Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Resource Management

Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Resource Management Corporate social responsibility (CSR), is also known as corporate responsibility, responsible business or corporate social performance, is a form of self regulation for the company. It acts as an autonomous mechanism whereby the business supervises its actions and guarantees adherence to law, ethical standard and international norms. The business is accountable for the results of its actions on the environment, employees, consumers, stakeholders and the community as a whole. CSR is a purposeful addition of public interest into corporate decision making. Managers face pressures to devote the resources of the company towards fulfillment of CSR which is a result of the demands of various stakeholder groups such as customers, suppliers, employees, stockholders and the local community. According to Doane D, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become the mainstream prescription by business and governments for dealing with social and environmental ills. It is a voluntary form of self-regulation that aims to tackle everything from human rights and labour standards to limiting carbon dioxide emissions that lead to climate change. But because CSR ultimately lies within the framework of markets, and requires market-based incentives for companies to invest in such programmes, it ultimately falls prey to the vagaries of the market. (Doane, 2004, p. 215) Human resource management on the other hand refers to the management of the human resource of the organisation. human resource management plays a major part in training and conditioning the employees to fit into the organisations culture. Employees gain valuable attributes that help them perform effectively and efficiently to benefit the employers. The human resource of the firm when managed properly can prove to be valuable assets and help in gaining competitive advantage over the other firms. The human resource is not substitutable or duplicable and hence gives the company a distinctive edge over its competitors. Companies like to create a public image wherein they are viewed as a responsible part of society. They wish to, in their own way, fulfill the duties and responsibilities of a model citizen. Companies like to refer to themselves as corporate citizens, or even good corporate citizens. A review of company websites and codes of conduct presents examples such as: ABN Amro We are a responsible institution and a good corporate citizen, Boeing Good corporate citizenship is a key Boeing value, Hitachi The Hitachi Company strives to be a responsible corporate citizen in communities worldwide. Shell To conduct business as a responsible corporate member of the society. (Jeurissen, 2004:87) Some examples of CSR actions include going beyond legal requirements in adopting progressive human resource management programs, developing non-animal testing procedures, re-cycling, abating pollution, supporting local businesses, and embodying products with social attributes or characteristics. (McWilliams Siegel, 2001: 117) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is gradually becoming a leading issue in business. A growing number of companies embraces the concept and feels the need to make clear what it actually means. They take a variety of initiatives all aimed at making sense of CSR. (Cramer, Jonker, van der Heijden, 2004: 215) A company needs to be sensitive to the social, political and legal environment as it is dependent on the elements of each of these in order to be able to survive, let alone flourish. For the better part of 30 years now, corporate executives have struggled with the issue of the firms responsibility to its society. Early on it was argued by some that the corporations sole responsibility was to provide a maximum financial return to shareholders. It became quickly apparent to everyone, however, that this pursuit of financial gain had to take place within the laws of the land. Though social activist groups and others throughout the 1960s advocated a broader notion of corporate responsibility, it was not until the significant social legislation of the early 1970s that this message became indelibly clear as a result of the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). (Carroll) The pressure on firms to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) has increased. Many managers have responded to these pressures, but many have resisted. Those who resist typically have invoked the trade-off between socially responsible behavior and profitability (McWilliams Siegel, Corporate Social Responsibility nad Financial Performance: Correlation or Misspecification?, 2000:607) Expectations of stakeholders not only relate to the direct transactions between parties, they now expect management to participate in the debate on societal problems (e.g. unemployment, poverty, infrastructure) and proactively think about the effects of the business on society at large. (Kok, Van Der Wiele, McKenna, Brown, 2001:285) The economic and social purpose of the corporation is to create and distribute increased wealth and value to all its primary stakeholder groups, without favoring one group at the expense of others. Wealth and value are not defined adequately only in terms of increased share price, dividends, or profits. (Clarkson, 1995, p. 112) Managers can no longer be held responsible for maximizing returns to shareholders at the expense of other primary stakeholder groups. Instead, managers are now accountable for fulfilling the firms responsibilities to its primary stakeholder groups. This means that managers must resolve the inevitable conflicts between primary stakeholder groups over the distribution of the increased wealth and value created by the corporation. Resolving conflicting interests fairly requires ethical judgment and choices. (Clarkson, 1995, p. 112) When it comes to the question whether corporate social responsibility and human resource management are linked they certainly are. One of the major responsibility of the organisation is to keep their employees happy and to treat them in an appropriate manner, the employees in turn perform better and the organisation earns profit. The money earned by the organisation as profits are utilised to carry out responsibility of the organisation towards the employees and the community. The issue of business ethics and social responsibility is thus becoming a theme for organisations which are serious in their approach towards business excellence (Fisscher, 1994; Buban, 1995; Nakano, 1999). Kok mail IMP According to Woods, definition of corporate social performance (CSP) is not entirely satisfactory (wood, 1991). The definition of corporate social responsibility in itself is not well explained and its link to human resource management cannot be confirmed. However, as we know that corporate social responsibility of a firm refers to the firms acknowledment of its responsibility to the community and its members and the society as a whole, it can be said that human resouce management and corporate social responsibility are linked as employees constitute of the integral part of the organisation and also members of the society. Hence, organisations to call themselves responsible corporate citizens they need to focus their attention on the human resource they possess and be sensible to their needs. In the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) guidelines to Multinational Enterprises, it outlines few guidelines in the General Policy for the employees of the organisation in the country they are operating. Few policies relating to the employees for the enterprise are: Respect the human rights of those affected by their activities consistent with the host governments international obligations and commitments. Encourage human capital formation, in particular by creating employment opportunities and facilitating training opportunities for employees. Promote employee awareness of, and compliance with, company policies through appropriate dissemination of these policies, including through training programmes. Refrain from discriminatory or disciplinary action against employees who make bona fide reports to management or, as appropriate, to the competent public authorities, on practices that contravene the law, the Guidelines or the enterprises policies. (OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises) To carry out the policies underlines the Human Resource management should play an active role and these policies should be accepted. The OECD mandates economic, environmental and social issues and for companies to who aspire to be good corporate citizens have to abide by the policies and this implies that there is a link between Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Resource Management. Ethical issues with regard to employment are one of the major elements of corporate social responsibility. The human resources of a company may be internal to the company in theory. However, the employees of a company are a part of the society within which it functions. It is therefore, in the best interest of the company to take into consideration, the needs of its own employees and lay just as much emphasis on the satisfaction of its own human resource as it does on that of its customers. HRM can, therefore, be linked to corporate social responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is typically defined as actions on the part of the firm that signal their willingness to advance the goals of stakeholder groups. It is the most important issue in this period of time to achieve competence in the changed world to get the dynamic equilibrium. Achieving competitive success through people involves fundamentally altering how managers think about the workforce and the employment relationship. Firms that take this different perspective are often able to successfully outmanoeuvre and outperform their rivals. (Chang, 2009) IS THE LINK BETWEEN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT REALISTIC Furthermore, in the current climate of restructuring and redundancies, companies are finding themselves more and more hard pressed for fulfilling and living up to their economic commitments. In such a scenario, companies are cutting costs by downsizing operations. This results in them having to let go of a large number of employees. As simple as it sounds, society as whole has now turned its attention towards how companies treat their employees during times when resources are hard to come by. Companies are viewed as beneficial or detrimental to society based on whether or not they can fulfill their legal and social obligations towards their own employees. It has, in fact, become more important for companies to fulfill their corporate social responsibility with respect to HRM in order to come out of the entire economic crisis with their reputations intact or even enhanced. RESTUCTURING AND REDUNDANCIES Corporate restructuring is defined as a period of multiple divestitures for larger multiproduct firms where at least 10 percent of the asset base of such firms was divested. (Hoskisson Johnson, 1992, p. 625). Restructuring refers to the change in the structure, operations or ownership of the organisation. It a fundamental change in the direction and strategy of the organisation. Restructuring may involve increasing or decreasing the layers of personnel between the top and bottom, or reassigning roles and responsibilities. Corporate restructuring includes mergers, acquisitions, take- over, tender offers etc. an organisation seeks to restructure itself as a consequence of poor performance and this results in closure of many part of the business and the outplacement or letting go of personnel. Three types of corporate restructuring trans-actions occur: (1) financial restructuring including recapitalizations, stock repurchases, and changes in capital structure; (2) portfolio restructuring involving divestment and acquisitions and refocusing on core business(es), resulting in change of the diversity of businesses in the corporate portfolio; and (3) operational restructuring including retrenchment, reorganization, and changes in business level strategies. These three types of restructuring are not mutually exclusive; and in fact, frequently occur together. (Gibbs, 1993, p. 51) Redundancies refer to the dismissal of employee by the employer. Lay- offs and job loss are very frequent in the current economic climate where many countries are hit by recession and organisations are compelled to let go of the major workforce in order to sustain and as business is not good at the current climate having many employees is only increasing costs of the organisation and they are left with no other option than to let go of their employees. When economies face credit crunch and this being an external factor, the organisations are left with no other option than to make some of their employees redundant this is the part of human resource management where companies in order to survive have to adapt very quickly and also act wisely. Recently many organisations had let go of a major part of their workforce, the workers were made redundant by organisation. Although there is a link between Human Resource management and corporate social responsibility, the link does not seem to be realistic in the current climate of restructuring and redundancies. Organisations are becoming leaner and meaner by the day. There are different examples to support this. Companies in order to survive have made a number of employees redundant or they choose another path of restructuring which also results in downsizing the operations of the company which ultimately results in employees losing their jobs. This is an outcome of the economic condition or can also be a result of organisations intension to work on towards becoming HUGE And in this course leave behind the employees who dont seem to be beneficial to the company and are not productive. Organisations change their policies due to external factors, like during the last economic downturn many companies were laying off their staff. Downsizing in companies like Citigroup, the CEO Vikram Pandit announced layoff of 50,000 employees i.e. 7% reduction in the overall workforce as the credit crunch took a toll on the financial giant resulting in panic across the company. The layoffs were due to the economic situation of the country and nothing could be done by the company than to cut off employees to survive in that market situation. Under the same circumstances Jet Airways, one of the leading companies of civil aviation in India, fired 1100 employees after the economic disaster. The employees protested against the insensitive decision taken by the companys Chairman Naresh Goyal. However shortly, the employees were taken back into the company due to political pressure put on him. The survey was conducted among top level and financial managers of Estonian companies. The managers were asked to what extent the company has cut or intend to cut the basic salaries and what other cost- cutting strategies have been implemented in the organisation. According to the results of the express survey AS PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted among the leading Estonian companies and organisations, 2/3 of the surveyed companies have made employees redundant and 1/3 have reduced basic salaries in the last 6 months. Nearly half of the respondents have cut performance pay and other monetary and non-monetary benefits. 2/3 of the companies have reduced or are about to reduce the number of employees, while nearly 1/3 have introduced part-time work or forced leave. (Lehtsaar, 2009) The results of the survey show that 66% of the respondents have made their employees redundant or are planning to do it in the nearest future. 36% of these companies have lain off employees at all levels of the organisation out of which 26% have mostly laid off unskilled employees and 6% specialists and members of management. 34% of the respondents have not reduced and are not planning to significantly reduce the number of employees in the nearest future. According to an article written in November 2008, the month of November have been fierce for the job market, almost 15000 announced job cuts from a number of companies across several industries. Eight companies announced job cuts as a means of cutting cost during desperate times. The industries ranged from retail, finance, leisure, pharmaceutical and toy and automobile manufacturing. The Labour Department reported that the U.S. economy sloughed nearly 1.2 million jobs through October. Just in the month of October, the economy lost 240,000 jobs, raising the unemployment rate to 6.5%. Circuit City (CC, Fortune 500), an electronics retailer based in Richmond, Va., kicked off the week by announcing on Monday that it was reducing its domestic workforce by 17%. The company would not comment on the number of employees that would be affected, but according to a recent 10K filing, Circuit City employs about 43,000 people in the U.S. That would mean roughly 7,300 positions are being lost, the biggest of the cuts in November so far. (Smith, 2008) The Connecticut-based insurer Hartford Financial (HIG, Fortune 500) reported 500 cuts. (Smith, 2008) Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) was the most recent to announce job cuts, with 2,600 cuts announced on Friday. The battered auto maker said it was trying to hold on to its dwindling cash reserves as it reported a $3 billion operating loss for the third quarter. (Smith, 2008) In November 2008 companies like Circuit city, Hartford Financial, Glaxo, Fidelity, Mattel, Borgata Hotel Casino, La-A-Boy and Ford cut down jobs which summed up to almost 15000. These companies work in different industries and all have laid off their employees this directly shows that the economic downturn has affected these companies and in order to sustain they have opted to let go of a number of employees from their company. According to a study conducted by the human resources consultancy SD Worx, half of the companies located in Belgium expect to undertake restructuring during 2009. The companies expressing this view are mainly large organisations employing more than 500 employees and many are internationally owned. Domestic companies and small and medium-sized enterprises seem to be less concerned by restructuring processes. (Perin, 2009) The global economic crisis led to negative results for the Belgian economy in 2008. Furthermore, the Belgian central bank expects worse result for 2009. Between December 2008 and December 2009, a slowdown of 1.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) is expected, as well as an increase in the unemployment rate from 7.1% to 7.8%. The Central Bank forecasts a loss of 58,000 jobs in 2009. The human resource consultancy SD Worx recently published a study on corporate restructuring in the Belgian market between 2006-2009 and over the last three years 41% of the companies located in Belgium undertook a restructuring process. Unemployment in vulnerable sectors is increasing, with major consequences for qualified and unqualified manual workers. Moreover, the economic crisis also concerns other types of workers. Between the second and third quarters of 2008, the Federal Public Service of Economy, SMEs, Self-employed and Energy noted a 25.3% increase in the total number of unemployed people, while the unemployment rate of workers aged between 15 and 24 years rose substantially by 78.1%. It should be noted that September always leads to an increase in the unemployment rate of young workers as they finish school and enter the labour market. (Perin, 2009) Ciscos second quarter conference call, CEO John Chambers seemed intent on not doing what nearly every big tech company (except Apple) has done in recent weeks: announce layoffs. But while there has been no across-the-board cut, the company has shed up to 1,000 employees through realignment and restructuring efforts over the past six quarters as the company focuses more resources on more promising growth markets. And the company expects 1,500 to 2,000 of its staffers to be similarly dis-employed in this manner in the months ahead. (Burrows, 2004) The distinction the company is making is to realign the people into the best prospect and cutting jobs in bad businesses, the company looks at it as a positive application that will bring out something good for the future. The company says that it has realigned $500 million in resources over the past few years and intends to realign another half a billion in the coming months. The companys total workforce consists of 67,000 people out of which there will be a few hundred job cuts per quarter. And Cisco management is clearly not looking to layoffs as the cost-cutting measure of first resort. Chambers says the company has already achieved a one-year goal to cut expenses by $1 billion (though some as a result of those job reductions), after just two quarters. One example: travel-related expenses per employees have dropped more than 50%.. (Burrows, 2004) In the examples given above, it clearly describes that the last economic downturn left scars on many companies performance and structure. Many companies restructured and redesigned their operations leading on to making many employees redundant. Letting go of employees of a firm is not an easy task to be done but in critical situations like this companies have to make harsh decisions be it downsising their operations and letting go of employees. Companies like Microsoft, Dell, Intel, Proctor and Gamble, Walt Disney, Motorola, IBM, Ford, Boeing and many others have cut off employees. The job cuts were although a tough decision to be made, the companies had to get it done. These companies prove to be good corporate citizens as company like Dell work towards betterment of the society and are sensitive to the environment as they are determined to be greenest technology company and achieved carbon neutrality in their global operations, the company also helps customers significantly increas e energy efficiency. And others like Microsoft, intel, Disney Motorola and other are good corporate citizens and have work towards the betterment of the society in their own ways but recently they all have laid off employees amking them redundant. This clearly shows that the link between Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Resource Management is not realistic in the current climate. CONCLUSION To conclude this, it can be said that there is a link between Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Resource Management. CSR works towards the well being of all the stakeholder of the company and is responsible for the actions taken by it towards them. Employees however being a part of the stakeholder group, the companies are responsible towards them and also because they form the integral part of the organisation. In addition to this the link between them is not realistic in the current climate of restructuring and redundancies. It is crucial for the company to maintain crucial competency and while countries are facing an economic downturn they have to act in the way they are. Holding on to the employees and continuously making loses will take the company nowhere and will do no good to either the company or the employees. However in the long run the company does act sensitive to its employees and works towards the empowerment and betterment of their employees along with the vari ous stakeholder group but in recent times and what the recent research has suggested that the link between Corporate Social Responsibility and Human resource management is not realistic. WORDCOUNT: 3705

Schizophrenia in The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Schizophrenia in  The Yellow Wallpaper      Ã‚  Ã‚   Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s "The Yellow Wall-Paper," does more than just tell the story of a woman who suffers at the hands of 19th century quack medicine. Gilman created a protagonist with real emotions and a real psych that can be examined and analyzed in the context of modern psychology. In fact, to understand the psychology of the unnamed protagonist is to be well on the way to understanding the story itself. "The Yellow Wall-Paper," written in first-person narrative, charts the psychological state of the protagonist as she slowly deteriorates into schizophrenia (a disintegration of the personality). Schizophrenia manifests itself through a number of symptoms. One of the first symptoms that the narrator in "The Yellow Wall-Paper" exhibits is thought disorder. Thought disorder can range in severity anywhere from a vague muddiness of thinking to a total breakdown of mental processes. The first real hint that the protagonist is having trouble controlling her mental faculties is when she says, "I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes . . . I take pains to control myself — before him, at least, and that makes me very tired" (Gilman 426). Her mental state is again revealed a few pages later when she states, "It is getting to be a great effort for me to think straight" (Gilman 430). Related to thought disorder is obsession, which the protagonist displays in her relentless thoughts about the yellow wallpaper which covers her bedroom walls. The narrator begins her obsession with the yellow wallpaper from the very beginning of the story. "I never saw a worse paper in my life," she says. "It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irri... ...press her, she had to discard the personality that was meek and mild. It is quite possible within the realm of psychological theory that the stress of childbirth, coupled with post-partum depression and the mental strain of having to repress her emotions triggered the schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is the perfect choice because it explains why the protagonist behaves the way she does. At the same time, it shows the problems that occur when a person is oppressed for so long, and also frees the narrator from the bonds of a personality that did not allow her to express herself as a human being. Works Cited Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wall-Paper." Fiction 100: An Anthology of Short Stories. 4th ed. ed. James H. Pickering. New York: MacMillan, 1985. 426-34. Kristal, Leonard, ed. The ABC of Psychology. New York: Facts on File Publications, 1982.   

Informative Speech Outline

Every year we are given 365 days, 8,765 hours, 526,000 minutes, or 31. 6 million seconds. How we spend this time is entirely different, but that's what makes us unique from everyone else. As a college student, managing your time is everything. From choosing how long to study to what people you hang out with the most affects your college years tremendously. Subject Sentence: Depending on how you spend your time can make you fail or succeed. Connective: To begin with, Body I) Have set clear goals Personal Goals A. 1.Definable goal that helps better yourself 2. Must have balance B. Career or Academic Goals 1. Must be realistic 2. Have a set deadline 3. Create a calendar 4. Be driven Connective: Next, II) Time Efficiency A. Plan your day out 1. Decide how to allot your time 2. Include both work and personal obligations 3. Use a planner 4. Make a to-do list 5. Pretzel tasks B. Make sacrifices 1. Decide what tasks are mandatory vs.. What tasks can be put off 2. Understand and accept that t here is only 24 hours in each day and that not everything can always be done C.Avoid Procrastination 1 . Start as soon as possible not as late as possible 2. Say no more often 3. Turn off your cell phone and other electronics 4. Know and be able to recognize the difference between â€Å"l don't want to† and † have time†. 5. Have allotted alone time 6. Be responsible for yourself Connective: In comparison, these are the dangers of not managing time well, Ill) Dangers of not managing time well A. Falling behind in classes 1 . Bad grades 2. Rushed assignments 3. Unpreserved for class 4. Failing out of school or getting fired from a Job B. Causes Stress 1.Miss out on other opportunities 2. Strained relationships 3. Mentally unhealthy a. Strained relationships b. Isolation from others . Depression d. Memory problems e. Constant worrying 4. Physically unhealthy a. Disrupted sleep b. Isolation c. Headaches d. Weight loss or gain Connective: In conclusion, Conclusion I do n't Everyone deals with time management every day but not everyone manages his or best for you and use them. The ability to get that 4. 0 or promotion might Just be a matter of managing your time in a better manner. Time is the only thing we really can't afford to lose. Informative Speech Outline Title: Fastest Production Car Bugatti Veyron EB 16. 4. Speaker: Bharath Tripuraneni Specific Purpose: To Inform Thesis Statement: From the history of the car till design and mechanics. Introduction I. Attention-getter: Even though there are cars, which are faster than Veyron, this car has rose to fame because of it mechanics and design, which made it a street legal car. II. Establishment of ethos: I am credible to talk about this car as I have done research related to this car and I am a car enthusiast. III. Thematic statement: From the history of the car till design and mechanics.IV. Preview (each main point): First †¦ I am going to talk about the history of the car. Next †¦ The design of the car. Finally†¦ The mechanics of the car. (Transition) Now I am going to talk about the Origin of the car. Body I. Origin of the car. A. The car has been designed and developed by the Volkswagen Group. 1. In 1998, the Volkswagen Group purchased the former car manufacturer Bugatti in order to revive the brand. 2. The decision to start production of the car was taken by Volkswagen Group in 2001. The first roadworthy prototype was completed in august 2003.The prototype is identical to the produced car with minor changes, due to many technical problems; the production of the car has been delayed several times and was finally released on September 2005. B. The car was named in honor of Pierre Veyron. 1. A Bugatti development engineer, test driver and company race driver who, with co-driver Jean-Pierre Wilmille, won the 1939 Le Mans race while driving a Bugatti. 2. â€Å"EB† refers to Bugatti founder Ettore Bugatti and the â€Å"16. 4† refers to the engine which has 16 cylinders and 4 turbochargers. Internal Summary) This car was designed and developed in 2001 and released in 2005 under the honor of Bugatti racecar driver Pierre Veyron. (Transition) Now that we have talked about the origin of the car, I will discuss the design of the car. II. Design of the car. A. The design of the Veyron honors a great heritage of the company design without drifting off into retro style. 1. Every detail of the classic two-tone color scheme from the 1920s and the 1930’s resulting in the typical Bugatti profile. 2.Ettore Bugatti himself used the contrasting colors for his cars, which is also been used on the Veyron. B. The Veyron’s classic paintwork and harmonious design connect this state-of-the-art super sports car to the heritage of Bugatti automobiles. 1. The large radiator grill with the hand-enameled Bugatti emblem – represents the grandness of the Veyron. 2. The sports car’s front is defined by the contrast of its broad headlights and majestic grill and the rear end, which is 1. 99m wide, has a retractable spoiler, which is also used as an air brake. Internal Summary) this car has the typical Bugatti two-tone color scheme started by Ettore Bugatti and a rear spoiler, which is also used as an air brake. (Transit ion) now that we have talked about the design of the car, I will discuss the mechanics of the car. III. Mechanics of the car. A. Specifications of the car.1. The Veyron features an 8. 0-liter, quad-turbocharged, W16 cylinder engine, which means the engine, is made of two V8 engines attached in a W shape which produces 1001 horse power. and a top speed of 253. 81 mph. he car goes from 0-60 mph in 2. 46 seconds. 2. Normally a car has one radiator, but the Veyron has 10 radiators in order to cool the engine down, as it produces so much heat. B. Performance of the car. 1. The car goes from 0-60 mph in 2. 46 seconds and has a top speed of 253. 81 mph. 2. EPA highway driving gives 13miles per gallon and city 8, but when put in top speed mode gives 3 miles per gallon per minute or it drinks 1. 4 gallons of fuel per minute. (Internal Summary) Veyron produces 1001 horsepower, which has a top speed of 253. 1 mph and gives 13 miles on highway and 8 on city. (Transition to conclusion) Now, we h ave talked about the mechanics of the car. Conclusion I. Summarize (overall theme): Bugatti Veyron is the fastest production car in the world . II. Review (Each Main Point) 1. Today I first described the origin of the car 2. Second, I described the design of the car 3. Finally, the mechanics of the car. III. Tie to the Introduction: From the origin of the car till the design and mechanics.IV. Creative concluding thought (end with impact): The car uses Michelin PAX run-flat tires, which are designed specifically to accommodate the Veyron’s top speed, which cost $25,000 per set. And when the car is driven on top speed mode, engineers of the car know that the tires will burst after a certain point, so they made sure that whole tank of fuel finishes before the tiers burst. References: http://www. bugatti. com/en/veyron-16. 4/design. html Car and Driver Auto Magazine. Informative Speech Outline Every year we are given 365 days, 8,765 hours, 526,000 minutes, or 31. 6 million seconds. How we spend this time is entirely different, but that's what makes us unique from everyone else. As a college student, managing your time is everything. From choosing how long to study to what people you hang out with the most affects your college years tremendously. Subject Sentence: Depending on how you spend your time can make you fail or succeed. Connective: To begin with, Body I) Have set clear goals Personal Goals A. 1.Definable goal that helps better yourself 2. Must have balance B. Career or Academic Goals 1. Must be realistic 2. Have a set deadline 3. Create a calendar 4. Be driven Connective: Next, II) Time Efficiency A. Plan your day out 1. Decide how to allot your time 2. Include both work and personal obligations 3. Use a planner 4. Make a to-do list 5. Pretzel tasks B. Make sacrifices 1. Decide what tasks are mandatory vs.. What tasks can be put off 2. Understand and accept that t here is only 24 hours in each day and that not everything can always be done C.Avoid Procrastination 1 . Start as soon as possible not as late as possible 2. Say no more often 3. Turn off your cell phone and other electronics 4. Know and be able to recognize the difference between â€Å"l don't want to† and † have time†. 5. Have allotted alone time 6. Be responsible for yourself Connective: In comparison, these are the dangers of not managing time well, Ill) Dangers of not managing time well A. Falling behind in classes 1 . Bad grades 2. Rushed assignments 3. Unpreserved for class 4. Failing out of school or getting fired from a Job B. Causes Stress 1.Miss out on other opportunities 2. Strained relationships 3. Mentally unhealthy a. Strained relationships b. Isolation from others . Depression d. Memory problems e. Constant worrying 4. Physically unhealthy a. Disrupted sleep b. Isolation c. Headaches d. Weight loss or gain Connective: In conclusion, Conclusion I do n't Everyone deals with time management every day but not everyone manages his or best for you and use them. The ability to get that 4. 0 or promotion might Just be a matter of managing your time in a better manner. Time is the only thing we really can't afford to lose. Informative Speech Outline General Purpose: I am giving this speech because this topic is very important to me and I want you to know about it as well. Specific Purpose: I am going to be informing my audience about Rachel’s Challenge in hopes of sharing Rachel’s story. I. Introduction 1. In the year 1999, a tragedy at Columbine High school occurred. This is what help start Rachel’s Challenge. 2. Bullying never leads to good out comes. Rachel’s story is proof of that. 3. Today I am here to inform you about Rachel’s Challenge, Rachel’s story, and what bullying can lead to.First I am going to inform you about Rachel’s challenge and what it is exactly. II. Body A. Rachel’s Challenge 1. 160,000 students don’t go to school because they are bullied, teased, and harassed each day. Rachel’s Challenge is helping create safer and better learning environments and making a world wide impact because Rachel’s family decided to make the Columbine Hig h School tragedy a mission for a change. 2. Rachel’s Challenge isn’t just meant to create change in schools around the world, it is to create change in businesses as well. It is to help create an environment of kindness, compassion, and safety.This is all according to www. rachelschallenge. org. 3. Now that I have told you about Rachel’s Challenge,†¦ †¦I will now inform you about Rachel’s story. B. Rachel’s Story 1. According to Craig Scott, a man I saw tell Rachel’s story, Rachel was the middle of five kids, but she handled that pretty well. She was very social and never passed up a sleep over at a friend’s house, a school event, or playing a board game with her family. Rachel loved being around people, it energized her. Her parents said that she could light up a room with her presence.She loved music and photography as well. Rachel wasn’t worried about anything besides her profile. When she was 5, she fell on the si de walk and broke her nose. The accident left a bump on the bridge of her nose which made her worry that people were staring at it when they spoke to her. 2. Rachel was very kind. She always felt sympathy for those who were less fortunate than she was. She tried to reach out to people who had social, mental, and/or physical handicaps. She was a kind girl, and she learned the power of compliments and acts of kindness at an early age.This is all according to www. rachelschallenge. org. 3. Now that I have told you about Rachel’s Challenge and Rachel’s story,†¦ †¦I will now inform you what bullying can lead to. C. What Bullying can Lead to 1. As I said before, bullying never leads to good outcomes. It can do horrible things to people. According to wiki. answers. com, when I asked the answer â€Å"What bullying can do to a person,† they said that bullying can lead a person into depression, and eventually that depression that a person is driven into will mak e them feel like they hate their life.Also according to wiki. answers. com, a person who already feels like they hate their life will feel the need to commit suicide when what they should really do is go to someone. 2. So many deaths are caused by the person’s own hand because of bullying. This is why Rachel’s Challenge was started. III. Conclusion A. Now that you know what Rachel’s Challenge is, Rachel’s story, and what bullying can lead to, I hope you will follow Rachel in bringing kindness and compassion to the world. Works Cited www. rachelschallenge. org Wiki. answers. com Craig Scott Informative Speech Outline General Purpose: I am giving this speech because this topic is very important to me and I want you to know about it as well. Specific Purpose: I am going to be informing my audience about Rachel’s Challenge in hopes of sharing Rachel’s story. I. Introduction 1. In the year 1999, a tragedy at Columbine High school occurred. This is what help start Rachel’s Challenge. 2. Bullying never leads to good out comes. Rachel’s story is proof of that. 3. Today I am here to inform you about Rachel’s Challenge, Rachel’s story, and what bullying can lead to.First I am going to inform you about Rachel’s challenge and what it is exactly. II. Body A. Rachel’s Challenge 1. 160,000 students don’t go to school because they are bullied, teased, and harassed each day. Rachel’s Challenge is helping create safer and better learning environments and making a world wide impact because Rachel’s family decided to make the Columbine Hig h School tragedy a mission for a change. 2. Rachel’s Challenge isn’t just meant to create change in schools around the world, it is to create change in businesses as well. It is to help create an environment of kindness, compassion, and safety.This is all according to www. rachelschallenge. org. 3. Now that I have told you about Rachel’s Challenge,†¦ †¦I will now inform you about Rachel’s story. B. Rachel’s Story 1. According to Craig Scott, a man I saw tell Rachel’s story, Rachel was the middle of five kids, but she handled that pretty well. She was very social and never passed up a sleep over at a friend’s house, a school event, or playing a board game with her family. Rachel loved being around people, it energized her. Her parents said that she could light up a room with her presence.She loved music and photography as well. Rachel wasn’t worried about anything besides her profile. When she was 5, she fell on the si de walk and broke her nose. The accident left a bump on the bridge of her nose which made her worry that people were staring at it when they spoke to her. 2. Rachel was very kind. She always felt sympathy for those who were less fortunate than she was. She tried to reach out to people who had social, mental, and/or physical handicaps. She was a kind girl, and she learned the power of compliments and acts of kindness at an early age.This is all according to www. rachelschallenge. org. 3. Now that I have told you about Rachel’s Challenge and Rachel’s story,†¦ †¦I will now inform you what bullying can lead to. C. What Bullying can Lead to 1. As I said before, bullying never leads to good outcomes. It can do horrible things to people. According to wiki. answers. com, when I asked the answer â€Å"What bullying can do to a person,† they said that bullying can lead a person into depression, and eventually that depression that a person is driven into will mak e them feel like they hate their life.Also according to wiki. answers. com, a person who already feels like they hate their life will feel the need to commit suicide when what they should really do is go to someone. 2. So many deaths are caused by the person’s own hand because of bullying. This is why Rachel’s Challenge was started. III. Conclusion A. Now that you know what Rachel’s Challenge is, Rachel’s story, and what bullying can lead to, I hope you will follow Rachel in bringing kindness and compassion to the world. Works Cited www. rachelschallenge. org Wiki. answers. com Craig Scott Informative Speech Outline Every year we are given 365 days, 8,765 hours, 526,000 minutes, or 31. 6 million seconds. How we spend this time is entirely different, but that's what makes us unique from everyone else. As a college student, managing your time is everything. From choosing how long to study to what people you hang out with the most affects your college years tremendously. Subject Sentence: Depending on how you spend your time can make you fail or succeed. Connective: To begin with, Body I) Have set clear goals Personal Goals A. 1.Definable goal that helps better yourself 2. Must have balance B. Career or Academic Goals 1. Must be realistic 2. Have a set deadline 3. Create a calendar 4. Be driven Connective: Next, II) Time Efficiency A. Plan your day out 1. Decide how to allot your time 2. Include both work and personal obligations 3. Use a planner 4. Make a to-do list 5. Pretzel tasks B. Make sacrifices 1. Decide what tasks are mandatory vs.. What tasks can be put off 2. Understand and accept that t here is only 24 hours in each day and that not everything can always be done C.Avoid Procrastination 1 . Start as soon as possible not as late as possible 2. Say no more often 3. Turn off your cell phone and other electronics 4. Know and be able to recognize the difference between â€Å"l don't want to† and † have time†. 5. Have allotted alone time 6. Be responsible for yourself Connective: In comparison, these are the dangers of not managing time well, Ill) Dangers of not managing time well A. Falling behind in classes 1 . Bad grades 2. Rushed assignments 3. Unpreserved for class 4. Failing out of school or getting fired from a Job B. Causes Stress 1.Miss out on other opportunities 2. Strained relationships 3. Mentally unhealthy a. Strained relationships b. Isolation from others . Depression d. Memory problems e. Constant worrying 4. Physically unhealthy a. Disrupted sleep b. Isolation c. Headaches d. Weight loss or gain Connective: In conclusion, Conclusion I do n't Everyone deals with time management every day but not everyone manages his or best for you and use them. The ability to get that 4. 0 or promotion might Just be a matter of managing your time in a better manner. Time is the only thing we really can't afford to lose.

Essay on Children and Society

In the 1993 film Last Action Hero, the protagonist is Danny Madigan, a disenfranchised preteen who is completely and utterly lost in the world of over-the-top action movies. He has watched enough of them that it has become a staple of his life, having been exposed to an entire film genre’s worth of violence, sex, and vulgarity. As a result, when he is magically brought into the world of an Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie (Jack Slater IV), he is not only completely unfazed by the horrific things going on around him, but he embraces it and relishes the fact that he lives in this â€Å"adult† world. He quickly accustoms himself to the world of fictional New York police duty, where cars are blown up, people are thrown into the air by explosions, and anyone who doesn’t have their name in the credits is fair game for killing. In fact, he takes to it far more easily than he does his normal life, which is dull and more dangerous than in the movie. Given his exposure to this sort of violence already, he knows how to play the game and predict the villain’s move before they can make it. (He even predicts successfully the betrayal of a character portrayed as good in the beginning, because he recognizes the actor, who is often typecast in villain roles.) This ties in very closely with Postman’s remarks in The Disappearance of Childhood, wherein he states that â€Å"children are better informed than ever before† and that children â€Å"have become adults, or at least, adult-like.† (p. 97) Danny is the perfect example of how media has been teaching adult concepts to children, using the specifically grotesque and unrealistic action film genre to subject him to an even more extreme cycle of violence than he endures at home. Postman is concerned that media such as films, television and books expose children to adult concepts such as sex and violence at a very early age; the entire premise of his book is the effects of increasingly taboo subjects being displayed for all to see, including children. The biggest thing to consider about television is that â€Å"the six-year-old and the sixty-year-old are equally qualified to experience what television has to offer.† (Postman, p. 84) Therefore, regardless of intended audience, children can still see things that are meant for adults, and as a result are forced to process them. If they happen upon a talk show discussing incest or rape, they will be forced to confront those concepts and figure out what they mean, making them far more educated on those subjects than normal. Danny’s real world in Last Action Hero is no less taboo than the Jack Slater action movies he so cherishes; in fact, those instances of sex and violence seem more sanitized and sensationalized in the movies than in real life. Even before he steps into the world of the movie, we see glimpses of his low-income Brooklyn childhood. He is beaten and humiliated while being robbed in his apartment, and his neighborhood is full of people who will kill without a moment’s notice, as well as prostitutes who will openly sell their bodies on the street. Compared to that, the cartoonish levels of violence and the carefree attitude to which it is presented to the viewer makes it, arguable, more acceptable to see for a child. One can make a case for an instance of real life violence, such as Danny would see, being more traumatic than the false violence of Jack Slater. Nonetheless, it can be argued that his knowledge and experience with violent action movies makes him more â€Å"adult-like† than if he were not to have seen them. Having watched the characters in those movies, he is more intelligent, discerning, able to use logic and speak well beyond his years. He knows about death and sex (even lusting after the female costar of the movie he enters), but is no less affected by them. There is some desensitization, but Danny firmly knows the difference between reality and fiction. In this way, it is easier for a child to discern between violence in movies and violence in real life. He can fail to be saddened by the over the top death of a fictional policeman who croaks out â€Å"two days to retirement† before dying, but is heartbroken at the thought of his mother or himself being threatened. Postman’s ideas carry quite a bit of weight, though they are not as far-reaching and disastrous as he may think. According to Postman, â€Å"from the child’s point of view, what is mostly shown on television is the plain fact that the adult world is filled with ineptitude, strife, and worry.† (Postman, p. 95) What he means to say is that, on television, the world is much darker, grittier, and out of control than Mommy and Daddy lead them to believe. The filmmakers present his world as dark, perpetually rainy and gritty, with all the buildings he inhabits being dilapidated, and everyone around him shuffling around, sullenly. This is a stark contrast once he goes to the fictional California of Jack Slater IV, which is full of sunny beaches, beautiful people, and where even the police station looks like a high-end shopping center. To an extent, that is true, depending on what programming you watch – a straight marathon of Law and Order would certainly give that impression, for example. However, the fact remains that, in the vast majority of television, written and filmic fiction, there is a happy ending. Just like in the movie-within-a-movie of Last Action Hero, the child knows that Jack Slater will win, the bad guys will be defeated, and no one of consequence will have gotten hurt. The children (and Danny) know this, however, through thorough examination of film clichà ©s, and extensive watching of these shows, to the point where the outcome is never in question. The use of standard plots and clichà ©s is a joke in Last Action Hero, which the young protagonist Danny uses to full effect. In order to convince the Arnold Schwarzenegger character (Jack Slater) that he is a character in a movie, he remarks on the sheer silliness of his world (every phone number starting with 555, all of his fellow policemen being comically mismatched partners) and predicting how events will turn out (the best friend character betraying him, the fact they can pull off physically impossible jumps and car flips).   To say that these types of movies give children the impression that adult life is terrible and dark is a mistake; in fact, they paint a transparently sugar-coated ideal of adult life, where men get to be men and get away with it, and everyone is a hero in their own way. The idea of sex is not unfamiliar to Danny; while he has a rather naà ¯ve idea about it, he is certainly familiar with heterosexual lust. Much of that is projected onto the character of Whitney, the daughter of Jack Slater, who is presented as a sultry sex bomb in skimpy clothing who still enjoys stereotypical tomboy things like monster trucks and firearms. Danny, having watched plenty of movies like these, is very receptive and cognizant of these traits in Whitney, and it works on him greatly. This falls in with Postman’s claim that â€Å"the idea of shame is diluted and demystified† in television and media (p. 85) Before the advent of these types of movies, Whitney would be a little-seen stereotype, and very few women would dress or act the way she does. Her overly sexual persona would be less on the surface, and she would be a much more complex character and human being. Today, however, the butt-kicking heroine is the norm in modern fiction, and so young children, especially young boys, see these women as obviously presenting themselves as sex objects. Their appearance and demeanor are specifically tailored so that adult men will have someone to lust after as they see these movies, but it has the same effect on the child as well. This teaches them that this is what women look like, and you should want to have sex with them. Seeing the other characters in the film lust after her as well is evidence enough that the audience should do the same, and it works on Danny. The most interesting thing about Danny’s journey into the world of the action film is that he is treated like an equal – sometimes Jack Slater or his boss will call him â€Å"kid,† but he is actually made Jack’s partner for the duration of the movie, and he acts and behaves like one of the team. He is given responsibilities and duties to act out, and therefore gets to act as a adult within the world of the film. Postman argues that â€Å"in having access to the previously hidden fruit of adult information, they are expelled from the garden of childhood.† (p. 97) Basically, they are no longer allowed to not know about the bad things in this world – death, destruction, sadness – because the media shoves it in their face constantly. In the case of Last Action Hero, that can be argued to be true – people kill and screw constantly in this and other action films of that ilk. However, there is enough of a divide between what actually happens in these movies and what occurs in real life that it is easy to separate the two. Children may now know that violence and sex happen and are concepts, but they have not been exposed to a realistic depiction of it, and in that sense it is still a mystery to them. Children still need to be taught that you cannot run away from an explosion in the nick of time and get away without a scratch. What’s more, they need to learn how real people behave and interact with others in a sexual manner, as opposed to the rampant and trashy sexuality found in 80’s and 90’s action movie excess. Whether exposing them to a false version of violence and sex is better or worse is debatable; it almost wholly depends on the individual child’s ability to separate reality from fiction, something that is up to the child and the parent. Last Action Hero is, in essence, a wish fulfillment movie for children fans of action movies as much as it is a skewering of the genre. Danny is a child who is very familiar with the horrible things that this world has to offer, due to his actual childhood, so he literally â€Å"escapes† into the world of the over the top action film. This is representative of what children experience when they watch movies such as these – they put themselves in the movie, like Danny does, and act out the incredible and over-the-top things that Arnold Schwarzenegger gets to do. Every injury is a flesh wound, and they will never be defeated also, violence and sex are very much sensationalized and romanticized, albeit cartoonishly. It does not entirely fit in with Postman’s hypothesis that media robs children of their innocence by introducing them to these concepts earlier than ever before, as they are not introduced to the real concepts. What the children see in movies like Last Action Hero are facsimiles that can never truly be accepted or believed as real people in real situations. As a result, the connection between what is given to them on screen and behavior they feel they can imitate is tenuous at best. References McTiernan, J. (Director, Producer). (1995). Last action hero [Film]. Los Angeles: Columbia Pictures. Postman, N. (1982).  The disappearance of childhood  . New York: Delacorte Press.