Monday, January 27, 2020

The Power And The Glory Analysis

The Power And The Glory Analysis Even though the world is filled with impoverished as well as disease struck places, Mother Theresa tries to make a difference. While living a basic life in India, she fights to help the poor, cure the sick, and disregarding her owe health for others. Some might say that she is going to be a saint and others might say she is already one. Her unselfish actions have made her a symbol of love and total devotion to the people. A saint is considered to be a man or woman chosen by God to lead and one almost free of human weaknesses. The priest in The Power and the Glory can definitely not be classified as a saint and he is the total opposite of Mother Theresa. Since the whiskey priest is the best representation of human weakness, thus he can be called a sinner. The novel is clearly trying to alienate the readers by indicating to readers the wrongs of the human beings and exposing the wrong doings to readers. By revealing those acts, the readers are not inspired by their own human weaknesses and thus are repulsed by them. Through the use of the actions by the whiskey priest, Graham Greenes book, The Power and the Glory has failed to draw readers to God and instead has distanced readers from God. In their communities, priests are considered to be a role model or an example of what a Christian should be. They are representations of Jesus Christ in the world to teach the Word of God to others. In the novel, Chiapas, Mexico is under an anti-religion removal and it reasonable that priest is scared to do his duties as a priest. The whiskey priest must cheat, steal, as well as lie to survive and avoid being caught by the authority. He would get money for the people he baptized and two pesos is the usual charge (167). Even though the woman said that her family was poor, the priest still insisted on getting some money. The priest can be defined as an ordinary crook who steals from families who can barely put food on their own tables. The money that he gets from the baptisms is for his brandy. He wants three bottles. For eleven pesos (170). As a priest who is called to serve the people, he only serves himself. When the old man asked the priest, the priest replies, Cant you let me slee p for five minutes?(44).The whiskey priest does not want to hear the confessions, but it is his duty. That duty is not for himself but for God and His followers. After the old mans confession, the priest begins to weep for himself, because he now has to hear the confessions of the villagers instead of getting his sleep. He cries in sympathy for himself, not for the villagers sins. These examples outline the priests selfishness and are contrary to what Jesus has taught his people. The duties and services of a religious man are not only for the people but for creatures, humans and animals alike. When the priest returns to the land owned by Captain Fellows, the protagonist finds the house abandoned and the injured dog. He thinks to himself, her (the dog) life has no importance beside that of a human being (144). The priest does not care about the dogs life and only cares about his own. The priest thinks that a mans need was greater than a dogs (145). His mercy and concern for the dog is slim to none. He is only worried about himself and his hunger and not of the dogs hunger. God created man to care for the animals but the priest completely ignores it. The whiskey priest also commits one of the worst sins: fornication and on top of that he is a priest. He created a child than he cannot care for. When he saw her, the priest thought that it was making light of his mortal sin (65), meaning that he wishes that his sin was not so bad. It is and never will change. This sin makes the priest less than that of the betrayal of the half-caste. The whiskey priest knew that he was in the presence of Our Lords betrayer (91), another Judas so to speak. The mestizo betrays the whiskey priest for money, just like Judas did to Jesus, and the priest betrays God for lust and fornication. These examples summarize the priests inability to control his own self. He does not have to self-discipline to stop his lust and to think of others before himself. The whiskey priest gives in to the knowledge that God forgives people right before the person dies. If you are truly sorry for what you did in this world, then God will forgive you. The whiskey priest knows about this and thus in the prison, the priest prays to God and asks for forgiveness. He is a priest for the wrong reasons and also forgets that it was pride that made Lucifer fall. When he realizes that he is going to die the next day, he starts to repent saying, I have committed fornication (207). Even though he says this, it has no meaning because he does not really repent for doing it. It was like a sentence in a newspaper: you couldnt feel repentance over a thing like that (207). His repentance was not true and he kept drinking brandy, making him drunk while he was trying to repent. In the morning before he gets shot, he realizes that if he had used a little self-restraint and a little courage (210), then maybe he would not be the person he is today. He would then know what it felt like to be a saint (210). It was the use desperation that led the priest to pray that night and it was the use of pride that made him believe that he can be saved by repenting. The whiskey priest is human and has weaknesses just like ordinary people. He has forgotten what it means to be a priest and has disgraced the vocation. The whiskey priest best exemplifies the weaknesses of man and can only be saved by God. To the villagers in the novel, the whiskey priest could be called a martyr. The priest refuses to renounce his faith, unlike Padre Jose who married after hearing about the purge, and living the life of a fugitive, performing confessions and masses when his services are wanted. However, the villagers only see the tip of the iceberg so to speak. They do not see what the whiskey priests true intentions are. As the readers, they can sense the true reality of things. The people think that the priest cares for the people and that the priest is risking his own life for what he believes in. But in actuality, the priest is selfish and only cares for himself. Graham Greene exposes the true actions of the priest to the readers and thus telling them what our human weaknesses are. The human weaknesses are selfishness, lust, and only turning to God in desperate times. Greene is telling readers what we cannot control and this makes the readers distance from God because we do not have power to stop it. Graham Greene has failed to draw readers closer to Gods holiness and actually made people separate themselves from God. This book has failed to inspire people to know more about the faith because of what the priest did so that he can obtain forgiveness for God. Greene as sent the wrong message to the readers about Gods mercy and love. Hsu 5 Work Cited Greene, Graham. The Power and the Glory. New York: Penguin Classics/Penguin Group, 1940. Print. Book.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Adoption of HRM Essay

The Strategic Choice model created by Kochan, Katz and Mckersie originated from economics and organisational behaviour is closely associated with human resource management, while the Labour Process approach evolved from Marx’s theoretical works has traits that is closely associated with personnel / industrial relations. From two diverse perspectives, the two models both have indications that they support an adoption for human resource management, provided that personnel / industrial relations is seen as apart of and giving rise to human resource management. Kochan, Katz and McKersie developed their theory of the Strategic Choice model from previous works of Dunlop’s System Theory. The two models had strong emphasis on employment relations being strongly influenced by environmental forces which include: economic forces; technology advancement; political forces; legal and social forces; management’s values, beliefs and philosophies; the outcomes of previous organisational decisions; the distribution of power and structure within the organisation i.e. central or decentralised hierarchy; and the unions’ and government agencies’ values and strategies in creating policies and legislations. Level Employers Unions Governments Long-Term Business Strategies Political Strategies Macroeconomic Strategy and Investment Strategies Representation strategies and social policies Policy Making Organising strategies Collective Personnel policies Collective Bargaining Labour law and Bargaining Negotiation Strategies Strategies administration and Personnel policy Workplace and Worker Participation Contract administration Labour standards Individual/ Job design and Work Worker Participation Worker participation organization Organization Job design and worker Individual rights relationships. participation. (Kochan, Katz and McKersie, 1986, p 17.) The majority of environmental forces influencing employment relations can be explained by three groups: employers, unions and the government which in essence is the three actors from Dunlop’s System Model. In relation to KKM’s Strategic Choice, the three tier model explains why and how the three actors interact and hence explaining the environmental forces. There are three levels of decision making: macro, industrial relations system and the workplace. In the perspective of employers, the top level is where the creation of business strategies and goals for it to be competitive are developed to maximise the value of the organisation. This is usually achieved by satisfying the demands of the environmental forces or eliminating any problems reducing their chances of achieving their goals. The middle level is a representation of the industrial relations where policies and negotiations between all three actors occur. As for the bottom, the policies created in the middle level are implemented upon employees and other parties included in the policies. Thus through this model, it demonstrates that decisions made at the top level will inevitably affect those at the bottom level i.e. policies made at the top level will have some sort of representation in lower level policies. The notion of strategic choice is based on the assumption that the three actors have alternatives and options in the decisions chosen that will inevitably impact on the employment relations and the direction that these will take. Not only does the organisation can make decisions that would affect itself, but also the choices and decisions made on the part of labour, management, and government affect the course and structure of industrial relations systems. Legislations made by the government can restrict or either enhances an organisation’s ability to be competitive, and an example of this is tariffs imposed in countries to protect the internal markets from overseas markets. The Labour Process approach was first theorised by Karl Marx. The theory was not a static, universal theory but a historical theory that was revised in the light of historical change. Such scholars as: Harry Braverman, Stephen Marglin, Stanley Aronowitz, Andre Gorz and Katherine Stone have all created their own theories encompassing Marx’s theory during their times, and hence the many different interpretations of the Labour Process (Gartman 1978, p. 1). In general the core notion of Labour Process is concerned in converting potential into actual labour. An example of this is how to organise and structure employees such that the organisation can make full use of their skills. Though this sounds simple in theory, there is an organisational dilemma in how to reconcile the potential inconsistency between individual needs and interests of different organisational stakeholders on the one hand, and the collective purpose of the organisation on the other. Increase control by the employer over the employees seems to be one solution to the inconsistency of interests and needs. The workplace thus becomes a competition between employees individually and collectively seeking to protect and expand their own interests and needs, but also at the same time trying to resist management’s attempts to control. These activities are closely aligned with actions of industrial relations: conflict of interests that would result in tension and conflict between parties. This approach of increase control was supported by Taylorist approach. Braverman added his thoughts that another form of reconciling the differences was to: de-skill the employees to minimise time lost on context switching; simplify the structure of labour divisions; lower labour cost since the occupation becomes less sophisticated hence maximising output. (Gartman 1978, p. 5) In essence the labour process sees conflict as a fundamental and central dynamic in organisational life that can be used to explain the actual i.e. observed instances of workplace conflict, control, and profit distribution. This can be seen by large organisations performing â€Å"restructuring† of itself in terms of labour management to reduce cost of production (banking sector and motoring industry). Prevention of conflict is not considered in a labour process approach, hence ruling out the requirement of employers to nurture the moral and ethics of employees. Guidelines and procedures are strictly followed, which these features are clear characteristics of industrial relations approach. â€Å"In recent years the distinctions between industrial relations and human resource management have blurred, as the resolution of industrial conflicts has been decentralised and as national policy increased its interests in issues like training and labour productivity, once left to workplace management.† (Gardner & Palmer 1997, p. 7) Human resource management is a managerial perspective, with an aim to establish an integrated series of personnel policies consistent with organisation strategy, thus ensuring the quality of working life, high commitment and performance from employees, and organisational effectiveness and competitive advantage: the management of organisational goals and labour. Thus meaning that industrial relations is another component of human resource management, which allows the comparison and contrasting of Kochan, Katz and McKersie’s Strategic Choice approach, Marxist Labour Process approach to be made possible. One major common approach that there is between the two models is that there is some form of upward movement in opinions and interests by the employees. In the case of strategic choice approach collective bargaining is utilised whereas unions is made use of for the labour process approach to express employees’ interests and needs. As for industrial relations, negotiation is its prized management skill between employer and employee. Both human resource management and the strategic choice approach create their policies based on the interests of the organisation and employees with a slightly more emphasis upon the organisation goals. From the three tier model, policies are made at the top level in the interests of the organisation just as human resource management places the organisation’s ‘customer’ first (Fells 1989, p. 486). Labour process approach is primarily focused upon conflicts and has a less of an emphasis upon organisational strategies. As previously stated the labour process is closely associated with industrial relations, which can also be seen in the middle level in the three tier model in terms of strategic choice approach. For human resource management, industrial relations is melded into its strategies in the form of pre-emptive actions upon conflicts i.e. the managerial task is seen as a nurturing employees’ moral and ethics. Labour process approach can also be viewed as hard human resource management as the employees are seen as any other resources of production by controlling and managing them, while cultivation of employees’ moral and needs is neglected. Soft human resource management is represented by the strategic choice approach as employees are seen as ‘human’ resources that are valuable to the organisation to make full use of. Policies made in the middle level of the three tier model are in consideration of both in the best interests of employees and the organisation itself. Human resource management in recent times has become more strategic; it increasingly scraps developmental aspects and places more focus upon financial aspects. De-skilling of employees has been more emphasised upon more than the structure and organisation of labour, which is quite on the contrary upon the goals of labour process approach where de-skilling of an occupational positions. De-skilling has the effect of either removing or lowering the skill level required from those performing the job and in some cases it will also reduce the price of labour. In conclusion, Kochan, Katz and McKersie’s Strategic Choice approach and the Labour Process approach provide explanations for the adoption of Human Resource Management, since it is more contingent management strategy than Personnel / Industrial relations. Evidence of this is clearly seen in today’s evolving workplace where large organisations include human resource management in its decision making and is no longer neglected as a lower priority department. In addition, both models: strategic choice approach and labour process, have had many radical perspectives added to the theory in the past until recently very little change has been made meaning the end to the two models and the rise of human resource management. As human resource develops, initiatives come and go whereas the focus of financial mechanisms increase and become more sophisticated. References: Bratton J. and Gould J. 1988, Human Resource Management – Theory and Practice Braverman, H. 1974, Labor and monopoly capital: the degradation of work in the twentieth century Clark, I ‘The Budgetary and Financial Basis of HRM in the Large Corporation’, Internet Source: http://panoptic.csustan.edu/cpa99/html/clark.html Fells, R. 1989, The employment relationship, control and strategic choice in the study of industrial relations Gardner, M. & Palmer, G. 1997, Employment Relations: Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management in Australia Gartman. D. 1978, Marx and the Labour Process: An Interpretation Huczynski, A. & Buchanan, D. Organizational Behaviour: An Introductory Text Kitay, J. 1997 The Labour Process: Still Stuck? Still a Perspective? Still Useful? Kochan, T., Katz H. & McKersie J. 1986, The Transformation of American Industrial Relations

Friday, January 10, 2020

Mermaids Existence

How would you react to a statement like that? What is a mermaid? Mermaids are legendary aquatic creature with the upper body ofa female human and the tail ofa fish. Mermaids have dated back over hundreds of thousands of years ago. There have been alleged sightings all over the world. People have claimed to see half human and half fish creatures. Are mermaids a myth or a fact? Scientist think mermaids were creatures who developed from our ancestors, who evolved to the sea habitat.Scientist think mermaids have been around for millions of ears, because of old paintings; drawings of them in books, and fossils they have found connect to the mermaids' existence. Fishermen have found spears in fish while fishing in the center of the ocean. Scientist have also discovered drawings of sculls, shaped like a humans', and webbed hands with finger tips at the end. These discoveries have caused people to believe in the existence of mermaids. Scientists think mermaids evolved from the first humans o n earth, so that they may swim. Dr. Paul Robertson thinks mermaids evolved to the sea so they could get food.Dr. Robertson claims mermaids were creatures who hid to keep from being aten by the Megladon, an enormous prehistoric shark that fed on whales. According to â€Å"Mermaids: A Body Found,† mermaids traveled in groups to protect themselves. Based on their assumptions, mermaids later learned how to protect and defend themselves. They swam the ocean freely with dolphins. Mermaid experts say that the majority of mermaids may be in the warmer waters of the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, but that many have been spotted in the Pacific Ocean and Southern Atlantic.Scientist are still collecting more and more evidence every day to find out if mermaids are a myth or a fact. People have claim that they have evidence of mermaid's existence. In most recent events, there was a mermaid sighting in Kiryat Yam, Israel in May 2013. Shlomo Cohen and his friends was walking along the shor e when they saw a creature they thought was a seal or a lady sun bathing lying on a rock. They were discussing what it could be, while trying to find out where the zoom was on the camera they were recording with. They eventually zoom in and the creature turns around.The creature had human and fish like characteristics. The mysterious animal had hair and arms and a tail. When it notices that it has been spotted, it quickly rushes to the ocean and dives. Kiryat Yam is the only place in the world where a $1 million reward is up for grabs for the first person who can provide conclusive footage capturing a real mermaid. The local government has offered this reward in response to the numerous mermaid sightings there. The existence of mermaids are more believable now with the evidence Shlomo Cohen provided.There nave also been accusations that the government confirms mermaids exist. It is claimed that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed hat mermaids exist a nd they are increasing in numbers. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a federal agency focused on the condition of the oceans and the atmosphere. According to Weekly World News, allegedly that recently the U. S. government has captured 7 mermaids and that they are being kept at an undisclosed aquarium, where they are being studied.President Obama has personally met the mermaids and was quite impressed according to reports. If mermaids did exist on earth, how would they be treated? According to â€Å"Mermaids: A Body Found† mermaids might have been ran into hiding by humans. Could humans have done this long ago? In most sightings, mermaids rush off when they have noticed that they have been spotted. It is very rare to spot a creature of this nature. Could humans coexist with this unique species? Humans would probably hunt down these fascinating, aquatic creatures and sell them to the highest bidder.They might even put them in a tank to show them off as muse um art. Hopefully the existence of mermaids This year, on March 6, 2013, marine geologist, Dr. Torsten Schmidt, released extraordinary footage of what he believes to be a mermaid that he captured on amera during one of his deep sea explorations. Contracted by the Iceland GeoSurvey, Dr. Schmidt and his Danish team worked on â€Å"seismic mapping and sampling of the ocean floor† to locate promising sites for oil and natural gas reserves. At nearly three thousand feet below the ocean's surface, Dr.Schmidt reported not only seeing some interesting phenomenon, but also hearing some remarkable things. After reporting to the Iceland GeoSurvey about the strange sounds he heard when he was scanning the ocean floor, he requested to undertake an investigation, which was declined. â€Å"We were reminded of our confidentiality agreements. And we were told we could not share our recording with anyone else,† Dr. Schmidt told Journalist Jon Frankel on Animal Planet's documentary, â₠¬Å"Mermaids: The New Evidence. † Dr.Schmidt ended up conducting his own investigation where he â€Å"took down two cameras on every dive, Just in case we see them. † Commenting on his footage, Dr. Schmidt said Jon Frankel, â€Å"well I looked at it, and knew I was looking into the face of another intelligent species, like us. † According to the video, â€Å"Mermaids: The New Evidence,† Dr. Torsten Schmidt and his Danish team saw something they thought was a mermaid. While submerge deep nder the sea the crew had been looking for a mermaid. A creature swam by touching the window of the small submarine, while also shaking the submarine.While slowing down the video, you saw that hand did in fact touch the submarines window. The hand had resemblance toa human hand, but had webbing in between the fingers. Also, the skull had a top layer differentiating from a humans. This video had been covered up for years, but was leaked to the media. Could this have been a me rmaid? Based on the evidence of the videos, and interviews IVe watched. The sightings of these mermaids look very factual. Scientist are collecting more and more evidence every day to the existence of mermaids.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Police Brutality Minorities Under Attack - 944 Words

Police Brutality: Minorities under attack On April 19, 2015 at approximately 7 a.m., Freddie Grey, a 25-year-old black man from Baltimore, Maryland died by mysterious causes. After being chased down and thrown into a police van by police officers, he was taken out of the van unresponsive and soon, â€Å"...lapsed into a coma, died, was resuscitated, stayed in a coma and on Monday, underwent extensive surgery at Shock Trauma to save his life (Ford, 2015). Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Eric Garner are other minority males that have become symbols of a raging national conversation about police brutality and racial injustice. These events have caused community’s civil rights protests to unite under themes such as; Black Lives Matter, Hands Up Don t Shoot, No Justice No Peace, and â€Å"I Can’t Breathe.† Police brutality driven by racial profiling is evident in lower income and minority areas. This is apparent because of lack of minority police officers, racial pro filing in all ages, and the fear of the people in the community to step up to authority in the face of adversity. The topic of police brutality is very popular in the media today. According to CNN’s Eliott C. McLaughlin, â€Å"It feels like every week, a name is added to the list: another man, often black and unarmed, has died at the hands of police.† The Huffington Post even has a whole section of its website dedicated to police brutality. It includes a listing of all the recent events of police brutality, violenceShow MoreRelatedPolice Brutality : A Social Problem1548 Words   |  7 PagesPolice brutality is a social problem faced in many communities around the world. Focusing on North America, the problems and central focuses on police brutality stem from racism and the excessive abuse of power. 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