Images of Womans Sexuality in Advertisements Essay Example for Free

Images of Womans Sexuality in Advertisements Essay Considering the time an average American spends in front of the TV screen, it is obvious that the things he/she sees there influence greatly his/her perception of the world around. The stereotypes media offers us make a great impact of our perception of people. Thus, its no wonder that the images of womens sexuality in advertisements partly form our gender stereotypes. For to get more information on this issue, I analyzed an article by Christina N. Baker, published in the Sex Roles: A Journal of Research in January 2005. The name of the article is Images of womens sexuality in advertisements: a content analysis of Black- and White-oriented womens and mens magazines. This article analyzes the stereotypes of womens sexuality given in advertisements, the differences of those stereotypes for the White and Black woman. It gives the peculiarities of images created for the representatives of different races, and analyzes the origins and the influence of stereotypes that appear due to the TV and magazine commercials. It has always seemed to me that people in our society share some distorted view of woman and their sexuality. They express the concepts about it that are sometimes totally ridiculous (like that a woman should not express her sexual desires, as it is socially disapproved). Those concepts are very widespread nowadays, and I have been interested for a long time already why people trust those stereotypes, why lots man judge the woman that surround them on the strength of those concepts. Later I understood that the media also have the considerable role on forming the gender stereotypes. Thus I felt I wanted to know more about the specific features of these stereotypes, and, about the mechanism of their functioning. The author developed three hypotheses about the portrayal of woman in media. The first was that sexual women will be portrayed with characteristics such as submissiveness and dependency in both womens and mens mainstream/White-oriented magazines. According to the review of literature the author made, we live in a patriarchal society, where man a considered to be superior to women, thus they put the criteria of sexuality for woman. For man †¦sexual attractiveness in women is associated with physical beauty. A sign of status for a man is to have a physically attractive woman by his side. The more physically attractive a woman is, the more prestige she will bring to her male partner/spouse. The woman portrayed in commercials, and on the pages of the magazines is bound to be submissive, as it is one of the demands of patriarchal society. The author also notes that some of the scientific findings hypothesize that the continuous showing in the media of women as submissive sex objects whose main goal is to satisfy mans desires, reinforces the gender hierarchy existing in the contemporary society. The second hypothesis is that sexual Black women are more likely than sexual White women to be portrayed as dominant and independent. The author noted that despite of the fact that all of the women are more likely to be portrayed as the sexual objects, White woman are seen as the etalon of beauty, thus they are portrayed as the sex objects more frequently than the Black women are. It is also the fact that Black women have always been depicted as dominant towards Black man. It is historically that Black man cant get a decent job, thus Black women often have to bring the bacon home. This is the reason why Black woman are often portrayed as the heads of the families in the advertisements. The author also noted that the two stereotypes that exist about black woman are Mommy – the matriarch of the big family, and the mother that is raising her child by herself. The stereotype also exists in the contemporary society that Black woman usually dont have a husband. The author adds that the Black matriarch is that is portrayed as deviant because she challenges the assumption of the patriarchal family. The third hypothesis is that Black-oriented magazines are more likely than White-oriented magazines to portray sexual women as dominant and independent. The literature review conducted by the author states that despite of the fact that television commercials that targeted Black audiences contained about as many stereotypical images of Blacks as did those directed toward Whites, the Blackoriented magazines portrayed women in more active and even aggressive role. It was also that in the magazines for the Blacks women were more often portrayed in the role of the mother than women in the magazines for the whites. The characteristic feature of the portrayal of woman in the Blackoriented magazines was that there woman were rather shown in an extended families than in nuclear one, which conforms to the matriarch stereotype. The last hypotheses said that black women will be portrayed with physical characteristics that conform to White standards of beauty. However, Black women are more likely to have European features in White-oriented magazines than in Black-oriented magazines. The research showed that nowadays Blackoriented magazines portray women which conform to the White standart of beauty. The color of skin of those woman is dark, but the features are thin, they are slender, and they usually have long and straight hair. In fact, the only phenotypic difference between Caucasian and Afro-American models is the color of skin. Blackoriented magazines dont consider the fact that the features portrayed are not typical for the Black woman, and dont respond to the African canons of beauty. The sexual attractiveness in our society is associated with Whiteness, thus the magazines try to fulfill the desires of their readers. The findings of the articles author coincide with the results of researches conducted by the psychologists, sociologists and psychologists during the last fifty years. For example, Poe, (1976), and Silverstein Silverstein,(1974) found that in most of the TV advertisements woman were less physically active that man were, and they were the recipients of the advice given by man. It confirms the first hypothesis of the articles author, the one which says that women are depicted as submissive to man. The persuasion is that the woman has to be weak for to be attractive.

Importance Of Time In Distributed Systems

Importance Of Time In Distributed Systems Time is an important and interesting issue in Distributed Systems for several reasons. First, time is a quantity we always want to measure accurately. In order to know at what time of day a particular event occurred at a particular computer, it is necessary to synchronize its clock with an authoritative, external source of time. Second, algorithms that depend upon clock synchronization have been developed for several problems in distribution; these include maintaining the consistency of distributed data, checking the authenticity of a request sent to a server and eliminating the processing of duplicate updates [1] In Centralized systems, there is no need for clock synchronization because, generally, there is only a single clock. A process gets the time by simply issuing a system call to the kernel. When another process after that tries to get the time, it will get a higher time value. Thus, in such systems, there is a clear ordering of events and there is no ambiguity about the times at which these events occur. [4] In Distributed systems, there is no global clock or common memory. Each processor has its own internal clock and its own notion of time. In practice, these clocks can easily drift apart by several seconds per day, accumulating significant errors over time. Also, because different clocks tick at different rates, they may not remain always synchronized although they might be synchronized when they start. This clearly poses serious problems to applications that depend on a synchronized notion of time. Distributed systems are subject to timing uncertainties as certain processes may lack a common notion of real time. Due to an uncertainty in message delay time, absolute process synchronization is known to be impossible for such systems The literature presents issues of timing in distributed systems, physical clocks and their synchronization problems, algorithms for synchronizing physical clocks are presented with their limitations, and also techniques for implementing logical clocks which are used to monitor the order of events without measuring the physical time at which the events occurred The concept of time Let us begin by asking this simple question; does anybody really know what time it is [3] As Lamport notes, the concept of time is fundamental to our way of thinking [7] In fact, real time helps to master many problems of our decentralized real world. Time is also a useful concept when considering possible causality. Consider a person suspected of a crime, if that person has an alibi because he or she was far enough away from the site of the crime at some instant close enough to the time of the crime, then he or she cannot be the culprit. Timing problems Accurate time is important to determining the order in which events occur; [3] this is a basic standard of transactional integrity, system and networkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ wide logging, auditing, troubleshooting and forensics. Having an accurate time source plays a critical role in tracing and debugging problems that occur on different platforms across a network. Events must be correlated with each other regardless of where they were generated. Furthermore, the notion of time (or time ranges) is used in many forms of access control, authentication, and encryption. In some cases, these controls can be bypassed or rendered inoperative if the time source could be manipulated. For example, a payroll function could be tricked into providing access over a weekend when normally it would be restricted to normal business hours. [3] Physical clocks Most computers today keep track of the passage of time with a battery-backed up Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) clock circuit, driven by a quartz resonator. This allows the timekeeping to take place even if the machine is powered off. When on, an operating system will generally program a timer circuit (a Programmable Interval Timer, or PIT, in older Intel architectures and Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller, or APIC, in newer systems.) to generate an interrupt periodically (common times are 60 or 100 times per second). The interrupt service procedure simply adds one to a counter in memory. While the best quartz resonators can achieve an accuracy of one second in 10 years, they are sensitive to changes in temperature and acceleration and their resonating frequency can change as they age. Standard resonators are accurate to 6 parts per million at 31 °C, which corresponds to  ±Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ second per day. The problem with maintaining a concept of time is when multiple entities expect each other to have the same idea of what the time is. Two watches hardly ever agree. Computers have the same problem: a quartz crystal on one computer will oscillate at a slightly different frequency than on another computer, causing the clocks to tick at different rates. The phenomenon of clocks ticking at different rates, creating an ever widening gap in perceived time is known as clock drift. The difference between two clocks at any point in time is called clock skew and is due to both clock drift and the possibility that the clocks may have been set differently on different machines. The Figure below illustrates this phenomenon with two clocks, A and B, where clock B runs slightly faster than clock A by approximately two seconds per hour. This is the clock drift of B relative to A. At one point in time (five seconds past five oclock according to As clock), the difference in time between the two clocks is approximately four seconds. This is the clock skew at that particular time. Compensating for drift We can envision clock drift graphically by considering true Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) flowing on the x-axis and the corresponding computers clock reading on the y-axis. A perfectly accurate clock will exhibit a slope of one. A faster clock will create a slope greater than unity while a slower clock will create a slope less than unity. Suppose that we have a means of obtaining the true time. One easy (and frequently adopted) solution is to simply update the system time to the true time. To complicate matters, one constraint that well impose is that its not a good idea to set the clock back. The illusion of time moving backwards can confuse message ordering and software development environments. If a clock is fast, it simply has to be made to run slower until it synchronizes. If a clock is slow, the same method can be applied and the clock can be made to run faster until it synchronizes. The operating system can do this by changing the rate at which it requests interrupts. For example, suppose the system requests an interrupt every 17 milliseconds (pseudo-milliseconds, really the computers idea of what a millisecond is) and the clock runs a bit too slowly. The system can request interrupts at a faster rate, say every 16 or 15 milliseconds, until the clock catches up. This adjustment changes the slope of the system time and is known as a linear compensating Function. After the synchronization period is reached, one can choose to resynchronize periodically and/or keep track of these adjustments and apply them continually to get a better running clock. This is analogous to noticing that your watch loses a minute every two months and making a mental note to adjust the clock by that amount every two months (except the system does it continually). Synchronizing physical clocks With physical clocks, our interest is not in advancing them just to ensure proper message ordering, but to have the system clock keep good time. We looked at methods for adjusting the clock to compensate for skew and drift, but it is essential that we get the time first so that we would know what to adjust. One possibility is to attach a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver to each computer. A GPS receiver will provide time within  ± 1 msec. of UTC time but Unfortunately, they rarely work indoors. Alternatively, if the machine is in the U.S., one can attach a WWV radio receiver to obtain time broadcasts from Texas, Colorado or Washington, DC, giving accuracies of  ± 3-10 msec. depending on the distance from the source. Another option is to obtain a GOES (Geostationary Operational Environment Satellites) receiver, which will provide time within  ± 0.1 msec. of UTC time. For reasons of economy, convenience, and reception, these are not practical solutions for every machine. Most machines will set their time by asking another machine for the time (preferably one with one of the aforementioned time sources). A machine that provides this information is called a time server. Several algorithms have been proposed for synchronizing clocks and they all have the same underlying model of the system Cristians algorithm The simplest algorithm for setting the time would be to simply issue a remote procedure call to a time server and obtain the time. That does not account for the network and processing delay. We can attempt to compensate for this by measuring the time (in local system time) at which the request is sent (T0) and the time at which the response is received (T1). Our best guess at the network delay in each direction is to assume that the delays to and from are symmetric (we have no reason to believe otherwise). The estimated overhead due to the network delay is then (T1- T0)/2. The new time can be set to the time returned by the server plus the time that elapsed since the server generated the timestamp: Suppose that we know the smallest time interval that it could take for a message to be sent between a client and server (either direction). Lets call this time Tmin. This is the time when the network and CPUs are completely unloaded. Knowing this value allows us to place bounds on the accuracy of the result obtained from the server. If we sent a request to the server at time T0, then the earliest time stamp that the server could generate the timestamp is T0 + Tmin. The latest time that the server could generate the timestamp is T1 Tmin, where we assume it took only the minimum time, Tmin, to get the response. The range of these times is: T1 T0 2Tmin, so the accuracy of the result is: Errors are cumulative. If machine A synchronizes from a server B and gets an accuracy of  ±5 msec but server B in turn got its time from server C with an accuracy of  ±7 msec, the net accuracy at machine A is  ±(5+7), or  ±12 msec. Several time requests may be issued consecutively in the hope that one of the requests may be delivered faster than the others (e.g., it may be submitted during a time window when network activity is minimal). This can achieve improved accuracy. Cristians algorithm suffers from the problem that afflicts all single-server algorithms: the server might fail and clock synchronization will be unavailable. It is also subject to malicious interference. Berkeley algorithm The Berkeley algorithm, developed by Gusella and Zatti in 1989 [8], is form of an internal synchronization that does not assume that any machine has an accurate time source with which to synchronize. Instead, it opts for obtaining an average time from the participating computers and synchronizing all machines to that average. The machines involved in the synchronization each run a time dà ¦mon process that is responsible for implementing the protocol. One of these machines is elected (or designated) to be the master. The others are slaves. The server polls each machine periodically, asking it for the time. The time at each machine may be estimated by using Cristians method to account for network delays. When all the results are in, the master computes the average time (including its own time in the calculation). The hope is that the average cancels out the individual clocks tendencies to run fast or slow. Instead of sending the updated time back to the slaves, which would introduce further uncertainty due to network delays, it sends each machine the offset by which its clock needs adjustment. The operation of this algorithm is illustrated in the Figure below. Three machines have times of 3:00, 3:25, and 2:50. The machine with the time of 3:00 is the server (master). It sends out a synchronization query to the other machines in the group. Each of these machines sends a timestamp as a response to the query. The server now averages the three timestamps: the two it received and its own, computing (3:00+3:25+2:50)/3 = 3:05. Now it sends an offset to each machine so that the machines time will be synchronized to the average once the offset is applied. The machine with a time of 3:25 gets sent an offset of -0:20 and the machine with a time of 2:50 gets an offset of +0:15. The server has to adjust its own time by +0:05. The algorithm also has provisions to ignore readings from clocks whose skew is too great. The master may compute a fault-tolerant average averaging values from machines whose clocks have not drifted by more than a certain amount. If the master machine fails, any other slave could be elected to take over Logical clocks Lets again consider cases that involve assigning sequence numbers (timestamps) to events upon which all cooperating processes can agree. What matters in these cases is not the time of day at which the event occurred but that all processes can agree on the order in which related events occur. Our interest is in getting event sequence numbers that make sense system-wide. If we can do this across all events in the system, we have something called total ordering: every event is assigned a unique timestamp (number), every such timestamp is unique. However, we dont always need total ordering. If processes do not interact then we dont care when their events occur. If we only care about assigning timestamps to related (causal) events then we have something known as partial ordering. Leslie Lamport [7] developed a happened before notation to express the relationship between events: aà ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢b means that a happened before b. If a represents the timestamp of a message sent and b is the timestamp of that message being received, then aà ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢b must be true; a message cannot be received before it is sent. This relationship is transitive. If aà ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢b and bà ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢c then aà ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢c. If a and b are events that take place in the same process the aà ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢b is true if a occurs before b. The importance of measuring logical time is in assigning a time value to each event such that everyone will agree on the final order of events. That is, if aà ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢b then clock (a) < clock (b) since the clock (our timestamp generator) must never run backwards. If a and b occur on different Processes that do not exchange messages (even through third parties) then aà ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢b is not true, these events are said to be concurrent: there is no way that a could have influenced b. Each event is assigned a timestamp by its respective process. The process simply maintains a global counter that is incremented before each event gets a timestamp. If we examine the timestamps from our global perspective, we can observe a number of peculiarities. Event g, the event representing the receipt of the message sent by event a, has the exact same timestamp as event a when it clearly had to take place after event a. Event e has an earlier time stamp (1) than the event that sent the message (b, with a timestamp of 2). Lamports algorithm Lamport [7] proposed an algorithm that forces the resequencing of timestamps to ensure that the happened before relationship is properly depicted for events related to sending and receiving messages. It works as follows: Each process has a clock, which can be a simple counter that is incremented for each event. The sending of a message is an event and each message carries with it a timestamp obtained from the current value of the clock at that process (sequence number). The arrival of a message at a process is also an event will also receive a timestamp by the receiving process, of course. The process clock is incremented prior to time stamping the event, as it would be for any other event. If the clock value is less than the timestamp in the received message, the systems clock is adjusted to the (messages timestamp + 1). Otherwise nothing is done. The event is now time stamped. If we apply this algorithm to the same sequence of messages, we can see that proper message ordering among causally related events is now preserved. Note that between every two events, the clock must tick at least once. [4] Lamports algorithm [7] allows us to maintain proper time ordering among causally- related events. In summary, Lamports algorithm requires a monotonically increasing software counter for a clock that has to be incremented at least when events that need to be time stamped take place. These events will have the clock value, or Lamport timestamp, associated with them. For any two events, where aà ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢b, L (a) < L (b) where L(x) represents the Lamport timestamp for event x. Lamport timestamps [7] assure us that if there is a causal relationship between two events, then the earlier event will have a smaller time stamp than the later event. Causality is achieved by successive events on one process or by the sending and receipt of messages on different processes. As defined by the happened-before relationship, causality is transitive. For instance, events a and f are causally related in the figure above (through the sequence a, b, e, f). Implementing Logical clocks To implement logical clocks, [11] each process p, maintains data structures that give it the following two capabilities: A logical clock, denoted by C, that helps P, measure its own progress; and A global logical clock denoted by gC, that represents Ps local view of the global logical time. A protocol is presented to update the data structures; the protocol ensures that a processs logical clock and its view of the global time are consistent. The protocol consists of the following two rules: R1. maintains how a process updates the local logical clock when it executes an Event, whether send or receive R2. maintains how a process updates its global logical clock to update its view of the Global time. It dictates what information about the logical time a process Piggybacks in a message and how the receiving process uses this information to Update its view of the global time A distributed system consisting of logical clocks differ in their representation of logical time and in the protocol for updating logical clocks. However, all systems consisting of logical clocks implements some form of R1 and R2 and thereby achieving the fundamental monotonicity property associated with events and casualty Total ordering of events Note that it is very possible for multiple non-causal (concurrent) events to share identical Lamport timestamps (e.g., c, e, and h in the Figure above). This may cause confusion if multiple processes need to make a decision based on the timestamps of two events. The selection of a specific event may not matter if the events are concurrent but we want all the processes to be able to make the same decision. This is difficult if the timestamps are identical. Fortunately, theres an easy remedy. We can create a total order on events by further qualifying them with identities of processes. We define a global logical timestamp (Ti,i) where Ti represents the local Lamport timestamp and i represents the process ID (in some globally unique way: for example, a concatenation of host address and process ID). We are then able to globally compare these timestamps and conclude that There is no physical significance to the order since process identifiers can be arbitrary and do not relate to event ordering but the ability to ensure that no two Lamport timestamps are the same globally is helpful in algorithms that need to compare these timestamps. In real life, depending on the application, one may use a combination of thread ID, process ID, and IP address as a qualifier to the timestamp. Vector clocks If two events are causally related and event e happened before event e then we know that L (e) < L (e). However, the converse is not necessarily true. With Lamports algorithm, if L (e) < L (e) we cannot conclude that eà ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢e. Hence, if we look at Lamport timestamps, we cannot conclude which pairs of events are causally related and which are not. One solution that has been proposed to deal with this problem is the concept of vector clocks (proposed by Mattern in 1989 and Fidge in 1991) [9, 10]. A vector clock in a system of N processes is a vector of N integers. Each process maintains its own vector clock (Vi for a process Pi) to timestamp local events. Like Lamport timestamps, vector timestamps (the vector of N integers) are sent with each message. The rules for using vector clocks are: The vector is initialized to 0 at all processes: Vi[j] = 0 for i,j = 1, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, N Before a process Pi timestamps an event, it increments its element of the vector in its local vector: Vi[i] = Vi[i]+1 A message is sent from process Pi with Vi attached to the message. When a process Pj receives a vector timestamp t, it compares the two vectors element by element, setting its local vector clock to the higher of the two values: Vj[i] = max(Vj[i], t[i]) for i=1, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, N We compare two vector timestamps by defining: V = V iff V[j] = V'[j] for i=1, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, N V à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ V iff V[j] à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ V'[j] for i=1, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, N For any two events e, e, if eà ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢e then V(e) < V(e). This is the same as we get from Lamports algorithm. With vector clocks, we now have the additional knowledge that if V(e)

Comparing The Indian to His Love and The Hosting of the Sidhe Essay

The Indian to His Love and The Hosting of the Sidhe The Aesthetic Movement, as exemplified by "The Indian to His Love," by W. B. Yeats, seems lifeless and insipid when compared to his "The Hosting of the Sidhe." The images of the two poems are so completely different that they almost demand a different set of rules dealing with their creation. It would be virtually impossible for Yeats to deal effectively with the subject matter of "The Hosting of the Sidhe" in the same manner as "The Indian to His Love" because he is viewing the world from a different perspective for each poem. There is little relationship between the characters of "The Indian to His Love" and those of "The Hosting of the Sidhe." In the former, Yeats deals exclusively with mortals, idealized perhaps, but nonetheless mortals who must deal with the world as mortals: "Here we will moor our lovely ship/ And wander ever with woven hands," and. "How we alone of mortals are." These characters are not only mortals, but are anonymous in that they have no personal identities, and there is no representation of them as individuals. The lovers seem to decorate the scene much as the "peahens" and the "parrot." Yeats does, however, remind the readers of the characters' mortality even while he makes them seem timeless. "How when we die our shades will rove" tells clearly that those mortals may be in a dream, but even this dream is destined to end. In "The Hosting of the Sidhe," in contrast to "The Indian and His Love," Yeats deals with the ... ...e the reader at all. On the other hand, in "The Hosting of the Sidhe," Yeats presents the ideal of life: immortals in a real world. Yeats wants the reader to feel the life in this poem, not just observe it. The poem reaches out and coaxes: "Away, come away:/ Empty your heart of its mortal dream." The world Yeats sees in each poem is completely different, and by choosing his words carefully and changing his style of writing, he allows readers to see that difference and to feel it. handouts home

Waiting for the Bus - Original Writing :: Papers

Waiting for the Bus - Original Writing It was about 8 o'clock in the evening, it was been raining for a very long time; the atmosphere around is so miserable; the air is so heavy as if it's filled with lead and the surroundings are dull and lifeless as if it was the darkest corner on earth. A middle aged man with tattoos all over his body smoking a cigar is being interviewed by a female doctor in a psychiatric hospital. While preparing the apparatus, the young lady tells him about the procedure:" This conversation will be recorded, as many others before it, do you understand Peter? Would you like to tell me about your dreams?" In this depressing room, with dull lights, you can only see the still outline of the two people, as if they are mysterious statues sat there staring at each other. After a while the man takes a deep breath and begins to talk."Every night for all the three months that I have been kept here, I have had the same bizarre dream, the screams of which have been waking everyone up at night". There was a pause during which the young psychiatrist was looking desperately into the madman's eyes and him looking away as if ashamed of something. "My dreams get longer each night"- whispered the patient in a distressed voice. The conversation was ended there and then; Peter never said a word until his next meeting with the psychiatrist. Every time they met their chat got them one step closer to the patient's dream. Spring was approaching; the weather gradually began to change from cold and rainy to sunny and cheerful. These were the first few days it has been like this. It was like a new start for Peter; the weather was divine and precious, he could not get enough of it, it seemed like it gave him power and superiority over every one else. As the days grew longer, so did the conversations the psychiatrist and the man had. It was an ordinary day and as usual Peter was having a 5 o'clock

Nightmare: Carnival and Read Laser Tag

Just A Nightmare Carnivals are places that you go to have fun, but sometimes these fun places can turn into your worst nightmares. It all began on a night out with my family. We were just out at the mall and when we were coming back home, we passed by a carnival. The carnival looked incredible so my family and I decided to go to the carnival and have some fun as well. We went to the carnival and it looked better up close. There were people and lights everywhere, but the carnival still had a hollow and chilly feeling to it. Wherever I went, I had the feeling that somebody was following me.My brothers and me went on a couple of rides and then I saw a huge sign that read ‘Laser Tag’. That’s when I suddenly got an awkward urge of playing Laser Tag. I told my father and he got a ticket for me. The line was really long and my father did not want to wait in line with me so I told him that I could wait in line all alone and he should come back after 30 minutes to get me. He agreed and left me waiting there. Again this time, I had the chilly feeling that somebody or something was watching me anxiously, waiting to strike. It was finally my turn.I went in with a group of twenty people dressed in laser tag jackets of four different team colors and black laser guns labeled with the same color as their jackets. I was in the yellow team. After all of us got ready, the laser tag employees let us into a dark black-walled maze. I ran away from everyone so I would not get tagged. I ran and ran until I reached a dead end. I looked around and saw a red-labeled jacket and gun making its way toward me. I got my gun ready to shoot whoever it was, but when I pressed on the gun to shoot, the sound it made sent shivers down my spine.It was the boom sound real guns made. I looked in front of me and the red-labeled person fell to the ground. I just stood there, unable to move. I was still trying to make sense of this whole thing and after about five minutes, I got to th e conclusion that I had just killed a person! I was a murderer! I ran, closing my eyes as I got close to the person I had just killed. I clutched the gun tightly in my shaking hands incase I came in contact with more trouble. I ran and ran. I saw other labeled people, but I did not dare lift up my gun. I have to find my way out was the only thing I could think.I saw light far away at the end of the caliginous path. As I got closer, I realized it was some kind of backdoor. I ran through it and now, once again, I was out in the free air, but this time, there was no body to be seen or heard. There was stillness everywhere. It seemed like not even a single leave was moving. I looked around cautiously once again and started to run. I had to get as far away from this place as possible. I ran like a maniac who had some running disease. I got to an empty parking lot. It looked like a ghost town. I saw a dumpster and hid behind it to catch my breath.I was taking long, constant breaths when I heard distant footsteps coming closer and closer. I stopped breathing and got my gun ready again. I did not know what happened to me, but I felt like a walking and talking killing machine. The footsteps started to turn into silent claps that got louder. The footsteps then turned around the corner and their owner was now facing me. He was not a normal person. He was a clown. He was wearing those bright, colorful jester clothes and big red clown shoes. I stood there frozen. I had been scared of clowns since forever, and now my worst nightmare had come alive. Good job on your first kill,† the clown said, laughing hysterically. He got a shiny silver dagger out of the oversized pocket of his jester clothes and brought it towards me. I pointed my gun at him and pressed, but instead of a bullet or boom sound, a laser came out. The clown laughed hysterically again and brought the dagger close to my neck. â€Å"Too bad it’s your last. † And that is when I opened my eyes. I was lying on by bed sweating badly. My heart was beating like a drum. I looked around myself, panicking. â€Å"It was just a nightmare,† I convinced myself. Just a nightmare†¦

What is recruitment and selection?

What is recruitment and selection? [In other words, the process where an organization collect a number of people who met requirements and qualified for that organization] Selection is†¦.. During both processes R&S, an organization has to justify why they are going to choose particular methods to recruit and select people in a capable pool, that is to say, what elements or what under considerations which they use to influence their decisions before recruiting and selecting peopleAttraction and Retention The definition of recruitment is the process of generating a pool of capable people to apply an organization for employment. therefore this means that there is a need to generate people’s interest to apply for the job. This means that people have choice to choose This is why an organization has to consider this strategic choice. To be precise, attraction means†¦. For the internal sources this is associated with retention which meansWhen considering attraction and reten tion strategy, an organization might first of all apply the concept of Fitting the person to the environment, organization As this diagram illustrates In an organization Whereas HR plocies will be designed to achevive particular organizational targets and goals, those policies also provide an opportunity for individual needs to emerge and be satisfied. This view assumes that a fit between a person and the environment can be found so that commitment and performance are enhance (Kristof, 1996).This not only gives a high performance advantages but also lead to â€Å"retention† Criticism However, commentator have Doubted whether such mutuality could develop on the basis of equality because organizational need would always be superiority. In typical form of profit-organistaion, the issue of profits maybe considered outweight individual needs. Competencies Another important element when considering attraction and retention strategy in recruitment and selection is to set out, what i s it referred as â€Å"competencies† which are developed within the organization.A set of behavior patterns that the incumbent needs to bring to a position in order to perform its tasks an functions with competence. (The ability, skills and knowledge obtained by candidates and relevantly required and matched with organizational goals and targets) For instance, In large financial services organisations in the UK set out its competencies for example self-control †¦. etc If we look at Lloyds TBS’s, one of large financial services, it provides its vision and projected image of its organisation that

Case History on Best Buy

Best Buy, Inc. Case Study: Case History Clayton Bender, Justin Swanson, Kaitlyn Krause, Michelle Chambers, Elmon Tanielian Company Background: Best Buy Co. , Inc. operates as a multinational retailer of consumer electronics within the services industry. Founded in 1966 under the name Sound of Music, Inc. , Best Buy underwent a name change in 1988. It was founded by Mr. Richard M. Schulze and is headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Best Buy operates under a Board of Directors but is a publicly traded company owned by stockholders.The company operates retail stores and call centers and conducts online retail operations under a range of brand names such as Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile, The CarPhone Warehouse, Five Star, Future Shop, Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales and The Phone House. Best Buy is the 11th largest online retailer worldwide and ranks #468 on the Forbes Global 2000 (Global 2000 Leading Companies, 2012). The mission of Best Buy, though not directly outlined a s such, can be summed up by a quote from the CEO. Our formula is simple: we’re a growth company focused on better solving the unmet needs of our customers—and we rely on our employees to solve those puzzles. Thanks for stopping† (About. com). Best Buy’s vision is, â€Å"To make a meaningful and lasting impact on the quality of life in the countries and communities we serve. † Best Buy has four primary values that govern decision-making processes; unleash the power of our people, learn from challenges and change, show respect, humility and integrity, and have fun while being the best (Code of Business Ethics, 2013).Best Buy’s Market Philosophy: Best Buy operates in all 50 states, districts and territories within the United States. Various brand names under the Best Buy Inc. umbrella exist throughout the geographic area including Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile, Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video and Pacific Sales (Best Buy 10k Report, 2012). In the US alone, Best Buy reaches nearly 1 billion consumers each year in stores, on BestBuy. com and on m. BestBuy. com or the mobile shopping website. Out of the $165 billion per year spent on electronics in the U. S. , more than 6% of that is at Best Buy —ahead of Wal-Mart Stores (12%), Amazon. com (5%), Costco (3. 5), and Target (2. 5%) (On Best Buy Media Network, 2011). Within the domestic market, store development is aimed at multi-channel retail points of presence that focus on a given local environment, while simultaneously decreasing overall store square footage. To do this, the company anticipates closing approximately 50 large format U. S. Best Buy branded stores in fiscal year 2013 to explore other options, as well as downsizing to appeal to increasingly popular online shopping trends.They have also decided to close all Best Buy branded stores in the UK, Turkey, and China. They instead chose to focus their attention on their Five Star branded stores in China, and their Car Phone Warehouse, and Phone House stores in Europe. Best Buy’s international market is comprised of operations in Canada (Best  Buy, Best  Buy Mobile, Cell Shop, Connect Pro, Future Shop and Geek Squad), Europe (The CarPhone Warehouse, The Phone House and Geek Squad), China (Five Star), and Mexico (Best Buy and Geek Squad) (Best Buy 10k Report, 2012).These varied brands allow the company to include several lines of consumer retail products such as mobile phone products, entertainment products, appliances and related services that are tailored to appeal to each niche market. In 2012, international markets generated 26% of Best Buy’s revenue (Best Buy 10k Report, 2012). In the Canadian market, Best Buy is the fastest-growing specialty retailer and â€Å"e-tailer† of consumer electronics, PCs, and entertainment software.Best Buy focuses on children and communities, attempting to â€Å"help youth develop their skill set, discover their talents, and sustain a las ting interest in education† (About Us, 2013). Best Buy has decided to close their large-format Best Buy branded stores in China, Turkey, and the United Kingdom in order to reach areas that offer the best growth opportunity to particular locations (Best Buy 10k Report, 2012). Competitive Environment: Best Buy’s competitors range between online retailers (Amazon), big box retailers (Target and Wal-Mart), club stores (Sam’s Club and Costco), pecialty electronic retailers (Apple), and home improvement stores (Home Depot and Lowes). Some Best Buy rivals compete purely on price, while others compete on experience. Best Buy believes that online retailers will have their price advantage reduced as state governments around the country re-evaluate sales tax laws that allow some online competitors to offer lower prices. Additionally to combat price wars Best Buy also has price matching policies for other brick and mortar retailers and during this last holiday shopping seaso n even matched some online retailers’ prices (Best Buy to Match Online Prices, 2012).With the elimination of Best Buy’s biggest rival, Circuit City, they are left to focus on competitors such as Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Home Depot. None of these stores compete directly with Best Buy in every segment, but each of them offers products that compete directly with Best Buy. As shown in Exhibit 1, while Best Buy does compete with Home Depot and Lowes, the effect of appliances on Best Buy’s sales is quite small, accounting for only 5% of sales in 2011.Because there are no stores which offer a value proposition exactly like Best Buy, it presents a problem when analyzing financial statements of Best Buy’s main competitors (Best Buy 10k Report, 2012). See Exhibits 2-5 for detailed copies of Amazon and Wal-Mart financial statements. Trends- Best Buy competes in the electronics stores and consumer electronics industries. The industry overall is heading into new territor y as online shopping continues to take over the market. Recently, traditional big box stores such as Best Buy have been threatened by an increase in online consumption tendencies.Often, consumers will use stores such as Best Buy as a showroom to test new products, make a purchase decision, but then go home and find a cheaper price online. With many established, online retailers of consumer electronics on the web, retailers must find a new way to attract customers. The various methods of promotional channels such as large and small structured stores, websites, and kiosks, are all ways the company is tailoring to the market they are attempting to reach. Marketing: Products and Services- Best Buy specializes in technological goods and services.This includes home office, consumer electronics, appliances, and entertainment software. Best Buy is an ideally suited ‘one-stop-shop’. Best Buy offers Geek Squad Technical Support to consumers to aid with any difficulties or defects , to ensure customer happiness, and build loyalty. Also offered is a low-price-guarantee, where Best Buy will match the price if you find a lower price on an identical available product at a local retail competitor's store, a local Best Buy retail store or BestBuy. com (Best Buy 10k Report, 2012).As Best Buy is not a manufacturer of unique products, the main differentiating factors would be their low-price-guarantee and the in-home service â€Å"The Geek Squad†, which offers personalized technical support. In addition, there are many products that are exclusive to Best Buy, such as certain televisions, video games, and computer devices. Distribution- Best Buy sells products through both its 1,103 retail locations and their website bestbuy. com. Domestic Distribution- Inside the U. S. , most Best Buy products are shipped directly from the manufacturers to the regional distribution centers.The exceptions to this method are large TV’s and appliances which are shipped from producers to specific satellite warehouses in each major market. In certain cases, where release dates play a large role in a product, the item will go directly from the producer to individual Best Buy stores (Best Buy 10k Report, 2012). Products purchased online are either picked up in store, or shipped directly to consumers via the same regional distribution centers the stores receive their products from. International Distribution-In Europe, Best Buy’s two small cell phone stores have their products shipped from manufacturers to regional distribution centers and then to the stores. Individual stores hold only immediate stock requirements while distribution centers hold additional merchandise. Best Buy stores in Canada and Mexico follow the distribution method used in the U. S. (Best Buy 10k Report, 2012). Promotion- The customer base is primarily centered on high income earners (75,000+), 24-54 aged males who have children (ad example targeting this listed in exhibit 6).B est Buy shoppers are viewed as mobile, technically savvy, advanced digital users, who are highly engaged in learning about technology as well as encourage their children to learn about technology, too (On Best Buy Media Network, 2011) (promotion example targeting this listed in exhibit 7). Including selling, general and administrative expenses, promotional costs were $995,000,000 in fiscal year 2012, $862,000,000 in 2011, and $709,000,000 in 2010 (Best Buy 10k Report, 2012).Best Buy has traditionally focused on media involving print, television, large-scale events, and is now shifting gears more towards digital advertising for promotional efforts due to consumer changes in shopping habits. Best Buy spends most of the promotional budget during the holiday season in response to high sales during Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas (Best Buy 10k Report, 2012). A detailed list of quarterly expenses can be found in exhibit 8. One of the largest and most expensive prom otional efforts undertaken by Best Buy is the commercial segments aired during the Super Bowl.Best Buy has utilized this tactic for the past three years. In 2011, the commercial featured the celebrities Justin Bieber and Ozzy Osbourne. In 2012, it featured mobile innovations such as Instagram and the popular game, Angry Birds. For this upcoming Super Bowl, Best Buy will feature the comedian Amy Poehler. These are significant decisions considering this year’s thirty-second ad placement cost $4 million and is projected to reach over 100 million viewers (The Associated Press, 2013). Leadership:Best Buy’s Board of Directors, elected by the shareholders, is responsible for overseeing the business and affairs in order to manage the long-term interests of the company (Best Buy, Inc. , 2013). The Board of Directors is in charge of selecting and evaluating the performance of senior executives. There are four distinct committees structured within the Board: Audit Committee, Comp ensation and Human Resources Committee, Finance and Investment Policy Committee, and Nominating, Corporate Governance, and Public Policy Committee.A detailed visual of the organizational structure can be viewed in exhibit 9. Organizational Culture: Traditionally, Best Buy has been known for enforcing strict policies and encouraging employees to work overtime. In 2003, however, the corporate culture was radically changed to a system designed by two of the company’s own human resource department employees, Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson (Brandon, 2007). This system, known as ROWE or the results-only-work-environment, allows personnel to come and go as they please.Many corporate employees have no official office or work schedule. Similar systems have become popular in the advanced technical industry, including companies such as IBM, but no such corporate culture existed in a large retail company before Best Buy. The system is working to meet their goals, as employee turnover dec reased drastically after implementation. However, recently, employee satisfaction has suffered as a result of a decrease in company profitability (Conlin, 2006). Stakeholders:The primary stakeholders are the stockholders; the individuals that have an active interest in the company’s successes and failures because their personal investments are directly impacted. Additional stakeholders include employees (who rely on the company to stay in business and guarantee their employment), consumers (who depend on the products and services of the company), and the surrounding community which Best Buy is committed to serving in their values. Currently, a general concern of stakeholders is the increasingly competitive nature of the of the electronic retail market.With e-retail and internet stores becoming more significant players in the market place, Best Buy seems to have become a place of research and testing by the consumer, rather than actual purchasing. Stakeholders are calling for innovative and differentiating factors to emerge for Best Buy to remain a key player in the consumer electronic market. In addition, as typical of most companies, the stakeholders of Best Buy want increased sales and profit margins, to hopefully lead to increased stock prices as well. Financials: Balance Sheet-Best Buy currently has approximately $16 Billion in assets, $12 Billion in liabilities, and $3 Billion in stockholder equity. Over the past three years, total assets and stockholder equity have been decreasing while total liabilities have been increasing. (Best Buy Balance Sheet) A detailed balance sheet can be found in exhibit 10. Income Statements- Best Buy had a loss in net income during FY 2012 of $1. 2 billion compared to net earnings of $1. 3 billion in 2011. A detailed balance sheet can be found in exhibit 11. Objectives ; Performance Strategy:Best Buy competes in a competitive retail industry constantly affected by the current state of the economy and consumer confiden ce. Such an industry presents difficulty in predicting consumer behaviors and corresponding sales. These tough times have forced Best Buy to begin transforming the company and hone in on strategies they believe will â€Å"offer the best opportunities to improve returns† (Best Buy 10k Report, 2012). Best Buy has committed to focusing on four main initiatives all revolving around that transformation and improving financial performance. Multi-year Cost Reductions-Best Buy aims to lower the cost structure of various areas of their business through improvements in efficiency as well as current investments designed to provide long term earnings benefits. These changes will include closing 50 of their large, brick-and-mortar stores within fiscal year 2013. In addition they aim to decrease the costs of goods sold as well as reduction in corporate and support structures (Best Buy 10k Report, 2012). U. S. Store Format Improvements- Best Buy will be revising their store formats in order to â€Å"increase points of presence, while decreasing overall square footage†.These changes will occur through increasing the number of their Best Buy Mobile stand-alone stores, decreasing their large-format stores, and to remodel key market Best Buy stores into their smaller, leaner, â€Å"Connected Stores (Best Buy 10k Report, 2012). Growth Initiatives- Best Buy will execute growth initiatives in e-commerce, connections, services, and China. They will approach growth in e-commerce with â€Å"more competitive online pricing, broader use of free shipping, the expansion of our online assortment, and further development of Best Buy Marketplace†.There will be a focus on increasing all mobile connection expertise, all product services, and store locations in China. Improved Customer Experience- Best Buy believes that they differentiate themselves from competitors through careful and persistent attention to the experiences their customers have. Through programs such as t heir â€Å"Perfect Match Promise† which provides customers with a 30 day period of full technical support, hassle-free returns, and competitor price matching as well as their Reward Zone loyalty programs, they desire to provide their customers with an incomparable experience as they shop at Best Buy.Finally, Best Buy aims to increase their enhanced training for employees in order to meet these customer service goals (Best Buy 10k Report, 2012). Works Cited Global 2000 Leading Companies. (2012, April). Retrieved from Forbes: http://www. forbes. com/companies/best-buy/ Best Buy Balance Sheet. (n. d. ). Retrieved from Yahoo Finance: http://finance. yahoo. com/q/bs? s=BBY+Balance+Sheet;annual Best Buy Income Statement. (n. d. ). Retrieved from Yahoo Finance: http://finance. yahoo. com/q/is? s=BBY+Income+Statement;annual Best Buy, Inc. (2011, January 23).On Best Buy Media Network. Retrieved from Best Buy Media Kit: http://www. bestbuymediakit. com/assets/files/Media_Kit_Presentati on. pdf Best Buy, Inc. (2012). Best Buy 10k Report. Richfield: Best Buy. Best Buy, Inc. (2013, January 22). About Us. Retrieved from Best Buy Canada: http://www. bestbuy. ca/en-CA/about-best-buy-canada. aspx? path=9825360f7559258208ae2438cb28c580en99 Best Buy, Inc. (2013, January 22). Code of Business Ethics. Retrieved from Ethics Point: https://secure. ethicspoint. com/domain/media/en/gui/32565/code. html? 3 Brandon, J. (2007, April 4).Rethinking the Time Clock. Retrieved from CNN Money: http://money. cnn. com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/03/01/8401022/index. htm Conlin, M. (2006, December 10). Smashing the Clock. Retrieved from Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine: http://www. businessweek. com/stories/2006-12-10/smashing-the-clock Kerrigan, H. (2012, April). Results-Only Work Environment Goes Public Sector. Retrieved from Governing: http://www. governing. com/topics/public-workforce/gov-results-only-work-environment-goes-public-sector. html The Associated Press. (2013, J anuary 22).Best Buy Super Bowl branding spot will focus on humor, enlists Amy Poehler. The Washington Post, p. 1. Zimmerman, A. (2012, 10 12). Best Buy to Match Online Prices. Wall Street Journal. Exhibit 1: Best Buy’s Domestic Sales Allocation (Best Buy 10k Report, 2012) Exhibit 2: AMZN Income Statement Exhibit 3: AMZN Balance Sheet Exhibit 4: WMT Income Statement Exhibit 5: WMT Balance Sheet Exhibit 6: Promotional Ad Example Promotional Ad Source Exhibit 7: Promotion Example-Scholarship Program Promotion Example-Scholarship Program Source Exhibit 8: US Promotional Focuses Broken Down in Quarters On Best Buy Media Network, 2011) Exhibit 9: Organizational Chart Exhibit 10: BBY Balance Sheet Exhibit 11: BBY Income Statement Here are my thoughts†¦ The purpose of this Case History is to provide data for the next document, the Case Analysis. You should examine your Case History to ensure that it contains sufficient data for a complete Strategic Analysis—an Environment Analysis and a Company Analysis. For example, do you have sufficient data to conduct a PEST Analysis? Do you have sufficient data for conducting a complete Competitive Forces Analysis?On page 5, you do not provide data under the heading of â€Å"Leadership†. On a more comprehensive scale, does the Case History tell the story of Best Buy, or is the Case History a collection of different pieces of data? Does the sequence of the data facilitate a story? From the Heading â€Å"Balance Sheet Analysis† to the end of the document’s text, you seem to be presenting an analysis. The purpose of the Case History, though, is to present data. The analysis should be saved for the next document, the Case Analysis. Midnight- Sunday, February 3rd Other points to Add: 5 Forces Model Highlights: Risk of Entry by competitors- * Low everyone is in that wants to be * Intensity of Rivalry * High * Bargaining power of buyers * High price and experience dictate where we go * Bargaining power of suppliers * Low buyers took control * Closeness of substitutes * No idea what a substitute would be †¦ * Power of complement providers * †¦ PEST Analysis: * Political * * Economic * disposable income levels affect the amount people want to spend on these goods * Social * Trending products * Technological * whoever continues to provide/produce the newest gadgets