ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Organizations have realized the solution to having successfully completed and accomplished projects is through the use of teams. Effective team work should provide collaboration and trust for managers and employees, seeking to achieve productivity, increased communication across boarders, cultures, knowledge and personalities (Larsson, Löfstrand, Karlsson and Törlind, p. 2). Trust and collaboration provide a team with a healthy working environment where cooperation and communication increases, thoughtfulness and reliance are prevalent. Additionally, working teams provide organizations with a dynamic combination of knowledge, skills and experiences that increase productivity, ability, character and strength of employees (Becton, Kepner and Wysocki, p. 1). Working teams also create a diverse work environment where knowledge exchange increases and consequently increases team and organizational performance. Working teams that cut across geographical and cultural boundaries are able to offer organizations exchange of external knowledge, which provides the organization with essential information on clients, communities, stakeholders, competitors and products. Diverse teams make it possible for organizations to increase their profit margins, market segment, fulfill social commitment and increase overall productivity. However, true collaboration is identified as the main challenge which plagues organizations in the creation of team working environments (Larsson et al, p. 1). True collaboration within teams is an issue since, in the real sense we often reward individuals rather than the participation of a team. The challenge is the creation of real working teams, in a business situation where individuality is rewarded and team work ignored (Becton, Kepner and Wysocki, p. 1). Moreover, it is a challenge for employees to embrace team
Introduction For a group of individuals to be classified as a society, it must have some shared values within its members as diverse from other groups. Among the shared values is the cultural heritage that the society cherishes and works hard to maintain and sustain to benefit its various generations, both the past, present and the coming generations. For this culture to continue being a unique item for such a society, it needs to be protected. In the contemporary society, protection will most obviously include legal measures. But writers are of the opinion that legal measure should not be used to protect intellectual property as this amount to dilution of the sacred value inherent in such culture and prevents the community from enjoying such culture together as it should be. This paper discusses three writers and their various proponents on legal methods as a way of protecting culture. Commoditization of Culture by Michael Brown Brown, author of Heritage as Property , begins his debate by creating a paradox. He says that culture is mostly associated with the society at large as opposed to a particular individual. It is seen as being embedded to a particular society and therefore the connotation of its being tangible and solid is not a welcome to most people. Thus, several groups are undertaking various efforts to conserve their cultural heritage and to define its context. Examples of such efforts have been evident in such policies as the UN Draft Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples enacted in 1994 as well as the Inter-Apache Summit on Repatriation formulated in 1995, (Brown, P.51). These policies define the culture of the people and the means of protecting it. Countries are also undertaking these efforts. An example is the French community which has been endeavoring to protect its language and Canada which wants nothing to do with cultural influences from the US, (Brown, P.51). In the process, these efforts are not only demarcating their culture but also commoditizing it, something which has diverse effects, both negative and positive. Brown says that the use of the term ‘cultural property’ to connote items of heritage may not look harmful on the face of it. But it has serious implications to the various societies in regard to such culture. It denotes some concrete and a totally demarcated element which violates the rules of culture which should give a feeling of sanctity, wholesome and beautiful possession held by an entire group but to be preserved for the benefit of all the generations. This concept of culture has further been contamin
Easy Jet began its operation in November 1995 with two leased aircrafts and a staff composed of teenagers serving as reservation agents under the leadership of its founder; Stelios. Stelios grew the airline by factoring in on low labor costs, and low airport fees, by choosing the cheaper Luton Airport instead of the major international airports like Gatwick and Heathrow. Easy Jet’s first flight from London to Glasgow was the major breakthrough the company needed; offering a low fare of twenty nine pounds, it propelled Easy Jet to market leadership position. This paper analyses the strategies Easy Jet employed to gain a competitive advantage in the airline market. Competitive Advantage Strategies of Easy Jet Easy Jet’s competitive advantage is the strategic advantage that one it had and still has over its competitors, that enables it to generate greater sales and retain more customers than its rivals. This airline factored mainly on costs, services and brand awareness, to gain a competitive advantage. Competing on costs Easy jet has a culture of minimizing costs as it offers low fares to its passengers. This culture began at its inception when Stelios initiated its operation with a low capital of five million pounds; with which he leased two aircrafts, a staff comprising of teenagers, and a low labor-low fees airport. This culture still continues as the airline seeks to minimize costs wherever possible, for example; they save fourteen pounds per passenger by not offering meal services, they save ten pounds per passenger by flying into London’s Luton airport instead of the international Gatwick airport, and they also save cost by not offering business class seating. Apart from minimizing costs, Easy Jet also seeks out other sources of revenue like the internet sales, which accounts for nearly fifteen percent of their annual revenues. They encourage internet sales through offering discounted fares to customers who purchase their tickets over the internet. The internet sales also help them reduce cost that they might incur in hiring additional reserve agents. This also helps them avoid unnecessary cost like computer reservation system, which would probably add twenty five percent to their overall operating costs. Competing On Service In making their service outstanding, Stelio has become a down to earth person to the point of even working on the phone line and selling tickets himself. He also reads and gives a reply to many of the emails he receives from his customers, instruct his employees to dress casually, and encourage them to have an open-plan office just like himself. He ensures flexibility in booking, through internet ticket purchase or through calling the reserve agents through a given local number.
Current trends in contemporary film theory seek to explore the formal and substantive features of cinemas portraying third world countries and the transnational minorities dwelling in the west. According to Nacify (10), theories of Third Cinema were widespread during the 1970s and 1980s, but by the 90s, there was parallel theoretical development of film studies owing to factors such as “globalization, transnational migration and the buildup of work by Western filmmakers portraying the origin of post-colonial and post-Soviet alliances”. Nacify (10) claims that the perspective followed by accented filmmakers is similar to that of Third Cinema theorists, except for the modifications made by the former to address specific aesthetic and thematic concerns pertaining to transnational minority cinemas, and refers to the contemporary film theory as ‘accented cinema’. The primary characteristics of accented cinema are “thematic concerns, ethnic identification of the filmmakers, formal and aesthetic features, and the production technique” (Nacify 12). In the recent past, mainstream producers have been drawn towards accented cinema, which has disrupted the sovereign and collaborative production techniques. This paper seeks to draw a comparison between two films, Inch’Allah Dimanche (2001) directed by feminist filmmaker Yamina Benguigui, and Slumdog millionaire (2008), directed by Danny Boyle. The contrast shall take into consideration that both directors are accented filmmakers, though Yamina maintains the aesthetic and thematic features associated with accented Cinema, while Boyle employs conventional film form and production techniques that are characteristic of modernized accented cinema. Synopsis of the two films Inch’Allah Dimanche (2001) or Inch’Allah Sunday is set in the 1970s following the enactment of a “Family Reunion” law by the French government to permit Algerian men working in France to move their families there lawfully. The story revolves around one of the Algerian families that migrated to France, including the female protagonist, ‘Zouina, her husband, Ahmed, her mother-in-law, Aicha, and her three children. The conflict begins with a fearful husband, who perceives that his wife will be influenced by the French society, and therefore, forbids Zouina from leaving their rented house. From this point onwards, Zouina is under constant physical and emotional abuse from her husband and mother-in-law, as well as the non-sympathetic neighbor who is more concerned with winning a prize for having the best flower garden. Fortunately, Zouina meets a young, white, French woman called Briat, who helps her to adjust to the French culture and new environment. It does not take long for Zouina to start feeling conflicted about sticking to her conventional Algerian ideals and fully
Barnes and Noble operates a large chain of bookstores and as a matter of fact it is the biggest book retailer. It has concentrated its operations in the USA through its Barnes & Noble booksellers (Tavani, 2010, p. 16). The company is mostly known for its discounts on bestsellers and large bookstore outlets. In addition, its stores sell a variety of newspapers, games, music etc. Its other well renowned products include Barnsie (a teddy bear) and Barnes and Noble Nook. As a matter of fact, it has 636 college bookstores and 717 stores. The bookstores and booksellers industry has a lot of competition. Competition has been enhanced by advancement in technology. In this case, more book sales are being done online. This explains why Barnes and Noble has developed Barnes and Noble Nook, a brand of electronic book readers. The company’s Nook faces stiff competition from Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle (Tavani, 2010, p. 13). Therefore, the five forces model can be used to assess the competitive threats to Barnes and Noble. This is because there are various forces that determine the attractiveness of the market and its competitive intensity (Ketchen and Eisner, 2009, p. 36). The five forces model was advanced by Michael E Porter (Porter, 2008, p. 23). These forces can either emanate from the micro environment or the macro environment that the business operates in. Porters’ five competitive forces are the bargaining power of suppliers, intensity of competitive rivalry, bargaining power of customers, threat of entry of new competitors and threat of substitute products and services (Porter, 2008, p. 18). There is a high threat of entry of new competitors because of low costs of doing bus
Introduction Even though manufacturing aspects are essential, other departments like human resource, payroll, information technology and accounting are equally important in the running of an organization. They are referred to as “supporting roles” and their role is to sustain the manufacturing process. Although they do not guarantee direct income, supporting roles are compulsory for efficiency. Notably, they have a cost implication as qualified personnel need to be hired, and other needs met before they can fully operate. As a result, organizations usually have an option of either keeping these people as part of the organization’s labor force or outsource them from a third party (Burt, Petcavage & Pinkerton, 2010). Regardless of the choice, there are known advantages and disadvantages some of which have been discussed in this essay. The first advantage of maintaining employees is the fact that they understand the business and the operations of the organization. For instance, each department understands how specific tasks are performed, involved logistics and challenges (Burt, Petcavage & Pinkerton, 2010). Additionally, retained employees have a sense of loyalty to the organization despite their ability to perform required tasks. Such loyalty is important in cutting down on turnover thus eliminating the costs for constant hiring of new employees. For instance, an IT technician who has worked with the company for years understands the infrastructure and software needs of the organization. As such, the type of knowledge and experience gained for a long period of time cannot be easily replaced, and this type of loyalty is extremely rare. One of the disadvantages of internal employees is the fact that their loyalty is always unpredictable and outsourcing would be a better option, especially in the existence of a turnover (Hunter, 2005). Additionally, departments with a negative outlook and poor output can only be made productive by outsourcing in order face out the unproductive employees who could be joyriding in the organization. However, outsourcing should not be used to threaten employees within the organization to maintain the working morale of existing employees (Burt, Petcavage & Pinkerton, 2010). Cases where employees are threatened breed higher levels of turnover emanating from employees looking for greener pastures. This leads to extra expenditure by the organization. On the other hand, outsourcing is considered to be cost-effective in terms of the amount of salaries paid as compared to what permanent employee earns. With employees entitled to 15% benefit, an overall departmental analysis would reveal higher expenditure in retaining employees in an organization. Full-time employees also take up a lot of space in the form of a
Introduction A company’s choice of an operating model has a dramatic influence on its competitive ability in the market. The principle determinants of the operating model adopted are standardization and integration. The rate of application (rated as low or high) determines the operating model to be adopted in the company. The operating model is significant in determining how IT infrastructure and business processes can be implemented on a digital platform. This paper explores the operating model quadrant for the digital platform adopted at Merrill Lynch’s Global Private Client (GPC) and suggests an alternative model that could have better results. Merrill Lynch’s GPC Merrill Lynch’s GPC group provides advisory services through the provision of wealth management services and products to private businesses and individuals. GPC’s business model links more than 15, 930 financial advisors situated in about 680 offices distributed around the world. The company provides the financial advisors with support in five central functional areas: investment management, wealth management, marketing, global banking and direct services (“About Us” par. 4). The company utilizes technology in the provision of an open architecture digital platform for the financial advisors enabling them acquire comprehensive scope of products and services which enable them to deliver best-in-class solutions. Integration GPC’s business provides many investment products for its wealthy clients by using different channels. For instance, the products are provided either by direct interaction with the client, online access, and telephone access. In order to efficiently deliver it services, GPC has developed an integrated product data on its Total Merrill platform. The company deals with different clients each with particular needs. The clients need to connect with each other especially those seeking the provision of services and products regarding the marketing functionality (Ross 3). Specifically, Investment management advice depends on the success of other businesses and the ability to create demand or fill an existing gap in the market. This follows, GPC’s financial advisors offer the same products to its customers who are located in different regions around the world. Due to the nature of the products, its digital platform is hi
Introduction Leadership principally entails influencing people towards a common objective. The rise or downfall of a ministry is usually attributed to the concept of leadership. Poor leadership basically causes the downfall of a ministry. On a similar account, effective leadership is an ingredient for the rise of a ministry. In any Christian organization, good leadership is paramount. This is principally due to the fact that decisions that leaders make have impacts on the ministry. Such impacts can be either negative or positive depending on the frameworks of the leadership that was applied during the decision making process. Everyone can be a leader regardless of the position he or she holds, it draws down to the decisions one makes and the role he or she plays in influencing others. In a Christian setting, it is imperative that the leadership approach should be based on the principles of Word of God and should specifically uphold a Godly standard towards the principle of effective leadership (Norma and Craig 56). Activities Vision Through youth empowerment, the ministry shall be able to cultivate young visionary spiritual leaders. The ministry shall explore all the available youth leaders towards the realization of the just cause to continue upholding the word of God at all the service levels. The youth ministry shall collaborate with other ministries to ensure there is a Godly leadership within the church. The youth ministry is responsible for upbringing the spiritual leadership within every believer in the ministry. Reactions by the youth leadership towards the vision The youth leadership team was positive towards the vision. It was of the general view that everybody had to demonstrate spiritual leadership at his/her capacity. From the perspective of the youth leadership team, they wanted the concept of spiritual leadership to contain an element of servant hood and demonstrative leadership. Since the main goal of spiritual leadership is to draw individuals close to God, one of the approaches suggested was youth empowerment through the Word of God and basing on biblical principles. Another suggestion by the youth leadership team was the time frame for the vision. However, it was reached that the vision was not just like any other project, nurturing spiritual leaders requires ample time and patience. To convince the youth leadership team to accept the vision was a significant challenge. I had to carry out discussion groups to illustrate to the team what were the elements of spiritual leadership, the various ways through which spiritual leadership can be instilled among the youths in the ministry and the responsibilities that everyone has a spiritual leader. As a matter of fact, I had to make a few adjustments to original vision in order to gain support of the vision. One of the adjustments was through
The Ad description and connotation The League against Anti-Semitism & Racism advert was the work of Publicis Conseil advertising agency located in Paris, and it was released in February 2010 for the purpose of public awareness. The printed advert shows a picture of three babies, three are white and the other one is black. The white babies are in diapers while the black one is dressed in a cleaner’s clothes and is holding a broom and a wiper. Beneath the black baby’s cot, there is a pink pail of cleaning water. The two out of three babies, whose faces can be seen, seem to be very happy while the black baby seems to be frowning, which presumably shows sadness. Behind the babies, there is a text message, which reads, “Your skin color shouldn’t dictate your future”. The first part of the message is written in white and the other in black. Generally, the foreground of the image shows the picture of the babies, the middle ground shows the open doors, the baby bottles and the diapers on the picture’s top part. The background is the written sentence, which preferably acts as a slogan. Explanation The image of the babies in the advert shows unfair and unequal treatment based on one’s color as explained by two aspects. First, the white babies are dressed in diapers, which normally depict a symbol of comfort and luxury while the black baby is dressed in a blue cleaning uniform and boots, which shows how devalued the black baby is as compared to the white babies. Secondly, the white babies seem to be idle and enjoying themselves in their cots while the black one is frowning and presumably she is supposed to do the cleaning, and that is perhaps why she cannot have fun like the other babies. The entire picture shows the differences in treatment among the three babies. The use of the babies helps to show how helpless they are on their cots as they do not have the freedom to do what they want, protest, or oppose their imposed situation. The analysis of the advertisement The advert carries a hidden message and the visual aspect can exclusively show it. The white babies represent the white race and the black one represents the black r
The market for online gambling is considered among the fastest growing industries. Taking online poker in particular, its sector is the fastest growing among online gambling, which value is estimated to be $ billion in 2011 (McMullan and Kervin). The rapid growth of gambling sites online from 30 sites in 1994 to 2,296 sites in 2009 represents not only the development of internet as a technology, changes in consumer behaviour, and subsequently the changes in the marketing strategies used to promote such industry. A typical description of a consumer of online gambling website is mostly based on various surveys on the web, in which common characteristics can be identified such as:   * Prevalence of men, where “men are more likely than women to be online gamblers” (Griffiths, Wood and Parke).   * Less people gamble everyday than those gambling a few times a week.   * More likely to be aged 18-34 (Griffiths, Parke, et al.). Other characteristics, specifically connected to the UK o0nline gambling market, can be derived from the 2007 British Gambling Prevalence Survey. The results of such survey add to the aforementioned characteristics such aspects as being single, well educated, and being in professional/managerial employment (Griffiths, Wardle, et al. 199). For online poker specifically, the characteristics of consumers can be seen a little bit more specified, especially by student communities, which indicate that the majority of student consumers participate at least twice a week, one fifth of which were identified as problem gamblers (Griffiths, Parke, et al.). The success of the online poker, among other gambling sites, is attributed to several reasons, which can be used to explain typical consumer behaviour in that matter. The latter includes the ability to play for low stakes, the ability to learn for free, and even the anecdotal tendency to switch genders in avatars while playing (Griffiths, Parke, et al.). Generally, it can be stated that despite the popularity of online poke, there is a deficit in empirical researchers on typical consumer behaviour. The main marketing techniques currently used to promote and advertise online poker can be seen through the websites themselves. Thus, the poker site is used as an