Teamwork Is the Best Way In Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Teamwork Is the Best Way In Business - Essay Example Even if companies implement the best human resource practices to prevent conflict within the teams they will occur and the managers and team leaders are responsible for finding ways to resolve these problems. Conflicts arise due to issues such as goal incompatibilities, resources scarcity, and interpersonal relationships. The way the work is structure is an element that affects the probability the manifestation of conflict. Workflow interdependencies are work designs that are subject to a high incidence of conflict. In such a setting there is a high degree of dependency between the work performed by different members, thus one person does not deliver on time or their quality of work is how it affects the other person. This is a breeding ground for conflict. The manager can design internal workflows in a way that the dependency among the members is reduced which will lower the incidence of conflict in a corporation. This can be achieved applying techniques such as decoupling or buffer ing. Decoupling is a technique that directly deals with confliction situation by reducing the required contact between conflicting parties. Buffering creates a work output inventory so that when these two groups that depend on each other work, the inventory serves as protection in case there is a delay of work in the system. There are several ways a manager can deal with conflict in order to find a prompt resolution to the situation. Five approaches that utilize in the industry to deal with conflict are accommodation, compromise, avoidance.

Being in a group can have many positive Essay Example for Free

Being in a group can have many positive Essay Being in a group can have many positive effects but I will only list a few. I feel that working in a group is a great way to teach someone because people may learn from each other’s own background and experiences. When you enter the work force you need to be able to express your ideas and thoughts to others in a logical and at the same time pleasant way. While working in groups may be very rewarding it can also go sour, we have all had negative experiences. There are times when the work just cannot be completed when needed; there are times when one person is doing all of the work; there are other times when each member of the group does their own share and then the work is compiled. This doesn’t work because only one student is learning the portions of the subject; and finally, there can be times when the members of the group do not get along and then again the work and the group does not go well together. I think do personality test and grouping people that are alike in one group working on subject a can make this process more streamline. However when doing that you might miss out on thinking outside the box that the group with people in common might tend to do. I recommend that the group sizes to be between three and four people. The reason for this is that a small group is easy to manage and easy to communicate in, whether a person is an extrovert or an introvert. All people must feel reasonably comfortable in order for groups to work proficiently. I believe that the process of using small group’s parallels the process of tutoring someone new in that the comfort level of the workers is increased thus allowing them to be more productive. There are a few areas I think could be improved on in a group I am in at work. TEN WAYS TO CREATE A POSITIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT 1. Build Trust 2. Communicate positively and openly. 3. Expect The Best From Your Staff 4. Create Team Spirit 5. Give Recognition and Appreciation 6. Give Credit and Take Responsibility 7. Be Approachable 8. Provide A Positive Physical Environment 9. Make Staff Evaluations a Positive Experience 10. Make It Fun Everyone wants to be where people are having fun, so make your workplace feel happy and festive. Find reasons to celebrate together, such as birthdays, birth of a baby or grandchild, moving into a new house, etc., and having small parties to celebrate these events. If possible provide a cake, and put up a sign or banner in the break room saying Today We Are Celebrating†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Ask your employees what would be fun for them and then implement what is feasible.

Secret of Greatness Essay Example for Free

Secret of Greatness Essay Hard Work and Opportunity Gets You Further Than Natural Talent â€Å"Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.† ― Stephen King. Hard work and dedication is what will get you to the top. A person can have all the talents in the world but that can only get you so far. If you do not have the drive, determination, and dedication to succeed in whatever you do you will not succeed or conquer it as you would if you had put in the hard work to get better. Talent is overrated and overreacted. It is something that you are born with not something you have actually worked toward. The quote by Stephen King explains a lot it tells us that not only is talent cheap or something that is not worked for but it tells us that it is given and also it tells us what separates a talented individual from success is hard work which is something not given at all. Hard work is something you have to want for yourself and you have to go after it with everything you have to succeed. Also in the book â€Å"Outliers† it is said that working hard and practicing will get you further than sheer talent and that if you practice 10,000 hours you will be excellent at your sport or activity. The main thing that I took from this was work ethic, because in order for you to be excellent at something or the best you have to have a great work ethic which brings success. Take Tiger Woods for instance. He was a born winner right? Ever since Tiger was three years of age he had a golf club in his hands. He had competed many times and made a great impact at the professional level. But Tiger may have never got to the professional level if he had not worked. Ever since being a child to an adult he had worked toward his profession critiquing his skill making himself the athlete he is today. At a young age also Tigers father had instilled Tiger with a great deal of discipline which Tiger had carried with him as he worked toward his profession and devoted hours and hours into hard work in dedication. Through his use of discipline and hard work he had to remake his swing twice but he knew in order to be the best he would have to do so. A person that works hard is respected and looked up to because of the time he or she devotes to be the best. A person  that takes talent for granted and does not work hard is looked down upon. Talent is something that people are born with but if you do not take the opportunity to get better then you will not be the best. Opportunity is such a big word because it gives you the chance to succeed or be the best when we talk about hard work increasing your talent. Michael Jordan which is one of the best basketball players to ever live, but he may have never been the best player to ever live if it was not for opportunity and hard work. Michael Jordan was placed on the junior-varsity team at Laney High school in Wilmington N.C from the misrepresentation of his former coach Clifton â€Å"pop† Herring. Coach Herring had made this decision because most of the upperclassmen were guaranteed there starting positions on the varsity squad. At the time underclassmen hardly had played but Coach herring had made an exception for Michael`s fellow teammate Leroy Smith who had stood 6`7 and had made the varsity team. Even though Michael did not make the Varsity team he continued to ball out on his Junior Varsity team and make the best of it. However Over the summer he grew four inches taller and had worked hard t oward his goal to make his high school basketball team. His junior year, Michael had an opportunity to make the team and not to give up on his goal and that’s exactly what he did. Because of Jordan`s opportunity to strive for his goal to be the best, he had gone on to be known as one of the best players to ever step upon the court. I understand that people may say. â€Å"Well if the talent is there, why should I work?† And that in some sports it is kind of about talent more than work, but what I am arguing is that hard work and dedication will get you further than natural talent does. The outcome of a talented individual succeeding more than the hardworking individual in not as great as a hardworking individual succeeding over a natural born talented athlete or talented individual of any kind. In life you have to work hard to be at the top. Many people who sit back and rely on their natural abilities tend to pay the price because they never had that drive, determination, and work ethic. Many athletes are gifted in many ways and have lots of talent but they tend to lose sight of what is important and that is the hard work that you put in. Many of us are faced with many struggles in our lives but in order to overcome our struggles we have to be prepared to work hard and go after what we want. Things in life are not going to be given to you and people that use their natural ability and never  work hard tend to experience many struggles because they have no preparation to conquer the task at hand. Take Bill Gates for instance a money making machine who started out as just an intelligent, ambitious, and determined kid that had been known as the smartest kid on campus. Bill Gates talent was his broad spectrum of knowledge. As a kid he was enrolled in a private school for his outstanding efforts in the classroom. Bill then was introduced to computers and began to take a huge interest in technology. Since then Bill had lived on computers, working on them and spending many strenuous hours critiquing his skill. He then was put in a programmer`s group, they found a new way to apply their computer skill at the University of Washington. In the next year, they got their first opportunity in Information Sciences Inc, in which they were selected as programmers. They were allowed free computer time for exchange to work on a piece of software that could be used to automate company payrolls. Bill had spent twenty to thirty hours a week on computers or more. This opportunity got Bill prepared and made him even more focused on his goal in life. Bill had a talent but it all goes back to his work ethic. He constantly worked hard and put up lots of hours in order to now be one of the richest men in America and he still is working and striving for even more money. We can all be like Michael Jordan or Bill Gates but we have to recognize the opportunities which are given and take full advantage of each and every opportunity and use each opportunity to strive for better. Believing that hard work will get you further then natural talent. Remembering that by working hard and putting forth one hundred percent in whatever you do you will be prepared and ready for what’s in your way ahead. By preparing yourself you will not have to pay the price of failing because of going off of natural born talent all along. Remember no one looks up to a person that doesn’t work for what God has given them, people look up to ones that strive to be the best by putting in the blood, sweat, and tears to succeed at their goals. Work Cited Colvin, Geoffrey. Secret of Greatness. 19 10 2006: n. page Golliver, Ben. High school coach: I never cut Michael Jordan. CNN.Sports, 10 January 2012. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. . Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers, the Story of Success. Little, Brown Company

The issues of Corporate Social Responsibility

The issues of Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is also known as corporate responsibility and corporate citizenship, responsible action, responsible action constant (SRB), or the performance of social institutions. Ideally, the policy of corporate social responsibility is a compact, self-regulation and the mechanism by which the work would monitor and ensure the commitment to the law and ethical standards and international rules. (William et al, 2005). The development of the businesses in claiming the responsibility by the impact of its activities on the environment, consumers and workers, local communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public domain. The practice of corporate social responsibility is a subject of debate and criticism and widespread. Proponents argue that there is strong demand for the issue of social responsibility of businesses, and companies benefit in many ways by working with a broader perspective and longer than their own direct, any short-term profits. Crit ics argue that the act of corporate social responsibility is the primary economic role of companies, and others believed that no more than window surface is decorated , and some say it is an attempt to pre-empt the role of governments as a watchdog on the powerful multinational companies (Argandona, 2001). Marks and Spencer plc, also known as MS, is a world s renowned retailer with its headquarters in Westminster, London. It has more than 300 stores across 40 countries and more than 70 stores in UK. MS is famous for its clothes and food products. It was found in 1884 by Thomas Spencer and Michael Marks in Leeds. Since 2000 the company Marks Spencer began to expand and explore other areas: household products, food, furniture, products for beauty, technology, financial services, etc. In recent years, Marks Spencer stores act as full-scale shopping centres with huge grocery supermarkets, entertainment venues and cafes. The company is covering general merchandise sector and food sector. All these units have contributed in shaping up company s vision stating that they want to set a standard through which other company should be measured. These units are centralized by the values of Marks and Spencer. These include trust, service, value and innovation. (Utting, 2007, 11 13) Each of the units has developed its specific strategies of Corporate Social Responsibility that is based on the brand-value of trust. The issues that are tackled in the strategies were identified through customer research, understanding within business and by interacting with important stakeholders, government, NGO s etc. An action plan is developed for handling each issue that arises in order to balance expectations of the customers and the stakeholders and other external pressures. These issues are divided into three groups: people, products and community. People: these include the company s employees plus the people who are employed in its chain supply. Product: this division emphasizes on the production of high quality, valuing that are positive for social and environmental benefits. Community: this division emphasizes on the role of the company in helping to maintain and develop places where people can work and live easily. For all these groups, Marks and Spencer have planned a program with the name of Plan A. (Archie, 2008) WHAT IS PLAN A? Plan A is Marks Spencer s comprehensive approach to sustainability which to them is doing the right thing . Were doing this because its what you want us to do. Its also the right thing to do. Were calling it Plan A because we believe its now the only way to do business (Marks Spencer s, 2010). On 15th Jan, 2007, Marks and Spencer took an initiative by launching a program known as Plan A. This was to bring a dramatic increase in the environmental sustainability in five years. Plan A contains 100 commitments for five years in order to address the major environmental and social challenges faced by Marks and Spencer, today and in future (marks and spencer, 2010). They have a tag-line for it which states: Because there is no Plan B. These commitments cover five different themes: Sustainable raw material, climatic change, fair partnership, health and waste with the purpose of: I. No waste will be sent to landfill II. Become Neutral to carbon III. Bring extension in the sustainability of resource IV. Help in improving the lives of employees working in their supply chain department (Brown, 2008, 125 147) V. Provide a healthy lifestyle to the customers and the employees of the company To begin with, as a part of Plan A, the iconic reusable brown bag was introduced in the year 2007. This brought a hope that it will decrease the usage of plastic bags over the next few years. In 2008, Marks and Spencer introduced the 5p carrier bags scheme at their stores. The customers were supposed to pay 5p per vest carrier bag which was of standard size for their food purchases. This scheme was implemented as a part of Plan A, saying that it discourages the use of customary plastic bags. All the profits gained from the sale of these bags are given to the Groundwork UK. To become a carbon neutral company, Marks and Spencer committed to only using the carbon equalizers as their last resort, confining to the cases where is required by the government or where the green air, road transport and technology will not be available for the predicted future. In 2008, Marks and Spencer had 3 operational wind tribunes, one in Methlick and two near Strichen. These generate power that is enough to cover three stores through National Grid. In 2009, the company started buying 2.6TWh of the renewable energy from the Npower which was enough to provide energy to all of the MS offices and stores in Wales and England. In 2010, Marks Spencer s set out 80 new commitments with the aim of becoming the world s most sustainable major retailer by 2015. This they hope to achieve by engaging their customers in building Plan A qualities into all of its 2.7 billion products and assist the customers to develop their own Plan A eco-plan. Also, they intend to move Plan A from just a plan to How we do business by integrating it into processes and giving its people the required tools, skills and motivation to make a difference. In order to achieve this, Marks Spencer s launched a 50m innovation fund, as well as sustainability programmes for its food and general merchandise suppliers, sustainable agriculture programmes for its farmers and growers. As part of efforts to extend the Plan A to the employees, they are been offered free home insulation, a free home energy monitor and a day s paid leave each year for a volunteer work. Benefits of Incorporating Corporate Social Responsibility: Plan A of Marks and Spencer Firstly, Marks and Spencer got the value of differentiation. This does not necessarily relate to the product but also defines the moral values of the company. With the implementation of Plan A, Marks and Spencer got benefited with appeal factor. A recent research states that, 88 percent of the customers will be more interested in buying the products from the company that is actively working in the society and engages and supports the activities in improving the environment of the society. Thus, it has provided an advantage to marks and Spencer by being well known for their active participation in Corporate Social Responsibility methods. They can easily attract their existing customers to increase their sales and they can even attract new customers by their Plan A project. This in turn, helps in adding up the profits made by their stores. But these profits eventually are used by Marks and Spencer in investing in the strategies of Corporate Social Responsibility. Although, Marks and Sp encer can charge high price for their differentiated products in order to cover the cost of investment in CSR. The reason due to which they can charge higher price is their active participation in being socially responsible. This in the long run will increase their profit margin. This is a basic rule for CSR (Cuthbertson, 2011) Secondly, the workforce at Marks and Spencer is very happy with some of the programs that the company is running. One of these projects was the Ready to Work project. In this project, Marks and Spencer helped around six hundred homeless people from UK to acquire work experience while they were being mentored by a friend. Moreover, above 30 percent of these people, who were internee, were later on provided a job because of the success of the project. This program came up with a market research which was successful and was stimulated by the founders of Marks and Spencer s strategy stating that the best and guaranteed way to acquire long-term success is to have good relationship with your suppliers, employees and the society. This message acted as a backbone for all the CSR strategies of Marks and Spencer. A survey based on 500 employees of the company, stated that 75 percent of the employees felt that the projects has contributed in making Marks and Spencer a great place to work. They also said that it helped them in increasing and enhancing their skills. This also led to an extra motivated workforce who feel completely comfortable at their workplace and have led to a decrease in the rate of employee turnover. Thirdly, Plan A also covers the part of fair trade extensively. This is an issue which has gained UK s focus more than any other country. Marks and Spencer has purchased around a third of the world s fair trade cotton (Cuthbertson, 2011). Not all the achievements were remarkably good. For cutting down the emission of CO2, Marks and Spencer tightened up the needs for attaining a company car. These steps did drop the corporate auto fleet from 488 to 469, but this did not bring any significant change (Damien et al 2010) compared to other achievements, this strategy must be left out of the spotlight. The biggest disadvantage of CSR for Marks and Spencer is the cost that is invested in the implementation of these strategies. Plan A introduced by Marks and Spencer had an estimated cost of around 200 million. Although, the CSR strategy helps in gaining profits in the long run and it helps in becoming financially strong, it still requires a huge amount of investment to implement the strategies. Thus, if the strategy of Corporate Social Responsibility is not successful in producing a desired amount of effect in attracting the customers, then it could cause great loss to the investors. This loss might not be disastrous for Marks and Spencer however; it can damage its reputation. Although, the Corporate Social Responsibility is about enriching the stakeholder, but if the strategy is not successful in bringing extra profit then it depends on the morals and values of the investor to consider what a good outcome is and what a bad outcome is. Another disadvantage of this strategy would be the cost of keeping the customers happy. In the Plan A of Mark and Spencer, there are twenty targets for enhancing the fair partnership between the suppliers. Initially, the investment should be large as it targets the suppliers belonging to the international market (Beder, 2007). The most essential factor in this Plan is the consumer power. According to the research, around 88 percent people would prefer buying a product of the company which is highly active in social activities and are working with the concept for enhancing the quality of life. Therefore, Marks and Spencer cannot bypass this point as according to the economic climate these days, a customer moves on to the next best solution available depending on the morals they chose to follow. Thus, to build up CSR strategies are a positive investment in holding back the goodwill and image of the company, which Marks and Spencer has already established. In line to achieve a target of been the most sustainable retailer in the world, Marks Spencer s have over the years shifted from philanthropy to community investment and subsequently corporate social responsibility. Launching Plan A was its next logical step but there is still a long way to go. To ascertain the extent to which the achievements of Plan A would result in Marks Spencer s being the world most sustainable retailer, it will be important to understand what sustainability means. Brundtland s (1987) defined Sustainability as the development that meets the needs of the present world without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs . This approach to economic growth perhaps includes a social responsibility to its stakeholders and a wider responsibility for the impact of its activities on the environment. With the sustainability plans on the report being that of Marks and Spencer s alone, there is no basis for comparison with other major retailers to know the extent to which its sustainability measures surpasses them. Also, by using the word sustainable, they universalised it to their meaning. They fail to know that sustainability could have several meanings for people different people. For instance, findings have shown that people in poor countries see sustainability as poverty reduction where as in developed countries; sustainability is linked to climate change. It will be a fallacy to make people believe there is a universal word for the term sustainability as there is no agreement over the specific meaning of the word and this makes it impossible to measure the performance of a company in that area. ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF MARKS AND SPENCERS CSR REPORT HOW WE DO BUSINESS Corporate social responsibility reporting which is voluntary is said to be a public account of environmental, social and ethical impacts of a company. It demonstrates accountability, transparency and credibility gaining the stakeholders trust. In order to assess the quality of Marks and Spencer s CSR report, we shall employ the Global reporting initiatives which sets out the principles and performance indicators that organisations can use to measure and report their economic, environmental and social performance (GRI, 2011). These principles include materiality, stakeholder inclusiveness, sustainability context and completeness. Likewise, the standard disclosure examines the strategy and profile of the organisation, the management approach as well as the performance indicators of the organisation. So using the GRI guidelines to analyse the report (Appendix 1) I shall grade the Marks and Spencer s CSR report below a C minimal level despite it was assured by an independent third party Ernst and Young, to guarantee accuracy of the report and in line with best practice. To me, it failed to report the minimal requirements. Using the GRI framework, there was no report of some mandatory disclosures needed to attain a C level. These include (2.4) where it failed to report the location of its headquarters. Also in the profile disclosure, they failed to report on (4.15) which is the basis for identification and selection of stake holders whom they engage with. In the performance and indication section, despite not giving any report on human rights except for HR1 and HR2 where incomplete reports were given, they met the minimum requirement of the GRI framework of reporting at least one out of each Performance Indicator. In all, the CSR report could be said to focus primarily on profile disclosures and this tend s to be the major strength of the report where reports on performance indicators were incomplete and in some cases not reported. The stakeholder inclusiveness of the report was thoroughly reported. Pages 42 and 43 in the report contained a stakeholder dialogue which is quite impressive as stakeholder dialogue is one of the basic parties of a sustainability report. Marks and Spencer s reported how they engaged Ernst and Young to gather impartial feedback from a range of organisations which was also listed in the report. These organisations are NGO s which focus on sustainability. The responses of the stakeholders were also listed in the report and were quite enlightening as there were not just compliments but also suggestions for Marks and Spencer s sustainability direction. Also, marks and Spencer s responses to the suggestions were listed. The major concern about stakeholder reporting was on lack of information on how many stakeholders from each NGO who were consulted provided feedback and why they chose to use external figures to facilitate the dialogue rather than discussing with marks and Spencer s people. Also, it wasn t disclosed in the report how much stakeholder input influenced the selection of Plan A commitment. Marks and Spencer s CSR report is both wide ranging and highly focused. Under the headings of Climate, waste, Natural resources, fair partner, health and well being, each issue is broken down into targets set for the reporting year, performance in the current year and future goals. This approach is highly effective in terms of presenting a clear and thorough picture of the broad scope of Marks and Spencer s CSR related activities. The report is quite balanced as there were a handful of achievements listed in each of the headings such as cutting of carbon emissions from operations by 8% and improving store energy by 19%. Also, quite a couple of the challenges faced by the organisation was also noted which include rise in business travel emissions despite the Green travel policy. They also noted a decline in the sales of organic food despite their effort to introduce new products. So I think it just wasn t a win- win basis in the report. ACCESSING THE EXTENT TO WHICH PLAN A COULD BE ADOPTED SUCCESSFULLY BY A RETAILER IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY. The term developing countries is used to collectively describe nations that have low per capita incomes and are less industrialised (UNDP 2006). Corporate social responsibility(CSR) in developing countries have to deal with the formal and informal manner in which businesses contribute to governance, ethical, social labour and environmental condition of developing countries which they operate and perhaps remain sensitive to prevailing religious, historical and cultural context (Visser 2007). Contrary to the nature of CSR in developed countries, CSR in developing countries present a distinctive set of agenda which are certainly different from those faced in developed countries. CSR priorities in developing countries differ. For some, improved ethical responsibilities and incorporating good governance are assigned the highest. Whereas in others, tackling HIV/AIDS, improving working conditions, provision of basic services supply chain integrity and poverty alleviation are at the peak of CSR priority. .Major issues pertaining to CSR in developing world as at large relates to the strategic motive for adopting socially responsible practices. These actions appear to reflect Carroll s (1991) competing priorities which are; firms adopt CSR in order to meet their economic, legal, ethical and discretionary responsibilities. Conventional wisdom suggests that CSR is more relevant to organisations operating in the developed countries due to elevated expectations of society responsible behaviour. In view of this, I she use Bangladesh to examine the extent to which a retailer could adopt Marks and Spencer s Plan A because it possess the characteristics of a developing country. Basically, for the success of Plan A in any developing country by another retailer, the retailer needs to operate the strategies according to the culture, ethical background, nationality, religion and race of the developing country. As Plan A is committed to improve the lives of people in their supply chain sector (Peter, 2010). With the review of the state of government policy and support for CSR in Bangladesh, corporations have hence increased their commitment to CSR other than profit making and now complying with safety regulations. For example, CARE Bangladesh initiated a successful CSR programme with BATA where the company is using the extensive network of RARE to promote its environmental friendly products door to door in rural communities. With this, Plan A will be successful due to governments supporting policies which create room for CSR investment. Also, the issue of global warming which has to deal with the climate, it is obvious that this is affecting both the developed and developing countries and therefore governments are imposing on companies to develop CSR which will minimize carbon emission. So a retailer who adopts the Plan A will definitely succeed but will result in high operation cost to the company. Plan A can also be successful in a developing country if the retailer seeks the help of its suppliers in developing the factories with either being ethical or encouraging environmental characteristics. They can even encourage 10,000 farmers to join their sustainable agriculture program just like M S (Mike, 2008). The Retailer can also implement their Plan A project and be successful by becoming an important retailer to make sure that their key raw material such as soya, palm oil, coffee, beef, leather, etc, are coming from sustainable resources which do not contribute to deforestation. Contrary to this, Plan A which according to marks and Spencer s is doing the right thing will be successful at a minimal rate if adopted by a retailer in Bangladesh. This is so because of the prevailing high rate of poverty and corruption. Basically the priority of Marks and Spencer s plan A, which focuses on climate change, waste, waste, natural resources , fair partner performance health and well being may not be in line with CSR priorities in developing countries as they are interested in tackling HIV/AIDS, improving working conditions, provision of basic services supply chain integrity and poverty alleviation. CONCLUSION In this modern era, it is 100 percent important that companies differentiate themselves from rest of the market by working on developing strategies for their Corporate Social responsibilities. In order to make their strategy work successfully, companies need to strongly highlight educate people with their CSR plans. Keeping the research in mind, it is important for the companies to differentiate themselves. The company should also be aware of the cost that involve in the implementation of the plan. Whether you do it for financial reasons or to feel morally good, CSR plans completely depend on your ethics, both economically and personally. Marks and Spencer has started their journey to make their business more sustainable. Over the past decades, the company has never been stagnant. It has been moving from philanthropy to investing in the community to investing in corporate social responsibilities. In 2007, Plan has proved to be a radical commitment by focusing on specific CSR issues and tackling the sustainability issues.

Essay example --

Shakespeare’s play ‘Taming of the Shrew’ was written between the years 1590 and 1592 and is categorized as a comedy, mainly for its comedic elements of playfulness and disguises. It has been criticised for its elements of misogyny that have caused controversy; distracting many from its comedic nature. Hodgdon maintains that the play has sparked remarkable angst from its Elizabethan patriarchal power structure which seamlessly no longer ties with modern cultural gender ideology. Elizabethan women were made to be obedient to their husbands and never intervene with the outside world known as the man’s world. Knox quoted â€Å"To promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation, or city, is repugnant to nature† suggesting the limitation of women in society. Katherina challenges these values by appearing the exact opposite of a traditional 16th century woman as she is hot-tempered, sharp-tongued and rebellious until she meets her match. Audiences observe an excessive amount of dramatic comedy in the form of farce in Act 2. Kate and Petruchio can be argued to be devised as extreme characters to perform comedic functions, hence shouldn't be taken sincerely. It is possible to execute this comedy in a way that brings out its farcical construction. Katherina and Petruchio engage in a lengthy battle of wit. Katherina refers to Petruchio as ‘a joint stool’, in which Petruchio retaliates with ‘come sit on me’. Their remarks are exaggerated thus only continuing to build sexual tension, as Petruchio counters Katharina with sexual innuendos. Shrewish women were often described as crabs. In using the term: 'I see a crab', Katherina positions Petruchio on a corresponding level with herself. A crab apple is a sour... ...ates'. These two lines portray Petruchio's scheme: he seeks 'one rich enough to be' his wife, and is convinced he will make Kate conform with his standards for a wife. Petruchio emphasis through the repetitiveness of Kate's name within the structure, endorses his authority: he has the ability to conform Kate. There is demonstration of male superiority throughout the rest of the play, portraying injustice in equality. During Act 2 Kate is shrewish but soon as she marries; her character traits begin to wither away, making her fit the role of women in Shakespearean time. Shakespeare could have intended to show the injustice of the role of women in Shakespearean times, implying that even the strong fall weak. He uses the play to mock society's norms but does have to come to a conclusion to show Katherina as vulnerable like any other women were portrayed at that the time

The Image of the Big House as a Central Motif in The Real Charlotte Ess

The Image of the Big House as a Central Motif in The Real Charlotte The image of the 'big house' has long been a central motif in Anglo-Irish literature. From Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent (1800), it has been a source of inspiration to many writers. One of the reason s for the surge in "castle rackrents" (a generic term employed by Charles Maturin) through the 19th and early 20th century, is that many writers who used the 'big house' as a backdrop to their work were residents of such houses themselves - writers such as Sommerville and Ross, George Moore and Elizabeth Bowen, were born into the ascendancy and wrote about an era and society with which they were familiar. However modern writers, such as Molly Keane and John Banville, have also found the romantic qualities of the 'big house' alluring and therefore have continued to use the era and setting as a backdrop in their works. The 'big house' genre has resulted in such an outpouring of works of this type of fiction, that one critic remarked: "seems to have flourished in direct proportion to the historical demise of the culture it seeks to display." [1] The Real Charlotte is set in a period, which can be described as the 'Indian Summer' of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy. An 'Indian Summer' is a period of relative calm before the on set of winter: in this case it is a metaphor describing the life of leisure the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy lived with their grand tea parties, hunting, theatrical performances etc, pursuits and interests which W.B. Yeats associated with 'big house' life in general: "Life [which] overflows without ambitious pains." [2] However, this period of calm is followed by the onslaught of winter, with the Great Famine and the r... ...l Charlotte. Somerville and Ross were daughters of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy, and as they wrote their novel based on their experiences, perhaps it was only natural that some aspects of The Real Charlotte depict the decay of Big Houses and the Ascendancy class. It is through the development of characterisation and setting, that Somerville and Ross artfully portray the demise of the Big House and it's inhabitants at the hand of ambitious middle classes, and as a result of political evolution. For this reason the novel is historically accurate in showing the decline of the Big House. But despite their historic downfall, the Big Houses of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy have found a new lease of life in literature as the Big House genre, making reality what W.B Yeats once said: "Whatever flourish and decline These stones remain their monument and mine." [31]

Some Moral Minima Essay -- Analysis, Lenn Goodman

In the article â€Å"Some Moral Minima† I believe Lenn Goodman is right when he says certain things are just wrong. Goodman discusses that every human has a right to live in freedom and to be treated compassionately as human beings. I think that Goodman’s main point is not to judge issues that we do not understand, but should judge things that are ethically correct. Goodman is correct on his issues because there is never a good time to be immoral. I believe that all law abiding citizens have the right to live their lives without fear. Criminals do not have the right to commit disruptive acts of crime. According to Goodman (2010), â€Å"I think that all human aspirations worthy of the name deserve respect and support, materially and immorally/intellectually†. I agree with Goodman when he talks about issues that affect all of us such as, genocide, terrorism, slavery, murder, and rape. Goodman article states genocide, famine and germ warfare, and I agree that murder is wrong because it destroys a human life. Killing someone for the sake of killing is morally wrong and destructive. Goodman states warfare no always being wrong. Goodman states â€Å"Warfare is not always wrong: it may be necessary to protect such subjects. Yet war is subject: Its dynamic too readily escapes control through the illusion that weapons are only tools and war itself just another device, the natural extension of diplomacy (Goodman, 2010). I agree with Goodman genocide as targets individuals as members of a group seeking to destroy a race, culture, and linguistic ethnic identity, or even class. Goodman discusses terrorism, hostages, and child war worriers. I agree with Goodman that terrorism is wrong and innocent people are injured or killed. Goo... ...l others arise, as if by deduction. But by the linkage does suggest a way of looking at (or looking for) key moral norms† (Goodman, 2010). Goodman states genocide, famine and germ warfare, and I agree that murder is wrong because it destroys a human life. Killing someone for the sake of killing is morally wrong and destructive. Goodman talks about warfare not always being wrong. I believe that the list of minima that Goodman listed genocide, terrorism, slavery, murder, and rape should be something that concerns of everyone. I do believe that we have human obligations to self and to one another. Morally we are our brothers and sisters keepers and certain things are just simply wrong. I do believe that we have a moral and human obligation to self and to one another. Morally we are our brothers and sisters keepers and certain things are just simply wrong.