Name

Course

Course Instructor

Date

The Tideline by Wajdi Mouawad

1.a Using information from the play, write a brief biography of your character

My character of choice is Wilfrid in The Tideline by Wajdi Mouawad. Wilfrid is a young man who was born in Montreal. However, Wilfrid did not have a chance of living with his father due to a fate of events. However, his life changes dramatically when he receives a call and is notified of his father’s demise. The setting of the monologue is actually based on Wilfrid’s quest to understand the many questions revolving around life and death. Wilfrid takes on a long and torturous journey of seeking to bury his father in a dignified manner. Having lived in a war prone zone, Wilfrid had adopted the immoral nature of his neighborhood, however, the demise of his father changes his line of thoughts and wants to give his father a decent burial, no matter what it takes. He takes a journey to his parental home, Lebanon, where he seeks to bury his father in order to reconcile with the ancestors.

2.a How do your character’s actions and objectives change throughout this monologue?

Wilfrid’s character, actions, and objectives change throughout the monologue as he experiences different circumstances in his life. In the beginning, Wilfrid lives a normal life that mirrors the dirty society in Montreal. Actually, he received a phone call when he was having an immoral sexual encounter. However, the news of his father’s death changes his actions and objectives in life. He takes on a noble course of establishing the relationship that preexisted in his family when his parents were alive. In the monologue, he seeks to know exact answers to some of the difficult life questions. The most notable change can be realized when Wilfrid seeks to know what he is supposed to do with his life in return to giving his father a decent burial. He wants a clear and concise answer to these questions.

3.b Write a brief (max.1page) synopsis for the play your monologue is from.

The Tideline by Wajdi Mouawad is a play that centered in the main character Wilfrid. The play is notably divided in to two parts. The first part concentrates on Wilfrid’s free lifestyle before receiving the news about his father’s death. The second part, which is the most interesting, and from which the monologue is obtained, focusses on Wilfrid’s journey to his homeland with his father’s corpse as he seeks to give him a decent burial. The pivotal point of the play occurs when Wilfrid receives a phone call notifying him of his father’s death. Most notable conflicting point on the play is seen when his dead father’s corpse sometimes speaks to him. Arguably, this represents a conflict between life and death. The fact that the corpse talks to Wilfrid and tells him that he is not an idiot despite his death, this may imply that actions of the living are at times pegged on the dead. This can also be seen as foreshadowing since; Wilfrid eventually buries his father together with other friends as part of reconciling with the dead.

Paraphrase of the Monologue

Wilfrid: There is overwhelming need to be concisely clear here. Whereas I have never believed in anything on earth or in heaven, it is hard to imagine that I actually do not believe. If there is someone anywhere listening, I would appreciate only one favor, a special place to rest my father. In fact, I will not bury my father just anywhere. I will do whatever it takes to bury him decently at home. However, I will need something in return, an answer to this big question, what am I supposed to be doing with my life? I want a clear concise answer, and I think that is easy and clear to understand (Mouawad 28).

 

Works Cited

Mouawad, Wajdi. The Tideline. Canada: Playwrights Canada Press. 1999, Print.

 

Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.

[order_calculator]

 

Decision-Making 

Name 

Course

Tutor’s Name

24^th , November 2012

Introduction

Decision-making and problem solving are important aspects of life. These are responsible for the different choices a person makes and most probably determines their personality. Good decision-making and problem-solving skills are advantageous for every person, especially those who are in leadership positions. These are frequently faced with situations, which require them to make important decisions and choices, which may greatly influence the body they are managing. Therefore, decision-making skills put a demarcation between leaders and non-leaders. In the process of decision-making, one needs to make the decision as fast as possible, while ensuring the effectiveness of the decision made (Baker, 2006). Procrastination in decision-making may make the situation or problem worse. Decisions should therefore be made and executed in a timely manner. These should be accepted by the people, in addition to being high-quality decisions. Critical conditions need critical thinking to be applied in order to arrive at a conclusive and well-thought decision. Therefore, one needs to reason and where possible apply the various decision-making and problem-solving models and theories in order to ensure quality of their decisions (Bell, Raiffa, & Tversky, 1998). It is also important for one to be flexible and react promptly to situations. This brings boosts personal confidence. This paper highlights a personal decision-making process, where being the supervisor of my group at my work place, one of the group members challenges my authority by behaving in an indiscipline manner, and shows a poor attitude.

Problem Background

I got a promotion to become a supervisor for a group of employees at our small office. Roles of a supervisor include monitoring specific employees’ performance and behavior. This is a leadership position that I was presented with. During my initial encounter with my small group of employees, I felt some kind of resentment and resistance from some of the group members. This is because probably they liked the former supervisor. However, the former supervisor was relieved of his duties due to performance issues. During my first assignment, I was expected to supervise the rehearsals for our company’s sports day. Sports day came once every year, and was aimed at encouraging bonding of the employees as they engaged in various sport, competing with each other. My duty on this rehearsal day was to ensure orderliness and active participation of all members of my group, including assigning each of them to a game type they would participate in on the sports day. However, in the course of my coordination, I realized that one member of my group did not follow a single instruction I gave out. He would defy instructions and move in and out of the group’s meeting place. Additionally, he would deliberately refuse to participate in some demonstrations I had asked the group to perform. This infuriated me, considering that I sometimes lose my temper so fast. However, I tried to control my emotions and play cool. Remaining calm did not make this employee comply with the session requirements. This is a disciplinary case where my subordinate challenged my authority as a supervisor and put me in a challenging situation about the course of actions I was to adopt as a leader. As a leader, I was expected to make the right decisions, which would not be lethal to either the involved employee or me in order to change his attitude toward me, for better coordination and effective execution of tasks.

Approaches to Decision-Making and Problem-Solving

As a leader, I managed to solve the problem successfully. However, further exposure to leadership and knowledge on the models and approaches to decision-making and problem solving has given me a different way of looking at how I could have addressed this situation in a more favorable way. As a supervisor, I was responsible for planning, and analyzing situations, identifying and solving problems, including potential problems, make quality decisions, and develop realistic goals for my group. Nonetheless, in this situation, there were many options of how I would have chosen to address this situation. Different companies embrace different forms of decision-making and problem-solving processes (Sanderson, & Gruen, 2006). Some of the common models of decision-making include the popular, classical model or seven-step problem-solving, decision-making process; secondly, there is a complex form of decision-making, followed by a more simplified decision-making process (“Harvard Business School.” :Lau, 2002).

The Rational-Economic (Classical) Model of Decision Making

I could have used this model to address the situation. First a logical mind was important before addressing the situation. This is ensure that none of the key elements influencing this situation are neglected. The seven steps in this model are;

1. Identifying the problem
2. Gathering information
3. Developing course of action
4. Analyzing and comparing the identified courses of action and looking for alternatives
5. Making a decision, by selecting the best course of action (Li, 2008).

Identifying the Problem

Problem identification must be carried out with extra care and keenness to ensure that the right problem and right cause of problem are identified. If one identifies the wrong problem and wrong cause of problem, they will arrive at a wrong solution. This also includes gathering relevant information, which may lead to the cause of the problem. From the information collected, one is able to use their judgment to arrive at the right possible cause of the problem (Li, 2008). In this case, I had identified the problem as a disciplinary case, where a subordinate employee was challenging my authority as his supervisor. This forced me to take actions in order to control the situation and maintain discipline in my group, while ensuring their respect.

Gathering Information

This stage includes gathering relevant information that can possibly influence the identified problem. Such information can be sourced from different sources such as the employees, higher, and subordinate level (Li, 2008). This information will be handy in developing the course of action. However, this stage can be omitted because of time factor. In my case, this stage is unnecessary, since I already know that this employee disliked me as he was against the demotion of the former supervisor, whom he preferred much.

Developing Course of Action

One must keep an open mind in this stage and anticipate change, therefore turning down all preconceived ideas (Heller, 1992). One can develop many courses of action and employ the concept of probability. Actions to counteract obstacles in the way of decision-making are also developed at this stage. Brainstorming is a technique that comes in handy at this stage when a person fails to come up with enough courses of action (Li, 2008). In my case, some of the possible courses of action would be first of all to reprimand the employee in the course of our group meeting and let him know that I would raise his attitude to the concerned company authorities, and recommend his firing if he persists with this insubordination. Alternatively, I would have sternly ordered the employee to comply with the activities of the group meeting.

 

 

Analyzing and Comparing courses of Action

Here, one chooses the most appropriate course of action. This is through comparing the advantages and disadvantages of all the courses of action identified, and choosing one that outweighs the rest after a careful analysis of all the courses of action. Up to this point, if need be, one should have involved external trusted parties in some of the stages (Li, 2008). In my case, I could have weighed the advantages and disadvantages of the two courses of action I had chosen. In the first course of action, the action portrays me as powerful and authoritative. The disadvantage is that the action is unprofessional as reprimanding an employee in the presence of others is unethical. Letting the employee know the punishment that I would have employed on his actions is also wrong. In the second course of action, I would not be reprimanding the employee in public, which is good. This course of action is also devoid of threats and brings me out as a leader, who does not back down. It also allows me to punish the employee later. The disadvantage is that some group members may consider me as lenient to cases of insubordination, and therefore may make similar mistakes in future (Robertson, 2001).

Making a Decision

Having gone through all the processes, one is now able to consider their emotions and intuitions. Decision-making is not objective and has no formula; therefore, one may make a final decision depending on their intuitions and emotions. However, the final decision should not be influenced by emotions and intuitions alone (Li, 2008). In my situation, giving proper analysis to the information I have would have helped me come up with an appropriate decision. My decision would be to, first, order the employee to follow what the rest of the group was doing, and ask him to meet me after the rehearsal. If he does not obey, I would have explained to him that he is being indiscipline, then give him a second order. If he still refuses to follow the second order, he would have committed two mistakes. From here, I would be justified to forward his case to the concerned top management of the company. This decision is appropriate as it considers the employee, by giving him two chances to follow my orders. If he faces sanctions he will not have anyone to blame (Zsolnai, 2009).

Conclusion

This case presented me with an opportunity to take on leadership roles as I even grow up to be a responsible and decisive person. It also changed the way I relate with people since in different companies, people have different personal values, which are hard to change. Nonetheless, I learnt that being a leader is not easy, and the decision-making process too requires commitment and skills and effective communication, problem solving, goal-setting, supervision, and planning. However, being a leader or not, the process of decision-making requires coordination from the people one is dealing with, as most decisions at work places cannot be addressed solely by one person.

 

References

“Harvard Business School.” Decision Making: 5 Steps to Better Results. Harvard:

Harvard Business Press.

Baker, A. (2006). Business Decision Making. London: Taylor & Francis.

Bell, D., Raiffa, H. & Tversky, A. (1998). Decision Making: Descriptive,

Normative, and Prescriptive Interactions. London: Cambridge University Press.

Heller, F. (1992). Decision Making and Leadership. New Jersey: CUP Archive.

Lau, R. (2002). Models of Decision Making. Chapter 2. Department of Political

Science, Rutgers University, November 18, 2002.

Li, B. (2008)The Classical Model of Decision Making Has Been Accepted as not

providing an Accurate Account of How People Typically Make Decisions. International Journal of Business and Management. Vol. 3:6 (151-153).

Robertson, S. (2001). Problem Solving. New York: Psychology Press.

Sanderson, C., & Gruen, R. (2006). Analytical Models For Decision-Making With

Cd. London: McGraw-Hill International.

Zsolnai, L. (2009). Responsible Decision Making. New York: Transaction

Publishers.

 

Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.

[order_calculator]

Name

Course Name

Institution

Date

Case Summary and Analysis

1. Quality Assurance at Daimler AG

This is a case involving business intelligence. The company addressed is Daimler, a German manufacturer of automobiles including Mercedes-Benz cars. This company is credited for its customer-centeredness nature. At the heart of its operation, Daimler has customer satisfaction as a priority; as it highly embraces quality assurance. Normally, for customer satisfaction to be achieved there must be effective communication between the service provider and the customers, including feedback. In order to enhance customer satisfaction, Daimler realized that communication is essential. Quality assurance will ensure customer satisfaction when feedback after communication is considered and incorporated in the company operations. Daimler set out to collect quality assurance data from its clients in order to ensure their satisfaction. However, a major problem emerged in the case of data storage. Diversified means of data storage led to confusion, subsequently resulting in distortion of data, rendering the data less useful for the company.

This is a case of Information Technology, which needed a solution in order for the objective of customer satisfaction to be realized. The multiple data storages needed to be fused to allow for a harmonized data access. Though it took three years to merge these data sources, this was an achievement on the part of Daimler. The harmonized data source named Advanced Quality Analysis (AQUA) was beneficial as it cut on company costs, and helped it meet the customer satisfaction goal. This has also boosted effective communication and feedback between Daimler and its customers over the last two years. The adoption of a different business software AQUA miner has been instrumental also in addressing the repair cases of customers, thereby making Daimler act immediately on the repair needs of customers, as well as incorporating these in the manufacturing process of vehicles. Therefore, information technology played a big role in turning Daimler around, and can do the same to other businesses (Tsai 10-11).

2. Norfolk Southern

This is yet another case addressing an Information Technology problem of Norfolk Southern, and how it evolved to become the first company to develop a high technology customer self –service business intelligence. Norfolk Southern is one of United States’ biggest freight railroads companies. Due to the previous  high restrictions for freight companies in America, Norfolk Southern made its profits by effective cost management. Due to many business dynamics in the market, Norfolk Southern became a scheduled railroad, requiring it to adopt complex systems in its business operations. The problem, which presented itself was how the company, having changed to a scheduled railroad could use statistical methods to determine the best routes and connections in order to ensure high performance and effective business operations.

By adopting a 1-terabyte data warehouse in 1995, Norfolk Southern partly solved their IT solution. By allowing different users to access the data warehouse, the company makes it easy for its customers to get information about the services offered. For instance, a client will know the status and history of their shipment, and when it will arrive, customers also schedule for their trips on trains. Generally, this has boosted the effectiveness of the operations at Norfolk Southern. Additionally, by allowing customers to access the warehouse data, it enhances a sense of belonging in customers, further boosting rapport between the customers and the company. This has also enabled the company to cut down on costs that would have been incurred in employing customer care representatives, since this is handled online. The data warehouse is very flexible and alleviates restrictions on the customers’ side as they can use the data to determine what kind of service they will choose, and when they will go for it.

The data warehouse of Norfolk Southern can also be used to develop a customer satisfaction application. Here customers can post their views about the company performance, including any problems they have experienced while dealing with the company. This will help the company in its self-assessment and rating for better performance.

Conclusively, these two cases are real examples of how information technology can turn around business performance and profits. The two companies highlighted are successful today because of the IT solutions they adopted to address their biggest problems. Therefore, the link between business and information technology is crucial. If most businesses discovered and applied this, they would be the next success stories in future.

 

Works Cited

Tsai, Hui-Liang. “Information Technology and Business Process Reengineering: New

Perspectives and Strategies.” New York: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003.

 

Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.

[order_calculator]

Name

Course Name

Instructor

Date of Submission

Comparing Radiation Exposure from Chernobyl and Fukushima Case

Chernobyl and Fukushima reactor accidents had different causes. In the case of Chernobyl, an unconventional reactor operation experienced a runaway power surge, followed by steam and hydrogen explosion, causing fire in the reactor. This reactor exploded, releasing radioactive material into the utmost parts of the atmosphere. Failure to come up with appropriate strategies to contain the explosion made the fire and smoke to last for about ten days, and spread widely to even affect eastern and Western Europe as well. In the case of Fukushima, an earthquake and tsunami struck the Fukushima Daiichi reactors and led to electricity loss on the site. This resulted in a momentary halt of the cooling of the fuel in the reactor cores. Hydrogen buildup in the three power plants led to an explosion. However, the amount of radiation released in Fukushima was less and could not compare to that of Chernobyl. The Japanese government explained that by reaching a “cold shutdown condition,” it showed stabilization of coolant temperature and the halt of further release of radiation from the site. Nonetheless, both accidents have health impact on the affected populations; however, the degree of the impact varies with the different radiation exposure levels in the two cases.

According to (Elliott 89), the 2011 nuclear accident at Fukushima and the 1986 situation at Chernobyl are both rated 7 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, even though these happened differently. Chernobyl registered the most health effects as 28 reactor staff and emergency workers, who were highly exposed to radiation, succumbed to thermal and radiation burns after four months of the accident. By the end of 2004, 19 more were reported to have lost their lives. It is also widely believed that the incident caused about 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer. On the other hand, in Japan, no deaths have been linked to the radiation exposure. The difference in radiation release in the two cases is responsible for the varying impacts. For instance, Fukushima radiation release was almost10 percent of that from Chernobyl. At Chernobyl, the explosion of the reactor led to a fire that lasted for ten days. The explosion at Fukushima was due to Hydrogen buildup and did not involve the reactors themselves (Bortz 41).

In the case of Fukushima, the magnitude of harm caused by radiation exposure is uncertain, since the event is still fresh, unlike Chernobyl, which occurred a quarter century ago. Since Chernobyl incidence occurred years back, it has given an opportunity for medical researchers to determine the health impact of the radiation exposure. However, there are also potential health effects, which will be presented by the Fukushima radiation exposure in the future; it is just a matter of time.

Most concerns arising from radiation exposure mainly base on the risk posed to the broader public. During such radiation, people outside and close to the plants inhale air that is mixed with the radiation components. The major radioactive chemical elements, which are inhaled or enter the body through food consumption include, Iodine-131 and Cesium-137. Iodine-131 has a half-life of eight days and when inhaled, concentrates in the throat. On the other hand, Cesium-137has a half-life of thirty years and can enter the body through the consumption of food, which was grown in contaminated soil.

Studies today show that, the main health effect of Chernobyl, is thyroid cancer in children, who were exposed. This is because of the ingestion of Iodine-131. Today, close to 6000 cases of thyroid cancer are attributed to Chernobyl reactor accident. Although Iodine’s radioactive decays quickly to untraceable levels, it is expected that cases of thyroid cancer will increase. This radiation exposure affected many children because Iodine is greatly absorbed and settles in the thyroid glands of children, who are still in the developmental stage.

The emergency response in the two accidents varied, and this is why their radiation exposure levels are different too. In Chernobyl, radiation release was not controlled, even as the population was not protected from radiation. Thyroid cancer in children is the most notable health impact from Chernobyl. However, this could be controlled if the government mitigated the disaster by applying radiation protection procedures, and distributing potassium iodide, in addition to controlling food supply in the affected areas. On the contrary, in Japan, there were many immediate efforts to minimize the exposure of people to the radiation. Residents were evacuated and supplied with Potassium Iodide, and sale of milk and leafy vegetables was restricted after the meltdown of Fukushima nuclear plant (Medalia 4-7).

Conclusively, the health impacts associated with explosion of these power plants was mainly in form of thyroid cancer in the case of Chernobyl, which registered most effects. In Fukushima, health impacts have not been registered yet considering it occurred recently, yet health impacts are long-term. This also resulted in many other impacts such as homelessness, apart from heath impacts. In addition, these cases, especially the much recent Fukushima incident, raises serious concerns over the future of nuclear plants in the world. We are not sure if the recent Fukushima incidence will result in the bouncing back of nuclear power like how it happened after Chernobyl. Nonetheless, the nuclear industry has suffered a meltdown; maybe it may or may never recover.

 

Works Cited

Bortz, Albert. “Meltdown!: The Nuclear Disaster in Japan and Our Energy

Future.” New York: Twenty-First Century Books, 2012.

Elliott, David. “Fukushima: Impacts and Implications.” London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Medalia, Jonathan. “Japanese Nuclear Incident: Technical Aspects.” New Jersey: Diane

Publishing, 2011.

Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.

[order_calculator]

Similarities and Differences in Cultures between the United States and Egypt

Name

Course

Tutor’s name

2^nd, November, 2012

 The United States and Egypt boast of a strong culture. However, different forces play a role in shaping their cultures. The cultures of the United States and Egypt are a representation of a series of changes that have taken effect on them over the years. Nonetheless, social media is a common force in the contemporary society, which continues to shape different cultures.

Social media use therefore, can explain the differences and similarities between the cultures of Egypt and the United States. Both countries embrace social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, as a form of communication. In both countries, social media as a form of communication has strengthened social relationships, given people a strong sense of belonging and identity, and strengthened cultures of these countries.[1]

Although both countries embrace social media, their degree of use varies. The United States is a highly developed country, with advanced technology; therefore, it has embraced social media more than Egypt, which ranks below it. The United States pioneers much of the global social changes today through social media.[2] This revolutionizes other world cultures. Cultures of the U.S and Egypt also undergo gradual revolution due to the cross-cultural communication and interaction facilitated by use of social media by the people.

Conclusively, basing on social media, the cultures of the United States and Egypt register more similarities. However, the technological advances of Egypt, which cannot compare the United States, makes Egypt register a smaller number of social media users. Nonetheless, social media use in both countries is a strong pillar responsible for revolution of their culture.

Bibliography

Branthwaite, Alan, and Patterson Simon. “The Power of Qualitative Research in the Era of

Social Media.” Qualitative Market Research 14, no.4. (2011): 430-440, http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13522751111163245

Eltantawy, Nahed, and Wiest Julie. “Social Media in the Egyptian Revolution:

Reconsidering Resource Mobilization Theory”. International Journal of Communication 5 (2011):1201-1224,  http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/download/1242/597

 

Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.

[order_calculator]

Risk Management

By Name

Course

Tutor’s Name

Institution

Date

 

Table of Contents

Abstract. 3

Introduction. 4

Disaster Background. 4

Risk Management Cycle. 5

Risk Identification. 5

Risk measurement 6

Risk analysis. 7

Risk Decision. 8

Risk Implementation. 9

Risk Monitor and Review.. 10

Policy. 10

Risk Management Strategy. 11

Conclusion. 12

Works Cited. 13

Appendices. 14

Abstract

This paper intends to highlight and discuss the risks a New York hotel faces after a natural disaster. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, this hotel loses parts of its structure to the super storm, as it is wretched. This in turn leads to closure of the hotel for the next one month as it undergoes renovation. Other important issues discussed are the various aspects of risk management cycle as they relate to the case of this hotel. The company adopts different managerial strategies after Hurricane Sandy, to address the risk and alleviate its effects on the company in future. This comes after realization that insuring the company only is not enough to address risks, since after Hurricane Sandy, the hotel’s insurance was not sufficient in addressing the risk.

Introduction

Natural disasters have negative impact on the economic development of a country. Vulnerability to natural calamities can be reduced if effective strategies are designed to deal with this. This will ensure employment and investments in the country are retained after natural calamities. In the global agenda, disaster preparedness is highly regarded as it ensures sustainable development. Therefore, long-term strategies can serve countries and specific companies well in case of a natural disaster or any other calamity. The case of this hotel in New York shows the importance of companies adopting and being committed to effective strategies of risk management, before, during, and after a risk. This new hotel registers poor risk management before hurricane Sandy, but the effects of the risk compels it to adopt newer strategies in order to risk manage the entire hotel from future natural disasters. (“World Economic Forum” 2011).

Disaster Background

Hurricane Sandy had devastating effects on the United States of America, as parts of it are vulnerable. The geographic location of this company puts it at a risk, as that it is still more prone to similar natural disasters in future. Hurricane Sandy led to the loss of life of more than 100 people in the U.S and the Caribbean, in addition to the damage worth billions of dollars. The scene around the hotel is still not pretty today as it was before the hurricane. Parts of the hotel building were destroyed because of the flooding waters and the strong winds and this left the hotel in bad shape. Because of this, all the clients had to be evacuated and the hotel could not open up to more clients. Water supply, power supply, communication lines, and roads leading to the hotel were disrupted. This compelled the hotel to close for one month in order to undergo renovation. This led to loss of many profits, which will have a long-term impact on the future of financial health of the hotel. Additionally, the hotel’s insurance company did not come in handy in fully compensating the losses experienced by the hotel. Moreover, the quoted insurance premiums for the next season have been hiked, because the insurer used a lot of money to compensate most of its clients affected by Hurricane Sandy. Alternative courses of action to address this predicament are, developing this risk management cycle, which will boost disaster preparedness and therefore minimize the height of damages in future. The hotel will consider alternative insurance products, distributed energy systems, boats for circumnavigating around the flooded area, and a backup for all hotel data. In the aftermath of hurricane Sandy, the company is faced with yet another storm to weather. The hotel’s insurer did not cover for some components of damages caused by Sandy. For example, damages caused by rain and wind were covered, however, damages caused by flood and storm surge were excluded, while others were covered with lower limits, leading to very high deductibles (Harrington & Niehaus, 2004).

Risk Management Cycle

The risk management cycle shows the procedure and steps a company will follow to alleviate future impact of risks (Ayling, 2008). The risk in this company was not a control risk, therefore, a considerable impact was certain whether risk preparedness was observed or not. However, risk preparedness would make the impact less immense. The steps are as follows.

Risk Identification

In risk management cycle, it is important to first identify the risk. The short history of this hotel shows that it had never been affected by a natural disaster, owing to its newness. This natural disaster led to the halting of hotel operations for three weeks, in which it had to cater for the high cost of renovation. Employees still had to be paid for this period, yet the business had come to a standstill. The expenditures ranked higher while the profits were null in this period. What heightened the situation is the little compensation offered by the hotel’s insurer, which did not count as the company footed most of the costs. More risk information will be sourced from employees, who have different opinions on the further risks that this situation presents to the company. Additionally, environmental websites will be useful in identifying further risks. Various tools and techniques including: Structured interviews, surveys and questionnaires, post-event reports, focus groups will be used to source for more risk information. Considering that this risk was in form of a natural disaster, identification of such global risks is essential. Therefore, the company will keep in touch with worldwide environmental events, and governments’ and public reactions to them. The importance of identifying risks is that it leads to a better understanding of the risk and helps in evaluating current controls and determining appropriate risk treatment strategies. Confusion to risk meaning is also minimized as risk duplication is prevented.

Risk measurement

In risk measurement, risk information and data is used to determine the degree of risk impact. This in turn helps to determine the probability of the risk to recur. Risk measurement can be qualitative or quantitative. In qualitative measurement, the probability of risk recurrence is generally determined, while in the quantitative measurement, the absolute severity is measured in financial terms, including the precise probability of risk recurrence. Qualitative risk measurement is generalized and easy to determine, as it does not measure precisely the extent of the risk. Nonetheless, this measurement is quite hard to determine (Goel, 2009).

This company uses the qualitative risk measurement due to some reasons. Most importantly, being a new company, this is the first natural disaster to hit the company, therefore, there are no past risk data or information on the same, from which the exact aspects of quantitative measurement can be determined. Hurricane Sandy affected many companies. Specifically, this hotel had to close business for three weeks to pave way for renovations and stable environment. Millions of profits were lost in this case, as the costs incurred were higher. Natural disasters are common, however, they are beyond the control of the company, and its employees, therefore, blame cannot be transferred to any parties. However, to reduce this risk, the strategies of risk management adopted must be highly adhered to by the whole company.

Risk analysis

In risk analysis, the available information is used systematically to determine the probability of a similar event happening in future. The degree of effects is also analyzed. This process also includes identifying the nature, extent, and degree of threat,  specifying the degree of the consequences, determining the available resources to manage the risk, developing methods to  protect people and  key resources and reduce overall losses; and finally, designing effective and appropriate management systems to implement and control.

The risk experienced by this hotel is an external risk. External risks are risks occurring due to forces acting from outside the company. These are caused by societal, global, and political trends. These are normally additional risks for companies to manage, since most companies concentrate more on the internal risks. This external risk was therefore, caused by forces in the natural environment, which are beyond the control of the company. Its impact was adverse on the company, as the company infrastructure was destroyed, as well as loss of profits. The company had specified controls in place to deal with such an issue. These controls were aimed at leveling the risk to an acceptable level, and were in form of a risk and disaster management program. However, evaluation of these controls through control self-assessment rendered them ineffective. This strategy was weak and ineffective due to its failure to address all issues encompassing this situation. This risk is most probably to recur in future, owing to the climate changes and the concept of global warming the earth is faced with. This is a reality the company has to accept, and instead of being caught unprepared by such events, the company is now investing in a detailed risk assessment strategy, which will come in handy in future. If this risk was to happen again, with poor company preparedness, the company may experience more loses, considering that it will have not fully recovered from this present predicament. However, if this company successfully implements its preparedness strategies, then it is more likely to be less affected in case of a recurrence of this event in future. This risk evaluation presents a high risk level, therefore, further risk treatment actions are required to level the risk and future risks.

Possible risk treatment options for risk management include avoiding the risk, reducing cause of the risk, reduce impact of the risk, share or transfer impact of the risk, or retain the risk by accepting the impact. Some of these actions must be applied as the current controls are incapable of managing the risk within defined tolerance levels.  Therefore, in addition to strengthening the current controls, the company will adopt additional controls. The choice of additional controls will be influenced by the cost of the action, cost benefit analysis. After selection of the actions, the company will incorporate the costs of the actions in the company budgeting process, and select an effective committee that will be responsible for execution of the actions. Setting the date of implementation is necessary. The performance measures will be performed by a higher panel, which will assess the progress of the committee. All tis will aim at reducing impact of the risk, since te company cannot transfer blame to a different party.

Risk Decision

Although risk measurements and analysis are taken, the risk does not go away. Therefore, important ways of dealing with the risk need to be adopted in order to alleviate the current risk. Risk decisions are made before, during, and after a risk. Before Hurricane Sandy, the company had not adopted a strong risk management strategy and did not anticipate a natural disaster. This lack of preparedness was wrong. However, when Sandy took effect, the company closed down, giving employees time to come in terms with the event, even as the hotel was under renovation. After the disaster, the employees were compensated, and the innovation of the hotel took into consideration future events, and so used stronger building materials. Alternative insurance products were also acquired to ensure full insurance against future natural disasters (Harrington & Niehaus, 2004). In addition, the decision to close the hotel is justified as this risk was whole-encompassing, affecting the whole organization.

Risk Implementation

This is an important step in the risk management cycle as here; crucial decisions are made on the adoption of strategies to alleviate future effects of risks (Crockford, 1991). The company made some commendable steps before and after the hurricane Sandy strike. First, the company ensured that none of its employees or clients was injured physically. Upon the government issuance of hurricane alert, the company advised its clients and employees to leave the premises for their own safety. In addition, the company renovated the destroyed sections of the hotel, and used stronger material in reinforcing the whole hotel structure, so that future storms do not wreck the hotel. The company also ensured integrity by compensating its employees for the three weeks they did not report to work, thus boosting their motivation. Finally, buying new insurance products for natural disasters was essential in ensuring full coverage of future natural disasters. The current hotel insurer did not cater for full compensation, hence increasing hotel expenditure.

Risk Monitor and Review

In order to ensure currency of risk information, regular monitoring and review of the risk information is crucial. This is because of the high dynamics in the contemporary world, leading to the dynamism of the risks as well. Wrong risk information is lethal, as leads to wrong decisions, which in turn deter risk management efforts. In this case, the company will use its key risk and control review as well as will update responsibilities so as to ensure continued currency of information regarding this risk presented as a natural disaster. In addition, the company will review the risk information on an annual basis. This company will be committed to risk monitoring and review by ensuring its full participation, including the employees, and to some extent, some external risk treatment experts. Additionally, the effectiveness of the risk management framework will undergo regular monitoring and reviewing. This review framework will address the extent to which risks of natural disasters will be managed throughout the company. Finally, the risk management process in the company will be enhanced by continued risk reporting at different stages in the process (Mitroff & Anagnos, 2001).

Policy

This final stage of the risk management cycle aims at ensuring that all the risk information gathered are used to adopt and implement effective policies that will help alleviate future risks. Hurricane Sandy has taught the company to remain committed to disaster preparedness, reduction, and response. The kind of policies adopted are in the form of guidelines, and promulgated protocols, and plans. The employees have been trained on these, and the company has involved external experts to contribute to the company’s risk management process. In this company, there were a number of flaws in past strategies dealing with natural disasters. The company, being new, assumed the occurrence of a natural disaster and so did not adopt effective disaster preparedness measures. However, during and after the disaster, the company took all the corrective measures to address the risk. The additional risk controls involve the internal and external company environments. Nonetheless, with regular reviews of these, the company boasts of an achievement toward alleviation of impact of future natural disasters.

Risk Management Strategy

The risk management strategy will involve the systematic application of management policies, practices, and procedures to company operation and the tasks of identifying, analyzing, assessing, treating and monitoring risk. As a process, it involves risk analysis, determining impact of the risk, and its importance to the company. It evaluates all relevant elements in the understanding of current or future hazards and their impact on the company. This evaluation is crucial in determining the vulnerability, reduction, prevention, and mitigation of risks. This will also help in the preparedness and response of the company to risks (Doherty, 2000).

The company has taken strategies to reduce future impact of risks by natural disasters. First, it has bought new insurance policies, which will fully compensate for all damages. Secondly, renovation of the hotel structure with stronger building material to withstand future storm will minimize havoc on the hotel structure. In addition to the laid down policies, the company has put in place structures and systems to ensure that stakeholders contribution to the company’s risk management. This is through the company’s current involvement with some national bodies concerned with disaster reduction and responsiveness activities, and disaster management systems. Capacity enhancement through training of the employees on disaster preparedness will enhance future response to disasters. Finally, the company has set aside resources in form of finances to address and facilitate all projects related to risk management in the company. The disaster management strategies will be reviewed time after time to enhance effectiveness. Most importantly, the committees set to address risk management will be instrumental in the recording the company developments and improvements in risk management.

Conclusion

In summary, the increasing global natural disasters continue to raise concerns on the concept of risk management in companies. Companies therefore need to put in place effective strategies to ensure reduction of the adverse effects presented by natural disasters. In the case of the highlighted company, risk and disaster preparedness before Hurricane Sandy was ineffective. Correct steps were only taken after the occurrence of the storm, which devastated the company. The realization that dependence on the company’s insurer was ineffective in fully addressing risks, prompted the company to adopt alternative course of actions, which are highlighted. The risk management cycle of the company reveals that most of the steps taken before the risk were wrong. However, it is also clear that the company should expect more natural disasters in future, hence the need to strengthen its risk management strategies. Nonetheless, the company has adopted commendable strategies, which are in line with the risk management cycle, to address risks and these will only be useful to the company if they are successfully implemented. Hurricane Sandy came as a blessing in disguise for this company, as it has opened the company to the aspect if risk management, which the company had paid little attention to.

 

Works Cited

Ayling, D 2008, “Corporate Risk Management.” Lecturer delivered for module ASB-4414 on 28

October 2008 at University of Wales, Bangor.

Crockford, N 1991, “Risk Management.” (1^st ed.). London, Witherley.

Doherty, N 2000, “Integrated Risk Management: Techniques and Strategies for Managing

Corporate Risk.” London, McGraw Hill Professional.

Goel, S 2009, “Crisis Management: Master the Skills to Prevent Disasters.”New Jersey, Global

India Publications.

Harrington, S., & Niehaus, G 2004 “Risk management and insurance”. 2nd ed. New York, Tata

Mc Graw-Hill Education.

Mitroff, I. & Anagnos, G 2001, “Managing Crises Before They Happen: What Every Executive

and Manager Needs to Know About Crises Management.” New Jersey, AMACOM Div

American Mgmt Assn.

“World Economic Forum” 2011, A vision for managing natural disaster risk. Retrieved,

<http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_VisionManagingNaturalDisaster_Proposal_2011.

pdf>

Appendices

 

Diagram 1: The Risk Management Cycle

Source: (Ayling, 2008)

 

Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.

[order_calculator]

Name:

Instructor:

Course:

Date of submission:

Loss of Sovereignty in the Contemporary World

The Loss of the Creature debunks Walker Percy’s vision of the world in a new way. He argues that conditioned ideas about things make a person lose the real essence behind things. He uses different examples to illustrate how people lose experiences through symbolic complexes. However, Percy believes it is possible for one to regain experiences by getting rid of all the social bias, and ignoring all the things learnt through social conditioning. Loss of sovereignty is depicted in how people in the world force situations to measure up to their symbolic complex. He argues, “The highest point, the term of the sightseer’s satisfaction, is not the sovereign discovery of the thing before him; it is rather the measuring up of the thing to the criterion of the performed symbolic complex” (Percy 27).

Loss of sovereignty in The Loss of the Creature is propagated by educational systems and classifications in society. According to Percy, “The Loss of the Creature is an exploration of the way the more or less objective reality of the individual is obscured in and ultimately lost to systems of education and classification” (Percy 7). In addition, interactions among characters portray loss of sovereignty. The American couple lost their sovereignty due to their ethnologist friend when they want him to agree that their experience in the Indian village was authentic. By asking him to approve the fulfillment of their experience, this couple gave their power of decision-making to the ethnologist, their friend. This couple unconsciously loses their sovereignty to the ethnologist, since he is now responsible for approving their actions. This show how even today, people depend on the approval of others, to the extent that they seem not to know how to choose between good and bad.

Loss of sovereignty in Loss of the Creature is also depicted by the sightseer’s surrender to the expert. For instance, “The expert and the planner know and plan, but the consumer needs and experiences” (Percy, 44). A reader may surrender their sovereignty to the experiences read. The American young man who visits France and experiences a riot in a restaurant surrenders his sovereignty to the experiences of French book he read. He delights in of this event since he relates to it. The pleasure he derives from this experience therefore means he has surrendered his sovereignty to the experiences he read in the book. He becomes a consumer of experience In another case, a nonprofessional finds a strange object and returns it to the owner, and is rewarded. He does not care to find out what the object is due to his ignorance, claiming that he lacks expertise to unravel it. In this case, sovereignty of the nonprofessional is lost to the experts. Experts take away “sovereignty” of people because they  do not give an opportunity for any surprise or challenge of a learning experience.

In the Loss of the Creature, a Falkland Islander can easily spy a dead dogfish and work on it, than a Scarsdale pupil can. In these cases, the Harvard Sophomore and the Scarsdale pupil lose their sovereignty of experience, as their educational system has turned them into consumers of prepared experiences. Percy refers to these as “consumer[s] of experience” (Percy 63). Even today, students go to school not to pursue knowledge, but to pursue the college experience. Sovereignty is also lost through theories, which devalue the experiences of different societies when they are published. The people therefore lose the sovereignty of their experiences.

 

 

Brave New World explores a society’s quest for peace and social stability. The society is hinged on emotions, beauty, true relationship, and love. Huxley’s  Brave New world is a sinister, unsetting, and loveless community, with many features aimed at estranging the audience. The novel illustrates the feeling that disturbs readers mind with a description of a vanquished society. (Huxley 2). Loss of sovereignty also emerges when science and technology is used in society to lead to totalitarianism. For instance, the state uses powerful technology to control people’s reproduction, by reinforcing different birth control methods, and using computers to monitor people, thus exploiting their privacy. People lose their sovereignty, as they cannot make independent decisions on their reproduction. Consumerism is another loss of sovereignty of people to the state and corporations. Due to people’s quest for happiness, there is manufacture of High-Tech entertainment mediums and increased consumption of these. Therefore, manufacturers, states, and corporations decide what products they will produce for the people. This way, the people lack power to decide what they want, as the government is responsible for all decision-making, hence loss of their sovereignty. Huxley also warns against an overly powerful state. This state runs on high technology, surveillance, torture, and secret police. The leaders are tyrannical, but wear the ‘goodness masks’ by ensuring citizens’ happiness, when in real sense, they limit their freedom. This is loss of sovereignty by citizens since the government makes most decisions and the citizens are under constant surveillance.

In Huxley’s New Brave World, a citizen of same origin as Shakespeare easily reads Shakespearean tales than a Harvard Sophomore. The loss of sovereignty is a common theme presented in both Brave New World and The Loss of Creature. Various events and experiences of the characters in these books point to their loss of sovereignty. Characters such as the American couple in loss of the creature, and the high school student in the brave new world are stripped of the rights to make their own independent decisions. Different forces, especially social conditioning, including educational system and science and technology in society have robbed the characters their freedom of choosing how to lead, plan, and live their lives. The people however, are not aware that some of the things they cling to, which are dear to them, are the same things, which rob them of their sovereignty. Therefore, the loss of sovereignty in these books is mostly experienced unconsciously, even though it has negative influence on the characters. Being a representation of the real world, the authors try to show us the different ways in which we have lost our sovereignty in society. It can therefore be posited that, loss of sovereignty results in the structure of society. The nonprofessional becomes a consumer, who finds a place in the classification and theories of consumers in society. He also loses his ownership rights when his culture is researched, documented and sold. However, Percy argues that this can only be solved by struggling to repossess our rightful places in society. Certainly, regaining experience is achievable, so is sovereignty.

 

Works Cited

Bartholomae, David, and Anthony, Petrosky. Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. Print.

Huxley, Aldous (ed). Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. New York, NY: Facts on File, Incorporated, 2009. Print.

 

Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.

[order_calculator]

Name

Course

Instructor

Date

How to Break a Bad Habit

Bad habits have adverse effects on people’s lives. Unlike other mistakes, these are repeated constantly. Bad habits are hard to break; however, they must be broken for one to live a meaningful life. People with bad habits rarely realize this. Before breaking a bad habit, a person must first realize they have a bad habit, and then show willingness to move away from it.

A person may break a bad habit by practicing abstinence. This is appropriate for habits such as drug abuse, which cause physical harm. When a person abstains from a bad habit, an immediate turn is taken on the bad habit, and a stop is put on the bad habit. Abstinence is advantageous because it ensures quick transformation from a bad habit to a good habit. For example, a person may decide that starting today; they will never smoke, and then stick to their decision.

Secondly, a person may break a bad habit by tapering off, which highly bases on harm reduction. Bad habits result in harm, so one may choose to reduce the harm by reducing the number of times they engage in the bad habit. A person will start cutting back on the bad habit, like gradually rolling back the bad habit until it finally disappears completely. For example, a smoker used to five cigarettes daily may decide to smoke only two, then one, and finally quit smoking.

The two ways present different conditions, so one may choose depending on how well they can cope. Comparing the two, abstinence may be harsh and hard considering that a habit, which has existed for many months or years, needs to be broken within a short period. This makes abstinence appropriate for habits such as gambling, but inappropriate for others, such as procrastination. With tapering, one risks prolonging their relationship with the old bad habit if they lose focus. However, tapering is effective as it enables gradual deviation from bad habit, which is less stressful than abstinence.

In conclusion, bad habits bear adverse effects on lives, therefore should be abandoned. Before breaking a bad habit, first, it needs to be identified, and then one decides to break it. Different ways of breaking it may be chosen depending on effectiveness and nature of the habit. Abstinence may be useful in addictive behavior influenced by environment, while tapering may be used together with other methods due to its weakness.

Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.

[order_calculator]

Name

Course

Instructor

Date

Article Critique – The Interface of Forensic Anthropology and Forensic Pathology in Trauma Interpretation

Ubelaker and Smialek in this article address cross-disciplinary collaboration, and from this, a reader learns to appreciate the importance of collaborations across different disciplines. The authors dwell on relationship between forensic anthropology and forensic pathology. The relationship between these two disciplines comes in handy during the process of trauma interpretation. Both forensic anthropologists and forensic pathologists work collaboratively in interpreting trauma in human remains. Without one group of these specialists, reliable trauma interpretation will not be realized.

From this article, it is clear that different knowledge and expertise of professionals in different disciplines can be used collaboratively to bring valid results. In trauma identification, physical anthropologists and forensic pathologists have different knowledge and expertise, though slightly related. The forensic anthropologists are trained in investigating age, sex, ancestry, and living stature of remains. They can also perform postmortem trauma identification. In as much as they can interpret trauma, forensic anthropologists are not fully responsible for the whole process. They collaboratively work with the forensic pathologists.

Forensic anthropologists have the expertise in soft tissue wound interpretation, investigating death, and cause of death analysis; therefore, their results are integrated with those of forensic pathologists for a final interpretation. Forensic pathologists are the most influential in the whole process since they are responsible for determining the results and validity of the results. They are also in charge of interpreting the medicolegal aspects of a case. This instance indicates that in collaborative work, one group may be the most influential depending on the nature of the study undertaken. However, this cannot undermine the other less influential group, since its contribution to the study still matters.

The article also brings out the impact of cross-disciplinary collaboration on other disciplines. The collaboration between forensic anthropologists and forensic pathologists in trauma interpretation is useful in the discipline of law, as the findings help in resolving medicolegal and crime cases. In these cases, forensic anthropologists can examine skeletal anatomy and taphonomic processes of human remains to determine cause and manner of death. Forensic pathologists do final pathological examination, interpretations, and the conclusions, before presentation to the court. To further prove the relationship between the two disciplines, the authors use a 1992 case study of Hawaii. Human remains were discovered in a crime scene and sent to Washington D.C for FBI investigation. The findings were further examined and analyzed by forensic anthropologists, who discovered trauma in the remains. Further forensic pathology analysis approved the anthropological examination findings and indicated more findings, such as homicide. These results were presented to court and were helpful in ensuring justice for the victim, as the defendant was found guilty of manslaughter.

Conclusively, it is clear that the knowledge, expertise, and experience of anthropologists and pathologists complement and supplement each other. Collaboration of these experts ensures more reliable interpretations and conclusions, which would not be reached independently. . Cross-disciplinary collaboration should therefore be encouraged due to its benefits in ensuring valid results. In addition, collaboration should diversified and not just be in the fields of obvious connection.

 

Works Cited

Ubelaker, Douglas and Smialek, John. “The Interface of Forensic Anthropology and Forensic

Pathology in Trauma Interpretation.” n.d.

Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.

[order_calculator]

 

Popular Culture Analysis

Name

Course Name

Instructor

Date

 Popular culture today highly upholds the aspect of gender differences. It perpetuates the idea that women and men are different. Magazine articles, songs, films, self-help books, television talks, and television sitcoms, all address the concept of gender differences. They show how gender differences have led to the differential treatment of men and women in employment and personal relationships, including marriage, and how these can be dealt. In popular culture, women are mostly presented stereotypically as people of simple minds, domesticated, and highly emotional. These stereotypes are perpetuated through different forms of media such as movies, cartoons, and television. However, today some elements of popular culture present men and women differently. These have served a different purpose of showing the changing gender roles in the society (Milestone & Meyer, 2012).

The song “Run the World (Girls)” by Beyoncé is an example of the songs in the pop culture, which carry gender connotations. This song portrays women as independent of men, strong, powerful, and domineering. On the other hand, men are portrayed as weaker than men, and taking orders and submitting to women. This song is some kind of hope to the womenfolk, since it praises women and brings them out as powerful, contrary to most songs in the popular culture, which portray women as weak and dependant on men. The singer preaches hope for the women in society, portraying women as having risen above the male dominance in society. That women today are independent and do not need men to complement them. This song is highly feministic and advices all women to take control of their lives, rather than being dominated by men.

In the video Beyoncé employs a lot imagery to bring out her theme of female dominance. For instance, she rides a horse, which then transits to flying in the air. This scene is a portrayal of power and dominance that women have in the society. The women featured in this video are dressed in lingerie and caps. This symbolises that they are powerful, yet still sexually appealing. The women dressed in lingerie and caps shows that women are not sex objects, but sexually dominant and can this to control men, which is to their own advantage.

In this song, Beyoncé also implies that women act submissively, giving in to the demands of men, and as well using their submissiveness to manipulate men. This is evident in the line, “My persuasion can build a nation.” The theme in this song carries female chauvinism, as Beyoncé emphasizes the alpha female. The lyrics also suggest that female dominance does not hurt as male dominance does. In addition, women rule the world yet still sacrifice a lot of things for men and the society in general. This is shown at the end of the video, where the women salute the men, meaning therefore, that women are better than men are. This song therefore brings out women as powerful, with positive dominance in the society.

Gender stereotypes have different psychological effects on both men and women. In this song, Beyoncé has portrayed men as the weaker sex and women as powerful and domineering. This is highly feministic as it focuses on the superiority of women, thus lowering men. This subsequently evokes different reactions from both sexes. Women will feel more superior, while men will feel less powerful. Quite a number of men are okay with gender equality. However, in the contemporary world, powerful women have dominated the pop culture, media, and political correctness and they publicly assert their dominance over men. This song is an example of this case, as Beyoncé is a powerful and influential woman in the world music industry and believes in dominance of women (Inness, 2004). With such a song, men feel that women are taking the advantage of ‘equality’ aspect to bash them. They thus develop a negative attitude toward all feminism.

In this song, Beyoncé has shown that men are fearful of women dominance, and tend to shy away from an empowered woman. This may in turn lead the lowering of men’s ego, and make men consider themselves as less competitive than women in the contemporary world. They may also develop a superiority complex and view women as a threat to them. In addition, men today have considered themselves as an endangered species, due to the rapid domineering of women in the society today. They may feel that women are now taking their “place” in society. These lines have attached so much importance to women. Beyoncé asserts that women are responsible for most important roles in the society, such as childbearing, home-keeping, office work, and can make their own money, yet manage to juggle all these responsibilities without support from men. This makes men feel inferior and consider their roles in society as inferior.

“How we’re smart enough to make these millions
Strong enough to bear the children
Then get back to business
Hope you still like me.” (Beyoncé, 2011).

The gender stereotypes in this song deliver inaccurate representations of both genders in real-life. This song depicts men negatively, while showing women to be superior. This in turn has an effect on the ego of women, as they will feel more powerful and more important than men. This way, they will disregard men in the society due to the assumption bore by this song that men are less powerful, and it is women who run the world. This kind of psychological wiring if it persists in society will not stabilize the understanding between men and women in society, thereby resulting in frequent gender-based conflicts. Currently, the mismatch between men and women, which is enhanced by such feminist songs and the changing roles of women in society, has led to many problems already. This song therefore propagates the battered image of the males in the society, which is demeaning to their ego (Fedorak, 2009).

This song may propagate or enhance the belief in men that women bash them, have double standard, and embrace female dominance. In this song, and the whole popular culture, especially television sitcoms, wives are portrayed as smarter than their husbands. Men are shown to be stay-at-home dads, while their wives are corporate women. This song may also propagate the thought in men that women are one-sided, and act like bosses, while expecting men to worship them. This enhances female chauvinism.

Aspects of gender keep changing in the society, including gender roles. This is because of the dynamics in the economy, which make men and women to adopt newer roles in the society. Popular culture has been instrumental in propagating stereotypes of the marginalized groups in society. However, popular culture also serves to preserve the cultures of cultural groups. For instance, in most world cultures, there is male dominance, and the popular culture propagates this through different mediums, which portray men as more powerful than women. Popular culture also highlights the changing roles of men and women. This is through mediums such as the highlighted song by Beyoncé, which shows the women climb the ladder of power as opposed to the past where they were powerless. Nonetheless, popular culture has its good and bad sides in its representation of men and women. People ought to embrace only the positive side of popular culture to avoid gender wars.

 

References

Beyoncé V. (2011). Run The World (Girls) Retrieved from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBmMU_iwe6U

Inness, S. (2004). Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in Popular Culture. London,

Palgrave Macmillan.

Fedorak, S. (2009). Pop Culture: The Culture of Everyday Life. New York, University of

Toronto Press.

Milestone, K. & Meyer, A. (2012). Gender and Popular Culture. New York, Polity.

 

Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.

[order_calculator]