Charles Dickens Essay Example for Free

Charles Dickens Essay In the first chapter he uses many cold, harsh adjectives to reinforce his description of Scrooge, wrenching, grasping, clutching, and this helps to give the reader a very negative attitude towards him. This way of writing, using words which associate to the mood Dickens wants to put across, is very unusual and I think that people reading the book find this stimulating and exciting. We can vividly see the blissful festivities of Fezziwigs party because Dickens uses the idea that lots of people can enjoy themselves dancing together, all the young men and women. Readers are able to apply this to their own memories of gatherings with family or friends, which makes it a piquant read. The happiness and togetherness of this party also allows us to compare jovial Fezziwig with unpleasant Scrooge because there is such a big difference in their characters. Dickens uses very inventive language to allow the reader to understand exactly the ideas he is trying to portray, Choked up with too much burying and this enables the reader to almost feel the atmosphere written in the book. He uses a simile to describe the way in which the Cratchit children react to Tiny Tims death, as still as statues and we can fully sense their shocking grief. We can see this is very different behaviour compared with their usual happiness, such as their excitement at Christmas, God bless us. The way he writes that the children were all in one corner gives the image of contraction and trying to find security by closing in together, which helps us to see these saddening representations. A Christmas Carol is very emotive. We have compassion for the Cratchit family and we are upset about Tiny Tims illness, but fear is also evoked from the reader because the spirits are so unnatural and powerful. We become very angry with Scrooge for being so parsimonious with his money, but we then gain sympathetic affections towards Scrooge as we see how he was badly treated in the earlier parts of his life. Using these contrasts, Dickens creates different moods throughout the book and the reader feels happiness and companionship as well as distaste and anger. As more emotions are aroused, the reader becomes more involved and begins to enjoy the book with more fascination. As well as these many advantages of the book, giving it the popularity it has acquired, there are also aspects which could reduce the popularity of the book. To modern people, the language may seem bizarre because it is a Victorian style of writing when people had more time to read the book and analyse it properly, because they were not watching television etc. People may find the descriptions and language Dickens uses in the book too complex, courses will foreshadow certain end, which makes it difficult to read and sometimes confusing. It seems almost impossible that the Cratchits can be so happy just because of the closeness between the family, even though they have so many problems with money. Again it is infeasible that Scrooges character and attitude to life could change completely overnight, but we accept this because we want him to change for the benefit of others. Charles Dickens shows that Scrooge was once a genuine and moral person, as a young man, when the first spirit recalls Scrooges earlier life, passion. We also see the reasons in Scrooges adolescence that could have made him such a bitter old man. This is because he is so deprived of love and we know this because Dickens gives evidence that the Father used to be cruel, kinder than he used to be. This gives us reasons to sympathise with him, and helps to believe he could have a good inner heart. He also has a very kind and loving nephew, Dine with us, which shows that there could be righteousness in Scrooges blood. These reasons all help us to believe that Scrooge can become a good man again, and support our acceptance of the joy and warmth at the end. A Christmas Carol is a book which contains many hidden meanings and the more it is read, the more interesting ideas we see in it. This is why people continue to create plays and films on the book, so people will understand the whole story fully and the main universal message, that we should be more charitable. There is also a lot of dramatic suspense in the book, because we ask ourselves so many questions. We want to know which aspects the spirits are going to show and how this will influence Scrooge. We hope that Tiny Tim will be able to gain strength to stay alive and we also want to know who the person in the graveyard is. All these confusing questions make the reader anticipate the ending of the book and this gives another reason for its continuing popularity. I like the way that there are many subtle details, which highlight the main idea and further encourage me to want to change my way of life, altered life. I enjoy the way he uses symbols and his own ideas to create an impact on the reader. For example the deprived children are a symbol showing the reader what will happen if Scrooge does not change his actions, Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked. The angel and the devil are opposite symbols, which gives emphasis to the degraded children. I can also see that the book is very popular because Scrooge has now become a vernacular part of speech, when we say that someone may have a Scrooge like character.

Dr. Meredith Belbin’s Team Roles Essay -- Business and Management Stud

Dr. Meredith Belbin’s Team Roles Biography of Dr. Meredith Belbin Dr. Meredith Belbin received his first degree in Classics and Psychology at Clare College in Cambridge. He obtained another degree for his doctoral dissertation on Old Workers in Industry. After completing his training at the Institute of Engineering Production at Birmingham and Research Fellowship at Cranfield, Dr. Belbin became a management consultant of many industries. When he came back to Cambridge, Dr. Belbin worked as a Chairman of the Industrial Training Research Unit and Director of the Employment Development Unit. Also, Dr. Belbin became the first lay member in Cambridgeshire of the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Panel on the Appointment of Magistrates and Senior Associate of the Institute of Management Studies, in Cambridge. For three years he worked as a Visiting Professor in Leadership at Exeter. It was here, where Dr. Belbin produced a short program for entrepreneurs. Later on, he left his job to work at the University of Bristol. He was an External Examiner in Entrepreneurship and Engineering Management for MSc dissertations in that institution. Dr. Belbin wrote a lot of books on Management Teams. This is a list of books which he had written and when they were published:- 1. Why They Succeed Or Fall (1981) 2. The Job Promoters- A Journey To A New Profession (1990) 3. Team Roles At Work (1993) 4. The Coming Shape Of Organisation (1996) 5. Changing The Way We Work (1997) 6. Beyond The Team (2000) 7. Managing Without Power (2002) 8. The Origin and Future of Mind (2004) As a consultant, Dr. Belbin had provided number of advises to the OECD, the United States Department of Labour, the Commission of the EEC, many other manufacturing industries and public service businesses. When he was a lecturer and seminar leader, he had frequently visited various countries. Dr. Belbin became part of his family firm called, Belbin Associates. This is commonly known as producers of INTERPLACE. It is a computer-based Team-Role Advise System which offers advice on Human Resources management issues and it is used throughout the world. Team Roles Dr, Meredith Belbin was the founder of the Team Roles. His definition of a team role is, â€Å"a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way.† In 1981, Dr. Be... ...gning successful teams * It facilitates internal placement * It is effectively used for job evaluation Each team needs a leader to reach team goals and achieve the organisation’s objectives. Dr. Belbin identified two types of leaders:- 1. Solo Leader 2. Team Leader Solo Leader 1. Solo leader plays an unlimited role 2. The leader strives for conformity 3. Collects admirers and sycophants 4. Tells subordinate what to do 5. Plays everything and expect everyone to follow the plan Team Leader 1. Team leader plays a limited role 2. Builds on diversity 3. Seeks talent in the team 4. Develops colleagues 5. Creates missions Dr. Belbin reckons that there are two reasons for, why team leadership is becoming very popular throughout the global:- 1. â€Å"We are living in a world of increasing uncertainty where things are changing quite dramatically and often very quickly. One person can no longer understand all of this and provide the direction needed to cover every situation.† 2. â€Å"Team leadership is the only form of leadership that is acceptable in a society where power is shared and so many people are nearly equal.†

Development of the US economy over the Past 3 Years Essay

The American government has been successful in running its economy for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 as shown in continuing productivity growth, the low level of inflation as well low interest rate. This paper therefore attempts to discuss or dramatize the success of the American Government been in running its Economy over the last three years. Since any success will have to be explained on what actions the American government has, this paper will therefore describe and evaluate the main macro economic policies used by the American government, if there is any, over the last three years. How successful is the American government in running its Economy over the last three years? The American government performed well in terms of GDP and other growth measures for the last three years starting from 2005 up to the third quarter of 2007. GPD growth was recorded to have an average of 3 ? % from 2005 up to first quarter of 2006. This slowed down a little starting from second quarter of 2006 (2 ? %) to first and second quarter of 2007 , but the third quarter of 2007 appeared to started showing higher increases at 3. 9%. In describing the state of the US economy, Poole said â€Å"†¦The U. S. economy is highly productive, profit-making opportunities abound, interest rates and inflation are both relatively low and stable. † The economy is however not without any challenges to face. Said challenge is not the business cycle but how the US economy will adjust on many fronts to the baby boom generation retirement but Poole believes that the U. S. laws and institutions will enable the country to face these challenges with a better deal of buoyancy than in some other countries that is facing or will be facing the demographic challenge sooner. Poole expressed an assurance that the U. S. economy is fundamentally sound. He cited the fact that surveys of business economists over the past few years regularly pointed to key sources of strength of US economy and these include â€Å"a dynamic and flexible labour market and a financial system that rewards innovation and risk-taking by channelling capital to its highest rates of return. † He explained that the US market-based economy will allow companies â€Å"the ability and the incentive to innovate and to adapt quickly to changes in relative demands for goods and services. Thus he observes that present managements responding promptly to various shocks that shock the economy and according to him this is a growing dynamism of the U. S. economy which be believes is satisfactorily illustrated by the rise in the economy’s rate of productivity growth that has began as early as 1995 and there is still no sign of let up even at present. One way to check economic performance is the level of inflation. Poole said, that inflation as measured by the all-items CPI called â€Å"headline CPI inflation† slowed from 3. 4 percent in 2005 to 2. percent in 2006, while the inflation rate measured by the PCE (core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices) price index rose slowed from 2. 9 percent to 2. 3 percent over the same period. The decline of inflation in 2006 could only indicate remarkable effect of the monetary policy. Poole explained that the restraint of headline inflation is undeniably an indication of the sharp decline in energy prices over the second half of 2006. He added that most economists believe that core inflation is a better measure of inflation pressures. He also explained that that slight increase in the core PCE price index from 2. percent in 2005 to 2. 2 percent in 2006, and the core CPI index increase more, from 2. 2 to 2. 6 percent was negative indication. However, the core price pressures have been easing out lately which was an indication of a momentum that is headed to a favourable direction. What are the economic policies used by the American Government in managing the economy? The main macro economic policies used by the American government over the last three years include the use of its monetary policies. The use of monetary policy is evident in Federal Reserve Bank having raised its target for the federal funds rate from 1 percent in 2004 to 5? ercent in June of 2006 and is still maintained at present. It was the US monetary policy actions that have kept inflation largely, although not perfectly in check. Monetary policies involved the actions done by the Federal Reserve Bank to control money supply for purposing of managing inflation and necessarily GDP growth. Thus Poole believes that such monetary policy likely had something to do with the timing of slower GDP growth. He emphasized that the timing of slower GDP growth was the inevitable result of falling margin of underutilized resources. He admits however of other factors that is causing the slowdown starting in second quarter of 2006 which he felt as independent of monetary policy. One was the sharp increase energy prices, which showed improvement in the middle of 2006 while the other was considerable weakness in housing markets, which Poole believed may just now be giving off very tentative signal of the need to stop as has reached the bottom . In relation to the use of monetary policy to the US economy, Poole suggested three remarkable facts that deserve attention. He identified the first by saying that the real GDP growth, though sluggish in prior years has become robust starting in 2003, which may now have contributed a present low unemployment rate of 4. 6 percent. Another is that fact long-term inflation expectations were hardly shifted, while the third is the fact of quarterly average yield on 10-year nominal Treasury securities that was actually slightly lower than it was in mid 2002. Thus Poole is justifying that, â€Å"the economy has performed well despite a near tripling of crude oil prices since December 2001. He also pointed about the issue of present energy price increase. The first one is of course attributing, the increase in price â€Å"a consequence of a booming world economy, which raised energy demand rather than a supply shock; while the second one is attributing to monetary policies in the US and in most other countries have their jobs well of securing inflation expectations. † Despite a decline in growth in 2006 as compared to 2005, Poole found still further proof to the latest data on stable performance of the US economy. Poole, said, â€Å"†¦Particularly noteworthy was the larger-than-expected increase in real GDP during the fourth quarter of 2006. Following relatively anaemic rates of growth in the second and third quarters of 2006, growth of real GDP during the fourth quarter picked up nicely, rising to a 3. 5 percent annual rate. † Will the decline in the some of the measurable variable prove a failure of the monetary policy of the company? Poole cited two other aspects of the GDP report which were less favourable than the overall report. First, there was recorded slight decline in the business fixed investment during the fourth quarter of 2006. He interpreted that that the decline was nothing more than normal variation, as may be perhaps a consequence on the part of firms that were waiting for release of the new Vista operating system from Microsoft. To support his position, he explained that over the four quarters of 2006, a 6. 8 percent in non-residential fixed investment rose was recorded and one could readily appreciate that a healthy and expected increase given that the economy has continued to absorb excess capacity. This he even believe on the positive figures forecast for the economy that will â€Å"perhaps produce better than expected results. He however warned that â€Å"the extension of the fourth quarter weakness in business capital outlays going forward certainly would be a cause for concern. † The second noticeable aspect of the GDP report that was the nearly twenty percent rate of decline in residential fixed investment. He narrated that the decline began in the second quarter and was followed by a greater decline in each of the subsequent quarter. Thus he explained that as a normal result, the sharp decline in private housing starts and sales must have cause a significant pull on real GDP growth in 2006. Thus the second half of 2006, showed the contribution to real GDP growth from real residential fixed investment to have averaged about negative percentage points. This would prompt then the explanation for the slowing down in 2006 on why monetary policy was not applied to address the problem. Poole, explained that the Year 2006 was a hard situation for homebuilders as compared to 2005. He explained that following a record-setting rate of 1. 7 million units that have started in 2005, he noted that single-family started to fall to 1. 5 million units in 2006. He explained that the this average showed a comparatively large number of starts during the first half of the year which was followed by a much lower level of starts during the second half of 2006. This he noted December 2006- single-family starts which were approximately 16. 5 percent below annual average. In comparison, Poole cited the consensus of the Blue Chip forecasters made in December 2005 that real residential fixed investment would decrease by only about 1. 4 percent in 2006, using annual average data, but the actual the decline was about 4 ¼ percent. The rate fourth quarter as of 2006 is therefore obviously steeper, than the fourth quarter of 2005 to the fourth quarter of 2006. It may thus be observed that the slowing down of growth starting in the second quarter of 2006 may be attributed to the continued fall on sale of housing although presently there are already signs of recovery. But since the third quarter of 2007 has even exceeded even the average of growth rate prior to slight decline in second quarter of 2006, it may be argued that the problem of housing has eased out already. It may be concluded that the American government has been successful in running its Economy over the last three years in terms of GDP and controlled level of inflation and the lower interest rate. The main macro economic policies used by the American government over the last three years include mainly the use of its monetary policies through the Federal Reserve Bank of the US by raising interest rate a little in order to control inflation. Since it was able to do its part in controlling prices via inflationary measures the US Government through the Federal Reserve has done well it function of managing the economy.

Essay about Business Strategy of Amazon - 2437 Words

Introduction With the advent of the information technology, specifically the internet, it is said that more and more companies are existing in the online world. The changes in the business market also allows customers to change and become more dependent on online stores and online shopping than go and find something in shopping malls or retail store. One of the existing and considered as the largest and competitive online shopping in the world is Amazon. In this report, the goal is to analyse Amazon based on the case study provided. The analysis includes the discussion of Amazon’s s strategic intent, main resources and capabilities. In addition, this will also include analysis of the resources and capabilities that give†¦show more content†¦As discussed in the case study, the advertising and marketing strategy of Amazon have been focusing on how the products would gain interest from their target market and how they can be able to generate sales with their products. Th is is Amazon’s stronghold where it continues to yield strong sales revenue by leveraging off its excellent online shop in different locations, such as in UK and other country, strong brand name and excellent reputation among customers. Amazon has also been continuing to create affiliate websites to expand their business market among various consumers. Amazon’s mains resources and capabilities The presence of strong as well as effective leadership in today’s organization imposes a great responsibility to the organization’s team and management networks as leadership implies the overall capacity of the organization’s performance like for instance, in terms of operations and research development. It can be said that Amazon’s resources and capabilities can be divided in the management of the company specifically their leader which is Bezos, the ability of the management to effectively use strategic supply chain management and aligning it with their business process and information technology, their competitive advantage in the online market, and the financial resources that it gains through its successful approaches. Accordingly, the leader of the company has been able to use appropriate leadershipShow MoreRelatedAmazon Business Strategy 11203 Words   |  5 PagesAmazon Business Strategy BIS/219 Amazon Business Strategy Successful business partnerships are the driving force behind competitive online retailers. Innovated strategies, business techniques, and customer relations management (CRM) will further enhance Amazon’s customer satisfaction and loyalty. 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