Quality of Living Analysis for Greenpoint, Brooklyn Essay Example for Free

Quality of Living Analysis for Greenpoint, Brooklyn Essay Greenpoint Greenpoint, Brooklyn is a culturally vibrant neighborhood full of a wide range of retail shops, restaurants, bars venues, banks, and other services. It is largely occupied by people of Polish descent (43. 6% according to the 2000 Census) and of Hispanic descent (19. 2%. ) The median income is $33,578, significantly lower than the corresponding national average of $41,994. Even with the median income in Greenpoint being almost $10,000 less than the national average, it has many of the same difficult characteristics shared by most New York City neighborhoods namely igher-than-average housing prices, overcrowded schools, higher utility prices, high local taxes, and lack of high paying Jobs- all of which create a much higher total cost of living than most cities in the United States. A very low proportion of Greenpoint residents own their homes. According to the 2000 census, only 19. 2% of residents owned the homes they were living in, versus the 66. % national average. Rent prices have also consistently been on the rise, despite a few significant hiccups since the November 2008 financial crisis. It could be a great advantage to local residents if a rogram was set up providing local tax breaks for first time home owners in Greenpoint. Also, if the budget would allow, the City could match the Federal governments pledge of $8000 in assistance for first time homebuyers. With $16,000 in assistance, and lowered taxes, many Greenpoint residents who otherwise would not be able to purchase a home might be able to afford that option. A lower percentage of Greenpoint residents graduate high school than the national average (70. 4% vs. 80. 4%), which is also true for those with Bachelors degrees (21. 2% vs. 24. 4%). This lack of higher education hinders peoples likelihood of getting high aying Jobs, and in turn, makes it harder for them to move out of poverty into the middle class. A no-cost GED training center should be set up on Greenpoint Avenue to assist high school dropouts (of any age) in getting a diploma. Similarly, a Greenpoint GED College fund should be set up, to provide full CUNY scholarships for the top 10% of the graduates of these GED programs. This not only would incline many people to seek their own education who otherwise wouldnt, but it would also prevent many of the best students from slipping through the cracks, and ensure that more Greenpoint kids got a chance to go to college. A hot button issue for Greenpoint (and Brookyn as a whole) is land-use and development. In 2005, the City Council passed a plan for the re-zoning and development of much of the Greenpoint and Williamsburg waterfront, as well a large block of the upland area. The plan is known as the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Land Use and Waterfront Plan. The plan focuses on changing zoning regulations along the northern Brooklyn waterfront and some of the upland areas, mostly to allow for large residential buildings to be built. Many residents of the community were worried about the waterfront development uildings being built very high, and pushed for regulations limiting the number of condominium ; rental developments being geared only toward those with high incomes, and not toward those with average Greenpoint ; Williamsburg incomes (Williamsburg has an even lower median income than Greenpoint, $23,567. An attempt was made to strike a compromise between the community and the development groups, to solve both of these problems in one fell swoop. The compromise that was eventually passed is called the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Inclusionary Housing Program, which attempts to address concerns about both uilding height and low-income housing. The program stipulates that any development that includes a certain amount of affordable housing is eligible for a floor area bonus, meaning they are allowed to build higher than the base restriction. There are 2 waterfront zones designated, R6 and R8; in R6 the base floor area restriction is up to 23 stories, in R8 it is 33 stories. With 20-25% of space within the development designated for affordable housing, this restriction can be raised 4. 7% to 30 stories and 40 stories respectively. While in theory this idea sounds promising, in practice it will not accomplish the goals it claims to. First of all, if a new development chooses not to go past the floor area restrictions, then there is no requirement that they provide any affordable housing. This leaves little incentive for developers to spend the extra money to build higher, and choose to include the low- income housing, as they only gain 4. 6% in floor area bonus, but have to designate over 20% of the total space of affordable housing. It ends up only inclining them against building past the base floor area restrictions (which many residents believe are already far too lax, allowing for unnecessarily tall buildings that block other uildings views, and obstruct sunlight for large areas of the upland waterfront. I believe the plan should be changed to require that any and all new developments include at least 10% affordable housing to begin with. In addition to the affordable housing problem, the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Land Use and Waterfront Plan does not include any provisions for building new schools in the neighborhood. A new high school in Greenpoint is sorely needed, as most high school age students who cannot attend the Automotive Technical School, which is the o nly public high school in Greenpoint, end up attending schools in Ridgewood, Queens and Williamsburg. The plan also has no provisions for public daycare centers, tutoring or after-school programs, or improved transportation routes from the northwestern waterfront area (which is very difficult to commute from). It would be prudent to adjust the plan to require at least some of these programs to be set up in the area, at the shared cost of the developers and the City. It is important to use contractors and building companies from the local area when building new developments in Greenpoint. Too often, contracts for restoration projects, and new developments end up going to companies not from Brooklyn. For instance the old Greenpoint Hospital, which has been gathering dust since 1982, is going to be converted in 240 units of affordable housing, but the contract for this conversion went to TNS Development Group, based in Queens. Two other contracts, from local Greenpoint community groups, were both rejected. A perfect sector to create high paying Jobs in the local community is in skilled construction and building, it seems only right to award the slew of evelopment contracts that are available in the area to local contractors and edited to require that 50% of all building contracts from now on go to companies located in the 11222 area code. Shortly before her death, Jane Jacobs summed up the problems with the waterfront development plans in a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg: The communitys plan does not cheat the future by neglecting to provide provisions for schools, daycare, recreational outdoor sports, and pleasant facilities for those things. The communitys plan does not promote new housing at the expense of both xisting housing and imaginative and economical new shelter that residents can afford. The communitys plan does not violate the existing scale of the community, nor does it insult the visual and economic advantages of neighborhoods that are precisely of the kind that demonstrably attract artists and other live-work craftsmen [but] the proposal put before you by city staff is an ambush containing all those destructive consequences. The roadblocks in the way of changing some of these plans would be great, and in order to make it possible, it would require a tremendous amount of public outcry and rassroots organization, in order to influence some major change of character in the highest levels of local power. If Mayor Bloomberg could be convinced to live up to his many campaign promises of building more public schools (and not Just charter schools), and more affordable housing, then maybe Greenpoint could get the funds and zoning changes needed to build a new High School and provide good housing for its largest demographic, the lower class. In order to fund some of these projects, taxes could be raised on all waterfront property that is not designated to low income ousing- which might provide some more incentive for developers to build more affordable housing in the area, and if it not, it might at least add some tax revenue that could help fund a new local high school. A plan that properly addresses all the issues in a neighborhood like Greenpoint would have to be much more expansive and detailed, and would surely encounter a lot of resistance from some local politicians and big development companies, but some of the ideas presented in this paper could have far-reaching positive consequences if they could gain enough public support, and be implemented.

Royal Mail Strategies and Responsibilities

Royal Mail Strategies and Responsibilities Royal mail is the United Kingdoms national postal service which was founded in 1516. Royal mail is having its operations all over UK as well as in International areas having more than 176000 employees. Royal mail do have parcel service, letter service, Airmail service, Business support services, money transfers and lot of services they keep on adding day by day. It is the subsidiary firm of the Royal Mail Group LTD. According to the Royal mail its highly skilled employees are its assets and the customers are the life blood of the firm. This essay describes about the following factors:- Royal Mails three strategic levels Corporate Strategic Responsibility Human resource strategies (Definition) Human Resource Strategies between 2005-2010 Swot Analysis New Human Resource strategy of the Royal Mail The Royal Mails response to the Competition and the to the recent Credit Crunch Conclusion 1.The Royal Mail do have three levels of strategies:- Corporate level -which deals with the overall organization. Ex: Geographical regions, Market selection. Business level strategy is mentioned for each type of business carried out by the Royal mail. Functional level- The Finance, Human Resource Management, Production, Marketing, Research and Development comes under this section. The Corporate strategy of Royal mail is designed in such a way that it shows their ability to cope with the market changes in a positive and negative manner. It is the hardships of the employees and their standard customer services makes the Royal mail to get a competitive advantage over its competitors like TNT, DHL etc. Royal Mail which was once said to be the Monopolist in the field of Postal services lost the title of Monopoly in the beginning of 2006. It had 99% of the market share in its hands. Royal mail do have a view to make their corporate Strategic responsibility to become a part of their strategic management process. They are:- 2. Corporate Strategic responsibility includes:- The support of the workers from the workplace which forms the backbone of the Royal mail. The management also deals with the workers in a more friendly manner without any kind of discrimination. Being workers said to be the assets of the firm, Royal Mail takes good care of their workers and regarding the working conditions too. To make its actions designed to have a strong positive effect on its workers, customers and to its suppliers. Achieve a net zero carbon footprint by 2015 and to support their clients to do their activities to have a positive advantage towards the environment and to attain a competitive advantage. With their Corporate responsibility in mind Royal Mail wishes to be different from its competitors Royal mail had created their corporate strategy by taking into consideration of their Organizational objectives and their achievement. It is in the Functional level the Human Resource Strategies arrives. The definition of the Human Resource strategy and the Human Resource Strategies of the Royal Mail from 2005-2010 are mentioned below. 3.Human Resource strategy (Definition):- Before moving to Human Resource Strategy we should know what is meant by the term strategy?.Strategy usually means selecting the best decision from a stream of decisions. According to Lundy and cowling (1998,p16), strategy is: The art of war, generalship, especially the art of directing military movements so as to secure the most advantageous positions and combination of forces. The Human Resource Management team in the Royal Mail directs the workers by motivating them and providing them proper training in order to achieve the Organizational goals and to get a competitive advantage over its rivals. The term Human Resource Strategy is well defined as Human Resource management (HRM) is a strategic approach to managing employment relations which emphasises that leverage peoples capabilities is critical to achieving sustainable competitive advantage, this being achieved through a distinctive set of integrated employment policies, programmes and practices. [Bratton and Gold,4e,p3] 4.The Human Resource Strategies from 2005 2010:- Human Resource Management forms the most important function in an Organization as the workers are considered to be the valuable assets of the firm. The right kind of people in right position at the right time is the objective of the HR Manager. It is said that normally in a day HR Manager usually spends 20% of their working hours in dealing with the grievances of the employees without affecting the Organizations routine activities. HR Executives should have an ability to deal with their staffs in a fair and friendly manner rather than imposing more control on them. The Royal Mail take the efforts made by their workers into good consideration and rely on the fact about their career development rather than simply a job. The Royal Mails Human Resource strategies in the period from 2005 to 2010 is mentioned below which includes several threats they faced and the steps undertaken to face those threats. Human Resource strategies of the Royal Mail in 2005:- One of the most important actions of the Royal Mail can be seen in the beginning of 2005 which employed candidates from the socially excluded groups. The candidates who were recruited performed very well in the selection process as well as in the Organization too. New recruits by this process were placed in position as post man, delivery van drivers, letter sorting who were ex-service men or those who are homeless. This Pilot program helped the Royal Mail in lowering the cost and labour turnovers and proved as the firm with best employee satisfaction. The employees thus had a long term commitment and had a self motivated approach to work hard for the firm to achieve its goals. The employer expectation of high commitment and the employee expectation of taking care of their social needs made the workers of the Royal Mail to be loyal to the firm and improved the ratio of trust towards the firm. The voluntary organizations like the Royal Association of Disabled and Rehabilitation, Busine ss action on Homelessness etc helped the Royal Mail to get candidates of socially excluded groups. The Human Resource team played a very important function in sorting out the list of disabled candidates and selecting the best candidates through a standard selection process. The Human Resource Manager who have the Management as an art aspect means having inborn talents will have those skills to recruit those people who can contribute to the maximum of their extend towards their Organization. The Royal mail team supervised by Mr. Adam Crozier made record annual profits in 2005 which helped to give 1074 pounds of bonuses to its workers. These were achieved by the employee performance,better customer service by properly trained staff and their performance related pay strategy of the Human Resource team. Human Resource strategies of the Royal Mail in 2006:- The Human Resource team in the Royal Mail were able to provide instant solutions to the grievances of the employees. The starting of the year 2006 was not as good for the Royal Mail as it faced a postal strike in Belfast. Nearly 200 postal workers stopped their work for 2 weeks which made a very negative impact on the Royal Mails services to the customers. The customers were said to contact the office directly for any important matters and most of the letters and documents were blocked in some places remained undelivered. The Communication Workers Union says that the strike was due to the bad and unfair practices of the managers towards the workers in Belfast and the core issue is not accepted by the Royal Mail. Important delivery including specialized services were stopped temporarily and the management took immediate action to solve the problem. The Workers in strike were assured that they will not be treated badly when they return to their work and necessary actions will be taken against those who were found guilty. The Human Resource team in the Royal Mail took the issue seriously and they guaranteed that the workers will be treated fairly and without any discrimination. The psychological contract which says high motivation and high commitment should be taken into consideration which made the Human Resource Manger to deal with the situation in a friendly and wise manner. It was this year the Royal Mail lost its position as a Monopoly in the postal Industry and started facing wide spread competition. The management agreed that their will be no reduction in the work force, high job security will be provided with raise in pay scales to the staffs. The Christmas season of 2006 also made the customers of the Royal Mail to suffer due to the strike of 800 workers which caused huge volume of undelivered documents in the office. The managements decision to change some full time post to part time when an job opening arise was objected by the trade union by saying tha t it is against the National agreement. The matter was raised very seriously and the Royal Mail responded to it by saying that the decision will be with the consent of the worker agreement. The strike was stopped by reaching to the point that the new job openings in the Royal Mail will be carried out by the management with the combined hands of the trade union to make decision regarding whether to treat the vacancy full time or part time and the management assured that no staff will be forced to change his full time job status to part time. The closing of the sorting office in Paddington, London in the same year was explained by the Royal Mail as a step taken in order to improve their customer satisfaction and productivity against the wide spread rumours about some illegal actions of the postal workers. The 950 workers who worked their were temporarily kept away from their duties and some of them were given transfer offers. The workers commitment in a firm not only depend on their s alary but also on other factors like work atmosphere, employee- employer relationship, colleague character etc. The sacking of 5 workers who treated their women colleague very badly in one of the Royal Mail branch shows the immediate response taken by the Human Resource team in those matters which affects an employee to perform well in an Organization and to reduce those activities which affects the reputation of the firm. The Human Resource team has made recently certain improvements in the health and safety measures for the workers due to the huge fine the firm had to pay regarding the death of an employee, which was made as a health and safety issue by the court. Human Resource strategies of the Royal Mail in 2007:- The Privatization of the Royal Mail was the main problem discussed by the Human Resource team in the Royal Mail and the workers point of trust towards the firm tends to decrease day by day affecting their performance in the work. The Communication Workers Union was opposing the issue but some managers say the Privatization will help the future of the Royal Mail. A deal was agreed between the management and the labour union in 2007 followed by stopping the workers strike. The new policies changed the working time and new technologies were introduced which was implemented in each and every branch of the Royal Mail improved the productivity and performance of the workers. The new modern way of thinking and acting was successful in the Royal Mail. Also Mr. Mark Higson the managing director of the Royal Mail added that the future of the Royal Mail Pension scheme will not form any part of the agreement. The Human Resource Strategy of making the employees feel they are a part of the firm made the management to come to a point of distributing around 20% of its shares to the employees was opposed by the Government and the plan was turned down. The Human Resource team and the other managing partners have plan to explore the unused markets and to identify new opportunities to make the Royal Mail to offer quick and friendly based customer services. The Human Resource Department also do have plans to provide Occupational pension schemes for their employees in future. The Human Resource Manager also responded to the worst situation of poor quality service by the Royal Mail in Scotland and he promised to provide better customer service the coming year. The contract lose with the online service provider Amazon hits very badly towards the Royal Mail and its bad position to face more rigorous competition. Human Resource strategies of the Royal Mail in 2008:- In order to face the competition and the consideration of the future of the Royal Mail, the Human Resource Department made plans to reduce the number of workers and providing better benefits for those who remains. The Workers and the union feared about the reduction of the full time jobs and including more part time workers. The Privatization of the Royal Mail which the British public doesnt like was also considered as the main issue by the trade unions and the management. The Privatization will cause more job losses says the union members but the Royal Mail needs finance to support its future plans says the Management. The Management also planned to change the offices from old buildings to new ones in which the trade unions responded and they said that the change of offices will cause problems in sorting of letters, loosing some customers and they feared about loosing jobs too. Also plans were prepared by the Human Resource team to raise the salary scale of the executive Directors o f the Royal Mail who are the main key players in obtaining maximum profit. The Devanna model which shows performance appraisal, Human resource development and reward systems should be given due consideration. Many office branches of the Royal Mail were shut down and the remaining workers should be motivated by their performance and the management should create trust from the side of the workers which in turn gives high commitment. The Soft HRM feature of high commitment and high motivation as well as the Hard HRM feature of managing the workforce in a more rational way should be undertaken by the Royal Mail. Human Resource strategies of the Royal Mail in 2009:- To Prevent the customers complaint about the closing of the post offices the Human Resources team implemented a plan to provide mobile post office services to the customers by Van. The Royal Mails plan to make 30% privatization was opposed by the public and the Government continuously, if privatized it will cause raise in prices, job losses and the customers as well as the workers trust in the Royal Mail will reduce. The Human Resources team introduced new uniforms to the workers which is suitable for the climate and having big pockets to place the hand held computers which the customers prefers to sign and trace items was considered as a part of the improvement in the delivery system of the Royal Mail. The year also faced a strike on the pay cuts, salary freeze of the workers. The Communication Workers Union said that even cutting the wages or freezing the salary will not help the Royal Mail instead it should implement new ideas in technology and new advanced machinery to support th e workers. All over the strike is making the customers to move away from receiving the services from the Royal Mail. In the matter of improving their services, the Royal Mail and the Microsoft had joined hands to hands by introducing the new e-mailing service without having computers. The HR strategy of how to compete with their rivals has made the above decision to implement in the Royal Mail. Human Resource strategies of the Royal Mail in 2010:- The Privatization of the Royal Mail is the main consideration of the Royal Mail as the firm is running out of Finance, huge pension deficits and inefficiency in operations. The private fund is needed for the smooth function of the Organization, says the Managing director of the Royal Mail. The Human Resource Manager is taking keen steps in promoting the existing workers with good training but most of the workers had lost the trust with the Royal Mail. The privatization will cause more job losses, price for the products will be raised and the top level managers will get more benefits; a trade union leader says in a meeting. The workers says that if the new management can help them in providing benefits and good promotional appraisal packages to them, it is better to get privatized. The natural constraints like volcano ashes also affected he Royal Mails service in some part of the United Kingdom. The Psychological contract between the employee and the employer is broken. The employees social and other needs are not fully met and the huge sacking of employees made them to loose commitment towards the firm which leads to inefficiency, reduced services, low productivity and down turn of profits. The Royal Mail is still considered as the provider of the best service among the European nations with lowest service charges. The Human Resource team have plans to increase the state pension age for men. The Royal Mail is trying in many ways to improve its services by providing different varieties of stamps, weekend services, superior customer service but the competition and its bad financial position is weakening its movements to go forward. Even though it is known that the entry of new firms into the Postal Industry is very difficult due to entry restrictions, the Royal Mail is facing very tough competition. The firms like TNT, DHL and many of the online services are serious treats to the Royal Mail. The day when the Royal Mail lost its Monopoly in 2006 marked the beginning of competition as a headache to the Royal Mail. Another problem which the Royal Mail faces is the reduction in the volume of the letters but the postal workers tells that the number is increasing day by day. The Royal Mail like all other firms had undergone a SWOT ANALYSIS to understand its positives and Negatives internally and Externally. TheSWOT analysis is done to identify their threats and opportunities, strengths and weaknesses. 5.SWOT ANALYSIS:- The Swot Analysis is usually conducted by the management which gives the Royal Mail a good indication of its Strength and Weakness internally and its Opportunities and Treats in the outside market. The highly skilled hard working staffs having high commitment motivated by the efficient management and the firms large and other financial resources forms the Strength of the Royal Mail. Some complaints have been raised regarding the letters not reaching the destination and stealing of the letters/parcels by its staffs affects the Royal Mails prestige and the strikes which are made by the trade unions in Royal Mail forms its major weaknesses which hardly hits its reputation and directly states that employees are not satisfied with the management actions. The Royal Mail do have new opportunities to identify more customers and Business clients and providing support to them which will have a competitive advantage over its rivals. The Competitors like TNT, DHL, UKMAIL and the possibility of more rivals to enter the Industry forms the main threats for the Royal Mail. The wide usage of internet, online banking, online delivery and e-mailing has reduced its number of customers to a large extend has made huge reduction in the volume of mails in the Royal Mail is also considered as big threats. The Royal Mail still stands as the Standard postal service in the United Kingdom with its valuable staffs and its improved services like First class service, weekend service etc. Royal Mail also provides online supports and International postal services. The Administration of the Royal Mail includes series of committees like The Audit and Risk committee, The Management board, Pensions committee, Remuneration committee, Nomination committee and Social and Responsibility Committee. The new Human Resource Strategy and policies are being Introduced by the Royal Mail in order to face these threats and for the motivation of the workers. 6.The new Human Resource strategy to support the Royal Mail in the present bad condition:- Steps have been taken in the all the levels of the Organization to support the firm from the credit crunch and competition. To the workers:- Workers are provided with improved new range of training and guaranteed performance related pays. The employees who are considered as a valuable assets in the Royal Mail were provided with revised employee policies and procedures and long term job security and motivation. In order to improve its reputation and to obtain a good employee- employer relationship some additional steps were also taken. They are:- The new plan for temporary redundancy and early retirement are going to be enforced as soon as possible. Existing contracts will be renewed and new standardized contracts will be provided to the employees. The introduction of new machinery and techniques helps the workers to achieve world class standard in performance. The new revised Pension scheme plans are going to implement for those employees in the Royal Mail pension scheme. The working hours, the minimum wages are also revised. The safety of the staffs are taken in great consideration. Improved working conditions, first aid facilities, stress relief exercises, changing their job tasks over a period of time, self appraisal process, promotional and increments are also introduced to the new plan. To the firm:- The modernization of the firm with improved customer service support is the main objective of the firm. The co-operation of the Management with the workers and the trade union added with signing an agreement in new policies and procedures of the firm supported by the trade union is going to happen. The improved efficiency and productivity with unmatched competition by providing lower price and better quality services to its clients. To the Trade Union:- The firm will give suitable position for the trade union in its management activities. Support from the trade union in motivating the workers to cope with the Organizational rules and regulations and to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. To develop new communication levels between the trade union and the management. 7.The Royal Mails respond to the Competition and to the recent Credit Crunch:- The Royal mail which was once called as a Monopoly firm now faces serious competition and holds a bad reputation due to its continuous strikes , shutting down of the offices and complaints regarding its employees. Even though any firm can compete with its rivals in two ways, one way by reducing its prices and the other is by improving its quality of service/product. The Royal Mail provides high quality service to its customers and also the lower service/product price compared with its competitors helps the Royal Mail to attain a sustainable competitive advantage. The Human Resource team is making its level best efforts to prevent such issues but the employees relationship with the management is unclear. One of the main issues is the privatization of the Royal Mail which make the staffs to loose trust towards the firm making them de-motivated. The corporate strategy is well defined and the Human resource planning and its strategical process is some what following the corporate strateg y. Making a friendly relation with the CWU and a strong psychological contract between the workers and the Management is very much needed for the smooth functioning of the Royal Mail. The recent credit crunch has made the Royal Mail to close most of its offices and to sack many of its employees. The economic downturn in the UK is being faced by the Royal Mail in some extend due to its highly skilled, flexible core employees. The peripheral workers who were highly skilled were also taken into good consideration by the Royal Mail. The customers still rely on the Royal Mail due to its better quality services and lowest prices compared to its competitors the TNT, DHL, UKMail etc. The name of the above model is The Five Forces Framework which is developed by [Porter 1980] shows the fact from where does the competition come from?. We can combine this model with the Royal Mails competitive nature. It has elements like 1.Potential entrants mentioned as new competitors of the Royal Mail. 2.Rivalry from existing firms like TNT, DHL etc which are faced by the Royal Mail with its high quality products/services and of its highly skilled workforce who are trained and developed by their talented Human Resource team. The substitutes can be shown as the e-mail, online transfers and online mail ordering groups. Threat from the customers in the form of bargaining power, their change of demand, their potential for forward integration (which is implemented by the firm with the availability of suitable Human Resources). Threat from the Suppliers includes their bargaining power, switching costs, market dominance of the suppliers, the potential for backward integration (which is implemented by the firm with the availability of suitable Human Resources). The suppliers include the printing and stationery, technology, clothes, transport and travel agents. The Royal Mail uses the Generic Strategies frame work of Mr. Porter(1985) to define how they faced these competitions. The basic idea which is derived from the framework is:- Any firm can compete with other by lowering their prices Competing in the matter of quality makes each firm different Focusing on the main market and its customers can gain competitive advantage over its rivals. The Human Resource strategy of identifying the competitive areas and setting plans for how to compete helped the Royal Mail to face all types of competition and to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals. The Human Resource Management team of the Royal Mail have a good background from the Top Ranked Business Schools added with their inborn talents and experience helps the Royal Mail to compete with their rivals in a more technical way which is difficult for the competitors to identify and which makes the Royal Mail to have a strong base in the UK postal industry. The top quality products/services with the top quality employees makes the Royal Mail to move forward with confidence. The Human Resource strategy of implementing new techniques and training services with the performance related pay aspect for the workers can be seen in the Royal Mail. Last year the Royal Mail received three bronze awards from the World Class Manufacturing Association for its performance, health and saf ety care of its workers. The Royal Mail consider each and every worker in the matter of safety and performance and they say that if they can make one worker to perform well, it will make another to perform well and it goes on and the whole workers will perform well gives high productivity and profits to the firm. 8.Conclusion:- The essay can be concluded by stating that the Royal Mail have to face the credit crunch and the present difficulties in order to hold a strong position in the UK postal Industry. The Royal Mail do have a strong corporate responsibility strategy and Human Resource strategy which is properly planned and helpful to the employees as well as the to the firm for further development. The Human Resource Strategy from 2005 2010 shows the problems faced by the Royal Mail and the Strategies used by them to solve these problems. The privatization and the pension deficits are the main problems faced currently by the Royal Mail in which the management have certain plans to overcome the situation. The new entrants and the present rivals are competing very roughly with the Royal Mail and they are faced by the Royal Mail by its good quality services and its lowest service/product prices.

Supporting Anticipatory Care for Long Term Conditions

Supporting Anticipatory Care for Long Term Conditions Supporting Anticipatory Care for Long Term Conditions Management Introduction Better management of individuals with long-term health problems has been an important priority of the Scottish government since the beginning. This is because Scotland has been under influence of alcohol misuse, smoking, physical idleness and poor dietary habits.ÂÂ   All these are the critical risk factors for a number of chronic diseases like, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, arthritis, hypertension, dementia and chronic lung disease. Moreover, ageing population is also increasing at an unprecedented rate and is constantly under the risk of developing several of these chronic conditions simultaneously; thus necessitating support and care (Epping, Pruitt, Bengoa, Wagner, 2004). The effect of multi-morbidity is intense as well. Individuals with numerous long-term conditions have noticeably pitiable quality of life, financial issues, and bad clinical outcomes, in addition to staying longer at hospitals (Department of Health, 2005). A long term condition is basically the one that is unable to cure, remains for a longer duration of time, for instant, more than a year and have an effect on any aspect of a humans life. It also needs ongoing medical help and restricts a person for what he/she can do. In Scotland, approximately 2 million people have either one or more long term health problems (N.H.S. Scotland, 2010). This demonstrates considerable work is needed to fulfil the requirement of people having long term conditions and tackle the broader determinants of health like standard of living, behaviours, attitude and socioeconomic deficit. With the present transformed political attention on social and health care, there is a prospect in the Scotland to redefine the framework of care. The nature of health care is also transforming; the focus is towards a system that not only considers physical health of public but also wellbeing and overall health, and which distinguishes public as co-makers of their health and its care. The endeavour is showed in the idea for services which emphasises on capacities and management of health problems and recognises notions like optimism, social inclusion, happiness, revival, and autonomy (N.H.S. Scotland, 2010). Anticipatory care planning comes true to such efforts because it involves the personal outcomes to health care planning in society care. It is generally applied to help people living with any long term health problem to prepare for an anticipated change in health condition (Baker, Leak, Ritchie, Lee, Fielding, 2012). It also includes health enhancement and living healthy. Overal l, vision of anticipatory care planning to reduce acute hospital admission, effectively manage chronic condition, acknowledged and empowered health education and provides social care services. Thus, in order to provide practical means for elucidating, detecting and improving patient outcome, the health model and theories can be used and these include the Mutual Care Model for Long Term Condition (CEL 23, 2009), theÂÂ   House of Care model (Coulter, Roberts, Dixon,2013) and the Chronic Care Model (Wagner,2001).ÂÂ   Though the description of all these models varies yet all focus on one point i.e. betterment of patients. They also offer vision for professionals in offering quality care not only for patients, but also for their families (Eaton et al, 2015). The aim of this paper is to examine the existing approaches for providing and supporting anticipatory care for proper management of long term conditions. It will use and highlight different care models, policies and strategies applied by the Scottish government in providing anticipatory care. References Baker, A., Leak, P., Ritchie, L. D., Lee, A. J., Fielding, S., 2012. Anticipatory care planning and integration: a primary care pilot study aimed at reducing unplanned hospitalisation. The British Journal of General Practice, 62(595), pp.113-e120. CEL 23, 2009. Improving Health Wellbeing Of People With Long Term Conditions In Scotland: A National Action Plan. The Scottish Government. [Online] [Viewed 05 March 2017]Available from: http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/CEL2009_23.pdf Coulter, A., Roberts, S. Dixon A., 2013. Delivering better services for people with long-term conditions. The Kings Fund. pp.1-28. Department of Health 2005. Supporting People with Long-Term Conditions. London: Department of Health. Eaton, S., Roberts, S. Turner, B., 2015. Delivering person centred care in long term conditions. BMJ. 1(2) Epping-Jordan, J.E., Pruitt, S.D., Bengoa, R., Wagner, E.H., 2004. Improving the quality of health care for chronic conditions. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 13 (4), pp 299-305. N.H.S. Scotland 2010. Long Term Conditions Collaborative Making the Connections Food For Thought. [Online]. [Viewed 4 March 2017]. Available from: http://www.scdc.org.uk/media/resources/what-we-do/mtsc/Making%20the%20Connections.pdf Wagner, E.H., 2001. Meeting the needs of chronically ill people. BMJ.323, pp. 945-6.

Transformation and Mixture in Moby-Dick :: Moby Dick Melville

Classroom discussions of Moby-Dick often result in a heightened awareness of Melville’s depictions of duality in nature; for example, the contrasting sky and sea respectively represent heaven and hell and the foul-smelling whale in Chapter 92 produces a fragrant and valuable substance called ambergris. But interpreting Melville’s Moby-Dick only as an exercise in duality limits the scope of this complex novel. Melville’s contemporary, Margaret Fuller, also seems aware of the confining notion of duality and states in Woman in the Nineteenth Century: Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. But, in fact, they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens into solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman†¦Nature provides exceptions to every rule (Fuller 293-4). Fuller explains that duality is a limiting and artificial concept, especially when used to describe nature. Transformation and mixture are concepts that more accurately characterize both nature and the writings of Fuller and Melville. Multiple perspectives are ideal for these authors, as is evident in Melville’s multifaceted Ishmael. At the end of the novel only Ishmael survives because he is able to view life and nature in an all-encompassing fashion. Melville is preoccupied with coffins in this novel, exploring the connection that this object has to nature -- an object that is made from nature (wood) and holds another part of nature (a body) after a natural progression has taken place (death). Melville seems fascinated by this odd and frequent custom of humankind of burying bodies inside a wooden box. Even seamen who remain unattached to land, such as Queequeg, desire such a ‘burial’ at sea. This coffin motif begins within the first few lines of Chapter 1, "Loomings," when Ishmael thinks of funerals: Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral procession I meet†¦ (Melville 3). This statement in the beginning of the novel introduces the reader to the coffin imagery that Melville uses throughout Moby-Dick and serves as the metaphor for transformative mixture throughout this paper. In Chapter 110, "Queequeg in his Coffin," Chapter 126, "The Life-Buoy," and the Epilogue, Melville explores many different and interesting representations of Queequeg’s coffin. Queequeg’s coffin cannot be defined only in terms of duality – it is not simply just a coffin and a life-buoy.

The Norse Viking Age Essay -- Expansion of the Vikings

In most cases, the Norse Viking Age is recorded to have officially began in 793 AD with the first recorded raid through to 1066 AD, ending with the Battle of Hastings. However, these dates vary upon scholars. The Battle of Hastings wasn't exactly the end of the Viking Age, because the Norse were spread out across Europe and Viking raids continued to take place in other locations. With that said, dating the conclusion of the Viking Age is fairly generic because Viking raids were sporadic in many locations and when one area was under control, another area was being raided. Additionally, because Viking raiders weren't unified efforts and most Norsemen tended to 'vikingr' (raid) at their own whim. This places the conclusion of the Viking Age at approximately the beginning of the 12th Century-ish. This is also about the time when Norse and other Kingdoms were becoming increasingly solidified and more able to repel Viking incursions. This was also around the time when the Christia nization of Northern Europe and Norse dominated lands began to take a firmer hold. So dating the exact end of the Viking Age is vague at best. The same can be said about the approximate beginning of the Viking Age as well. Although it's officially marked by most scholars as beginning in 793 AD with the raid on the Lindisfarne Monastery, however it wasn't a new concept to go â€Å"vikingr' (raid). Viking raids were already occurring in a vast range of other areas, including France. The most accepted official start of the Viking Age is recorded to have begun on June 8th, 793 AD when Norse raiders landed on the island of Lindisfarne and attacked the Christian Monastery located there, killing the monks and seizing the valuables. Viking raids by op... ...This left Alfred in command and the West Saxon and Viking armies met and the battle itself lasted all day. Bagsecg was killed along with his five Danish Jarls. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle King Bagsecg was slain by a sword while Halfdan fled from the battlefield with the rest of the army back to Reading. The Battle of Ashdown itself was a limited West Saxon Victory. The Battle of Basing was a battle on January 22nd, 871 AD at Old Basing in what is now the English county of Hampshire. It was one of a series of battles that took place following an invasion of the then kingdom of Wessex by an army of Danes, remnants of the merged Great Heathen Army and Great Summer Army. The Danes had established a camp at Reading and the previous battles of Englefield, the Battle of Reading and the Battle of Ashdown, had proved indecisive with victories to both sides.

Ancol Ltd. Study Essay

Ancol Ltd. hired Paul Simard as the manager of their Jonquiere, Quebec plant. Simard observed that relations were strained between management and employees and, through information from a seminar he had attended, ordered the removal of time clocks. This action brought an onset of negative consequences that ultimately led to a further diminishing of relations between the employees and management, accounting issues due to lack of accountability, and problems between the union and Ancol Ltd; All of these issues decreased productivity in the factory. The problem stems from issues of competency and communication. Essentially, there should have been an open solution from the beginning. Simard did not have the insight to understand the situation he was placed in. The new manager should have tried to understand why relations between employees and management were strained in the first place. He then could move to understand the needs of the management and workers to develop a solution that would benefit the whole factory. Rather than instantly implementing the removal of time clocks that he had learnt from the seminar, Simard should have carefully analyzed the situation and what consequences this policy could have on the factory. Simard could have researched and inquired about such methods and perhaps learnt the consequences from the instance at the B.C. factory. Problem Statement: The central issue at the Jonquiere Ancol Ltd. plant was that Paul Simard, and his management team, lacked the insight and communication to discern a more holistic and open solution to the problem of strained relations between the management and employees. This led to an uneducated and rash decision to order the removal of time clocks from the factory that led to negative consequences. Employees began leaving early, showing for work late, and taking extended lunch breaks that created distrust and frustration among management and other employees. The management was ordered to observe the employees and reprimand those who abused their privileges and was not competent enough to handle the task, which led to a great burden for the  supervisors, and this made it extremely difficult to foster trust between the management and employees. Consequently, the payroll department could not deduct pay for the amount of times employees were late due to a lack of accountability and therefore a lette r of reprimand was placed in each employee’s file, which created even more work for the supervisors. Finally, due to the letters of reprimand, grievances were filed with the employees’ unions that fostered greater distrust and essentially productivity, energy, and integrity significantly declined in the factory. Alternatives: The main issue revolved around the lack of communication and competency of the management at the beginning. Simard, and his staff, lacked the insight to effectively find a solution that would provide a holistic approach in solving the already apparent strained relations between the supervisors and employees. At the onset of his work term, Simard should have sought to understand why there was a rift between the employees and management. If Ancol Ltd. were still in good terms with the previous manager, Simard could have communicated with him to obtain a better understanding. In understanding the underlying issue, Simard would be able to effectively tackle the problem without uncertainty and then, Simard should have effectively communicated with his management team and his employees to find a solution that would benefit both parties and foster productivity, integrity, and trust back into the factory. The constraint to finding a holistic approach is that it takes time and the right solut ion may not come into fruition. Furthermore, while a solution is being made, it can be assumed that the relations are worsening. Furthermore, Simard should have seen that some of the issue arose from the fact that the supervisors lacked the interpersonal skills to communicate with the employees, which became apparent when the time clocks were removed. This was an obvious issue that Simard should have seen; having a management team that did not think the decision to remove the time clocks was rash or unwise should have been a signal. Therefore, perhaps Simard could have trained the existing management, or replaced them with more competent staff to create a more insightful staff and a healthier work environment for the employees. The constraint to this alternative is that training or hiring new management is time consuming and costly, and trust would have to be fostered between the new hires. This policy would have positive consequences and would create more trust between the employees and workers. It is obvious that the removal of the time clocks led to more harm than good. Simard should have carefully analyzed the situation prior to making the decision that led to such folly. If he had done this, many of the issues would not have occurred and the factory could have taken a step forward. Furthermore, he should have carefully analyzed the method that he learned from the seminar and how it would affect the employees and the factory’s productivity. Not all ideas that come from seminars pertain to every situat ion and any system change should be analyzed to predict the outcome in every functional area, such as the payroll department. If he had communicated with his senior management team and employees about the time clocks and its possible consequences, perhaps he would have found a better approach. Furthermore, if Simard had discussed the time clocks with other managers prior to implementing his policy, he would have learnt the consequences through the instance at the B.C. factory. Clearly, the issue and solution heavily depends on communication around the factory. It is difficult to see any negative consequences of this alternative, as the removal of time clocks was a disastrous solution. A constraint to this alternative is that it can be assumed that Simard does not have a management team that can communicate well, and hiring and training is costly and time consuming. With regards to the issues that occurred after the removal of the time clocks, there were many alternatives that Simard could have implemented that would have decreased the damage done. Simard could have been more strict on how many times an employee could be late, leave early, or take an extended lunch break. Furthermore, Simard could have rewarded those who stay longer and later to incentivize those who consid er abusing their privileges. These solutions have obvious pitfalls as the former only creates an adversarial environment and the latter relies on bribery rather than integrity and trust. Conclusion To conclude, since the issues stem from a lack of insight and communication, the solutions should also pertain to areas of insight and communication. Essentially, Ancol Ltd. could have hired a more competent manager for their Jonquiere plant. A competent manager would have created a more holistic and beneficial solution. Simard had not identified the root of the strained relations between the senior management and the employees. If he had communicated with the employees and management and previous manager in order to understand the issue at hand a much better solution could have been implemented. Also, a competent manager would have found that their management is lacking in crucial interpersonal skills that may have contributed to the issue. Simard should have conversed with the employees to learn about the existing management and terminate the supervisors who are not fit to lead. Although less costly, training the existing staff may not be the best option due to the fact that that the strained relations may be in part due to personality traits. Simard should have attempted to understand the implications of removing the time clock s in the factory. There were many alternatives that Simard could have attempted such as talking with his senior management team and employees, or communication with other managers at plants in order to understand the consequences of removing the time clocks. He would have found that it would have profound consequences in many functional areas of the factory and would derive a different solution. In regards to the order for the removal of time clocks, aside from reintroducing the time clocks earlier, it would be difficult for Simard to find solutions to the problem but rather Paul would be attempting â€Å"Band-Aid† solutions to the problems. Simard could have hired new supervisors or implemented a incentive based system but ultimately, this would have been avoided through more careful analysis and planning and therefore these should be rejected. Implementation At the beginning of Simard’s term, he should have immediately sought to identify the underlying issue regarding the strained relations between the employees and the senior management. First and foremost, if possible, Simard should have communicated with the previous manager. Next, Simard should have conducted depth discussions with his senior management and employees, together and separate. This will create an open and truthful dialogue between both parties and essentially, Simard would build a crucial  relationship with all staff. This process will take approximately a month or two. Throughout this time, Simard should have conducted research into the consequences of the removal of all time clocks and would refrain from doing so. In the process of discovering these issues, Simard would have noticed that his supervisor’s lack crucial skills that are necessary for their positions and terminate/hire new management staff accordingly. Simard would then ensure that the new management has the appropriate skills to effectively communicate with the employees and him to create a more accountable working environment. This process would take another month. With his revamped management staff, Simard would then address the underlying problems found through involvement with both the supervisors and employees. In this process, a new relationship would be built between both parties and workplace productivity and happiness would increase. This process would be ongoing until the solution was found and implemented.

Less Is More

LESS IS BORE. INTRODUCTION HOW CAN ONE DESCRIBE AND ANALYSE AN ARTISTIC MOMENT WHILE IT IS GOING ON? SO IN CASE OF POSTMODERNISM, HISTORY OFFERS NO INSIGHT AS TO THE SCOPE OF THE MOMENT BECAUSE WE ARE IN IT’S MIDST. EXPLANATION â€Å"I NEVER KNEW ANYBODY . . . WHO FOUND LIFE SIMPLE. I THINK A LIFE OR A TIME LOOKS SIMPLE WHEN YOU LEAVE OUT THE DETAILS. † SAME WAS THE THINKING OF ROBERT CHARLES VENTURI WHEN HE TOSSED HIS FAMOUS QUOTE ‘’LESS IS BORE’’, WHICH PAVED THE WAY FOR POSTMODERNISM IN THIS MODERN WORLD.ACCORDING TO THE CONCEPT ‘’LESS IS BORE’’ IT DEFINES THAT POSTMODERNISM IS SO ELUSIVE BECAUSE IT IS A SET OF COMPLEX CONCEPTS AND ABSTRACT PREMISES, NOT ONE CENTRAL IDEA. IT IS ONE OF THE HARDEST PHILOSOPHICAL AND ARTISTIC MOVEMENTS TO DEFINE; HOWEVER, ITS MUCH FORM CAN BE FOUND IN VISUAL ART, LITERATURE AND ARCHITECTURE. THIS CONCEPT ADVOCATES EMBRASING â€Å"CONTRADICTION AND COMPLEXITY’’ IN ORDER TO CREATE VALID AND VITAL WORKS. ITS ARGUES ARCHITECTS TO LEAVE THE TENETS OF TRADITIONAL MODERNISM BEHIND IN PURSUIT OF â€Å"TRUTH IN ITS TOTALITY’’.THIS MEANS THAT POSTMODERNISM IS A COMPLEX SET OF TRUE NATURE OF ARCHITECTURE AND IT IS MORE REAL THAN OVERLY PLANNED, HYPPER-LOGICAL MODERNIST CONSTRUCTIONS. POSTMODERNISM BEGAN AS AN INTERNATIONAL STYLE IN AROUND 1950’S AND CONTINUES TO INFLUENCE ARCHITECTURE TILL THIS DAY. POSTMODERNITY IN ARCHITECTURE IS SAID TO BE HERALDED BY THE RETURN OF â€Å"WIT, ORNAMENT AND REFERANCE† TO THE ARCHITECTYRE IN RESPONCSE TO THE FORMULATION OF INTERNATIONAL STYLE OF MODERNISM.WITH THE START OF POSTMODERNISM THE FUNCTIONAL AND FORMALIZED SHAPES AND SPACES OF THE MODERIST STYLE ARE REPLACED BY DIVERSE AESTHETICS AND NEW WAYS OF VIEWING FAMILIAR STYLE AND SPACES AROUND. THE MODERNISM IS ROTTED IN MINIMAL AND TRUE USE OF MATERIAL BUT WE FIND A WHOLE ABSENCE OF ORNAMENTATION. BUT IN CASE OF POSTMODERNISM, THERE IS A STRO NG REJECTION OF STRICT RULES SET BY THE EARLY MODERNISTS AND THERE IS A PURSUIT OF SEEKING MEANING AND EXPRESSION IN THE USE OF BUILDING TECHNIQUES, FORM AND STYLISTIC REFRENCES.WHY ACCORDING TO ROBERT CHARLES VENTURI â€Å"LESS IS BORE† â€Å"THE IDEAL ART, THE NOBLEST OF ART COULD ONLY BE DONE BY WORKING WITH THE COMPLEXITIES OF LIFE, REFUSING TO SIMPLIFY, TO â€Å"OVERCOME† DOUBT. † EVERY WHERE EXCEPT IN ARCHITECTURE, COMPLEXITTY AND CONTRADICTION HAS BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED, FROM GODEL’S PROFF OF ULTIMATE INCONSISTENCY IN MATHEMATICS TO ELIOT’S ANALYSIS OF DIFFICULT POETRY TILL JOSEPH ALBER’S DEFINATION OF THE PARADOXICAL QUALITY OF PAINTING. BUT LUCKLY VENTURI’S INFLUENCE SHOWS UP THE EMERGENCE OF WHOLLY NEW SITUATION IN ARCHITECTURE.HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE ARCHITECTURE CAME IN SUCH A TIME WHEN MODERNIST ARCHITECTS HAD ERRONEOUSLY ASSUMED THAT THEIR WORK WOULD EVENTULLY TAKE PLACE AS A CONGENIAL NEIGHBOR TO THE OTHER HISTORICAL STYLES. BUT VENTURIE’S AWARNESS TOWARDS THE VERSION OF CLASSICAL ELEMENTS OF DESIGN HELPED HIM TO INTRODUCE THE WORLD WITH â€Å"LESS IS BORE† CONCEPT. HE HAS MADE A SPECIAL ATTEMPT TO RELATE ARCHITECTURE TO OTHER THINGS, AND ALSO HE HAS SET A RELATION BETWEEN COMPLEXITY AND CONTRADICTION IN ARCHITECTURE. SO, THE POSTMODERNISM WELCOMES THE PROBLEMS AND EXPLOIT THE UNCERTAINTIES.IT EMBRACES CONTRADICTIONS AS WELL AS COMPLEXITY AND AIM FOR VITALITY AS WELL AS VALIDITY. WHILE MODERNISM REJECTS DEVINE MEANING, THE BEAUTY OF NATURE AND THE FOCUS ON THE HUMAN BODY, POSTMODERNISM WISHES TO BRING TO FRUIT IDEAS OF ENLIGHTMENT THAT MODERNISM REJECTS. MODERNISM HOLDS THAT WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS THE IDEA OR OBJECT A WORD REPRESENTS, POSTMODERNISM HOLDS THAT WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS THE ACTUAL WORD ITSELF. ART CAN BE SATISFACTORILY DESCRIBED ONLY WHEN IT IS UNDERSTOOD NOT TO FULFILL THE EXPECTATIONS WHICH IT AROUSES.SO WE MUST UNDERSTOOD THE NATURE OF ART, IT IS NECESSARY TO BEFORE FURTHER ANA LYZING COMPLEXITY AND CONTRADICTION IN ARCHITECTURE. ARCHITECTURE CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD AS ART UNTIL ART HAS BEEN UNDERSTOOD IN GENERAL. A MAJOR PROBLEM IN ART HAS BEEN A SUPPOSEDLY NECESSARY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE WORK OF ART AND THE EXPERIENCE OF ART. LOOKING AT GRAPHIC DESIGN, THERE ARE NO â€Å"LAWS,† BUT THERE ARE CERTAIN IDEAS ABOUT SYSTEMS, RULES AND FORM. HOWEVER, IT SEEMS THAT MANY OF VENTURI'S PRINCIPLES WORK EFFECTIVELY IN A GRAPHIC DESIGN CONTEXT: VARIETY, INCLUSION, AND TENSION ARE ALL KEY COMPONENTS TO SUCCESSFUL AND COMPELLING WORKS.WHILE GRAPHIC DESIGN PROJECTS GENERALLY HAVE A MUCH SHORTER LIFE SPAN THAN ARCHITECTURAL WORKS, IT IS INTERESTING TO CONSIDER THE GRAPHIC LANDSCAPE IN REFERENCE TO THE CITY LANDSCAPE. AS VENTURI DISCUSSED THESE IDEAS IN RELATION TO BOTH THE SINGULAR BUILDING AND THE DYNAMIC, LIVING CITY, WE CAN ALSO THINK ABOUT OUR DESIGN WORK AS INDIVIDUAL ENTITIES AS WELL AS PARTS OF A WHOLE BY CONSIDERING HOW THEY FIT IN WITH BOTH CONTEMPORARY A ND HISTORIC EXAMPLES OF GRAPHIC DESIGN.CERTAINLY HIS IDEA OF REPURPOSING HISTORICAL OR TRADITIONAL ELEMENTS ALSO APPLIES TO ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN—POSTMODERNISM WOULD NOT EXIST WITHOUT THIS CONCEPT. LETS US TAKE THE EXAMPLE OF RESIDENCE IN CHESTNUT HILL, PA. , VENTURI AND RAUCH, 1962. THIS BUILDING RECOGNIZES COMPLEXITIES AND CONTRADICTIONS: IT IS BOTH COMPLEX AND SIMPLE, OPEN AND CLOSED, BIG AND LITTLE; SOME OF ITS ELEMENTS ARE GOOD ON ONE LEVEL AND BAD ON ANOTHER; ITS ORDER ACCOMMODATES THE GENERIC ELEMENTS OF THE HOUSE IN GENERAL, AND THE CIRCUMSTANTIAL ELEMENTS OF A HOUSE IN PARTICULAR.IT ACHIEVES THE DIFFICULT UNITY OF A MEDIUM NUMBER OF DIVERSE PARTS RATHER THAN THE EASY UNITY OF FEW OR MANY MOTIVAL PARTS. THE INSIDE SPACES, AS REPRESENTED IN PLAN AND SECTION, ARE COMPLEX AND DISTORTED IN THEIR SHAPES AND INTERRELATIONSHIPS. THEY CORRESPOND TO THE COMPLEXITIES INHERENT IN THE DOMESTIC PROGRAM AS WELL AS TO SOME WHIMSIES NOT INAPPROPRIATE TO AN INDIVIDUAL HOUSE. ON THE OTH ER HAND, THE OUTSIDE FORM–AS REPRESENTED BY THE PARAPETED WALL AND THE GABLE ROOF WHICH ENCLOSE THESE COMPLEXITIES AND DISTORTIONS IS SIMPLE AND CONSISTENT: IT REPRESENTS THIS HOUSE'S PUBLIC SCALE.THE FRONT, IN ITS CONVENTIONAL COMBINATIONS OF DOOR, WINDOWS, CHIMNEY AND GABLE, CREATES AN ALMOST SYMBOLIC IMAGE OF A HOUSE. SO, WE ALL MUST KNOW THAT POSTMODERNISM IS AN ART OF CREATING THE â€Å"ANOMALIES AND UNCERTAINTIES† THAT â€Å"GIVE VALIDITY TO ARCHITECTURE,† THE ARCHITECTURE MUST BE REACTING AGAINST SOMETHING. SO WHILE â€Å"THERE ARE NO FIXED LAWS,† ARCHITECTURE BENEFITS FROM SOME SENSE OF ORDER OR A SYSTEM SO THAT IT CAN REACT. BECAUSE SYSTEMS CANNOT ACCOMMODATE EVER CIRCUMSTANCE, ARCHITECTURE SHOULD STRIVE TO DEFY ORDER AND THE ALTERING OR BREAKING OF ORDER ENHANCES THE DEEPER MEANINGS OF THE ARCHITECTURE. Less Is More Less Is More Some say that short stories are pointless, who could possibly write a story in just 55 words and it make sense? Well it has been done and it works quite well! It takes an author of great skill to be able to put so much information into such a small piece of writing, to be able to fit in all the necessities. These authors have their own genre of writing. Some of these amazing authors include Lydia Davis, Margaret Atwood, and Terry L. Tilton. These are just a few of the outstanding brains behind some of the best short stories ever written.Not only do these authors use the lack of words in such a way to make the reader more involved in the outcome of the story, they also use fewer words to be more dramatic, and to leave you with questions. In the short story â€Å"That Settles Thatâ€Å", Terry L. Tilton uses 55 words to complete an entire story. Here it is, Tom was a handsome, fun-loving young man, albeit a bit drunk when he got into the argument with Sam, his roommate o f just two months. ‘You can’t. You can not write a short story in just 55 words, you idiot? ’ Sam shot him dead on the spot. Oh yes you can,’ Sam said, smiling. This story is outstanding! It shows how much can be said in just a few words and leaves so many blanks for the reader to fill in. Some may look at this as being lazy, to leave so much for the reader to figure out on their own, however, for someone to conduct a story in 55 words that make sense, that is total genus! These authors that create these masterpieces know that a lot of readers prefer to be more active as they read. They like to read between the lines, look underneath the text. Feature Article – Short Story  The Plane of the Sleeping BeautyThese readers are very common and the authors know this, they know that their target audience are those who feel as if they are included in the writing process, that they get to decide what people look like and what they wear. They like to have the ability to make these decisions based upon the surrounding text, the information that the author does give. Stories like this one, give the reader the chance to work their brains, not just read the plain text for face value. This is a huge reason that short stories are important, they let active readers give their brain the work out it needs! Happy Endings† by Margaret Atwood is very dramatic. This short story is all about different ways to write a happy ending, although these ways involve extraneous situations involving lives that do not end happily, and in the end, no matter what, the main characters end up dying. A short story has to be more dramatic, more thi ngs need to happen in a short amount of time so the reader doesn’t get all the extra information. Think about it as if it is a Thanksgiving dinner, you don’t get all the stuffing and mashed potatoes, just the turkey, that’s all you have time for!These writers know that they only have a short amount of space to write in everything that they need so they want the big meaty pieces in there so it makes a huge impact! Lydia Davis beautifully wrote â€Å"Letter to a Funeral Parlorâ€Å". This short story is a letter that someone composed about their father passing away and the funeral parlor using the word â€Å"Cremains† to describe him. Lyndia Davis says, â€Å"Then we were sitting there in our chairs in the living room trying not to weep in front of your representative who†¦ referred to [my father] as ‘the cremains’†.This shows Davis’ ability to pull at the readers heart strings and make a point. This is a wonderfully writte n piece and it does exactly what a short story should do! Not only does it use a lack of words to have the readers fill in the blanks themselves but she also writes in a dramatic way. She is very to the point. She also does the final thing that is conveyed within short stories, she leaves you with questions. This is an amazing thing to do, as it leaves the readers wondering. Sometimes there are sequels to short stories and other times it is just another way to get the reader more involved.This give the reader another chance to fill in the blanks. Like in the Letter to a Funeral Parlor, it does not speak of how the father dies, nor does it talk about where they are from or what the people look like. These are all questions the author leaves the readers with, to think about. Readers enjoy reading short stories because they are something different from novels. Some people don’t want to have a book that takes a week or longer to read, some people don’t have attention spans that will last through an entire book.Those people want something they can read in 30 seconds or a half hour depending on if it’s a short short or not. Just because someone is a reader who prefers to read something short does not make then any worse or a reader that someone who likes 1000 page novels. It is all in the preference of the reader. Reading a short story is a good idea for readers because it gives you more options of reading. They are there for the readers who like to figure things out on their own. Short stories are amazing to read.They always leave you with something to think about. These essays are difficult to construct because of the amount of information that needs to be in such a small piece of writing. That is why the authors that do create these pieces of work are to be applauded because not everyone can do it. In a short story the author lets the reader be an active reader, filling in all the extra blanks and details. Short story authors also use fewer w ords to be dramatic. The less space you have to write, the fewer useless details and things that you will have.Therefore, the whole content is the important meat. This makes it so that the points are not drawn out, it creates a more climactic piece of work. These authors also leave their readers with questions. This creates the ability to keep the readers intrigued. Short story authors are amazing at what they do, someone like Terry L. Tilton, who has the ability to write a story in 55 words, should be commended or what they do. Works Cited Meyer, Michael, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 9th ed. Boston: St Martins, 2008. Print. Works Cited Knight