Quiz 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Quiz 2 - Essay Example Within the White House workforce, there are numerous persons assuming distinct job titles. One of such job titles is that of the Press Secretary. A press secretary is among the most senior officials in the White House staff. Literally, a press secretary talks to the press (Shelley 52). Anyone assuming this title plays the role of a spokesperson. This means a press secretary tells the world of the president’s thoughts and reactions to domestic and international opinions. In addition, a press secretary delivers information about White House proceedings to the public. Permanent campaign is a term first coined by Patrick Caddell in 1976. In a letter written to President Carter, Caddell proposed a concept of continuing campaign as opposed to short term campaigns in politics. Consequently, the last three American presidents, including Obama, have stressed the concept of permanent campaign in their terms. Technically, permanent campaign refers to a situation where politicians initiate campaign projects as soon as an election is completed (Shelley 48). Instead of halting the campaign mood after an election, democrats and republicans engage in extended battle for democratic thinking. Consequently, permanent campaigns have caused a situation where political goals held by individuals and parties become active throughout the periods between election exercises. Admittedly, a president’s background is influential in shaping his executive tenure. Essentially, presidency is a public office with defined tasks. In order to display enhanced performance, office holders should possess the requisite experience in handling social, political and economic matters of the general public. In this context, an office holder’s background determines the level of expertise observed throughout a president’s

An Internal Analysis Of General Motors

An Internal Analysis Of General Motors General Motors is the international company; the global market share is estimated at 12.5 percent as of 2008 (General Motor, no date), therefore, base on the global market coverage, it can benefit from many regional countries, to allow better access to resources, talents and knowledge.. According to Boston Consulting Group, General Motors is one of the 25 most innovative companies in 2008, it arises from the concept cars like the electric Volt and a renewed focus on design. The workforce is value driven and understands the business mission and vision. 1.2 Intangible resources The intangible resources of the organization are its brand image and its reputation. General Motors has its strong reputation for innovation and new products in the automotives market. This means that customers will often associate the brand with new technology and products. 1.3 Core competencies General Motors core competencies including innovation. They constantly strive to deliver new and exciting products to the market, and human resources. General Motors have a well prepared knowledge and flexible workforce who is concentrated on reaching business goals. General Motors starts recommending vehicle installed OnStar satellite in case of an emergency or theft.(Onstar, no date) 2 Factors affecting the Automotive Industry (PESTEL Analysis) 2.1 Political The safer vehicle and the environment in the American market is not restricted at a great disadvantage. Government and authorities in the region made efforts to regulate, eventually start the implement and set the laws and regulation since the 1960s (L.S. Robertson, 2006) 2.2 Economic According the number of studies (Catherine Rampell, 2008), is the major user of steel, iron, lead, plastics, vinyl, rubber, aluminum, textiles, and computer chips. The study also mentioned that for each autoworker there are seven other jobs created in other industries. 2.3 Sociocultural The consumer automotive market, especially the vehicles market, used to be dominated by men but nowadays is not true. Marketing strategies are also focusing on emotions. The presence of women in the market shall turn out as fallback to cushion declining sales On the other hand, young consumers increase their spending power by working in a part-time job or by receiving larger allowance from their increasingly financially successful parents. 2.4 Technology the internet has a great impact on every industry in the anywhere and has also affect the automobile industry. According to the J.D. Power and associates 2006 New Autoshopper.com Study, 59% of the buyers referred to the internet before making their purchases and out of that 59%, 85% of the serious buyers visit the manufactures website before going to the dealer for a test drive. 2.5 Environmental On 30th November 2007, the business leaders of 150 global companies published a communiquà © to world leaders calling for a comprehensive, legally binding United Nations framework to tackle climate change. In fact, there is a programme in which WWF and businesses collaborate to show leadership in addressing climate change. 3. Porters Five Force Anaylsis 3.1 Threat of new entrants The threat of new entrants is relatively low. This is mainly due to the fact that it will cost a new company a lot of investment cost and know how to enter the automotive market. 3.2 Threat of substitute products Tthe coverage of destination is limited, besides, bus, metro, taxi are not products that can replace the vehicle. Therefore, the threat of substitute products is relatively low to moderate 3.3 Bargaining power of suppliers Due to the fact that suppliers are united, they are a very strong threat in the automotive market, nevertheless, the United Auto Worker, the only supplier of labor, has exerted a great deal of the leverage over the benefits and wages provided by the big three, therefore we can conclude that the bargaining power of supplier is strong. 3.4 Bargaining power of buyers As we look at consumer behavior when buying vehicles the conclusion can be made that their power is relatively low. Mainly the reason for this low power is because individual consumer has some power over price within a given dealership, but low power over manufacturers. 3.5 Competitive rivalry within the industry Due to the fact that there is a intense completion going on in the auto industry the rivalry within the automotive market is high. There are a lot of choice and intense competition in internet sales that can damage a company when they dont keep up with their competitors. See appendix 1 for more information. Summary Porters Five Forces Framework Porter (1980) http://dpj.typepad.co.uk/entrepreneur_zest/images/2008/03/26/porters_five_forces.gif 4. SWOT Analysis 4.1 Strengths 4.1.1 Large Market Share Although GMs market share in the US has declined, it still retains a competitive 21.5 percent in 2008. They also start to penetrate the Chinese customer automotives market and gain an increasing share. 4.1.2 Global Experience They have already been a global company for almost 100 years now and have established themselves as the global leader for most of them, they already have global experience. 4.1.3 Variety of Brand Names GM has been the automotive leader for the majority of the last century. The current GM brands included: Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, Daewoo, Opel, and Holden. 4.1.4 GMAC Customer Financing Program Since its establishment in 1919 it has proven to be GMs most reliable way of revenue. 4.1.5 OnStar Satellite Technology This technology allows the vehicles to be tracked in the event of an emergency or theft, it also allows the driver or passengers the ability to communicate with OnStar personnel at the click of a button. 4.2 Weaknesses 4.2.1 Behind on Alternative Energy Movement The alternative hybrid trend has begun to take place in the automotive industry and GM has been one step behind the competition It is a reason that lead them to lose the market share. 4.2.2 Organizational Structure below standard We can see the organization structure above, it seems to be too vertically integrated. The shortcomings are that it is a lack of communication between employees from top to bottom and may have played a part in GM lag on the hybrid technology. 4.2.3Stagnant Profitability To review GMs profit we can see that they are struggling with respect to the size of the company. It is disappointed that shareholder would not happy about. 4.2.4 Too dependent on domestic market GM overly become dependent on the US market The competition will become tough if they only focus on just one country. 4.2.5 Too dependent on GMAC GM overly become dependent on its financing company. Maybe it is a very great advantage for GM, but they cannot rely on financing company for gain the profit, if they want to compete with competitors 4.2.6 Poor Credit Rating GMs credit status has been declining obviously. According to Standard Poors, they declared billion of dollars of debt owed by GM to be junk, it will increase borrowing costs and limit fund-raising options for them.(Sharon Silke Carty, 2005) 4.3 Opportunities 4.3.1 Alternative energy movement hybrid technology is giving to GM a opportunity to once again become the automotive industry leader in innovation and technology 4.3.2 Continuing to expand globally Recently, they found that there is a dramatically increase in China automotive market, that proves themselves to focus and emphasis on Chinese huge potential market. 4.3.3 Low interest rates It is a opportunity that they can gain immediate revenue in sales. 4.3.4 Develop new vehicle styles and models As you know the development of the vehicle model never be satisfied, GM should keep attempting the most popular model in the world. 4.4 Threats 4.4.1 Rising fuel prices GM the major business pieces is the sales of truck and SUV, but it is gradually declined because of the lack of fuel efficiency, for rising fuel prices this reason, 4.4.2 Growth of competitors Toyota gains the first mover advantage of hybrid system and become the leader of automotive industry, GM faces the reality they should develop more fuel efficiency vehicle and small car model. 4.4.3 Legacy cost GM provide a great welfare to their retired employees, so they need to experience it is a serious financial problem more and more retired employees begin to be benefited. 5 Key strategic issues firm face GM is facing several strategic issues. It will be shown by a number of aspects. The economic recession, Competition, and New entrants. 5.1 Economic Recession The economy of world is currently in the downturn, or even recession in which will impact a lot of industries and consumers in the world. As the economy slowing down, doing business may find it hard to increase the revenue because banks are not willing to lend money to companies, especially bad credit status companies. As a result, GM may suffer from decrease in sales of automotives. However, they may benefit from hybrid technology, since more people are buying new fuel efficiency car model if consumer intend to purchase a new car. 5.2 Competitor in automotive industry The competition between the main competitors for instance, Toyota, Honda, Ford, has expanded beyond that of the traditional energy car. These companies are now competing on value adding products, fuel efficiency, design and service of maintenance. In order to achieve competitive advantage companies try to merge or acquire other companies in gain experience and knowledge. 5.3 New entrants The fast moving and constantly changing industry gives opportunities to new entrants who have not previously specialized in the automotive market as technology can often be easily imitated. In addition an alliance formed by different companies, such as Magna and Sberbank, trying to seek a takeover of Opel and Vauxhall, parts of GM European division. There has also a growing number of new entrants in China due to relatively low investment costs. 6 Strategic Options The strategic options that GM might realistically pursue had been discussed as below such as product development, market development,, and market penetration as their strategic options. (Ansoff, 1987) 6.1 Product development Product development is a feasible option because it can be capable both in present and the prospect. This option is also suitable to GM since it is able to exploit the needs of customers. GM is facing the threats of too much competitors in the market and the improvement of technology is increasing rapidly. Doing more researches on GMs products and investigate and understanding more about the favour of customers are significant. To improve the quality of services in their technology should not be neglected in order to catch up the expect of consumers and the externally needs so the company can be enhanced and stable in the market. . Suitability: Due to the furious competition between the three consoles company, this strategy is very important. GM have to develop more innovative new products to catch up the pace of the technological advancement. This could ensure the company to gain a step ahead of its competitiors. The technology industry requires swiftness in developing new and innovative products. Feasibility: The research and development of the company is doing very well in the past few years. They had been rated the top 25 most innovative company in the world (businessweek, 2008). In skills term, they have talent in which had leaded and developed a lot of innovative ideas which attracted a lot of consumers from youths, adult and even elders!. Acceptability: Shareholders and stakeholders will agree wholly with GMs decision as technology investors, they realize that the technology development or innovation is very important to maintain themselves into the market. 6.2 Market penetration According to (Lynch, R., 2006), market penetration uses the existing range of products or services to attract potential customers or consumers from competitor to expand their own market share. It basically targets the existing customers in the present market of competitors and gain profit from it. The cost is lower, and the chance of attracting consumers is higher. GM uses price competitive advantage to deal with their competitors, which are Toyota, Honda, Fordà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦etc. When GM introduces their brand, it is priced lower than others significantly. GM offer lower prices than competitors and it attract competitors consumers to have an attempt on the product due to its low price Suitability: This strategy is suitable to be implemented because this allows GM to grab more market shares from their numerous of competitors in the US market, Feasibility: GM is capable to compete with competitors as they are financially competent with them. Since GM stated that they retain the GM Europe section because they posses good health of liquidity again. This also shows that GM is financially secured and there is no problem for them to compete with their competitors. Acceptability: Stakeholders of GM will accept the strategy as long it is profitable to the organization and to them. 6.3 Market development From this strategy options, it involves the strategy of introducing both new and existing products to their existing customers and not overlooking the new customers. From here, both new and existing customers have the options and more information about those products. From here, they would be introduce their product to both side. They would be able to saturated new opportunities for geographical spread, entering new segments or new users in the environment. Such a change will enable GM in better turnover at medium risk by exploiting current strength or market knowledge. (Lynch, R., 2006) Suitability: It is suitable in market development as they tend to target new groups of people, and other new geographic places. (Johnson, Scholes Whittington, 2008). GM try to targets elders, adult or basically all adult group. Feasibility: It is feasible for GM as they have enough resources to develop into the new market. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, they has received $1 billion repayment from GM. This shows that they totally have enough fund to research and develop proper strategy in order to venture into the new market or exploring into a new market segment. Acceptability: Stakeholders and shareholders would surely agree with this strategy as it gain profit for the company and stakeholders or shareholders themselves. Recommendation of Strategy options The best strategic option for GM in their current situation is to develop a new vehicle which is alternative energy SUV; this strategy would significantly lead to a growth in sales. In addition, GM can gain a new business partner from Canada-Russia consortium because of their contractual relationship and this would be a great competitive advantage for GM. By using this strategy, which is an external method, it can help GM to solve their problems quickly. An alliance with Magna-Sberbank will also benefit GM in terms of saving expenses on research for the small car technology. This will aid GM in solving the tribulations that they are facing. 7 Implementation Issues When GM wants to withdraw or retain Europe operation, some obstacles will appear. They are called implementation issues. These implementation issues will be discussed how Government involved in its decision making. 7.1 Russian Government German Gref, the Sberbank boss stated that he acquires GM Europe section to enter new markets abroad and confirmed it is a really low price to takeover Opel, it can get the permission to get its company technology. Sberbank is a famous creditors of automotive industry in Russia in which inform to turn around its carmaker industry. The Russian Trade and Industry Minister stated that if not the takeover, they will not good enough to develop the international car company Since the Russian government plans to acquire international technology, all of the international autos keep continue to build some facilities such as manufacturing plants in there to reach domestic market demand. The global companies can avoid Russian import taxes on autos, besides, they can benefit from the domestic low salaries. Nowadays, to sell the GM Europe, GM will struggle in the Russian market and GM technology. 7.2 US Government According to American negotiating circle, the US government is not welcomed to work with the Magna as long as Russian companies get extensive access to GM patents. As Magna keen to get access to all developments from the GM patent pool. US government concerns about not only car technology, they concern about Russian getting the military items. On the other hands, GM concerned that the consortium will use GM technology to contribute a potential threat of competitor to GM another brand in the Russian market. (Reuters, 2009) In addition, China Beijing automotive offer and promised job cut, and required financial support are much better than the other two, Magna also design Opel the best way for future development, but the GM is welcomed RHJ. According the analyst, GM expects to be able to make a comeback again in the future control of Opel, RHJ operation mode exactly GM wants, RHJ can give a hand to GM achieve a deep restructuring.(Wall street journal, 2009) 7.3 Germany Government According to Reuters(2009), the Germany Chancellor Merkel played an important role in the incident that Opel will be sold to Magna. Why? Because she takes the mission to save German unemployment rate, this is a political activity, she is preparing the coming election. How Merkel convinces Magna, allowed to retain as many jobs as Germany can be affordable? This is simple word money. The Germany Government wait for the European Commission approved a loan of 4.5 billion Euros to the Opel. Furthermore, the plants will not be closed in Germany, this seems very favorable for Merkel, and she is expected to easily win the election. On the other hands, it will damage their relationship if there is any failure of Russian involvement in Opel since Germany is apparently work well with Russia about trading. Besides, German election is almost can be said to the future destiny of the Opel that become a political hot potato. Government has invested a lot of money into the Opel, which is an economic decision making, but also the reason of political consideration. To unresolved Opel future, Merkel will be faced more political pressure. On the other hands, Germany government will not give any financial support to GM Europe section if GM remains it. It makes sense that Government will not help a outsider in which Germany has big three carmakers (Audi, BMW, Volkswagen),to survive its operation. As GM has already damaged the GM Europe section operation and put Opel on the transfer list. Germany cannot build any trust on GM, but by the way they have a good relationship with Russia as I mentioned above. Conclusion As a conclusion, GM sales have been affected by the economic downturn and in order to increase their sales the best option is to launch a alternative energy SUV. Besides that, GM wants to protect themselves on the market, and for this reason GM needs to be more innovative and be more sensitive to the current trends of the market. Knowing the needs of consumer will retain GMs position in the market as the worlds leading producer of mobile phone. 8. Reflective Statement on Leadership Leadership is defined as entails some degree of voluntarism in followship (Pardey, D., 2007). However, Kotter (1990) argues that leadership is about coping with the changes by giving direction. Kotters (1990) leadership framework states that the role of leadership is to set a direction, develop a vision of where the organization should be going and the strategy for change to achieve that vision. Leaders align people to the direction being set, communicating it to people and building commitment to it. Motivating and inspiring people so that they work to achieve the vision drawing on their needs, values and emotions. Our group were using democratic style of leadership where all of our members were involved in the decision making process. Ryan, our group leader discussed with all of us and decides which part we need to work on step by step. This helps a lot as we were very unclear about the direction were heading to. Communications In my group, there is some communication issues as the all four of us come from different country and background. Sometimes, there will be conflict of ideas and difficulty in presenting the ideas. We got delays in meeting because some of our group members were busy or there were some lack of communication as in setting up our meet up time got messed up and caused some group members turned up and some did not. I learnt that working in a group is not easy as it needs more effort to discuss and accomplish it. Responsibility We were each given task to search for the information from external analysis to internal analysis. All of our group mates were very responsible that they all searched for the information on their own part and some of them even helped to search for others part of work in detail. This helped our group to have the sufficient information for us to do our work. I learnt that without time management, everything would be in a total mess as we might have hand our assignment late. Problem solving We overcome our communication problem by spending more time during our meetings and we make sure everyone understand what are the things that we need to accomplish and understand what our group members were discussing during the meeting. I had learnt that developing a vision is important as it helps our group to do our work on time. Reference list Ansoff, H.I. (1987) Corporate Strategy Revised Edition. London: Penguin Books. BusinessWeek,(2008),The 50 Most Innovative Companies. [online] Available at: http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/innovative_companies/ (Access: 9th January 2010) Catherine Rampell, (2008), How many jobs depend on the big three?, Economix, [online] Available at http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/how-many-jobs-depend-on-the-big-three/ (Accessed: 9th January 2010) General Motors,(no date) GM Global Vehicle Sales and Market Share-2008,December [Online]. Available at http://www.gm.com/europe/corporate/sales/global/ (Accessed:9th January 2010) J.D.Power (2006), Research a car online[online] Available at: http://www.jdpower.com/autos/articles/research-a-car-online (Access:9th January 2010) Johnson, G., Scholes, K. Whittington, R. (2008) Exploring Corporate Strategy. 8th edn. England: Prentice Hall. Kotter, J. (1990) what leaders really do Harvard Business Review. L.S. Robertson, (2006), Motor Vehicle Dealth: Failed Policy Analysis and Neglected Policy, Vol. 27,p. 182-189, Journal of Public Health Policy Lynch, R. (2006) Corporate Strategy. 4th edn. Essex : Pearson. Pardey, D.(2007) Introducing Leadership. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Onstar,(no date) [online] Available at: http://www.onstar.com/us_english/jsp/index.jsp (Access:9th January 2010) Reuters (2009) GMs U-turn on Opel sale angers Germany Russia. Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5a25RL20091104 (Accessed:: 5/01/2009) Sharon Silke Carty, (2005) SP cut GM, Ford debt rating to junk status, [online] Available at http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2005-05-05-gm-junk_x.htm ,USA Today(Accessed:9th January 2010) Vincent J. Galifi. (2009) Magna Confirms Offer for Opel, [Online]. Available at: http://www.magna.com/magna/de/media/pressreleases/?i=218 (Accessed:5/01/2010) Vincent J. Galifi. (2009) MAGNA AND SBERBANK OFFER SELECTED AS THE PREFERRED SOLUTION FOR OPEL [Online]. Available at: http://www.sbrf.ru/en/news/index.php?id114=11000080 (Accessed:5/01/2010) Wall Street Journal (2009) RHJ improve the terms of its bid for GMs Opel.[Online]. Available at:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125182274337876583.html

Discuss the Role of the Inspector in An Inspector Calls Essay -- An In

Birlings, he controls the development of events: who will speak and when; who may or may not leave; who will or will not see the photograph. He even Priestley describes the Inspector, when he first appears on stage, in terms of 'massiveness, solidity and purposefulness' (p.11), symbolizing the fact that he is an unstoppable force within the play. His 'disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before speaking' (p.11) gives the impression that he sees through surface appearances to the real person beneath. It also gives him a thoughtfulness that contrasts with the thoughtlessness of each character's treatment of the girl. His role in the play is not simply to confront each character with the truth, but to force each character to admit the truth they already know. He works methodically through the characters present one at a time, partly because he recognizes that 'otherwise, there's a muddle' (p.12), and partly because, given the chance, the characters are all quick to defend each other, or to call upon outside help (such as Colonel Roberts) in order to avoid accepting the truth of what he suggests. He arrives just after Birling has been setting out his views of life: that every man must only look out for himself. The Inspector's rule is to show that this is not the case. Throughout the play he demonstrates how people are responsible for how they affect the lives of others; his views are summed up in his visionary and dramatic final speech: that 'we are members of one body. We are responsible for each other' (p.56). Responsibility is one of the play's two key themes, and the Inspector is Priestley's vehicle for putting across his own views of this as a socialist. In this final speec... ...led as both an alcoholic and a thief. After the Inspector has gone, Birling simply wants things to return to the way they were. He cannot understand Sheila's and Eric's insistence that there is something to be learnt, and he is relieved and triumphant when he feels that scandal has been avoided and everything is all right. Right up until the end, he claims that 'there's every excuse for what both your mother and I did - it turned out unfortunately, that's all' (p.57). Birling is not the cold and narrow-minded person that his wife is; he simply believes in what he says. He is a limited man, who is shown to be wrong about many things in the play; it is the Birlings of the world whom Priestley feared - in 1945 - would not be willing or able to learn the lessons of the past, and so it is to the younger generation that Priestley hopefully looked instead...

Fate and the Deaths of Romeo and Juliet in William Shakespeares Play E

Fate and the Deaths of Romeo and Juliet in William Shakespeare's Play Before judging to what extent Fate was responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, we must first answer the question: what is fate? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, fate is the 'inevitable destiny or necessity destined term of life; doom.' On a more basic level, fate can be described as a preplanned sequence of events influencing one's life. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, is it true to say that Fate was the sole contributor to the deaths of the young couple, or was their demise brought about by the mistakes of others? In the modern world, most people choose to believe that they have a sense of responsibility and can control their own lives. They suppose that their problems are caused by the actions of themselves or those influencing them. From one viewpoint, it is true to say that the deaths of Romeo and Juliet were caused by the mistakes made by themselves and others: the influence of fate was almost nonexistent. Four characters in the play intensely manipulate the tragic path of the young couple: (apart from Romeo and Juliet themselves) Mercutio, the Nurse, Tybalt and the Friar. Mercutio, one of Romeo's friends and a supporter of the Montague household, changed the course of events by encouraging Romeo to go the Capulet's masquerade and duelling with Tybalt in town. If Mercutio had not encouraged Romeo to go to the Capulet's dance, the couple would never have met and their deaths would have been averted. But was Romeo destined to meet Juliet, regardless of the actions of others? If Mercutio had not taunted Tybalt in town whilst out with Ro... ...tement does not make Juliet feel any better however, as she promptly commits suicide! Shakespeare again chooses to place the blame on a higher power rather than an individual, signifying his desire to make the audience believe that no one person or thing was responsible for the deaths of the young couple but fate. After looking at the two viewpoints as to who was to blame for the deaths of the young couple, the countless references to fortune and fate make it easy to conclude that Fate was to a great extent responsible. It seems apparent that Shakespeare meant for his audience to interpret the happenings of the play as influenced by some higher power, and if fate really does control everything about our lives then it would be sensible to assume that the actions of all the characters in the play were also fated.

Sive

Sive – The abuse of power Power and the abuse of power is a central theme in Sive. The text examines the way in which empowerment can corrupt certain individuals and become a destructive factor in families and in relationships. Mena uses her powers of persuasion and her position in the family unit to satisfy her own ends and ambitions. Mena’s attitude to Sive’s education is one of begrudgery and resentment. Mena abuses her position in the family. She is empowered by her man who is easily manipulated and overcome.Mike Glavin does not have the ability to thwart the wills of his respected wife. A further abuse of her power can be seen in each text in the way Mena try’s to break up a positive relationship. Mena keeps Sive a prisoner in the house and lies to her concerning Liam Scuab’s feelings about her proposed marriage. What we observe here is a woman who seeks to control and manipulate a young person in order to suit her own agenda. The text provides a serious and devastating example of woman abusing psychological power by revealing secrets about fathers to control and influence Sive.She believes that she has succeeded and enjoys a temporary triumph. Thomasheen Rua is another example of an individual who holds tremendous power and sway over the live of others. He has a nasty streak and exploit others for his on ends. Thomasheen’s threats to Nanna engage in abuse and personal insults, which gives him an over-arching sense of his own power a sadistic streak can be observed in Thomasheen. The former enjoys talking about the County Home to terrify Nanna.Mena’s controlling manipulative behaviour has a destructive effect on the family relationships and creates a toxic atmosphere in the household. Mena has strong abjections to Sive getting an education. Mena is more motivated by jealousy and spite. On the opening of the play, â€Å"Out working with a farmer you should be instead of getting your head filled with high not ions†. Her resentment is palpable when she complains about how she has to work herself to â€Å" the marrow of the bones to give you schooling†. At this point of the play Mena does not have power to prevent Sive attending school.This power comes later when she is considering the possibility of marrying Sive off to Sean Dota. Mena uses her power over Mike Glavin to convince him that Sive should abandon her education. She asks him contemptuously if he is â€Å"forgetting the money† they will get if they manage to marry Sive to Sean Dota and wonders if â€Å" There is a soft bone somewhere in your head man†. Mike’s comment that â€Å"Sive is young with a brain by her† is ignored while Mena goes on to play on his fears that Liam Scuab is meeting Sive secretly.She exploits the hatred Mike has for Liam by deciding that Sive will not go to school again but remain under Mena’s supervision in the house â€Å" there’s one easy way to sto p that sort of thing and that is to move Sive into the west room where I can keep my eye on her and her only mean of coming and going will be through our bedroom†. Having manipulated Mike later flings Sive’s schoolbag across the room and shouts at her that there â€Å"will be no more school for you†. Using her power over both Mike and Sive Mena succeeds with her plan. Mike has no option but to comply and inform the nuns that Sive will not be attending school again.In this text we see women abusing their power over weaker men to satisfy their own selfish plans. Mena manages to separate Sive from Liam Scuab. Mena keeps Sive a prisoner in her own home. She lied to Liam Scuab as to Sive’s whereabouts she attacks him even threatening him with a knife screaming â€Å" I’ll open you! I’ll open you if you vex me more† Twisting the truth of Liam’s intentions in an effort to finally break Sive’s spirit she tells her that Liam calle d to the house to wish her well in her marriage and that he was â€Å" going away to foreign places†.Mena has no respect for the grief her actions cause others and thinks only of herself. A key scene in Sive depicts a revelation concerning the identity of Sive’s father. Mena previously uses secret information to manipulate and gain a powerful advantage over Sive. When Sive says to Mena that she doesn’t want to marry Sean Dota Mena manipulates the situation by telling Sive that her â€Å"was never a father, he had no name, you have no name† Sive is shocked and is left speechless. There’s some truth to Mena’s story but so much of what Mena says is twisted.If Sive feels the same shame as her mother because she is â€Å"a bye-child, a common bye-child a bastard† Mena will succeed in breaking her down making her compliant. Thomasheen Rua is another example of an person who misuses the power of persuasion for self-gain. He’s the cent re of a battle to ensure the Sive marries Sean Dota and he thrives on bulling and abusing those who put forward any obstacle in his desired end. Thomasheen thinks he is hard done by â€Å"making love between people I spend my days and no thanks for it†. He is capable of welding power through sarcastic comments .Thomasheen abuses and threatens Nanna who has to defend Sive. He callously tells her that she is â€Å"a lone woman with you husband feeding worms in his trench. You have terrible gumption with no one left to back you† he engages in threats by referring to the â€Å" the county home staring you in the face†. At that time many old people lived in fear of ending their days in such a place. His words have the desired effect as Nanna seems to withdraw from the attack. He has no hesitation in encouraging Mena to assert her power over Sive by threatening her with violence if she refuses to marry Sean Dota â€Å"isn’t she a bye-child.Tell her you will be ll-rag her through the parish if she goes against you. Tell her you will hunt the oul’ woman into the county home†. Later he turns on Mike mocking his naivety concerning the love letter from Liam Scuab â€Å" it comes to me that you are the greatest lump of a fool, of an eejit in the seven parishes†. Humiliation is his trump card â€Å" if you ever get out of the bog there is an asylum for lunatics where you could put down a bit of time without doing yourself any harm†.Sive chooses death as her only method of refusing to obey those who like to control her. Sive thinking that Liam has left her and that her position is hopeless escapes from her tormentors by drowning herself in a bog-hole. Sive disempowers her tomentors by committing suicide in the bog rather than agreeing to marry Sean Dota. This character chooses death to make a stand against those who abuse power for their own private often fully acknowledged reasons. Her suicide brings the play to a poig nant close and illustrates the destruction caused by a greedy abuse of power

English Proficiency Conclusion

Conclusions On the basis of the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. A great majority of the respondents are male, graduates of public high schools, and pursuing the degree program Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (BSCE). 2. When the respondents are grouped according to the variable gender, their overall level of proficiency in the four English grammar skills is Poorly Proficient.When they are grouped according to the variable type of high school attended, their overall level of proficiency in the four English grammar skills is Poorly Proficient. When the respondents are grouped according to the variable degree program, their overall level of proficiency in the four English grammar skills is Poorly Proficient. 3. The respondents do not differ significantly in their skills in asking questions and in responding to questions when they are grouped according to the variable gender.In other words, the male respondents’ ability to ask questions and to respond to questions does not differ from that of the female respondents’ ability to perform the same grammar skills. On the other hand, the respondents differ significantly in their skills in combining sentences and in expanding sentences when they are grouped according to the variable gender. That is, the male respondents’ ability to combine sentences and to expand sentences differs from that of the female respondents’ ability to perform said grammar skills.As to the variable type of high school attended, the respondents do not differ significantly in their skills in asking questions, in responding to questions, in combining sentences, and in expanding sentences. That is, the private high school graduates’ ability to ask questions, to respond to questions, to combine sentences, and to expand sentences do not differ from that of the public high school graduates’ ability to perform said grammar skills.When the respondents are grouped according t o their respective degree programs/sections, they differ significantly in their skills in asking questions, in combining sentences, and in expanding sentences but there is no significant difference in their skills in responding to questions. In other words, the respondents from each of the three sections differ from each other in their ability to perform said grammar skills.

Intercultural Competence

10th May 2011, London: Following several incidents involving the police and members of the public of different cultures, religions and beliefs the country has decided to educate the police force and publish a handbook that is designed to give officers a better understanding of the needs and expectations of the people in the area. This handbook will relate to everyone from asylum seekers and ethnic minorities to travelers, homosexuals and people with disabilities. The councils Head Officer in Diversity issues said, â€Å"It is crucial that the police in Britain understand and are aware of the different cultures involved in the community that they serve in order to improve the service and trust for the people we are protecting†. One incident that caused a lot of media attention to the way that the British police force handles multicultural and diverse members of the public occurred last year in Essex County when a Muslim woman was arrested and the police officer proceeded to search her for concealed weapons. For Muslim women this is very disrespectful to be searched by a man, who later requested that she remove her headscarf so that he could see her properly. It is incidents like this that are completely cruel to someone with different beliefs than the police officer. After the media had heard about the way this individual was mistreated the police officer involved said, â€Å"I had no idea that I was disrespecting her religion or her beliefs and I would have never acted in that manner if I was aware of the vast differences†. This is why the need for a handbook and more cultural education for the police is necessary to run a more effective police service. Another incident that backs up this handbook was the documentary filmed by the BBC called ‘The Secret Policeman’ (2003) which investigated the police force in Manchester and the large amount of racism displayed during the show, typically referring to Muslim and Middle-Eastern members of the public as ‘Pakis’. The documentary shows another side of the police that Britain was not aware of, and a particular Junior Officer said a shocking statement, â€Å"A dog born in a barn is still a dog. A Paki born in England is still a F****** Paki†. The documentary caused an uproar and the police were forced to take action as the public was no longer comfortable being monitored by such people. The journalist responsible for covering the story; Mark Daly personally went undercover in the Manchester police force and recorded racist behavior with hidden cameras. Five years later (2008), Daly went back to the police and collected surveys from multicultural members of the force to see if the racism issue had improved, what he discovered yet again was severely disappointing, â€Å"this person in particular says he is treated as a slave purely because he is Black†. Other issues came up such as never being promoted based on race, being treated worse than in the 60’s, and that more than 72% of all police officers in Britain had experienced racism at work. The Secret Policeman’ had hours of disgraceful police behavior recorded and really caused the public to be aware of who they are being served by, leading to a huge loss of trust and respect for the entire police force in Britain. This alone was a potentially dangerous situation for the crime rate in the UK. Not only were the police in the UK acting in a racist manner towards members of the public but also towards other police officers. According to the documentary, each police department in the UK has a required percentage of ethnic minorities that should be involved in the force, however this percentage was not met by any of the police departments. Another survey shows that 50% of Ethnic Minorities that join the police force last less than 6 months, compared to 85% of white officers. The racism occurring amongst the police force members was shown to be very severe and involved extreme racist references to the Ku Klux Klan. This type of discrimination towards anyone is truly unacceptable and only proves how much the police truly require some further training in respecting, understanding and dealing with cultural differences. The entire country could benefit from a handbook on intercultural sensitivity, as it would create a much better environment for every community in Britain. The BBC documentary ‘The Secret Policeman’ (2003) explores racism in the police force, however there is still a large amount of racism amongst the general public. This was proven from another documentary also conducted by the BBC ‘Racism in Multicultural Britain’ (2009) where a Middle-Eastern couple went undercover in a housing estate in Bristol. They were targeted by the youth of the estate and were constantly discriminated against for being Muslim and an ethnic minority in the community. They were not only verbally abused but also physically from having rocks and punches thrown at them for no good reason but being different. As the United Kingdom continues to attract immigrants due to the better opportunities for education and employment the police force needs to adapt. This handbook hopefully symbolizes the acknowledgement for this change and will lead to the entire country becoming more interculturally competent. As more and more people in and outside Britain become aware of the racist issues in the country there will be more action taken to help communities accept and respect other ethnic groups. In the future, discrimination should be eradicated and no longer accepted in British culture. References: ‘The Secret Police man’ (2003, October 24). Racism In U K Police Force. YouTube . Retrieved May 14, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_GWy82olhw&feature=related ‘Racism in Multicultural Britain’. (2009, October 21). Racism in Multicultural Britain. YouTube. Retrieved May 14, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8e6lS7T9yI