back and he will discourage a potential customer who will discourage another customer to come to us. Saying all this, quality should be treated like an egg in the midst of rocks. 8 Supply Chain Management 8. 1 Definition Supply Chain is the management of the interconnection of organizations that relate to each other through upstream and downstream linkages between the processes that produce value to the ultimate consumer in the form of products and services (Slack et al. 2010). A supply chain is a holistic network starting from the sourcing of material, through its transportation to the organization’s premises, to manufacturing, to storage and warehousing and finally to consumers. So it is a whole system and it works as one therefore is one part of the chain is broken, the whole system will fall apart and consumers’ will not be satisfied. 8. 2 Sparkleâ⠂¬â„¢s Supple Chain Stage 1 Sparkle’s supply chain starts from the diamond mines in Africa which produce more than 50% of total diamonds to mines in India, Russia, Canada and Australia. The mines usually dug very deep but the deepest diamond mine runs for about 160km passing through sand, rocks, and gravel to be blasted drilled, crushed and processed. It should be noted that only 20% of diamonds from mines can be polised and used for jewelry; the rest is used for industrial use. The stones picked here are very rough still with no beauty (see figure 10). Stage 2 Companies and independent buyers go to these mines and buy the rough stones from the mine owners and take them to their premises for processing. These stones are then processed to make them a little bit more presentable so that diamond manufacturers can then buy them and further process them into diamonds. Diamonds at this stage looks like that in figure 11. Figure 8: Trapping stones to look for diamonds in an African mine. Source: Figure 9: A typical unprocessed diamond. Source: Figure 10: Unprocessed diamonds directly from the mine. Source Figure 11: Diamonds which have been slightly processed. Source: Stage 3 Sparkle buys the diamonds in fig. 11 and examines them with the use of a computer aided personalized software. After a series of checks, rejected diamonds will be sent back to the suppliers and the good ones will be cut into different shapes so as to give the greatest value. After cutting, the diamond goes through computer aided software to confirm its perfection and after this, it is polished and cleaned. Sparkle will also buy what the diamonds are going to be fitted on because people will scarcely buy a chunk of diamond. Diamonds are usually fitted on rings, pens, earrings, belts and many more (see figure 14). These things are usually bought from top manufacturers with good design and quality and they are usually very expensive. Figure12: Diamond cutting in Sparkle. Source: Figure 13: Diamond polishing in Sparkle Source: Stage 4 After polishing and the diamond have an unblemished shine, shape and color, it is then taken by the customers. Some of the customers ordered just a few and sometimes even just one special diamond while other big customers like jewelry shops order bigger quantities at ones. It is either Sparkle delivers the diamond to the place agreed by the customer or the customer comes to the organization’s site on an agreed date and after a phone call to pick up the diamond. The supply chain ends after the diamond has reached the customer. Figure 14: Finished diamond ready for the customer. Source: Figure 15: Diamonds bought by jewelry shops. Source: The Mine The Cutting Company Polishing Customers Jewelry Shops Manufacturing The Mine The Cutting Company Polishing Customers Jewelry Shops Manufacturing The supply chain of Sparkle is a good and effective. Its success can sometimes be attributed to the information technology they use. They use the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system which brings in data from all sources and this is used to know when suppliers have diamonds and the variouse categories, to know when jewelry shops are running short of iamonds, and many more (all discussed in chapter 9). Figure 16: Sparkle’s Supply Chain 9 Information Systems As seen in chapter 1, â€Å"Operation Management is the activity of managing the resources which produce and deliver goods and services† (Slack et al, 2010). For these activities to be properly managed, it needs the help of automated process and compu ter aided techniques. Information systems are found throughout an organization and if used well reduce costs and can be a source of gaining competitive advantage. 9. 1 Computer Aided Techniques Sparkle uses information systems in many ways in its business. Listed below are some specialized computer aided programs used. 1. They use Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP) which gives an optimum layout of the cutting steps and their sequence (this is different for different diamonds). There are many diamond cutting machines and they all have different cutting styles and they are operated by specialist in the different cutting sectors. So the CAPP examines a diamond and gives different possible steps on which machine to use first and which not to use so as to minimize waste and give the diamond the best possible cuts so as reflect light in an optimal way. 2. They use Computer Aided Designs (CAD) to design the shape of diamonds on a computer and finished diamonds can actually be seen even before processing starts. If an error is made in the design, it can be corrected but this could have been impossible without CAD. 3. The also use Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) which takes the drawings and designs from the CAD and test them for perfection. Different test are administered and the flawlessness of a diamond can be confirmed even before manufacture. 4. Automated Material Handling (AMH) system is also used. Diamonds are very expensive and so care must be taken at each step. The AMH system improves efficiency in diamond movement, storage and retrieval. 5. The Laser Security System (LSS) is used where diamonds are kept be it rough stones, semi-processed diamonds and fully processed diamonds. Invisible laser rays crisscross the diamonds and it needs a password to be deactivated. Only top managers have the password and the password of each of them is different making it easy to know who accessed the diamond safe. If someone tries to pass through the laser rays, it can kill or paralyze them and the security alarm is automatically triggered and an automated call goes to the nearest police station. . Security Camera Systems (SCS) make use of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) at all times to monitor the whole building especially where inventory is held. 7. The Inventory Control System (ICS) gives detail information about each diamond rough, semi-processed or fully processed held in inventory at any point in time. Management must no go into the safe to see what t hey have in stock because the ICS does it all. This system is also used online to make customers see the diamonds, its specification and all other relevant information. Figure 16: The CAD system used to design a blue diamond. Source: Figure 17: The virtual version of the diamond in fig 16. Source: 9. 2 Pros and Cons of Information Technology (IT) IT is a very necessary tool in any organization be it a big or a small one. IT has advantages and disadvantages. They are listed in Appendix D including ‘Why IT cannot replace Human Beings’. 9. 3 Information Systems ‘Information system can be defined as a set of interrelated components that collect, process, store and distribute information to support decision making and control in an organization’ (Laundon amp; Laundon, 2006). Most organizations use some form of computer-based technology to accumulate, organize and distribute information’ (Ted, 2011) and Sparkle is not an exception. They use a set of interrelated information systems. 9. 3. 1 Transaction Processing System (TPS) This system is used to account for day by day transactions of Sparkle. It records all sales, purchases, expenses, income, tax, bills paid, equipment bought and all other transactions performed by organization. This system is also used to account for employee’s attendance, absences, pay, overtime, bonuses, remuneration, and all other things concerning the employees. . 3. 2 Supply Chain System (SCS) This system deals with customers and suppliers. It monitors the stock in the jewelry shops so as to know when to give the shops an offer. It monitors the stocks which are demanded more and those demanded less so as to know when to produce. It tracks frequent and valuable customers and grades them into groups so as know how to give discounts. This system also monitors the stock in the cutting companies. It looks at the new stocks and compares price side by side quality so as to know which supplier to order rough diamonds from. 9. 3. 3 Knowledge Management System (KMS) In Sparkle, all manufacturing processes are recorded and stored in the KMS. Any ideas gotten either by inspiration, customer’s requirement, employees’ suggestions or business intelligence are stored in the KMS for future use. Sparkle is said to be very innovative and has this edge over its rivals because of its mastery of the KMS. When a new employees is recruited, he has 2 weeks probation where he is taught how to operate in the organization and how processes function. Before the implementation and use of the KMS, probation was 3 months so this system has greatly reduces learning time. 9. 3. Management Information System (MIS) This system takes all the information from the above systems and summarizes them into financial statements and reports. It is used by management to make decisions on how to run and control the business. 9. 3. 5 Decision Support System (DSS) This system looks like an advance of the MIS. It takes data from all sources (internal and external) and su mmarizes them for top management to make decisions on the long term plans of the organization. Information from this system appears as statements, reports, charts, graphs, ratios, statistics and trend analysis. . 3. 6 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) This can be called the overall system. It takes information from all sources of the organization and brings them together in one large database. From there, required information is taken out and implemented or used to make decisions in Sparkle. It should be noted that all other systems deposit their information in ERP. Figure 18: Example of ERP. Source: LSBF MBA Intake 14, SOM Lecture 3, Session 9, Slide 34. 9. 6 Intranet and Extranet Sparkle uses intranets to deal with its employees and management. Staffs all have a particular passcode which the use and your code depends on your position within the company. Some passcodes can access some areas which other codes can’t. They also use extranets to communicate and share information with customers, suppliers, some competitors and the government. This system is more secured and less vulnerable to attacks as compared to the internet. 10 Job Design It is said that the blood stream of any organization is money and I will say the skeleton holding an organization and making it stand up straight is its workforce. An organization manages resources so as to be able to deliver acceptable goods and services to its customers and one of these resources is its workforce. An organization’s workforce is its most valuable and the most complicated of all its resources because unlike other resources, humans have a mind of their own. To be able to deal with human beings, you must know what they like and this is different for different people but these needs though different are similar. In providing this, it motivates the employees and when motivated, they produce better output eventually yielding higher profits, quality and flexibility. 0. 1 Motivation Motivation is the urge to take action to achieve something or to avoid something (BPP, 2010). Motivation can either be intrinsic (wanting to satisfy an internal urge like being happy to be able to help others) or extrinsic (reliant on tangible rewards like money, fame and power). Continues in Appendix E. 10. 2 Empowerment This is the act of delegati ng work to employees making them feel more superior because of the added responsibility and new accountability. This is good motivation for many employees. ‘Job design is about how people carry out their tasks within a process. It defines the way they go about their working lives. It positions the expectations of what is required of them, and it influences their perceptions of how they contribute to the organization. It also defines their activities in relation to their work colleagues and it channels the flows of communication between different parts of the operation. But, of most importance, it helps to develop the culture of the organization – its shared values, beliefs and assumptions’ (Slack, 2009). In designing any job, the following have to be put into consideration. * Safety. Jobs should be design in a way that it will bring no harm to the employee be it physical, psychological, mental or emotional harm. Workers in the mines especially those in Africa are exposed to a lot of risk and still earn less than the minimum wage. The mine owners wanting to make more profits cut down on cost by reducing expenditure on employees’ safety. The employees of Sparkle all have safety equipment like hats and new ideas are being implemented to make the process safer. The organization has also fully insured its entire staff. * Legal and Ethical Issues. Jobs should be design in such a manner that those doing the job will not go against the law or their code of ethics. * Own time. Job design should create time for the employees to catch up on something other than work. For example visiting new places, being with their families or performing other social activities. Employees working in the mines have little of this, but Sparkle’s employees all have right to a paid holiday and taking permission to be out of work if the need arises. * Employee’s Ability. An employee’s ability to do the job or a range of task should be considered before designing the job. For example; only heavy built men carry cargo from the trucks into the warehouse because of their physical ability to carry heavy weight unlike their colleagues. * Wage and Benefits: In designing any job, the wage and benefits to be paid for the job should be considered if not the employee can be over-paid or under-paid for the job. 10. 3 Division of Labor Unlike traditional production approaches that stipulated that one person should know everything in the company so that he can serve any function, Henry Ford came in with the idea that one man should only know one thing and should be an expert in that thing. He suggested that with specializing in a particular function, the whole organization will be specialized and will give the best quality goods and services. So jobs should be broken down into smaller portions and given to different individuals who will specialize and bring forth quality cost-effective products. 10. 3. 1 Advantages of Division of Labor (Slack, 2009) * It is easier to learn. Short and simple tasks are easier to learn compared with long and complex tasks. This will be very advantageous when training new recruits because training will take a shorter time and it will be better mastered. Automating. Short and simple task are easily automated as compared to long and complex task. * Time. More time is spent on one long task compare to time if that task was broken down. This extra time is as a result of picking different tools up and putting them down, looking for equipment, thinking of what to do next etc. 10. 3. 2 Disadvantages of Division of Labor (Slack, 2009) * Monotony. The same small task will be repeated every hour, week, month and year. This will make the job boring and less fulfilling thus resulting to absenteeism, staff turnover and errors. Over-reliance. If one employee is absent, no other will be able to perform his duty and this may bring the whole production process to a halt. * No flexibility. Employees let to do one particular thing over the years turn to lose the skill of being able to learn another thing. So if the production process was to change, many employees will not be able to cope with learning how to perform a new task. * Physical Injury. The repetitive use of one part of your body let’s say arm or wrist will in the long run cause pain to that part. This is known as Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). Sparkle teaches their employees a wide range of task during their probation but the employees are assigned to do just one thing when they fully start work. Teaching them a wide range of task is to expose them to the processes of the whole organization so that they can contribute ideas in the development of a department or process which does not involve them. Another reason for giving employees holistic training is to make an employee being able to do an absent employee’s work. This tactic was also implemented because the organization did not want an employee to feel indispensable. 0. 4 Job Design Approaches In coming out with a good job designing, the following approaches should be implemented:- 1. Job Simplification: The organization tries to the range of task and their complexities. Polishing diamond use to be a very complex task at Sparkle but with the introduction of DiamondShines TM a specialized software where diamond polishing is programmed with exact details. 2. Job Ro tation: This is periodically interchanging employees performing different task to do the task of the other. Sparkle does a lot of job rotation and this makes the employees’ job more exciting. Job rotation is successful in this organization because they train their employees to perform a number of task but if division of labor was strictly implemented, this approach could have been impossible because employee A will not have a clue of employees B’s task. 3. Job Enlargement: This involves integrating same level tasks to the ones already performed by the employees to make the job more exciting. This is not practiced in Sparkle. 4. Job Enrichment: This involves integrating different level tasks to the ones performed by the employees. The new tasks are usually higher level tasks giving employees more responsibility and decision making power. Sparkle once a week picks an employee randomly and gives him the power of a supervisory manager so as to see the changes and innovations he is going to bring to the organization. Sparkle also makes employees work in small teams and the organization creates a competitive strain amongst the teams. The competition amongst the teams brings a lot of hard work, efficiency and effectiveness.