ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction Organizational behavior is the means that people inside any company use to interact with each other. These methods are based on the idea that using a scientific approach, organizational management can be improved, and they are primarily aimed at making organizations more efficient. There are a great number of philosophies and techniques used to improve organizational behavior. Particularly, it comprises such improvements as developing leadership, promoting innovation, increasing performance, and enhancing job satisfaction. The role of managers in creating organizational behavior is crucial (Robbins & Judge 2016). Their leadership style, personal traits, strategy, behavior, and attitude, determine an overall course of a company and a chance for its success. The Role of Managers in an Organization Definition of a Manager In general, a business manager is a person who works in an organization and controls the work done by the employee to maximize performance and efficiency, thereby making the organization successful. The work of managers focuses on four main functions, namely, leading, organizing, controlling, and planning. Certainly, managers need several skills including technical skills to fulfill their functions and increase the productivity of a company. However, the most important skills that any manager must possess to succeed in his or her profession are communication and leadership skills (Hansen 2017). When a manager has good communication skills, employee satisfaction increases which result in the reduction of the strong employees’ turnover. As for leadership skills, they include the ability to influence people and inspire them to work. However, it is paramount to state that not every manager is a leader, and conversely, not every leader is a manager. The latter is understandable, as there are a lot of other professions that require excellent leadership skills (Robbins & Judge 2016). However, if a manager is a bad leader, their company will unlikely to be successful, as the production of any goods must be thoroughly organized. Types of Managers and Their Responsibilities Many types of managers differ according to their ranks and the types of duties they have to perform. Thus, depending on the rank, usually, there are managers, senior managers, executive managers, and top managers. Ordinary managers usually supervise workers in a particular department of a company, whereas top managers are those who manage the whole company. In terms of the responsibilities of a manager, they include planning, organizing and implementing, directing, monitoring, evaluating, and performing special assignments from their superiors (Hansen 2017). First of all, managers start with planning a certain operation in the area of their expertise. Once the plan is ready, managers begin organizing and impl
Introduction “A Red, Red Rose”, written by Robert Burns, is a four stanza poem, with four lines in each stanza. The poem begins with the conventional image of rose, a red rose, to represent love, and then it deviates into images like rocks and sands. Though it has all the qualities of a traditional ballad, it attains a very complex nature, deserving to be read in the context of modern interpretations, like the theory of deconstruction formulated by Derrida. This brief paper takes a look at the poem in order to discuss the important literary devices used in it. Discussion In the first stanza the poet compares love to a rose and then to a sweet melody: “O MY Luve ‘s like a red, red rose …O my Luve ‘s like the melodie” (Burns). These images are conventional, but they also imply their opposite meanings. A rose has thorns as love is never without its thorny sides. Both the rose and the melody remind that they are short-lived, temporal, though sweet. Therefore, the poet’s intention is to foreground the element of time in love relationship and show the ambiguity inherent in it. In fact, the poet begins the poem in the conventional mode, but gradually deviates into the language of binary oppositions. Burns further explains the intricacies of love in the second stanza by continuing to play with the theme of time. He is stressing on the depth of his love by asserting that his love will last till the seas go dry: “Till a’ the seas gang dry/ And the rocks melt wi’ the sun” (Burns). Though it is an impossible possibility, he wants to establish the desire for eternal love, knowing that the life of rose like the length of melody is temporal. The reality of love reminds the readers that in real life the opposite of what the poet says happens. Carrying his theme again into the third stanza, the poet exaggerates that his love will last till the rocks melt away or till the sands of life run: “I will luve thee still, my dear,/ While the sands o’ life shall run” (Burns). From familiar metaphors the poet moves away with metaphors like rocks and sands, which are not familiar. The irony implied here is that the lovers will not be there to witness such an eventuality, as rocks will never melt. Their nearness reminds the lovers of its opposite, of the inevitability of parting. Therefore, the lover promises to come back again, even if he travels ten thousand miles away. The poet, apart from resorting to the metaphors like flower and melody, clearly depicts the process of time in nature by giving emphasis on the change of season, the inevitability of decay, and by showing that parting is also implicit in this process of transition. The human desire is to return to the beloved: “And I will come again, my Luve” (Burns). Thus the metaphors in the poem help the poet in establishing the complex nature of relationship. The transition of an image to the next image looks smooth, like the thought o
Introduction Although the problem of gender and race inequity has been on the world agenda for several decades running, the progress that has been made so far has not yet brought one to triumph of equal rights for all those concerned. The problem of sexual identity in general and the lack of tolerance towards homosexuals in the modern society, as well as the issues regarding the culture clash and the problems related to acculturation, still remain on the world agenda (Bhugra and Vahia 116). Despite the fact that the concept of globalization seemed rather promising in terms of creating links between the representatives of different cultures, the opportunity to communicate freely with the members of other societies only made the problem more complicated by adding the urbanization factor to the overall set of irritants fueling the ethnic and gender conflicts. By creating the hostile environment that is both opening one to a variety of opportunities and at the same time restricting in terms of the choices that one must make in the course of searching for one’s own identity, the urban environment can be viewed as a sexual and an ethnic enclave, as Baldwin and Lee argue in their novels. Analysis: Themes and Characters The theme of being imprisoned in the environment that is seemingly open-minded to a range of cultures, yet promotes a single standard in terms of the identity that one is supposed to have and the roles that one must assume, the society is depicted as a cold and brooding social enclave in both Giovanni’s Room and Native Speaker . As many aspects as the two novels treat differently, both of them view their protagonists as the victims of the flawed system, which forces people into building the relationships that they do not want to engage in, thus, locking them in the enclave of their own pretense and lies. Therefore, the lead characters of both novels have to make a choice between a social seclusion and the following loss of their chances for integrating into the society, and defying their own identity for the sake of retaining the support of the people, who they are to coexist with. The problems, which David and Giovanni have, may be viewed on several levels of meaning. First and most obvious, each of the characters needs to face the threat of being expelled from the society that they are trying to integrate into, each for specific reasons (i.e., homosexuality and the lack of information about the American culture). On a second thought, though, one may consider the issue concerning gender relationships just as important as the process of creating ties in a new community: “All along, he offered himself as a model of liberal reaction, which is initially fascination and disdain, but then relief. It’s a race war everyone can live with. Blacks and Koreans were somehow meant for trouble in America” (Lee 210). However, the issue of creating a new identity based on compliance with the se
Introduction With its headquarters in Plano, Texas, Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS) is a leading brand owner, manufacturer, and distributor of flavored carbonated soft drinks and non-carbonated beverages in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean via a broad and flexible route to market (Roeder 1). The present paper focuses on the firm’s business-level strategy, strategic issues facing the company, SWOT analysis, as well as some recommendations to address the strategic issues. Company’s Business-Level Strategy Owing to the fact that business-level strategy is basically “an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions that a firm uses to gain competitive advantage by exploiting core competencies in specific markets” (Hitt et al 100), it can be argued that the company’s business-level strategy is premised on being the leading flavored beverage business in the United States by  1. building and enhancing the firm’s leading brands,  2. pursuing profitable channels, packages and categories,  3. leveraging on the firm’s integrated business models,  4. strengthening the firm’s route to market,  5. improving the company’s operating efficiency (Dr Pepper Snapple Group para. 2). Strategic Issues facing the Company Although one of the tenets making up the firm’s business-level strategy is to build and enhance leading brands, the company is increasingly facing challenges in product proliferation occasioned by new line extensions, new packaging and sizes, as well as ongoing market segmentation in the soft drinks and beverages industry. This strategic issue is proving a costly affair for the company bearing in mind its size in the market as well as its competitors (e.g., Coca-Cola and PepsiCo), who have the resources and leverage required to underwrite such proliferation (Roeder 8-9). The company must also deal with the strategic issue of price erosion in the soft drinks and beverages industry. Although it is clear that this problem came into being long before DPS entered the market, the company must now face strategic issues that have continued to erode the prices of various products in the market. These issues include  1. use of larger package sizes that have a lower price per ounce,  2. introduction of multi-packs, which provide a lower price per ounce,  3. increasing availability in superstores and mass merchandisers, including global leader Wal-Mart, which to a large extent operate with lower retail gross margins than convenience stores.  4. Additionally, the company must develop strategies to deal with plummeting profit margins due to rising and volatile commodity prices as well as unforeseen shifts in customer tastes and preferences (Roeder 7). SWOT Analysis Strengths                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              * Over 50 soft drink brands in the market (strong portfoli
The head is a part of the rich decorations of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It was a part of the sculpture that depicted King David, the ruler of the united Israeli and Judah. It was made approximately in the year 1145 (“Head of Kind David.”). The cathedral of Notre Dame featured many heads like king David’s but they were destroyed during the French Revolution by vandals or revolutionaries themselves. The strong antipathy towards monarchy drove people to decapitate even the works of art that depicted something that was not even part of their misery. The recent analysis traced the head to the west façade of the cathedral that portrays Saint Anne, the grandmother of Jesus (Holmes and Harbottle 75). The west façade depicts the history of Jesus’ birth and his genealogy. King David is believed to be the relative of Jesus in the Christian faith, which was the reason for placing his statue on the façade. The head itself is one of the few similar artifacts that survived the chaos of revolution. As a result of all the perturbations, the head lost its nose, lips, and part of the chin. The eyes were encrusted with black stone. The statue of King David decorated the entrance and was placed above eye level. Its glance was believed to be truly king-like and magnificent. Despite the fact that the statue was found to be produced in the first half of the 12th century, the cathedral witnessed its installment only 50-60 years later. Such delay could be explained by the fact that Notre-dame was financed mostly by the donations of parishioners and the construction and decoration took long enough to employ generations of sculptors and builders. Works Cited “Ancient Terracottas.” Getty.Edu . 2018, Web. Conard, Nicholas J. “A Female Figurine from the Basal Aurignacian of Hohle Fels Cave in Southwestern Germany.” Nature , vol. 459, no. 7244, 2009, pp. 248-252. Garate, Diego et al. “At the Crossroad: A New Approach to the Upper Paleolithic Art in the Western Pyrenees.” Quaternary International , vol. 364, 2015, pp. 283-293. “Head of Kind David.” Met Museum. n.d., 2018. Web. Holmes, L., and G. Harbottle. “Old stones, new science.” Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, vol. 248, no. 1, 2001, pp. 75-79. “Sculptural Group of a Seated Poet and Sirens (2) with unjoined fragmentary curls (304).” Getty.Edu . n.d., Web.
Introduction Neurotic anxiety is one of the numerous disorders that are rather easy to detect yet require a complex set of measures to be vanquished. Freud (Hunt, 2007) made an assumption that fearing to face their demons, people create a mental block that prevents them from returning to the memories that trouble them. Calling the phenomenon under analysis a defense mechanism (Hunt, 2007), Freud identified a verity of strategies that are typically used subconsciously as the means of escaping reality and avoiding recalling the painful memories. Although the similarities between the strategies of denial, rationalization, and displacement are quite minor, teach of the approaches serves a very specific purpose. Denial By far the most common and just as primitive, denial as a defense mechanism implies that one should ignore the evidence of a specific fact and refuse to acknowledge the existence thereof (Cohen, 2013). Thus, the anxiety-producing reality is substituted with the environment, in which one feels most comfortable. For instance, a person abusing substances and having developed drug dependence may convince themselves that they do not have a problem and that they can quit at any time, while, in reality, they are incapable of even reducing the amount of substance consumed. Rationalization Although rationalization is often viewed as a form of denial, it is, nevertheless, much more intricate and complex than the approach described above. Instead of ignoring the obvious evidence of the necessity to change the situation, one seeks rational explanations for ignoring it. In other words, the person using rationalization as a shield from taking active measures to address the problem focuses on searching for the positive aspects thereof. As a result, the one adopting rationalization convinces themselves that the problem does not exist. For example, a woman married to a man who abuses her might convince herself that she needs to stay married since her children need a father figure. Displacement Another approach used to oust unpleasant information from one’s mind and focus on the one that seems less distressing, the strategy of displacement permits one to redirect strong feelings from one object to another in case the former is no longer in existence. Thus, the person carrying out the process of replacement no longer feels lonely or abandoned, therefore, building the relationships with the substitute that is identical to the ones with the original. Evidently flawed, the specified approach prevents one from experiencing new relationships and avoiding the mistakes made in the past (Koffmann & Walters, 2014). For instance, the situation, in which a woman loses a child, gives birth to another one, and attempts to restore the environment, in which she communicated with her first son or daughter can be deemed as displacement. The gender of the child may be different, yet the mo
Cess van Der Hoeven, Ahold’s CEO, set ambitious expansion targets for the company in 1994. Sales were expected to double every five years. A similar target was set for net profit. This plan would ensure a 15% compound growth in both sales and net profits per annum. Such an expansion called for investment funds. 66.7% of the expansion was to be funded by the company’s cash-flow. The remaining 33.3% was to be funded by external creditors. The earnings Per Share was to grow at 10% annually. Ahold managed to acquire the Stop and Shop chain thus rising to be the 5 th largest food retailer in the world. Van Der Hoeven set a target for the company to be the 2 nd largest food retailer. This meant overtaking Carrefour, to rank after Wal-Mart. Ahold expanded rapidly between 1994 and 1999 through the acquisition of several supermarkets globally. Initially, the company focused on purchasing regional supermarket chains that were family-owned. They also acquired a few hypermarkets located in Portugal. The rest were in southern Europe. In the US, Ahold bought Giant Food Inc. while in Argentina; they set up a joint venture with Velox Retail Holdings. Disco, the joint venture, operated in Argentina, Chile, and Peru. This company entered the Scandinavian market by purchasing 50% of the ICA Group. Ahold was attempting to acquire supermarkets in different parts of the world to spread their risks. The company planned to exploit economies of scale by conducting its purchases centrally. The company also tried to improve the operations of the supermarkets acquired by transferring IT and other technology from head office to them. They also issued loyalty cards to customers. The management of the stores was left in the hands of the existing management. The rationale behind this was that the old managers knew their territories best, and could manage the stores better than new managers. Ahold’s share prices dropped in 1999. This was caused by the recession and its inferior expansion methods. The company’s competitors built hypermarkets which proved to be more of a hit with the consumers than Ahold’s supermarkets. Thus, the company divested its operations in China and Singapore to cut losses. In 1999, Ahold planned to take over a leading supermarket chain in New York, Pathmark. However, this deal did not go through. The company then took over US Food Services. This marked Ahold’s entry into the food services industry. However, the company had no previous experience in this industry. USF’s core business was supplying foodstuff to institutions and restaurants. USF was an attractive acquisition target since it was top in its industry. The food services industry was also growing at a faster rate than the supermarket industry that Ahold was operating in. The changing lifestyles created a huge market for the fast-food industry. This guaranteed 5% annual growth for the food industry sector. This was double the growth rate of the grocery sector. Ahold also planned to exploit its incre
For many people, talking to the public is a great challenge or even a serious endeavor or even life-threatening experience. At that, face-to-face interactions are mainly positively viewed, and many people enjoy talking to other people in person. One of the reasons for that is the psychological and physical distance that is difficult to overcome for some. In order to build a proper relationship with the audience, it can be beneficial to use some strategies that are naturally used in the face-to-face interaction. First, the speaker should make sure he/she understands the audience. It is always easier to talk to a known person rather than a complete stranger. Thus, one of the barriers disappears when the speaker is acquainted with the audience. This knowledge helps choose the right words, gestures, arguments, emotions and so on. Another important peculiarity of interpersonal communication is the feedback. Therefore, when giving speeches, the speaker should elicit the feedback of the audience. It is crucial to understand whether the audience is properly engaged or bored. The interaction will help the speaker communicate the message effectively. Finally, the speakers’ perspective is also important. Some people are afraid of speaking to the audience. Thus, it is possible to try making oneself believe that it is a simple conversation with a slightly greater number of people than in other occasions. Response to a Classmate’s Post J.K. Rowling’s speech is really remarkable as it can be viewed as a universal one. Thus, it is clear for everyone as all people have had similar experiences. Obviously, the speech seemed so inspirational as you encountered it at a specific period of your time. Your perspective can be regarded as a perfect illustration of the importance of the common ground between the speaker and the audience. The Eastwood’s speech failed totally as the speaker had another perspective and was rather concerned with his message rather than his audience. This post provides important insights into effective public communication. The speaker should mind the audience as the inability to do so will create the barriers that will make the communication ineffective. Of course, the manner of speaking is also very important as sometimes it can make even a potentially good speech complete failure. A Film Legally Blonde (2001) can be regarded as a good examp