An Investigation of the impact of staff motivation on organizational performance: A case study of comparing Primark retail store, Tesco Plc and ASDA Group Ltd.

Aim of Study The study aims to determine employee motivation levels and its effect on organizational performance at the three retail stores. The specific related objectives are: To evaluate the extent to which the organizations provide different motivating factors for its employees To test the relationship between employee motivation and organizational performance Rationale of study Managers have the responsibility of attaining organizational success and competitive advantage through human capital. They can do this by improving the motivation levels of their employees (Wagner & Hollenbeck, 2010). The proposed study will seek to establish whether the management at the selected organizations has put in place measures for increasing employee motivation to influence organizational performance. Background to the Research Topic/Literature Review Motivation Motivation is a concept that is defined differently in literature. Some authors defined motivation as the processes where individuals focus on satisfy their perceived needs, personal goals, and basic goals and this activates human behavior (Guest & Conway, 2004). Another definition is motivation is a portrayal of the physiological processes that lead to stimulation and persistence of a voluntary action that directed toward specific goals (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2008). Employees who are motivated can be easily spotted based on their dedication, enthusiasm, performance, and their contribution to the objectives and goals of an organization. Other authors observed that a motivated individual has awareness of the particular goals that have to be attained in particular ways and focus their efforts on attainment of these goals (Nel et al., 2004). Motivation theories Various theories have been proposed to explain the motivation of employees in organizations. These include Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and Herzberg’s hygiene theory, the expectancy theory, goal theory, and fair process concept theory. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs assumes that the motivation of individuals is based on achieving a hierarchy of needs (Griffin & Moorhead, 2009). Specifically, individuals have physiological, safety, social, self –esteem, and self actualization needs that have to be met in the work setting. Physiological needs include shelter, clothing, food, and water and are at the bottom of the hierarchy of needs. Safety needs involve protecting individuals from injuries in the work setting and providing work conditions that are stress free. Social needs entail meaningful interpersonal interactions in the workplace. Esteem needs are related to a person’s desire for competency, achievement, recognition, prestige, and status. Finally, self actualization entails an individual’s desire in reaching the highest potential. Maslow suggested that higher needs can only be fulfilled after those at the bottom have been met. Therefore, after employees have attained their physiological n eeds, they want their safety, social, self-esteem and self actualization to be satisfied in that order. Managers can offer job security, fringe benefits, and pay to meet the security and physiological needs of their employees. To meet social needs, managers should promote team work in the organization. Concerning esteem needs, these can be met by the rewarding employees for high performance with recognition and establishing linkages between performance attainment and pay. Finally, self actualization needs can be met through challenging work, promotion opportunities, training, and autonomy in job performance. Herzberg’s hygiene theory contends those individuals are motivated because of job satisfaction in their work environment. This theory views that individuals are motivated when specific motivators are found in the work environment (Griffin & Moorhead, 2009). These motivators include advancement, challenging work, recognition, growth, responsibility and achievement. In addition, the theory delineates needs related to the job context or environment. These factors comprise of interpersonal relations, security, status, continuous learning opportunities, organizational culture, working conditions, and organizational policies. However, these factors do not result in motivation among employees but when they are absent in the organization, employees become dissatisfied with the work setting. Based on this theory, a manager can motivate employees by ensuring that both hygiene factors and motivators are available in the organization. The expectancy theory argues that the behavior of an individual is determined by outcomes based on the concepts ofexpectancy, instrumentality and Valence (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2008). Valence describes the strength of an individual’s preference for a reward or outcome for performing a specific behavior. Expectancy is an individual’s belief that a particular action will lead to a specific reward or outcome. Instrumentality explains the extent to which a person believes that specific performance levels will result in the achievement of desired outcomes. Therefore, individuals are motivated to carry out specific assignments when they value the rewards associated with the accomplishment of the assignment. In this regard, if the outcome or reward of performance is very high, an individual will be more motivated to execute the required tasks to achieve the outcomes. This theory indicates that managers can employ various strategies to enhance motivation among employees includ ing setting achievable performance standards and offering the required support such as training to increase perceptions that employees’ effort will result in performance. In addition, managers should link rewards given to employees to performance standards and the employee’s personal goals. The goal theory postulates that individuals are motivated to achieve challenging goals (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2008). The theory contends that goals are vital in guiding the actions and responses of individuals. This theory places goal acceptance, specificity, and difficulty. Goal difficulty describes the degree to which a specific goal demands a lot of effort. Thus, assigning goals with more difficulty leads to higher performance levels. Goal specificity is associated with an adequately defined target for directing performance. Goal acceptance is associated with the extent to which goals are accepted as legitimate by individuals. Therefore, goal setting results in higher motivation as it allows individuals to focus their efforts in the required direction (Daft & Marcic, 2009). Managers can influence the motivation of employees through goal setting by providing feedback about the employee’s progress in achieving the goals and by linking incentives to the achievement of the goals (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2008). Finally, the fair process concept theory deals with the degree to which organizational members perceive that the organization treatments them in a fair manner (Greenberg, 1993). This theory focuses on procedural and distributive justice. Distributive justice is related to perceptions of fairness in allocating rewards among employees. Procedural justice is about perceptions of fairness in the procedures used in deciding reward allocations. Therefore, employee’s perceptions about the equity dimensions in allocation of rewards influences their motivation levels (Greenberg, 1993). Therefore, employees can be motivated by rewarding them based on performance, using a performance appraisal system for accurately measuring the performance of employees, consistently using similar standards for all the employees, and openly sharing information on the organization’s reward programs (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2007). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation Motivation of employees depends on both extrinsic and intrinsic factors working together to improve the commitment of employees to task performance (Danish & Usman, 2010). Extrinsic motivation emphasizes external rewards including procedures and policy, awards, supervision, salary and fringe benefits. Extrinsic motivation has a great and immediate effect on the level of motivation but it cannot be sustained for a longer period. However, intrinsic motivation places emphasis on internal rewards and deals with quality of the work setting. Therefore, intrinsic motivation is about rewarding employees for what they actually enjoy doing and has a lasting effect on motivation levels. An organization can achieve intrinsic motivation by providing employees with challenging work and autonomy to enable employees to derive competence, achievement, and accomplishment from performing such tasks. The effect of motivation on performance An organization with a highly motivated workforce is able to achieve its goals through the performance of work tasks by employees. It is suggested that motivated employees are highly inclined to be highly productive compared to those individuals who are not motivated (Chaudhary, Javed & Sabir, 2012). Khan (2012) established a positive association between the performance of employees and their training and motivation and stated that organizations that want to enhance their employees’ performance should concentrate on training as this motivates the workforce to attain higher performance levels. Frimpong and Fan (2009) observed that motivation among employees has a significant effect on productivity and that managers should focus on channeling motivation toward the achievement of both organizational and personal goals. The researchers concluded that motivational factors and motivation have a positive effect on the performance of teams (Frimpong & Fan, 2009). Another researcher argued that motivation is one of the main factors in the productivity of employees (Mullins, 2006). The author suggested that providing employees with understandable job goals, a supportive work setting, and the adequate skills are inadequate in themselves for ensuring that the job is performed and that employees should have adequate levels of motivation to exert the required efforts levels to the realization of the specific work objectives (Mullins, 2006). Other researchers discovered that employee motivation through recognition, benefits, promotion and payment leads to higher productivity (Khan et al., 2010). Indeed, Gana and Bababe (2011) established that adequate motivation of employees using appropriate incentives enhances their performance and in turn this ensures the achievement of organizational performance goals. In summary, this section has explored relevant literature on employee motivation and its effect on performance. Based on this, the proposed study will examine whether the case study organizations use different motivating factors to influence the motivation of their workforce and achieve higher performance. Research Questions and Methodology The research questions for this study will include: Which motivational factors are used in the selected organizations What is the effect of motivational factors on the motivation of employees in the selected organizations What is the impact of employee motivation on organizational performance To answer these questions, this study will combine both interpretivism and positivism research philosophies. Interpretivism is concerned with understanding the research participants’ subjective reality in relation to the study topic (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2007). Therefore, to acquire knowledge about the motivating factors of employees at the selected organizations will involve collecting qualitative data from the employees. On the other hand, positivism involves considering social reality as autonomous from actors and quantitative methods are used in collecting data. Therefore, quantitative data in terms of a survey with managers will be collected and analyzed to determine the relationship between employee motivation and organizational performance. Therefore, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative research methods will enable a more comprehensive and holistic approach to be used in investigating the study topic. Relevant Data required and Data collection methods Both qualitative and quantitative data will be collected in this study. The qualitative data will involve interviewing 5 employees in the selected organizations to understand the motivating factors offered by senior management in a way that is not influenced and controlled by the researcher (Patton, 2002). The interviews will be conducted using an interview guide with relevant open ended questions. Thus, interviewing the employees will ensure that important insights on motivation from the perspective of employees are acquired. On the other hand, quantitative data will be gathered using a survey questionnaire administered to senior managers at the organizations. The survey questionnaire will have questions related to the motivating factors available in the organization and the extent to which managers perceive these factors as influencing different organizational outcomes. Accessibility, reliability, and validity and ethics The participants for the study will be accessed by contacting senior management of the selected organizations via email to obtain their permission to conduct the study. The senior managers will then ask the sampled employees to be part of the study. The confidentiality and anonymity of the participants will be maintained by not revealing any identifying information in the data analysis. The results of this study will be valid and reliable as accurate measures of motivation and organizational performance will be used to collect quantitative data. The validity of qualitative data will be achieved by capturing the actual meanings of the participants during transcription and analysis of data. Furthermore, the use of suitable data analysis procedures to acquire findings indicating the relationship between employee motivation and organizational performance will further establish the validity and reliability of this study. References Chaudhry, A., Javed, H., andSabir, M. (2012) `The impact of transformational and transactional leadership styles on the motivation of employees in Pakistan’, Pakistan Economic and Social Review. Vol.50, No.2, pp. 223 – 231. Daft, R., & Marcic, D. (2009) Understanding management. USA: Thompson South Western. Danish, R., and Usman, A. (2010) `Impact of reward and recognition on job satisfaction and motivation: an empirical study from Pakistan’, International Journal of Business and Management, pp. 159-167 Frimpong, S., and Fan, L. (2009) `Comparative study on the relationship between employee motivation and team performance of the Banks in Ghana and China’, Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Innovation & Management, Wuhan: Wuhan University of Technology Press, 2009 Gana, A., and Bababe, F.B. (2011) `The effects of motivation on workers performance (A case study of Maiduguri Flour Mill Ltd, Borno State, Nigeria)’, Continental Journal of Social Sciences. Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 8 – 13. Greenberg, J. (1993) `The social side of fairness: Interpersonal and informational classes of organizational justice’, In R. Cropanzano (Ed.), Justice in the workplace: Approaching fairness in human resource management (pp. 79–103). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Griffin, W., & Moorhead, G. (2009) Organizational behavior: managing people and organizations. USA: Thompson South Western Guest, D., and Conway, N. (2004) Employee wellbeing and the psychological construct. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J.(2007) Organizational behavior. USA: Thompson South-Western Khan, I., (2012) `The impact of training and motivation on performance of employees’, Business Review. Vol.7 No. 2, pp. 84 – 95. Khan, K., Farooq, S., and Khan, Z. (2010) `The Relationship between rewards and employee motivation in commercial banks of Pakistan’, Research Journal of International Studies. Available at (Accessed on December 1, 2014) Kreitner, R., & Kinicki, A.(2008), Organizational behavior. Boston: McGraw-hill Mullins, L. J. (2006) Essentials of organizational behavior. USA: Prentice Hall Nel, p., van Dyk, P. , Haasbroek, G., Schultz, H., Sono, T., & Werner, a.(2004) Human resources management. USA: Oxford University Press Patton, M.(2002) Qualitative evaluation and research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2007) Research methods for business students. USA: Pearson Education Ltd Wagner, J. and Hollenbeck, J. (2010) Organizational Behavior: Securing Competitive Advantage. 1st edition. New York: Routledge

Youth in Indian Politics

India needs young leaders who personify energy, enthusiasm, morality, and diligence. No doubt we have progressed a lot in the last 65 years but the development pace would have been completely different had some young torchbearers led this process of development. At the time of independence, Gandhi called upon the youth to participate actively in the freedom movement. Young leaders like Nehru came and led the movement. But. nowadays we have only a handful of young leaders. The youth today are not interested in actively participating in the political field. They are content with what they are doing . Young people are not given opportunities to prove themselves because the politicians say that they are not equipped with experience to participate actively in the governance of the country. Old people should realize that proper development can take place only when they make way for younger people to enter in to politics I would like to suggest that there should be a retirement age for politicians. There should also be some educational qualification for politicians. How can we give the key to our country to those illiterates. The youth of our country, can contribute in areas like educating people, raising awareness about various social ills, and many other areas. Young people possess energy, but it should be channelized in the right direction. Misguided youth may do great harm to the society. Moreover, it is on the shoulders of the young that the future of the country rests, because they represent new values, new thinking and the new ways of life. Even our former president and eminent scientist Dr . APJ Abdul Kalam said that the youth should be a part of the politics, this will ensure the states growth and development Society should mould itself according to the thinking of the young because it is difficult for the older generation to have new thinking. The young should always look with hope and confidence to the future of the country. They must have the spirit to work among the masses and also give a sense of direction for the others to follow. In India we want to be free from poverty, disease and all types of divisive forces. Our political freedom must create conditions not only for better life but also for peace. The youth of India should be inspired with these ideas and make them as popular with the people . In fact the older generation becomes hardened in their thinking. So it is difficult for them to adopt a new path. The faith of the young people is never so rigid. They can adopt, modify and change their ideas according to the demands of the circumstances. So youth of India should take this responsibility on their shoulders. Another responsibility which Indian youth will have to take is to revive our culture. If we break with our culture no progress is made in the society. The great ideas enshrined in our culture will help us to set the energies of nation in the proper direction. Various social movements which seem to be the basis of progress need the help of the younger generations. the younger generation has vision of the future and is guided by that vision. So â€Å"a nation is built in its educational institutions† through younger generations. India is wedded to the policy of industrial development, but no industry can make progress till men are properly trained and technologists help in the development of the industries of the country. Only the young generation can give appropriate direction. Therefore ,I conclude that all these steps would lead to nothing if the educated youth doesn’t come forward and fights for a change in the political system. As a famous Hindi poet had once said, â€Å",those who are mute spectators of injustice are also responsible for it â€Å"Just casting our votes is not enough, we must be a part of politics in india†

Vespucci, Columbus, and the New World

Before Columbus passed through the coastline of larger America, Amerigo Vespucci, whom the name America has derived, first came in. He navigated, explored, observed, made a map according to what he perceived, and made an exploration report to his King about it. In his description, we can notice a typical European character on the way he view people, environment and things. He wrote his observation on a negative perspective such as the Native Americans has no dress, no sense of ownership, no existing law, no religion, no morals, no ethics, and basically no culture.In this statement, it gave a connotation that those native inhabitants were complete bare beings, which exactly the same description of people at the back of his head as he wanted to conquer the land believing that it was his new found world for the Europeans. As we analyze Amerigo’s text, we can understand how he wanted to introduce those natives to his monarch as insignificant people. Perhaps, his intention was to g et full support from their King and Queen as they planned to completely renew their discovered land and afterwards conquer to make them own.Christopher Columbus, 1530 Unlike Amerigo’s negative introduction about the Native Americans, Columbus has a more affirmative remark on their personalities. He said that these indigenous people of America were peaceful, calm, friendly, warm, handsome and of well-built body structure. However, the presence of negativity has also transcended in his text when he described their lifestyle as having no knowledge and totally ignorance about arms made of irons as the natives’ spears were only made of woods and cane.Another unpleasant testimonial was when he stated that these natives are vulnerable and ideal to become slaves, and that with only few of Europeans could make these people defeated. We can view that those positive and negative remarks of Columbus was urged by the same intention with Amerigo, which is to persuade the monarchs an d allow them conquer the land to be the new colony of Europeans especially Portuguese. The New WorldBoth the Portuguese’s monarchs and the American natives were properly introduced by the so-called New World. Both Columbus and Vespucci has established and proposed this thought to them. To Vespucci, he thought that he discovered a world with nothing to have at all. He didn’t recognize or perhaps, he intentionally did not want to recognize the existing norm and culture of the natives because he wanted to make a change by himself and made a suggestion have the European culture on the land as a replacement on the existing norm.His idea was that Europeans like them are advanced and superior in all aspects, which means that they are the only ones capable of transforming the land and society into a much more highly regarded culture. To Columbus, he indicated that a New World has to be set by offering material things to the natives in exchange of their freedom, strength and se rvice being servants. However, his intention was not to upgrade the culture of the natives but to totally eliminate their culture for the betterment of the Europeans.

Classic Airline's Marketing Solution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Classic Airline's Marketing Solution - Essay Example Classic Airlines is the world’s fifth largest airlines and has witnessed a steady growth in the 25 years since its inception. However, though profitable, the airline has not been spared from the challenges that affect airlines. For instance, increased uncertainty about flying negatively affected the stock prices which saw Classic airlines recording a 10 % decrease in the share prices in 2004. Its negativity has resulted in low employee morale where consumer confidence seems to be declining. Loyal customers also seem to be jumping ship and those remaining are flying less frequently. The airline has come under spotlight as a result of the seemingly mounting problems hence this essay seeks to identify as well as to define the problem bedevilling Classic Airlines. A problem solving model will be applied in a bid to try to address the airline’s current crisis. A close analysis of the case shows that there are both internal as well as external pressures contributing to Classi c Airlines’ current crisis. The airline is operating in a competitive environment that is characterised by rising fuel while it is already incurring high operating costs. In a competitive environment, it can be noted that the companies will be fighting for the same customers hence the one with favourable services is likely to appeal to the interests of many customers. Whilst it has been observed that competition is fierce in the airline industry, it has also been noted that a closer look at the profiles of the other competitors shows that to a certain extent, some of them have a competitive advantage over Classic Airlines. The major strengths of the three given competitors indicate that they are dominant players in the industry and they have a global presence and a strong existing network in different destinations they ply. It has also been noted that these players have successful loyalty programs in place which is currently a problem that is affecting Classic Airlines. Its c ustomer loyalty base is waning and a holistic approach has to be taken in order to revive its diminishing fortunes. Another notable strength possessed by the competitors is that they have worldwide brand recognition and they are likely to appeal to a large number of customers. There are also internal factors contributing to Classic Airlines’ current crisis and these include labour costs. The firm is paying top salaries especially to pilots and other employees while other competitors are cutting back pay on such professions. Priority is given to the needs of the workers and this has increased the operating costs of the airline. High salaries offered to the employees are not commensurate with the actual economic state of affairs obtaining on the ground. The stance to give the employees the autonomy to decide destinations through a bidding system is also a contributory factor to the current crisis being faced by the airline. The high operating costs have limited the airline†™s ability to compete for valued frequent flier given that it is now confined in a restrictive cost structure. Thus, as noted by Ben Sutcliffe, Classic’s General Counsel, the main problem related to this approach by the airline is that it has one of the highest labour costs which are likely to jeopardize its future. This has mandated a 15 % cost

The New Woman in Kate Chopin's the Awakening Essay

The New Woman in Kate Chopin's the Awakening - Essay Example This means that for almost half a century before Kate Chopin published The Awakening, society had been engaged in a struggle over equal rights issues and social ideologies. As an outcome of this struggle, female part of the society had, to some extent, already undergone mobilization and emancipation from their socioeconomic captivity. The following research is to review and analyze on the example of Kate Chopin's novel about the "sexual awakening" and an unconventional behavior of a woman how for the first time in the USA, women began to bring the formerly private issues of family and home into the public domain and this way caused significant social changes. As many biographers admit today, writing a story of another person's life story is writing one's own as well. If we try to find out why Kate Chopin wrote her novel and how the society accepted it, we will often find the answers in the French women the voices of whom dominated Chopin's formative years. Many historians note that women during the post-Civil War period regularly took part in the marketplace, earned their own sources of support, broke with derogatory forms of financial dependency on men. Culley M. asserts that women "at all levels of society were active in attempts to better their lot, and the "New Woman", the late nineteenth-century equivalent of the "liberated woman", was much on the public mind" (Culley 117). In middle 1899, nearly 50 years after the women's movement officially had started, the social and cultural background seemed favorable for the literary introduction of Edna Pontellier, Kate Chopin's fictional character. The plot of the novel can be depicted in short as follows. The main character, Edna Pontellier is 28 years old, married to a 40-year-old New Orleans businessman who earn living for her and their two sons. She is satisfied but not really happy. During one summer at Grand Isle, a charming Creole resort, she has several awakenings. A real romance occurs between Edna and the resort owner's young son, Robert Lebrun, after he teaches her swimming and she gets the feeling of power and sensuality. Meanwhile, Edna makes friends with Madame Adle Ratignolle, a woman who is fully contented in her traditional woman role, but whose affectionate ways and insights draw Edna to speculate about herself and learn striking things. Being a motherless child and an intellectual Edna now realizes that she has married Lonce Pontellier only in order to annoy her family, and to close the door on unreal obsessions and dreams. She realized that she became a mother without particularly wish to be one, and did not raise that question until that moment. During Edna's summer of awakenings she starts, with the help of her female friends, recovering her voice. The peculiar, slightly sinister pianist Mademoiselle Reisz develops Edna's deep appreciation for music and inspires her flirtation with Robert, who, suddenly leaves for Mexico. After coming back home Edna begins to ignore her wifely obligations. Listening to her own inner voice, Edna starts expressing opinions, and while she is ecstatically alone, organizes a luxurious dinner party before moving herself to a little house. Later on Edna has

Explain the different paths to God found in Bonaventures The Souls (or Research Paper

Explain the different paths to God found in Bonaventures The Souls (or Minds) Journey to God - Research Paper Example Especially the preface of The Journey of the Mind into God describes the vision of Seraph very constantly and convincingly. In this work has also explains different paths to God and teach people that they could become close to the God by carrying out their life journeys in specific directions and paths (Quinn, p186). Saint Bonaventura explains in his work Mind’s journey to the God that finding out God is very simple as well as very complicated for the people because God is present around the people but they could reach him only if they will adopt the right paths. He believes that one can easily find God by seeking him in different objects of the world because he is everywhere and it depends upon the sincerity and dedication of the seeker that he become able to find out God or not. Bonaventura believes that God is part of his own creations that why he is present in the tree standing silently as well as on the path where the people use to walk every day. Since human beings are also the creation of God so he is also present inside us and the internal truth of the personalities reveal the existence of God inside the people (Gendreau, p104). The first chapter of Mind’s journey to the God explains the stages through which the people can find their ways up to God. Bonaventura teaches that when a person is blessed by God he has been provided with the divine assistance and the path towards God becomes clear and easy for him. This happens to the people that are true by heart and possess no wrong intentions for God and his creations (Emery, p218). Without the assistance of God it is not possible for anyone to find God or seek the ways towards him. When a person is true and clean by his heart God makes him complete and shower him with all his blessings and miracles. This is possible only when someone is pure not only physically but his heart is also pure and clean and he truly wants to reach God and wants to follow the path sincerely that could take him

360 Degree Feedback Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

360 Degree Feedback - Assignment Example 360-degree feedback system may however not be effective in assessing result-oriented performance, which are more quantitative such as sales and market share. When compared to the traditional performance appraisal, the 360-degree feedback can be said to be advantageous in how it ensures active participation by major stakeholders including employees themselves (Kaye, 2010). Such participation is enabled because includes an employee self-assessment to start the process. This way, the eventual outcome of the appraisal can be said to be the exact representation of employee performance. The feedback system may however be disadvantageous when an organization has to deal with a very large employee size. This is because such large size of employee and the use of 360-degree feedback may be highly time consuming. This is situation could also delay the turn-around time to get employees assessed. When used to measure ineffective and effective performance, the 360-degree feedback guarantees an in-depth understanding of factors that account for employee performance. This is because of the qualitative nature of the feedback system. but in cases where an employee’s performance is dominated by quantitative and numeric outcomes, the feedback system becomes inappropriate in measuring effective and ineffective

Electronic Medical Records Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Electronic Medical Records - Essay Example Thus, the EMR has a complicated system which deals with the patient data in the most effective manner. The benefits of the EMR system in health care are several which help the practitioners immensely. "The system enables access to comprehensive, legible, and organized patient data and reference literature at the point of service." (Clayton, 2005). While the benefits of EMR in health care service are numerous, there are some significant disadvantages to the system which offer some crucial challenges to the practitioners. The major concerns about the use of the system are connected with set-up and training, productivity/efficiency concerns, connections to external data sources, privacy concerns, system performance and availability etc. The lack of confidentiality of the individual records which are managed electronically as well as the limitations connected with the software, hardware and networking technologies illustrate the major challenges faced when implementing a universal EMR sy stem. Clayton, Paul D. (2005). "Physician use of electronic medical records: Issues and successes with direct data entry and physician productivity." Retrieved February 09, 2009, from http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgiartid=1560588

Business Project Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Business Project Management - Essay Example The researcher states that before initializing a project, project manager and team must be sure about the structure of the host firm because it influences their project and the operations they seek to perform. In addition, the culture of an organization is composed of certain attributes such as values, attitudes, viewpoints and behaviors of its staff members. In addition, it demonstrates the established principles and values of the organization, infusing all the activities which a corporation performs. In simple words, it can make a project a success or a failure. However, the perfect organizational culture is that in which projects are well thought-out in strategic management and are executed to promote and support a firm’s corporate strategy and corporate goals. As a result, top management pays more attention to them and assigns more and more organization’s resources to allow them to be successful. Here strategic management is the discipline of building, implementing, and assessing cross-functional decisions that facilitate a corporation to attain its goals. Moreover, each corporation has its own model organizational culture, operating systems and inside and outside resources to attain this. In addition, at the present it is necessary for the project managers to be familiar with the cultural, organizational and social environments adjacent the project. It could be done by recognizing the stakeholders and their capability to have an effect on the project. Thus, it could lead towards the likelihood of influencing project surroundings in an optimistic manner. Therefore, the any kind of risks could be considerably diminished; however failure to adopt such a way could unavoidably lead to a less than acceptable ending. In addition, the successful project managers would be familiar with the importance to put some effort in changing or improving the organizational culture for the benefit of the project stakeholders. In this scenario, it is the responsib ility of every team member of a project, undeniably every employee of the organization, needs to be influenced to express the attitude that, just as they are stakeholders, as well as every other project stakeholder is also vital (Wideman, 2001). Moreover, the organization's culture plays a significant role in success rate of projects. Take into account that this is about projects all throughout a corporation, not just about one specific project. In addition, the culture of a host organization plays possibly the major role in whether their organization is flourishing in running projects. On the other hand, if a supplier firm faces challenges running projects productively with the host firm, they cannot blame the project managers. In fact, they are struggling surrounded by a culture that is not in support of their struggle. Thus, it is essential for the project manager as well as the top management of the supplier firm to identify and assess the culture of the host organization. Until they are

Uncle Toms Cabin Essay Example for Free

Uncle Toms Cabin Essay For a democratic society with its democratic form of government system it is but an obvious choice to opt for a society that is predominantly color blind. The basis norm of a democratic society is to provide its mass with a structural form that offers equality in terms of justice and social characteristic. It is an unwanted phenomenon but it is also extremely true at the same time that racism is a curse that exists among us whether we like it or not. It could be summarized that racism is the result of having negative judgments, beliefs, and feelings towards certain identifiable groups. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is such a text that reveals the moral and physical injury caused due to this racism. However, it should also be noted that the aspect of this text is multifold and the author juxtaposed various elements into the reading that cannot be ignored. It can well be stated that the book is based on three major matrixes. The first one is the evil of slavery where the black community is a harmless and helpless being in the hands of their master race subjected to occasional pity at times and at the most, the second one is the faith in god or Christianity and the third one is the extremely stereotyped representation of the black community. But the problem is that every aspect is viewed from the parameters of the White man and the Black man is only the receiver, both in beating and mercy. The very first page of the text denotes the black community as a class who are only to be empathized and pitied, if not anything else. This becomes very evident during the conversation between Shelby and Haley. â€Å"Tom is †¦ steady, honest, capable, manages my whole farm like a clock†. To this remark from Shelby the statement that Haley makes is outrageous. He says, â€Å"You mean honest, as niggers go†. (Stowe, 1976) This dialogue is a clear indication of the position that the black community hold in their masters’ mind. There are only two alternatives of evaluating a black man. One is to show him pity and the other is to evaluate him as a trade commodity. The humanist feeling is completely missing in the dialogue between these two, one of whom, Shelby, is portrayed as a good and gentle man. Even to Shelby the existence of Tom is a little more than walking and talking machinery so very evident in the colonial era. This hard pill of ‘colonialism with brutality’ needed some spooning with sweetness to become a favorable aromatic digestible element for the general people of the imperial states. As a result this phrase ‘white man’s burden’ came into existence as a remedy to the enlightens of the industrial revolution and people were ready to buy this theory as this theory easily softened the guilt feeling of the educated class and apparently justified the brutal acts and decisions taken to control and cover the colonial agitations. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin follows the same principal but in a more compassionate manner but ignoring the essence of the rights of a human completely. The aspect of Christianity appears time and again as a soothing instrument in this book. It is as if to state that in a time of cruelty and helplessness the only possible cure is religion. In this case, this particular religion is White man’s religion that the white man preaches to the black man as a comforting medium. Right from the beginning we find that there is a clandestine flow of Christianity with George Shelby defining the greatness of his religion by mentioning that â€Å"What a thing it is to be a Christian† (Stowe, 1976) Tom is completely impressed by Christianity and we find that he in turn sermonizing St. Clare and telling â€Å"look away to Jesus†. (Stowe, 1976) Even Little Eva is described in the text as â€Å"ideal Christian†. (Stowe, 1976) It is true that there is noting wrong with Christianity but the problem is that it is not the only religion in the world and the writer almost seizes to believe that Tom or any other Black man can have a faith or religion from his birth origin. It should be remembered that no religion in the world is greater than the other and in this context even African totem worshippers have the right to faith and it is no less important to them than an urban cultured white Christian. Stowe completely ignores this fact and the reason behind that is the text is written by a white person and the aspect of showing mercy is the predominant essence. It can well be stated that the author, in pursue of raising voice against racism, actually ignited more racism in the text by stereotyping the black community. Carefree characters like Sam are shown and represented as â€Å"happy darky† in the novel while young women like Emmeline, Cassy and Eliza are represented as sex objects. The elderly black women like Mammy is portrayed as loving and affectionate Topsy is typed as a black child and appears to be the representative of all black children. Even in Tom’s character we see the die hard urge to please the master or the white man and developed as the most wise and prototype character of the book. The author makes it a point to establish the statement that Tom is an ideal black personality and is the noble hero of the story. It is as if the black community has no backbone at all and they lack a huge identity crisis much like Topsy, who states about the basic existence as â€Å"I spect I growed. Dont think nobody never made me†. (Stowe, 1976) This is a very strange condition as the author intends to write against the evils of slavery and turns the novel into a perpetual justification of slavery where the readers are deem to believe that a black man is only capable of becoming a slave of a white master. In conclusion it should be stated that all the basic matrixes are aligned in the same context of a white writer who recognizes the need of showing mercy to the black community but simply forgets the fact that it is not a matter of mercy that should be accountable but right that is fundamental. In this context, Stowe, though very compassionate and sympathetic, ultimately remains at the position of the master race and thus tells us the melodrama of Tom’s suffering and the bliss of Christianity while molding the entire black community into a single stereotyped population. References: Stowe, Harriet Beecher; (1976); Uncle Toms Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly; Dunedin: Allied Publications

The Persuading Effects In Political Media Politics Essay

The Persuading Effects In Political Media Politics Essay The mass media in the Philippines, being the universal source of information, contributes a great influence on our thinking and behavior. This term paper will focus about the impact of media coverage on elections and how it persuades the electorates behavior. My purpose is to explore the effects of mass media on political power in the Philippines and to show how the media simultaneously disrupt and defends the status quo including the advantages and disadvantages during election campaigns. The first part of this paper will provide and support the ideas of how a fair election is measured in a democratic country. It will also focus on the medias substantial role on the voting behavior that will contribute towards a greater understanding of mass media in our country. The second part deals about the past situation of the media which concerns the different election frauds, corruption, and violence. I will also add an overview about the medias monopoly and commercialism. But among these, t he most favorable part is the emergence of the new media through the use of the introduced technology. I will also discuss how the different forms of media campaigning using various campaign strategies through TV ads, polls, debates and others can persuade the voters. Furthermore, this term paper will also argue about the effect of money on election results, whether it is an advantage or a disadvantage to the political candidate. Lastly, I hope to show that communication and persuasion works between the media and the public, that we and others can also influence the media. How to measure a fair election In a democratic country like the Philippines, where universal and equal suffrage is a must, the media plays a significant and substantial role for the development of the society. The media is responsible for ensuring free, fair and equal elections. To make a democratic form of government possible, essential conditions are required. For a country to be democratic, they must secure universal and equal suffrage. The political system must entail recognition of protection of civil liberties and rights. The freedom of speech from candidates and political parties must not be restricted. Enforceable laws must be implemented to prevent election fraud and vote tampering. It must be ensured that an electorates choice of party or candidate cannot be used against him or her by secret ballot voting. (socyberty.com, 2009) But in general term, it can be said that the people must be the highest form of society. The role of media before, during and after elections The fact that the media plays a great role in lives is well known, but its role as a political tool is also well rooted in the political systems. During times of elections, which are seen by many as the hallmarks of democratic political system, the media are expected to undertake very specific roles. It is a clichà ©, but media as the voice of the public, in the course especially of elections, must be able to inform, educate, enlighten and involve the electorate. Brandt, Hughes, and Rasmussen (2006), have discussed the major tools needed by the media in a fair report and coverage of the elections. They have to provide a platform and forum for controversial societal debates. The news media play the vital role in a democracy of providing the public information on which they can base their decisions on public issues. They have the duty to criticize undemocratic behavior of politicians, to educate the general public in respect of democracy, and to secure a fair and balanced coverage of elections. The watchdog function of the media is especially crucial during times of electoral campaigns and elections themselves. More importantly, the medias role is to scrutinize the candidates and parties and expose on the same issues and to give voters enough information to compare their positions. The media must report what the parties and candidates are saying, even if it does not reflect issues the people want to address (pp. 14-19). If the media coverage in the press and television is not free, fair and equal, the results may be prejudiced. Political discussions cannot be avoided in the print media, political stories are aired on television every day, commercial radio airs political news every hour, and paid political announcements are encountered in all media during campaigns. Candidates use of the media can have a strong impact upon those who make up their minds about candidates during the campaign. It is within human nature to believe what is told to us. We tend to believ e the media because research is done by them and they are a main source of information. The media remains important since they are the means by which people obtain current affairs both inside and outside of the Philippines however bias it may be. Overall, the media are always present with new stories on political activities. The new media The entrance of the modern era meant the advent of modern technology accessible to the public. For the first time in history, the Philippines embraced technology and transformed greatly the electoral system of the country during the May 2010 elections. The Philippine elections have frequently been marked by allegations of widespread cheating and other electoral malpractice. It was a subject to criticism since the security of the electoral process and its capacity to preserve the sanctity of the ballot and the will of the electorate was put to question. It has always been a manual process from voting to the canvassing of results with the local and national positions. Consequently, we have had hurdled so much because of the slow and tedious process. But due to the advanced technology available in the modern era, the Filipinos most awaited election was taken to another level. Generally, the automated election fulfilled the promise of speed but complaints and controversies remained (Meis burger, 2010). Many Filipinos until now were not sure whether the new process worked well enough to hold credible elections. Even automated election provided high security, there were still computer experts that bombarded the whole system or hacked the computers and manipulated the results. And I think that it is actually possible that cheaters came from the people who developed the system. Unfortunately and ironically, the press, despite of the intense focus on the new voting machines, failed to highlight critical problems during Election Day. But in my own opinion, the main problem we encountered during the May 2010 automated election was transparency. People were not able to see the actual process of counting the votes and several doubted if the results are really correct. Reporting on the first automated election also posed new challenges to the media. The press had to be alert to new kinds of problems as well as to keep the coverage on the day itself interesting. But it was obv ious from the first hours of coverage that the television networks were clearly prepared to resort to the magic of technology to keep audiences tuned in. The media is intensely influential in the present days systems of domination. Because the majority of the public does not in fact hear political speeches, witness activities, or observe actions of leaders, they depend on the media to exhibit the news in an accessible form. It becomes easy to comprehend how vital the media is, and what will be the effects of the news on the society whenever it is presented. Even a little change of news has the potentials to greatly influence public opinion (people.virginia.edu). Dirty Politics: Bias Media and Corrupt Candidates On the further side of the media, television has been with us for more than thirty years (Del Mundo, 1986, p. 10). By any standard, thirty years is long enough to develop a meaningful mass medium. Although in the past, the role of media is not as great as it is today. During an election, it was not surprising to see the media being harnessed to serve the politicians who held media power. Rocamora, for instance, concluded that Cheating is a well-developed art in Philippine elections. Local Politicians are adept at manipulating the process from beginning to end. (Rocamora, 1998, p. 23). So having no doubt, the media with its own weaknesses, would most likely practice bias electoral processes. Corruption in the media industry is a fact, and it is worst during elections. There is a general feeling about the political bias of the media that it is too negative. They place an importance on finding out what is wrong, but do not tell the complete picture about what is being done. There are in deed media networks that are owned by families who are biased in favor of certain candidates. We can see this prejudicial act most often when the media had begun to be very one-sided in terms of reporting the news. The media should be obligated to tell the truth and not manufacture or elaborate stories, even if it does not sound as good. It has and will continue to destroy the careers of some and make the careers of others. Even though most of the television news stations are owned by wealthy individuals, they should not be so biased. The media and the politicians only want us to see what a perfect world we live in, so they tend to hide the truth or work their way around it. But that is not always the case; sometimes desperate politicians are simply exaggerating when they condemn the alleged bias of the media. They tend to highlight the critical views reported by the media but they overlook the balanced presentation of facts in news reports. Another unjust intervention was experienc ed by the media during the Marcos era. Independence of the media has always been viewed with admiration everywhere in the world. But in 1972 to 1981, when martial law was declared during the regime of President Marcos, media monopoly started. Not just one agency was organized to do the job. Thus, the media suppression of the Marcos era restored the powerful and influential appetite of the public for news. But unfortunately, until now, the medias authority, security and freedom was not completely fulfilled (Del Mundo, 1986, pp. 77-89). Moreover, the recent Maguindanao massacre would be the worst example of election-related violence, wherein many members of the press and media was killed and abducted. Therefore, these malpractices and bad connotations simply imply the common term dirty politics which I think is not fair because politics must always be understood in a larger context. And talking about the status quo, generally it is the media that is bias and the politicians that are c orrupt. Defining a CAMPAIGN In the course especially of elections, we cannot exclude the fact of the emergence of inevitable frauds and intense violence. Every now and then, the media conclusively reports about the most compelling issues and irregularities related to elections, especially during the campaign period. A campaign is the period right before citizens make a real political choice. Campaign activity is more likely to register on voters minds as the Election Day draws near (Brady, Johnston Sides, 2004, p.2). According to Brandt, Hughes, and Rasmussen (2006): Most parties make their leader the centre of attention so voters who like the leader will vote for the partys candidates. So the partys election campaign is composed of speeches, party rallies and press conferences featuring the party leader. But the medias job is not just to repeat all the words spoken by the leaders. There should also be information in the news story about where the speech was given and how many people were there and what was the reaction of people in the streets, and what did political opponents say. Voters deserve to know so they can compare and decide for themselves. (Brandt, Hughes, and Rasmussen, 2006, p. 16). Ultimately, political ads and campaigns can affect who will win the election. As is true of other types of human relationships, first impressions can be very important as voters form their opinions about political candidates. Research on election decisions suggests that candidates use of the media can have a strong impact upon those who make up their minds about candidates during the campaign. They can affect what the voters know, whether they will vote, whom they will vote for and why they will vote for that person. In general, people already have their own ideas when they view television, read newspapers, or log on to websites. To a man, the campaign staffs of politicians agree that the three requisites for a successful campaign are: media, machinery and money. (Coronel, Chua, De Castro, 2004, p. 123) The media as a form of campaign strategy Television campaigns come from various forms. It can be a form of commercial, debates, speech, press conference, polls or interviews which are aired on local television news broadcasts, talk shows and even game shows. The television commercial, the most powerful form of advertising is the most interesting and most complex kind of political advertisement. It is the main way that modern campaigns communicate with voters. It can give you as the electorate an idea of how trustworthy candidates are, how they communicate or connect with the people, how they behave under stress, how they sell their program and what do they stand for. According to a study made by Coronel, Chua and De Castro (2004), The Arroyo and Lacson campaigns were most successful than the others in getting their spins across. This was because they had more sophisticated media strategies and handlers. They had a clearer idea of the message they wanted to project and made sure that this message was successfully conveyed th rough the media. (p. 21). Through TV ads, the audiences who are watching their favorite television programs will have a chance to meet the candidates and there is a possibility that they can recall them since they are shown in every commercial break. The advertiser will create another image of the candidate to make them appreciated and accepted by the target audience. The use of informal words, the inclusion of popular song and dance, the color, social issues, and the representation of peoples age, gender, profession and religion are very useful for the ads recall (Encabo, 2010, pp.11-12). In a survey conducted by Fonbuena. Rufo and Tabunda (2008), during the campaign period itself, respondents were asked to name political advertisements on television that they could recall. An ad was considered correctly recalled by a respondent if the respondent was able to identify the candidates in the advertisements that they recalled. Political ads are effective in converting voter awareness i nto actual votes for the candidates to the extent only that these ads incredibly project an image of the candidate as one who will effectively address the issues and concerns of the electorate. Studies show that commercials and debates aired right before Election Day have the most effect on undecided viewers (pp. 27-28). Voters who have already formed their opinions are hardly influenced by the media to the point of changing their minds. But as defined by House, Ludwig and Stratmann (2009), advertising need not to be truthful in deceptive campaigns. Both types of candidates engage in campaign advertising claiming that they are of high quality. Hence, they define advertising as deceptive when a low-quality candidate advertises that he is high-quality (p. 6). Opinion polls, on the other hand, are mostly used by political parties to discover what issues a representative sample of voters think is important. As defined by Lange (1999), voting intention polls indicate the popularity of political parties/candidates, show ratings, and suggest the outcome of elections. Parties will sometimes change their campaign promises because opinion polls reveal what will be more popular (pp. 49-50). People always say in polls, they do not like negative campaigns but voting records seem to indicate that they are affected or influenced by them. Opinion polls also influence voters because voters like to know what their neighbors are thinking and may decide to vote the same way. As such, poll results could increasingly frame the coverage of the election campaign. Exposure to polls may serve to increase a general interest in voting in the public, but there is little to demonstrate a change in voter intention, which is what we call bandwagon effect. Opinion poll s are only a brief sample of peoples opinions at the time they were asked. Polls cannot predict how opinions and votes will change if voters learn new information. Polls should not become the lead story everyday because they may influence voters to follow popular opinion rather than think for themselves. Lange (1999) observed that debates have advantages and disadvantages, but on balance seem positive. On the negative side, it has been argued that mandatory debates would circumscribe the candidates freedom to run campaigns as they wish that it is not always possible to have all party leaders participating and that debates tend to spotlight the party leaders too intensely. On the positive side, debates allow the candidates to face the public directly, they have been shown to heighten citizens interest in elections and their levels of information, they are a means of enabling the public to make a direct comparison of the candidates, and as such are a useful supplement to the normal news coverage (pp. 28-29). Aside from the old traditions of advertising, the innovative transformation of the society was considered as a milestone in the electoral system. I am not just talking about the May 2010 automated elections, but it is about how social media is changing the face of democracy through the use of different social networking sites in campaigning for a political party or candidate. Generally, traditional media and new media worked together for a more comprehensive coverage of the 2010 Philippine Elections. Rafter (2009) for example, stated that, the internet has assumed an increasingly important role in political communications and has provided new ways of communicating political messages with the public. Traditional concerns about television and radio political advertising are equally applicable to the Internet but there is no debate about regulating political content on the web (p.29). TV news stations also marked a milestone in media history when they reported election updates in real t ime using the new media. They even used the Facebook and Twitter to post news updates and reports about the election. Most of the Social Media websites which have had a major worldwide impact on Internet usage and thus perceived international impact, like YouTube, Flickr, Blogger, WordPress, Google, Wikipedia, Myspace, Facebook and Twitter (eGovernment-Symposium, 2009, p. 7). As predicted by some experts and scholars, it is probably only a matter of time before everyone will be able to vote over the Internet. Still, for those who create and air ads, the bottom line is the bottom line. The intended effect of political advertising or paid media is to win political battles by creating and delivering biased messages. Informing and engaging the public outside of ones supporters, when and if it occurs, is a by-product or secondary effect of the effort to win political battles. Does money wins elections? But the most intriguing factor that affects the decision of the electorate is the presence of money. Rocamora (1998), observe that for a candidate to win Philippine elections, they have to spend three times: once to get nominated, second to garner votes, third to get his votes counted, added to, and those of his opponents subtracted (p. 27). According to political scientist Ciyde Wilcox, money matters most when the candidates are least known to the voters, when they do not receive a lot of news coverage, and when paid advertising, which, of course, is expensive, can bring recognition and enhance images (Wayne, 1992, p.52). As I have said, the ads play a big role in the entire campaign. The earlier the ad is aired, the earlier the candidates rating goes up and the earlier the candidate can shift to conversion. Indeed, this means paying a longer period for advertisement slots. The cost of political campaign is rising and rising fast. The use of other modern technology has also increase d expenditures. One 30-second ad can cost a candidate from P34,000 to P243,000, depending on the station and the time slot. These costs are already slashed by 30 percent, the legally mandated discount for candidates (Fonbuena, Rufo, Tabunda, 2008, p. 61). But because of factors such as popularity and acceptability, campaign budgets may still vary from candidate to candidate. If a candidate is already popular, a lesser amount can be allocated for election paraphernalia. The amount a candidate spends will largely depend on the style of his/her political strategies. Literally speaking, before a sensible person joins a political fray, he/she should check his/her wallet first. Elections are indeed expensive affairs. Radio and television appearance, newspaper advertising, travel for the candidate, mailings of campaign materials, maintaining a network of campaign offices, taking polls, and raising money itself all cost a great deal of money. The notion that the side with more money has a better chance of winning is very common. Lack of budget for the campaign can be solved through public and private funding. The ability to raise money is not only a matter of wealth but also of being able to attract funds from others. Way before the campaign period, funds can already be raised. It is obviously important for a financially challenged candidate to seek and accept whatever material support they can find. Sponsored activities like a ball, a concert, a movie premier, T-shirt sales, and bazaars can be organized. But most campaign donations would not come in until a candidates showing becomes strong during the campaign period. Their contributions serve as insurance money, an investment they hope to draw from in the future. Another source, though largely unreported for obvious reasons, would be gambling and smuggling operations that seek the protection of the politicians. According to Co, Lao, Sayo and Tigno (2005), potential candidates who do not have the financial resources and backing to undertake a campaign have a little chance of winning (p.98). But apparently, I beg to disagree that financial outlays can guarantee victory in elections. Although the money spent might still serve as a good index to electoral strength, the candidates and parties with the most money did not always win. Money however is only one factor. And even when relatively honest people do win, they have to spend so much money to campaign that they invariably become corrupt in order to recover their expenses or to return the favor of financial backers. Wayne (1992) stated that, theoretically, campaign spending should have a greater impact on the nomination process than on the general election, and on the beginning of the process than at the end (p. 51). Whether or not money determines campaign victors, it exerts an enormous influence on elections. Heard (1960), notes that the ef fect of money in politics is probably more certain in determining who the candidates will be than in determining the outcome of the elections. Although the main goal of those who sponsor political advertising is to win elections, advertising can also in ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡uence what citizens know about candidates and public policy and how engaged citizens are in their own governance. And, as discussed above, in in ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡uencing what voters know, ads can in ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡uence whom voter choose (Goldenstein, Ridout, 2004, p. 211). The impact of media on the electoral system The overwhelming power of the mass media is something that we accept as fact. We are dependent on media for information. Media have become our connection to the real world. Indeed, there have been a lot of contributions media has made in politics, particularly during elections. The availability of media coverage during elections from the nomination period to the canvassing of votes, keeps the public informed of all the crucial events that occur during the elections. In the present times, it has gained a greater importance than how it was in the past. Filipinos much more now than ever in the past, rely on the mass media in deciding whom to vote and which issues are important. There is a hunger for information and citizens are much more attentive to media reports during elections than in other times. It has thus gained more influence over the voting behavior of the electorate and greater power in altering the opinions of the people. During campaigns, bad publicity can mean almost certa in death to a promising political career to a politician. No matter what good things a person has done in the past, if the media decides to publish the bad, their chances are blown. Population as a whole also recognizes the large role the media plays in their lives. They are well aware that the press plays the most dominant role in determining which issues and events are considered significant (Brandt, Hughes, Rasmussen, 2006, pp. 15-17). Conclusion The medias role in politics is even more significant. They help shape the political culture, and have the power to make a candidate appealing or repulsive. The media can also lead the general public to misunderstand the actions of one particular political group, and as a result, other political parties have to face a difficult political situation. Encabo (2010) concluded that politicians and advertisement producers believe that advertising allows candidates to reach even the uninterested and unmotivated citizens like those who are not paying attention in news reports, debates, and other campaign event (p.20). The media is primarily needed to fix itself to reporting on politics, not shaping it. The media should not have the bias of the nation, but should offer information to allow ideas to form liberally and independently. The nature of the impact of the media coverage is perhaps most dramatically evident in peoples awareness of the candidates and the consequences for how they vote. I n the coverage of elections, media fulfills different roles. This includes informing, enlightening, and educating the electorate, providing a platform and forum for controversial social debates, forming public opinion, and serving as a watchdog on the side of the citizens. Among these roles, the duty of informing the electorate is the primary and the other roles are only ancillary and fall under this primary role. The media has also the ability of affecting the behavior and decision making of the electorate. Many factors are to consider in determining the voting behavior of the electorate; and though there is no certainty on the extent that media affects the decision making process of the electorate, media is one of the few things that can count heavily on affecting and changing the opinions and decisions of the electorate. Apart from persuading the electorate, the media can also persuade the political candidates. The media influence the decision and actions of politicians and offic ials, change their priorities and can reduce their ability to control events. Another thing to consider in the influence of media in elections is the campaign financing that is required of candidates in order to afford the media resources necessary for advancing the campaign. The costs on campaign financing have escalated primarily due to the fact that it is expensive to employ media resources. However, though it is expensive, but because it is believed to be the most effective medium of campaigning, it is the least likely expense in campaign financing to be cut. The high costs of campaign financing pose problems for less affluent candidates. It is a disadvantage for the poor candidate who does not have the necessary resources necessary to run a campaign which will be able to employ media as one of its medium of advertisement. Because of this, the integrity of the electoral system of a democratic nation such as the Philippines becomes flawed. People, based on democratic theory, shou ld have equal opportunity to run for office regardless of economic status. But because of the high costs imposed by media on running a campaign, this is hardly true. There is therefore a need for the strict implementation of campaign finance laws during elections so as not to put an advantage on the wealthy and a disadvantage on the less affluent candidates. The media plays a crucial role in the realization of this goal. Through these insights, it is therefore true that media persuasion does not only work between the media and the public, but logically speaking, we and others can also influence the media. Both positively and negatively, the mass media contributes a great factor in affecting the decisions of the electorate because it exercises a powerful role in the electoral processes by informing and educating the public. Bibliography (books and e-books): Brady, H.E., Johnston, R., Sides, J. (2006). The Study of Political Campaigns. United States: The University of Michigan Press. Brandt, T., Hughes, T. Rasmussen F. (2006). Coaching Manual for Media Support during Elections. Denmark: International Media Support. Co, E.E.A., Lao, M.E.J., Sayo, M.A., Tigno, J.V. (2005). Philippine Democracy Assessment. Manila: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). Coronel, S.S., Chua, Y.T., De Castro I. (2004). Cockfight, horserace, boxing match (why elections are covered as sport): lessons learned from the 2004 campaign coverage. Quezon City : Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. Del Mundo C. (1986). Philippine Mass Media: A Book of Readings. Philippines: Communication Foundation for Asia. eGovernment-Symposium (2009). E-Society and E-Democracy. Berne, Switzerland: Amazee (www.amazee.com) and IDHEAP (www.idheap.ch). Encabo, E.A. (2010). The Filipino Language and Culture in Political Advertisement. San Diego State University: Language Acquisition Resource Center. Fonbuena, C., Rufo, A., Tabunda, A.M.L. (2008). Selling Candidates: Political Ads in the 2007 Senatorial Elections. Quezon City: Public trust Media Group Inc. Goldstein, K., Ridout, T.N. (2004). Measuring the Effects of Televised Political Advertising in the United States. Washington: arjournals.annualreviews.org. Houser, D., Ludwig, S., Stratmann, T. (2009). Does deceptive advertising reduce political participation? Theory and evidence. Washington: George Mason University, Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science. Hufilena, C.F. (2006). How to Win an Election. Quezon City: Ateneo School of Government Center for Social Policy. Lange, B.P. Ward, D. (2004). The Media and Elections: A Handbook and Comparative Study. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Lange, Y. (1999). Media and Elections. Europe: Council of Europe Publishing. Meisburger, T. (2010). Will Automated Elections in the Philippines Increase Public Confidence?. Asia: The Asia Foundation. Rafter, K. (2009). Political Advertising: The Regulatory Position and the Public View. Ireland: Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Media Research Scheme. Rocamora, J. (1998). Philippine Political Parties, Electoral System and Political Reform. Quezon City: Philippines International Review. Wayne, S.J. (1992). The Road to the White House: The Politics of Presidential Elections. New York: St. Martins Press Internet sources: http://socyberty.com/organizations/the-responsibility-of-the-media-in-conducting-free-and-fair-elections/#ixzz1Do4Q79RP. Retrieved February 25, 2011, 01:53 am. http://www.people.virginia.edu/~lkr8v/politics.htm. Retrieved February 25, 2011, 02:33 am.

Controversy In South Park Film Studies Essay

Controversy In South Park Film Studies Essay South Park is an icon of modern satire and humor in America.  Ã‚  This sitcom is a source of thousands of winged phrases culprit billion settlement on all sorts of topics covered in it. It ridicules many celebrities, religion, individual nations and a lot of things that are part of our lives. Series  «South Park » is a cruel satire of American society produced by the Comedy Central over ten years.  During this time the series had gained popularity, received awards, was on the verge of closing and again reborn.   Anime as a genre, can reduce everything to a joke, and, even if it differs with black humor, violates ethical rules, ridicules the ideals of decent Americans. South Park mocks and parodies, drops and mixes with the mud all that is possible and all that is impossible. To describe the series definitely is quite a challenge: comments on it differ immensely from the exclamations of delight, to the requirements of the immediate closure. The basis of action is an exaggeration or an understatement of some events: sometimes of household trifles, sometimes of the worlds problems.  This is a blow to the stereotyped thinking. The television is not taken to reflect on what is considered politically incorrect, especially about how the Americans think about Jews, Canadian, Russian, blacks, people of different faiths, but  «South Park » ridicules almost all religions and nationalities. In the South Park, that violates at the events of reality, can not appear so-called guest stars.  Mostly they look like cartoon with a head carved out of this photo: in particular in the series satirically played on Ben Affleck, Russell Crowe, Mel Gibson, Paris Hilton, Jennifer Lopez.  «South Park » in 2006 won Peabody Award, a prestigious award for journalists, established by the University of Georgia.  Jury awards noted South Park as the most vivid, politically incorrect TV program. (Mansour, 2005) In its own way  «South Park » is unique.  Perhaps the main idea of the series is that we must be able to laugh at themselves, and perhaps to appreciate life.  In any case, it is not so superficial and vulgar as it first seems, because of the rudeness and swearing discuss important issues.  A conspicuous obscenity is a speaking out against censorship, in which TV is entangled. South Park as a ridicule of American life South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone.  The plot is based on adventures of four boys and their friends living in the small town of South Park, Colorado.  Series ridicules the shortcomings of American culture and current world events, and criticized a lot of deep convictions and taboos, through parody and black humor. The series always involves controversial subjects and all sorts of taboos.  Obscene language is used to make fun of religion and cults, such issues as sexuality and global warming. The series covers and ridicules practically all topics and points of view, absolutely all things can become subject of jokes and ridicules.  According to Tony Fox, one of the leaders of Comedy Central, creators of South Park make an attempt to make people laugh, not offend anyone.  () Main characters are the portraits of certain people in the modern world, images of certain characters.The main heroes of the cartoon are five students of American elementary school.   Eric Theodore Cartman the prototype of this hero was Archie Bunker, a fictional character in the once popular U.S. comedy series The whole family.  Eric is often the instigator of the conflict and asks a series of problems.  He is vulgar, offensive, has an unhealthy sadistic, intolerant of anything alien, spoiled, rude, hostile and obese.  He is a racist, so constantly insults Kyle and considers his idol Hitler, even his name is very similar to the name of best air ace of the Third Reich Erich Hartmann.  Sometimes he laughs on poverty.  At the same time, his flashy and sociopathic behavior often play a trick on him, pitting him against the others.  In many parts Cartman openly opposed to the other three characters.  However, Cartman has repeatedly demonstrated his supernatural ability to conduct business and leadership: he can easily make money or incites others to action that helped him to achieve own goals.  However, he has a lot of complexes: for example, Eric ex plains his overweight as wide bones and a strong constitution, because that is what my mother told him.  Cartman is the only anti-hero of all four children, but he from the very first season is attracting more attention of the spectators than the remaining trio. Cartman entered the list of VH1 greatest icons of pop culture, the list of TV Guide 50 greatest cartoon characters, and in 2005 was in the list of the channel Bravo 100 greatest TV characters.() Stanley (Stan) Marsh good-natured and clear-headed man, who usually tries to get out of scandalous situations by finding a logical solution.  Stan is a moralist, and often utters morality of the whole series, for his age he has a very profound views on many issues. Stan lives with his mom, dad, sister and grandfather, his family is often used as an example of the archetypal American family. Kyle Broflovski is a sensitive skeptic, at times self-satisfied and pliable, but always sincerely trying to learn.  By origin he is a Jew.  Like Stan, Kyle often provides a reasonable estimate of the abnormal behavior of the adults around them, but more emotional and subjective.  Kyle, unlike Eric Cartman, always ponders over his actions, and tries to correct his mistakes, he is very careful to expensive to own people friends, parents, brother.  Perhaps it is a cartoonish character of a typical Jew. Kenneth (Kenny) McCormick: during the first five seasons Kenny serves as a perpetual victim is killed in many ways.  This is because the series in the series, with few exceptions, accompanied by remarks obychnosmert Kenny Stan: Oh my God!  They killed Kenny!   You Bustards!.  Cause permanent resurrections Kenny revealed in one of the series his parents give birth to every episode of a new son, absolutely indistinguishable from the dead last.  At the end of the fifth season of Kenny dies for real, so for 6 seasons friends must search for his replacement. The basis of character, as a rule, is a typical template a primitive-drawn body, a circle for a head, big eyes.  If a character is a prototype of a real life, sometimes instead of a drawing or photograph a person using a few, so you can change facial expressions.  Sometimes, for extra comic effect a more complex animation is used.  Instead of fire, cut from colored paper, is now using realistic graphics bombings, against the backdrop of primitive graphics core landscape creates an additional humorous effect. Sometimes with the help of special effects certain films, series, or whole genres are parodied.  For example, a series called Good Times with Weapons was made in style of anime, Make Love, Not Warcraft contains numerous videos from Warcraft; in addition there are a lot of episodes in the parody style of animation of Scooby-Doo, The Simpsons, Family Guy  , cartoon Heavy Metal . Also there are fragments with documentary footage, for example in a series of Tweek vs. Craig, Cat Orgy and New Trend Snatch Mr. Garrison. (South Park Studios FAQ, 2001) The primitive style of animation in the South Park is completely on purpose, the use for such animation editors Maya and Corel Draw Parker and Stone describe as an example of self-irony. (Jones, 2008) South Park very often shows business and media stars, although only few of them (in particular,  «Radiohead »,  «Korn », Robert Smith of  «The Cure ») voiced themselves.  In most cases the ratio of creators to the characters of celebrities is extremely humiliating, all their negative traits are maximized, sometimes even mockery has no real motive. Paris Hilton.  In episode 812 she opens in South Park a shop Dull spoiled whore, she also used obscene language.  In the comments creators emphasized that usually do not make fun of a particular celebrity, but the idea of celebrity in principle, and in this case they had quite specific desire to show that girls must not become such as Peris is. Barbara Streisand.  Creators of the series really hate Barbra Streisand for her self-love and is constantly laughing at her: in the episode Mecha-Streisand she tries to take over the world in the form of a huge robot dinosaur, in the episode terrible fish her face is always on the screen to the viewer  was terrible.  And in the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer Uncut her name is used as a curse, but in the episode Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants plaque with her picture represents an extreme degree of stupidity. Ben Affleck.  In episode 510, he is the son of people with ass instead of head, and all are aware that Ben Affleck is quite obvious also sick of this disease.  In the 705th episode, Ben Affleck falls in love with Cartmans hand, imagines himself the new Jennifer Lopez.  This infuriates the real Jennifer Lopez, who arranges for Cartmans hand, hunting for what eventually sentenced to occupational therapy. Sally Struthers.  She is a well-known on television stout woman, engaged in charity, so in episode 109 she eats cupcakes and is intended for humanitarian aid.  In episode 311 she is shown in the image of a giant worm Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars.   Russell Crowe.  In episode 604, Russell Crowe is shown as idiot, who leads his own show on beating people around the world.  In particular, Russell Crowe beat the Chinese, children and cancer patients. Mel Gibson.  In episode 804, when Stan and Kenny come to the Gibson home, he is shown as a lunatic, who paints his face like his hero in the movie Braveheart and the chase in his shorts for boys, laughing, mad, and cries of torture me! Until the South  Park.  At the end of the episode, Kyle, which is developing a complex about the film The Passion of the Christ, says I am that all this time agonizes over this movie nerd? (Jones, 2008) Typically, a celebrity does not react to ridicule in the South Park.  Nevertheless, we know that Bob Saget, David Blaine, Tina Yozers and Patrick Duffy commended their appearance in the series, considering it was funny.  But there are a lot of counter-examples: as sharply responded negatively about the series Barbra Streisand. Also in one of the most controversial episodes called Trapped in the Closet Tom Cruise is for a long time trying to come out the closet, which is a typical expression meaning to confess to his own homosexuality.  Although Cruz said that he didnt care about these jokes. (Jones, 2008) The main topics of mockeries in the South Park One of the most characteristic features of the plot of South park is the presence of many series of parodic debriefing and moralization, when heroes Stan and Kyle speak to other characters: I learnt something today.  In different series it can be portrayed in different ways: sometimes with the help of the rotation (at least in those cases when, after a standard phrase uttered truly significant word) actually supplied some kind of morality and suggests that belong to Parker and Stone  .  In other cases, however, it serves as a simply humorous admission, when the heroes have to make some of their goals or get rid of those they harm.   (Broman, et.al,2007) A characteristic feature of the series, which can be observed in many series, is the constant mockery of all kinds of stereotypes of our modern life.  The set of characters and situations are hyperbolizing in series to limit expressions of certain stereotypes prevailing in America or around the world.  On the other hand, often in the South Park primitive stereotypes unexpectedly found to be completely accurate.  The complex, ironic play around stereotypes, by which to know the plot twist is practically impossible, is a striking feature of the series. (Heffernan, 2005) The most common stereotypes are about nationalities and their characters, about modern society and modern style of life. For example, there are a lot of mockeries about Canadians.  All Canadians on the show, since appearing in episode 101 of Ike, are shown much coarser than the American characters: they have small eyes, the upper half of the head twitches during a conversation.  Primitivity of image of Canadians is emphasized: for example, a person with an ugly face is depicted in the same way as any other.  Deliberate ugliness of Canadians, compared with the usual characters, is a clear mockery of the American stereotypes of Canadians as inferior human beings. In the FAQ on the official website of the series was told that Stone and Parker are trying to portray the most realistic of Canadians.  (Johnson-Woods, 2007)     In the song  «Blame Canada » and anticanadian campaign in the movie South Park: Bigger Longer Uncut also a mockery of American stereotypes about their neighbors are marked.  Ã‚  However, in 2005 Matt Stone made clear that the characteristic for the series image of Canadians is no more than a satire.  (Johnson-Woods, 2007) Also the South park has a lot of jokes about the Japanese.  American stereotype of spirituality and machining process of Japanese is reflected in episode 904, when one of the archangels of Heaven resembles another that the Japanese have no souls.  The stereotype of the Japanese as enemies of America is ridiculed in a series 310, when the Emperor of Japan with his assistants hipnotizes children again to attack Pearl Harbor. It is necessary to mention also certain jokes about the Chinese.  In a series 611 Chinese restaurant owner Tuong Lu Kims is requested to build the city wall, as he is the only Chinese in the city, but the Chinese do have the ability to build the wall.  Chinese outraged, but nevertheless built a huge wall, quite comparable to the Great Chinese Wall, and later he tried to defend it from Mongols who tried to destroy it. Also in the series The China Probrem Cartman decides that the Chinese want to conquer the world, and they along with Butters depict the Chinese to learn from one of the Chinese families about plans to seize the world. Speaking about the topics of jokes and mockeries it is necessary to point out the questions of religions: Islam, Catholicism and SÑ ientology. For example a series Trapped in the Closet is ridiculing the Church of Scientology and its famous followers, Tom Cruise and John Travolta.  In this episode, Scientologists declare Stans new incarnation of L. Ron Hubbard , and Tom Cruise is locked in a closet because Stan did not praise his acting skills.  Also, Scientology is parodied in the series Super Best Friends and Return of Chef, but just the name of religion is not called.  In Super Best Friends appear fictional cult of Bleyntology, that is taking money from the faithful, who claims to tax benefits and compels ordinary people consider themselves unhappy, and in The Return of Chef author returns to the events surrounding the Trapped in the Closet. ( Jones, 2008) The South Park has repeatedly derided Judaism and Mormonism.  Kyle is a Jew, Cartman is an anti-Semite, so that attacks on Judaism are frequent phenomenon for South Park, while these jokes are mostly from negative characters.  Series  «The Passion of the Jew » illuminates the contradictions surrounding the movie by Mel Gibsons Passion of the Christ: Kyle, a Jew, after viewing the film decides that his nation is truly blamed for the sufferings of Christ, and tries to make the synagogue in South Park to bring apologies.  However, to the final series it turns out that Gibson is an insane fanatic weirdo, and even Cartman is disappointed in him, though The Passion of the Christ is one of the pillars of his anti-Semitism. (Heffernan, 2004) Mormons are subjects of a series All about the Mormons, in which their religion is ridiculed in every way and is provided as very silly and controversial.  Repeatedly in the series it was shown that only Mormons will appear in Heavens and thus illustrated the absurdity of the problem of choosing between different versions of Christianity.  Nevertheless, in the episode All About Mormons the boy-Mormon Gary said he felt that if people who believe in something, are happy, the intelligent man should be capable to understand and respect it.  (Heffernan, 2004) South Park demonstrates the support of advocates for the rights of sexual minorities and is criticizing their opponents in the standard for South Park grotesque style.  The irony is that the chief opponent of gays in the series Mr. Harrison- is an open homosexual, and then a transsexual by the name Mrs. Harrison.  Eventually, Mrs. Harrison becomes a lesbian, and then, after understanding the impossibility to bear children again a man.  In Watch the eggs! the same-sex marriages are declared as too offensive, but the school experiment proves that same-sex couples can raise children, despite all the efforts of Mrs. Harrison.  As a result, according to the plot of the cartoon, a single-sex marriage is allowed in Colorado.  In the episode Cripple Fight states that Boy Scouts of America did not have to hire homosexuals, but also did not have to try to dismiss homosexuals. South Park is regularly referred to or making fun of different political ideas, political figures.  In it has repeatedly appeared the U.S. Presidents: twice it was Bill Clinton, eight times George W. Bush, and single episode (About Last Night) was devoted to Americas presidential election in 2008, which also parodied the main contenders for the post,  including the current president Barack Obama.   In a series of Free Willzyx the second president of Russia Vladimir Putin was parodied, and the members of the Russian government of that time.  In the episode Mandombe Queen Elizabeth II was shown, and in the final of the series she killed herself after an unsuccessful attempt to capture the U.S. with the help of the British Navy.  Also many world leaders have been parodied in a series of Derby pine forest. (Heffernan, 2004) One more topic that is criticized is the hype around the issue of global warming. For example, in a series of 1999 activist-environmentalist, who is voiced by Jennifer Aniston, falls into the jungle and finds out that she did not like nature at all. In a series of 2001 Terrance and Phillip: Behind the group of ecologists are trying to wash peoples brains, so that they began to care about the environment.  They take Kenni in hostage and begin to chop off pieces of him to make friends to organize a speech at the festival in support of the environment. In a series of 2005, Two days before the day after tomorrow the assumption that the cause of hurricanes is global warming is ridiculed.  The entire series is a parody of the movie The Day After Tomorrow . In a series of 2006 The threat of complacency! Owners of hybrid cars are so proud of themselves, that a result they themselves begin to exude dangerous fumes.  Nevertheless, in the series was noted the importance of using hybrid cars.  The episode ManBearPig is dedicated to Albert Gore and his fight against global warming.  Gore is shown as insane rogue, trying to catch the imaginary ManBearPig to attract attention to himself. South (Park Studios FAQ, 2001) Also in the cartoon repeatedly appears Humane Society of PETA.  In the episode Douche and Turd members of the organization are represented as natural freaks who marry animals (a hybrid of man and the ostrich is moaning Kill me) and contemptuous of their fellows. Conclusion During its existence, the South Park has become not only a successful show, but a kind of pop-culture phenomenon, and its characters like Cartman, Kenny, Timmy, as well as many phrases, parts and fragments of the episodes have become an essential part of pop culture.   Effect of South Park, according to assistant of show producer Mike McMahon, one can often see in things that have no relationship to pop culture or animation. (South Park Studios FAQ, 2001) In 1999 came a full-length animated film South Park: Bigger, Longer Uncut.  The film combines the elements of a musical (the film is actively parodying the Disney musicals), political satire and dark, obscene and wicked humor, it has a hard R rating due to the large amount of violence, obscene language and obscenity  .  The film revolves around the ban by parents of Terrance and Phillip movie, and the growth of hatred of Americans to Canada, and around the attempts of Satan and Saddam Hussein to capture the world. The film has achieved considerable critical success, both qualitative and interesting example of political satire. In the whole both series and film ridicule the shortcomings of American culture and current world events, and criticized a lot of deep convictions and taboos, through parody and black humor. South Park ridicules modern celebrities, religious ideas, modern stereotypes and views about nations and nationalities, and a lot of things that are part of todays life in America. So all this make South Park a modern icon of satire and humor in America.

Aylmers Struggle for Perfection in Nathaniel Hawthomes, The Birthmark

Aylmer's Struggle for Perfection in Nathaniel Hawthome's, The Birthmark Aylmer's struggle for scientific perfection transcends human possibility in Nathaniel Hawthome's "The Birthmark." He attempts to perfect that which nature rendered imperfect. When the quest for human achievement opposes divine design it has no chance of succeeding. This key element in Aylmer's twisted love leads to the demise of what he seeks so desperately to perfect, his beautiful wife. Georgianna's "fatal flaw of humanity" (Hawthorne 167), the birthmark, blocks her from perfection in his eyes, and thus blemishes Aylmer's prideful ideals. Her alleged inferiority to science leads to her death and Aylmer's complete failure as both a scientist and a spouse. From the beginning of "The Birthmark, " Hawthorne describes Aylmer as a man with some degree of physical finery that alludes to perfection "... cleared his fine countenance ... " (164). He is described as a man with a passionate and ardent interest in science; in fact, he devotes almost his entire life in this pursuit. "He had devoted himself... too unreservedly to scientific studies ever to be weaned from them..." (165). This scientific background shows that Aylmer's love for Georgianna is his "second passion" (165). Georgianna comes second in his pursuit of happiness whereas science could be called his first love. He becomes obsessed with the idea of changing his beloved to suit his fancy. Georgianna possesses a mark upon her cheek, hardly a cause for concern to the average human. The mark is "deeply interwoven ... with the texture and substance of her face" (165). The minuscule mark is crimson and in the peculiar shape of a tiny hand. It changes with Georgianna's moods. When she is rosy che... ...horne Question. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1963. Brooks, Cleanth and Robert Penn Warren. "Interpretation of the Birthmark." Donohue 185-188. Fogle, Richard Harter. Hawthorne's Fiction: The Light and the Dark. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964. Heileman, P, B. "Hawthorne's The Birthmark: Science as Religion." Donohue 180-195. Rucker, Mary E. "Science and Art in Hawthorne's 'The Birthmark', " Nineteenth Century Literature 41 (1987)- 445-61. Wagoner, Hyatt H. Hawthorne: A Critical Study. Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1963. Weinstein, Cindy. "The Invisible Hand Made Visible: 'The Birthmark'." Nineteenth Century Literature.. 48 (1993), 44- 73. Zanger, Jules. " Speaking of the Unspeakable: Hawthorne's 'The Birthmark'. "Modern Philology: A Journal Devoted to Research Medieval and Modem Literature. 80 (1983): 364- 371.