Hofstede’s Model Of Organisational Culture The WritePass Journal

Hofstede’s Model Of Organisational Culture ABSTRACT Hofstede’s Model Of Organisational Culture ABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONWHAT IS..â€Å"CULTURE†?ORGANIZAITONAL CULTUREProcess oriented vs goal orientedParochial vs professionalOpen system vs closed systemEmployee oriented vs job orientedTighter control vs loose controlNormative vs pragmaticCRITICISMS OF HOFSTEDE’S MODELARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF HOFSTEDE’S MODELA CASE STUDY OF SONY ERICSSONORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE IN SONY ERICSSONCONCLUSIONREFERENCERelated ABSTRACT Organizational culture has become the buzzword in popular management with many experts suggesting it as an important determinant for organizational success. Management researchers have been quick to point out the impact that organizational culture may have on the effectiveness of the organization and have called for an increase in the attention paid to organizational culture. With more emphasis being placed on organizational culture, it becomes important to understand the appeal of this concept and examine its impact on management within the organization This paper thus explores on the concept of â€Å"organizational culture† and examines its impact on behaviours and management of the organization. This will involve identifying one associated mode or theory and evaluating or determining the extent to which the chosen model plays a part in defining the style of management. A case study of Sony Ericsson will also be employed to help illustrate the application of hofstede’s model of organizational culture. The study will also identify limitations of this model and the strengths that have enabled it to be used as a basis for most research analyses. INTRODUCTION Organizational culture has become the buzzword in popular management with many experts suggesting it as an important determinant for organizational success (Schein 1999). While the association between organizational culture and organizational success is far from certain, it is obvious that each organization has its own unique social structure which drives much of the individual behavior within that organization. Management researchers have been quick to point out the impact that organizational culture may have on the effectiveness of the organization and have called for an increase in the attention paid to organizational culture (Siehl Martin 1998).   With more emphasis being placed on organizational culture, it is important to understand the appeal of this concept and examine its impact on management within the organization. This study thus explores on the concept of organizational culture and examines its impact on management style. This will involve identifying one associated mode or theory and evaluating or determining the extent to which the chosen model plays a part in defining the style of management. In this regard, Hofstede’s ideas will form the basis of our analysis of organizational culture. WHAT IS..â€Å"CULTURE†? The term culture has been given varied set of definitions by various scholars. Kroeber Kluckholn (1952), for example, defined culture as consisting of patterns of behaviour acquired and transmitted through symbols, and which constitute distinctive achievement of human groups including their embodiment in artifacts. Hofstede (1980), on the other hand, defined culture as the collective programming of the mind which differentiates members of one human group in the society from the rest. While Symington (1983) defined it as a complex whole which include belief, knowledge, morals, art, customs, capabilities and habits acquired in the society.   These definitions suggest culture to consist of a set of value systems that are shared equally by members in the society and which binds people together. With the above conceptualization of culture, we can now define what we mean by organizational culture. ORGANIZAITONAL CULTURE Organizational culture can simply be defined as a set of values, assumptions and beliefs that define the behaviours and style of management in an organization (O’Reilly et.al, 1991).  There are three main sources of influence believed to interact to create organizational culture. These are the beliefs and values held by the leaders of the organization, the characteristics of the industry in which the organization is within, and the broader society in which the organization operates (O’Reilly et.al, 1991). The most influential model used by management researchers and which has formed the basis of most analyses of organizational culture is Hofstedes model. While most noted for his groundbreaking work on dimensions of national culture, Hofstede also identified six dimensions of organizational culture which can be used in defining the style of management in an organization. Process oriented vs goal oriented The process oriented vs result oriented dimension is concerned with the effectiveness of the organization. A key feature of a process oriented culture is the means or rather the way in which work has to be conducted. While in a result oriented culture, emphasis is placed on the goals of the organization. That is, employees are primarily out to achieve specific organizational goals even if the risks involved are substantial (Hofstede 2001). Parochial vs professional This dimension reflects the internal and external frame of the organization (Hofstede 2001). In a local culture the identity of the employees is with the immediate manager. Hence employees within this culture are internally focused and directed and there is also a strong social control. The converse is true in a professional culture where the identity of the employees is largely determined by the profession and content of the job. Open system vs closed system The open system vs closed system dimension reflects the communication climate of the organization (Hofstede 2001). For an open system, new employees are welcomed and there is the belief that everyone fits well in the organization. While for a closed system, it is difficult to join and it is believed that only a certain kind of individuals may fit in the organization. Employee oriented vs job oriented This dimension relates to the management philosophy in the organization. In an employee oriented organizational culture, concern is mainly on employee satisfaction. The staff members feel that their own personal problems and welfare is taken into account by the organization. While for a job oriented organizational culture, work is characterized by heavy pressure to perform the specific task at the expense of the employee (Hofstede 2001). Tighter control vs loose control This dimension relates to structuring, control and discipline in the organization. A tight control culture is characterized by seriousness and punctuality while the features of a loose control culture are casual and improvisation (Hofstede 2001). Examples of organizations that are often found within tighter controls are banks and pharmaceutical companies while those found in loose control are research laboratories and advertising agencies (Hofstede 2001). Normative vs pragmatic This dimension reflects on the methods employed by organizations when dealing with the environment in general and customers in particular. It describes the level of customer oreintation. Pragmatic cultures are flexible and more market driven while normative cultures are rigid and often emphasize on following applicable laws and rules (Hofstede 2001). Hofstede labeled organizations involved in the sale of services as pragmatic while those engaged in application of laws and rules as normative. CRITICISMS OF HOFSTEDE’S MODEL Hofstedes ground breaking work on culture has indeed provided valuable insights into the management styles and dynamics of cross cultural relationships. However, his highly influential findings have not been without criticisms. A number of academics have discredited his work in part or whole. Critics have argued that survey was not an important instrument that could be used in accurately determining and measuring the culture of organizations (Jones 2007). A survey of a set of limited questions certainly cannot adequately and comprehensively provide an in-depth understanding of culture of an organization. In response to this criticism, Hofstede argued that survey was one method and certainly not the only method that was used. Hofstedes model has also been criticized on the basis that the five or six dimensions did not provide sufficient information about cultural differences (Jones 2007). In this regard, Hofstede agreed that his analysis was too narrow to credibly argue for the universal validity and sufficiency of the six dimensions of organizational culture that he identified. And in fact, suggested for additional dimensions to his original work. He also noted that some of the six dimensions that he identified may be less useful when analyzing other types of organizations in other countries (Jones 2007). A third criticism is that Hofstede’s work is seen as outdated, especially with the rapid changes in the global environment (Jones 2007). This critique has further been put forward by Holden (2002) who points out that the data used by Hofstede in his dimensions of organizational culture seem to have been gathered over 30 years ago and is therefore no longer applicable to the modern day world. In response to this criticism, Hofstede (1998) pointed out that a number of recent replications had confirmed his findings. Hofstede’s model is also criticized on grounds of his one company approach. Hofstedes analysis supposed that a single IBM organizational culture could be used to make inferences about the entire world wide organizational cultures (Jones 2007). A study fixated on one company certainly cannot be used to make inferences about the entire world wide organizational cultures. The validity of his dimensions of organizational culture has thus been questioned and his model considered to be non-comprehensive as the study was based on data collected from a single company using questionnaires that lacked academic foundation. Critics have also argued that Hofstede failed to recognize the diversity in his analysis of IBM culture (Jones 2007). He ignored extensive literature which suggested that there were multiple, dissenting and emergent cultures in an organization. If we are to ignore the assumption of a single culture in IBM and acknowledge the diversity in culture at IBM, then his analysis is likely to collapse. After years of publication of his analysis on organizational culture based on the IBM survey data, Hofstede begun to acknowledge the presence of cultural diversity within and between units in the same organization. However, despite recognizing flaws in his work, Hofstede fails to admit error or weakness in his analysis. Accepting that organizations had multiple cultures as opposed to his assumption of a single culture would seem to undermine a crucial part of his analysis. ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF HOFSTEDE’S MODEL Despite these criticisms, Hofstedes work is widely acknowledged and used by many scholars and practictioners due to its mainly appealing attributes. Sondergaard (1994) noted that hofstedes analysis on corporate culture received 1,036 citations in comparison with another highly regarded study by Miles Snow (1978) which only received 200 citations. Moreover, a number of researchers have replicated Hofstedes study including Trompenaars Hampden-Turner (1997). Some of the strengths that have enabled it to be used as the basis of most research analyses include: Relevance: Hofstedes discoveries came at a time when there was very little known about culture and businesses were just globalizing and were in need of advice (Jones 2007). Hofstedes framework exceeded this demand and became widely accepted by many scholars and practitioners. His work offered guidance to managers who were expanding their businesses as cultures were clashing and creating difficulties (Jones 2007). Rigour Hofstede model is based on a rigorous research design with systematic data and is built on a coherent theory (Jones 2007). Simplicity: Knudsen Loloma (2007) argues that hofstedes model has remained influential and successful due to its simplicity of appliance. His analysis of culture offered a simple way of understanding organizational culture. The six dimensions that define organizational culture put forth by Hofstede made it easier for managers and researchers to understand corporate culture without the need of expert knowledge. Relative accuracy: strength of Hofstedes model is also reflected in its level of accuracy. Majority of the replications conducted by other researchers have confirmed Hofstedes findings. Four replications have concurred fully with Hofstede’s findings while fifteen showed partial confirmation (Jones 2007). Moreover, Hofstedes framework has become very influential in management studies and is most widely cited in social sciences. His work remains instrumental in the implementation of various business systems in organizations including entrepreneurial behaviour, workgroup performance and dynamics, leadership styles, participative management and management control systems among many others (Jones 2007). A CASE STUDY OF SONY ERICSSON In order to explore on the extent to which hofstede model plays a part in defining management style, we will conduct a case study of Sony Ericsson, a joint venture between Sony and Ericsson. Sony Ericsson has its headquarters and all of its management based in the UK. The firm aims at becoming the most innovative and attractive mobile brand globally (Cooper Ross 2007). ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE IN SONY ERICSSON Organizational culture has long been acknowledged as an important factor for driving behaviour, decision making and shaping management style at Sony Ericsson. With regard to the rules and procedures, Sony Ericson follows a certain procedure laid down by the firm (Cooper Ross 2007). While it is not a requirement for employees to follow strict dress code and office timings, it is mandatory for employees at Sony Ericsson to abide by the business ethics and code of conduct (Cooper Ross 2007). Since the firm does not follow a strict dress code and office timings, it can be concluded that the organization employs a loose control culture. With regard to employee evaluation and performance, the staffs at Sony Ericsson are not differentiated on their individual performance and are allowed to participate in decision making except at the higher level which requires the executive management team only (Cooper Ross 2007). Sony Ericsson’s corporate culture is also more employee oriented with managers more concerned on the welfare and employee satisfaction. Sony Ericsons organizational culture is also very professional as employees are subjected to scrutiny checks prior to their appointment to ensure that individuals hired are competent and have a certain level of experience deemed necessary for the position (Tayeb 2001). With regard to normative and pragmatic approach, the firm is seen in between, as its organizational culture is both normative and pragmatic oriented. While Sony Ericsson focuses on meeting customer and market needs, the firm also adheres to certain rules and guidelines in meeting these needs (Tayeb 2001). Clearly, Hofstede’s model plays a significant part in defining the management style and organizational behaviour at Sony Ericsson. CONCLUSION There is no doubt that Hofstede’s model is one of the most widely acknowledged and used piece of research. His ground breaking work on culture has indeed provided valuable insights into the management styles and dynamics of cross cultural relationships as evident in Sony Ericsson. A number of academics have however discredited his work in part or whole. Although Hofstedes work on culture has been heavily criticized on grounds of his one company approach, survey methodological approach, and for fewer dimensions and his assumption of a single organizational culture; majority of his findings have had remarkable effect on practitioners and researchers and continue to guide multi-national practitioners into the global future. While there is a high level of controversy in his analysis of culture, there is no doubt that his study is one of the most influential in the analysis of organizational culture. REFERENCE Hofstede, G., 2001. Culture’s consequences. 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage publications Hofstede, G., 1998. Attitudes, Values and Organizational Culture: Disentangling the concepts. Organization Studies 19(3): 477. Hofstede, G., 1980. Cultures Consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications. Hofstede, G., Neuijen, B., Ohayv, D. D., and G. Sanders, 1990. â€Å"Measuring Organizational Cultures: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study across Twenty Cases†. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(2), 286-316. Holden, N., 2002. Cross-Cultural Management – A Knowledge Management Perspective. Harlow: Prentice Hall. Jones, M.L., 2007. Hofstede culturally questionable? Oxford, UK. Kroeber, A. L. and C. Kluckhohn, 1952. Culture: A critical review of concepts and definitions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University press Knudsen Loloma, 2007. The consequences of cultures consequences. A critical approach to culture as collective programming applied to cross-cultural crews. Journal of Maritime Affairs. Vol . 8 (2), pp.105 -121 Miles, R and C. Snow, 1978. Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. O’Reilly, C., Chatman, J., and D. Caldwell, 1991. â€Å"People and organizational culture: A profile comparison approach to assessing person-organization fit†. Academy of Management Journal, 34:487-516. Rose, R., 2008. Organizational culture as a root of performance improvement: research and recommendations. Contemporary management research. Vol.4, p. 43-46 Schein, E., 1999. The corporate culture survival guide. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. Schwartz, S.H., 1994. â€Å"Beyond individualism/collectivism†. In: Kim, U., Triandis, H.C. et al. (eds) Individualism and Collectivism: Theory, Method, and Applications: Vol. 18, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Siehl, C. J. Martin, 1998. â€Å"Measuring Organizational Culture: Mixing Qualitative and Quantitative Methods†. In: Jones, M.O, et al. (eds), Inside Organizations: Understanding the Human Dimension, Newbury Park, CA, Sage Publications, pp.79-103. Sinha, 2000. Patterns of work culture. Sage publications Sà ¸ndergaard, M., 1994. Hofstedes consequences: A study of reviews, citations and replications. Organization Studies 15(3): 447. Symington, J. W., 1983. Learn Latin America’s Culture. New York Times. Tayeb, M. H., 2001. International Business Partnership. New York: Palgrave. Trompenaars, F. and C. Hampden-Turner, 1997. Riding the waves of culture: understanding cultural diversity in business. London, Nicholas Brearley.

The Fundamentals of Verbs

The Fundamentals of Verbs The Fundamentals of Verbs The Fundamentals of Verbs By Mark Nichol This post outlines the basic principles of the verb, the workhorse of language. A verb describes an action (talk), an occurrence (become), or a state of being (live). Verbs are complicated by their many variable states, based on inflection depending on functions. For example, an action might, depending on the number of talkers, be described with the word talk or the word talks. (This quality is called agreement.) Based on the tense of the sentence, the verb, accompanied by an auxiliary, or helper, could appear in the phrases â€Å"will talk,† â€Å"has talked,† or â€Å"was talking.† (Tense is one of several similar qualities; the others are aspect, how the action or state occurs through time, and modality, the expression of the speaker’s attitude toward the action or state.) Other qualities of verbs are the voice (such as active voice, as in the form of the verb saw in â€Å"Many saw it as a turning point,† or passive voice, as exemplified by the syntax in â€Å"It was seen by many as a turning point†) and the valency whether the verb is intransitive (accompanied by a subject alone, as in â€Å"It moves†), transitive (accompanied by a subject and a direct object, as in â€Å"We went to the store†), or ditransitive (accompanied by a subject, a direct object, and an indirect object (â€Å"I brought him the report†). The six types of verb follow: An intransitive verb is one that does not precede a noun or an adjective. If any part of speech follows an intransitive verb, it is usually an adverb (â€Å"I walked quickly†) or a preposition (â€Å"I walked in†). A linking verb precedes a noun (â€Å"She remained home†) or an adjective (â€Å"He appeared tired†); an adverb may not follow a linking verb. In these sample sentences, home is an example of a predicate noun, and tired exemplifies predicate adjectives. A transitive verb sometimes, to distinguish it from two other types described below, called a one-place transitive precedes a noun (â€Å"We watched the movie†) or a noun phrase (â€Å"They talked in the dark†). In this case, the noun or noun phrase is called a direct object because it is the thing being acted on in the manner indicated by the verb. Two types of verbs are called two-place transitive verbs. The first, labeled the Vg type (the letters stand for verb and give), precedes two nouns or noun phrases (â€Å"I bought my wife a bouquet of flowers†) or a noun or noun phrase and a prepositional phrase (â€Å"I bought a bouquet of flowers for my wife†) in succession. The first word or phrase after the verb is an indirect object (a recipient) and the second is a direct object. The second type of two-place transitive verb, the Vc type (c is for consider), precedes a noun or noun phrase and another one (â€Å"I consider the chairman an arrogant person†), or an adjective (â€Å"I believe that the chairman is arrogant†) or an infinitive phrase (â€Å"I found the chairman to be arrogant†). The first word or phrase after the verb is a direct object, and the second is a complement, so called because it teams up with the direct object to complete the thought. A to-be verb is one that is a form of the phrase â€Å"to be,† such as is, were, or being. A to-be verb precedes a noun (â€Å"I am a fool†), an adjective (â€Å"I was foolish†), or an adverb of place, a class of adverb that describes where something occurs (â€Å"I am in the doghouse.†) These other parts of speech are sometimes referred to as predicate nouns, predicate adjectives, and predicate adverbs. As is the case with nouns, a sentence need not include a verb (for example, â€Å"Right† spoken or written as an affirmation), but not much can happen in communication without reference to an action, an occurrence, or a state. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Punctuating â€Å"So† at the Beginning of a Sentenceâ€Å"As Well As† Does Not Mean â€Å"And†Ulterior and Alterior

Solar Collector mirror Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Solar Collector mirror - Research Paper Example Conduction with copper heats the water passing through the pipe. Mirror is bent by heating it. Attempting to bend mirror at too low heating would cause it to break whereas too much heating makes mirror melt and disfigure rather than being bent. Before, heating, the mirror is polished and cleaned good enough to make any dust particle invisible to the naked eye. After the mirror is cleaned, it is painted with a mix of detergent, clay, and calcium carbonate to prevent it sticking with the steel bracket when it gets hot. Exciting the silica molecules can take up to three hours before the mirror starts to bend when placed over the bracket and heated (Dinh, 2011). After the mirror has been bent, it is allowed time to cool down in a process called annealing that usually takes up to two hours to complete. If the mirror is allowed to cool down too quickly, the internal stresses built up during heating may cause it to

Starbucks Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Starbucks - Case Study Example It still had to face criticism as people believed that it was not an actual size reduction but just a fad on the part of the company. Due to this they started producing the snickers mini and phased out the giant. The environmental aspects that have positively impacted the company include demography of the area of operation which is within cosmopolitan regions. This also has been amounted to by the technological advancements within these regions especially that their products are furnished brands to the existing products. Lastly, the cultural trends of the regions of operations have been characterized by fashionable products which basically triggered the entry of Snickers into the market space. Moreover, the success of starting the company was amounted to the level of education of the management; this accorded the management technical as well as managerial skills, having studied a bachelor’s degree in business management. By extension, prior experience in a sugar processing far m came in handy as regards the stages of production and general processing. In addition to this there was adequate savings to initiate the company as initial capital. Product Description and Segmentation The Starbuck Company produces products made up of Nougat, caramel and covered with chocolate. They have a range of products, the original snickers, the dark snickers, the almond snickers and the ice cream. The ice cream comes in three forms, a cone, a brownie and a bar. Current Market Target Starbucks Company has enjoyed a whopping 30% market share owing to its quick establishment as regards to the core products which long before never existed to satisfy the consumers’ needs, but if they did then were of poor quality. The main area addressed by Starbuck coming in handy as a cutting edge was their technological inclusion in the venture. This furnished the brand of the product. In addition to their quality products the government was quite impressed and considered funding the e xpansion in the production of this new brand of products. In addition to the aforementioned market share, Starbucks Company’s considerations come along with the knowledge of the customers of probable benefits accruing from the entry of the new product, their willingness and capability to pay higher prices for the new products, their likelihood to adopt the new brand based on their attitude and their criticisms about the product which they would wish to be addressed; especially the health concerns. Proposed Promotion Mix The current advertisement that Starbuck Company has been running is the â€Å"when you are hungry, you are not you†. It is this concept that has received recognition and they have made some really interesting advertisements that have earned them acclaim. This advertisement focuses on the fact that the company products give you energy and makes you young and energetic. Other than this the company has also used various promotion strategies like Push strat egy as well as the pull Strategy which has ensured the maximal exploration of all available channels of distributing the product to the market. In these methods of advertising the company has employed various stratagems like Product comparison advertising; whereby it has enjoyed the benefit of an outstanding product. Other equally competitive marketing

Argumentative Essay: Women Should Not Be Allowed To Go Topless In Publi

Argumentative Essay: Should Women Be Allowed To Go Topless in Public   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the summer of 1996 Gwen Jacobs enjoyed a topless summer stroll during which she was seen by a local O.P.P officer, was apprehended and subsequently charged with indecent exposure. Gwen Jacobs pleaded not guilty in court and won the right to go topless in Ontario. This incident brought up an excellent question: should women be allowed to go topless on public beaches and in other public areas? The answer is strictly no, women should not be allowed to go topless anywhere outside of their own home.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the many reasons why I believe that women should not be allowed to go topless is with respect to the safety of women. Men and boys have, in recent years, been using short, tight, skirts and shirts as an excuse for rape or date rape. Men have said that the girl was wearing a tight shirt and short skirt and it was obvious that she was easy and wanted the attention. This statement leads me to my next point. The average human being upon first contact with a stranger bases his initial impression of that person solely on the person's appearance. This is only natural as the only thing that we know about this stranger is what we see of them the first time we meet. We all are aware of the sayings "Preppy","Jockish","Skater","Sluty" etc. This final saying, â€Å"Sluty† is interpreted by 90 percent of North Americans as a tight skirt and tight tank top which happens to be the usual ensembl... Argumentative Essay: Women Should Not Be Allowed To Go Topless In Publi Argumentative Essay: Should Women Be Allowed To Go Topless in Public   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the summer of 1996 Gwen Jacobs enjoyed a topless summer stroll during which she was seen by a local O.P.P officer, was apprehended and subsequently charged with indecent exposure. Gwen Jacobs pleaded not guilty in court and won the right to go topless in Ontario. This incident brought up an excellent question: should women be allowed to go topless on public beaches and in other public areas? The answer is strictly no, women should not be allowed to go topless anywhere outside of their own home.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the many reasons why I believe that women should not be allowed to go topless is with respect to the safety of women. Men and boys have, in recent years, been using short, tight, skirts and shirts as an excuse for rape or date rape. Men have said that the girl was wearing a tight shirt and short skirt and it was obvious that she was easy and wanted the attention. This statement leads me to my next point. The average human being upon first contact with a stranger bases his initial impression of that person solely on the person's appearance. This is only natural as the only thing that we know about this stranger is what we see of them the first time we meet. We all are aware of the sayings "Preppy","Jockish","Skater","Sluty" etc. This final saying, â€Å"Sluty† is interpreted by 90 percent of North Americans as a tight skirt and tight tank top which happens to be the usual ensembl...

Hard Times as a Moral Fable Essay

The creative part is the fairy tale which often involves animals rather than humans. It speaks to our hearts as it entertains us; the ending is the logical, moral conclusion that satisfies our logical brains and seems â€Å"right†. The problem with all moral fables is that there are often 2 sides to the same story †¦ things are rarely so black and white in reality †¦ so there could be more than one ending †¦ e. g. here are times when speed is necessary over steadiness – of course, there also has to be good judgement. Although it is not appropriate to describe a work of art, which Hard Times undoubtedly is, as a moral fable or a morality play, yet the fact remains that there is a strong moral intention behind this novel. Hard Times is a satirical attack on some of the evils and vices of Victorian society. Satire has always corrective purpose and is therefore basically moral in its approach to the subjects it deals with. Apart from that, there are passages of direct moralising in this novel. Hard Times is a novel which from the moment of its publication aroused very different sentiments in the reading public. Dickens’s reasons for writing Hard Times were mostly monetary. Sales of his weekly periodical, Household Words, were low, and he hoped the inclusion of this novel in instalments would increase sales. Since publication it has received a mixed response from a diverse range of critics, such as F. R.  Leavis, George Bernard Shaw, and Thomas Macaulay, mainly focusing on Dickens’s treatment of trade unions and his post-Industrial Revolution pessimism regarding the divide between Capitalist mill owners and undervalued workers during the Victorian era The novel was written as a weekly serial story to run through five months of his magazine, Household Words, during 1854. Sales were highly responsive and encouraging for Dickens who remarked that he was â€Å"Three parts mad, and the fourt h delirious, with perpetual rushing at Hard Times†. Dickens had to force his story to fit the exigencies of a Procrustean bed and, in doing so, sacrificed the abundance of life characteristic of his genius. That, at any rate, was the general view of Hard Times until in 1948 F. R. Leavis, in his book The Great Tradition, suggested that it was a ‘moral fable,’ the hallmark of a moral fable being that ‘the intention is peculiarly insistent, so that the representative significance of everything in the fable – character, episode, and so on – is immediately apparent as we read. By seeing it as a moral fable, Dr. Leavis produced a brilliant rereading of Hard Times that has changed almost every critic’s approach to the novel. Yet a difficulty still remains: the nature of the target of Dickens’ satire. Both Gradgrind and Bounderby are emblematic, to the point of caricature, of representative early-nineteenth-century attitudes. Dickens tells us that Gradgrind has ‘an unbending, utilitarian, matter-of-fact face’; and the novel has been taken as an attack on the philosophical doctrine known as utilitarianism, the doctrine that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the guiding principle of conduct But utilitarianism can also mean the doctrine that utility must be the standard of what is good for man. Perhaps the two meanings come together in the famous Victorian phrase, ‘enlightened self-interest,’ the meaning of which will turn entirely upon the definition of ‘enlightened. Utilitarianism in the philosophical sense, as taught by the noble-minded John Stuart Mill, has had a profound and abiding influence on Western life and thought, and Dickens was certainly not competent to criticise it as a philosophical system. But if he was no philosopher, nor even a trained mind, he was something as valuable: ‘an astonishing diagnostician of life,’ as D. H. Lawrence has been called. ‘His sensitive nose could smell death a mile away. ‘ And it is precisely those elements of nineteenth-century economic thinking that denied life which he is attacking in Hard Times. He is, in other words, continuing his attack on what may be called the statistical conception of man, on human relations evaluated in terms of arithmetic, on what Thomas Carlyle called the ‘cash nexus’ that he had launched at the beginning of his career in Oliver Twist. There he had traced its consequences in official attitudes towards poverty and in the working of the New Poor Law In order to give a concrete shape to his moral purpose, dickens in this novel uses the characters here as symbols. Almost every character in this novel is an embodiment of a certain idea or concept or principle, good or bad. In fact, there are two groups of symbolic characters: one group symbolizing certain objectionable features of Victorian life, and the other group symbolizing certain moral qualities, of which we heartily approve. These two groups of characters, symbolizing opposite principle, are confronted with each other and it is this confrontation that constitutes the focus of interest in the novel. The characters here are therefore like the ‘dramatis personae’ in a morality play; there is an allegorical intention behind the character-portrayal. However, this novel is different from a moral fable or morality play in one striking respect. While the characters in amoral fable or a morality play are purely embodiments of certain qualities, good or bad; in this novel the characters, in addition to their function as symbols of certain good or bad qualities, are also individuals in their own right. Each character here is made to live as a separate individual, sharply distinguished from the other; yet their symbolic roles cannot be questioned. Coketown itself is treated as a symbol in the novel. This industrial town represents the industrial ugliness, industrial callousness, the mechanical and monotonous life which the workmen or the â€Å"hands† are compelled to lead under a system governed by utilitarianism and laissez faire. All the passages which describe this town or its people are written in an ironical vein and have an obvious moral purpose. In the main, however, the best writing in Hard Times is a result of this tour-guide mentality, as his wonder, horror and awe lead to vivid evocations of the landscape. Many critics have made the link between Coketown and a kind of Dantesque Inferno, and his vision of industrial society is â€Å"full of horror, but possessing also a weird beauty†. The key to the weird beauty latent in the horror are the ‘melancholy mad elephants’ of machinery – Dickens was as fascinated by industry as he was repulsed by it. The industrial artefacts of Coketown are endowed with all the life drained from its inhabitants, the dehumanised ‘hands’. Like Marx, Dickens could see an â€Å"inverted world characterised by the personification of things† and as a result the inanimate objects of Coketown abound with vitality, while the people within it are cogs in a machine, â€Å"people equally like one another, who all went in and out at the same hours, with the same sound upon the same pavements, to do the same work, and to whom everyday was the same as yesterday and tomorrow, and every year the counterpart of the last and the next† . Treating the factory as a living thing leads to mental links being forged between the ever coiling â€Å"interminable serpents of smoke† and the smokescreens that people use to hide themselves from the world, or indeed the world from them, most notably Gradgrinds inability to see past his system, and Bounderby’s deliberate hiding of his past. There are also links made between the fire in the â€Å"fairy palaces† and the fire of human passion, and aptly it is the mechanical Louisa who notices this, most likely fascinated at how a non-living thing has more life than she does – â€Å"There seems to be nothing but languid and monotonous smoke. Yet when the night comes, Fire bursts out, father! † [I, xv]. Not only is this reversal of death and life hellish, but these descriptions of zombie workers in a living factory are written in a prophetic style which almost invites one to place an ‘Abandon hope all ye who enter here! sign on the factory gates. All of the images of smoke, ashes, and fire â€Å"suggest that death is ever-present in the hell of Coketown†, as does the reference to the black ladder so often in use in the working class quarters [I, x]. Michael Wheeler points to the significance of Biblical imagery in the text, stating that the New Testament is the â€Å"yardstick by its modern usurpers are measured and found wanting†, and that this is the ultimate condemnation that Dickens can heap upon it. However, I cannot help but feel that passages proclaiming that â€Å"all those subtle essences of humanity which will elude the utmost cunning of algebra until the last trumpet ever to be sounded will blow even algebra to wreck† , while suggesting that Gradgrindery and the interlocking forces of industry are to be judged and condemned, they also make it clear that they will be left well enough alone until the Judgement Day. Coketown is painted as a hell on earth, consuming the lifeblood of its inhabitants, and the fact that it itself will be destroyed in the end is of monumental insignificance for the countless generations who will have to toil there until then. On the other hand The Circus is represented as a symbol of â€Å"Humanity† as Well as Art. The circus is very important as a sybol in the scheme of this moral fable. The circus people symbolize not only art but also humanity: they are embodiments of those simple virtues of sympathy and helpfulness to others for which gradgrind’s philosophy has no use and Bounderby’s hardened heart, no room. There is a remarkable gentleness about these people, a special inaptitude for any kind of sharp practice, and an untiring readiness to help and pity one another. The moral of this novel as a whole is put by dickens in the mouth of Mr. Sleary of the circus. After giving an account of the death of siss’s father to gradgrind, Mr. Sleary comes to the conclusion that there is a kind of love in the world which is not self-interest afterall, but something very different, and that this love has a way of its own of calculating or not calculating. This is the supreme message which the novel has for us. In these few words we find a condemnation of all that Gradgrind, Bounderby, and Mrs. Sparsit symbolize, and an acceptance and approval of what Stephen and Rachel, Sissy, and Mr. Sleary himself, symbolize. There are, thus, strong grounds for calling this novel a Moral fable or a morality play with the characters functioning partly as individuals but chiefly as symbols. Finally, there are passages of direct moralizing which lend to the novel the character of a novel fable or morality play. At one point, for instance, dickens warns the â€Å"commissioners of fact† and the utilitarian economists that if they do not attend to the instincts and emotions of the poor people, reality will take a wolfish turn and make an end of everything. At another point Dickens offers an ironic commentary, with an obvious moral, upon the effects of Gradgrind’s system of education on Bitzer’s outlook. And then, of course, there is a plain and straightforward maoralizing in the final chapter when the author comments upon the ultimate fate of each of the characters.

Analysis Of Walt Disney s Public Limited Company

Walt Disney Public Limited Company 4.5 Detailed explanation of ratios and detail analysis of the company Liquidity ratio is consists of current and acid ratio. It is used to assess firm’s ability to its short-term debts. It does not count about profit but working capital, which is important to ability of paying its short-term debt of the business. Current Ratio analysis Current Ratio is used by business to compare its current liability with current assets. Preferable current ratio is advised to be in between 1.5 to 2. Current ratio over 2 is considered to be dangerous to business as there might be stocks are stored, which can be used in other opportunity such as: selling it. Low current ratio boost business to have better cash flow management , which leads to cancellation of spending plan, avoiding long-term liabilities. In terms of the Walt Disney PLC, it was estimated that there is constant increase in current ratio from 1.16 in 2011 to 1.35 in 2013. This is good sign that Walt Disney PLC has just in the middle of the just below the 1.5, which means Walt Disney is able to pay its short term debt without running out of cash inflows. Quick Ratio or Acid ratio analysis This ratio is used to assess liquidity of the company by stocks that will be sold in the short period time. Result below 1 shows that business is facing problem with paying its short term debt. In case of Walt Disney PLC, the quick ration is also increasing from 1.02 in 2011 to 1.22 in 2013, this tellsShow MoreRelatedWalt Disney s Merger With Capital Cities1620 Words   |  7 Pagesanywhere these days without seeing an advertisment, or something relating to The Walt Disney Company (Disney). Perhaps you are seeing this advertised using a cable network like ABC or ESPN, or possibly on one of the newspaper companies that used to belong to Capital Cities/ ABC Inc. (ABC). In 1995, it was time for Disney to improve on their media outlook. 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