Identify three accomplishments in your professional career and explain Essay - 1

Identify three accomplishments in your professional career and explain how they demonstrate your potential to become a successful manager - Essay Example This was mainly due to the lack of transparency between management and employees. My firm believes that an organization can reach its maximum potential if its members are allowed to honestly provide as well as accept constructive feedback as it makes the circumstances conducive for mutual growth. Following this belief, I took the risk of singlehandedly approaching the higher management and suggesting them to foster open communication where employees and the management could discuss the sales and marketing plans with each other as a team. Initially, my proposal met with disapproval and I was criticized for being a non-conformist. Nevertheless, the skepticism soon turned into acknowledgement with the implementation of the communication policy as per my suggestion. Management realized the benefits of having the company share future plans with the employees more responsively. Accordingly, it opened a new channel between the employees and the management. Later, I asked myself what had mad e me flow against the main stream. It dawned upon me that this incident was an outcome of the very character-building exercise that I was doing since childhood. That exercise encouraged me to rise and face such situations with integrity and perseverance. I was the leader on a project for a pharmaceutical client. We had to implement a SharePoint – InfoPath solution. As it was our first time with a pharmaceutical client, we just made sure that the estimates were objective and optimistic enough to win us the complete project. The actual design consumed considerably lesser time to be made than it does normally, though I strongly believe that if 80 per cent of the total time on a project is spent on designing and clarifying issues, development takes no more than 20 per cent of the time. I resolved to take added responsibilities in order to make sure

International Human Resource Management Literature review

International Human Resource Management - Literature review Example Pancevo which operates with three different brands Weissar, Karlbrew and Starivo, merged with Eden Brewery which operates in Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova and Kasakhstan. The joint venture was officially registered on the 25th of August 2003 and the company was renamed Eden Weisser. After the joint venture Eden not only injected a good flow of capital into the organisation but also resorted to quality enhancement measures such as pasteurisation, product rebranding with a new logo, reshaping the bottles and crates, introducing new plastic bottles and relaunching the Weisser brand. Problems in an International Joint Venture The most important feature of any joint venture is the cross cultural differences that two or more organisations located in different countries have to undergo. Cultural differences often influence the manner in which the partners in the joint venture make strategic decisions and solve problems. For example, the Japanese organisations tend to see interfirm allia nces primarily as interpersonal relationships whereas American organisations view them as endurance of design irrespective of the specific managers that are involved. Performance related pay is more popular in USA than in Germany or Japan. Again, recruitment in USA is a short term action as compared to France, UK and Germany. Training and career planning is the most extensive part in USA. Interpartner differences in avoiding uncertainties and long term orientation have a significant negative effect on the survival of the joint venture while differences in power distance, masculinity and individualism do not have any effect on the survival of any joint venture. The structure of parent control also influences the stability of any joint venture. Dominant management structure can minimise coordination costs and hence outperform shared control joint ventures. However, unequal distribution of ownership gives majority shareholders greater power which can be detrimental to the interest of t he minority owner. A balanced ownership is always advocated so the partners’ bargaining power is evenly matched. Ventures that have split ownership have greater chances of success than the ventures that are dominated by one company. Performance of ventures with a shared rate of control is greater. For example, one organisation has a mechanistic culture that is bureaucratic and hierarchal with clearly defined rules and regulations. The other organisation has an organic culture which means that the organisational structure is informal, non-bureaucratic and decentralised. These fundamental differences in culture will result in a severe conflict in the organisation. It was found out that the mutual understanding of each other`s culture is very essential to a successful relationship between two companies. Expatriation management is also an important feature of any cross-cultural joint venture. Expatriates assignment predominantly

Compensation System For Multinational Corporations Economics Essay

Compensation System For Multinational Corporations Economics Essay Global compensation managers that is, everyone involved at any level in pay-related decisions increasingly deal with two areas of focus. They must manage highly complex and turbulent local details while concurrently building and maintaining a unified, strategic pattern of compensation policies, practices and values. For multinationals successfully to manage compensation and benefits requires knowledge of employment and taxation law, customs, environment and employment practices of many foreign countries, familiarity with currency fluctuations and the effect of inflation on compensation and an understanding of why and when special allowances must be supplied and which allowances are necessary in what countries all within the context of shifting political, economic and social conditions. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MULTI NATIONAL CORPORATION (MNC) AND TRANS NATIONAL CORPORATION (TNC) The both multinationals corporations and transnational corporations operate internationally and their compensation or reward system is also similar, but some differences exist between two, which are: MNCs operate in several different countries while transnational implies just across the border as in the US and Canada. Obviously, both operate internationally A MNC has a centralized headquarters is a corporation with extensive ties international operations in more than one foreign country. Examples are Coke, Pepsi, General Electric, Exxon, Wal-Mart, and Mitsubishi. A transnational company has no head office and moves whatever base of operations it has fluidly between its national offices. It is a MNC that operates worldwide without being identified with a national home base i.e. it is said to operate on a borderless basis. Examples are Daewoo, Saint Gobain, Sony, Samsung Group, Shell Oil etc. OBJECTIVES OF INTERNATIONAL COMPENSATION When developing international compensation policies, a firm seeks to satisfy several objectives. The policy should be consistent with the overall strategy, structure and business needs of the multinational. The policy must work to attract and retain staff in the areas where the multinational has the greatest needs and opportunities. Hence the policy must be competitive and recognize factors such as incentive for Foreign Service, tax equalization and reimbursement for reasonable costs. The policy should facilitate the transfer of international employees in the most cost-effective manner for the firm. The policy must give due consideration to equity and ease of administration. The international employee will also have a number of objectives that need to be achieved from the firms compensation policy. First, the employee will expect the policy to offer financial protection in terms of benefits, social security and living costs in the foreign location. Second, the employee will expect a foreign assignment to offer opportunities for financial advancement through income and/or savings. Third, the employee will expect issues such as housing, education of children and recreation to be addressed in the policy. If we contrast the objectives of the multinational and the employee, we see, of course, the potential for many complexities and possible problems, as some of these objectives cannot be maximized on both sides. Firms must rethink the traditional view that local conditions dominate international compensation strategy. COMPENSATION MANAGEMENT OR SYSTEM The type and amount of compensation necessary to attract technically and culturally qualified international managers and technical professionals to the three nationals or country categories involved international human resource management activities from which employees are selected whether the people are: PCNs (parent country nationals) TCNs (third country nationals) HCNs (host country nationals) An expatriate is an employee working in a country other than their country of origin. PCNs (Parent Country Nationals) Those personnel who are of the same nationality as the contracting government or personnel from headquarters They come from the home country of the operation. The policy of using PCNs is usually employed when one or more of the following situations exist: (1) the host country cannot readily supply desired managerial personnel, (2) efficient communication with headquarters is required, and (3) the company adopts a centralized approach to globalization. TCNs (Third Country Nationals) Those personnel of a separate nationality to both the contracting government and the area of operations i.e. whose nation of residence is neither the host country nor the home country. Such an employee normally is recruited from outside the host country and relocated from the point of recruitment to the host country. HCNs (Host Country Nationals) These are Indigs (Indigenous Personnel) / Nationals / Locals those personnel who are indigenous to the area of operations Whose basic residence or home is the host nation. Local colleagues of the expatriate, they are valuable socializing agents, sources of social support, assistance, and friendship to expatriates. Expatriates are more likely to adjust when HCNs engage in this behavior. HR managers focus on their strategic objectives to develop a comprehensive compensation plan, in terms of considering base pay, short and long-term incentives, benefits and growth opportunities. The objective of this kind of strategy is to ensure that both TNC/MNCs long and short-term objectives coexist in the compensation system without overlap, which would duplicate a single pay plan for the same objectives. The purpose of the planning is also designed to ensure that the compensation system attracts and retains the desired employees and that it motivates them to do those things that support the business plan. KEY COMPONENTS OF AN INTERNATIONAL COMPENSATION PROGRAM The area of international compensation is complex primarily because multinationals must cater to three categories of employees: PCNs, TCNs and HCNs. Key components of international compensation are as follows: COMPONENTS OF MNCS COMPENSATION BASIC SALARY ALLOWANCES OTHER BENEFITS 1. Base Salary In a domestic context, base salary denotes the amount of cash compensation serving as a benchmark for other compensation elements (such as bonuses and benefits). For expatriates, it is the primary component of a package of allowances, many of which are directly related to base salary (e.g. Foreign Service premium, cost-of-living allowance, housing allowance) and also the basis for in-service benefits and pension contributions. It may be paid in home or local-country currency. The base salary is the foundation block for international compensation whether the employee is a PCN or TCN. Major differences can occur in the employees package depending on whether the base salary is linked to the home country of the PCN or TCN, or whether an international rate is paid. Foreign Service inducement/hardship premium Parent-country nationals often receive a salary premium as an inducement to accept a foreign assignment or as compensation for any hardship caused by the transfer. The definition of hardship, eligibility for the premium and amount and timing of payment must be addressed. In cases in which hardship is determined, US firms often refer to the US Department of States Hardship Post Differentials Guidelines to determine an appropriate level of payment. Making international comparisons of the cost of living is problematic. These payments are more commonly paid to PCNs than TCNs. Foreign service inducements, if used, are usually made in the form of a percentage of salary, usually 5-40 per cent of base pay. Such payments vary, depending upon the assignment, actual hardship, tax consequences and length of assignment. 2. Allowances Issues concerning allowances can be very challenging to a firm establishing an overall compensation policy, partly because of the various forms of allowances that exist. (a)The cost-of-living allowance (COLA), which typically receives the most attention, involves a payment to compensate for differences in expenditures between the home country and the foreign country (to account for inflation differentials, for example). The COLA may also include payments for housing and utilities, personal income tax or discretionary items. (b)The provision of a housing allowance implies that employees should be entitled to maintain their home-country living standards (or, in some cases, receive accommodation that is equivalent to that provided for similar foreign employees and peers). Other alternatives include company-provided housing, either mandatory or optional, a fixed housing allowance or assessment of a portion of income, out of which actual housing costs are paid. As a firm internationalizes, formal policies become more necessary and efficient. (c)There is also a provision for home leave allowances. Many employers cover the expense of one or more trips back to the home country each year. Firms allowing use of home leave allowances for foreign travel need to be aware that expatriate employees with limited international experience who opt for foreign travel rather than returning home may become more homesick than other expatriates who return home for a reality check with fellow employees and friends. (d)Education allowances for expatriates children are also an integral part of any international compensation policy. Allowances for education can cover items such as tuition, language class tuition, enrolment fees, books and supplies, transportation, room and board and uniforms. PCNs and TCNs usually receive the same treatment concerning educational expenses. (e)Relocation allowances usually cover moving, shipping and storage charges, temporary living expenses, subsidies regarding appliance or car purchases (or sales) and down payments or lease-related charges. Allowances regarding perquisites (cars, club memberships, servants10 and so on) may also need to be considered (usually for more senior positions, but this varies according to location). These allowances are often contingent upon tax-equalization policies and practices in both the home and the host countries. (f)Spouse assistance to help guard against or offset income lost by an expatriates spouse as a result of relocating abroad. Although some firms may pay an allowance to make up for a spouses lost income, US firms are beginning to focus on providing spouses with employment opportunities abroad, either by offering job-search assistance or employment in the firms foreign office (subject to a work visa being available). (g)Multinationals generally pay allowances in order to encourage employees to take international assignments and to keep employees whole relative to home standards. In terms of housing, companies usually pay a tax-equalized housing allowance in order to discourage the purchase of housing and/or to compensate for higher housing costs. This allowance is adjusted periodically based on estimates of both local and foreign housing costs. 3. Benefits The complexity inherent in international benefits often brings more difficulties than when dealing with compensation. Pension plans are very difficult to deal with country-to-country, as national practices vary considerably. Transportability of pension plans, medical coverage and social security benefits are very difficult to normalize. Firms need to address many issues when considering benefits, including: Whether or not to maintain expatriates in home-country programs, particularly if the firm does not receive a tax deduction for it. Whether firms have the option of enrolling expatriates in host-country benefit programs and/or making up any difference in coverage. Whether expatriates should receive home-country or host-country social security benefits. In some countries, expatriates cannot opt out of local social security programs. In such circumstances, the firm normally pays for these additional costs. Laws governing private benefit practices differ from country to country, and firm practices also vary. Multinationals have generally done a good job of planning for the retirement needs of their PCN employees, but this is generally less the case for TCNs. TCNs may have little or no home-country social security coverage; They may have spent many years in countries that do not permit currency transfers of accrued benefit payments; Or they may spend their final year or two of employment in a country where final average salary is in a currency that relates unfavourably to their home-country currency. In addition to the already discussed benefits, multinationals also provide vacations and special leave. Included as part of the employees regular vacation, annual home leave usually provides airfares for families to return to their home countries. Rest and rehabilitation leave, based on the conditions of the host country, also provides the employees family with free airfares to a more comfortable location near the host country. Emergency provisions are available in case of a death or illness in the family. Employees in hardship locations often receive additional leave expense payments and rest and rehabilitation periods. ADDITIONAL PAYMENTS AND SERVICES Lifestyle enhancement services à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Provision for employee family to learn the local language à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Education training of employee family on local culture, customs and social expectations à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Counseling services for employee family à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Assistance in finding a home at the foreign work site / school suitable education programmes for children dependents à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Company car, driver, domestic staff, and child care à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Use of Fitness facilities / subsidized health care services à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Assistance in joining local civic, social, professional organizations Allowances Premiums à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Foreign Service premium tax equalization allowance à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Temporary living allowance à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Currency protection à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Mobility premium à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Stopover allowance à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Completion of assignment bonus à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Assignment extension bonus à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Emergency loan à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Extended work-week payment APPROACHES TO INTERNATIONAL COMPENSATION There are two main approaches in the area of international compensation The Going Rate Approach (also referred to as the Market Rate Approach) The Balance Sheet Approach (also known as the Build-up Approach). (a)The Going Rate Approach With this approach, the base salary for international transfer is linked to the salary structure in the host country. The multinational usually obtains information from local compensation surveys and must decide whether local nationals (HCNs), expatriates of the same nationality or expatriates of all nationalities will be the reference point in terms of benchmarking. For example, a Japanese bank operating in New York would need to decide whether its reference point would be local US salaries, other Japanese competitors in New York or all foreign banks operating in New York. With the Going Rate Approach, if the location is in a low-pay county, the multinational usually supplements base pay with additional benefits and payments. The Balance Sheet Approach The basic objective is to keep the expatriate whole (that is, maintaining relativity to PCN colleagues and compensating for the costs of an international assignment) through maintenance of home-country living standard plus a financial inducement to make the package attractive. The approach links the base salary for PCNs and TCNs to the salary structure of the relevant home country. For example, a US executive taking up an international position would have his or her compensation package built upon the US base-salary level rather than that applicable to the host country. The key assumption of this approach is that foreign assignees should not suffer a material loss due to their transfer, and this is accomplished through the utilization of what is generally referred to as the Balance-sheet Approach. COMPENSATION ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL SCENARIO Incentives provided to stimulate movement or expatriation to a foreign location/ host country Allowances for repatriation to home country Additional tax burdens placed on employees working in a foreign location Labour regulations in home and host country Cost-of-living allowances in the host country Home country and host country currency fluctuation Formal and informal compensation practices unique to the host country Determining home country for setting base pay of TCNs MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES CONCERNING INTERNATIONAL BENEFITS COMPENSATION Compensation is one of the most complex areas of international human resource management Pay systems must conform to local laws and customs for employee compensation while also fitting into global MNC policies Managers face diverse political systems, laws regulations; confront different economic climates, economic development, tax policies, diverse culture, customs, the role of labor unions, standard of living It is also important for MNCs to consider carefully the motivational use of incentives and rewards among the employees drawn from three national or country categories The traditional function of pay to attract, retain and motivate employees has not changed The emphasis has shifted from the attraction and retention functions to the motivation function. TNC/MNCs must ensure that those skilled employees are compensated for achieving goals that make the international business operations succeed HR managers focus on their strategic objectives to develop a comprehensive compensation plan, in terms of considering base pay, short and long-term incentives, benefits and growth opportunities The objective of this kind of strategy is to ensure that both TNC/MNCs long and short-term objectives coexist in the compensation system without overlap, which would duplicate a single pay plan for the same objectives. The purpose of the planning is also designed to ensure that the compensation system attracts and retains the desired employees and that it motivates them to do those things that support the business plan The compensation costs of a family with children are shifted to hardship allowance for schooling, childcare, increased residence cost and all fringe benefits associated with supporting a family life cycle It may be that international compensation administration is more complex than its domestic counterpart, but not radically different in pattern or form. QUESTIONS:- Q1. What is international compensation system? Explain its objectives. Q2. Explain the parties involved in international compensation system? Q3. List the components of an international compensation program. Q4. Explain the approaches to international compensation system. Q5. What are different challenges faced by the management concerned to various benefits in international compensation program.

Wallace Stevenss The Emperor of Ice-Cream Essay -- Stevens Ice Cream

Wallace Stevens's "The Emperor of Ice-Cream" "The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream," Wallace Steven's writes in his poem "The Emperor of Ice-Cream" (8). This line proclaiming the ice-cream maker as important as an emperor is used metaphorically to describe the selfishness of human nature. One the surface, the poem is about the wake of a poor, old woman. However, if the metaphors and symbols of the poem are examined, the poem's deeper message becomes apparent. The attenders of the wake, who represent human nature, are uninterested in the dead woman; they are only concerned with their own wants - eating ice-cream. Therefore, the "emperor of ice-cream" is truly the mourners' emperor, for the ice-cream maker represents the power of human selfishness, a power present in all humans. Stevens creates nondescript characters, other than in their plainness, for "Emperor," thus making them easy to identify with as general and typical people, who therefore exhibit typical human nature. Furthering their regularity, the dead woman and her mourners are from a fairly low social status. Stevens writes, "Let the wenches dawdle in such dress/ As they are used to wear, and let the boys/ Bring flowers in last month's newspapers" (4-6). The girls' everyday dresses and the boys' flowers wrapped in old newspapers are testaments to their plainness as well as their lack of wealth. Stevens says the dead woman has a "dresser of deal,/ Lacking the three glass knobs" (9-10). Her cheap dresser missing three of its knobs is another example of the near poverty and simplicity of the woman and her mourners. Stephen's characters are simple and normal people; thus, their actions represent the actions and urges of simple and normal human nature. The m... ...ourners directing the light of the lamp probably onto the dead woman gives the impression that they find the dead woman somewhat interesting and important. However, these impressions love and interest are quickly revoked when reminded that "the only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream." In other words, personal pleasure is far more important than duty. "The Emperor of Ice-Cream" begins and ends with the ice-cream maker, thus establishing him as the most important piece of the poem. The ice cream maker is the only emperor; he is the only person, representing human desire, that can truly rule one's life. This power makes "the only emperor...the emperor of ice-cream." Works Cited Stevens, Wallace. "The Emperor of Ice-Cream." Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. Fourth Edition. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: St. Martin's, 1996.

Ghosts Are Real

James Banner Mr. Perrington English 101 9/21/12 Ghosts Are Real! Often when people talk about ghosts or spirit’s they say â€Å"if I’ve never seen a ghost, they’re not real† but I’m here to tell you my experiences or â€Å"encounters† with ghosts. Over my 19 year life span I’ve had a few encounters with ghosts, that will make you reconsider your position on ghosts not being real. Its kind of hard to explain what you see, they’re not like a big sheet that’s portrayed in movies or very detailed people that you see.What I can tell you is my experiences with the ghosts and you can decide if you want to believe me or not. The first time I encountered a ghost was when I was around 9 years old making my little brother (that was 3 at the time) a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was late at night, I can’t remember the exact time but I know it wasn’t over 12 am. We were in the kitchen, the lights were on in the ki tchen but in the dining and living room the lights were off. Suddenly my brother dashes into the dining room and I’m left in the kitchen wondering why.Next I go to see what’s wrong with him, so I walk into the dining room to see why he’s huddled over, and then I see it. Around 5’5 I see a white lady with dark brown hair just standing there looking at me, not only could I distinguish that she was a lady, she also was naked! I’m just shocked, so I stand there for around 5 seconds, (felt like 5 hours to me) then I dash into the living room, grab my little brother and ran upstairs. I’m shivering, scared to death and I just look at my little brother and he’s just standing there like nothing happened.I tell my older brother who was up at the time what happened and he just brushes me off like I made it up. I eventually tell my sister the next day and she tells me that she’s seen her before but only in her dreams, and that frightened m e even more. The second time I encountered a ghost was around when I was 17 years old, it was during winter break and I was home alone. This time It was in the day time around 3 o’clock because I was watching Even Stevens. Remind you that its snowing a bit outside, enough were you can see the footprints where people were walking.I come downstairs, I have my headphones in so its impossible for me to hear anything and I’m fixing me a bowl of cookies and cream ice cream. I look up and see my dog barking and going wild, so I took off my headphones and I hear the alarms going off. I see that both of my front doors were wide open. I know that for sure when I came down stairs that both of the doors were locked and there was no snow prints coming in our out of the house. I’m there just standing disbelief trying to figure out what happened, until the cops called and asked what was going on.I had to give them the code for the alarm so that everything was okay but Iâ€℠¢m still there just wondering how did both of my front doors become wide open, that had double locks on both of them. I looked throughout the house, there was nobody there and I came to the conclusion that it could only be one thing and that thing had to be a ghost. The third time I encountered a ghost was last year when I watching Walking Dead my favorite television show, it was at night time around 10:20. I’m watching Walking Dead, but then it goes on to a commercial break, so I go downstairs to make me a hot pocket.I reach downstairs and all of a sudden I have to use the bathroom, so while I’m in the bathroom all of a sudden I start to hear a loud smacking sound. The thing I actually hear is the sound of the cabinet doors being closed very hard. This goes on for about 10 seconds, so I rush out of the bathroom to check out who was doing this. Remind you that it’s a school night and everyone is asleep. When I come out of the bathroom I see 4 cabinet doors wide open, I’m already paranoid easily because of past encounters so right now I’m in terror.The end signal of my hot pocket being finished in the microwave scared me half to death. I eventually get myself together and start to look around to see if anyone was downstairs. I don’t see anyone downstairs, so I grab my hot pocket and head upstairs to hopefully see if someone was awake and was playing around with me, knowing that anything these days at night being alone by myself will scare me. Sadly its to no avail, nobody is awake and I’m stuck there thinking why does the ghost/spirit keep picking on me. Have I disturbed it in someway some how?My fourth and final encounter with a ghost was this year when I was home alone doing some laundry in the day time. It takes around an hour, hour and a half to finish a load of the laundry from washer to dryer, so when I put in the clothes I went upstairs for a good 20 minutes. I remember this like it was yesterday because i t happened the most recently and spooked me a lot. I remember clearly putting in the clothes, putting in the detergent turning it on and then finishing by putting in these small tide scent balls. When I come back downstairs, in my confusion I hear the washer not washing.Next, I go downstairs, and to my disbelief I see the washer stopped, not only was it stopped but there were clothes hanging out of the washer with the lid standing up. I run upstairs to get my bat and check around the house†¦ And of course there was no one there, it seems all to familiar that these things keep happening to me for no reason. The crazy part about that is my mom told me this happened to her a few times around 15 years ago but my dad did this ritual type of thing and I guess he got the demons out of the house.Both of my parents then tell me there was a man who died in this house. The former owner until he passed his son the house died in this house when he was 93. Its okay if you still don’t believe in ghosts or spirits, I understand, believing in things like these can have you worrying more than you do now. I’m not trying to force you to believe that ghosts are real, I’m just trying to inform you on my experiences and encounters with these ghosts/spirits. It seems to me like its not trying to harm me or my family, just letting us know that its there.Its your choice, you can believe me if you want but I just wanted to share my stories. http://ehis. ebscohost. com/ehost/detail? sid=b8aac38f-066c-4df2-96bd-950e48b948f9%40sessionmgr114&vid=3&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=70093461 http://find. galegroup. com/gtx/retrieve. do? sgHitCountType=None&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28KE%2CNone%2C18%29ghosts+and+spirits%24&sort=DateDescend&inPS=true&prodId=AONE&userGroupName=monroecc&tabID=T002&searchId=R2&resultListType=RESULT

Media and Society in Relation to Newspapers as a Form of News Media

STUDENT I. D: 383155 NAME: EFETURI EMAKPORE MODULE: MEDIA AND SOCIETY TOPIC: MEDIA AND SOCIETY WITH RELATION TO NEWSPAPERS AS A FORM OF NEWS MEDIA DATE: 10 DECEMBER 2009 INTRODUCTION In this research paper, I am going to talk broadly on my understanding, after doing all research, of media and its effect in the society with relation to newspapers as an important and integral form of news media in the society. I will give a brief but concise introduction of newspapers in general. I will talk about the importance of newspapers to the society and how over the years, it has enforced itself on the society and how it has achieved that. I will see whether theories such as the ‘Hypodermic Needle Model’ and ‘Public Sphere’ theories can be applied when focusing on newspapers. In addition, I will talk about Bignell, J (1997) and his views on ‘Media Semiotics’ concerning newspapers. In addition, to conclude this research paper, I will give a detailed explanation on what I believe should be the role of newspapers as a form of news media to the society. Whether they have achieved all that society expects from them, or, they are yet to attain that maximum point of satisfaction from the society. Lastly, I will talk about the depth in which newspapers are actually influencing the society and how they can help in changing the views of the masses thereby helping to shape up the society to becoming a more positive one. INTRODUCTION TO NEWSPAPERS A newspaper, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is said to be a ‘’printed publication, now usually issued daily or weekly, consisting of folded unstapled sheets and containing news, frequently with the addition of advertisements, photographs, articles, and correspondence; the organization or office issuing such a publication. ’ A wide variety of material has been published in newspapers, including editorial opinions, criticism, persuasion and op-eds; obituaries; entertainment features such as crosswords, Sudoku and horoscopes; weather news and forecasts; advice, gossip, food and other columns; critical reviews of movies, plays and restaurants; classified ads; display ads, editorial cartoons and comic strips. Newspapers are very essential to the society, over the past centuries; have been relayed to the society in different ways, and have been evolving ever since. In the beginning, the first newspapers were more like government announcement bulletins and authorised by Julius Caesar. This means they were probably fully controlled by the government. This was in Ancient Rome and were called ‘’_Acta Diuma’’, they were carved in metal or stone and posted in public areas. Moveable type newspapers came during the modern era, at the beginning of the 17th century. However, the first officially recognised newspaper is that of Lohan Carolus’ ‘’Relation aller Furnemmen und gedenckwurdigen Historien__’’_, published in 1605 in Strasbourg. By the early 19th century, many cities in Europe, as well as North and South America, published newspaper type publications and the contents were vastly shaped by different views such as regional and cultural preferences. In addition, advances in printing technology related to the Industrial Revolution, enabled newspapers to become an even more widely circulated means of communication. For example, in 1814, ‘The Times’ (London) acquired a printing press capable of making a thousand impressions per minute. In newspaper production, there are different categories of newspaper printed and published for reading. We have daily newspapers, which are issued every day sometimes with the exceptions of Sundays and national holidays. There are weekly newspapers and these tend to be smaller than daily papers and in some cases, there are some papers published twice or three times a week. Then we have national newspapers, which circulate nationwide. There is also a group of newspapers, which can be categorised as international newspapers. Some, such as The International Herald Tribune, have always had that focus, while others are repackaged national newspapers or â€Å"international editions† of national-scale or large metropolitan newspapers. Often these international editions are scaled down to remove articles that might not interest the wider range of readers. Lastly, with the introduction of the Internet, Web-based â€Å"newspapers† have started to be produced as online-only publications. Virtually all printed newspapers have online editions, which depending on the country may be regulated by journalism organizations such as the Press Complaints Commission in the UK. THEORIES INVOLVED IN NEWSPAPERS AS A FORM OF NEWS MEDIA THE HYPODERMIC NEEDLE MODEL This theory, also known as the hypodermic-syringe model, is a model of communication also usually referred to as the ‘’magic bullet’’ perspective or the ‘’transmission-belt’’ model. The essence of this model hols the fact that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. However, this model is rooted in the 1930’s ‘_Behaviourism’_ created by the Frankfurt School in German and is now considered by many to be obsolete. The Hypodermic Needle theory implied that mass media had a direct, immediate, and powerful effect on their audiences. The mass media in the 1940s and 1950s were perceived as a powerful influence on behaviour change. Several factors contributed to this â€Å"strong effects† theory of communication, including: the fast rise and popularization of radio and television, the emergence of the persuasion industries, such as advertising and propaganda, the Payne Fund studies of the 1930s, which focused on the impact of motion pictures on children, and Hitler's monopolization of the mass media during WWII to unify the German public behind the Nazi party. This view of propaganda took root after World War I and was championed by theorists such as Harold Lasswell in his pioneering work Propaganda Technique in the World War (1927). He argued that the people had been duped and degraded by propaganda during the war. Lasswell based his work on a stimulus-response model rooted in learning theory. Focusing on mass effects, this approach viewed human responses to the media as uniform and immediate. E. D. Martin expressed this approach thus: â€Å"Propaganda offers ready-made opinions for the unthinking herd† (cited in Choukas, 1965, p. 5). The â€Å"Magic Bullet† or â€Å"Hypodermic Needle Theory† of direct influence effects was not as widely accepted by scholars as many books on mass communication indicate. The magic bullet theory was not based on empirical findings from research but rather on assumptions of the time about human nature. People were assumed to be â€Å"uniformly controlled by their biologically based â₠¬Ëœinstincts' and that they react more or less uniformly to whatever ‘stimuli' came along† (Lowery & DefFleur, 1995, p. 00). The phrasing â€Å"hypodermic needle† is meant to give a mental image of the direct, strategic, and planned infusion of a message into an individual. However, as research methodology became more highly developed, it became apparent that the media had selective influences on people. The most famous incident often cited as an example for the hypodermic needle model was the 1938 broadcast of The War of the Worlds and the subsequent reaction of widespread panic among its American mass audience. However, this incident actually sparked the research movement, led by Paul Lazarsfeld and Herta Herzog, which would disprove the magic bullet or hypodermic needle theory, as Hadley Cantril managed to show that reactions to the broadcast were, in fact, diverse, and were largely determined by situational and attitudinal attributes of the listeners. PUBLIC SPHERE THEORY The notion of the ‘public sphere' evolved during the Renaissance in Western Europe and the United States. This was brought on partially by merchants' need for accurate information about distant markets as well as by the growth of democracy and individual liberty and popular sovereignty. The public sphere was a place between private individuals and government authorities in which people could meet and have rational-critical debates about public matters. Discussions served as a counterweight to political authority and happened physically in face-to-face meetings in coffee houses and cafes and public squares as well as in the media in letters, books, drama, and art. Habermas saw a vibrant public sphere as a positive force keeping authorities within bounds lest their rulings be ridiculed. In Habermasian theory, the bourgeois public sphere was preceded by a literary public sphere whose favoured genres revealed the interiority of the self and emphasized an audience-oriented subjectivity. Today, in contrast, there is scant public debate, few public forums, and political discussion has degenerated from a fact-based rational-critical examination of public matters into a consumer commodity. There is the illusion of a public sphere, according to Habermas. Citizens have become consumers, investors, workers. Real news (information that helps free people stay free) is being elbowed out by advice, soft porn, catchy garbage, celebrity antics, and has become infotainment, that is, a commodity competing in a mass entertainment market. It matters less whether news is right or wrong, and matters more whether it is gripping. Habermas' sociological and philosophical work tries to explain how this transformation happened by examining a wide range of disciplines, including political theory, cultural criticism, ethics, gender studies, philosophy, sociology, istory, and media studies. The basic belief in public sphere theory is that political action is steered by the public sphere, and that the only legitimate governments are those that listen to the public sphere. Democratic governance rests on the capacity of and opportunity for citizens to engage in enlightened debate. Much of the debate over the public sphere involves what is the basic theoretic al structure of the public sphere, how information is deliberated in the public sphere, and what influence the public sphere has over society. ANALYSIS OF THE HYPODERMIC NEEDLE MODEL AND PUBLIC SPHERE THEORIES IN RELATION TO NEWSPAPERS Firstly, I would like to speak about the ‘Hypodermic Needle Model’’ before I go on to talk about the ‘Public Sphere’ theory. This theory can be linked with newspapers in concerning how it focuses on how news media influences the public in certain ways or directions and how it also has a direct, immediate, and powerful effect on the society. From what I have researched on the theory, it is clear to me that in earlier years, (the 1940’s to the 1950’s), newspapers were a huge influence on the society. This is emphasised in many different ways, which have been cited above. What was printed by newspapers in those times, whether positive or negative, was greatly accepted by the society. In fact, some theorists even claimed that people were being duped by the information being given in newspapers. Nowadays however, the society’s (though not everyone) views on information in newspapers are not wholly believed and in recent times, people have begun to question whether all written in the papers is a concentrated or a diluted version of the truth. Newspapers now have selective influences on people in the society as individuals have developed minds of their own especially since nowadays, newspapers are not so much controlled by the government as they used to be and some independent newspapers give their own opinions of certain events while others are still a little vague about passing judgment on same events. Now, I will move on to the public sphere theory. This theory can also be directly applied to newspapers. From my research, I have been able to see that once again, public sphere was taken more seriously in past decades than it is nowadays. In those periods, the public sphere was seen as an integral part of news media and controlled the excesses of the government as a good government was seen to be one that paid attention to what the public sphere had to contribute to society. Then, the public sphere had a great influence on the society. Articles were printed regularly in newspapers concerning public matters and were written with a rational and critical fashion. Nowadays however, the society has lost touch with what the public sphere was truly about and now give in to whatever ‘latest rumour’ is given out to them. The public sphere has been disregarded and has become a sort of illusion. (Habermas). There are hardly any honest public debates now, public forums have declined over the years, and sadly, political discussions have degenerated from a fact-based rational-critical examination of public matters into a consumer commodity. Now newspapers are competing against each other and now print only what they believe will sell and increase their customer range, rather than the important and crucial things that are going on in the society. THE SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF NEWSPAPERS In his book, ‘’_ Media Semiotics: An Introduction’,’_ Bignell (1997), discusses the ways in which semiotic analysis approaches newspaper as a medium. He considered the linguistic signs used in newspapers, the ionic and other visual signs in newspapers, and the relationship between linguistic signs and visual signs in newspapers. The medium of the newspaper is particularly interesting as signifiers are presented simultaneously thus offering a concrete display of signs which the reader can consume at his/her own pace and can also be re-read, as opposed to television or radio news which can only be watched or listened to at particular. A newspaper is not something that is just filled with facts, but it portrays news as representations produced in language and other signs like photographs. ‘’A semiotic analysis will therefore include discussions of the connotations of linguistic and visual signs used in news stories. ’ Bignell (1997:79) The process of selection is central to the production of all newspapers. This involves selecting events which are considered to be worthy of being printed as news, and excluding news which is considered to be irrelevant, insignificant or unworthy of news coverage. Thus news is a social construct dependent on what is deemed important by those who work in the â €˜news industry_’_ based on certain codes of behaviour, which have been learned by news workers in order to do their job. The codes of behaviour undoubtedly depend on the particular newspaper for which they are working. The reader comes to the newspaper with a set of codes with which to decode the text, and these codes may differ from individual to individual. This leads to the point that the text is open to a variety of interpretations depending on the ideological standpoint of the reader, and whether the reader is familiar with the newspaper and the codes which it employs to communicate the ‘news_’_ which it has selected. Connotations of the linguistic and visual signs that are presented by newspapers are central to the meaning of the news item to the reader. The connotations of the news item are perceived within a coded framework and there are recognisable codes within different newspapers. It is clear that different newspapers use particular narrative codes when representing the same item of news. The headlines are linguistic syntagms, which aim to attract the attention of the reader to the topic of the news story, and the linguistic signs that are employed in the headline suggest to the reader the appropriate codes that are needed to understand or decode the news item. It is clear that the newspapers use different linguistic codes as a means of representing the news item. For example, and in further discussion and differentiation, we are going to be focusing on three major newspapers in the UK- ‘_The Times’, ‘The Telegraph,’ _and ‘The Sun’. ‘_The Times__’_ and ‘_The Telegraph__’ are similar in their use of language. However, both differ dramatically with ‘The Sun__’_. It is clear that The Sun uses orally based vocabulary, and dramatic and sensational language. Another drastic difference between the newspapers representations of news items are the typographic devices used to break up the text. Again, ‘_The Sun__’_ differs dramatically to ‘_The Telegraph__’_ and ‘_The Times__’_ using bold text to start the article, serving to extend the role of the headline in attracting the attention of the reader to the topic of the news story. The use of bold and one word sub-headings which are employed throughout the text serve to direct the reader in making meaning of the text and make blatantly obvious the points which the newspaper deem to be of particular significance to the understanding of the news item. _The Telegraph__’_ and ‘_The Time’s_ do not employ the same typographic codes as ‘_The Sun__’_, apart from bold type which is used for the headline, and the bold type used to name the journalist/s of the article. The narrative of the news story uses the same type and size of font throughout the item. Arguably, this connotes authority and formality to the reader, which is also demonstrated by the fairly long se ntences, the correct spellings, and the lack of colloquial language that is used in ‘_The Sun__’_. This perhaps implies that the ‘quality_’_ press such as ‘_The Times__’ and ‘The Telegraph__’_ provide better news than tabloids such as ‘_The Sun__’_. However, this kind of value judgement is inappropriate as both types of newspaper are constructions of the news with the ‘quality’ newspapers aiming to connote authority and formality and the ‘popular_’_ tabloids aiming to connote an attitude of ‘telling it how it is. _’_ Thus, both types of representation of the news items present mythic meanings. Linguistic and typographic codes are not the only codes employed in newspapers. Graphic codes must also be considered. The photographs used in the newspapers have also undergone a process of selection. One image will be chosen over another as it connotes a message that the selectors of the photograph want to communicate. Barthes (cited in Bignell, 1977:98) suggests that the newspaper photograph is ‘an object that has been worked on, chosen, composed, constructed, treated according to professional, aesthetic or ideological norms which are so many factors of connotation. ’_ The ‘treatment_’_ of photographs, which is referred to by Barthes can be seen in the different newspapers that I have chosen. Interestingly, each version of the news item has used the same photographs, but treated them differently according to the required connotation. Again, The Times and The Telegraph use similar codes and The Sun employs a drastically different strategy despite using the same original photographs. The most drastic difference is that The Sun presents the photographs in colour, connoting realism and the dangerousness of the offender. This is also connoted by the size of the photographs, with the graphic representation dominating a large proportion of the overall available space on the page, which is another drastic difference between The Sun's representation of the news item and the other two newspapers. Despite these major differences, it is significant that the newspapers have all used the same photographs, and it is interesting to look at why these particular photographs might have been chosen. Paradigmatically, photographs involve connotations, and thus the significance of the particular photographs, which have been chosen, can be seen more clearly when considering what other paradigmatic connotations might have appeared in their place. As Bignell (1997:99) suggests, the caption underneath the picture enables the reader to ‘load down the image with particular cultural meanings and the photograph functions as the proof that the text's message is true. _’_ The pictures are also shown in different contexts in the three newspapers with ‘_The Sun__’ using a different strategy to ‘The Telegraph__’_ and ‘_The Times__’_. _The Telegraph__’_ and ‘_The Times__’_ use similar sized pictures of the individuals involved. In ‘_The Sun__',_ the size of the photographs of the individuals differs considerably. This discussion of several newspapers' representations of the same news item show how semiotic analysis ca n determine the meanings of such news items, as a result of the linguistic and visual signs used within the texts. However, semiotic analysis cannot determine how an individual reader might interpret the representations of the news items in a real social context. Semiotic analysis does offer an insight into the factors at work in the production of a news item and distinguishes the various codes, which are employed by different types of newspaper when representing a particular news item. CONCLUSION To conclude this essay, from all that I have researched, I now know that newspapers have indeed come a long way I am going to give my opinion of what I believe should be the role of newspapers as an integral form of news media to the society. Newspapers are expected to keep the people informed about the political activities of their government. They should give in detail, the statements of speeches made by the rulers at public meetings or on the radio or television. They should also report the activities of political parties and leaders. Standard newspapers should be able to criticize the policies and statements of the government or of the political parties in a fair and just method. Newspapers should also describe the economic policies of the government. For example, they should describe its import and export policies, its plans for future economic development, and the prices of different things fixed by it, and so on. In addition, newspapers should always report in detail, the economic policies of the government in the fields of agriculture, industry, and commerce, should be more detailed about matters concerning the problems of labors, farmers and other working people, and suggested their solutions. Newspapers should give a true and correct picture of society. They should describe the activities of the people in different fields like education business industry, law, medicine, science, and so on and also tell us about the activities of students and teachers, businessmen, industrialists, lawyers, doctors, scientists and all categories of working people. They should convey information regarding the different crimes taking place every day. Newspapers ought to tell about the political, economic, and social changes in different countries and give descriptions of changes in government and revolutions in different parts of the world. Lastly, they should give descriptions of changes taking place in other societies in education, science, and medicine industry agriculture and defence preparation. These are a few suggestions I believe that are suitable ideas and courses that newspapers should begin to focus on instead of the media frenzy seeking status they seem to be attaining nowadays. I do not believe that newspapers have reached the point of maximum satisfaction in the views of the society. Centuries ago, it was understandable that newspaper agencies could only print certain facts as some of them or most of them were government owned and operated. However, with freedom of journalism, one would expect that they would become more transparent in the way they convey out news to the society. However, news relaying has been turned into infotainment. It matters less whether news is right or wrong, and matters more whether it is gripping and this is not the ways newspapers should be going nowadays. Newspapers are probably the main source of handy information that provides up-to-date information on a daily basis that everyone can afford to buy. It gives the sophisticated approach towards life in social, political, economical and entertainment framework. Provide knowledgeable information available to all ages and societal status. Newspapers influence the society greatly because it is not necessary that everyone have TV, or internet resources, radio, as these are the technological resources, but everyone gets to read the newspaper every now and then. Newspapers are the global need of every culture, and should therefore promote freedom of journalism to project the truth in the society. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bignell, J (1997). Media Semiotics: An Introduction. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 79-98. Carlos Hurworth. (2009). How the News Media Controls Society. Available: http://www. helium. com/items/1534166-how-the-news-media-controls-society. Last accessed 13 Dec 2009. Farlex. (2006). Role of News Media.