Creating Compelling Characters

Creating Compelling Characters Creating Compelling Characters Creating Compelling Characters By Guest Author This is a guest post by Ali Hale. If you want to write for Daily Writing Tips check the guidelines here. The success of a story rests on its characters. We remember truly compelling, vivid characters long after weve finished reading a novel or watching a movie: Im sure you can recall characters from books you read in childhood. Great characters can compensate for a weak plot or a so-so writing style – but if readers dont care about your characters, theyll put your story down. That clever plot twist or beautiful passage of writing might hook them briefly, but without characters that leap off the page, readers wont stay engaged. If you need more evidence that characters are crucially important, search Google for fan fiction. Many, many books, TV series and movies have spawned a huge amount of creative writing by fans – and this writing is all about the characters. The plots and sometimes even the settings are different from those in the original, but the characters remain the same. Simply knowing how important characters are doesnt help you much, though. You need to figure out how to create truly compelling characters who readers care about, laugh about, even cry about. Heres how: What Does Your Character Need? All compelling characters have a strong need, longing or desire. They should have a problem to overcome. They may not recognise this need (and indeed, many stories are about person coming to understand themselves better – for example, learning that they need companionship). I picked up a great tip on figuring out what characters need from Holly Lisles Create a Character Clinic. Use Maslows hierarchy of needs. Pick a level on the pyramid (you can find all you need to know on Wikipedias page) and then figure out what your character is seeking. At the most basic, physical level, your character might be in a survival situation and need food and water. Going up a level, you might have a character whose security is threatened: perhaps shes lost her job, or hes facing a health crisis. Quirks Dont Equal Character Many beginning writers make the mistake of thinking that giving a character a set of mannerisms or physical quirks is characterisation. It can be amusing and diverting, certainly. Sure, you can give your character a habit of whistling a particular tune, or jangling his keys, or peering over her glasses. But these alone dont make your characters compelling. When your characters do have unusual quirks, these need to be relevant to their back story – the things which happened to them before they appeared in your book. (Compelling characters need to be like icebergs: the reader has to have the sense that theres a lot more under the surface: characters shouldnt feel like they didnt exist before page one.) For example, Harry Potters scar is an important feature because it relates to his history and to the broader plot of the stories. Giving your character a mysterious scar which has no relevance to your story, however, isnt a shortcut to becoming as popular as J.K. Rowling In general, focus on who your character is rather than what they look like. Draw From Life – But Not Too Much So where do powerful, vivid characters come from? Often, the best place to start is yourself. What do you dream about, fear, desire? What secrets do you have? What are you most ashamed of – and most proud of? If youre trying to convey a characters internal thoughts, then you must be willing to draw on your only source of direct experience: the inside of your own mind. Dont go too far in drawing on real life, though. Beginning writers sometimes make the mistake of writing a version of themselves into their stories – often a perfect, flawless character who theyd quite like to be! While this might be emotionally satisfying to the writer, its either very irritating or very boring for readers. Some other tips when drawing on your life are: Were all complex people who may, at times, behave in contradictory ways. Dont make your characters too one-dimensional Most of us have quiet, even boring, lives. Your characters need to do more exciting things in order to engage the reader. Dont worry about describing your characters physically. Mention anything thats important (eg. a characters physical size may have a bearing on the plot and on their self-confidence) but dont burden the reader with details. Watch people when youre out and about, and make up stories about them. Let the Reader Empathise Your reader doesnt necessarily have to like your characters, but they should be able to feel a sense of empathy for them. Even your villains shouldnt be purely evil: there needs to be some explanation for why theyre such awful people – this often forms part of their back story. On the flip side, your heroes shouldnt be too perfect. We like to read about people with flaws, doubts and struggles – because when we read, were imagining ourselves in their place. Characters are compelling when we can share their struggles and cheer on their victories. Some quick ways to build empathy are: Show a character suffering (either mentally or physically) Include a brief flashback to an unhappy childhood or traumatic incident Write about your characters thoughts – especially if their actions might be hard for us to understand or treat sympathetically Use the first-person or third-person limited (deep) point of view Show a character being misunderstood by others Frustrate a characters attempts to meet their need Finally, have fun with creating your characters! If you find yourself writing about a character who bores you, then rewrite them – or recast them as a new character entirely. When you write characters that are truly compelling to you, theyll be compelling to the reader. Ali Hale is a writer whose posts getting more from life at Aliventures have been called so true, exactly what I need and exactly at the right time for me (click to grab the RSS feed here). When shes not blogging, shes working on her novel and other projects, including an MA in Creative Writing. 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 Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:30 Synonyms for â€Å"Meeting†The Possessive Apostrophe5 Examples of Misplaced Modifiers

A Twelve Step Program for Writing More and Interneting Less - Freewrite Store

A Twelve Step Program for Writing More and Interneting Less - Freewrite Store Edited: 5/10/2017    They’re coming at you, pressing against your nerves, your sanity, the very bedrock of your existence. Like Huns, Barbarians, or worse,   door-to-door Bible thumpers. Battering down your defenses, kidnapping your kiddies and pillaging your lovely wife. Bang, bang, bang rampaging your gates. You look out, and there they are: your phone notifications.   A chirp, a bing, a whap, foghorn, an â€Å"ahuga† †¦ your cellphone is doing its high school drama class interpretation of the legendary Mexican jumping bean. The sucker is practically dancing the Macarena on your desk. â€Å"Dear lord,† you plead with one of your pagan deities, â€Å"please, not today. Not today! I have work to do†¦ Anything but that†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But, still, like that proverbial dog of Pavlovian fame, you sway forward. The siren call of a notification plucks you off the ground by the hair on your chinny-chin-chin. Lifted up, feet skimming soil, the look of a dullard clouding your ADD-sensory overloaded noggin’. Up against your flimsy rampart you go, not wanting to see; down that road lies doom and gloom. Still, your eyes, those traitorous knaves, work of their own accord. Just a peek, you tell yourself. One little, tiny, almost insignificant blink, then back to work. What harm will it do? â€Å"What?!† Your eyes turn into giant fried eggs. A flimsy white bikini, a drop-dead body and an arm, not your own, sliding across a tight belly. â€Å"She didn’t look like that with me! And who’s that?†   Your day is hijacked by visions of your ex’s Cancun getaway. Tomorrow, perhaps, a stroll down Gordon Ramsay’s YouTube Channel. The day after, a fact-finding expedition on Hollywood’s fabled divorces. On Friday, a particular Troll calls you out. And so on and so on. Work piles up, doing bivouac constructions all over your office. Well, it’s time to snap out of it! Plain and simple. There’s being laidback, then there’s LAIDBACK. If your cat - who, like all felines, looks permanently stoned - comes over and yells: â€Å"Get up, you deadbeat! Do something!† Then, by all means, you have crossed the line. Time to exorcise those digital demons. Time to go all Chuck Norris on that Pokà ©mon Go free-for-all that has suddenly become the notorious Pikachu on your back. Away into the night Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat and all your cousins. Tisk, tisk, tisk, on that deranged Candy-Crush obsession going all Linda Blair-like on your productivity; green vomit everywhere, head doing the twist and jive, scandalous accusations of your Mother’s Hollywood-Hill like exploits in Hell. It’s time, my friend, to get your s%@t together. The Twelve Steps Step One: Admit you are powerless; your Wi-Fi has you by the throat and your iPhone has a mean right hook. Time to face up to the fact that, unfortunately, you have no self-control. You, like 90% of the population, have been smacked around by this digital age. It’s all out there, one swipe, pinch, toggle away. Procrastination is slowly but methodically being bred into our DNA. We have become cows; fed data, kept in check, happy with grazing the field so long as there’s a tweet by Selene Gomez keeping boredom away. Step Two: Power greater than ourselves: Eat the Frog First. In your sojourns in this topsy-turvy world, you’ll come to the realization that there is a power greater than ourselves. Nope, it’s not God, Krishna, Zeus, or Odin. No, none of those guys. I’m talking about Jobs, Da Vinci, Einstein, Rockefeller, Churchill, Gates, Patton, Twain, and Wilde. The go-getters. Most of them played big, but also did big. The one thing they could all agree on is this: EAT THE FROG FIRST. As soon as you get up, do that one thing that completely sours your mood. That one activity that hangs over your head like a sword. If you don’t, you’ll often lose focus throughout the day. You’ll look at shiny things for hours just to keep that one horrible bastard on the sidelines. Step Three: It’s a sprint, not a marathon. Work in bursts of energy. Make a list of items you have to finish that day, and never try to tackle them all at once. If you try to fight it out with the group, you’ll find yourself bloody and mashed up; beaten to seven shades of â€Å"you know what.† Pick a lone wolf off your list and don’t let go off its leash until you’ve managed to tame it. It may take ten minutes or it may take an hour, but work like a madman on that singular project. After you bury that nasty sucker six-feet under, take the same amount of time to unwind. Rinse and repeat. Step Four: Eliminate distractions. Until you transform into a production-ninja, a task-guru, a job-oriented Svengali, you’ll have the attention span of a gerbil on meth. That’s just how it is, and you’ll have to learn to live with it. Thanks to all your gadgets, you’ve become that annoying kid in your school that drank Coke all day and vibrated in and out of this dimension during lunch time. As such, eliminate all distractions while working. You are an alcoholic, but instead of Jose Cuervo, you get your fix from your iPad. Limit yourself to one window or application on your browser. Turn off your cellphone. Shred, destroy, annihilate your old tasks. Free up space by looking at what you already accomplished and what is just a load of BS. Work someplace that’s akin to that hole they toss prisoners in when they’ve been acting up. You were caught with a shiv, and now it’s time for solitary. Step Five: Zen your zone. A wallet, a home, and an office can tell you a lot about a person. If your wallet has managed to realign your spine, your house looks like it needs a hoarder’s intervention, and your desk has become a biological microenvironment, then it’s time to go to your local 7-11. Get a pack of matches and a jug of gasoline and BBQ that mess. Start fresh and minimalistic. An uncluttered existence is a peaceful existence. Step Six: Handle transitions. Your whole day is filled with a series of tasks; be they kosher or soul crushing. You are jumping from one slippery stone to another. You wake up at the end of one muddy bank, a furious black river before you, and your goal is to get to the other side by nightfall. Or, if you’re a Frogger fan, you are that suicidal toad. Before you dash into the new intersection, or skip onto the other rock, take a moment to breath and get your head on straight. Family life, work life, playtime, downtime, personal time, they all work on different vibes. Take ten to twenty minutes before leaping into a new fray or playground; get your head in order and switch out gears. Step Seven: Do like Bruce. If you find that your mind is getting antsy and wants to skedaddle away, then by all means, accompany it. Like Springsteen, you were Born To Run. Take the Thunderoad but not to your cellphone. Go outside, to the Jungleland, perhaps down those Backstreets, or through the Streets Of Philadelphia. Have, because you can, a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out. Sit on a bench an ponder the Incident At 57th Street. Think about your Home Town. But, overall, remember to stretch out your legs even if you find yourself by the River, rain falling down on your head Waitin’ on a Sunny Day. Step Eight: Sweat like a superhero. Thirty minutes to an hour’s worth of physical exertion can do wonders for your stress and anxiety, the two naughty ankle-bitters that play havoc with your concentration. High impact aerobic exercise beats these riff-raffs into submission. You’ll discover as you leave your body-fat on the curb that, along with all those fast-food belly deposits, you’ll also catch your cellphone in the rear-view. Or, if running isn’t your thing, then pick-up a hobby that requires brawn instead of brains. It’s a swell time to learn how to play the guitar. Step Nine: Stimulate yourself. Mind out of the gutter! What I mean to say is try to make boring tasks interesting. Studies show that a steady level of just-right stimulation is critical for attention. Too low stimulation means a task is boring. Too high stimulation signifies stress or anxiety. Play some downbeat, relaxing, dare I say, â€Å"elevator music.† Buy a bag of candy and reward yourself every time you finish a task. Take a long lunch break. Talk to your co-workers once an hour. The key is to find your â€Å"zone.† Stimulation is a tricky concept; it boosts your attention but only to a certain point. Once it reaches its zenith, it becomes counterproductive. You start, for example, to play a mean air-guitar solo in your cubicle, disregarding all those slips you have to input on Excel. Step Ten: Self-talk. Get those imaginary pom-poms and cheer yourself to the finish line. Studies have shown- cause somehow, they always do- that whenever you find yourself wavering, whenever you think you won’t make it, the best thing to do is to act like a loon and start talking to yourself. Be your own coach. Repeat after me: â€Å"What do I need to do now?† â€Å"Stay with it; stay with it; stay with it.† â€Å"You’re almost there.† â€Å"You filthy maggot! You disgust me! Put down the phone!† Step Eleven: Tell everybody about your opening night. Here’s a trick: If everybody knows you went out to do something there’s a greater chance that you’ll accomplish it. If you’ve created an expectation, then odds are you’ll fulfill it. There is nothing worse than looking like a loser in front of your family and friends. So, next time you’re trying to check anything off your bucket list, tell someone you’re close to about it. It will generate a sense of accountability. Step Twelve: Keep two to-do lists. The first list is sort of like a diary of thought; write down whatever pops into your brain. Scribble   absolutely every distracting impulse that sizzles a neuron. â€Å"Check Facebook†; â€Å"Tweet this and that†; â€Å"Email friend from high school†; â€Å"Pick up laundry.† This huge tally will help you keep your mind tidy. You’ll no longer feel the need to do everything on the double because you might forget. Write the thoughts down and come back to them after your work. The second list is the important one. This one, this paramount catalogue, should include three items at the most. Those critical pieces that are fundamental for obtaining a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. Set three big goals for the day and congratulate yourself when you crush them.

Traditional Absorption Costing versus Activity Based Costing Assignment

Traditional Absorption Costing versus Activity Based Costing - Assignment Example In fact Geri and Ronen (2005) indicate that cost accounting systems do not normally command a high ranking in the hierarchy of most organisations, it is the information that they generate that plays a critical role in the performance of organisations and in the decision making process. The range of systems available and the claims made by the proponents of each have led to several debates. However, some of the arguments have some merits in as much as they allow for a better understanding of the methods that are being utilised. Some of the techniques and systems in use are of traditional management accounting domain while others are of the more recent strategic management accounting domain. Some of the criticisms that have been put forward in relation to traditional systems are that they fail to provide the necessary information that would improve the strategic decision making process (Johnson and Kaplan, 1987; Bromwich and Bhimani, 1989; Roslender and Hart, 2003). Suggestions like th ese are based on the perceived inability of the traditional systems to provide information that would make the organisation more competitive and therefore improve long run performance. In fact, Benjamin et al (2009) indicates that the inefficiencies of traditional systems especially in the area of absorption costing in coping with modern business environments have been of great concern. The gaps that are thought to exist as well as changes in the manufacturing industry including the move from being labour intensive to being capital intensive have provided the impetus for innovation in this very critical area of business (Benjamin 2009; Chenhall 2003; Lukka and Shields 1999). Johnson and Kaplan (1987) indicate that this change can be found in the application of ABC to manufacturing concerns. This paper looks at two forms of full costing systems - traditional absorption costing and the more recent activity based costing (ABC). Both methods take a different approach in assigning cost t o products. 1.1 Absorption costing Absorption costing has it roots in the manufacturing industry (Benjamin et al 2009). BPP (2011) indicates that the objective of this method of costing is to include an appropriate share of an entity’s overheads in the cost of a product. What is appropriate should be reflective of the time and effort that was used in the production of the product. The method becomes complicated when an organisation produces a mix of products and activities or resources used do not bear any relationship with the volume of items produced. Geri and Ronen (2002) indicates that the use of this method requires the allocation of a proportional rate of the fixed cost of production to units produced but which has not yet been sold (Geri and Ronen 2005). 1.2 Activity Based Costing Activity based costing (ABC) was developed as an alternative to absorption costing. (BPP 2011). This method of costing identifies the cost drivers of the activities of an entity’s prod uction process. Overheads are then charged to products based on how they utilise a particular activity. 2.0 Literature Review This review while critically assessing the literature examines the features of two costing methods and looks at the justification for their use. It also provides a comparison while it examines the advantages and disadvantages of using

Human Services Research Article Discussion Essay

Human Services Research Article Discussion - Essay Example (2) Is it conducted correctly? (3) Does it support the conclusions reached? (4) What, if any, additional statistical analyses could be performed on this data to gain further knowledge? (5) Are the findings misleading or biased? And (6) does the article incorporate graphs or tables that facilitate understanding? â€Å"Social Work Practice in Child Welfare from a Cross-Cultural Perspective: Concepts of Change Process† by Kui Hee Song Presentation of the Material The article was presented in appropriate form and structure consistent with the guidelines set by the APA Publication Manual. It is clearly structured with headings and subheadings and contains eight tabular illustrations that summarize results of the author’s findings. Starting from a concise introduction that provided the theoretical background for the study, the author proceeded with a presentation of research questions, the methodology, major findings, results of the major hypothesis testing and implications f or social work practice. The references conform to APA guidelines and brief information about the author appears right after the references to provide concise but comprehensive data on work experiences, interests, major accomplishments, service contributions and contact information.

The United States Educational System-Based on Age Essay Example for Free

The United States Educational System-Based on Age Essay The United States educational system based on age is adapted to United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) levels. In order to define the levels of education uniformly across all countries, this publication used terms to compile worldwide comparable statistics on education. The organization differentiated seven levels of education ranging from preprimary to tertiary. International descriptions of preprimary, primary, and tertiary education are parallel to the classification used in the United States. On the other hand, lower and upper secondary education has slightly dissimilar meanings. Level zero is called as preprimary education or commonly known as early childhood education. â€Å"It usually included education for children aged 3-5, although in some countries, it starts as early as age 2 and in other continues through age 6. In the United States, preprimary education includes kindergarten (Matheson, Salganik, Phelps Perie, 19). † Primary education (level 1) runs from about ages 6-11, or about first through sixth grades in the United States. Specialization rarely occurs in any countries before secondary education. Secondary education covers ages 11 or 12 through 18 or 19 and is divided into two levels: lower and upper secondary (levels 2 and 3). For purposes of statistical comparability, the United States has defined lower secondary education as grades 7 through 9 and upper secondary as grades 10 through 12. â€Å"In the United States, lower secondary education ends with an examination and constitutes the completion of compulsory education (Matheson, Salganik, Phelps Perie, 19). † Upper secondary education immediately follows lower secondary education and includes general or academic, technical, and vocational education, or any combination thereof, depending on the country. An upper secondary attainment level is roughly equivalent to a U. S. high school diploma. The United States Educational System-Based on Age Page 2 Higher education, also referred to as tertiary education, includes three ISCED levels and is equivalent of postsecondary education in the United States. â€Å"Non-university higher education includes education beyond the secondary school level involving programs that terminate in less than a 4-year degree (Matheson, Salganik, Phelps Perie, 19). † This type of education is at ISCED level 5. ISCED level 6 comprises education programs that lead to a 4-year undergraduate degree. These programs are typically located in universities and other 4-year institutions. The highest level, ISCED level 7, includes graduate and professional degree programs. Compulsory education ends at different ages across other countries. In the United States, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, mandatory schooling ends at age 16, the end point is age 14 in Italy and 15 in Japan. In Germany, full-time compulsory education ends at age 16, although students are required to be enrolled at least part-time through age 18 (Matheson, Salganik, Phelps Perie, 14). After compulsory education, enrollment rates drop off. In the United States, enrollment in secondary education dropped from 72 percent for 17-year-olds to 21 percent for 18-year-olds. In the United States, the first opportunity for students to receive secondary certification is upon completing high school, usually at age 17 or 18. In United Kingdom, students take the examination for the general certificate of secondary education when they are 16. Youth who do not continue to upper secondary schooling and are unemployed are eligible for training programs supported by the government but outside the education system. In Germany, the majority of secondary school students who continue after age 16 and are not preparing for university education participate in vocational training at the upper secondary level, including the countrys dual system of pert-time schooling and part-time apprenticeship. The United States Educational System-Based on Age Page 3 Participation in higher education in the United States and Canada was among the highest in the world in 1992. However, this doest not mean that young adults the age of U. S. college students are more likely to be enrolled in education programs in the United States than in other countries (Matheson, Salganik, Phelps Perie, 15). The disadvantage of ISCED levels are planned mainly for (educational) statistical reasons and for validating quantitative productivity. â€Å"ISCED would have restricted use for the purpose of comparability, recognition, mobility and European cooperation in VET. No sector specific and job specific definitions or typology of skills are available (Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, 223-240). † ISCED 1997 is in most contemporary and western countries a useful system to categorize school leaving certificates. In countries with complicated educational systems, like Germany, the ISCED 1997 categories cover hardly the community situation. â€Å"Another disadvantage of ISCED 1997 is the risk misclassification, how national diplomas are sorted into the ISCED 1997 codes. Asking the respondent about the ISCED codes increases the interview burden for the respondent (OECD). † Education is associated to numerous aspects of social disadvantage all through an individual’s life span. â€Å"This includes their time in pre-primary education, in the compulsory schooling system during their childhood years, as young adults in post-compulsory education and during the years of adulthood (Machin, 10). † Social disadvantage also matters for the phase of post-compulsory education, where it is evident that educational inequalities linked to family background tend to persist and become larger (Feinstein, 213-229). The possibility of staying on after the compulsory school-leaving age is connected to family setting and social drawback in many countries. Since involvement in higher education improves life likelihood and triumph as an adult, this The United States Educational System-Based on Age Page 4 compounds the previously wide disparity linked to social disadvantage that arise in the childhood years (Machin, 11). Reference: †¢ Feinstein, Lee. â€Å"Mobility in Pupils: Cognitive Attainment during School Life. † Oxford Review of Economic Policy 20 (2004): 213-229. †¢ Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, Jurgen. How to Measure Education in Cross-National Comparison: Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik/Warner-Matrix of Education as a New Instrument. Mannheim: ZUMA 11 (2005): 223-240. †¢ Machin, Stephen. Social disadvantage and education experiences OECD, Paris, OECD social, employment and migration working papers, Paris: OECD Publications, 2006. †¢ Matheson, Nancy, Salganik, Laura, Phelps, Richard, Perie, Marriane. Education Indicators: An International Perspective, Pennsylvania: DIANE Publishing, 1997. †¢ OECD. Education at a Glance, OECD Indicators 2004, Paris: OECD Publications, 2004.

Sidetracked Movies :: essays research papers fc

Movies have been around for as long as I can remember. They may come in many forms or video types, such as film on a reel, beta, VHS, DVDs and many more. Every successful movie tells a certain story, whether it be original, based on a true story, or based on a book. Whatever the case, the scripts are usually original and closely follow the plot they are based on, if there is one. More recently, unfortunately, movies based on novels are being made closer to the ideas of the screenwriter instead of those of the novel. It is in my opinion that these types of movies should reflect the original works of the authors more closely. One of my personal favourite pieces of literature is the Harry Potter series, written by J.K. Rowling. Naturally, when I heard about the movies being made I was just as excited as any other fan, and I was at the cinema on opening night. I believe Chris Columbus did an awesome job with the movie, keeping the plot moving, introducing the characters, and still including a large majority of the plot in only three hours. The second movie, I thought was even better because everyone knew all the characters already so he could just jump right in with the plot. However, this past couple of years the cast worked with a new director, Alfonso Cuarà ³n, who took the film in a new and possibly worse direction. Not only did Cuarà ³n change the plot around, for example Harry receiving the Firebolt after his encounter with Sirius Black though in the book he received it long before this encounter, but he changed many other things as well. Some of these other changes include the setting, the uniforms , and the characters from J.K. Rowling’s original novels, and from Chris Columbus’ works. Some of the main examples from the third Harry Potter movie include Professor Flitwick, who is described in the book as having â€Å"greying hair.† This is portrayed in the first two movies, however in the third movie Professor Flitwick is portrayed as a small man with a black mushroom cut and a black handlebar moustache. Another point about the third movie that I am very eager to uncover is the origin of the â€Å"maggot heads.† The heads were never mentioned in the third book or any other book for that matter; and were completely made up by the director or screenwriter, possibly to add comedy.

Employee Compensation and Benefits Essay

Companies today should mirror their compensation and benefit programs with their long- term business strategy and organizational culture. According to Casio (2010), â€Å"Pay systems are designed to attract, retain, and motivate employees† (p.421). The most important objective is fairness or to achieve internal, external, and individual equity; and maintain a balance in relationships between direct and indirect forms of compensation, and between the pay rates of supervisory and nonsupervisory employees. Employers must perform job analysis, develop job descriptions, evaluate the value of job/position in the organization, develop pay structure and pay levels to create competitive employee compensation and benefits (Cascio, 2010). Components of Employee Compensation and Benefits Employers must gain their workers’ trust, loyalty, and motivation to ensure organizational goals are achieved. There are three major components of the benefits package: security and health (e.g. health insurance, disability insurance, hospitalization, surgical, maternity coverage, pension plans, etc.), payments for time not worked (e.g. vacations, holidays, personal excused absences, grievances and negotiations, sabbatical leaves, etc.), and employee services (e.g. tuition aid, credit unions, auto insurance, fitness and wellness programs, moving and transfer allowances, stock-purchase plans, referral awards, flex work schedules, etc.). Factors such as the following are important strategic considerations in the design of benefits programs: the long-term plans of a business, its stage of development, its projected rate of growth or downsizing, characteristics of its workforce, legal requirements, the competitiveness of its benefits package, and its total compensation strategy (C asio, 2010). Organizational Data to Conduct Human Capital Management Functions Organizations consider human capital management as a function of the human  resources department in managing organizations’ most important asset, their employees. By creating a competitive compensation and benefits package, management puts emphasis on the economic value of their personnel. Because of today’s competitive environment, developing incentives that constantly improve employee performance, job satisfaction, and encourage motivation of every individual employed is essential to effectively achieve the organizations vision, mission, and goals. When the organizations human capital management functions and policies inspire employees to excel, as a result of the compensation, benefits, and incentives provided to them, everyone wins (Casio, 2010)! References: Cascio, W. F. (2010). Managing human resources: Productivity, quality of work life, profits (8th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Fast Food Nation Essay

Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser, is a stark and unrelenting look into the fast food industry that has ingrained itself in not only American culture, but in culture around the world. There is almost no place on earth that the golden arches has not entered. Aside from Antarctica, there is a McDonalds on every continent, and the number of countries that have fast food restaurants is growing on a daily basis. Schlosser describes in detail what happens behind the scenes, before the hamburger and fries come wrapped in environmentally safe paper and are consumed by millions of people daily. There are several stories that stick out in my mind. First is the one about a rancher in Colorado. He had resisted the idea of squeezing as many cows in an enclosed area as possible. Instead, he rotates where the cattle eat, what kinds of grasses they eat, and how often they eat it. His ranch was what cattle raising should be. This is in contrast to how a majority of cattle are raised today. They stand in paddocks their whole life where they hardly have the ability to move, and they are fed things that cows aren’t designed to eat ?corn, wheat, chicken parts, and even the leftovers of already slaughtered cattle. Then they are lead up a gangway, into a building where they are first shocked, then hung up by their hooves and have their necks slit, one after another. It harkens back to The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. After one hundred years, the conditions at the meat packing plants have not improved much. It is still the most dangerous job in America. Almost everyone who works there are injured at one point, be it from mechanical smashers or knives that had come too close to their arm. Hundreds of thousands of cattle are slaughtered every day, and that is to keep up with the demand from places like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s. It saddened me to read later that the Colorado rancher committed suicide because he could no longer compete with the large cattle-growers and he was going to lose his livelihood. Another thing that stood out was they way these fast food places treat their workers. Their policy of automation has created a whole group of people that do not have to think to do their job. These people ? usually teenagers ? are paid minimum wage to push buttons and do all of the jobs that used to be done by hand. It gains government subsides for training people with no job skills, such as the poor, young, or disabled. The ironic thing is that they have admitted that they don’t want to have to train people. They want the job to be as easy and training-free as possible, due to their want for uniformity. Uniformity seems to be the way of things at McDonald’s ? uniformity and conformity. If you cannot conform to the mold of a McDonald’s worker, they will simply find people who will, and they don’t have to train them all over again, because the job only requires that you know how to push a button or respond to a light or a beep. The last thing that stands out is the amount of contamination that can occur because of the way these animals are slaughtered. One hamburger from Burger King can contain meat from a thousand different cows. If only one of those cows were sick, then the person eating it can get sick. Then you multiply by how many packages of meat or hamburger was processed that could possibly have that one sick animal in it, you have an epidemic. One sick animal can contaminate ? and cause the recall of ? over 400,000 pounds of meat. That’s a lot of meat to have to bring back, and there are countless people who may have already eaten it and gotten sick, or, like the 6-year-old in the book, died. All of these things ? and the whole book in general ? has turned me off of fast food forever I think. I’ll never look at McDonald’s in the same way again. The food is full of grease, fat, and bacteria that could kill. The food also has hundreds of chemicals in it to make it taste the way it should, rather than the way it does. Seems to me that if their food tasted the way it should in the first place, they wouldn’t need chemicals to do the job. The employment practices of the fast food chains also leave a lot to be desired. They are a great part of the reason that people need more than one job to survive. Because they have so many minimum wage jobs ? even managers only make about $10 to $15 an hour. That had become a norm in the US, where people don’t even make a livable wage. There were a few things I didn’t like about either the book or Schlosser himself. First, he was very liberal, and it showed throughout the book. He practically blamed both Bush administrations for every problem laid out in the book, then praised Clinton and his administration to try and stem the tide of the fast food giants. Then there was Schlosser himself. During his speaking engagement at the college, the first thing he said was that he wasn’t going to try to tell anyone not to eat fast food or go to McDonalds’s or Taco Bell or any other fast food restaurant. He then spent an hour trying to do just that. He said that people spend more time looking into buying a house than deciding what goes into our bodies. My first reaction was â€Å"Of course we do! A house costs tens of thousands of dollars, and a burger costs 99 cents. † I know what he meant by it, saying that the burger will be with us for the rest of our lives and will affect our health in both the short and long run, but it’s not seen that way. If we have high cholesterol, we cal take a pill. High blood pressure? There’s a pill for that, too. There are even pills to help people lose weight. The mentality is that we can eat what we want, and there will be a way to reverse it. The bottom line is that I enjoyed the book and I did learn from it. I’m never eating at one of those places again, and not just because the food is terrible. I refuse to support their employment and food acquisition practices. I’m only sorry that it took me 26 years to get to this stage. Hopefully my children won’t support them either.

The McKinsey Way Summary -Thinking About Business Problems Paper

The McKinsey Way Summary -Thinking About Business Problems Paper Free Online Research Papers The McKinsey Way Summary -Thinking About Business Problems Paper 1.Building the solution Facts are friendly, Facts are the bricks with which you will lay a path to your solution and build pillars to support it. Dont fear the facts.Feel free to be MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive) To structure your thinking when solving business problems (or anything, for that matter), you must be complete while avoiding confusion and overlap. Solve the problem at the first meeting – the initial hypothesis (IH) Solving a complex problem is like embarking on a long journey. The initial hypothesis is our problem-solving map. Defining the IH Generating the IH Testing the IH 2. Developing an approach The problem is not always the problem Sometimes a business problem will land on your desk and you will be told to solve it. Fair enough. But before you go rushing off in any particular direction, make sure youre solving the right problem – it may not be the one you were given. Dont reinvent the wheel (part 1) Most business problems resemble each other more than they differ. This means that with a small number of problem-solving techniques, you can answer a broad range of questions. These techniques may be somewhere in your organization, either written down or in the heads of your fellow employees. If not, use our experience to develop your own tool kit. But every client is unique (No cookie-cutter solutions) That there are many similarities between business problems does not mean that similar problems have similar solutions. You have to validate your initial hypothesis (or our gut) with fact-based analysis. This will put you in a much better position to get your ideas accepted. Dont make the facts fit your solution Avoid the temptation to view your initial hypothesis as the answer and the problem-solving process as an exercise in proving the IH. Keep an open and flexible mind. Dont let strong initial hypothesis become an excuse for mental inflexibility. Make sure your solution fits your client the most brilliant solution, backup up by libraries of data and promising billions in extra profits, is useless if your client or business cant implement it. Know your client. Know the organizations strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities – what management can and cannot do. Tailor your solutions with these factors in mind. Sometimes you have to let the solution come to you The McKinsey rules of problem solving, like all rules, have their exceptions. Your will not be able to form an initial hypothesis every time. Sometimes, the client will not know what the problem is, just that there is a problem. Other times, the scope of your project will be so large – or so vague – that starting with an IH will be worthless. Still other times, you will be breaking new ground and nothing in your experience will point to a solution. Dont panic! If you get your facts together and do your analyses, the solution will come to you. Some problems you just cant solve Solve them anyway Eventually, you will run into a brick wall that is tougher than your head. Dont keep pounding; it has no effect on the wall and does your head no good. 3. 80 / 20 and other rules to live by 80 / 20 The 80/20 rule is one of the great truths of management consulting and, by extension, of business. You will see it wherever you look: 80 percent of your sales will come from 20 percent of your sales force; 20 percent of a secretarys job will take up 80 percent of her time; 20 percent of the population controls 80 percent of the wealth. It doesnt always work (sometimes the bread falls butter-side up), but if you keep your eyes peeled for examples of 80/20 in your business, you will come up with ways to improve it. Dont boil the ocean Work smarter, not harder. Theres a lot of data out there relating to your problem, and a lot of analyses you could do. Ignore most of them. Find the key drivers Many factors affect your business. Focus on he most important ones – the key drivers The elevator test Know your solution (or your product or business) so thoroughly that you can explain it clearly and precisely to your client (or customer or investor) in 30 seconds. If you can do that, then you understand what youre doing well enough to sell your solution. Pluck the low-hanging fruit Sometimes in the middle of the problem-solving process, opportunities arise to get an easy win, to make immediate improvements, even before the overall problem has been solved. Seize those opportunities! They create little victories for you and your team. They boost morale and give you added credibility by showing anybody who may be watching that youre on the ball and mean business. Make a chart every day During the problem-solving process, you learn something new every day. Put it down on paper. It will help you push your thinking. You may use it, or you may not, but once you have crystallized it on the page, you wont forget it. Hit singles You cant do everything, so dont try. Just do what youre supposed to do and get it right. Its much better to get to first base consistently than to try to hit a home run – and strike out 9 times out of 10. Look at the big picture Every now and then, take a mental step back from whatever youre doing. Ask yourself some basic questions: How does what youre doing solve the problem? How does it advance your thinking? Is it the most important thing you could be doing right now? If its not helping, why are you doing it? Just say, â€Å"I dont know† The Firm pounds the concept of professional integrity into its associates from their first day on the job, and rightly so. One important aspect of professional integrity is honesty – with your clients, your team members, and yourself. Honesty includes recognizing when you havent got a clue. Admitting that is a lot less costly than bluffing. Dont accept â€Å"I have no idea† People always have an idea if you probe just a bit. Ask a few pointed questions – youll be amazed at what they know. Combine that with some educated guessing, and you can be well along the road to the solution. Part Two: The McKinsey way of working to solve business problems 4. Selling a study How to sell without selling Business problems are like mice. They go unnoticed until they start nibbling your cheese. Just building a better mousetrap will not make the world beat a path to your door. People who dont have mice wont be interested – until the mice show up; then they need to know you have the mousetrap. This might sound like the musings of a Zen monk (or perhaps a management consultant from California). But sometimes the right way to sell your product or services is not to barge into your customers home with a bunch of free samples. Just be there, at the right time, and make sure the right people know who you are. Research Papers on The McKinsey Way Summary -Thinking About Business Problems PaperResearch Process Part OneThe Project Managment Office SystemIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesOpen Architechture a white paperThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfThree Concepts of PsychodynamicInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married Males

Essential Roommate Rules to Discuss when Moving in Together

Essential Roommate Rules to Discuss when Moving in Together Even if you’re used to sharing a room with your siblings or other relatives, living with a roommate is a new experience, and their habits and routines might seem weird or annoying to you. Can you find a compromise with your cohabitant? Can you be a good roommate even if you’re not friends? We are sure that this is possible if you follow some basic rules. Thats why we have made a list of ground rules for roommates that will help you avoid conflicts, which are not uncommon for people who live in close quarters. 1. Washing Dishes When talking about roommates, its impossible not to mention the most vital question – whose dirty plate is this and who should wash it? The issue of dirty dishes often starts a roommate war and makes you think â€Å"I hate my roommate. There are two simple ways to avoid this problem: Make a schedule Set the basic rule of doing dishes immediately after the meal or cooking What if a roommate breaks the rules, leaving dirty plates around? Such behavior might be a passive aggressive move or just an act of irresponsibility. Make sure you have separate dishes (maybe even marked or colored) and do only the ones which you use. Eventually, your roommate will have to start washing dishes instead of waiting for someone else to do it. 2. Inviting Guests Considerably Having your roommate’s friends, relatives, or significant other repeatedly staying at your place is annoying. Especially when you get up in the morning and discover an occupied bathroom or no hot water left. You need to establish must-have rules when living with a roommate to regulate such issues. Make sure to talk about how many people you and your roommate can invite and how long guests stay. Also, mention the necessity of warning each other beforehand. 3. Cleaning Living in a dirty apartment or dorm room is not the most pleasant thing. Especially if you’re not the one who makes the mess but the one who has to clean it eventually. When two or more people move in together, they might be surprised by the fact that the term â€Å"clean† might mean different things for different people. For example, some individuals are totally okay with the fact that there are dirty dishes in the sink. Others cant sleep knowing that there might be some trash in the bin. So, what you can do is: create a cleaning schedule discuss if you are going to use cleaning services and if so, split the bill discuss the organization and storage of things set up a list of weekly cleaning tasks discuss the rules of using and cleaning the kitchen, bathroom, and other shared spaces. The cleaning schedule solves the majority of problems that might occur. For example, you wont have to think of how to ask your roommate to clean the bathroom. You can just point out the schedule. 4. Respecting Each Others Space Having your space and some privacy is necessary no matter how many roomies you have. Thats why its important to respect personal space and the right to study, have some rest, or hang with your significant other alone. Always make sure to ask your roommate to knock before coming in and keep the noise reasonable no matter what time it is. By the way, if you would like to know how you can meet your significant other in college and develop a relationship, we have a few pieces of advice for you. How do you deal with roommate breaking rules? Start with closing the door to your room and putting a big sign on it. Having a key to lock your door is also a good idea if possible. If you live with your roommate in one dorm room, its much harder to establish the borders of private space for both of you. However, you can discuss: what to do if one of you has a date in your room your daily schedules – when each of you goes to bed and gets up the items, furniture, gadgets that are shared and any private stuff (what your roommate can use when he or she needs it, what needs to be asked before borrowed, and what should be never touched) what to do if you want to change something in the room, move furniture, etc. Being roommates doesnt imply being friends. However, being respectful of each others preferences is what helps to build a friendly relationship. If you want your rules to be followed, make sure that you are attentive to the needs of your roommate too, so that you are equal in your rights and obligations. 5. Being Responsible Living with a roommate is all about compromises. It’s also about being responsible and caring. This means that both of you should take care of the pets if you have them, observe fire safety, be careful when using roommates things, make sure you close the door when leaving, etc. No one wants to have an indifferent roommate whose absent-mindedness can lead to tragic results. Being responsible also means that sometimes you need to solve problems that are caused by your roommate. For example, if your roommate leaves clothes in the washing machine or forgets to turn off the iron. You aren’t the one who messed up, but you are the one who has to fix it once youve noticed it. What to Do if Your Roommate Keeps Breaking Rules? However, discussing and establishing these rules with your roomies doesn’t mean that they will be followed. Sometimes you might find that you’re the only one who cares about such rules. So, what can you do? Consider signing a roommate agreement Having rules written down and signed by both parties has a bit more weight when it comes to agreements with other people. This way you will not hear things like â€Å"I don’t recall talking about this with you† or â€Å"you have never asked me to.† A roommate agreement is a brief document that lists all the rules that you and your roommate agree to follow. Such agreements can be framed and put on the wall so you can always point them out. Communicate How many times have you heard that you need to speak about the things that bother you? If something is wrong, it doesn’t mean that your roommate wants to spoil your relationship. Sometimes they might just forget about your agreements (this is one more reason to put your rules on the paper). That’s why communicating is key to overcoming obstacles before they grow into problems. Talk to your roommate if you feel they don’t respect the rules that you have created together and why it makes living together difficult. Make your position clear and try to sound as calm as possible. Talk to a landlord Not all problems with your roommate can be solved by trying to reach a compromise. If your roommate breaks the rules intentionally in order to make you feel uncomfortable, this means that it’s better for you to consider other actions that you might take. For example, if you rent an apartment, you can talk to a landlord about the inconveniences which your roommate makes you go through. Provide a few examples or proof if you have any (for example, that your roommate throws noisy parties at night) and let your landlord know that you can find another roommate who will be more friendly and law-abiding. Chances are high that your landlord will take your roommate’s name off the lease. However, this should be a last resort. If you live in a dorm, you can also approach your supervisor and ask to move you to another room. There aren’t always vacant rooms, but you can at least try. Never be ashamed to move out if you are harassed or insulted by your roommate. Eventually, you can always teach your roommate a lesson by pulling a prank on him or her. Wrapping Up Lastly, one more tip for everyone moving in with another person for the first time and wondering how to set the rules in your house: roommates cant read thoughts. Communicate, discuss what bothers you, and what you can do about that. This is the only way to be able to live under the same roof. There might be plenty of things that you are used to doing differently, so be prepared to find a compromise to make this coexistence work. If it’s your freshman year, our article on some tips for your first year in college will come in handy too.

Discuss the meaning of MRP terms, such as planned order release and Assignment

Discuss the meaning of MRP terms, such as planned order release and schedule order receipts - Assignment Example Moreover, the proposed order is determined by balancing the expected order receipt in the procurement lead-time of the item. Therefore, a planned order release transaction incorporates within a particular time, for it to schedule within a companies or organizations procedure. Confirmation of the order is determined by balancing the amount of the order in the receipts of procurement over a particular period (Coyle et al., 2012). It is a scheduled order designed to meet the customers’ demand in a market within the firms planned orders and forecasted demand. Planned order within the materials requirement planning of a company meets the customers’ demand the time speculated to reach a customer. Demand in MRP systems originates from finished goods within forecast design or components of products. Moreover, the sources of MRP system fall under independent and dependent requirements. An Independent order affects the demand for finished goods while dependent demand refers to demand items, which are subassemblies or component parts used in the production of finished