Musical Concert Report free essay sample

The melody starts with a slow introduction leading to a sat tempo with bright and crisp accents, but still with a lot of warmth In the sound. This piece consists of 9 movements and starts with trumpets, horns, strings and bassoons. This piece has a march theme, that reflects mood of the overture. The march leads listeners to the main section of the piece, which has a folksy Hungarian character. The whole overture Is in the key of E flat major. The duration of the overture Is 8 minutes, but even through that short period of time I was able to notice how extensive was the music in the piece. In my opinion this overture was great.It as composed in E flat major and its contrast was used by its mood change and it felt to me that Beethoven tried to imitate the rhythm of Hungarian language in which the accent of the word falls on the first syllable. We will write a custom essay sample on Musical Concert Report or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Performers displayed a wide range of textures and some elements of Hungarian folk music. The melody was fast and had a theme of pride to a Hungarian hero. The tempo of the piece is quiet fast. Players moved into a solo performances starting with trumpets, horn and strings creating a mood of the overture. Most of Beethovens compositions In my opinion start with a errors tune and ends with in a festive musical way.The overture ends with an extroverted sound and A stirring Coda brings it to its close. The second piece that is titled as  «Symphony by Withhold Litigiously was composed In a years of 1941-1947. This piece contains four solid movements, that are followed by a certain structure: Allegro gluttons, Pico adagio. Allegretto molesters, and Allegro vice. It definitely has strong melodic themes, combined with several different temps and a good variety of moods. It lasts around 20-25 minutes and during this time it feels that music travels through different emotional stages. The loudness and energy of this section captures listeners attention and creates a dramatic atmosphere. The symphony consists a number of woodwinds. Beginning in a very dramatic manner, it eventually brightness up and creates an optimistic feeling as it goes. The first movement an Allegro gusto is in a clear sonata form, presented not as a continued melody, but as a collection of motives. The clear tonal center of D Is presented In it. The rhythms of a symphony often elaborated and brilliant orchestration of Salon clearly made the whole symphony even better. The En Symphony #1 ended. After a short intermission the concert continued, performing another piece that Nas called  «Fanfare for Los Angles Philharmonic ». It was very short and included 5 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, timpani and percussion. It was composed in 1993 . The piece opened in a dynamic rhythm and immediately expands as it goes. At one point it reached a part where all pitches and rhythms were perfectly noted, but unsynchronized. The energy and the rhythm was shocking. The repetition of the sounds and random groups of notes were often followed by a big drum thwack in the recursion . Individual players repeated small melodic motives without regard to the exact way in which their neighbors were performing. Controlled by Salon in overall span, made an illusion of complex counterpoint. Starting with moving notes, music in this piece came to a rest and became slower and more quite and eventually closed the first section. Next came a syncopated section with rich harmony, and in some way it reminded me of the first section. Timpani with the three notes summarized the main indication of the piece. Its only 1 minute long and was greatly performed, butNans my favorite piece in the concert. The fourth piece Which was the last in the concert was  «Symphony #2 in D major » by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was composed in 1802 and 35 minutes long. The orchestration consisted of: 2 flutes, 2 horns, 2 clarinets, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, timpani and strings. This piece seemed longer, more complex and in my opinion -a masterpiece that was the best part of the concert. It has 4 movements. The piece opened with the introduction in D major, that seems like a statement of a great power. The first movement is in sonata-allegro form.Through this movement I was blew to hear the returning of the beginning and is extended by a lengthy Coda. It was lividly contrasted in dynamics. The second movement, Lorgnette, is in A key major. It is a slow and long movement with elements of folk music. Third movement, Scherzo, includes oboe and bassoons quartet. It is build upon a single chord. The final movement of the symphony, Allegro molt, has rapid string parts. The opening motif is very different from the other ones. It dont have a defined cadence and has a full motif. The rhythm groupings seemed not very regular in this piece.

Analysis of Work, Energy and Power Experiment Essays

Analysis of Work, Energy and Power Experiment Essays Analysis of Work, Energy and Power Experiment Essay Analysis of Work, Energy and Power Experiment Essay Analysis of Data In the first part of the experiment, we use a fan cart and first thing we do it to get the force of the fan cart by tying a string in the fan cart and hang a mass until the system is not moving that means that it is in equilibrium state. The tension in the string is equal so that the hanging mass multiplied by the gravitational pull of the earth which is 9. 8 ms2 is equal to the force exerted by the fan cart. Then we remove the string and turn on the fan cart and then let it move and record the time when it passes the certain distance in the track. We can say that the time that’s being recorded for the four trials is directly proportional to the distance or displacement that being covered by the cart, as the displacement increases the time also increases, and we can also say that the velocity is constant because the fan cart gives off a constant force. The result that we got for work in the four trials is increasing from the first trial to the last trial because we increases the distance it covers and the work is the product of the force and the distance covered by the object. And the power is the rate at which the work is done it is the work done per unit of time which is second. We got the values of power by dividing the work by the time we got in the smart timer reading. And in table 2, we measure the length of the string and the initial height which is the distance of the mass in the table which serve as our reference line. And the using the spring balance we lift the mass in different angles, in trial 1 we use 30Â °, second trial we use 60Â °, third trial 45Â ° and the fourth trial we use 90Â °. As we lift the mass we measure the distance of the mass from our reference line and the horizontal distance of it from its original position and also we record the reading of the force in the spring balance. From those values we compute for the work and the gravitational potential energy of that table. For the work done we use the formula w=mg L 1-cos? and for the gravitational potential energy we use the formula PEg=mg(hf-h0). We must derive the same result with the work done and the gravitational potential energy or close to that because L 1-cos? s equals to hf-h0. There are hundredths discrepancies on the result maybe because of our measurement in the height but we can say that it is also close to each other. Conclusion In this experiment I learn that the greater the displacement the greater the work done with a constant force acting on the system. And also I learn that the work done is equal to the gravitational potential energy. Work, power and energy vary directly to the displa cement or change in height. There is no work done, power and energy when there is no displacement occurs in the system. Energy is just changing from one form to another and it is neither be destroyed nor created. It is the ability of an object to do work and the rate of work with respect to time is called power. And work is just the product of the force and the displacement. The can be positive, negative and even zero depending on the angles between the force acting on it and the displacement done by the object. The gravitational potential energy is the energy stored within an object due to its height above the surface of the earth. To lift a certain object upward, the work must be done against the downward pull of the earth. And it also varies directly to the weight of an object that being lifted, the heavier the object is the higher work or energy is needed to lift it upward. One of the best examples of work, energy and power is when you are walking at a certain displacement, even you are just walking you’re already doing work the force is your weight and multiplied it to the displacement you covered from walking you already compute the work you’ve done and the power is basically the work over the time you covered from walking, the power is the rate of the work you’ve done and the energy is capacity for doing that work which is walking.

Development of Rural Economy Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 8250 words

Development of Rural Economy - Thesis Example Economic growth is believed to be evenly distributed when it helps both the rural and urban areas of a country. In this, the economy of USA is taken as model for development that could be used by Australia and Iraq to develop their rural side. It is believed that although Australia and Iraq are among the richest nations of the world but they have failed to develop their rural areas and there is large disparity of income and standard of living between people of rural and urban areas. The paper does not only talk about economic issues related to the lack of growth of rural areas in the countries mentioned above but also talks about the social issues and social changes that are needed to be imposed by the governments of respective nations in their search of achieving balanced economic growth. This paper has also suggested a new theory of rural vs. urban trade-off to explain how investment could result in growing both the rural and urban areas of any economy. Economic growth is a field of Development Economics that shows the growth in GDP or annual out of a economy over a period of time which is usually taken as a year. An economy is said to be growing if the output in the current year is greater than the previous year. For example, if the GDP in current is $120, whereas in the previous year it was $100, then one can safely that the economy is growing by 20%. Economists usually prefer diffused growth in the economy rather regional growth. The reason behind this is that region growth leads to disparity between different region of a country and can lead to urbanization and problems that coincide with it. Economic growth is usually brought about by following factors or by the following conditions: Output is growing: This implies that output in the current year should be greater than the output produced in the previous year. Output should be greater than inflation and population growth: Some times price increases also tend to move up the value of output. However, any value increase of GDP due to inflation is not considered as an economic growth of a country. Economic growth occurs when there is physical increase in the quantity of goods and this increase should also be greater than increase in population growth for an economy to grow. United States of America meets these conditions better than Iraq and Australia and that is why American economy has grown so much relative to these economies. Labor Productivity increases: If Labor productivity increase, they will be able to produce more output in the given production hours. This will result in economic growth of an economy and the United States of America is a prime example of this. Investment in Capital Goods: More capital means that the economy

Personal Change Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Personal Change Case - Essay Example is a time when a person becomes aware of his/her own individuality or identity; it is also a time when he/she establishes important relationships, both with friends and lovers. These physical and psychosocial changes suggest that a person at this stage in their life probably undergoes changes in their personality as well. In this paper I will reflect on how I have experienced all of these changes over the last few years, and on how I coped with these changes with reference to Virginia Satir’s Transformational Model of Change. My life in Hong Kong was without worry and I was seemingly living in a fantasy world. I wanted and waited for nothing from my parents, although divorced; they provided me with everything I desired, including love, money for shopping, money for overseas travel in my school breaks, in fact money for anything. I was popular amongst my peers and had many friends with whom I could spend time shopping, dancing, partying and generally just having a good time. I was not an A grade student but received relatively good grades considering the amount of time and effort I put into my study, which was relatively little. My life ran smoothly; I knew what I was doing from day to day, my parents made all my decisions for me, planned my present and future life and I never really considered that things would change. I assumed that my life would always be this way and in some way I was living a fairytale inside a glass bubble – not even considering that one day that bubble may burst! My parents decided that it would be a good experience for me to study overseas, an idea to which I did not consider or see fit to question. In fact it sounded rather exciting to me and I was eager to have the opportunity of further travel, spending real time in another country and making new friends. I failed to consider that this move was a major change in my life and one that would bring about major change in myself. At the beginning my move to America was fine. I settled

Human genetic engineering Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Human genetic engineering - Research Paper Example s of an organism and can either be positive or negative where negative brings a subject up to par while positive modifies genetic material to bring it beyond normal limitations (171-175). However, it is important to note that amid arguments and hot debate regarding genetic engineering, it is ethical to use technology in particular cases including altering cells and DNA to minimize disease effects and combating other genetic disorders. This article provides argument regarding human genetic engineering. Biotechnology is the utilization of science and biology technology to alter the living or non-living materials for the production of knowledge, goods, services that are innovative and can improve people’s lives (Evans 44-48). It is a technology that uses living organisms to make superior products that meets life’s greatest needs in a careful and regulated way and serving the needs of scientists. It is worth noting that biotechnology has been in existence for quite a long time including preservation of dairy products and beer fermentation and forms a huge part of the daily life but it has now been to humans. According to Evans, biotechnology plays a major role in meeting human’s daily needs through resource efficiency, food security as well as modification of human genes (44-48). Various things including increase in yields characterize biotechnology as well as offering built in protection against insect damage, prevention of soil erosion, and eventually reduce po verty by increasing food security for a growing population (Gyngell 495-503). However, biotechnology has had serious effects on both human and enhanced climatic changes. Genetically modified humans and organisms are technologically altered through the process of modern biotechnology or gene technology. They are developed because they are perceived to super human who are capable of performing many things that cannot be performed by ordinary persons (Evans 52-59). It is important to note that human

Literature Review on Emotions Across Cultures

Literature Review on Emotions Across Cultures Ms. Shweta Gaikwad RESEARCH METHODOLOGY OF EMOTIONS ACCROSS CULTURES (EMIC, ETIC OR A COMBINATION OF BOTH) Introduction: The terms emic and etic were coined in 1954, by linguist Kenneth Pike, who argued that the tools developed for describing linguistic behaviors could be adapted to the description of any human social behavior. Emic and Etic are terms used by anthropologists and by others in the social and behavioral sciences to refer to two kinds of data concerning human behavior. In particular, they are used in cultural anthropology to refer to kinds of fieldwork done and viewpoints obtained. In the field of cross-cultural research, the emic approach involves examining one culture at a time to evaluate how insiders or participants interpret a phenomenon. The criteria for evaluating behaviors relate to the insiders, and the structure is discovered by the researchers. On the other hand, the etic approach involves comparing different cultures. Behavior is studied from the perspective of an outsider, the criteria for evaluating behaviors are viewed as â€Å"universal† and the structure is created by the researchers. Definition: â€Å"The emic approach investigates how local people think (Kottak, 2006). How they perceive and categorize the world, their rules for behavior, what has meaning for them, and how they imagine and explain things.† The etic approach realizes that members of a culture often are too involved in what they are doing to interpret their cultures impartially â€Å"The etic (scientist-oriented) approach shifts the focus from local observations, categories, explanations, and interpretations to those of anthropologist.† When using the etic approach, the ethnographer emphasizes what he or she considers important. Early Etic and Epic studies in Psychology: Swiss psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, is a researcher who took an etic approach in his studies. Jung studied mythology, religion, ancient rituals, and dreams leading him to believe that there are archetypes used to categorize people’s behaviors. Archetypes are universal structures of the collective unconscious that refer to the inherent way people are predisposed to perceive and process information. The main archetypes that Jung studied were the persona (how people choose to present themselves to the world), the animus/ anima (part of people experiencing the world in viewing the opposite sex, that guides how they select their romantic partner), and the shadow (dark side of personalities because people have a concept of evil. Well-adjusted people must integrate both good and bad parts of themselves). Jung looked at the role of the mother and deduced that all people have mothers and see their mothers in a similar way; they offer nurture and comfort. His studies also suggest that †Å" infants have evolved to suck milk from the breast, it is also the case that all children have inborn tendencies to react in certain ways.† This way of looking at the mother is an etic way of applying a concept cross- culturally and universally. Recent Researches on Emic and Epic across Culture: I) West Meets East: Incorporating the Emic Perspective for Cross-cultural Business Communication by Yunxia Zhu, University of Queensland Business School The researcher has shed light on the rapid development of internationalization and globalization, cross-cultural business communication is drawing increasing research  attention. The researcher has reviewed and reported findings based on 177 journal papers, published after 1990, in various Journals of Business Communication. The researcher indicates that there has been a shift of research focus towards  Asia and other emerging economies with the rise of Asia and Latin America  (e.g., China, India, and Brazil) in the world economic arena. However, Many Scholars contemplate dominant approach of crosscultural communication and management is Still largely based on polarised cultural dimensions, (e.g., Individualism and collectivism). Hofstede’s (2001). The research highlights the issue relating to the imbalanced emic-etic focus and propose specific ways of addressing this imbalance, through the discussion on the following three points: Introduction of the concepts of emic and etic perspective, and discussion of the relevance to cross-cultural business communication. The sources of emic researches and suggest ways of incorporating them. The theoretical and practical implications of applying the emic perspective and suggest some future research directions. The researcher refers to Kenneth Pikes (1967) contribution and definition of the terms epic and ethic and concludes that the etic unit was from the outside in, providing access into the system but only as the starting point of analysis; the full understanding of the emic is the ultimate end point. However the researcher fails to mention the terms are coined priory by Pikes in 1954. According to the researcher the importance of the emic approach has drawn increasing research attention but it has not been given sufficient research attention in cross-cultural business communication. Also it is crucial to explore and incorporate The emic perspectives in order to reach a balanced view about the culture and communication in the new economic and cross-cultural contexts. The researcher has further discussed the Imposed Ethic approach, The Integrative Etic-Emic Approach and Emically Derived Etic Approach with relevance to various researches in the respective fields. There are enough evidences of researches In conclusion the expant research points to the imperative of incorporating the emic perspective in order to explore the nuances and richness of cultures. Whereas, the emic perspective is especially important today when the East meets the West. The study of incorporating emic perspectives has both theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, the emic can complement the etic approach, hence extending the prevalent etic approach. The researcher further suggests future study can examine how emic perspectives can extend other cultural dimensions. Also indicating that various theories can be viewed in the light of emic perspective to derive or facilitate culture studies. The limitation or overlapping of the theories is also pointed out that some imposed etic or prevalent Western theories are in fact emic in nature. Thus leading to the need to identify the limitations of these theories including tracing sources and contexts of these theories while applying them. The researcher states that the emic sources of knowledge also extend the etic approach, offering us a wider range of alternative perspectives from emic sources for cross-cultural adaptation. For example, we can be more flexible with communication styles with different group of people in different contexts. The researcher concludes with the conception that there is potential for developing new theories and for complementing extant theories drawing from emic sources, which will help to achieve significant impact and answer the ‘so what’ question for cross-cultural business communication research. II) Toward a new approach to the study of personality in culture. by  Cheung, Fanny M.; van de Vijver, Fons J. R.; Leong, Frederick T. L. The research reviews recent developments in the study of culture and personality measurement. Three approaches are described: an etic approach that focuses on establishing measurement equivalence in imported measures of personality, an emic (indigenous) approach that studies personality in specific cultures, and a combined emic–etic approach to personality. The research proposes the latter approach as a way of combining the methodological rigor of the etic approach and the cultural sensitivity of the emic approach. The combined approach is illustrated by two examples: the first with origins in Chinese culture and the second in South Africa. The article ends with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of the combined emic–etic approach for the study of culture and personality and for psychology as a science. III) Views From Inside and Outside: Integrating Emic and Etic Insights about Culture and Justice Judgment by Michael W. Morris, Stanford University Kwok Leung, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Daniel Ames, University of California at Berkeley and Brian Lickel, University of California at Santa Barbara. The research focuses on synergy between emic and etic approaches to research on culture and cognition. The research contemplates the integrative limitation as well as simulative progressive characteristics of emic and etic approaches to research. The research notes that the emic or inside perspective follows in the tradition of  psychological studies of folk beliefs (Wundt, 1888) and The etic or outside perspective  follows in the tradition of behaviourist psychology (Skinner, 1938).The two perspectives/approaches persists in contemporary scholarship, in psychology, between cultural psychologists (Shweder, 1991) and cross-cultural psychologists (Smith Bond, 1998). Varied views on emic and etic approaches, as facilitating and bringing limitations to one another as integrative, with context to anthropology, comparatives and psychology, are elaborated. Further contemplating that, emic and etic researchers tend to have differing assumptions about culture. Emic researchers tend to assume that a culture is best understood as an interconnected whole or system, whereas etic researchers are more likely to isolate particular components of culture and state hypotheses about their distinct antecedents and consequences. The researchers agree that there is differences in justice judgments made in East Asian cultural settings, as opposed to Western settings. The researchers examine selected results from the two key components of distributive justice perception: selecting principles and construing behavior. East Asian cultures have suggested that the principle of harmony is salient in Confucist cultural settings (Hsu, 1953). Whereas Western common sense and theory (Deutsch, 1985). Chinese respondents give more weight to group-oriented values than do North Americans (e.g., Singh,Huang, Thompson, 1962). Emic research has revealed novel constructs (e.g., generosity as a means to harmony), has challenged etic constructs (the notion that individuals adherence to individualist  and collectivist values is captured by a unitary dimension), and has suggested new solutions  (e.g., distinguishing types of ingroup relations). Insights concerning cultural influence on the  interpretation of behavior relevant to justice comes mostly from emic studies. Emic analysis of how culture shapes judgment of deservingness has gone furthest in studies of indigenous Chinese constructs. Although there can be no doubt that an employees social connections enter into appraisals in many Western settings, the role of an employees connections  in an evaluation of his or her worth generally is left implicit and unarticulated by Western observers. To summarize the researchers have described several forms of stimulation in which  developments within each research tradition are provoked and challenged by findings in the  other tradition. Moreover, researchers have argued that an integrative explanatory framework incorporating insights from both traditions avoids limitations of purely etic and purely emic findings in conceptualizing culture and in capturing its various influences on cognition. In conclusion , the researchers have argued that integrative frameworks have several advantages as guides to solving the applied problem of managing justice perceptions  in international organizations. That is, an integrative framework enables better anticipation  of employees justice sensitivities, better decision making about a firms policy options,  and, once a policy is chosen, better implementation. Conclusion The researches on etic and epic approaches suggest that use of integrative approach provides a better understanding of cross-cultural researches. The cultural differences in context to personality, organizational, communication and emotion studies can be broadly generalised if the integrative approach is used. The limitations of one approach are the advantage of the other. Many studies indicate that some emic studies include an epic approach. REFERENCES Cheung, F. M.; van de Vijver, Fons J. R.; Leong, Frederick T. L. (2011) Toward a new approach to the study of personality in culture. American Psychologist, Vol. 66(7), pp.593-603.  Retrived on 19th November 2013 from:  http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuyid=2011-01448-001 Emic and Etic Researches-concept  Retrieved on 19th November 2013 from:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emic_and_etic Friedman, Howard S; Schustack, Miriam W (2012), Personality: Classic Theories and Modern Research, Boston: Pearson Allyn Bacon. Kottak, Conrad (2006), Mirror for Humanity, New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Morris, M. W.; Leung, K.; Ames, D. and Lickel, B.( 1999).Views From Inside and Outside: Integrating Emic and Etic Insights about Culture and Justice Judgment.  Academy of Management Review, Vol. 24. No. 1781-796.

The Linguistic Situation of South Africa :: essays research papers fc

When it comes to linguistics, South Africa is like a melting pot of languages. In total, South Africa has eleven major languages coming from both Africa and Europe. The major languages used are Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sesotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu. In order to understand how each of these languages arrived in South Africa, we must first look at the history of people living in the country. The first identified language spoken in the South Africa was Khoisan. This language was spoken by the indigenous people of South Africa, the Khoikhio, who lived mainly in the southern coastal regions of the country. Over the years this language has slowly faded away along with the native Khoikhio people. Today there are only a few native South Africans left who can still speak Khoisan living in the western sections of the country.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some time around the eighth century many Bantu tribes migrated south from central Africa into the northern territories of South Africa. Each of these Bantu tribes brought with them their own distinct Bantu language—nine of which still remain and are recognized today as official languages by the South African Government. These languages are used throughout the African population, which makes up three quarters of South Africa’s people. These languages include: Sesotho, Tsonga, Pedi, Tswana, Venda; and the Nguni group of Bantu languages: Xhosa, Ndebele, Swazi, and Zulu.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the present, Zulu is the Bantu language with the largest number of speakers. In KwaZulu and Natal there are nine million people that speak this language. Falling right behind with seven million speakers is the language of Xhosa. Xhosa can be found around Transei, Ciskei, and on the Eastern Cape. The official language of Swaziland is Swazi with two million speakers. The last Nguni language is Ndebele, which is spoken by half a million people in some northeastern parts of South Africa. Between the four separate Nguni languages there are 12 different dialects. Pedi and Sesotho are both a part of the Sotho group of Bantu Languages and they share 11 different dialects. Pedi is the strongest language in the Sotho group. Pedi has four million speakers all over the country. Three million people in Qwaqwa and Orange Free State speak Sesotho. Tsonga, which has four dialects, has four million speakers living in Mozambique and Swaziland. Tswana spoken in Botswana has aroun d three million speakers. Venda, spoken mainly in Transvaal, has over half a million speakers.

What Makes CarMax Great? Essay

                  Organizational culture forms part of the influencing factor towards the success of an organization. Within every organization, there are practices, which are considered the norm, and dictates how operations in an organization are carried out. Organization culture also depends on the type of leadership within an organization. CarMax organization culture has contributed greatly to its performance, which has seen it become famous in all of its locations to the extent of being ranked among the top companies in Fortune 500 magazine. Its culture revolves various artefacts such as language, physical structure, values, ceremonies and rituals. The success of the company is realized from benefits of organizational culture, which include increased sales, productivity, customers’ loyalty and efficient service delivery. Therefore, positive organizational culture should be promoted within organizations. Abstract                Organizational culture is as a set of attitudes, norms, beliefs and practices that are shared by employees as well as the management in any organization or company (McShane, & Von, 2014). The culture generally includes various factors such as how customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders are treated when making decisions within an organization in addition to speed, level and process of decision-making (Ovidiu-Iliuta, 2014). Moreover, the culture encompasses the level of control and formality that is applied when carrying out operations and rewards giving to good performances within an organization.                CarMax IncOrganizational culture plays an important role within organizations whereby it helps in outlining the behaviors that are appropriate for employees and other operation practices. An organization that has clearly defined it culture ensures that the members of the organization know what the company or organization expects from them and stakeholders expect from the company (McShane, & Von, 2014). Organizational culture simply helps in defining an organization and its employees and giving it identity. The sense of identity is also communicated to the customers of the company, the employees of the company, the suppliers as well as the general public that constantly interact with the company.                All stakeholders, both external and internal, know who a company or an organization is through the culture that is communicated to them by the company or organization (Ledimo, 2013). Furthermore, it is to be noted that organizational culture helps in giving employees the sense of identity and provides the overall goals and objectives of the organization. Organizational culture is what holds the company or organization together through hard times and easy times (CarMax, Inc. SWOT Analysis, 2014).                CarMax is one of the largest retailers of used cars in the United States and is one of the Fortune 500 Companies. The first location of the company was opened up in the year 1993, and since then, it has experienced increased growth (CarMax Business Services, LLC, 2014). The CarMax Company had 128 locations by January 2014, clearly an indication that the company has grown over the years. The growth in the company can greatly be attributed to the organizational culture and values among other factors, which have propelled the company to the current position. Artifacts Language                CarMax Company is a retailer based in the United States. The language that is generally used for business in the United States is the English language (Ovidiu-Iliuta, 2014). As part of the language used at CarMax, the slogan used which helps in giving identity to the company is â€Å"The way car buying should be.† The employees work as team, which is evidenced by high interpersonal relationships among them. The interpersonal relationship is also extended to customers where employees’ high communication skills are maintained across all departments. Rituals/ceremonies                   Apart from the language that is used within the company for business and interactions between the associates and even with customers and other stakeholders, ceremonies are part of the organizational culture within the company. It is the culture of CarMax that whenever employees perform well, they are reward for their efforts. The rewards do not only just come in form of presents and other rewards; instead, the company always organize for steak cookouts for the employees. The steak cookouts are conducted regularly every time there are employees to be reward for great performance within the company. This provides an opportunity for the employees to interact with one another and share their ideas for the improvement of their performance and success of the company.                   Furthermore, it is also part of the organizational culture to ensure that the associates within the company have fun in addition to the customers. The company organizes for regular pizza parties and steak outs for its employees and encourages an atmosphere that is friendly driven by the focus of the company on integrity towards the customers and the employees of the company (McShane, & Von, 2014). Employees are rewarded with benefits such as holidays, time away, and paid vacations. Furthermore, the company offers rewards such as purchase of cars and accessories at discounted prices, discounts on childcare, appliances, fitness memberships, cell phones, travel, and furniture among others that help the employees save money. Consequently, The company employees show high respects for their customers and address them calmly. This has seen the company develop loyalty and build emotional connections with its employees, which contributes to its success.                   When hiring, CarMax normally conducts telephone interviews before face-to-face interviews. It is also the culture at CarMax when recruiting to conduct panel interviews as well as behavioural interviews for new employees. To set itself apart from other companies, CarMax also offers testing to interviewees before they can be employed. This ensures only the most qualified are employed. The hiring process is quote intensive ensuring that employees with the relevant skills are employed. This has been one of the contributing factors towards the success of the company because there is no compromise on the quality of staffs employed. Physical structures                   CarMax operates in what are known as superstores whereby a typical store is about 59,000 square feet (5,500  m2), and it carries about 300 to 400 vehicles. Furthermore, CarMax has a home office that appears like a glass box that has been modernized and is slipped in a forest (ADD Inc, 2014). The office located in such a way that there is access to daylight. It also has energy-efficient systems that regulate and control the energy consumption within the structures. The home office is designed in such a way that it appears beautiful in its natural surroundings.                     The structures are constructed using a campus plan which helps in minimizing the impact of its size whereby four-storey parking has been used. The inside of the building is constructed in such a way that it has strategically located points of interaction for the associates and customers. This helps in building a culture of collaboration and collegiality within the company. The headquarters of the company is a five-story office building that is made up of 243,000 square feet for offices, in addition to 19,000-square-foot used as a fitness facility.                  The building is located in a 3,500-acre piece of land in West Creek Business Park in the county of Goochland. The building is surrounded with trees and has a pedestrian connector that simply joins the office building and a parking deck that can host 1000 cars (ADD Inc, 2014). As part of the physical structure, CarMax uses yellow, navy blue and white colour as part of its identity. The company logo is made up of the colours mentioned; giving it unique looks that distinguishes it from other companies. The staffs of the company also put on uniforms, mostly t-shirts, that bear the logo of the company and the colours of the company. This also helps in uniting the employees by giving the identity of being equal. Values                   The main fundamental principle that guides the culture at CarMax is integrity, which is normally reflected in the way the company serves the customers, deliver its products to consumers as well as how employees within the company treat each other. Shared values are considered to be the foundation on which the operations of the company are built on CarMax Business Services. Through the various values that are shared within the company, the company seeks to ensure equal treatment of its investors, customers, and associates in terms of ethical practices and trustworthiness (Great Place to Work, 2014). The employees are involved in decision-making in addition to respect of customers and being honest as major ethical practice.                The values that are shared within the company include diversity, customer focus, communication, teamwork, associate development, and improvement. It is the culture of the company to conduct its operations in a customer-focused way, which is aimed at providing customers with great experience. On the value of respect, the company promotes individual knowledge among the associates and values the contribution that they make towards the company. Teamwork is also another value that is encouraged within the company. The employees and the management of the company normally work together for the interest of the company and also for the interest of the customers of the company. Communication is highly encouraged according to a survey conducted by Greatrated.com (2014).                The survey observed that 93% of the employees agree that there is great communication within the company. Sharing of information, soliciting for feedback and exchange of ideas within the company is also another organizational culture that is highly encouraged (CarMax, Inc. SWOT Analysis, 2014). Diversity is also another value that is practiced and encouraged as part of the organizational culture at CarMax Company. The uniqueness of the associates and employees is well integrated into the company and work is done to ensure that everyone in the company feels respected and valued despite the diversity in terms of beliefs, race, and gender among other aspects of diversity (Great Place to Work, 2014).                   Diversity within the company is promoted through various ways from the associates, the customers and even the community. For the Associates of the company, CarMax ensures that it hires, promotes and trains only the qualified associates who possess diverse attributes. Furthermore, the associates are treated with lots of respect, their contributions are respected and valued by the company and are always provided with benefits that help in supporting their diversity within the workforce. In addition to that, the associates are provided with an inclusive and collaborative environment that helps in encouraging the ideas and inputs of the associates.                  Diversity is also promoted among the customers whereby it is the culture of the company to welcome all its customers in all the stores if the company (McShane, & Von, 2014). Customers are also treated with utmost respect with an aim of providing them with exceptional experience. As part of the culture within the organization, all customers of the company are offered competitive and ethical offers that meet the needs of the customers. The community is also not left out on the issue of diversity at CarMax Company.                   It is the organizational culture of the company to make positive contributions towards the communities, which it operates, and its employees live in (Na, & Morris, 2014). This is done through the promotion of leadership in the youths, promoting education and wellness in the communities. CarMax supports diverse organizations and programs within the communities through internships, grants, volunteer activities and offering of sponsorships to the needy in the communities. Another organizational culture that is practiced at CarMax is that of associate development.                   Everyone from the junior employees to the top management is provided with opportunities for professional growth and development. The development of the associates and employees is done through coaching, sponsored trainings as well as mentoring of the employees. This has helped to improve the skills and work-performance of employees over the years. This can also be considered to be a contributing factor towards the tremendous growth experienced by the company in terms of its expansion and performance over the years.                  According to the survey by Greaterated.com (2014), it is observed that about 86% of the associates and employees at CarMax agree that they are offered great opportunities that help them to develop professionally and become better people. The positive culture within CarMax is generally attributed to the leadership with which about 94% of the employees according to a survey by agree that the bosses are great to work with. It is to be noted that the values that are practiced at CarMax start from the top management within the company whereby the leadership of the company is considered to be down-to earth and focused on the associates of the company (CarMax Business Services, LLC, 2014). The type of leadership that is found within an organization is an important factor that influences the type of organizational culture that is found within an organization.                Furthermore, it is also to be noted that CarMax offers its employees what is known as flexible time-away (CarMax, Inc. SWOT Analysis, 2014). This is a policy whereby employees are allowed to have some few weeks away from work before they resume their duties (Greaterated.com, 2014). This is a culture that to some extent is not good considering that the employees are not offered time for vacations. This culture should instead be changed to that of offering vacations, which will provide the associates with enough time to relax and build their lives.                  The company’s culture has contributed to its increased that has seen it being ranked position 54 among the Fortune 500 Companies list (Fortune 500 Magazine, 2014). An average employee within the company normally gets time away whenever they are in need of time to rest. Employees work in shifts whereby there are those that take the morning shift while others take the evening shift, but on rotational basis. Shared assumptions               Consequently, organizational culture is made up of shared assumptions within an organization. Employees normally share assumptions, which translate into being part of the organizational culture. In the sae of CarMax, the employees share the assumption that they own the company. This is based on the reason that the employees are constantly involved in the decision making process within the company. The employees are made to feel comfortable by allowing them to take part on decision making especially on matters dealing with the sales of the company and how they can increase their performance. Furthermore, the other assumption that is shared about the company is that all the customers get satisfied with the products that the company offers to them at all times. Organizational Culture and Performance of the Company                  Organizational culture and behaviour has been identified as one of the contributing factors towards the success of an organization. When there is positive organizational culture in a company, there are high chances that the company will be able to succeed (Niamh Ring, 2014). In the case of CarMax, the organizational culture that is practiced has been a contributing factor towards its growth over the years in the United Sates market. The organizational culture at CarMax can be said to have positive impact on the performance of the company in terms of employee turnover and customer attraction.                  The revenues of the company have been on the increase over the years, which mean that the organizational culture of treating customers with respect, and valuing their diversity has been of great help (Janićijević, 2013). It is also to e noted that the company has been able to retain most of its employees over the years (Reuters.com, 2014). This can be attributed to the positive organizational culture of empowering employees, valuing their contributions in the company and helping them improve professionally through trainings, coaching and mentoring (Niamh Ring, Jun 20, 2014). The impact of the organizational culture that is practiced at CarMax Inc can be seen through the number of stores that the company has been able to open up over the years. As of the year 2014 January, CarMax had about 128 superstores across the United States.                  A strong organizational culture is beneficial to a company, the employees as well as the customers of the company (Bà ¼schgens, Bausch, & Balkin, 2013). When a company has a strong and positive organizational culture, the productivity of the company is likely to improve as well as the performance of the employees (Reuters.com, 2014). Employees become motivated to work for the company therefore resulting in increased productivity. An average employees works for eight hours a day for a five-day long week. This ensures that employees are not overworked and have free time for recreational. This strong and positive organizational culture has helped to provide customers with high quality products CarMax (Narrative Science, 2014). When customers are provided with high quality products, satisfaction is guaranteed, which means that the company will continue to make sales from the customers as well as expand its operations to other markets, as observed in the case of CarMax.               The organization culture practiced by CarMax has impacted positively to its economic growth. The company has maintained high number of customers across America thus commanding a significant market shares in the industry of used cars. It has also given the company competitive advantage over other companies selling second handcars. This has been evidenced by its ever-growing sales and market share over years. Hence, the company should maintain its culture and try to improve its customer service by concentrating on customer loyalty, which make sure that customers are emotionally connected with all its products. The strategy will see it dominate in the market just like Apple, Philips and Nike that are widely known for their brand loyalty. Conclusion                   Every company has its own organizational culture that is practiced by the employees and determines how a company operates. Considering that organizational culture has great impacts on the success of an organization, companies should build and encourage positive organizational cultures that benefits all the stakeholders. CarMax attributes its success to the positive organizational culture that it has been able to build and maintain over the years. Therefore, the overall conclusion from the case analysis of CarMax with regard to organizational culture is that companies need to have positive organizational cultures that generate benefits. References ADD Inc (2014), CarMax Home Office http://www.addinc.com/portfolio/project-page.aspx?projID=105&PortID=2 on 10th September 2014. Bà ¼schgens, T., Bausch, A., & Balkin, D. B. (2013). Organizational Culture and Innovation: A Meta-Analytic Review Organizational Culture and Innovation: A Meta-Analytic Review. Journal Of Product Innovation Management, 30(4), 763-781. doi:10.1111/jpim.12021 CarMax Business Services, LLC (2014) About CarMax; Our culture and values, viewed from http://www.carmax.com/enUS/company-info/culture.html on 10th September 2014. CarMax, Inc. SWOT Analysis. (2014). CarMax, Inc. SWOTS Analysis, 1-9. Great Place to Work ® (2014), What Makes CarMax Great, viewed from http://us.greatrated.com/carmax on 10th September 2014. Greaterated.com (2014), 2014 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For List, viewed from http://us.greatrated.com/2014-fortune-100-best-companies-to-work-for-list on 10th September 2014. Janićijević, N. (2013). The mutual impact of organizational culture and structure. Ekonomski Anali / Economic Annals, 58(198), 35-60. doi:10.2298/EKA1398035J Ledimo, O. (2013). Managing Organizational Culture Through an Assessment of Employees’ Current and Preferred Culture. Proceedings Of The European Conference On Management, Leadership & Governance, 161-168. McShane, S. L., & Von, G. M. A. Y. (2014). Organizational behaviour. McGraw-Hill Higher Education Na, F., & Morris, T. (2014). Organizational ambidexterity strategy and firm performance: the moderating role of organizational capital. Academy Of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings, 1138-1143. doi:10.5465/AMBPP.2014.22 Narrative Science (2014). Earnings expected to increase for CarMax, viewed from http://www.forbes.com/sites/narrativescience/2014/04/02/earnings-expected-to-increase-for-carmax/ on 10th September 2014. Niamh Ring (Jun 20, 2014), CarMax Soars as Earnings, Revenues Top Analyst Estimates, viewed from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-20/carmax-soars-as-earnings-revenues-top-analyst-estimates.html on 10th September 2014. Ovidiu-Iliuta, D. (2014). The link between organizational culture and performance management practices: a case of it companies from romania. Annals Of The University Of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 23(1), 1156-1163. Reuters.com (2014) Carmax Inc (KMX), viewed from http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=KMX on 10th September 2014. Source document

Business Project Essays - Economy, Business, Strategic Management

Business Project Essays - Economy, Business, Strategic Management Business Project Writing a Business Plan Task You are the managing director of a start up company. The company has been in existence for 18 months and you now feel that you have a reasonable customer base. Until now you have been working from home and have only had one other person to help you with orders. Now you feel it is time to expand and you can only do that by obtaining finance. You have some people in mind to take on managerial roles but you know that to raise enough finance to employ them you will need to persuade a bank that you are a worthwhile risk. You feel sure that with a well written business plan this can be achieved. You can decide what the company does, who the management team is and what products/services it makes/provides. Sections you will need to include: 1. Management Team Plan a) Who is your management team (You can make this up, minimum of 5 including yourself) b) What positions do they hold c) What skills do they possess. d) What personality traits might they have. (8 marks) 2. Company Description a) Define your business concept b) Establish clear, measurable goals c) Define your target market d) Reasons for starting the business e) Describe the Entrepreneurial Opportunity (10 marks) 3. Product and Service Plan a) Identify the key products and services you will provide b) What are the key features and benefits your products/services will provide to customers c) Unique Selling Proposition- What is it, what is the value proposition that customer groups have. d) Describe Competitors Products e) Describe your products/services (8 marks) 4. Vision and Mission Statement a) What is the organizational culture of your business? b) What is your vision statement? c) What is your mission statement? (10 marks) 5. Organizational Plan a) What is your businesses organizational ethics? b) Provide an organizational chart for your company. c) Write job descriptions and job specifications for your management team. d) What legal structure will your business take? e) What legal requirements might there be for your business? (10 marks) 6. Marketing Plan Consider your USP. From this briefly describe your: a) Place Strategy b) Promotion Strategy c) Price Strategy d) Product Strategy (8 marks) 7. Growth Plan a) Describe your Growth Strategies b) Describe the effects of your Growth Plan on your Mission Statement c) Describe the effects of Growth on Operational and Strategic Plans (10 marks) 8. SWOT Analysis Prepare a SWOT analysis that identifies your company's strengths and weaknesses. It must also identify opportunities from your company's strengths or elsewhere and also threats to your company's success and survival. (10 marks) 9. Executive Summary Write a summary of your business plan that briefly explains the business concept, why it will be successful, and what it will take to accomplish your goals. Briefly explain the financing required and what investors will receive in return for supporting your business. (6 marks) (Total Marks 80) NB: This project is worth 20% of your term grade. Some class time will be allocated to working on this but the majority will be done as homework. A rubric will be created but the bands will be paired eg if a category is out of 8, then it will be 7-8, 5-6, 3-4, 1-2 with descriptors ranging from excellent standard to no standard displayed. Some sections of the project cover topics we have not as yet covered. I will be lenient to a certain extent when marking those sections but would advise students to research them well as we will be covering them in depth over the coming months. This is also a good opportunity for you all to improve your research and analysis skills, plus writing and presentation, so treat this as a very serious practice run. I look forward to receiving your project.

Summary of Jean-Paul Sartres Contributions to Philosophy Essays

Summary of Jean-Paul Sartre's Contributions to Philosophy Essays Summary of Jean-Paul Sartre's Contributions to Philosophy Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980) was a philosopher among other vocations (including novelist, playwright, and literary critic) and was also at the forefront of 20th century French philosophy and Marxism but is mainly considered an existentialist and is a key figure in that area of philosophy. At the outset Sartre?s philosophy was influenced by Edmund Husserl, the phenomenological movement and the idea that consciousness is about objects rather than creating within it an inner representation of the object, but he expands on these ideas and gives his own spin as his body of works grows. In 1938 Sartre published one of his earliest and most well-known works is La Naus?e (Nausea) which depicts a frustrated historian (Antoine Roquentin) who feels nausea as a result of his struggle to define himself despite the distractions of inanimate objects and situations which he believes detract from that goal, end he even fears whether his existence is a figment of the imagination. This novel is often considered a manifesto of existentialism and is sometimes seen as one of the canonical works of the movement. It brings up questions of existence, objects in relation to consciousness, freedom, and the meaning of life. Shortly after publishing this work Sartre also wrote an essay called The Transcendence of the Ego in which he expanded on the idea that objects exist independently from our consciousness of them and added the idea that a person?s ego is itself an object of consciousness to be discovered. His main existentialist work however is called Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology and was published in 1943. Its writing was spurred but Sartre?s reflections as a result of reading Martin Heidegger?s Being and Time, an ontological work from a phenomenologist perspective, which prompted Sartre?s subtitle for his work. He analyzes and criticizes the works of other philosophers and uses these to summarize his theory of being, consciousness and phenomena. One of Sartre?s most original contributions to metaphysics is found in this work and is his concept of ?nothingness? and the idea that it is essential to being. He also talks about ?being? in two sense using Hegel?s terminology (pour-soi/for-itself, and en-soi/in-itself) and talks about the in-itself existing independently and transcending the for-itself.

Critically examine the differences between two theories of leadership Essay

Critically examine the differences between two theories of leadership and examine the effect that strategic leadership can have on the succe - Essay Example e main goals and objectives for the followers while in other cases the people may agree on their objectives and the leader will assume the responsibility of guiding them to reach to the goals (Paul, 2005). One way of trying to understand leadership is by using theories. Leadership theories are assumptions about characteristics or styles of a leader. The theories are used to distinguish among different kinds of leaders and their styles as well as their motivations. The focus of the theories is to determine specific skills and qualities that differentiate one leader from his or her followers and other leaders. There are various theories in the study of leadership with each theory using a different approach to explain the concept of leadership (Paul, 2005). Among the most common theories of leadership include contingency theory, great man theory, behavioral theory and trail theory. The most notable question that these theories aim at responding to is as to whether leaders are born or whether they can acquire leadership. This fundamental question has been the main puzzle that leadership analysts have grappled with over the years. A common understanding in leadership and management is that there is no precise answer to the question because every leader is different from the other, and while it is true that some individuals are born to lead, there are others who acquire leadership. This essay will explore two main theories of leadership and critically analyze them with a view of exposing their differences in their approach to leadership as a consequence. The main theories that this essay will endeavor to study are the trait theory and the behavioral theory of leadership. The paper will also explain the concept of strategic leadership. The paper will conclude by examining the effect of strategic leadership in either success or failure of businesses. This theory is based on the notion that leaders are born with innate abilities and qualities that enable them to guide

My Preferred Learning Style Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

My Preferred Learning Style - Personal Statement Example Learning styles are more concerned with one’s preferred learning style rather than what learners learn. A student shows consistency in learning style by reacting to and employing stimuli in relation to learning. Keefe (1979) defines learning styles as the â€Å"composite of characteristic cognitive, affective, and physiological factors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how a learner perceives interacts with, and responds to the learning environment† (as cited in NW Link, 2011). Stewart and Felicetti (1992) define learning styles as those â€Å"educational conditions under which a student is most likely to learn,† thus, stressing on the role of preferred learning styles (as cited in NW Link, 2011). According to the principles of the Dunn and Dunn learning styles system, students always prefer to learn in their learning style and perform better. From the teaching point of view, if teachers follow students’ processing styles out of the global-analytical continuum or any of their preferred styles from kinesthetic, tactile, auditory, and visual, the learning process can be made faster among students (Dybvig and Church, 2010). Generally, it is noticed that students cannot learn faster because they are not taught in their preferred and distinct learning style. Ideally, students need to inculcate the various leaning methods so that learning does not become an arduous task for them by depending solely on their preferred learning style only, although they may excel in talent and intelligence possessing above average sharpness in comprehending the learning process (Dybvig and Church, 2010). Students need to strengthen various learning ways where they are not competent enough.