Dubliners, Counterparts Essay

1. The main character of the story is Farrington, an alcoholic who works as a clerk, and is bullied and verbally abused by his boss, Mr. Alleyne. Miss Delacour plays the role of a wealthy client. Mr. Shelley is the head clerk at Farrington’s office. The characters Nosey Flynne, O’Halloran, Callan, Paddy Leonard are the men whom Farrington spends his evenings with, drinking at pubs. Weathers is one of the younger men who meet with him at the pubs, in this story he beat Farrington at arm wrestling. Tom is Farrington’s son who, at the end of the story, is beaten by his drunken father. 2. â€Å"He had done for himself in the office, pawned his watch, spend all of his money; and he had not even got drunk† (95). Farrington’s life is repetitious, working as a clerk and producing copies all day long is the type of repetition that adds to his misery. Alcohol plays a key part in his depression and is the highlight of his day, it is the reason for him to pawn his watch and spend his remains on alcohol. Similar to his repetitious life in the office, drinking with his friends is a part of his daily routine as well. Every evening Farrington and his friends take turns buying rounds for each other, spending and consuming, again and again. Weathers is a character that plays a significant role in Farrington’s realization about how his routines and traditions do not benefit him, but instead harm him. Each of his problems follows him wherever he goes. For an example, he brought his problems with his boss, Mr. Alleyne, from work to the pub with him, and while he continued to drink, those problems only began to snowball and irritate him more. He also brought his problems back into his home with him later that night, and took them out on his son by beating him. It is clear that Farrington is oblivious to his anger and does not know that the he makes bad choices. His work life is the same as his social life and his family life. There is not a part of his life can let him break away from from any other part because every aspect has the ability to make him very angry. By making bad choices such as pawning his watch, drinking excessively, and being rude to his boss, Farrington consistently continues to make life worse for himself. 3. Farrington is an office clerk who is treated poorly by his boss. Upon having to complete a task at work, it becomes apparent that Farrington is a lazy alcoholic as he sneaks out of the office to get a quick drink and never finishes his job. Mr. Alleyne gets angry at Farrington, yells at him, and ends up embarrassing him in front of a Miss Delacour, which makes Farrington feel even more miserable. Later on, Farrington pawns his watch in exchange for alcohol money, and goes out with his friends to the pub for the rest of the night. The more Farrington drinks, he becomes increasingly upset throughout the night, thinking about his lifestyle and drinking habits. In the end, when he got home to a cold dinner and found that the fire to warm it had gone out, he scolded his young son Tom, who pleaded for mercy. 4. The central conflict of the story is escape combined with the abuse of alcohol. Throughout the story Farrington was feeling trapped and wished to escape that lonely and miserable feeling. He was very angry and he had given up on himself by slacking at work, pawning his watch, and spending all of his money. Farrington’s realization these trapped feelings became apparent when the narrator said, â€Å"He had lost his reputation as a strong man, having been defeated twice by a mere boy† (95). The passage is explaining Farrington’s feelings after Weathers defeated him in arm wrestling, and we learn that he ends up taking that anger out on his son. In the story the abuse of alcohol represents a lack of self- control and feeling of self worth that lead to violence. It turns out that the easy escape Farrington had longed for would be impossible for the drunken man to achieve. Instead of escaping, he deceived himself by deceiving his family. 5. Routine and the repetition are two themes present in this story. The narrator said, â€Å"His body ached to do something, to rush out and revel in violence. All the indignities of his life enraged him† (89).This passage explains the everyday repetitious life of Farrington, and how he needed to escape that kind of a lifestyle. These routines and repetitions have trapped him in a vicious cycle of irritation and violence. Routines have an effect on people often involved in many difficult dilemmas, and the routines of his life trap him from being able to have new encounters and new beginnings. These consequences of never breaking away from the same routines can also lead to loneliness and unhappiness. In the story â€Å"Counterparts†, Farrington is able to show these results and brutality of a repetitive lifestyle.

Informative Essay About Advertisement and Slogans Essay

In 1970, the New York Times has published an advertisement for a book with the final rating â€Å"It is the Real Thing! †, a slogan generally used by the Coca-Cola company in presenting their product. This situation arouses the question whether it is infringement or not using this theme for the diary of a Harlem Schoolteacher by Jim Haskins. This essay will contain arguments against the possibility to use this theme. On the one hand there always is a connection between company and its marketing slogans and on the other hand these slogans are important and valuable for companies in brand-building and marketing. There always is a certain connection between a company or product and its useful slogans. If people think of the sentence â€Å"It’s the real thing! † most of them must think unwillingly of the caffeinated drink Coca-Cola. Advertisements using this slogan have been shown regularly on TV, in magazines, on posters or even on radio for many years, always connected with the Coca-Cola Company. In this way this connection enters the subconscious of many people. It is possible that feelings can be involved with this connection or maybe there are good experiences, which people are sharing when they read or hear this word order. It’s the Real Thing† has become part of our cultural vocabulary and this is why no other products would better fit to that slogan than Coca-Cola. That connection cannot be broken. As you can see there always will be a connection between a company and its product and their slogans. Slogans and catchphrases are very important and valuable for companies in brand-building and marketing. The reason why companies trademark their creative and catchy sentences is that they can be sure that there will not be another firm, which could use those slogans for its advertisements. This shows that slogans can play a huge role in selling a product. They represent the product and stand for the work quality of a company and people will refer to slogans. If a company’s product shows quality and simultaneously offers a catchy and creative slogan, there would be automatically a brand-building of that company. Mr. Herbert, an executive of the Coca-Cola company, thinks if the real thing would be used by another company, it â€Å"would dilute the distinctiveness of the trade slogan and diminish its effectiveness and value as an advertising and merchandising tool† (Herbert). He feels it necessary to have the assurance that only the Coca-Cola company has the right to use this signature saying. In the end it becomes clear that slogans are important and valuable for companies in brand-building and marketing. In conclusion, this trademarked slogan cannot be used in advertising another product than drinks of Coca-Cola. Slogans are important in connecting the product with the people and they are also valuable for companies in brand-building and marketing and this is why Groove Press must discontinue the use of â€Å"It’s the real thing†.

Public Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Public Finance - Essay Example This work looks into the experience of South Korea and identifies a few lessons in public finance. Describing the Asian Crisis as a financial crisis, Heo and Sumwoong reported that South Korea prior to the crisis, â€Å"average a growth close to 10% per year† commencing in the early 1960s (490). The authors described the Asian Crisis as a failure of a development paradigm premised on a statist approach that called for a strong government role in the economy (490). Statism or statist pertains to a strong role of the state. In their assessment, Heo and Sumwoong estimated that in 1997, the exchange rate against the dollar â€Å"went from below 900 won to the dollar that summer to around 900 won to the dollar the summer to around 1,500 in mid-November† (490). Kwan attributed the financial crisis in South Korea to the South Korean government practice of targeting large conglomerates in Korea known as chaebols and extending to chaebols various types of government assistance a nd support. According to Kim, the chaebols in both the banking and corporate sectors received a lion’s share of government financial assistance (5). Assistance and guarantees of assistance to the chaebols â€Å"led to a rapid rise in industrial concentration but also rendered Korea’s corporate sector and the economy vulnerable to external shocks† (Kim 5). ... wings by the corporate sectors on the banks and over-investment and excessive loans of the banks to risky investments which were thought to be good investments because of government guarantees (Kim 5-6). With this as background, â€Å"by the end of 1996 the average debt-equity ratio of the top 30 chaebols reached 400%, which was twice the international banking norm of 200%† (Kim 5). Kim presented the table below to describe how the Asian crisis affected Korea during the late 1990s. Table 1. Macroeconomic Indicators of South Korea, 1994-1998 Source: Table 1 of Kim (8) In Table 1, we see that the Asian crisis caused South Korea to acquire a 7% unemployment rate in 1998 from the usual of 2% and to have a negative 5.8% real gross domestic product growth rate from the usual positive real GDP growth rate. We also see in Table 1 that the won/dollar exchange rate deteriorated from the usual 700-800/won to a won/dollar rate of more than 1,000. For Kim, the â€Å"most significant blund er was the decision for an abrupt financial liberalization in 1996 when Korea did not have a fully developed, market-disciplined financial system† (10). According to Kim, â€Å"many newly-created financial institutions, called the ‘merchant banks,’ procured foreign currency funds on short-term basis which were used for long-term investment in Southeast Asian Countries like Thailand and Indonesia† (Kim 10). This was the formula for a multiple whammy or multiple blows: it was bad enough that South Korea is vulnerable to a crisis (as the policy of state support for chaebols encouraged the banks to put money on risky investments) but South Korean investments on countries equally vulnerable to crises complicated the risk, problem, or vulnerability by so many times. The Kim material of year 2000 used

Ethics Theories Table Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics Theories Table - Essay Example An employee entrusted with funds by his or her corporation is dutybound to account for these funds and remit the balance, if any. Even though this honesty may deprive him of certain material comforts, i.e., the extra money if unremitted could have bought him or her a new car, duty-based ethics prescribes that he or she should return the money. The classic goal-based theory is utilitarianism. Jeremy Bentham presented one of the earliest fully developed systems of utilitarianism. Two features of his theory are noteworty. First, Bentham proposed that we tally the consequences of each action we perform and thereby determine on a case by case basis whether an action is morally right or wrong. This aspect of Bentham's theory is known as act-utilitiarianism. Second, Bentham also proposed that we tally the pleasure and pain which results from our actions. For Bentham, pleasure and pain are the only consequences that matter in determining whether our conduct is moral. This aspect of Bentham's theory is known as hedonistic utilitarianism. An employee should strive to get a promotion at all costs as this will benefit him, even at the expense of co-employees and even if there would be a violation of a moral duty in the process. For example, the moral duty to give credit where credit is due after a successful project. The most influe

The Issues with Infrastructure Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Issues with Infrastructure - Research Paper Example Unfortunately, the need to build new infrastructure comes at a time when we are dealing with economic deficit. The paper will look into account, the major issues with our infrastructure, including effects of terrorism and natural disasters, funding for departments and new policies aimed at involving private sector in building the new infrastructure. Terror attacks have come up as a new threat against our society and security has emerged as a primary factor to be embedded in our current infrastructure. Security has new found priority, in particular after September 11 attacks. We had to make severe changes in different sectors of infrastructure to reduce the threat. One such example can be seen at airports. Increased traffic has caused congestion at most airports and they have become exceedingly crowded places along with aging infrastructure including runways. Security measures have contributed towards the problem and we see installments of new scanners and surveillance equipment all a round. They have opened up a new fundamental requirement for security and eaten up heavy investments. Terror threats have changed the normal procedures to security centric setup and have left a footprint on the old infrastructure that is modified to incorporate security features. The infrastructure in place for natural disaster includes early warning systems to give government a chance of implementing safeguards. Besides these monitoring systems, rescue teams are elaborately tasked and standard operating procedures for each are very well defined.

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe Essay

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe - Essay Example Poe draws this classical connection between the family and the land early on, saying bluntly that the House of Usher is "an appellation which seemed to include, in the mind of the peasantry who used it, both the family and the family mansion" (Poe 45). The future of the House is revealed in the observation that the family "had put forth, at no period, any enduring branch" (Poe 45). It is not a prolific family tree, and neither Roderick nor the Lady Madeleine exhibit the sanguinity to make them fit stewards of the property or likely to bear any descendents. The House of Usher, we are to understand, is dying. Their lands exhibit an atmosphere of death, the family is vulnerable to illness, both physical and mental, and they just don't seem like the kind of people with the inclination to procreate. The very idea of children feels sacrilegious in this somber atmosphere. The bleak surroundings are apparent before any observations are made on the family. The story opens with a long paragraph describing precisely how desolate and disconcerting the landscape is. The house is located in "a singularly dreary tract of country" (Poe 43), the first adjective used to describe it is "melancholy" (Poe 43), and the narrator's first emotional response to its sight is, "a sense of insufferable doom" (Poe 43).

About a movie called (The Brother Grimm) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

About a movie called (The Brother Grimm) - Essay Example The two move to a part of Germany occupied by the French in the 19th century and set up a phony witch. They use the fake witch to trick the residents of the Karlstadt of their mystical powers. The two brothers do their tricks so successfully that when a trouble befalls the city, the French General Delatombe summons them and tasks them with resolving the mystery. However, the mystery is an actual problem with real risks. A supernatural queen needs to drink the blood of young girls in order to regain her beauty. She, therefore, captures young girls from the village. The general tasks the two brothers with finding the queen, defeating her supernatural powers and rescuing the girls. The adventure thereafter is exhilarating as the two brothers fail twice and are on the brink of losing their lives. However, they eventually succeeded after a series of attempts. They rescue the village from the horrific queen. The film is an independent production directed by Terry Gilliam. Terry Gilliam is an American film director, actor and screenwriter. He contributed to writing and later directed the film. He has directed numerous other films some of which are adventure films. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen produced in 1988 was one of the adventure films he directed. However, The Brothers Grimm is unique as the director adopts a fiery tale approach in the development of the film. He produced the Brothers Grimm in 2005, a period when the film industry globally was burgeoning. The film, therefore, portrays the development of the film industry as Terry Gilliam revamps his creativity in authoring the script and directing the film. The developers of the film employ various elements of film development strategically thereby enhancing the effectiveness of the film. Key among such elements in the film is lighting. Lighting plays an integral role in illuminating the setting among other

COMMUNICATION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

COMMUNICATION - Essay Example In a group situation, I will listen mostly and will intervene only when someone is providing misinformation. When I know that the person with whom I am conversing is more knowledgeable, I prefer to listen and will not like to give suggestions, unless specifically asked to do so. Do I ?nd it necessary to use many descriptive terms when speaking, or do I prefer short, succinct sentences? I prefer to use short sentences. Being a listener by nature, in my style of conversation ears will be better engaged than the tongue. In my replies I prefer to be crisp, may not be witty, but I will answer to the point, nothing more, nothing less. Time is precious and I will not like to waste the time with whom I am conversing, nor like to allow him to waste my time. I will not sermonise on a topic on which I do know much about. I like to be brief. Do I prefer cause-and-effect situations as opposed to creative, ambiguous dilemmas? I do prefer cause and effect situations and I do not like dilemmas or co nfusion. While conversing, I have in the back of my mind invariably that I need to concentrate on the essence of the issue, and not talk in a roundabout way. When I say something and answer about a particular issue, it must be based on reasoned premises. I hate creating dilemmas and confusing situations. The purpose of a conversation (unless it is a formal and casual talk) is to find an acceptable solution, and as such there is no point in getting more and more confused. Do I prefer to be alone or be with others? I prefer to be alone. I do not like promoting myself, speaking up and networking. My philosophy of life is to ‘talk less, work more and walk more’. I am an introvert. I do believe that brazen confidence is not the exclusive property of the extroverts and introverts too are entitled for that. I entirely agree with the observation â€Å"introverts prefer less stimulating environments and tend to enjoy quiet concentration, listen more than they talk and think bef ore they speak†. (Jenna Goudreau, n. p.)Historical information provides strength to my position as some of the ideas for big innovations and great leadership come from introverts. Unless there is a cause or a common purpose, engaging in directionless and destination less conversation is waste of time, and as such I enjoy my solitude. Do I prefer to make decisions alone, or do I prefer to work things out with others? I do like to work things out alone, but I do also like to ask others for opinions, as I believe that a person should not make important decisions alone. The wise saying goes ‘Two heads are better than one’. Decisions taken by sharing knowledge are likely to fructify and give positive results. Each individual may have expertise in a particular area, and in the environment of a big hospital, one has to work in different situations. So, when a critical decision needs to be made, that has bearing on the life of the patient, I consider it my professional du ty to take a decision in consultation with my experienced colleagues. Sharing information and taking counsel from others has only advantages and no disadvantages. Summary of my communication style I have my nursing job; I have a family to take care; I have my friends circle; I am part of the society, a cultural and religious group. As such my communication

Reclaiming a social agenda Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reclaiming a social agenda - Essay Example In this context of understanding one of the major considerations is the dichotomy between art and science. Whereas science functions to question existing paradigms in a generally progressive way, aesthetic practice â€Å"begins answer, by reinventing itself, by building upon a past principle and ethical relationship† (Mockbee, pg. 2). When one considers this approach in terms of activist practice it’s clear that the parallel is that social or community change can occur through the complete re-imagination of the status quo. One recommended example of this perspective is in considered in rural Alabama, where theorist Mockbee argues that a harmonious architecture that brings together both disenfranchised and wealthy must be implemented. In addition to the above-considered abstract intents of activist practice, there are a number of clear strategic examples that have emerged. From an overarching perspective, it’s noted that many semblances of, â€Å"communities in the process of creating and sustaining their cultural identities by designing and often rebuilding their own world† (Ward, pg. 56). In this context of understanding, it’s seen how the traditional artistic means of re-imagination have emerged and been implemented in communities that previously experienced significant blight and hardship. In terms of specific case examples, it’s noted that the Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development (PICCED) is one such emergence of strong activist architecture. When considering the weaknesses of activist practice, it’s clear that recent rejections of activist forms of architecture represent a significant concern. In this context of understanding, theorists have referred to what is known as the post-political concern. In characterizing this post-political turn it’s been noted that, â€Å"Not only have American architectural

Segregation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Segregation - Essay Example Despite variety of theoretical models suggested by US scholars to explain the ongoing discrimination in various fields of social life (Massey & Denton 1993; Borjas 1998), the key question still remains unanswered: why several decades of intensive legal and social efforts did so little in terms of eliminating such negative phenomenon as discrimination of minorities Although legal status of minorities is an essential factor in fighting discrimination and segregation, there are likely other equally important factors involved. Main Discussion The efforts to cope with the problem of minorities' segregation and discrimination undertaken during the last five decades largely failed. The seeming success of affirmative action when in 1970 - 1980's the number of students who belonged to racial or national minorities significantly increased, was achieved by reverse discrimination of the white majority: cases of Bakke and Webber (Ball, 2000) in 1970's made this fact evident to the public. Eventually, the surveys of public opinion demonstrated the controversy caused by lack of understanding of the affirmative policy in the nation. A recent survey performed by CNN in 1995 discovered that 80 percent of the respondents felt "affirmative action programs for minorities and women should be continued at some level" (RCPO, 1995). However, at the same time any possibility of reverse discrimination, which in fact had been the main feature of affirmative action programs since 1964, was opposed by 63 percent of participants (RCPO, 1995a). Affirmative action programs in education seem to cause more damage than positive effects. Laws passed to protect minorities from discrimination often led to reverse discrimination instead of... One of the most known accounts of the relationship between prejudice and negative stereotype was suggested by Milton Rokeach, who established a strong link between prejudice and the perception of intergroup differences.Therefore, affiliation with a certain group is an essential aspect of any individual's life. However, an individual affiliated with a certain group starts to distinguish between his/her group and people who belong to other groups which result in the development of two concepts: in-group and out-group. In-group is defined as "†¦ a group to which a person belongs and which forms a part of his or her social identity" while out-group is "any group to which a person does not belong". The major difference between the individual's perception of in-group and out-group members is the following: members of in-groups possess overwhelmingly good personal qualities, while out-group members are perceived with a certain share of negativism. This unique psychological mechanism is likely to be an important contributor to the ongoing discrimination and segregation in the US. This mechanism provides a valid explanation for the phenomenon of ‘voluntary segregation': segregation and racial isolation which results from voluntary choices of the minority representatives in housing, education, etc. The set of negative stereotypes which developed over the centuries when the white majority and the minorities lived on the same territory is an equally important factor in the ongoing discrimination.

Look to the Future or to the Past Essay Example for Free

Look to the Future or to the Past Essay Today there are many obstacles to success, and the decisions you make, along with a little bit of luck will greatly influence whether you succeed or not and the magnitude of this success. Now the things we have done on the past will influence what people think about us, influence the actions that people have on us, and is significant in the situations you will be put in. However, when we are faced with making a decision nowadays, we must look at the big picture: What will happen to me because of this decision tomorrow? Next month? Next year? How about in 5 or 10 years? How will my friends and family be affected? And are the consequences going to be good or bad? This big picture is why I believe that people must look to the future when making decisions because it holds more weight in making a decision. Looking to the future is more likely to help you make a good decision because it makes you look at what will happen as a result of a decision with a clear head. If you look to the past, your judgment might be clouded with what did happen without understanding that it simply is what DID happen, and it probably won’t happen again, but the decision you make will effect what will happen. The big picture is always important here because every small decision that a person makes can have a huge effect on what the future will be like. For example, lottery winners have a tough time deciphering this and looking at the big picture. Most lottery winners just take the cold hard cash instead of getting equal payments every year for the rest of their lives, these winners not looking to the future, just go and squander away all of their money as if they have an unlimited amount when they essentially just have a minor boost, like a shot of nitrous or steroids. Just like the lottery winners if they can’t spend the money well, which most of them don’t, they lose it all and fast, backed up by the fact that 70% of lottery winners spend up all of their money in years. This is simply because they didn’t look at the big picture and that is a problem today, people are always looking for a quick fix, instead of looking at the big picture. Clearly, having the ability to make big decisions is just as rare in some cases as winning the lottery, you usually only get one chance and by looking at the big picture, to the future, it can help you make the best decision. In conclusion, I think it is best if we look towards the future. This is because as people we must look at the big picture when making a decision so e can make the best decision possible to help shape our lives the right way, and looking to the future will help us on this task. As they say if we don’t learn from history it will repeat itself, so we must learn from history and learn to apply it to our future by always looking ahead. That is a quality that us humans have is to look ahead, and in this world, looking ahead is our best shot at success because making a decision won’t influence your past, which cannot be changed, however, it will affect your future.

SONY Marketing Management Techniques

SONY Marketing Management Techniques Introduction Strategic marketing management techniques are methods used by the management of a company to evaluate and deploy the marketing strategies that the company requires to maintain a competitive edge against its direct rivals. Seeing as marketing is the use of key information about customers, products and markets to properly assess the suitability of providing a certain service or product it is imperative upon any contemporary business to maintain cutting edge marketing research techniques. This is especially the case when considering the role marketing techniques play in allowing a company to change, evolve or diversify the key directions of their services and/ or products in the market. In a similar vein, it is also imperative upon businesses to maintain a tight control on the performance of their marketing strategies. There has been much academic interest in this aspect of performance and with good reason a faulty marketing strategy, if not addressed swiftly and efficiently by a robust performance management team will result in catastrophic consequences. There are a number of methods that can offer key marketing performance parameters but one of the main methods is the collection and analysis of core data from the market in which the service or product of the company is competing. One could make the case that the entire enterprise of measuring the marketing performance of a product depends on the companys ability to collect and accurately analyse the appropriate data. Finally, an accurate picture of the performance of a company can be attained through the use of a business scorecard. This is a method of business performance review that has gained in greater exposure and use over the last few decades and has now become an integral part of the performance management teams repertoire of business tools to evaluate the the success of the company and its products/ services against its competitors. The business scorecard typically is a tool that provides a single parameter of success succinctly such that an accurate assessment of the position of a product in the market can be accessibly gained without delving into the details. This tool of course does not replace existing performance barometers but provides a different function of a quick and simple success rating. This report will focus on Sony as an organisation that involves these marketing factors especially the Sony PS3, a video game console that will provide a microcosm of the larger company at work. Sony is a multinational company that specialises in audio, video and entertainment products. It has an established market reputation and expertise in the video console games entertainment industry. The Sony PlayStation 3 is the third console that Sony has released and with each of its two previous products Sony was able to maintain a staggeringly dominant market share. This position is the backdrop to the release of the Sony PlayStation 3, an eagerly awaited console by a massively loyal fan base, and the marketing strategies deployed, the techniques used, the performance reviews established and the scorecard indicators analysed will be the crux of this report. Strategic Marketing Techniques deployed There are a number of techniques used by marketing management teams to ascertain a marketing strategy and direction. One of the most basic and yet most widely used of all marketing techniques is the use of the marketing mix by detailing the four Ps Price, Product, Placement and Promotion. Each of these four parameters give the company critical information on the best method to market its new product. The product that Sony wished to market was its PlayStation 3. This product was a continuation of the Sony PlayStation 2 and the original Sony PlayStation. This product was to be released into a well established and mature industry that had three direct competitors the Nintendo Wii and the Microsoft X-box 360. Both Nintendo and Microsoft had been in direct competition with Sony before and both have fared badly. Nintendo competed against the original Sony PlayStation with its N64 console but didnt manage to make any headway into Sonys market share. Microsoft competed against the PS2 with its own X-Box console but again Sony was able to maintain the lions share of the market. So much so that the X-Box only sold 24 million consoles to the approximately 120m sold by Sony.  [1]  These are the market conditions that the PS3 was conceived in and the key aim of the PS3 was to maintain the market share of Sony while delivering the cutting edge in gaming technology above and beyond that wh ich its competitors offered. Sony marketed the PS3 with a premium pricing strategy and there were a number of reasons to adopt this position. The PS3, when it was released represented the best console in gaming history. In fact the PS3 was released many months later than its direct competition of the 360 and Wii because it was developed to such a high standard. To give a comparison, the 360 has three processing units all running at 3.2 GHz, the PS3 in comparison has seven of the same processing units.  [2]  This is a vast difference in computing power and thus required far more time to research and develops the console. This extreme power and computing capability was thought to be recoverable through the pricing of the PS3 by Sony and it is easy to see why. The PS3 entered the market to huge expectation and just as huge a fan base loyally waiting to buy the console. The company felt it was a good ploy to price the PS3 at a premium level in direct contrast to both the Wii and the 360. The Wii and the 360 were under-priced by their respective companies so as to attempt to flood the market, so to speak, and gain higher sales through cheaper products. Sony decided to go the opposite way and priced their product highly because they felt they had enough consumers to bank on to buy their console and enough interest from game developers to coerce serious gamers into purchasing the PS3. The PS3 was first released in Japan and then worldwide. Seeing as Sony is originally a Japanese company and that its biggest customer base was in Japan this made complete sense. The 360 in comparison was first released in the USA where it had its own customer base. These strategies are easy to understand because they both play to the strengths of the respective companies and allow both to develop further commitment amongst their biggest customer repository if this strategy does well in their respective home markets then they can be certain to do well in foreign and worldwide markets also. Sony is choosing the best marketing strategy available to it in terms of placement of the product. Sony is in an enviable position when it comes to promoting their product. Seeing as a console itself is no more than a channel and a conduit of games, all Sony can offer is an exceptional messenger between the game and the gamer. The real promotion of a console occurs in the line up of games and the gaming experience it can offer and in this regard Sony has some of the biggest games producers signed exclusively to produce for its console. Games of the calibre of Gran Turismo 5, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy IV are all signed exclusively to the PS3 and offer a gaming experience that is of the highest quality in their respective genres. This promotion of the PS3 is indirect but highly effective. As an example, serious racing gamers will be hard pressed not to buy a PS3 just to experience Gran Turismo 5 which is undoubtedly one of the best games in the entire genre, if not the best. Apart from this, the PS3 had the success of the previous consoles as indirect promotion as well s eeing as the PS2 commanded upwards of a 70% share of its market, Sony had a great headstart upon its competition in providing the next generation of gaming, it had reputable expertise in the matter.  [3]   Marketing Performance Management and the Business Scorecard There are many performance tools that can be used by a management team to assess the marketing strategies employed for its product. This report will focus on one such tool the business scorecard. As mentioned earlier, the business scorecard allows the management team to know quickly and simply the success of a certain product it is a critical tool in the current business world and if not used by Sony, then certainly should be. The business scorecard allows for instant feedback on the performance of a product and is thus especially useful in a mature and sophisticated industry such as the video game consoling one undoubtedly is. The Sony PS3 suffered from well documented problems when it first entered the market a year later than its competitors. As with any new console, game developers are often unsure about how to utilise the computing power of a machine and it is not unusual to see the quality of games improve dramatically in the second or third year of the console once it has been through its teething problems. Unfortunately for the PS3 both of its competitors had already been through this stage and real quality games were being developed for them while the PS3 was slow to the market and grossly over-priced in comparison and thus unable to compete with either console because of its inferior games and higher price tag its greater computing power didnt mean much until games could be developed to utilise the raw power. In this case, it seemed the marketing strategy of the PS3 was not working and the marketing management team had to find a solution or risk losing their market share. The solution offered and finally implemented was a reduction in the pricing of the PS3 so as to allow the console to compete directly with the other consoles on even ground and to win back its customer base. This was a simple and efficient marketing manoeuvre that could have been made through the use of a business performance tool such as a business scorecard. Conclusion In conclusion, it is important to say that there are many factors which contribute to an effective marketing strategy and the marketing team need to be able to use the correct techniques and the correct performance tools to be able to analyse and sell their product successfully. The Sony PS3 was effectively marketed taking into account its high computing power, loyal customer base and the exclusive games it had to offer. However, seeing as the timing of the console lagged behind its competitors an effective performance appraisal tool was required to remedy the situation and that is exactly what occurred Sony was able to change its marketing strategy and continue to be a world leader in its market.

Effects Of Culture Shock Education Essay

Effects Of Culture Shock Education Essay With the development of global strategy these decades, joint-venture enterprises has an obvious growth all over the world, meanwhile a large number of Chinese enterprises were built up in foreign countries and vise versa. At the same time, lots of senior managers will work or study techniques in foreign country, even their family members need to go abroad to live together with them. At the beginning of changing the work environment and colleague, most of managers can not adapt to it to some extent. Moreover, an increasing of number students choose to complete their study in a foreign country, it acclimatized international students to the strange environment.. The culture shock can bring positive effects, but at the same time, it also can affect people in a negative way. Purpose This article investigates how overseas students encounter the culture shock when they first time to go abroad and how to minimize or prevent culture shock. It will examine the causes and effects of culture shock from the following aspects, one is different lifestyle: food and timetable; another is education system Definition of culture shock According to Oberg the world famous cultural anthropologist, the culture shock maybe defined as a state that people who are the first time come to a new country because of psychological lost, language barrier, unfamiliar environment, different culture background or other aspects they can not adapt to this atmosphere immediately then caused confusion, helplessness, homesick and anxiety (Eschbach et al, 2001) Main body Different food caused culture shock Lots of students make a decision to study in foreign countries after the graduate from Senior High School or undergraduate, the first time that they come to a new strange country, the language barrier limit their communication with local people, so it will be posed many problems for them, one of them is the different lifestyle, the diet habits is very different from their native country, so they will exclude all things this country brings to them. Therefore, it is essential for students to do everything with their interest, curiosity and willingness, in contrast, if they live with exclusive emotional, it will lead to many psychological discomfort (Phillips, 2003). First of all, the most obvious aspect present is the daily diet, especially on food, Changes in weight may indicate that a person is experiencing culture shock. So can an obsessive increase in washing or cleaning. Avoiding social contact, sleeping too much and homesickness are all additional symptoms of culture shock.(Barker, 2012) at the beginning of their new life, they will not eat anything or eat less than before and then they will think these sorts of food do not suit their taste. after one week or month, it is obvious that they get thinner, for example, a lot of international students the first time to go abroad, they do not like the western food, not only expensive but also not healthy, in Asia countries, people preferred to eat rice, noodles, dumplings as their staple food, then they will cook some various of vegetables or soup eating with rice, this is their diet habit. Because they can not get their ideal diet, they will extremely feel homesick. At the beginning of entering a new environment, they can not find their native countries stores to purchase their domestic food, the price of food maybe higher than their country, so they eat less and usually feel hungry and eager to come back to home to enjoy a great fancy dinner with their family members. The first thing they do is to go everywhere to find their countries restaurant, at this time is the most difficult stage for overseas students, they will miss their domestic friends, their parents or all of the things and food of their own countries. For example, when students encounter some obstacles like culture shock, the friend is their first choice to ask for help, friends can give them some advices and problem-solving methods to them, helping them out and tide them through difficult times.(Aronson et al, 2005). Maybe it is common that people eat some pieces of bread with delicious cheese, kinds of sweet jam and a cup of coffee or milk, sometimes we can see children eat great sandwiches or hot dog with a cup of juice in their breakfast time, in lunch or dinner time, the table we see more is the potato with ketchup, bacon, steak chicken wings and different types of pasta, this is their daily diet habit, they eat much of meat. So, a lot of international students can not adapt to t his kind of lifestyle. Most of students in china, they eat various of gruel, soup with an egg, it is usually for Chinese to eat noodles, rice, dumplings with soya-bean milk. Maybe they think it is healthy than others and can suit Chinese students taste, but coming to a new country, perhaps international students will change their own diet habit in order to adapt to this new country quickly. Different timetable caused culture shock Another lifestyle that international students maybe face is the timetable, every country has their own timetable, so many students can not adapt the time this country plan to , a typical example is that in UK, most of shopping malls or stores will be closed before 17:30, you can see few persons walked in the city central, a lot of overseas students think it is boring and very different from their own country, in other countries people are crazy about shopping in the evening and they had adapted to the night life of their native-born country, furthermore, the class time is also have some differences compared with other countries, in some countries ,they may start their first class after eight oclock or later and finish it so earlier. By contrast, in china, students begin class from 7:30 in the morning till to 6:00 in the evening, after 6:00 pm students will have self-study time , it also can be called homework time, plenty of homework for students to finish by themselves, after the first time they left home to a new start of their life, they may not like this atmosphere of this country gave them, at this time, a lot of international students will feel so boring and lonely  ¼Ã…’even much of helpless, maybe they will cry at their accommodation at night and want to return back to home and give up studying in abroad. Moreover, they will keep in touch with their friends or parents, talking on the phone everyday with their parents, this method can reduced their helplessness, homesick and help them to develop the sense of security, and also help them to got encouragement from family members (Scheyvens, 2003). Different education system caused culture shock The following aspect is the different education systemmost of international students can not adapt to the different style of teaching immediately, in some countries, teachers pay more attention to the students self-study and practice, it can be take the British education into an example, in UK, maybe the teachers think in the process of searching the sources, students can gain more knowledge than they taught to them, teachers told students the task ,topic and the method to find information, then students need to find some resources and finish it by themselves. Sometimes, tutor will discuss with students to provide some suggestions for them. The final exam maybe several subjects not all of subjects need to sit down to write 2 long hours test, it is important for students to guarantee the attendance and participate part, the final essay students will complete it by themselves, maybe it accounts for the largest proportion, so, a lot of international students come to a different country can not adapt to this kind of educational system, generating heavy stress for their professional learning. If overseas students can adapt to this education system in the shortest possible time it can bring much benefits to these students, pupils with high self-efficiency general have faith in their capability to complete their own tasks well. They work harder and experience less anxiety when they have something in trouble, due to they believe that they can succeed with much confidence However, people often not full confidence with low self-efficacy that they usually think they cannot perform works well, so they usually tend to give up easily and experience more anxiety when facing troubles. Lack of confidence is the most important reason for their failure (Aronson et al, 2005). So, it is important for international students to overcome troubles with self-confidence. They can learn more useful knowledge and continue to enhance their ability step by step. However ,in other countries especially in some Asian countries , maybe teachers lay emphasis on theory  ¼Ã…’tutors told the answers to students and forced them to recite all of them, this cramming systems caused many of students can not adapt to that kind of self-study system when they study in UK or other countries, this kind of students do not know how to start their first step and lots of students continue to study learn by rote ,it is difficult for them to change the method at once, meanwhile, they feel so depressed and lack of confidence, after this circumstance it will result in the negative effects to international students, large number of students will not catch up with lessons and also are not available to catch teachers point, a long time later ,it will caused a lot of students make no attempt to make progress , get lost in his own way and give themselves up as hopeless replaced. Even more serious effect arouse to is the plagiarism phenomenon, due to the academic knowl edge capability and language level limited, many students copy others result and caused plagiarism problems. The possible adverse impact is to fail their course and come back to home. This phenomenon often happened in university. How to overcome culture shock According to Ferraro (2006), the better method for students to know about the culture shock completely is from the psychological field to analyze the culture shock and improve the successful rate of living in overseas, trying to make more international friends and sharing your happiness and frustration with them, encouraging each other and spend the difficult time together. Conclusion According to the introduction, it can be see that food, timetable and education can result in culture shock ¼Ã…’culture is defined as the every side of life, large number of international students can not adapt to the change of a new environment and need time to change their mind and accept new things ,during this orientation time, with optimism attitudes to accept different learning style and with full self-confidence to overcome all obstacles ,accommodate to various food taste, set goal orientation for themselves, avoid the negative effect that culture shock bring to them.

The Flea - John Donne :: essays research papers

John Donne and an Analysis of "The Flea" John Donne was born on Bread Street, London, in 1572. His family was very rich but they were Roman Catholic, not the best group to be a part of at his time, in England. He studied three years at the University of Oxford and three years at Cambridge. He never got a degree because he refused to take the oath of supremacy at graduation time. He then studied law and was on his way to be a diplomat. He wrote a book of poems, Satires, after his brother died of fever in prison after offering sanctuary to a proscribed catholic priest. He then wrote a series of love poems in Songs and Sonnets. In 1596, he joined a naval campaign against Spain and when he came back, 2 years later, he became secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton. Just as he started doing well, he secretly married Egerton's niece, Anne More, and when discovered, he was thrown in jail along with the two friends who had helped in his secret relationship. Anne's family helped them and a few years later, Donne reconciliated with Sir Thomas and was finally given the dowry he was owed. He lived the next few years as a lawyer and lived a poor existence. He then wrote two anti-Catholic poems that got him the king's favor and started working Sir Robert Drury of Hawstead, who gave him an appartment in his castle for writing a beautiful eulogy for his 15 year old daughter. Donne and his wife had 12 children, 7 of which survived and in 1617, Anne died at age 33, while giving birth to a stillborn child. He wrote the Holy Sonnets. He was made vicar in 1625 but suffered from severe infections of the mouth which caused his death in 1931. He would've become a bishop in 1930. Before his death, he preached his own funeral sermon, Death's Duel. His last piece was The Hymn to God, my God, in my sicknesse. Donne is a very witty poet. In The Flea, like in many other poems, he tries to convince a young woman to sleep with him. He compares giving up her virginity her virginity to the size of a flea go show how "unimportant" it is. "It suck'd me first and now sucks thee" is used in the first stanza to argue that because their bloods are mixed inside the flea, they are married and therefore, making love would not be a sin.

Cosby Park :: Descriptive Essay About A Place

Cosby Park The Great Smoky Mountains is one of the most famous parks in the United States. The park is known for its beautiful mountains and streams, clean air, and frequent rain. My local part of the park is Cosby, located in the Great Smoky Mountains eighty-two miles west of the East Tennessee State University campus (www.nps.gov.grsm.prcoscg.htm). The park is a wonderful, activity-filled stop for any student wanting to get away for a few days. The drive to Cosby passes by quickly because of all the interesting sites along the way. For example, Newport is home of the Thai Kitchen which has the best food I have ever tasted for only about $8.00 per person. The restaurant offers a variety of dishes such as chicken fried rice, spicy chicken basil fried rice, beef and broccoli and the excellent appetizers of egg rolls and crispy wontons. After stopping for dinner at the Thai Kitchen, you can travel 11 miles west to the Kyle Carver Orchard. The Kyle Carver Orchard was established in 1942 and spreads for over 75 acres. The orchard is known for its fresh cider and delicious apple pies that are fresh baked throughout the day (Heritage Tour 1). After eating your dessert at the Kyle Carver Orchard, you can travel the remaining seven miles to the park. Cosby is nestled in a prime spot located thirty minutes from Douglas Lake, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Dollywood. The park has a large picnic area that is known for its frequent visits by the bears that love to snack on the tourists' picnic lunches. The park also offers year-around camping with a special camping area designated for those people with horses. The park has 175 camping sites, so the camping areas are very plentiful for any student wanting to camp for a few days (www.nps.gov/grsm/prcoscg.htm). Personally, my favorite things about the park are its hiking trails, the Low Gap and Appalachian Trails. The Low Gap hiking trail passes through the freezing Cosby Creek and continues along a beautiful scenic path. The paths are for hikers of any age because of their moderate trail grade. The paths host a variety of unusual flora and fauna including deer, snakes, and bears. In fact, I have never been on the trail without seeing a snake slithering along its path swimming in the creek. My favorite attraction along the Low Gap Trail is the natural spring that is piped down from the mountains.

Reputation Management :: Visibility, Transparency, Responsiveness

The research suggests that reputation comes from relationships and trust. Fombrun (1996) stated that to have a positive reputation managers must invest in building and maintaining good relationships. Building relationships with the company’s publics can result in a higher opinion of their reputation. These relationships also builds trust in the company. â€Å"Trust, like reputation, can take years and resources to build up, and while it may be difficult to break, it, again, like reputation, can take considerable time and even more resources to restore† (Bronn, 2010, pg. 310). With both relationships and trust, a company must be communicating with its publics. Van Riel and Fombrun (2007) developed six key communications principles that yield a high reputation: visibility, distinctiveness, authenticity, transparency, consistency and responsiveness (pg. 313). Applying these six principles to the Carnival case, we can determine if Carnival used them in managing their reput ation. Visibility deals with the public and market prominence of the organization or how much people know about the organization (pg 313). During this crisis, Carnival used social media to keep people updated about what was happening at sea. Before this instance, Carnival was a common name in the cruise industry. According to the Carnival website (www.carnival.com) Carnival is apart of the World’s Leading Cruise Lines alliance. Coombs (2010) said that, â€Å"a strong reputation prior to a crisis is an asset to organizations during the crisis† (pg. 478). Having this positive reputation before hand should help Carnival in the end with customers. Distinctiveness are the characteristics that set an organization apart from others. These characteristics can be its logo, slogan and trademarks (pg. 314). Carnival has all three, a distinct logo, slogan â€Å"Fun for All. All for Fun.† and trademarks on the names of ships, â€Å"Splendor†, â€Å"Freedom† and †Å"Liberty† to name a few of the 23 different ships (www.carnival.com). Authenticity helps make an organization real, genuine, accurate, reliable and trustworthy (pg. 314). By using social media and addressing the crisis head on, the company appears trustworthy to people. Carnival took responsibility for the accident and tried to solve it as quick as possible. The CEO of Carnival also made a public apology to those on the ship and to Carnival customers. Next, transparency is how much information and access stakeholders have about an organization (pg. 314). The Carnival Cruise Director John Heald went to his blog to offer updates and on-broad accounts to consumers and the press. Reputation Management :: Visibility, Transparency, Responsiveness The research suggests that reputation comes from relationships and trust. Fombrun (1996) stated that to have a positive reputation managers must invest in building and maintaining good relationships. Building relationships with the company’s publics can result in a higher opinion of their reputation. These relationships also builds trust in the company. â€Å"Trust, like reputation, can take years and resources to build up, and while it may be difficult to break, it, again, like reputation, can take considerable time and even more resources to restore† (Bronn, 2010, pg. 310). With both relationships and trust, a company must be communicating with its publics. Van Riel and Fombrun (2007) developed six key communications principles that yield a high reputation: visibility, distinctiveness, authenticity, transparency, consistency and responsiveness (pg. 313). Applying these six principles to the Carnival case, we can determine if Carnival used them in managing their reput ation. Visibility deals with the public and market prominence of the organization or how much people know about the organization (pg 313). During this crisis, Carnival used social media to keep people updated about what was happening at sea. Before this instance, Carnival was a common name in the cruise industry. According to the Carnival website (www.carnival.com) Carnival is apart of the World’s Leading Cruise Lines alliance. Coombs (2010) said that, â€Å"a strong reputation prior to a crisis is an asset to organizations during the crisis† (pg. 478). Having this positive reputation before hand should help Carnival in the end with customers. Distinctiveness are the characteristics that set an organization apart from others. These characteristics can be its logo, slogan and trademarks (pg. 314). Carnival has all three, a distinct logo, slogan â€Å"Fun for All. All for Fun.† and trademarks on the names of ships, â€Å"Splendor†, â€Å"Freedom† and †Å"Liberty† to name a few of the 23 different ships (www.carnival.com). Authenticity helps make an organization real, genuine, accurate, reliable and trustworthy (pg. 314). By using social media and addressing the crisis head on, the company appears trustworthy to people. Carnival took responsibility for the accident and tried to solve it as quick as possible. The CEO of Carnival also made a public apology to those on the ship and to Carnival customers. Next, transparency is how much information and access stakeholders have about an organization (pg. 314). The Carnival Cruise Director John Heald went to his blog to offer updates and on-broad accounts to consumers and the press.

Theory of Communication

Theories of communication A theory is a set of ideas that can be used to understand, explain and make predictions about something. Theories of communication provide ways of analysing communication between people and give care practitioners an insight into what works and why. Michael Argyle (1925–2002) was a social psychologist who researched and developed theories about human communication and interpersonal interaction. He focused on both verbal and non-verbal communication, carrying out experimental research to test and develop his theoretical ideas (see Argyle, 1967, 1969 and 1975).Argyle’s ‘communication cycle’ theory sets out to understand, explain and predict how communication occurs between people in one-to-one situations. In The Psychology of Interpersonal Behaviour (1967), Argyle proposed that communication is a skill that needs to be learnt and practised like any other skill. Argyle’s (1967) claim was that human communication is essentially a two-way process that involves people sending, receiving and responding to each other’s verbal and non-verbal messages.The receiver of the message keeps the communication going by responding to or by giving feedback to the original message. This process then repeats and builds into a communication cycle. Care practitioners need to have an understanding of group processes and patterns of group behaviour in order to interact and communicate well in the various group situations that they experience. Understanding how groups form and then develop is an important part of this. Bruce Tuck man (1965) outlined a model of group development based around a number of stages, or a sequence, of group activity.Tuck man’s (1965) theory suggests that groups must go through these stages to be effective and that the pattern of communication in each of the four stages is different 1. Forming involves group members coming together and asking basic questions about the purpose and aims of t he group, each member’s role within it and commitment to it. In this first stage of group development, members tend to feel quite anxious, often prioritise their own interests and may feel ‘disorientated’ in their interactions with others. A leader usually emerges in this early stage. . Storming, the second stage, is a period of conflict within the group. Members may argue over the purpose of the group, may contest its aims and sometimes resist the authority and role of the leader. In this stage, power and control are the main issues. Eventually, the purpose of the group and the roles within it become clearer as power and control battles are won and lost. Without tolerance and patience at this stage, the team will fail. Co-operation between members should begin to develop towards the end of this phase. . Norming is the stage when the group’s identity develops. A strong set of shared values, norms of behaviour and a group ‘culture’ emerge. The group arrives at one goal and agrees a shared plan to achieve it. The group becomes more cohesive and group members tend to work together to resolve conflicts. 4. Performing is the stage when the group finally matures and gets down to working effectively. Members tend to focus more on the overall goal rather than on relationships between themselves.Relationships have, by this stage, become more comfortable and are based on trust and mutual support. Reflect A group may or may not reach the performing stage: effective, high performing teams do but other less effective groups may get stuck at one of the earlier stages, particularly if they are unable to resolve the challenges or crises associated with that stage of group development. Effective communication within a group situation is a key influence on whether a group reaches the performing stag Theory of Communication Case Study Theory of Communication Introduction to Communication Good communication and interpersonal skills are vital for success in business. The ability to communicate clearly and persuasively is often seen as the key characteristic of the effective manager or administrator. High level communication skills are also essential in specialised functions, such as marketing, human resource management, public relations and secretarial. Communication is the means by which individual employees convey their wants, ideas and feelings to others,( not only managers or specialists). Process of Communication ContextMedium/Channel Message Feedback Noise Communication can be defined as the process by which, ideas, information, opinions, attitude, and feeling are conveyed from one person to another. The communicator or sender is the person who initiates the conversation by sending a message. The receiver is the person who receives the messages and completes the communication by responding to it. Mo st communication is two way and has to have both a sender and receiver, either face to face or by other means such as telephone, letters, e-mails etc. Body language also plays a big part in communication. Sender EncodingReceiver Decoding Communication codes * Written language * Spoken language * Dress * Body language * Pictures, photographs and graphic illustrations. * Sign language, Braille. * Numbers * Computer language Communication Medium The medium is the means used to transmit the message. Media can be categorised into five headings; written, oral, visual, electronic and mass. Written media can provide a written record, can relay complex information, can be carefully thought out and mistakes can be edited. It takes time to produce and is more impersonal than speech. * Letter * Report * Memo * Press Release * Company magazine Advertising leaflet Oral media is more direct and personal, feedback is immediate. Oral media can be supported by body language. But there may be no recor d of what is said and if you say something you don’t mean you cannot take it back. * Conversation face to face or telephone * Interview * Meeting * Presentation * Oral briefing Visual media can have an immediate impact, it can support verbal presentations. * Nonverbal * Diagrams * Charts * Photographs * Models Electronic media provides fast communication over long distance, can carry both verbal and visual information. * Video * Telephone * E-mail * InternetMass media is an important source of information; it can reach a large number of people and can be used for advertising. * Television * Radio * Press * Film Channels of Communication The channel is the air that carries sound waves between speaker and listener such as: * Television channels * Radio * Postal system * Computer networks * Courier services * Telephone Barriers to Communication Effective communication is difficult and mistakes are often made. We see this in everyday life, we complain when someone doesn’t respond to our messages in the way we expect, they do not understand what we really meant to say.In business, difficulties with communication can cause disruption. Good business opportunities can be lost or disastrous management decisions made. A serious breakdown in communication can put the very future of a company at risk. Communication errors can never be completely eliminated. Nevertheless, we are likely to be more successful communicators if we are aware of the factors that cause communication to fail. Some obstacles stand in the way of communication and some of these can be avoided or overcome. Physical Barriers Among these barriers are poor hearing or eyesight, illness, tiredness, or stress.Other barriers can be, distractions such as an office that is too warm or too cold, uncomfortable seating, poor telephone connection or the noise of traffic heard from outside. If a person has a medical problem this may be sorted by a visit to a doctor. If the office is too hot or too col d the thermostat may be altered and maybe closing the window would help to block out the noise. Language Barriers To convey a message correctly it should be written clearly in a language that the receiver will understand. Mistakes in spelling can harm communication.Sometimes local jargon can disrupt good communication; it may be acceptable in a specialised trade or profession. Slang or local accents may be difficult for outsiders to understand. Nonverbal Barriers Facial expression, posture and eye movement all reveal our feelings and attitudes to the receiver. When there is conflict between a verbal and non verbal signal, it is the nonverbal signal that tends to be believed. A person may say that they are outgoing and confident but this might be contradicted by nervous body language. Poor Listening Good listening is often the most important part of communication.Listening give us a better understanding of the other persons point of view, maintains friendships and helps business coll aboration. When not listening properly, we often miss an important point in a conversation. Problems with Perception Perception is how we make sense of ourselves and the world around us. We perceive the world through the senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. We also have some physiological based perceptions such as sensation of pain, heat, cold etc. We have mental perceptions such as thoughts, daydreams and fantasies.The brain registers these different stimuli and organises them into shapes and patterns that we can understand. Mistakes can arise if we think other people perceive things the same way that we do ourselves. Often they don’t and this is a common cause of communication failure. Attitudinal Barriers Stereotyping, prejudice and unwanted attribution are among the attitudinal barriers that can do the most damage to our ability to our ability to relate effectively to others. * Stereotyping: We stereotype other people when we assume they will behave in a cert ain way just because of their appearance, role or a particular social group.We may be surprised to find that conservatively dressed people have radical views or that the big person wearing a studded jacket and driving a Harley Davidson turns out to be as gentle as a lamb. Judging by appearance gives an incomplete and often distorted picture of what a person is really like. * Prejudice: Prejudice is an attitude of hostility based on faulty generalisations, such as stereotypes. It may be directed at individuals or groups. Prejudice can be damaging to communications if a person believes that another person is inferior, subversive, threatening, not fully part of the community and so on.If we consider another person less than ourselves, we are unlikely to value what they have to say. Prejudice is often a part of ignorance but maybe better education will improve this. * Attribution:Even when we avoid stereotyping, we still make the mistake of judging people on flimsy evidence. We should n ot listen to what other people say, this can sometimes be misleading. Having an accurate picture of people is vital for effective communication, but it is something that can only be built up slowly through time, insight and regular contact. The Principles of Effective Communication As a Communicator 1.Think carefully about your objectives before communicating. What do you want to achieve? Do you want to inform, persuade, advise or consult the receiver? What kind of response do you hope to get? When you have answered questions like these then you can think about the content of the message and how you define it. 2. Put yourself in the communicator’s shoes. The receiver’s perception may not be the same as yours. They may think differently or have different opinions. You may need to communicate with tact and sensitivity. 3. Choose the right medium or combination of media. Difficulties can arise if the wrong medium is used.If you try to describe a complicated process by spe ech alone the audience may not understand it. A combination of words and graphics may work better. 4. Organise your ideas and express them carefully. Take time to structure your ideas in a logical sequence. When choosing your words, take into consideration the receivers understanding and linguistic ability. Try to use words that the receiver will understand. Use language suitable to the communication taking place, informal language that may be used on the shop floor may not be suitable or appropriate for a business meeting. 5.Consider the context, breakdowns in communication often occur because the receiver is given information at the wrong time or place. Even important messages can be forgotten if the receiver is busy or preoccupied with something else. 6. Check for feedback, make sure your message has been received and understood. When speaking face to face look for signs of puzzlement in your listeners, be prepared to explain if necessary. Although the main responsibility for com municating a message rests with the sender, the receiver also has to listen and make sure they understand and relay the message to the right person. As a Receiver 1.Give the message your full attention. Many messages are misunderstood because the receiver is not concentrating, they are daydreaming, or there are too many distractions. 2. Interpret the message correctly. This requires effort and proper listening, if you are unsure of what is said; ask for it to be repeated. Check the meaning of unfamiliar words or references. In spoken communication listen actively and with empathy. Be alert for nuances that may subtly alter the meaning of the message. 3. Keep an open mind, you should not allow dislike of the communicator, or disagreement with their beliefs to influence your judgement.Make an objective assessment of the message no matter what your relationship with the sender. 4. Record information you are likely to forget. You should write down any information you are likely to forge t such as, telephone numbers, names, dates etc. The information should be recorded properly in a secure place, not on a scrap of paper that can get lost among other papers on a busy desk. 5. Respond appropriately to the communicator by providing feedback, following up enquiries or whatever action is necessary.

United Kingdom Political System

The United Kingdom is a unitary democracy governed within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is the head of state and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by Her Majesty's Government, on behalf of and by the consent of the Monarch, as well as by the devolved Governments of Scotland and Wales, and the Northern Ireland Executive.Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as in the Scottish parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The highest national court is the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The UK political system is a multi-party system. Since the 1920s, the two largest political parties have been the Conservative Party and the Labor Party.Before the Labor Party rose in British politics the Liberal Party was the other major political party along with the Conservatives. Though coalition and minority governments have been an occasional feature of parliamentary politics, the first-past-the-post electoral system used for general elections tends to maintain the dominance of these two parties, though each has in the past century relied upon a third party to deliver a working majority in Parliament. The current Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government is the first coalition since 1974.With the partition of Ireland, Northern Ireland received home rule in 1920, though civil unrest meant direct rule was restored in 1972. Support for nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales led to proposals for devolution in the 1970s though only in the 1990s did devolution actually happen. Today, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each possess a legislature and executive, with devolution in Northern Ireland being conditional on participation in certain all-Ireland institutions.The United Kingdom remains responsible for non-devolved matters and, in the case of Northern Ireland, co-operates with the Republic of Ireland. It is a matter of dispute as to whether increased autonomy and devolution of executive and legislative powers has contributed to a reduction in support for independence. The principal pro-independence party, the Scottish National Party, won an overall majority of MSPs at the 2011 Scottish parliament elections and now forms the Scottish Government administration, with plans to hold a referendum on negotiating for independence. In Northern Ireland,the largest Pro-Belfast Agreement party, Sinn Fà ©in, not only advocates Northern Ireland's unification with the Republic of Ireland, but also abstains from taking their elected seats in the Westminster government, as this would entail taking a pledge of allegiance to the British monarch. The constitution of the United Kingdom is uncodified, being made up of constitutional conventions, statutes and other elements such as EU law. This system of government, known as the Westminster system, has been adopted by other countries, especially those that were formerly parts of the British Empire.The United Kingdom is also responsible for several dependencies, which fall into two categories: the Crown dependencies, in the immediate vicinity of the UK, and British Overseas Territories, which originated as colonies of the British Empire. The British Monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, is the Chief of State of the United Kingdom. Though she takes little direct part in government, the Crown remains the fount in which ultimate executive power over Government lies.These powers are known as Royal Prerogative and can be used for a vast amount of things, such as the issue or withdrawal of passports, to the dismissal of the Prime Minister or even the Declaration of War. The powers are delegated from the Monarch personally, in the name of the Crown, and can be handed to various ministers, or other Officers of the Crown, and can purposely bypass the consent of Parliament. The head of Her Majesty's Government; the Prime Minister, also has weekly meetings with the sovereign, where she may express her feelings, warn, or advise the Prime Minister in the Government's work.According to the uncodified constitution of the United Kingdom, the monarch has the following powers: Domestic Powers The monarch appoints a Prime Minister as the head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, guided by the strict convention that the Prime Minister should be the member of the House of Commons most likely to be able to form a Government with the support of that House. In practice, this means that the leader of the political party with an absolute majority of seats in the House of Commons is chosen to be the Prime Minister.If no party has an absolute majority, the leader of the largest party is given the first opportunity to form a coalition. The Prime Minister then selects the other Ministers which make up the Government and act as political heads of the various Government Departments. About twenty of the most senior government ministers make up the Cabinet and approximately 100 ministers in total comprise the government. In accordance with constitutional convention, all ministers within the government are either Members of Parliament or peers in the House of Lords.As in some other parliamentary systems of government (especially those based upon the Westminster System), the executive (called â€Å"the government†) is drawn from and is answerable to Parliament – a successful vote of no confidence will force the government either to resign or to seek a parliamentary dissolution and a general election. In practice, members of parliament of all major parties are strictly controlled by whips who try to ensure they vote according to party policy. If the government has a large majority, then they are very unlikely to lose enough votes to be unable to pass legislation.The Prime Mini ster and the Cabinet David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2010) The Prime Minister is the most senior minister in the Cabinet. She/he is responsible for chairing Cabinet meetings, selecting Cabinet ministers (and all other positions in Her Majesty's government), and formulating government policy. The Prime Minister is the de facto leader of the UK government, since s/he exercises executive functions that are nominally vested in the sovereign (by way of the Royal Prerogatives). Historically, the British monarch was the sole source of executive powers in the government.However, following the rule of the Hanoverian monarchs, an arrangement of a â€Å"Prime Minister† chairing and leading the Cabinet began to emerge. Over time, this arrangement became the effective executive branch of government, as it assumed the day-to-day functioning of the British government away from the sovereign. Theoretically, the Prime Minister is primus inter pares (Latin for â€Å"first among equals†) among his/her Cabinet colleagues. While the Prime Minister is the senior Cabinet Minister, s/he is theoretically bound to make executive decisions in a collective fashion with the other Cabinet ministers.The Cabinet, along with the PM, consists of Secretaries of State from the various government departments, the Lord High Chancellor, the Lord Privy Seal, the President of the Board of Trade, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Ministers without portfolio. Cabinet meetings are typically held weekly, while Parliament is in session Government departments and the Civil Service The Government of the United Kingdom contains a number of ministries known mainly, though not exclusively as departments, Ministry of Defense.These are politically led by a Government Minister who is often a Secretary of State and member of the Cabinet. He or she may also be supported by a number of junior Ministers. In practice, several government departments and Ministers have respo nsibilities that cover England alone, with devolved bodies having responsibility for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, (for example – the Department of Health), or responsibilities that mainly focus on England (such as the Department for Education). Implementation of the Minister's decisions is carried out by a permanent politically neutral organization known as the civil service.Its constitutional role is to support the Government of the day regardless of which political party is in power. Unlike some other democracies, senior civil servants remain in post upon a change of Government. Administrative management of the Department is led by a head civil servant known in most Departments as a Permanent Secretary. The majority of the civil service staff in fact work in executive agencies, which are separate operational organizations reporting to Departments of State. â€Å"Whitehall† is often used as a metonym for the central core of the Civil Service.This is because m ost Government Departments have headquarters in and around the former Royal Palace Whitehall. Legislatures The UK Parliament is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom (i. e. , there is parliamentary sovereignty), and Government is drawn from and answerable to it. Parliament is bicameral, consisting of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. There is also a devolved Scottish Parliament and devolved Assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland, with varying degrees of legislative authority. UK ParliamentHouse of Commons It is a Sand-colored building of Gothic design with large clock-tower. Parliament meets at the Palace of Westminster British House of Commons The Countries of the United Kingdom are divided into parliamentary constituencies of broadly equal population by the four Boundary Commissions. Each constituency elects a Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons at General Elections and, if required, at by-elections. As of 2010 there are 650 constituencies ( there were 646 before that year's general election.Of the 650 MPs, all but one – Lady Sylvia Hermon – belong to a political party. In modern times, all Prime Ministers and Leaders of the Opposition have been drawn from the Commons, not the Lords. Alec Douglas-Home resigned from his peerages days after becoming Prime Minister in 1963, and the last Prime Minister before him from the Lords left in 1902 (the Marquis of Salisbury). One party usually has a majority in Parliament, because of the use of the First Past the Post electoral system, which has been conducive in creating the current two party system.The monarch normally asks a person commissioned to form a government simply whether it can survive in the House of Commons, something which majority governments are expected to be able to do. In exceptional circumstances the monarch asks someone to ‘form a government' with a parliamentary minority which in the event of no party having a majority requires the formati on of a coalition government. This option is only ever taken at a time of national emergency, such as war-time. It was given in 1916 to Andrew Bonar Law, and when he declined, to David Lloyd George and in 1940 to Winston Churchill.A government is not formed by a vote of the House of Commons; it is a commission from the monarch. The House of Commons gets its first chance to indicate confidence in the new government when it votes on the Speech from the Throne (the legislative program proposed by the new government). House of Lords The House of Lords was previously a largely hereditary aristocratic chamber, although including life peers, and Lords Spiritual. It is currently mid-way through extensive reforms, the most recent of these being enacted in the House of Lords Act 1999.The house consists of two very different types of member, the Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual. Lords Temporal include appointed members (life peers with no hereditary right for their descendants to sit in the house) and ninety-two remaining hereditary peers, elected from among, and by, the holders of titles which previously gave a seat in the House of Lords. The Lords Spiritual represent the established Church of England and number twenty-six: the Five Ancient Sees (Canterbury, York, London, Winchester and Durham), and the 21 next-most senior bishops.The House of Lords currently acts to review legislation initiated by the House of Commons, with the power to propose amendments, and can exercise a suspensive veto. This allows it to delay legislation if it does not approve it for twelve months. However, the use of vetoes is limited by convention and by the operation of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949: the Lords may not veto the â€Å"money bills† or major manifesto promises (see Salisbury convention). Persistent use of the veto can also be overturned by the Commons, under a provision of the Parliament Act 1911.Often governments will accept changes in legislation in order to avoid b oth the time delay, and the negative publicity of being seen to clash with the Lords. However the Lords still retain a full veto in acts which would extend the life of Parliament beyond the 5 year term limit introduced by the Parliament Act 1911. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 outlined plans for a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom to replace the role of the Law Lords. The House of Lords was replaced as the final court of appeal on civil cases within the United Kingdom on 1 October 2009, by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.Devolved national legislatures Though the UK parliament remains the sovereign parliament, Scotland has a parliament and Wales and Northern Ireland have assemblies. De jure, each could have its powers broadened, narrowed or changed by an Act of the UK Parliament. However, Scotland has a tradition of popular sovereignty as opposed to parliamentary sovereignty and the fact that the Scottish parliament was established following a referendum would make it p olitically difficult to significantly alter its powers without popular consent.The UK is therefore a unitary state with a devolved system of government. This contrasts with a federal system, in which sub-parliaments or state parliaments and assemblies have a clearly defined constitutional right to exist and a right to exercise certain constitutionally guaranteed and defined functions and cannot be unilaterally abolished by Acts of the central parliament. All three devolved institutions are elected by proportional representation: the Additional Member System is used in Scotland and Wales, and Single Transferable Vote is used in Northern Ireland.England, therefore, is the only country in the UK not to have a devolved English parliament. However, senior politicians of all main parties have voiced concerns in regard to the West Lothian Question, which is raised where certain policies for England are set by MPs from all four constituent nations whereas similar policies for Scotland or Wa les might be decided in the devolved assemblies by legislators from those countries alone.Alternative proposals for English regional government have stalled, following a poorly received referendum on devolved government for the North East of England, which had hitherto been considered the region most in favor of the idea, with the exception of Cornwall, where there is widespread support for a Cornish Assembly, including all five Cornish MPs. England is therefore governed according to the balance of parties across the whole of the United Kingdom. The government has no plans to establish an English parliament or assembly although several pressure groups are calling for one.One of their main arguments is that MPs (and thus voters) from different parts of the UK have inconsistent powers. Currently an MP from Scotland can vote on legislation which affects only England but MPs from England (or indeed Scotland) cannot vote on matters devolved to the Scottish parliament. Indeed, the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is an MP for a Scottish constituency, introduced some laws that only affect England and not his own constituency. This anomaly is known as the West Lothian question.The policy of the UK Government in England was to establish elected regional assemblies with no legislative powers. The London Assembly was the first of these, established in 2000, following a referendum in 1998, but further plans were abandoned following rejection of a proposal for an elected assembly in North East England in a referendum in 2004. Unelected regional assemblies remain in place in eight regions of England. There are two main parties in the United Kingdom: the Conservative Party, and the Labor Party.There is also a significant third party, the Liberal Democrats. The modern Conservative Party was founded in 1834 and is an outgrowth of the Tory movement or party, which began in 1678. Today it is still colloquially referred to as the Tory Party and its members as Tories. The L iberal Democrats were formed in 1988 by a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a Labor breakaway formed in 1981. The Liberals and SDP had contested elections together as the SDP–Liberal Alliance for seven years before.The modern Liberal Party had been founded in 1859 as an outgrowth of the Whig movement or party (which began at the same time as the Tory party and was its historical rival) as well as the Radical and Peelite tendencies. The Liberal Party was one of the two dominant parties (along with the Conservatives) from its founding until the 1920s, when it rapidly declined and was supplanted on the left by the Labor Party, which was founded in 1900 and formed its first government in 1924.Since that time, the Labor and Conservatives parties have been dominant, with the Liberal Democrats also holding a significant number of seats and increasing their share of the vote in parliamentary general elections in the four elections 1992. Conservatives; The Conservative Party won the largest number of seats at the 2010 general election, returning 307 MPs, though not enough to make an overall majority. As a result of negotiations following the election, they entered a formal coalition with the Liberal Democrats to form a majority government.The Conservative party can trace its origin back to 1662, with the Court Party and the Country Party being formed in the aftermath of the English Civil War. The Court Party soon became known as the Tories, a name that has stuck despite the official name being ‘Conservative'. The term â€Å"Tory † originates from the Exclusion Bill crisis of 1678-1681 – the Whigs were those who supported the exclusion of the Roman Catholic Duke of York from the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland, and the Tories were those who opposed it.Both names were originally insults: a â€Å"whiggamore† was a horse drover (See Whiggamore Raid), and a â€Å"tory† (Tà ³raidhe) was an Ir ish term for an outlaw, later applied to Irish Confederates and Irish Royalists, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Generally, the Tories were associated with lesser gentry and the Church of England, while Whigs were more associated with trade, money, larger land holders (or â€Å"land magnates†), expansion and tolerance of Catholicism.The Rochdale Radicals were a group of more extreme reformists who were also heavily involved in the cooperative movement. They sought to bring about a more equal society, and are considered by modern standards to be left-wing. After becoming associated with repression of popular discontent in the years after 1815, the Tories underwent a fundamental transformation under the influence of Robert Peel, himself an industrialist rather than a landowner, who in his 1834 â€Å"Tamworth Manifesto† outlined a new â€Å"Conservative† philosophy of reforming ills while conserving the good.Though Peel's supporters subsequently split from t heir colleagues over the issue of free trade in 1846, ultimately joining the Whigs and the Radicals to form what would become the Liberal Party, Peel's version of the party's underlying outlook was retained by the remaining Tories, who adopted his label of Conservative as the official name of their party. The crushing defeat of the 1997 election saw the Conservative Party lose over half their seats from 1992 and saw the party re-align with public perceptions of them.In 2008, the Conservative Party formed a pact with the Ulster Unionist Party to select joint candidates for European and House of Commons elections; this angered the DUP as by splitting the Unionist vote, republican parties will be elected in some areas. After thirteen years as the official opposition, the Party returned to power as part of a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in 2010. Historically, the party has been the mainland party most pre-occupied by British Unionism, as attested to by the party's full name, the Conservative & Unionist Party.This resulted in the merger between the Conservatives and Joseph Chamberlain's Liberal Unionist Party, composed of former Liberals who opposed Irish home rule. The unionist tendency is still in evidence today, manifesting sometimes as a skepticism or opposition to devolution, firm support for the continued existence of the United Kingdom in the face of separatist nationalism, and a historic link with the cultural unionism of Northern Ireland. Labor; The Labor Party won the second largest number of seats in the House of Commons at the 2010 general election, with 258 MPs.The history of the Labor party goes back to 1900 when a Labor Representation Committee was established which changed its name to â€Å" ­Ã‚ ­The Labor Party† in 1906. After the First World War, this led to the demise of the Liberal Party as the main reformist force in British politics. The existence of the Labor Party on the left of British politics led to a slow waning of energ y from the Liberal Party, which has consequently assumed third place in national politics.After performing poorly in the elections of 1922, 1923 and 1924, the Liberal Party was superseded by the Labor Party as the party of the left. Following two brief spells in minority governments in 1924 and 1929–1931, the Labor Party had its first true victory after World War II in the 1945 â€Å"khaki election†. Throughout the rest of the twentieth century, Labor governments alternated with Conservative governments. The Labor Party suffered the â€Å"wilderness years† of 1951-1964 (three straight General Election defeats) and 1979-1997 (four straight General Election defeats).During this second period, Margaret Thatcher, who became leader of the Conservative party in 1975, made a fundamental change to Conservative policies, turning the Conservative Party into an economic neoliberal party. In the General Election of 1979 she defeated James Callaghan's troubled Labor governme nt after the winter of discontent. For most of the 1980s and the 1990s, Conservative governments under Thatcher and her successor John Major pursued policies of privatization, anti-trade-unionism, and, for a time, monetarism, now known collectively as Thatcherism.The Labor Party elected left-winger Michael Foot as their leader after their 1979 election defeat, and he responded to dissatisfaction with the Labor Party by pursuing a number of radical policies developed by its grass-roots members. In 1981 several right-wing Labor MPs formed a breakaway group called the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a move which split Labor and is widely believed to have made Labor unelectable for a decade. The SDP formed an alliance with the Liberal Party which contested the 1983and 1987 general elections as a centrist alternative to Labor and the Conservatives. After some initial success, the SDP did not prosper (partly due to its unfavorable distribution of votes in the FPTP electoral system), and wa s accused by some of splitting the anti-Conservative vote. The SDP eventually merged with the Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democrats in 1988. Support for the new party has increased since then, and the Liberal Democrats (often referred to as LibDems) in 1997 and 2001 gained an increased number of seats in the House of Commons.The Labor Party was badly defeated in the Conservative landslide of the 1983 general election, and Michael Foot was replaced shortly thereafter by Neil Kinnock as leader. Kinnock expelled the far left Militant tendency group (now called the Socialist Party of England and Wales) and moderated many of the party's policies. Yet he was in turn replaced by John Smith after Labor defeats in the 1987 and 1992 general elections. Tony Blair became leader of the Labor party after John Smith's sudden death from a heart attack in 1994.He continued to move the Labor Party towards the ‘center' by loosening links with the unions and embracing many of Margaret Thatc her's liberal economic policies. This, coupled with the professionalizing of the party machine's approach to the media, helped Labor win a historic landslide in the 1997 General Election, after 18 years of Conservative government. Some observers say the Labor Party had by then morphed from a democratic socialist party to a social democratic party, a process which delivered three general election victories but alienated some of its core base – leading to the formation of the Socialist Labor Party (UK).Liberal Democrats; The Liberal Democrats won the third largest number of seats at the 2010 general election, returning 57 MPs. The Conservative Party failed to win an overall majority, and the Liberal Democrats entered government for the first time as part of a coalition. The Liberal Democrats were formed in 1988 by a merger of the Liberal Party with the Social Democratic Party, but can trace their origin back to the Whigs and the Rochdale Radicals who evolved into the Liberal Pa rty. The term ‘Liberal Party' was first used officially in 1868, though it had been in use colloquially for decades beforehand.The Liberal Party formed a government in 1868 and then alternated with the Conservative Party as the party of government throughout the late 19th century and early 20th century. The Liberal Democrats are heavily a party on Constitutional and Political Reforms, including changing the voting system for General Elections (UK Alternative Vote referendum, 2011), abolishing the House of Lords and replacing it with a 300 member elected Senate, introducing Fixed Five Year Parliaments, and introducing a National Register of Lobbyists.They also claim to champion of fairness and social mobility, notably in government where they have introduced legislation introducing a pupil premium – funding for schools directed at the poorest students to give them an equal chance in life – equal marriage for homosexual couples and increasing the income tax thresho ld so that no one will pay anything on the first  £10,000 they earn. Other parliamentary parties The Green Party of England and Wales gained its second MP, Caroline Lucas, in the 2010 General Election (the first MP was Cynog Dafis, Ceredigion 1992 who was elected on a joint Plaid Cyru/Green Party ticket).It also has seats in the European Parliament, two seats on the London Assembly and around 120 local councilors. The Respect party, a left-wing group that came out of the anti-war movement has one MP, George Galloway. It also has a small number of seats on local councils across the country. There are usually a small number of Independent politicians in parliament with no party allegiance. In modern times, this has usually occurred when a sitting member leaves their party, and some such MPs have been re-elected as independents.The only current Independent MP is Lady Hermon, previously of the Ulster Unionist Party. However, since 1950 only two new members have been elected as indepen dents without having ever stood for a major party: Martin Bell represented the Tatton constituency in Cheshire between 1997 and 2001. He was elected following a â€Å"sleaze† scandal involving the sitting Conservative MP, Neil Hamilton—Bell, a BBC journalist, stood as an anticorruption independent candidate, and the Labor and Liberal Democrat parties withdrew their candidates from the election.Dr. Richard Taylor MP was elected for the Wyre Forest constituency in the 2001 on a platform opposing the closure of Kidderminster hospital. He later established Health Concern, the party under which he ran in 2005. Current political landscape Since winning the largest number of seats and votes in the 2010 general election, the Conservatives under David Cameron are now behind the Labor Party now led by Ed Miliband. Their coalition partners have also experienced a decline in support in opinion polls.At the same time, support for the UK Independence Party has shown a considerable a dvance, with some polls now placing them in third place ahead of the Lib Dems. UKIP's growing strength was illustrated by the result of the Eastleigh by-election in which the party advanced by 24% to take second place from the Conservatives, less than 5% behind the Lib Dems who retained the seat. Local government The UK is divided into a variety of different types of Local Authorities, with different functions and responsibilities.England has a mix of two-tier and single-tier councils in different parts of the country. In Greater London, a unique two-tier system exists, with power shared between the London borough councils, and the Greater London Authority which is headed by an elected mayor. Unitary Authorities are used throughout Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. European Union Further information: European Movement UK, Euroskepticism in the United Kingdom, and Members of the European Parliament from the United Kingdom.The United Kingdom first joined the European Economic Comm unity in January 1973, and has remained a member of the European Union (EU) that it evolved into; UK citizens, and other EU citizens resident in the UK, elect 78 members to represent them in the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg. The UK's membership in the Union has been objected to over questions of sovereignty,[27] and in recent years there have been divisions in both major parties over whether the UK should form greater ties within the EU, or reduce the EU's supranational powers.Opponents of greater European integration are known as â€Å"Euroskeptics†, while supporters are known as â€Å"Europhiles†. Division over Europe is prevalent in both major parties, although the Conservative Party is seen as most divided over the issue, both whilst in Government up to 1997 and after 2010, and between those dates as the opposition. However, the Labor Party is also divided, with conflicting views over UK adoption of the euro whilst in Government (1997–2010) , although the party is largely in favor of further integration where in the country's interest.UK nationalists have long campaigned against European integration. The strong showing of the euroskeptic United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) in the 2004 European Parliament elections has shifted the debate over UK relations with the EU. In March 2008, Parliament decided to not hold a referendum on the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, signed in December 2007. [28] This was despite the Labor government promising in 2004 to hold a referendum on the previously proposed Constitution for Europe.