He Written Articles Essay

Loud speech. Bravado, boasting. Overly animated or entertaining. Boisterous. Overly friendly to other guests and employees. Drinking alone. Drinking too fast. Ordering doubles. Careless with money. Urging other people to have another drink. Annoying other guests and servers. Complaining about drink prices. Complaining about drink strength or preparation. Argumentative. Aggressive or belligerent. Obnoxious or mean. Making inappropriate comments about others. Crude behavior. Inappropriate sexual advances. Foul language. Making irrational statements. Depressed or sullen. Crying or moody. Radical changes in behavior. Speaking loudly, then quietly. Drowsy. Bloodshot, glassy eyes. Slurred speech. Difficulty remembering. Slow response to questions. Spilling drinks. Rambling conversation, loss of train of thought. Trouble making change. Difficulty handling money, picking up change. Lack of focus and eye contact. Difficulty lighting a cigarette. Lighting more than one cigarette at a time. Letting a cigarette burn without smoking. Clumsy, uncoordinated. Difficulty standing up. Unusual gait. Stumbling. Bumping into things. Swaying, staggering. Unable to sit straight in chair or on bar stool. Can’t find mouth with glass. Falling down. Mussed hair. Disheveled clothing. Falling asleep. Remember, just because a person exhibits one, or even several, of these signs it does not necessarily mean that the person is intoxicated. A sober person may exhibit some of these signs as well– which makes determining intoxication even more difficult. However, if a person who is drinking alcohol shows a combination of several of these signs and/or exhibits significant change(s) in behavior, the likelihood of that person being intoxicated is increased. Ultimately, you must use your own judgment to decide whether or not a person is intoxicated. These signs are intended to help you make an informed judgment, and then articulate your decision.

Globalizing the Cost of Capital and Capital Budgeting at AES Essay

Question 1 Explain and comment on the capital budgeting method used historically by AES. Is there a need for change? Explain. Question 2 If Venerus implements the suggested methodology, what will be the adjusted discount rate for the Red Oak project (USA) and the Lal Plr project (Pakistan)? Question 3 Calculate the effect that a revision of its cost of capital will have on the Lal Plr project’s NPV. Comment on the results. Q.1 At the AES corporation capital budgeting was historically a very simple method, that was used for all projects being examined, regardless of geographical location. This method entailed 4 rules which were: all recourse debt was deemed good, the economics of a given project were evaluated at an equity discount rate for the dividends from the project, all dividend flows were considered equally risky, and a 12% discount rate was used for all projects. This method worked flawlessly when implemented in the U.S., but when it began being applied to international projects, it was giving the company unrealistic NPV values. While some concern existed, having no alternative, they continued to use the original method. By failing to take into account increased WACC, currency risk, political risk, and sovereign risk, the company had developed projects that began failing in the early 2000’s. The mistake by the company destroyed its stock price and market capitalization, losing millions of stockholders equity in the process. The debt structure caused significant currency risk for both the parent AES and its subsidiaries. As shown in exhibit 6, debt was denominated in USD for the subsidiaries, while they were bringing in revenues in foreign currencies. The parent companies also lost cash flows when depreciation occurred since the money made by subsidiaries was worth substantially less, after devaluations of foreign currencies. One such example is the Argentinean peso, when it lost 40% of its value on its first day of trading as a float. With such enormous oversights by management, and dramatic realizations of differing risk levels across markets, it’s quite apparent AES must make a change to its capital budgeting structure, if it is to survive. Q.2 If Venerus and AES implement the suggested methodology, the projects would change drastically due to a change in WACC. To find WACC we must first calculate the leveraged betas for each the US Red Oak and Lal Plr Pakistan projects, the equation unleveled beta/1-(debt to capital) will be used. The unleveled beta can be found in exhibit 7b, and is .25 for both projects. The debt to capital ratios can be found in exhibit 7a, for the U.S. it is 39.5%, and for Pakistan it is 35.1%. By plugging the numbers into the equation a leveraged beta can be found for the U.S. it is .41, and for Pakistan it is .3852. The next step would be to find the cost of capital which is ultimately different for each country, but uses the U.S. risk free and risk premium rates, because all debt is financed in USD. The cost of capital is equal to U.S. T-bill+ leveraged beta (U.S. risk premium). For the U.S. project it is 4.5%+.41(7%) which is equal to 7.37%. For the Pakistan project it is 4.5%+.3852(7%) which is equal to 7.2%. Now the cost of debt must be found, by using the formula U.S. t-bill+ default spread. Both the U.S. and Pakistan projects have equal spreads of 3.47%, therefore both yield the same cost of debt. Plugging in the numbers you have, 4.5%+3.47% which is equal to 8.07%. This clearly does not make sense given the vast differences in the markets structure of each country, the political risk involved. To adjust for these factors the sovereign risk must be taken into account, which can be found in exhibit 7a. The sovereign risk for the U.S. is as expected 0%, but for Pakistan is a staggering 9.9%. To reevaluate the cost of capital and cost of debt the sovereign risk is added to them. This results in the U.S.’s being constant and Pakistan’s cost of capital rising to 17.1% and its cost of debt rising to 17.97%. Finally with everything else calculated it’s possible to calculate the WACC, using the formula given on page 7. It consists of leveraged beta (cost of capital) + Debt to capital (cost of debt) (1-tax rate). For the U.S. WACC= 6.48%, and for Pakistan WACC= 15.93%. (Equation with numbers shown on attached page) The final step is to again further adjust the WACC according to its risk score, found on page 9 and exhibit 7a. Using the summation of the scores multiplied by the given weights the risk score is calculated. (Shown on page 9 of the case). The U.S. risk score is assumed to be 0, since everything is in USD and the U.S. projects WACC is already accounting for the risk. The Pakistan risk premium is calculated to be 1.425, and with each point equaling 500 basis points, 1.425*500= 705bp= 7.05%. This number is directly tacked onto the existing Pakistan WACC to come out with 15.96%+7.05%= 23%, which is the final WACC calculation for the project. By taking into many more factors than previous models allowed it is clear that the WACC for both the U.S. and Pakistan projects greatly differ from the 12% standard used historically. The U.S. project suddenly looks much more favorable, while the Pakistan project is unlikely to be accepted with such a high weighted average cost of capital attached to it. Q.3 Using the cash flows given in exhibit 12 it is possible to calculate the NPV for the projects, and change the cost of capital in the Pakistan project to explore the effects. Using excel to calculate the cash flows (shown on separate sheet) at the original 12% discount rate, the 23.1% for Pakistan, and 6.45% for the U.S. it is easy to compare the differences in NPV. The original 12% discount would yield a NPV of $505.51 million, the Pakistan 23.1% discount rate would yield a $290.83 million NPV, and the 6.45% U.S. discount rate would yield a $744.08 million NPV. It is quite apparent that the Pakistan project’s NPV suffers greatly from its high WACC, coming in $214 million less than with historical model, and $453 million less than with the U.S. discount rate. With such low NPV coming from the Lal Plr project its value could be reached by the U.S. project within about 6 years. This is like saying that due to such risky factors, including political risk, it is unreasonable to assume that the project would operate longer than 6 years in Pakistan before it’s unable to continue, unable to receive any further cash flows, and unable to reclaim assets. Due to such high discounting, and implied risk, it is probably not in the company’s best interest to pursue projects in Pakistan, and to look for projects with less risk and lower WACC’s.

Book Review †English as an International Language Essay

The blurb of this contribution to the scientific research of English states that this language does not only matter in the context of linguistics but also in other subcategories of science like â€Å"sociocultural, political and pedagogical† fields. The reason is seen in the matter of English being a lingua franca that is used in all areas of these studies and therefore the book’s goal is to take a closer look into the complexity of the international usage of English. The book is kept in a light tone of brown on the outside. On the cover there is a picture of a globe published in Digital Shock in 1997, obviously underlining the focus on inter-nationality. Title and Editor are kept in white. The book spine gives a short introduction about the focus and provides the reader with some quotes of well-known scholars like Janina Brutt-Griffler and Ryuko Kubota. At the beginning of the book, the lists of acknowledgments, contributors and abbreviations are located, followed by an overview by the editor Farzard Sharifian. The work is split into four parts namely: 1. Native/ Non native Divide: Politics, Policies and Practices; 2. EIL, Attitudes and Identity(ies); 3. EIL, Teacher Education and Language Testing: Gaps and Challenges; 4. The Scope of EIL: Widening, Tightening and Emerging Themes. All of the parts contain 3 essays, except the fourth chapter that provides five different endings. In order to give a brought overview, I will summarize each essay in short and name the convincing and the missing points. The introduction states that the focus of this book is â€Å"on communication rather than on the speakers’ nationality† (p. 5). The reason for this focus lies within the critique that English language teachers express while looking at the results of such a research. This reveals a unilateral measure, excluding the scientific field of English language teaching and underlining the focus on more political issues. However, it already gives a certain sense to the difference between English as an international language (EIL) and English as it is taught in school. This overview deepens on the following pages dealing with the difference of â€Å"politics, policies and practices† (p. 6) and the more precise definition of EIL. By looking closer on attitudes and identities, the author takes position in recent debates and controversies e. g. based on the â€Å"NS-NNS accent†. Even though he declares an assumption stating that â€Å"English native speakers have no difficulty understanding each other† (p. 8) to be wrong, he at the same time provides the readers with the pro and contra arguments in such a debate. Due to the fact of his entry being more or less an introduction, Sharifian succeeds in not going to far into detail but giving hints of what will be dealt with in the following. The starting chapter is mainly concerned with the politics influencing English as an international language. The first essay is contributed by Adrian Holliday, professor for linguistics at the Canterbury Christ Church University in the UK. He argues that English as a lingua franca cannot be dealt with on sociolinguistic grounds alone but must be seen as phenomenon of changing ownership. With this statement he does not question the lingua franca movement but rather points out possible problems resolving from this point of view (p. 21). After providing the reader with background knowledge of the movement establishes a distinction of native and non-native speakers based on the question whether or not this is a distinction to be made on linguistic or political foundation. In the end he comes to the conclusion that due to their distance to the language, non-native speakers are more critical about English as a lingua franca. With the combination of political and linguistic approaches, Holliday provides the reader with a real sense connection of the two fields and therefore this entry is an appropriate contribution to the subject of the book. The next essay is written by Sadia Ali, anthropological linguist from Zayet University. Her focus lies within the field of EIL in the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) (p. 34). In order to do so she reflects upon the experience of English teachers within this council. This is a major contrast o the focus that Sharifian declared in the beginning of the work. However, by finding out that the employed people in this field are usually native speakers, Ali continues by analyzing their experiences within the alien culture (pp. 40-42). Through the research on the students perceptions, she also enlightens the flip side of the issue and comes to the conclusion that even though the qualification of a teacher does not depend on his/her being a native speaker, hiring processes are still unfair and not adjusted to the actual needs. Additionally, she proposes to give up older convictions of regarding correct English as an attribute of native speaker (pp. 51-52). Marko Modiano from the University of Stockholm takes the same line with the slight adjustment of rather concentrating on European language teaching which in his opinion failed. By providing the reader with tables that reveal the multilingualism in Europe and its state, he claims that the policy of staying with this system causes the failure of English language teaching (pp. 70-76). Even though the arguments seem convincing, Modiano totally neglects the opposite view of English being just used in order to simplify international economical or cultural processes. The second part of the book deals with the characteristics of EIL in particular. The first contribution by David Li, Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong, aims to research the views of non- native speakers towards intelligibility and identity. In short the discussion whether native speaker based pedagogical models are useful or if pluricentricity should be the norm. Based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative data using a semi-structured questionnaire he comes to the conclusion that teachers should raise the awareness of their students for other varieties of English rather than sticking to a native-speaker based model in order to â€Å"encourage the learners’ confidences in their own English varieties† (p. 110). The sixth chapter is published by Enric Llurda is a Professor Applied Linguistics at the University of Lleida, Spain. His scrutiny is located within the fields of native models among second language users and teachers and their pervasiveness. He establishes a connection between non-native English speakers and the phenomenon of the Stockholm Syndrom (p. 119). He claims that non-native speaking English teachers are accepting proposals and formulation â€Å"that relegate to mere spectators and at times executioners of native speaker norms† (p. 119). After establishing a connection between these teacher and EIL, he further describes the attitudes between the two and comes to the conclusion that there is a â€Å"need to overcome non-native English speaking teachers and their subordination to native speakers models† (p. 28). Additionally, he provides possible solutions e. g. to gibe teachers more opportunities to develop their language skills. (pp. 130-131). EIL migrant teacher identities is the field of investigation of Bojana Petric, a lecturer at the Department of Language and Linguistics at the University of Essex. Taking into consideration the mobility of English language educators, she wants to give an overv iew into the role of a migrant teacher within his/hers classroom. Her results are based on interviews with four English teachers in Hungary. These interviews brought her to the conclusion that various factors have an influence on the teachers’ constructions of identities. However by admitting that e. g. gender, race or class have also impact to a certain extend she reveals that the research on this field is just one out of many to tackle the issue of migrant teachers (pp. 148-149). The third part of the entire book already gives an impression of more future oriented essays, aiming to improve backward conditions. The first essay subscribe to that and is written by Vaidehi Ramanathan, a Professor for Socio/Applied linguistics at the university of California, and Brian Morgan from the the York University in Toronto. From a more critical point of view the two argue that globalization makes the problem of classes and their inequality more complex than before and has therefore also an influence on teaching English to speakers of other Languages (TESOL). The interesting thing about this article is the structure of it. Both authors engage in some kind of dialogue and thus the arguments add up and reflect upon each other. Be that as it may they come to the conclusion that that globalization results in significant challenges for â€Å"new scholars and practitioners in TESOL† (p. 166-167) which at the same time help lead to new possibilites in ways of approach. While all preceding chapters deal with whole parts of the globe e. g. the Eastern bloc, chapter 9 focuses on preparation programs in Japan for English teachers. Aya Matsuda, Assistant Professor at Arizona State University, takes a stand in the debate about the Japanese action plan â€Å"to ‘cultivate Japanese with English abilities. (p. 169) and in how far World English and EIL are incorporated into such a program. In order to do so, she used a questionnaire for Universities having an accredited teacher preparation program to collect the information needed. After the evaluation she draws to a close that the current preparation programs are â€Å"attempting to increase their students’ awareness of the sociolinguistic complexi ty† (p. 87). However, it will take more time to further improve these programs and to make them a good instrument to change the teaching methods and hence our society. The test that almost every student of English has encountered during his studies is the TOEFL. For this reason, Sarah Zafar Khan, director of the Effat English Academy at Effat College in Saudi Arabia, puts tests like this in comparison to the notion of English as an international language. She basically questions the dominance of standard American variety of English and the parts of the TOEFL test. In short is there a hegemony or not. To provide a practical example she integrates a case study from Saudi Arabia (pp. 195-197). Through her research, she sums up that students are able to use English for communicative reasons, still, they are not explicitly acquainted to the standardized American English occurring in the TOEFL. Thus she demands a change in the system of English testing for non-native speakers (p. 204). In the fourth part of the book, Paul Roberts and Suresh Canagarajah (the first is a publisher of ELT books and worked as an English teacher in 8 countries, the other Professor for Language Learning at Pennsylvania State University) open up with a glance spoken English in an international encounter. In order to do so, they concentrate on a conversation between five non-native speaking persons, all of them with a different nationality. Through this procedure they find out that â€Å"ELF 2 speakers have the capacity to negotiate English when the context demands it. † (p. 224). Due to the fact that capacities like this have been left out of linguistic literature so far, the assumption may come up that this is just possible because of the special circumstances both authors created. Be that as it may, it reveals that the strategies of communication are based on the circumstances and not on capability of the speakers themselves. The twelfth chapter is written by Sandra Lee McKay, Professor for English at the University of San Francisco. She concentrates on the pragmatics and EIL pedagogy. The author desires more attention to the teaching of pragmatics in English as an EIL. Mainly paying attention to L2/L2 interactions, the foundation for her argument is built upon the hybridity of modern interactions in English (pp. 127-128). The outcome of her research is that non-native speakers of English are more likely to use constructions or words of their L1 systems. In cases such as this, she proposes the working out of a specific communicative strategy to clarify certain concepts of English (p. 251). The final chapter fourteenth chapter with scholarships and the role of English connected to it. Andy Kirkpatrick, Head of the English Department at the Hong Kong Institute for Education, considers â€Å"the implications of the rise of English as the international language of scholarship for the dissemination of indigenous knowledge. †(p. 255). The main source of his investigation is Chinese medicine and its international transition. With this he proves that a cultural property such as traditional medical procedures, are widely spread across the globe through the help of English language. Still he thinks that this is not a thread to the Chinese tradition because the medical procedures still vary even if they claim to be Chinese. In brief the change in Chinese medicine would have sooner or later anyway (pp. 266-268). The final chapter is contributed by Eric Anchimbe, assistant Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Bayreuth. He analyzes the differences of local and international standards. Therfore he concentrates on Indigenized Varieties of English that have spread in the recent decades and are also referred to as New Englishes. In the following he underlines the differences e. g. to non-native Englishes (pp275-277). Anchimbe proves that the variation of English is not only based on misconception but â€Å"asymmetrical power relations as well as social constructs sustained through colonially-inherited discourses† (p. 84). Also, to him it is inevitable that the language of English changes like everything in the progress of globalization. All in all the contributions to the book are more than satisfactory concerning the actual goal announced by Sharifian in the introduction. However, it is sometimes hard for the reader to draw the connection between goal and entry of the book. The single texts are easy to approach and combine statistical research with comprehensible conclusions. Another point that is well done, is the fact that all texts are written from different authors from different parts of the world. This is of course necessary for a book that researches international facts in English, still the range of countries taken into consideration is remarkable. One point that does not succeed is the division into different chapters and parts. First of all it really confusing regarding the fact that there are so many texts. Also the division does not make sense because many texts have similar approaches and goals and are still not part of the same chapter. In comparison to other linguisitic books of research the topic is rather detailed. Therefore some entries appear to repeat many facts from each other. Still, by taking a closer look to the chapters, it becomes clear that every author uses the points for different ways of arguing in favor or against his topic. I think this book would make a great contribution to every language class. It shows that English is not only substantial in English speaking countries, but all over the world due to economy and culture and the influences of globalization.

Pick a chemical industry or book chapter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Pick a chemical industry or book chapter - Essay Example Modern technology, as we know it today, greatly depends on silicon-based products. The majority of building stone, clays and silica are the silicon products and vastly used in the construction industry. Glass, polymers, silicon-metals and ceramics and semiconductors made from silicon are low cost allow for high quality packaging (Wilamowski & Irwin 145). The final commodities of silicon are absolutely necessary in the modern world because of our immense dependence on this element. If silicon based commodities are short the world economy might collapse. Technology and construction industry cannot survive without silicon-based products. Structural compounds such as silicate minerals or silica, also known as crude silicon dioxide, form the backbone of the construction industry. Portland cement is a crucial and commodity of silicon. It is usually combined with gravel and sand to make concrete. Silicon is also used to make a ceramic called firebrick. Natural aluminium phyllosilicates form s an essential component of the whiteware ceramics. Similarly porcelain is often used in art projects and for domestic purposes. Silica-based soda lime glass or the common glass that is used in homes is also a silicon product. And finally fiberglass, glass fibers and optical fibers (including glassful) are the end products of silicon element that form the backbone in ceramics industry. The majority of industry produced silicon is kept in ferrosilicon alloy form. About 15% of the worlds production of metallurgical grade silicon is used in semiconductors. The element used for this purpose is highly refined and only forms a fraction of the total production. Silicon’s crystalline nature gives it significant electrical and mechanical advantages (Maluf & Williams 13). The monocrystalline silicon form is used in integrated circuits and in terms of leverage (comparing the quantity produced against its usage) the highly refined form is extremely valuable in the electronics

LITERARY TERMS, CONVENTIONS, & GENRES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

LITERARY TERMS, CONVENTIONS, & GENRES - Essay Example the pens and brushes of the artists present, preserve and draw out the socio-cultural values of their environment in an excellent and elegant mode, which are sure to turn into the intellectual heritage of their society for the future centuries to come. Since it is social and cultural features that provide the raw material to creativity on which the foundations of literature are eloquently erected, so the realities of life give birth to the formation and growth of various forms and genres of literature. In view of the fact that realities are both bitter and sweet ones, the true writers do never hesitate in depicting divergent aspects of society while creating their works. The same can be observed by examining the novels under study including â€Å"Gulliver’s Travels† by Jonathan Swift and â€Å"Mrs. Dalloway† by Virginia Woolf. Produced and published during the first half of eighteenth century, Gulliver’s Travels is undoubtedly a wonderful piece of literature created in a superb way by renowned writer and satirist Jonathan Swift. The author has ironically criticized the social injustices and inequalities adopted and observed by the kings, queens, nobility, clergy and courtiers during the Swift’s times by throwing light on the hypocrisy and double standards observed by the elite stratum of society. The novel is based upon the travels the protagonist character i.e. Gulliver made after the wrecking of his ship during his voyage. After the wrecking of the ship Gulliver, a doctor by profession, reaches several strange lands and comes across diverse types of creatures, which are not only absolutely different from the normal humans in size and activities, but are also observe quite eccentric and awkward behavior while interacting with one another. Hence, the novel is full of thrill, action, suspense and amusement, which reveals the outstanding talent and observation of the author on the one hand, and his command over drawing out characters and creating amusements

Is it Fair for Universities to Consider Race or Ethnicity as a Factor Essay - 1

Is it Fair for Universities to Consider Race or Ethnicity as a Factor in Admission - Essay Example The utilitarianism point of view and John Rawls’ perspective has been touched upon here to give an incisive look at the topic at hand. Race and ethnicity debates bring bias and prejudice to the fore within college and universities, thus committing to an unfair agenda and a feeling of being left out from gaining admission on the part of the students. One would seem to agree with the premise that race and ethnicity talks bring more negativity within the equation and are bound to pose a serious problem than anything else. This is because race and ethnicity marginally divide the people, which is an area of concern as it does not treat people on the same footing as they should be in day to day lives. It makes them feel inferior, which is not the task of a college or a university before it grants admission to the ones who are applying within its realms. Merit must always remain supreme and there cannot be any divided opinions under such a dictum. It is true that race and ethnicity bring about a general bias within the discussions of the students, and hence it would be better to understand that such colleges and universities would not be able to impart the kind of education that is remarked as a hallmark of them. One would agree that this is unfair because one cannot disallow students from gaining education based on their race and ethnicity tangents. This is a heinous act which needs to be condemned as much as possible. It will make students feel bad with regards to their race and ethnic settings and ask them to protest against the college and university realms. From the utilitarianism theory, it can be deduced that properly providing each and every student the right to secure admission is a normative activity and thus should be exercised in essence. It will maximize happiness and reduce the racial and ethnic divide which has been getting the importance unnecessarily over the years.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Snows of Kilimanjaro - Research Paper Example "The Snows of Kilimanjaro† reveal that pursuing a life filled with materialism leads to regret, depression, obsession, and ultimately, death. It was also Hemingway who said that all fiction is autobiographical, in the sense that it is difficult for a writer to totally invent the materials for a story; it has to come from somewhere such as things that have actually happened, and the writer subconsciously utilizes the materials in his life experiences. Many of Hemingway's stories have a strong biographical background in them, because he had actually experienced all this in his frequent travels and adventures like big-game hunting, deep-sea fishing, and bullfighting. His prior training as a newspaper reporter and journalist also honed his writing style. It is not surprising this darker side of life may have influenced him to take his own life. But his suicide does not in any way detract from his iconic accomplishment as one of the most brilliant American writers. Discussion Mount Kilimanjaro is a mountain peak found in the African country of Tanzania. It is actually a dormant volcanic mountain that has three cones, namely Shira, Kibo, and Mawenzi. Tanzania is located on the eastern part of Africa, bordered by the countries of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Zambia, and Mozambique. The capital city of Dar es Salaam that faces the Indian Ocean to the east is the main commercial and political hub of this country. Its name was derived from the union of its two big states, Tanganyika and Zanzibar. But since 1996, the government moved its seat to the city of Dodoma, although Dar es Salaam is still its chief gateway to sea trade and also of its landlocked neighbors to the north, west, and south. A key attraction of Mt. Kilimanjaro is its being the highest mountain in the African continent. It rises to a height of 19,340 feet and offers scenic views for miles around, as the roof of Africa. Kilimanjaro has a temperate climate comprising five zones, and has uni que fauna and flora in huge rain forests, in addition to fantastic volcanic lava formations, and also glaciers. To climb to the top and sleep on the volcano's crater floor is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The sheer majesty of Mt. Kilimanjaro attracts tourists from all over the world, paying substantial fees for a unique climb on this unique mountain. Its lofty heights invite all sorts of feelings, emotions, thoughts, and even contemplation on the meaning of life itself. This is the same mountain that Hemingway had immortalized in the title of his novel, having climbed it himself at a time when Africa was still largely unexplored during the period of empire and in the heyday of colonialism. The white settlers, adventurers, explorers, and administrators were looked up to by the black natives. Western academics studied the local cultures of the various tribes before these will disappear forever, tainted and influenced by the fast influx of Western civilization and gradually mo lded into the Western way of life and by propagation of religion. It was

Womens Equality Diminishes Men Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Womens Equality Diminishes Men - Assignment Example Women rising to positions of power and taking up some roles may not be appealing to all men. Men might feel that women’s push for equality is a threat to their legitimate rights. Several feminist writers would have different perspectives on this issue. Betty Friedan, a feminist, female, writer, would hold a different view. She believed that women could find fulfillment from other roles outside their traditional roles and homes. Women’s equality does not diminish men in any way. Women can also serve the country through assuming political and economic roles. Women can help achieve a better economic progress for everyone and a prosperous future for everyone. Men should learn to appreciate this and women should also take a step to identify their potentials and use those potentials to grow themselves and their nations. Sharing of power amongst men and women has proved impressive results. Incorporating women in decision making helps improve the decisions made by leaders for nations as the decisions made cater for all citizens. This has helped improved nations in all aspects. Key to success in pushing for women’s equality has been the various organizations formed to fight for women’s rights. Apart from assuming leadership, it is necessary that women also make sure they earn what is equal to the task they have performed. Men might not be willing to embrace women equality because it reduces their dominance of women. Women taking up jobs have reduced their dependency on men. They can now provide for themselves. This has led to the increased number of women living single and the increased number of divorce cases. Men also face competition in their working places from women. This may seem demeaning to some of them; therefore, most of them oppose women equality. Family roles have been changing. Men no longer dictate their wives’ choices and sometimes men have been forced to follow decisions made by their wives. Â  

PDLD 380 Workplace Learning Paper Assignment 2 - 2000 words materials Essay

PDLD 380 Workplace Learning Paper Assignment 2 - 2000 words materials provided - Essay Example m my own perspectives as a Training Coordinator, comparing them with the workplace learning particularly described in the several readings prescribed for this assignment. Most of the workplace learning I will be describing will be a depiction of the new recruits learning experience although I have already emphasise that my work as a Training Coordinator does not preclude my learning and acquiring new skills as recruits’ input of the training process is an integral part of the four-week training. The workplace learning described in the readings of Jennifer Bowerman and Gordon Collins in The Coaching Network: A Program for Individual and Organizational Development, Daryl Dymock in Blind Date: A Case Study of Mentoring as Workplace Learning, and Merriam and Caffarella in Transformational Learning will be tackled one by one applying and comparing each one as they become relevant to the discussion of the actual workplace learning taking place at the Travelex Foreign Exchange traini ng room. In the last assignment, I gave brief descriptions of the physical and social environments of my job as well as enumerated the different aspects of my job as a Training Coordinator for Travelex Foreign Exchange. As therein stated my job consists of three functions: as inductor of new recruits into the company; as workplace trainer of these recruits to make them ready for their new jobs, and; as material and resources planner for the workplace training. The training of the new recruits itself takes place in a classroom-type of environment where there are tables and chairs for them to work and sit on and a white board in front of them during the duration of the four-week training until which they are deemed sufficiently prepared and oriented for their jobs. At the end of the four-week period, a new set of recruits stay on the sideline ready to be trained for the next four-weeks in the same induction, orientation and training processes. In addition, every training I conduct gives me an

Disuss being and non-being in lao-zi's concept (老子) Essay

Disuss being and non-being in lao-zi's concept (è€ Ã¥ ­ ) - Essay Example Since nobody knew the name, they called it Tao – the mystery of mysteries. According to the Western culture there is a division between subject and object and prevents the subject from realizing the inner self. Material desires keep mounting and this affects efficiency leading to social problems. LaoZi’s idea of non-being can lessen such desires and enable people to develop with equilibrium. According to this philosophy, ‘being’ is not normal whereas ‘non-being’ is normal. ‘Being’ is not constant; there is continuous movement. ‘Non-being; is actually the denial of ‘being’. ‘Being’ is not limited to concrete material forms but includes abstract ideas and theories. The cosmic process consists of first by giving birth to all things by Dao and then the process of returning all things to Dao. Nonbeing (wu) and being (you) can be seen as the two ontological moments through which the dao manifests itself. From the state of nothingness, from the state of non-being, some forms are realized in the form of being. Hence to become being is to take the form of body. The realm of being comes rarely but the realm of non-being is much richer (Shen, n.d.). Human beings have great potential. Laozi says they should cherish what they have but always remain open to the unfathomable possibilities because the origin is the non-being. In the realm of being, all beings are constituted of opposites, you and wu being one such pair of opposites. You and wu can be analyzed on three different levels of meaning. In the first level, ontologically, you means the real, the actual, the being; wu means non-being, the potential or the possible. Spiritually you means fulfillment and constraint whereas wu means transcendence and freedom. Thirdly, you also means full, presence, whereas wu means void or absence. Non-being or nothingness is the natural state. This state is simply Dao to LaoZi.

Good vs evil in Shakespeares Macbeth Essay Example for Free

Good vs evil in Shakespeares Macbeth Essay The play Macbeth is a very tragic one. It is about the downfall of a hero who is led by temptation to mass murder and cruelty. Shakespeare uses various styles and techniques to display very evidently how Macbeths character develops as the story progresses, and thus we see how Macbeth turns from good to evil, from a valiant cousin and worthy gentleman to a bloody butcher. The play tells the story of how a noble warrior, Macbeth, descends into evil after meeting with three witches supernatural beings who prophesy Macbeths destiny. He is told he will become King of Scotland, and this idea of gaining power leads him to murder the king, take his throne and then continue his murder spree on seemingly whoever he feels like. Eventually Macbeth is slain and order is restored in Scotland. From the very start we have progressively come to abhor Macbeth, however, we cannot help but feel a certain admiration for him. But much more we have a sense of irony and waste: irony because some sterling qualities have been put to such evil use, waste because Macbeth was a potentially great man who was lost. . Macbeth is a play concerned wholly with the battle between good and evil throughout the play we continually see signs of a supernatural struggle between the two, with evil winning over good when Macbeth murders the king, but then good finally defeating evil when Macbeth is slain. In fact, in the very opening scene we see signs of supernatural happenings and evil the witches: Fair is foul and foul is fair; Hover through the fog and filthy air Here we see that, to the witches, what is evil is good (foul is fair) and what is good they find repulsive (fair is foul). This seems to be their attitude to life, but it could also be a warning to the audience that things to follow are not what they might seem. The first we hear of Macbeth is with praises to his name. He is called brave Macbeth, valiant cousin and worthy gentleman, fighting a war for God, king and country. For brave Macbeth well he deserves that name Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel, Which smoked with bloody execution However, it is in scene III that good and evil collide, when Macbeth meets with the witches. Some say that this is the beginning of Macbeths downfall, as in his first soliloquy he has already thought of the idea of murdering his king. This small seed planted in his mind will soon sprout and he will indeed commit treason. Already, the audience loses their adoration for Macbeth as we see his mental frailty and evil intention. The question at hand is what Macbeth should do; is he determined on evil intent or is divine intervention the answer? He contemplates this, and decides that it is not worthwhile to throw everything away for one guilty conscience, instead the solution is murder. We are soon introduced to Lady Macbeth, and it becomes clear that she is the ambition, the driving force, behind her husband. To Lady Macbeth, her husband is brave, loving, ambitious yet he is too noble to fulfil the third prophesy. Lady Macbeth then calls upon evil spirits to make her ruthless so she can kill Duncan. Come you spirits, That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the top toe-full Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood. After reading the letter, she already has a plan brewing. However, she fears Macbeths nature. yet I do fear thy nature, it is too full othmilk of human kindness, Thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it, What thou wouldst highly, that wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, And yet wouldst wrongly win. The planning of the murder of Duncan is one of the most important sections of this tragedy. Here we see a conflict in Macbeths character, one side wants him to commit the murder, while the other wants to let fate take its course. In a way it is due to his wife that Macbeth is finally persuaded into committing treason. This shows one of the flaws in his character, which Shakespeare exposes. A while after Macbeth has certain misgivings about the affair. In his mind he argues out the advantages and disadvantages. The good side of him says that hes here in double trust I am his kinsman and subject, as his host who should against his murderers shut the door, not bear the knife myself. The more cunning party says that his virtues will plead like angels trumpet-tongued against the deep-damnation of his taking off, but only vaulting ambition, which oerleaps itself and falls on the other,twere well it were done quickly, but this blow might be and the end all here, bloody instructions, which being taught, return to plague th inventor. Yet he cannot maintain this spark of morality as, under the influence of his wife he commits treachery. After the murder Macbeth experienced remorse, guilt and regret, still revealing his nobility. I am afraid to think what I have done he says. He is troubled by his conscience, he realizes that he is cut off from heaven. He is in fact so hampered in his actions by the conflict between his knowledge that he has committed the crime and his abhorrence of it, that he becomes immobile. Macbeths evil is so great that he cannot even say amen to his prayer ,I could not say amen. By now he realizes he is too deep into his acts of violence to turn back. Macbeth has confused the values of good and evil. That is, he has confused fair and foul, which confusion has all along been the devils aim. Macbeth has completely committed himself to evil. Macbeth still thinks of himself as a man, and as such would rather die than suffer the indignity of being baited with the rabbles curse. This feeling in him reminds us of the worthy Macbeth at the beginning of the play. We also see that he still has the courage to act on his convictions, desperate though that courage may be. For he knows now that he must die. He fights as a man. Macduff and Macbeth fight which signifies the ever on-going battle between good and evil. Eventually Macbeth is slain and the evil has been stopped in Scotland good has triumphed, as Malcom is crowned the new King.

The Annual Report Project Essay Example for Free

The Annual Report Project Essay General Electric, short as GE, is a leading multi-industrial company involving in energy, appliance, finance and transportation businesses. It has more than 100 years of history, and generally be viewed as one of the most successful product and service providers across continents. GE has gross revenue of more than 147 billion dollars, and is currently ranking No.6 in Fortune 500 U.S. by revenue. A. Introduction General Electric Company (GE) is a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States. Its core business contains four segments, including Energy, Finance, Technology infrastructure, and Consumer and Industrial. GE was founded initially by Thomas Edison, and then merged with Thomson-Houston Electronic Company in 1892. It was one the original 12 companies that were included for Dow Jones Industrial Average calculation in 1896, and is the only one that still being listed as of today. * Name of the Chief Executive Officer: Jeffrey R. Immelt * Corporate Headquarters: 3135 Easton Turnpike, Fairfield, CT 06828 * Ending of last fiscal year: Dec 31, 2011 * Description of the company’s principle products or services: General Electronic contains four major business sectors. GE Energy is constructed by two major departments. The Oil Gas department is a drill solution and refinery service provider, and the power department is one of the leading manufactures in designing and producing innovative, reliable, efficient, and high-performance jet engines. GE Technology Infrastructure is a business group dealing with machine production for healthcare and transportation. GE Capital is the financial service provider primarily focuses on loans and leases that it underwrites to hold on its own balance sheet rather than on generating fee by originating loans and leases. GE Home Business Solutions is another GE major business unit composed of intelligent platforms department and lighting department. The intelligent platforms are involving in producing next generation hardware and software for industrial control, and lighting department mainly engaged in home appliance production and maintenance. * Main geographic area of activity (in order of revenue significance): United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa. * Name of Company’s independent accountants (KPMG LLP). Base on the analysis of independent auditor, the GE consolidated financial statements released to the public presented fairly, in a whole, the financial position of GE as the date of Dec 31, 2011 and 2010. Also, the statements of operations and cash flows for the three consecutive years from 2009 to 2011 are conformed to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). The independent accountants also declared that the GE maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of Dec 31 2011, according to the criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by COSO. * The most recent price of company’s stock and its dividend per share The current price of GE stock is $20.62 as of Nov 20, 2012. The most recent dividend payment date was Oct 25, 2012 (record date was Sep 24, 2012) with amount per share of $0.17. B. Industry Situation and Company Plans GE Energy unit is a product and service provider across different energy industries, including coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power and renewable energy like wind or solar energy. In general, global energy business experienced a boosting period in the past twenty years due to the economic rapid growth in Asia. Coal, Oil and natural gas are top 3 widely used fossil fuels in energy industry, accounting for 55% of total energy demands. GE Energy has the advantage of applying advanced technology from drilling and production, liquefied natural gas pipelines and storage to industrial power generation and it is the largest natural gas provider in U.S. Based on GE’s patents on renewable energy, it greatly expands its business cooperation in Asia in the past three years within the countries that have great environmental issues, like China. In 2009~20011, GE acquired two wind turbine companies, Scan Wind and Wind Tower System, and became one of the largest engine manufactures, second o nly to well-known British company, Rolls-Royce plc. Healthcare in GE Technology Infrastructure business unit takes the dominant position in the field of diagnostic imaging service and integrated clinical system providers. While it has offices around the globe, the Healthcare department has major regional operation in Europe and Asia. Transportation in GE Technology Infrastructure business unit basically produces locomotive and its accompanied equipment, large electric motors and propulsion systems for mining, oil drilling and engine industries. Because of its comparative advantage of research and development, the GE Transportation unit experienced a fast expansion in the past several years, and in 2011 they announced plans to build another locomotive factory in Texas to meet the increasing demand. GE Capital has two major parts of services, aviation services, and energy financial services. The aviation service is responsible for the leasing of aircraft and associate equipment to airlines. According to 2005 Airfinance Journal Operating Lessor Survey, GE aviation service department is the largest aircraft lessor in the world by the fleet size. The success of this business is primarily due to the heavily competition between the airlines, and each airline company intends to lease cheap aircraft to reduce their cost. The capital intensive companies, like GE, has the advantage to meet their needs. Energy financial services department is primarily responsible for auxiliary role such as providing financial and technological investment in energy infrastructure projects around the world, and their major investments are the projects across the different business segment of the General Electric. GE Home Business Solutions is composed of GE Lighting and GE Intelligent Platforms. GE Lighting is well known for its household appliance traced back from Thomas Edison’s work on lighting. Because of its dominant position in the business, lighting department generates descent amount of the revenues for the whole group. In 2011 the gross revenue for GE Lighting is about 3 billion. Intelligent Platforms departments designs, manufactures, and supplies hardware and software products for industrial control and automation. Their hardware products including programmable logic controllers (PLCs), programmable automation controllers (PACs), as well as software products including supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) has good reputation in the market, its major role is to provide research and development support for other GE business units to evolve their products. The revenue in Intelligent Platforms is about 135 million, and is not a huge profit resource for the whole grou p.

Numerous Definitions Of Expatriates

Numerous Definitions Of Expatriates This chapter explores the literature around expatriates in Multinational Corporations, emphasizes the focus of adjusting to cultural differences when preparing expatriates for foreign assignments and also show how it enables them to succeed in their foreign assignments. Different theories and critiques on expatriate training will also be discussed. Expatriation has long been identified as a coordination and control mechanism used by MNCs ( Edstrom Galbraith, 1977; Martinez Jarillo, 1991). As global competition continues to intensify, it becomes increasingly important for multinational corporations (MNCs) to maintain control over their international operations (Barlett Ghoshal, 1988, 1989; Geringer Hebert, 1989; Martinez Jarillo, 1989; Sohn, 1994 ) since appropriate control will ensure that the MNCs strategic goals are met and deviations from standards are corrected to enable subsidiaries act in accordance with headquarters policies. (Vernon, Wells, Rangan, 1996) Numerous definitions of expatriates exist. Several researchers define an expatriate as someone who is assigned to a single foreign country and able to hold a leadership role, (Pucik and Saba, 1998), has high technical skill levels relative to personnel in the host location (Naumann, 1992) and has a limited role or time for his or her assignment in the overseas location (Adler and Bartholomew,1992). Harzing, (2001) defines expatriates as usually home-country assignees who hold top management positions or key positions in functional departments of a foreign subsidiary. Shaffer, Harrison and Gilley, (1999) also define an expatriate as a highly skilled worker with unique expertise who is sent to work in another unit of the same company located in a foreign country generally on a temporary basis for a period of at least six months which will usually involve relocation and significant progress in cultural adjustment (Selmer et al.,1998; Coyle and Shortland, 1992; Torbiorn, 1982). Since the globalization of economies worldwide has resulted in pressure for managers to deal routinely with other cultures and different countries business practices (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2008), it has brought a corresponding rise in multinational corporations direct investment in different countries. However, as these MNCs expand their operations into foreign countries, they also transfer their human resources and managerial practices to their foreign subsidiaries which are not always successful due to the influence of cultural differences between the home and host countries (Dowling et al, 2008) as shown below. Figure 2.1 Management Demands of International Growth d%2013[1] Source: Dowling, P.J., Festing, M., and Engle, A.D., Sr. (2008) International Human Resource Management: Managing People in a Multinational Context. 5th Edn. London: Cengage Learning EMEA As seen in figure 2.1, the globalization of economies worldwide has resulted in pressure for MNCs to deal regularly with other cultures, their beliefs, size, different business practices amongst others and recognising these differences is the first necessary step to anticipating potential threats and opportunities for business encounters (Schneider and Barsoux, 2003). The implication of this focus is that our contemporary world is one of cultural diversity and the MNCs normally operate within diverse cultural environments. For the expatriates, then, cultural issues of all sorts, whether at home or in the host country, become basic concerns. Culture is what makes us what we are and our cultural backgrounds influence everything we do at all times and in all places. We learn about and live our local cultures through the processes of socialization and acculturation that begin in childhood. Now, in order to be functional in a different culture, we need to appreciate its values, norms, beliefs, and behaviour patterns and learn to adjust to them as much as possible. Proficiency in the language of the host country goes a long way to provide someone with the tools of cultural competence. The more the expatriate knows about the host culture (including speaking the local language), about its values and expectations, and the more proficient he/she is in the l ocal language, the greater his/her chances of a successful job performance. All of this adds to a cross-cultural learning that will greatly facilitate his/her professional life while managing the business of the organization within the parameters of a different culture. 2.2 Types Of Expatriates Figure 2.2 presents international human resource management activities in three dimensions. The broad human resource activities of procurement, allocation and utilization. The national or country categories involved in international HRM activities which are the host-country where a subsidiary may be located; the home-country where the firm is headquartered; and other countries that may be the source of labour, finance and other inputs. The three categories of employees of an international firm which are the host-country nationals; parent-country nationals and third-country nationals. DISSERTATION%20DIAGRAM%201[1] Figure 2.2 Types of Expatriates Source: P.V Morgan (1986) International Human Resource Management: Fact or Fiction, Personnel Administrator, Vol. 31, No. 9, pg. 44. The management of foreign subsidiary operations is a substantial challenge for multinational corporations because when making the subsidiary staffing decision, they have the option to choosing between parent country nationals (PCNs), host country nationals (HCNs) and third country nationals (TCN) from the home, host or other countries of the MNC as seen in the diagram above. Perlmutter and Heenan (1974) also widened the analysis of the international human resource selection decision through the dimension of employer staffing choices where four primary philosophies were identified which are the ethnocentric, polycentric, regiocentric, and geocentric staffing . 2.3 Roles of Expatriates According to Rahim (1983) an expatriate has to play many different roles which includes being an agent of direct control, socialization, network builder, boundary spanner, and knowledge transferor which is reflected in the diagram below. d%2015[2] Figure 2.3 The Role of an Expatriate Source: Dowling, P.J., Festing, M., and Engle, A.D., Sr. (2008) International Human Resource Management: Managing People in a Multinational Context. 5th Edn. London: Cengage Learning EMEA. As seen in figure 2.3, the reasons for using expatriates are not limited since they have multiple roles. The expatriate as an agent of direct control can be seen as a control mechanism where the primary role is that of ensuring compliance through direct supervision. The expatriate as an agent of socialization involves the use of corporate culture as an informal control mechanism since they are bound to be exposed to different viewpoints and perspectives that will shape their behaviour. As expatriates move between various organisational units, their network of personal relationship changes. Hence, expatriates are network builders that develop social capital by fostering interpersonal linkages that can be used for informal control and communication purposes. Expatriates are boundary spanners because they can collect host-country information, act as representatives of their firms in the host country and can influence agents. Expatriates are language nodes since they can learn the language of the host country they are in order to adapt. Expatriates also transfer competence and knowledge from their home countries to host countries and vice versa in the course of their assignments. Edstrom and Galbraith (1977) also identify three general company motives for sending out expatriates: position filling (PF), management development and organisation development. Position filling refers to the transfer of technical knowledge, mainly to developing countries where qualified local nationals are not available (Edstrom and Galbraith, 1977); Transfer for management development gives the expatriate manager in question international experience and develops him for future roles in subsidiaries abroad or with the parent company (Edstrom and Galbraith, 1977); Organisation development occurs where transfers are used to change or maintain the structure and decision processes of the organisation. In this case, transfers are used as a co-ordination and control strategy. Specifically, the use of expatriate personnel has been recognized as an important control mechanism to monitor and evaluate the activities and behaviours within the subsidiary (Black Mendenhall, 1990; Boyacigiller, 1990; Edstrom Galbraith, 1977; Kobrin, 1988; Schuler, Dowling, De Cieri, 1993; Tung, 1993). However, this role comprises of two elements which are direct and indirect control. Direct control is defined as the direct involvement in decision making, selection and promotion of local employees while indirect control is exercised through the transmission of values, attitudes and ways of doing things, or by being cultural carriers'(Edstrom and Galbraith 1977; Jaeger 1983; Lu and Bjorkman, 1997). Whether implicitly or explicitly stated, expatriates are also trainers who are expected to assist the multinational corporations train and develop HCNs to be able to train their replacements ( Dowling et al, 2008) . Expatriates should also be perceived not just as knowledge carriers but, more importantly, as transfer facilitators who enhance the transfer of important parent-firm organizational knowledge to its subsidiaries (Bonache and Brewster, 2001; HÃ ©bert et al.,2005; Kostova and Roth, 2003). However, according to Fenwick et al, (1999), there has been little empirical investigation as to how effective expatriates have been as agents of socialization since attempts to introduce corporate values and norms ritualized in the form of certain expected behaviours often have negative results at the subsidiary level. Besides transferring knowledge from headquarters to overseas affiliates, expatriates also learn from their involvement in managing these operations. In this case, expatriates play the role of learning agents, absorbing new knowledge on behalf of the headquarters ( Jaeger and Baliga, 1985) . Expatriates also serve an important role as transmitters of corporate culture (Jackson,2002) or cultural carrier (Edstrom and Galbraith 1977; Jaeger 1983; Lu and Bjorkman1997) since they are often sent abroad to transmit corporate culture (Jackson, 2002). Boundary spanning refers to activities, such as gathering information that bridge internal and external organisational contexts ( Dowling et al, 2008) . Expatriates are considered boundary spanners because they can collect host-country information, act as representatives of their firms in the host country and can influence agents ( Dowling et al, 2008) . 2.3.1 Other Roles of Expatriates Expatriates are used for a variety of other reasons which includes to provide staff with management development experience for future senior managers (Peterson, Sergent, Napier and Shim, 1996), to set up methods of working, new technology or new marketing methods (Jackson, 2002) , for accountability, their technical skills, their knowledge of products and to provide international exposure to key personnel for development purposes (Arvey, Bhagat and Salas, 1991; Klaus, 1995). Finally, expatriates may be utilized to enforce and protect the companys interests (Bird Dunbar, 1991; Dowling, Schuler, Welch, 1994). 2.4. Major Factors that Affect Expatriates Effectiveness Many factors may affect the effectiveness of expatriates (Thomas, 2002, Tung, 1998) since as indicated by Rahim (1983) an expatriate has to play many different roles which includes being a representative from the parent company; a manager for a local subsidiary company; a local resident; a local citizen or a citizen in both countries; an expert; and a family member. Figure 2.4 International Assignments: Factors Moderating Performance Certain factors moderate expatriates performance and affect the decision to stay or leave the international assignment. Some of these factors as seen in figure 2.4 below includes the inability to adjust to the foreign culture which has been a consistent reason given for expatriate failure, the length of the assignment which might be quite long, the unwillingness to go for the assignment, work-related and psychological factors amongst others. d%208[1] Figure 2.4 Source: Dowling, P.J., Festing, M., and Engle, A.D., Sr. (2008) International Human Resource Management: Managing People in a Multinational Context. 5th Edn. London: Cengage Learning EMEA 2.4.1 Why Expatriates Fail One of the most prominent issues in international human resource management is the failure of expatriates (Hill, 2005:624; ÃÆ'-zbilgin, 2005:132; Black et al., 1991:291;Shaffer Harrison, 1998:87; Black, 1988:277) which as defined by Hill (2005:624) as the premature return of an expatriate to his or her home country. Assignments often may not be completed, necessitating the replacement of the expatriate (Bird Dunbar. 1991; Black, 1988) and the frequently cited reasons for this outcome include the inability of the expatriate or the spouse and family to adjust to the new environment (Black Gregersen, 1991;Black, Mendenhall. Oddou. 1991; Gaylord,1979; Harvey, 1985) or diminished job satisfaction and effectiveness (Feldman Thomas, 1992;1993; Hodgetts, 1993;Miller, 1975; Naumann, 1993; Stening Hammer, 1992) as a result of workplace conflict around differences in norms and culture. As relocation, be it domestic or international always causes change for those involved as scholars have repeatedly reported that stress levels increase with cultural environment distance (Torbion, 1982; Black, 1988) which is supported by a recent survey released by the U.S National Foreign Trade Council where it was reported that the inability to adjust to the foreign cultural environment was the key reason for expatriate failure and has continued to remain the major reason given for expatriate failure which has been a subject of considerable interest to researchers. Additionally, it has been found that the adjustment of the spouse is highly correlated with the adjustment of the expatriate and that the children tend to mirror their parents reactions (Black and Stephens, 1989). This was observed after an early study by Tung (1982:67) who found out that the number one reason for the failure of expatriates in the US and Western European MNCs were the inability of the expatriates spouse to adjust to the foreign location which proves that family adjustment is a significant criteria that determines expatriates failure in a country ( Selma, 2002) since research over the past 20 years has shown a consistent ranking of the inability of the spouse/partner/family to adjust to the foreign culture as a primary cause of early recall which may result from non-preparation for the move abroad or from the inability to work in the foreign country (Dowling et al, 2008). The spouses difficulty in adjustment may also be related to several other factors which include the inability to cope without the familiar network of family and friends, inadequate language skills or cultural training, and inadequate social support programs to assist him or her in developing an acceptable lifestyle overseas (Adler, 1997). However, Shaffer and Harrison (1998:87) and Black, (1988:277) observe that failure may vary in degree. They highlight the fact that expatriates who remain on the assignment but psychologically withdraw may incur indirect losses for their enterprise. These losses can include a reduction in productivity, market share, and competitive position, as well as damaged staff, customer and supplier relations, and a discredited corporate image and reputation. Tung (1982:68) surveying United States (US), European and Japanese MNCs, highlighted the severity of the problem when identifying that 7 percent of the United States MNCs experienced expatriate failure rates of 10-40 percent, 69 percent had a recall or failure rate of 10-20 percent, and the remaining 24 percent experienced a failure rate of less than 10 percent. He also observed that US-based MNCs experienced a much higher expatriate failure rate than either Western European or Japanese MNCs. More recently Shay and Tracey (1997:31) stated that 25 to 40 percent of the United States expatriates assigned to a developed country return home prematurely compared to 70 percent assigned to a developing country. This is supported by Briscoe, Schuler and Claus (2009) who observed that the rate of early return for US expatriates varies in different enterprises (and in different surveys) from 10 percent to 80 percent (with a common failure rate in the 30-40 percent range). Furthermore, according to Copeland and Griggs (in Shay Tracey, 1997:31) and Deresky (2002:398), it is estimated that between 30 and 50 percent of expatriates who do complete their assignments are considered ineffective or marginally effective. Numerous authors have also highlighted the high cost of a failed expatriate assignment. According to authors such as McNerney (1996:1), Shay and Tracey (1997:31), Hill (2005:624), and Chowanec and Newstrom (1991:65), the estimated cost of a failed expatriate assignment ranges between US$250,000 and US$1 million. While authors such as Griffin and Pustay (2002:583) and Black (1988:277) estimate the cost of a failed expatriate assignment at between US$40,000 and US$250,000 (these figures include the expatriates original training and moving expenses, as well as lost managerial productivity, but do not include the decreased performance of the foreign subsidiary itself). In addition, a failed assignment also has an indirect cost implication for a MNC as it can lead to damaged relations with the host country government, a diminished worldwide reputation of the MNC as well as negatively influencing the moral of employees in both the home and host country operations of an MNE (Chowanec Newstrom, 1991:66; Deresky, 2002:398). Harveys (1995:223) research is also supported by a study of Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) ( 2000:80), who found that the partners of employees were the main reason for failed or unsuccessful international assignments in half the MNCs they surveyed. Hence there is a body of literature that highlights issues and challenges for organisations and expatriates. A particular issue is the need for organisations to pay attention to organisational support on expatriate and spousal adjustment (Caligiuri et al, 1999) which is not only related to general interactions adjustment but also to better performance on the job. 2.4.2 The Process of Adjustment As earlier stated by the author, research shows that if the expatriates spouse and/or family members are having trouble adjusting abroad, the expatriate will have problems as well, including poor job performance (Black Gregersen, 1991; Gaylord, 1979; Harvey,1985),which could result in a premature return from the overseas assignment or a poor performance upon completion of his/her assignment. As a result, several personal dimensions have also been found to impact a managers transition to an overseas assignment and when activities available at home cannot be found in the host country, there may be feelings of loneliness, isolation, and frustration, which contribute to culture shock and inhibit adjustment (Church, 1982). Hence, an international assignment intensifies the stress associated with the transfer of personnel as it involves an entire personal and professional life style modification that impacts the expatriate and other family members (Harvey, 1985:84) often causing a temporary emotional state called culture shock as seen in figure 2.4.2 Figure 2.4.2 The U-Curve Phase 1: Tourist Phase 2: Crisis Culture shock Æ’Â   May exit? Phase 3: Pulling up Phase 4: Adjustment Time Adjustment Source: H. De Cieri, P.J Dowling and K.F. Taylor, The Psychological Impact of Expatriate Relocation on Partners, International Journal on Human Resource Management, Vol. 2, No.3 (1991) p.30. Adjustment to a foreign culture is multifaceted, and individuals vary in terms of their reaction and coping behaviours and the adjustment curve (sometimes referred to as the U-Curve) is based on psychological reactions to the assignment and is helpful in demonstrating the typical phases that can be encountered during cultural adjustment (Dowling et al, 2008) . Phase 1 (tourist or honeymoon stage) commences with reactions prior to the assignment which can be a range of positive and negative emotions such as excitement, anxiety, fear of the unknown, or a sense of adventure which can lead to an upswing of mood . Then as the novelty wears off, realities of everyday life in the foreign location begin to intrude, homesickness sets in, and a downswing may commence which can create negative appraisals of the situation and the location leading to a period of crisis (phase 2).This phase can be a critical time, and how the individual copes with the psychological adjustment has an important outcome in terms of success or failure. Once past this crisis point, as the expatriate comes to terms with the demands of the new environment, there is a pulling up (phase 3) resulting in an adjustment (phase 4) to the new environment (Dowling et al, 2008). In recent studies (Mendenhall and Oddou 1985; Black 1988; Black and Gregersen 1991;Black, Mendenhall and Oddou 1991; McEvoy and Parker 1995), adjustment is seen as a multi-faceted phenomenon with three major dimensions that are addressed and empirically tested: adjustment to the general environment, referring to the general psychological comfort involving aspects such as living conditions, weather or food; adjustment to the work situation, referring to the psychological comfort with culture specific work values and standards; and adjustment to interacting with host nationals, focusing on the comfort with different communication styles in the host setting. Also, adjustment pertaining to expatriates can be broken down into anticipatory, psychological, environmental/ (socio) cultural, organisational, interaction and personal change adjustment (Black et al, 1991,) and Shaffer et al, (1999) has also identified job factors, organisational factors, personal factors, non-work factors and individual factors as significant to expatriate adjustment. 2.5.1 Definition Of Culture According to Hickson and Pugh (1995), national culture shapes everything. National culture influences management practices like structure, strategy and human resources systems; and the effective transfer of management structures and processes relies on the ability to recognise their inherent assumptions and compare them with the cultural assumptions of the potential host country recipient. (Schneider and Barsoux, 2003). Over the years, culture has been defined in different ways by various writers. Culture was first defined in 1871 by Tylor (Hall,1980: 20) as the complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom and any other capabilities and habit acquired by man as a member of society while Hofstede (2001) also defines culture as the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another . At the organizational level, Schein (1985:9) also provides a definition of culture drawn from the framework developed by Kluckholn and Strodtbeck (1961) in (Schneider and Barsoux ( 2003): a pattern of basic assumptions-invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration-that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems Values, behaviour and beliefs are different across cultures and their importance to those cultures should not be underestimated. Whether engaging in strategic alliances, setting up operations abroad or attracting the local market, companies need to discover how culture can be harnessed to drive business forward (Schneider and Barsoux, 2003). 2.5.2 Cultural Adaptation and Knowledge When expatriates are familiar with the culture, language, and customs of headquarters, it can facilitate the transfer of corporate culture between headquarters and their subsidiaries, enhancing communication and coordination (Boyacigiller,1991; Rosenzweig and Singh, 1991) and can also provide technical and managerial skills that may not be immediately available at the local level. However, expatriates are not likely to be motivated to engage in active participation in a new environment if they are uncertain as to what an appropriate behaviour is, as such contacts with host nationals could be threatening and increase anxiety (Stephan and Stephan, 1992). Hence, the more information received regarding local behaviours, the more easily the expatriate can adopt culturally appropriate behaviour and thus facilitate the adjustment process. Expatriates may learn the host culture indirectly prior to direct contact with the host society through pre departure cross cultural training which can be an effective way of gaining cultural knowledge about the host culture (Black, Mendenhall and Oddou, 1991) in order to reduce uncertainty prior to active participation. Expatriate pre departure knowledge can also contribute to both work and general adjustment overseas (Black, 1988) when such knowledge includes information about the transition which can reduce many of the uncertainties associated with the new role. Work adjustment here includes the extent to which the expatriate is able to adjust to the level of responsibility associated with the assignment as well as his or her pay schedule while adjustment to the general environment refers to the individuals ability to adjust to non-work factors such as housing conditions and health facilities (Black, 1988). Clarke Hammer (1995) also observed that interpersonal skills, which are similar to social orientation, tended to facilitate cross cultural adjustment since social skills appear to be critical to the managers ability to complete tasks and to establish and maintain effective intercultural relationships, all of which assist in the cultural adjustment of the expatriate and his or her family. However, cultural knowledge acquired in ones culture of origin may be inadequate and subject to modifications as one encounter the new environment since cultural knowledge obtained by indirect learning such as through contact with mass media can be superficial and subject to misinterpretation compared to the knowledge obtained by direct contacts with the host society (Lee, 2006; Weimann, 1984). Also, previous international experience was repeatedly found not to predict expatriate and spousal general adjustment during expatriation (Black, 1988; Black Gregersen. 1991b; Black Stephens, 1989) which suggests that many aspects of overseas experience are not generalized from one assignment location to another meaning that expatriate managers are not able to transfer their learning concerning adjustment in one country to another. 2.5.3 The Impact of Training on Cultural Adaptation Cultural adaptation is a social cognitive process that reduces uncertainty and an affective process that reduces anxiety. The outcomes of cultural adaptation include psychological well being and satisfaction as well as social competence (Gao and Gudykunst, 1990; Ward and Kennedy, 1992). Failure to adjust successfully may lead to negative consequences such as lowered mental health status, feelings of marginality and alienation, heightened psychosomatic systems and identity confusion (Berry et al; 1987). For expatriates unfamiliar with the customs, cultures, and work habits of the local people, training may be critical to the outcome of overseas assignments since culture shock experienced by people in new and different cultures which reduces the ability to function in a cultural setting because of the perceived discrepancy between an individuals expectations of how events should proceed and how they actually occur (Black et al. 1992) would be reduced immensely. With complete adjustment, individuals not only accept the customs of the new culture as another way of living but also may actually begin to enjoy them or at least terminate the projection of discomfort onto the host culture (Oberg, 1960). Thus, successful cultural adaptation can be conceptualized as an individuals general satisfaction with ones personal situation in the host country (Gudykunst and Hammer, 1983; Torbiorn, 1982). 2.6.1 Factors Affecting Expatriates Cross-Cultural Adjustment Given the multidimensional conceptualization of culture ( Hofstede, 2001) and strong empirical support (Shaffer et al. 1999), the cultural adjustment of expatriates is essential. Following this multi-faceted approach, it appears that some expatriates may be well adjusted to one dimension but at the same time poorly adjusted to another. For example they may adapt themselves to their new work situation in a foreign country but feel uncomfortable in interacting with locals. Without an understanding of the host culture in such a situation, the expatriate is likely to face some difficulty during the his/her assignment. According to Fontaine (1997:631), the success of international assignments could be ensured if effective preparation, support, and training were provided to the expatriate and their tailing families. Sievers (1998:9), suggests that the majority of MNCs do not have formal policies to address the needs of their expatriates families, hence, it is imperative those MNCs develop comprehensive, flexible and interactive programmes specifically for spouses and children. 2.6.2 Cultural Training Training is defined as the process of altering employee behaviour and attitudes to increase the probability of goal attainment (Hodgetts Kuratko, 1991) thereby reducing expatriates perceived need to adjust (Black et al.1992; Deshpande Viswesvaran, 1991; Earley, 1987).It has frequently been argued that training is the litmus test of human resource management (Keep, 1989) since the pivotal element of a system is designed to harness the talent of those it employs in ensuring that employees are developed for their roles (Redman and Wilkinson, 2008). Few of the training programmes of organisations are available to the public (Morris and Robie, 2001). As a consequence, empirical support on different training methods remains scarce. Organisations develop their own specific training programs or subcontract them to specialist trainers in view of the perceived needs of their business and managers, but cultural views differ on how training is provided, by whom and for what purpose (Schneider and Barsoux, 2003).Training aims to improve employees current work skills and behaviour, whereas development aims to increase abilities in relation to some future position or job (Dowling et al, 2008) Failed or ineffective intercultural adjustments may be avoided by utilizing effective training to prepare expatria

My Great Expectations :: Personal Narrative Writing

My Great Expectations Everything that I have experienced so far in Flagstaff has been great. In the next four years there are many new thing that I will experience here that I never have by living in phoenix. Also I would like to leave here with a lot more knowledge about different things like business and the community of this city. In the outstanding city of Flagstaff I came with a lot of expectation, will experience many knew things in my college years, and also have two main goals before I leave this city. In Flagstaff I have and will experience a lot of new things that did not experience from living in Phoenix. The first thing is the small town surroundings, this is a lot different from living in phoenix most of my life. So far it seems that everyone around here is very friendly and everyone is a lot more laid back. Also the surroundings are a lot different from the desert of phoenix. No longer are there saguaro cactuses and dirt everywhere, now there are pine trees and green grass. The abundance of green makes flagstaff a lot prettier then the desert. I have never lived in an area where it snows in the winter, the Flagstaff winters will also be a new experience for me. These are the great new experiences I will have by living in Flagstaff for the next 4 years. The expectations that I have coming to Flagstaff is having a great education at Northern Arizona University, meet a lot of new people in my four years here, and the new cooler climate here. I expect this university to teach me the business marketing ways so when I get out of college if I work hard I can be a successful business man. I chose to come to Flagstaff for school because of the smaller campus and school size. At any huge university you are just another face in the crowd but here the class sizes are smaller and you can walk to any class on campus. Also by spending the next four years in flagstaff I will meet a lot of new people. I plan on joining a fraternity this semester I will definitely meet a lot of new people by that and also have a lot of new experiences.

Abuse in Government Care Essay example -- Childcare Foster Adoption Ab

Abuse in Government Care   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is unfortunate that in our society some children grow up without the opportunity of having a loving family to raise them. More unimaginable is children growing up with parents or family members that are abusive. Children raised in abusive environments that are reported to social services and removed from their home are placed into foster care. Foster care is defined supervised care for delinquent or neglected children usually in an institution or substitute home set up by the government. Some advocates claim that the government child care system is adequate, but others like David Van Biema of Time Magazine state that, â€Å"foster care is intended to protect children from neglect and abuse at the hands of parents and other family members, yet all too often it becomes an equally cruel form of neglect and abuse by the state (Biema).† There is substantial research that looks deeper into the foster care system. It reveals that abuse in foster care is a big e nough problem that it needs to be addressed, but what changes can or should be made?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Government statistics, newspaper articles, and thorough research projects have been completed to answer the question, â€Å"is there a problem in the foster care system?† The results have revealed that a serious problem exist within foster care in the United States. At any given time there are approximately 542,000 children in the foster care system (Dept of Health). This number continues to rise each year. In 2001, 290,000 children entered into foster care, while only 263,000 children left the system (Dept of Health). Of the 263,000 children that left foster care in the year 2001, 31% were in care for over two years (Dept of Health). Nineteen percent of those children were in foster care for one to two years (Dept of Health). Two years is an unacceptable amount of time when taken into consideration that between the ages of 8 and ten are critical developmental years in a child’s life. The average age of the a child leaving the foster care system in 2 001 was 10.2 years old (Dept of Health). The amount of children per foster home at any given time is another problem. The average number of children per home in the foster care system is 3.7, which is up from 1.4 in 1983. Although 3.7 children is an average per home, there are claims that tens of thousands of homes have 5 – 8 children at once (C... ... we can ask for is that they come out alive (Thoma 8).† Work Cited: Biema, David Van. â€Å"The Storm Over Orphanages.† Time Magazine, p. 144   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  12 Dec. 1994. Cohen, Deborah L. â€Å"Foster-Care Reforms Often Ignore Problems Children Face in   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  School.† Education Weekly 15 June 1991. Maier, Timothy W. â€Å"Suffer the Children.† Insight on the News 24 Nov. 1997: Pg. 11. Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. â€Å"Public records and confidentiality laws.† Jan. 2004 http://emanuals.odjfs.state.oh.us/emanuals/legal/pubrec/@Generic__BookTextVie w/3;cs=default;ts=default;pt=23. Ritchotte, William. â€Å"Foster Care Reform.† Adoption.com   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://library.adoption.com/Advocacy/Foster-Care-Reform/article/5053/1.html. Thoma, Rick. â€Å"How Widwspread a Problem? A Critical Look at the Foster Care System† Liftingtheveil.org 24 June 2003 http://www.liftingtheveil.org/foster04.htm. Thoma, Rick. â€Å"A Critical Look at the Foster Care System: How Safe the Service?† Liftingtheveil.org 15 Nov. 2002 http://www.liftingtheveil.org/foster03.htm. U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services. â€Å"Foster Care National Statistics.† 2003   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://nccanch.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/factsheets/foster.cfm.

Good and Evil in Goethes Faust :: Faust Essays

Good and Evil in Faust In Faust Goethe shows many of his opinions about good, evil, and religion. Goethe uses characters like The Lord and Gretchen in the early part of the play to set examples of goodness. Goethe uses characters like Mephistopheles to stand for evil. Throughout the play Goethe also uses examples of the church to show how he feels the church works. The concept of good for Goethe is that everyone has the ability to be good and that errors in judgment are what make people bad but if a person keeps striving these mistakes will bring them closer to righteousness. As long as a person continues to keep moving and doing things they will most likely achieve righteousness. This is shown in the bet between Faust and Mephistopheles. Faust says that if at any time he says, "Linger a while! Thou art so fair!" that will be when Faust dies and serves Mephistopheles. This shows that if Faust were to stop wanting to do anything it would be a horrible sin. The Lord which many perceive to stand for God stands for the perfection that Faust is trying to accomplish with his life. Gretchen in the early part of the play stands for perfection because she is inexperienced and knows nothing else until Faust starts to seduce her. The concept of bad for Goethe can be seen most in the character of Mephistopheles. Mephistopheles is believed to stand for the devil. When he first introduces himself he describes himself as "a part of that Power which always wills evil, always procures good.....the Spirit which always denies." Mephistopheles actions such as talking Faust into taking advantage of Gretchen and then telling him to leave her are seen as evil actions. The fact that Mephistopheles spends time with witches which most people see as evil shows that he is also evil. Goethe believes that all people sin sometimes and God forgives us. This is shown when Gretchen is in prison and after all the sin she has done a voice from heaven grants her salvation. Even though she did sin, most of her sin was because of inexperience and she was not purposely sinning. Goethe feels that the church and religion are both useless. When Faust leaves Gretchen the first jewels, her mother takes them to the church. The church takes them saying that they are trying to help, but this can be seen as the church just trying to get money out of them.

Coyote Blue Chapter 32~33

CHAPTER 32 A Doctorate in Deception According to Pokey, at the time the white men came, there were seven sacred arrow bundles. Each had been made by four medicine men who had the same vision at the same time. Once the bundles were made, the medicine men vowed never to gather again, afraid that if their combined power were stolen by one, he would become invincible and abuse the power. These bundles contained the most powerful of warrior medicine, able to protect the carrier from an enemy's weapon, give him the ability to travel swiftly, and escape to the Underworld in an emergency, to return later, unharmed. Of the original seven bundles, two had been destroyed by fire, two by flood, two were locked away in museums in Washington, and the last to leave the reservation was in the hands of a private collector in Billings, who had bought it from a family who had been converted to Christianity and thought the bundle might jeopardize their salvation. At first Sam suspected Pokey's story. His choice finally to believe it was based more on heart than logic. Whether the story of the bundles was true or not didn't matter as much as the hope it inspired. Action based on hope just felt better than the paralysis of certainty. When Sam came through the door of the Hunts Alone house, Cindy hardly recognized him. When she had first met him he seemed weak, wasted, and without reason to live. Now he was moving and talking with purpose. Sam said, â€Å"Cindy, I'm sorry about before. I don't want to impose.† â€Å"You're family,† she said, and that was all the explanation needed. â€Å"Thanks,† Sam said. â€Å"We went to see Pokey. He's doing fine.† â€Å"Did they say when he can come home?† â€Å"We're bringing him home tonight, if things go the way they should. Can I use the phone?† Cindy waved toward the kitchen table, where the phone sat amid a stack of cereal boxes and bowls. Sam checked on Grubb, found him sleeping, and went to the phone. The first call went out to the Museum of the West in Cody, Wyoming. Yes, they knew a serious collector of Indian artifacts in Billings; they had bought several pieces from him over the years. His name was Arnstead Houston. The next call was to his office in Santa Barbara. â€Å"Gabriella, I need you to take the key I gave you and go to my house. In my closet there's a corduroy jacket with suede elbow patches. Load it in my garment bag with the khaki pants, a flannel shirt, and that goofy Indiana Jones hat that Aaron gave me for Christmas. Put in my blue pinstripe suit – shirt, shoes, and tie to match. Then grab my briefcase and get it all on the next plane to Billings, Montana. Buy a seat for it if you have to. Put it on the corporate card. And run the name Arnstead Houston through all our companies' client files – go to the Insurance Institute if you have to. It's a Billings address.† He waited while Gabriella put the name through the computer and came back with the name of Houston's home-owner's insurance carrier. â€Å"Give me the agent's number.† Sam scribbled it down. â€Å"Call me back at this number as soon as you confirm the arrival time of my stuff in Billings.† He gave her the Hunts Alone number. He dialed the number of Houston's insurance agent in Billings and spoke in an Oklahoma accent. â€Å"Yes, I'm interested in insuring some valuable Indian artifacts. Arnie Houston recommended you.† Sam waited. â€Å"I didn't figure you handled that sort of thing. Do you remember who you referred Arnie to? Boulder Casualty? You got a number for them? Thanks, pardner.† Sam hung up the phone and it rang immediately. â€Å"Hello. Five today? That's the earliest? Thanks, Gabriella. Oh, I forgot – call and reserve a car at the Billings airport. Something with four-wheel drive. A Blazer or a Bronco or something. White if they have it. I'll pick it up at five. Yes, the corporate card. Fuck Aaron. Tell him I'm on a hunting trip. And Gabby, you are incredible, you really are. I know I've never told you that before. Because it was time I did. Take care.† He disconnected and dialed another number, waited, then spoke with an English accent. â€Å"Yes, Boulder Casualty. This is Samuel Smythe-White with Sotheby's, London. So sorry to bother you, but we've a bit of a problem that you may be able to help us with. It seems we've recently acquired some Red Indian items – a bit unusual for us – and we're at a loss as for someone to authenticate them. The owner, who must remain anonymous I'm afraid, has suggested that you insure this sort of thing and might know of an appraiser. Yes, I'll wait.† Sam held the phone aside and lit a cigarette. â€Å"No, no, location is not a problem. Sotheby's will fly him to London.† Sam scribbled something. â€Å"Jolly good. Yes, thank you.† He disconnected and dialed Arnstead Houston's number. â€Å"Hello, Mr. Houston. This is Bill Lanier. I'm the new head of Ethnic Studies at the University of Washington. Yes. The reason I'm calling is that I just got a call from Boulder Casualty. It seems that there is an item in your collection that has been severely undervalued and they'd like us to take a look at it to make sure the schedule of coverage is in line. Of course, the new appraisal would increase the price if you should ever want to sell it.† Sam paused and listened. He continued, â€Å"A Crow medicine bundle. Yes. This one's a cylinder, a hollowed-out cedar log. That's right. Well, sir, we'll need to take a look at it in person. We happen to have a tribal expert visiting the campus right now. We could be in Billings by five thirty tonight. No, I'm afraid he has to fly to a dig in Arizona tomorrow. It will have to be tonight. Yes, I have your address. Thank you, sir.† Sam hung up, sat back, and let out a long sigh. The whole process had taken less than five minutes. When he turned around both Cindy and Coyote were staring at him. Cindy's mouth was hanging open. â€Å"What was that?† Coyote asked. â€Å"You,† Sam said, â€Å"are now working, indirectly, as an artifacts expert for the Boulder Casualty Insurance Company and I am now a professor of anthropology at the University of Washington,† â€Å"I've been looking for a job,† Cindy said, shaking her head. â€Å"They always make me fill out an application.† Coyote looked at Cindy. â€Å"He has shifty eyes, don't you think?† -=*=- Arnie Houston sat in his den looking at the arrow bundle on the coffee table before him: a hollowed-out log full of junk. But there was nothing quite so exciting as turning junk into money, and he was so excited now he could have peed his Wranglers. God bless archaeology. God bless museums. God bless historic preservation. God bless America! Where else could a piece of oil-field trash with a fourth-grade education be living in a twenty-room house with a new Corvette in the garage, wearing thousand-dollar sea-turtle-skin boots and two pounds of silver and turquoise jewelry? And all of it from buying and selling Indian junk. God bless every eggheaded, gopher-hearted anthropologist that ever wrote a paper or dug a hole. Damn! Arnie got up and went over to his bar, where he poured himself a snifter of Patron tequila – thirty bucks a bottle, but the finest cactus juice ever burned hair off your tongue. And it calms you down. Can't let them think you're in it for the money, the dumb shits: most of 'em could say howdy in thirty-seven dead languages, tell you the time a day a shaman shit two hundred years ago plus the ritual that went with it, but couldn't tell a nickel from a knothole when it came to money. They always went to the tribal council or a medicine man when they wanted to buy something – that was their big mistake. You got to do your research. Find out what family's got something and then find the one in the family who drinks the most. When he's feeling his firewater, you be there with the cash. Presto, you got yourself a priceless Indian artifact for dirt cheap. Arnie had just picked up a whole basket of heirloom beadwork over at the Yakima res – a hundred bucks. The Yakima were just getting into crack cocaine and Arnie was in on the ground floor with investment capital. The beads had been in the families for hundreds of years and he'd already had an offer of ten thousand for them from the Museum of the West – upon authentication, of course. Anthropologists, here's to 'em! Arnie thought. He toasted the fish in the aquarium by the bar and tossed back the Patron, then took a gamble by looking out the front window. A white Blazer pulled into the circular driveway and two men got out, both of them tall – one, an Indian in a suit, and the other in a corduroy jacket and khakis: the anthropologist. The Indian must be the expert he talked about on the phone. City Indian: making a living off of being Indian, going on about exploitation and such. Worthless troublemakers: wouldn't shoot one if I needed to unload my gun. Arnie stashed the snifter under the bar and went to the front door. He brushed back the sides of his hair with his fingers – careful not to disturb the five strands combed over the top – and opened the door. â€Å"Mr. Houston, I'm Dr. Lanier from the University of Washington. This is Running Elk, the gentleman I mentioned on the phone.† The Indian nodded. â€Å"Come on in,† Arnie said, waving them into the tiled foyer. â€Å"I took it out of the safe and put it on the table for you.† He didn't really have a safe, but it sounded good. He led them into the den and stood by the coffee table. â€Å"Here she is.† The Indian moved to the fish tank and peered in. The professor walked around the table looking at the log, as if he were afraid to pick it up. â€Å"Have you opened it?† Arnie had to think. What was the best answer? These fellows liked playing detective, finding their own clues. â€Å"No, sir. The fella I got it from told me what was inside, though. Four arrows, an eagle skull, and some, er†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Damn, how do you describe it? It was just brown powdery shit. â€Å"And some sacred powder.† â€Å"And who did you get it from?† â€Å"Fellow on the res. Old family, but he didn't want me to say. He's afraid of the Traditionals getting revenge on him.† â€Å"I'm going to have to open it to determine the value.† â€Å"Quite so,† the Indian said, still looking in the fish tank. The anthropologist shot him a nasty look. What was up with these two? An Indian who talks like a Brit; if that didn't just beat the ugly off an ape. â€Å"It's okay with me,† Arnie said. â€Å"Looks like them ends just come off like bottle caps.† That's exactly how they had come off when he opened it. â€Å"Jolly good, old chap,† the Indian said. â€Å"The fish say that it's been opened before.† â€Å"Thank you, Running Elk,† said the professor. He seemed kinda ticked. He set his briefcase on the table next to the bundle, snapped open the lid, and removed some white cotton gloves. â€Å"We don't want to disturb the integrity of the contents,† he said, slipping on the gloves. â€Å"I'd prefer to do this in the lab, but I assure you I'll be careful.† You can blow the damn thing up for all I care, Arnie thought, as long as the price is right. But what was the deal with the Indian and the fish tank? The professor removed the end of the wooden cylinder and placed it on the table. He removed one of the four arrows and studied its length. When he looked at the point his face lit up. â€Å"My God, Running Elk, do you see what I see?† â€Å"What? What?† Arnie said. Was this good or bad? The Indian looked up from the fish tank. â€Å"Oh, capital! He's promised them one of those plastic bubbling scuba divers if he sells it.† â€Å"What?† Arnie said. The professor scowled at the Indian and held the arrow up for Arnie to see. â€Å"Mr. Houston, you see this arrow point?† â€Å"Uh-huh.† â€Å"This is a small-game point, and the flaking is not the pattern you find on Crow points from the buffalo days.† â€Å"So?† â€Å"So, I think this bundle is from the time before the Crows split from the Hidatsa. If that's the case, this bundle may be priceless.† Arnie saw a swimming pool appearing in his backyard, with a whole shitpot of girls in bikinis sitting around it, rubbing oil on his back. â€Å"How can you be sure?† â€Å"I'll have to take it back to the university to have it carbon-dated.† The professor put the arrow back into the bundle. From his briefcase he pulled out a sheaf of forms. â€Å"I hope you'll understand, Mr. Houston, the university can't bond something like this for its full value, but I could write a guarantee of perhaps two hundred thousand until the return.† The professor waited, his pen poised over the form. Arnie pretended to think about it. In fact, he was thinking about the new swimming pool. Now it was indoors and had a big hot tub full of dollies. â€Å"I guess that will be all right,† he said. The professor began writing on the form. â€Å"We should have it back to you within the week. I'll see to it personally that it's handled carefully. If you'll just sign here.† He pushed the form over to Arnie. There it was, $200,000.00 in big black numbers. It was all he needed to see. Arnie signed and pushed the paper back to the professor. The professor closed his briefcase and got up. â€Å"Well, I'd like to get this back to the lab by tonight and start the work on it. I'll call you as soon as we know for sure.† He picked up the bundle and headed for the door. â€Å"You take care now. Thanks,† Arnie said, holding the door for them. â€Å"No, thank you, Mr. Houston.† â€Å"Cheerio,† the Indian said as they climbed into the Blazer. â€Å"Oh yes, your mates said they'd like a Flipper video and a bit of brine shrimp to eat.† Arnie watched the Blazer pulling away. Boy, the old professor was sure giving Running Elk hell for something. Eggheads. He wondered for a minute why the Blazer had mud on the license plates when it was so clean everywhere else. Hell with it, it was time to celebrate. A buddy had given him the number of a little dolly who for two hundred dollars would come over in her cheerleader outfit. He'd been saving it for a special occasion and it looked like it was time to dig out that ol' number and see if she really could suck the furniture out of a room through the keyhole. -=*=- As soon as they were out of sight of Arnie's house, Sam took the Indiana Jones hat off and smacked Coyote with it. â€Å"What were you thinking? You almost blew it.† â€Å"The fish said he tricked someone to get that bundle.† â€Å"And what did we just do?† â€Å"That's different. It was a Crow bundle.† â€Å"You wanted to blow it, didn't you? Why didn't you just hump his couch or something? Why didn't you just tell him the truth?† â€Å"Well,† Coyote said, â€Å"if your trick worked it would make a good story.† â€Å"I'll take that as as compliment.† Sam was no longer angry. They had the bundle; now it was time to think about the next part of the plan. He believed what Pokey had told him about the power of the bundle, and all Pokey had ever asked of him was to be believed. He said, â€Å"Coyote, will you help me get Pokey out of the clinic?† â€Å"Another trick?† Coyote asked. â€Å"Of sorts.† â€Å"I'll help, but I won't go to the Underworld with you.† CHAPTER 33 Doors Some of the color had returned to Pokey's face and someone had taken the braids out of his hair and brushed it. He opened his eyes when Sam entered the room. â€Å"You got it?† Pokey said. â€Å"It's in the car,† Sam said. Coyote came in behind him. Pokey grinned. â€Å"Old Man Coyote.† â€Å"Howdy,† Coyote said. â€Å"How many times you died now, old man?† â€Å"A bunch. It's plumb wearing me out,† Pokey said. â€Å"The medicine man got tired of singing the death song and went home. I think he got scared.† Pokey pulled a cassette out from under his covers and held it up. â€Å"I got it on tape for the next time.† Sam said, â€Å"Pokey, we have the arrow bundle. What do we do now?† â€Å"Ask him,† Pokey said, pointing to Coyote. â€Å"I ain't going,† Coyote said. â€Å"He has to go alone.† â€Å"Samson needs a medicine man to sing the bundle song.† â€Å"That's why we're here,† Sam said. â€Å"You want me? I didn't think you believed I had medicine, Samson.† â€Å"Things change, Pokey. I need you.† â€Å"Well then, get me out of here.† Pokey started to sit up. Sam pushed him back. â€Å"I don't think you should be walking.† â€Å"Samson, I done told you, I had my death vision. I don't die in no hospital, I get shot. Now help me get up.† He struggled to a sitting position and Sam helped him turn so his feet hung off the bed. â€Å"You're right, I don't think I can walk.† Sam turned to Coyote. â€Å"You promised to help.† -=*=- The clinic was officially closed for the day, but the skeleton staff of two nurses was still on. Adeline Eats sat in the waiting room with her six children, who were all green with flu, insisting that she wasn't going anywhere until they got treatment, even if she had to wait all night. For the twentieth time, the nurse at the window was explaining that the doctor had gone home for the night, when she heard the hoof beats on the stairs. She dropped her clipboard and ran out of the office to see a black horse coming down the stairs, an old, half-naked man bouncing on its back. She ducked back into her office to avoid being trampled and looked up in time to see a man in a corduroy jacket running behind the horse out the front door. The nurse ran out into the waiting room to the front door, which dangled in pieces on its hinges. She watched the horse stop beside a white Blazer and rear up. The old man, his gray hair streaming in the wind, let out a war whoop and fell into the arms of the man in corduroy. Then, as she watched, the horse started bubbling and changing until it was a man in black buckskins. The nurse stumbled back in shock. Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she jumped a foot off the ground. She came down holding her chest. Adeline Eats said, â€Å"You got room for my kids now, or what?† -=*=- Riding in the Blazer, Pokey said, â€Å"Old Man Coyote, how do I send Samson to the Underworld?† â€Å"Just open the bundle and sing the song. He will go.† Sam said, â€Å"What happens then? What do I do?† â€Å"My medicine ends when you get there. You will see the one that weighs the souls. Don't be afraid of him. Just ask him if you can bring the girl back.† â€Å"That's it?† â€Å"Don't worry about the monster. The Underworld is not what you think.† Coyote rolled down the car window. â€Å"I have something that I want to do. I'll be there when you return.† Coyote dove out the car window, changing instantly into a hawk and flying off into the night sky. â€Å"Wait!† Sam said. â€Å"What monster?† He stopped the car. Pokey giggled like a child. â€Å"A horse and a hawk in one night. Samson, do you know how lucky we are?† Sam leaned forward and put his head against the wheel. â€Å"Lucky wasn't the world that came to mind, Pokey.† -=*=- Pokey had called Harlan and the boys down from Hardin. While they prepared the sweat, Sam stood at the door of the Airstream trailer trying to make himself open it. For the first time in years he was aware of his childhood fear of the dead and unrevenged ghosts and he hesitated. Since Pokey had given him hope of bringing Calliope back, he hadn't really thought of her as dead. He wanted to see her before he went to the Underworld, but he was afraid. Strange, he thought, after all these years of selling the fear of death, talking about it every day, now I'm afraid. She's not dead, not really. He threw the door open and stepped into the trailer. Calliope's body was lying on the built-in cot by the door amid camping equipment and fishing rods. Coyote had covered her with a blanket, leaving her face exposed. She could have been sleeping. Sam sat on the cot by her and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. She was cold. He looked away. â€Å"I wanted you to know†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He didn't know what to say. There was no face to put on to meet this face. If she would just open her eyes. He swallowed hard. â€Å"I wanted you to know that I would do anything for you. That all this craziness was – will be – worth it if I can bring you back. I've been hiding out for my whole life, and I don't want to live that way anymore. Anyway, I wanted you to know that Grubb will be okay. My family will take care of him. I'll be with you, one way or another.† Sam leaned over and kissed her. â€Å"Soon,† he said. He got up and walked out of the trailer. Across the yard, the fire crackled and licked the sky, heating the rocks for the sweat. Pokey sat on a lawn chair, the arrow bundle in his lap, his eyes glistening orange in the firelight. Harlan was carrying rocks from the fire to the pit inside the sweat lodge. Sam stood by with Harry and Festus, watching. After the initial surprise that Sam was still alive, Harry and Festus simply fell into their normal roles of listening to their father argue with Pokey. Sam noticed that they had the lean, muscular frame of their father, the same square-set jaw. Harlan was a little thinner now, and his hair had gone gray, but otherwise, to Sam, he seemed the same. â€Å"The boys and me have to go to work in the morning,† Harlan said. â€Å"We can't stay late, Pokey. No drinking.† â€Å"I ain't going to drink,† Pokey said. Harlan dropped a hot rock into the pit and wiped sweat from his forehead. â€Å"I can't believe that doctor let you come home. Just yesterday he was puttin' your death on my hands for not moving you to the hospital in Billings.† â€Å"He's a pissant,† Pokey said. â€Å"How's it coming?† Harlan scraped another rock out of the fire and scooped it up with the pitchfork. â€Å"This ought to do it.† He unbuckled his pants and began to get undressed. The others followed his lead, hanging their clothes on Pokey's chair. Sam took the bundle from Pokey and put it in the sweat lodge, then helped the old man out of his hospital gown. Pokey crawled into the sweat lodge, where the others sat in a semicircle facing him. â€Å"Before I drop the door, I got to open this here bundle. It's a real old one, so no one knows the right song. I'm going to have to make it up as I go along. Okay?† Pokey held up the bundle and sang a prayer song, thanking the spirits for the gift of the sweat. He laid out a square of buckskin for the objects in the medicine bundle. â€Å"I don't know what's going to happen here, but Harlan, you and the boys got to pray that Samson has a safe journey. He's going on a kind of vision quest, but he ain't going to the Spirit World.† Pokey looked at Sam. â€Å"You've seen her since you got here, right?† â€Å"Yes,† Sam said. â€Å"And she's still in the trailer?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"Who?† Harry asked. â€Å"Never mind,† Pokey said. They hadn't told Harlan and the boys about Calliope or Coyote. â€Å"Here we go.† He threw a handful of sage onto the stones. When the smoke rose he held the bundle in it, then took off the cap. He began singing as he took each object from the bundle and set it on the buckskin. Sam closed his eyes and concentrated on going to the Underworld and what he had to do there. â€Å"Heya, heya, heya, an arrow. Heya, heya, heya, another arrow Heya, heya, heya, another arrow Heya, heya, heya, the last arrow. Heya, heya, heya, an eagle skull. Heya, heya, heya, some brown stuff.† â€Å"Some brown stuff?† Harlan said. â€Å"Well, I don't know what it is,† Pokey said. â€Å"It looks like brown stuff to me.† â€Å"Whatever it is, it's working,† Festus said, pointing to Sam, who was shivering, even in the heat of the sweat lodge. His eyes were open but rolled back in his head, showing no pupils. â€Å"I'm dropping the door,† Pokey said. â€Å"Now pray for his return like you never prayed before.†