Conagra Foods Essay Example for Free

Conagra Foods Essay ConAgra Foods Inc. is one of the largest food companies in the United States operating in such segments as Consumer Foods (66%) and Commercial Foods (34%) which are divided into three significant business operations segments – agricultural products, packaged foods and refrigerated foods (Table 1). Table 1. Net sales (in millions USD) 20102009%increase/decrease Consumer Foods 8,002 7,979-%. Commercial Foods 4,077 4,447(8)% Total12,07912,426(3)% Source: Annual Report 2010 Consumer Foods The Consumer Foods segment includes branded, private label and customized food products, which are sold in various retail and foodservice channels. The products include a variety of categories, such as meals, entrees, condiments, sides, snacks, and desserts across frozen, refrigerated and shelf-stable temperature classes. The Company’s major brands include Alexia, ACT II, Banquet, Blue Bonnet, Chef Boyardee, DAVID, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt’s, Marie Callender’s, Orville Redenbacher’s, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip, Slim Jim, Snack Pack, Swiss Miss, Van Camp’s and Wesson. As of July 22, 2010, it had 39 domestic manufacturing facilities in Arkansas, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin. As of July 22, 2010, it also had four international manufacturing facilities in Canada and Mexico (one 50% owned) and one in Arroyo Dulce, Argentina. Commercial Foods The Commercial Foods segment supplies frozen potato, sweet potato and other vegetable, spice and grain products to a variety of restaurants, foodservice operators and commercial customers. The products are sold under brands, such as ConAgra Mills, Lamb Weston, and Spicetec Flavors Seasoning. As of July 22, 2010, it had 41 domestic production facilities in Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Washington; one international production facility in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico and Qingdao, China; one manufacturing facility in Taber, Canada; one 50% owned manufacturing facility in each of Colorado, Minnesota, Washington and the United Kingdom; one 67% owned manufacturing facility in Puerto Rico, and three 50% owned manufacturing facilities in the Netherlands. Company is mainly engaged in operations in the United States which count for more than 90% of total income (Table 2). ConAgra Foods Inc. owns approximately 50 brands (Table 3). Table 2. Pre-tax income from continuing operations (in millions USD) 201020092008 United States1,040. 3872. 1631. 9 Foreign 66. 6 64. 3 69. 6 Total1,106. 9936. 4701. 5 Source: Annual Report 2010 Vision and mission The vision of the company set by current CEO Gary Rodkin is: â€Å"One company. One goal. Making the food you love. † It reflects the overall company’s strategy to make â€Å"food people want in their lives every day†. The mission is reflected in company’s profile: â€Å"Preparing great food, being a strong partner to our customers and thinking about all of the people who enjoy our food and the difference it makes in their lives fuels our passion: making the food you love. † Goals Like every public-held company listed on NYSE (ConAgra Foods Inc. has ticker CAG) ConAgra Foods Inc. aims to increase earnings per share. The goal of the company is to achieve long-term growth through supply chain productivity, operational efficiency, innovation, selling, marketing and sustainability of great brands . Increase in supply chain productivity and operational efficiency lets the company to reduce its manufacturing, finance, administrative, transportation costs. Innovation and marketing orientation enhances the business processes and expands profit margins. Figure 1. Formula for growth Source: Annual Report 2010 ConAgra Foods Inc.operates under three principles while achieving its strategic goal: simplicity, collaboration and accountability. Using their resources rationally, nourishing employees and creating positive image within the community are the objectives which lead the company to be â€Å"good for you, good for the community, good for the people† . Strategic priorities The company focuses on the following business product groups. In each strategic group ConAgra Foods Inc. possesses significant manufacturing and innovation capabilities. Figure 2. Strategic priorities. Source: Annual Report 2010 Strategy â€Å"ConAgra Foods is focused on growing sales, expanding profit margins, and improving returns on capital over time. To that end, the company has significantly changed its portfolio of businesses over a number of years, focusing on branded, value-added opportunities, while divesting commodity-based and lower-margin businesses. † Acquisitions Company was founded in 1919 as Nebraska Consolidated Mills and in 2000 changed its name to ConAgra Foods Inc. Acquisitions are the major part of ConAgra’s strategy. The company implemented horizontal and vertical integration strategy after sustaining solid background in flour-milling operations and feed and poultry segment. The time and the trends in the food industry were crucial to the strategic acquisitions of the company. In 1970-1980s when home and industrial refrigerators became available for the consumers and packing techniques developed , which meant that now meat and vegetables will not spoil, ConAgra entered the frozen foods market with the acquisition of Banquet Foods in 1980 and other companies in the meat and poultry segment (Armour Foods, Beatrice Foods, Hebrew National Foods, etc.). In 1980-1990s when the welfare of American citizens began to improve and people began to value time the food that was easy to cook (which means basically just heat and serve) was highly demanded and ConAgra’s strategic move was highly appreciated by the investors in the stock market. The stock price of CAG tripled from 10$ in 1990 to 30$ in 1998. The total amount of acquired brands approximated 30 by the year 2000 (Hunt’s, La Choy, Wesson, ACT II, Chef Boyardee, etc. ) and company changed its name to ConAgra Foods Inc.to reflect its growing role as a food products manufacturer rather than just the food ingredients supplier. In the beginning of the twenty first century and nowadays when the society became more concerned about their health ConAgra Foods Inc. implemented several strategic acquisitions of such companies as Alexia Foods Inc. (natural and organic foods company) in 2007, Elan Nutrition in 2010 and others. The purchases that company makes â€Å"†¦reflect [our] acquisition strategy—find businesses that are great fits and enable [us] to grow by filling a need within [our] portfolio or giving [us] an adjacent category expansion†¦. † Figure 3. The acquisitions strategy helped ConAgra Foods Inc. to: ConAgra Foods Inc. divests the businesses which are either too complex to integrate with the core businesses or did not achieve a profit margin greater than the benchmark margin rate. In 2009 the company sold Pemmican (beef jerky business), in 2008 it sold â€Å"Knott’s Berry Farm† operations and others. Mostly, the divestitures are low-margin (commodity-based) businesses. Marketing and distribution Almost every American household has a number of ConAgra Foods brand-named products in their refrigerators. The ability to acquire well-known and customer-loved brands had secured for ConAgra beneficial position. Some of the acquired brands such as Peter Pan and Chef Boyardee had longer history than ConAgra and were so much identifiable in the consumer market that it makes no sense to advance the brand of ConAgra. Even though the company has so many brands in their â€Å"arsenal† many people don’t know what ConAgra does. And many consumers don’t identify ConAgra as the owner of the brand-named products that they buy. ConAgra is aimed to the better understanding needs of their customers. The health-conscious consumers (whose number is growing) chose nutritious and low-fat food. For increasing nutrition in its products company launched the program on sodium reduction and positions itself as a â€Å"safe food manufacturer† . In 2008 the company launched the program online startmakingchoices. com for people who are concerned with the healthy way of life. The website has several tests and tips on how to keep your life healthier. Also company designs packaging with the full information to help consumers improve their diet. â€Å"Taste, health, nutrition, convenience, sustainability and, of course, value are just some of the issues American shoppers are now faced with every time they go to a supermarket and theyre demanding to know more. † For the purpose of better serving its customers and help consumers with their choice ConAgra Foods Inc. launched â€Å"Food News Today† with Phil Lempert, a â€Å"leading consumer trend analyst and Supermarket Guru†. ConAgra Foods Inc. aimed to develop and improve their private labeling strategy. One of the most successful brands that company has, Healthy Choice, has retail sales of about 1 billion dollars. This label is licensed to other companies for use on their products. Company announced the Gold Store initiative in 2006, which focuses on driving growth by optimizing in-store conditions in three fundamental areas: distribution, shelving, and placement next to the companion products. As part of a plan ConAgras sales efforts are shifting from a strategy that relied heavily on short-term price discounts and couponing in order to push out sales volume to consumers to a strategy that relies more on ways to draw in consumers. The new strategy hopes to provide a more balanced mix of trade spending, consumer advertising, and product innovation than the company had in the past. Even though ConAgra Foods Inc. owns distribution and transportation businesses like J. M. Swank, most of company’s transportation equipment, distribution centers and storage facilities are being run by third parties. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and its affiliates, accounted for approximately 18% of consolidated net sales for fiscal 2010 . ConAgra combines hard data from retailers with its own qualitative research. â€Å"Gary Rodkin is on a quest to find what he calls the big, singular insight that will drive behavior change. †¦. He is using theories about buying habitsbacked by $399 million a year in advertising, marketing and in-store promotionsto convince grocery stores to provide ample shelves for its 45 consumer brands†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  Leadership. Charles M. Harper The â€Å"wizard† Charles M. Harper who led the company from 1974 to 1993 is well-known for launching acquisitions strategy and founding Healthy Choice brand. During his tenure at ConAgra, the company expanded its business operations from flour-milling business to frozen foods, poultry, prepared seafood, fertilizers and the sales rose from $636 million in 1974 to $9 billion in 1987. The main reason for making decisions on acquisitions strategy were cyclical profits that company faced in agricultural segment. Mike Harper decided to diversify the company from basic products to packaged goods. His main priority was to acquire companies while they were in their down cycle and he restructured the companies and refocused their marketing strategies. He reintroduced the brands which were highly recognizable by consumers and refocused the product lines. In 1988 Harper boasted that ConAgra was probably the only food products company to participate across the entire food chain. In the early 1990s ConAgra expanded at a rate of about 3-5 acquisitions and joint ventures a year, becoming the leader in the frozen goods industry . During his tenure the P/E ratio of the company was at all times high which means: the price of stock was rising faster than the earnings per share or in other words, the investors were overoptimistic about the future of the company. (Figure 4) Figure 4. P/E ratio of ConAgra Foods Inc. Bruce Rhode In 1998 Bruce Rhode was named a CEO of ConAgra and his first steps were to reduce costs by large amount. He instituted Operation Overdrive restructuring program, closing several production plants and storage facilities and cutting the workforce by seven thousand employees. The estimated savings from Operation Overdrive were approximately $600 million a year . The other problem that Bruce Rhode faced was strong decentralization of the company. Some of the food-processing and meat-packing companies, which operated under one brand name of ConAgra, purchased the products from the competitors rather than other ConAgra’s branches. The same uncoordinated actions were in marketing when â€Å"representatives from several ConAgra divisions, all selling similar products, visited the same restaurants and groceries†. Bruce Rhode emphasized team-approach to solve these problems. At the beginning of 2000s many retail grocery stores would like to promote their own brands in foods processing and packaging segment and that was another problem for Bruce Rhode to solve. He concentrated on product development and marketing, working closely with grocery stores to create displays of ConAgra products. Bruce Rhode continued acquisitions strategy of his predecessors acquiring more brand names in packaged food segment (International Home Foods in 2000) to increase gross sales of the company and he divided company into ten principal operating units: ConAgra Foodservice Company; ConAgra Grocery Products Companies; ConAgra Frozen Prepared Foods; ConAgra Dairy Case Companies; ConAgra Refrigerated Prepared Foods; ConAgra Meat Companies; ConAgra Poultry Company; ConAgra Food Ingredients; United Agri Products Companies; ConAgra Trade Group. The early years of his tenure coincided with the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997-1998 when the investors were cautious about the US domestic markets and the stock price fell significantly (Figure 4). Figure 4. Daily stock prices for ConAgra Foods, Inc. (CAG) since 1978 to 2010. Source: google. com/finance Gary Rodkin Gary Rodkin, the former CEO of PepsiCo Beverages and Foods of North America division, replaced Bruce Rhode as CEO of ConAgra Foods Inc. in 2005 and began reorganization trying to create one centralized consolidated company that consists of more than 500 subdivisions. As a result of refocusing its portfolio of businesses ConAgra Foods Inc. divested Butterball, Armour, Eckrich and others. Gary Rodkin, while continuing acquisitions strategy, transformed the company into a â€Å"more unified operating company† . With the changes of the new CEO many analysts were concerned that he would try to create ConAgra brand instead of coordinating many different brands. However, during his interview to SmartMoney (Wall Street Journal) in 2010 he said: â€Å"†¦. There is no product named ConAgra. So instead, we say, consumers make the brands relevant. We do need investors to better understand this company. But on the consumer side, we really don’t think the juice is worth the squeeze. † Performance Internal organization ConAgra Foods Inc. operates in a low-margin industry thus effectively managing its costs is the priority in achieving strategic competitiveness (Figure 6). Focusing on cost reduction the company could save 1. 1 billion USD through supply chain rationalization initiatives, the relocation of a divisional headquarters from Irvine, California to Naperville, Illinois, the centralization of shared services, salaried headcount reductions and other cost-reduction initiatives . Figure 6. Heres how the $4. 19 you pay for a frozen dinner like one from Healthy Choice breaks down. ConAgra makes 55 cents. Source: Forbes. com . Shopping Cart Psychology by Helen Coster. 08. 19. 09 For the fiscal 2010 year ConAgra Foods Inc. announced net sales of 12,079 million USD with the operating profit of 1,652 USD (Table 4). Table 4. Financial Highlights for the fiscal 2010 year Source: Annual Report 2010 â€Å"†¦.. Heightened competition, weak demand and inflation hampered food processor ConAgras fiscal first quarter, leading it to cut its outlook, though the maker of Healthy Choice and Orville Redenbachers brand foods increased its dividend†¦.. † . The company also decreased its earnings per share outlook from 8-10% growth to 5-7%. External environment ConAgra Foods Inc. is focused on value-added brand companies and private labeling in the food industry where it competes with such giants as Kraft Foods, Heinz, Nestle, etc. â€Å"†¦.. We experience intense competition for sales of our principal products in our major markets. Our products compete with widely advertised, well-known, branded products, as well as private label and customized products. Some of our competitors are larger and have greater resources than we have. We compete primarily on the basis of quality, value, customer service, brand recognition, and brand loyalty†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. † From the next figure it can be inferred that even though ConAgra Foods, Inc. operates better than overall US industries, it still underperforms the leading companies in food sector. Figure 5. 10-year comparison of ConAgra Foods Inc. , SP 500, SP 500 Packaged Foods Index. Source: Annual Report 2010 In the Processed and Packaged Goods industry companies operate under very narrow margins (Figure 6) and for that reason severe price competition after the financial crisis influences heavily the profits of ConAgra Foods Inc. Also, the retailers implement backward integration strategy and take away profits from famous brand companies since the consumers are losing interest in the brand-named products. Even though the there are some good news about the industry that the consumers are very conscious about the money and they eat-out less than before the crisis the competition in the industry makes it difficult for analysts to predict bright future for the food companies. In the Figure we can see that the general projections for the industry are either â€Å"buy† or â€Å"hold† rather than â€Å"strong buy†. Figure 7. Analysts recommendation about the industry and ConAgra Foods Inc. Source: wikinvest. com Zacks Investment Research, November 24, 2010. Bibliographies 1. Amanda Quick, â€Å"Company profiles for students†, (Thomson Gale, 1999) 2. bigcharts. com 3. ConAgra Foods Inc. Annual Report 2010 4. ConAgra Foods Inc. Corporate Responsibility Report 2010 5. conagrafoods. com 6. forbes. com 7. google. com/finance 8. http://www. hbs. edu 9. referenceforbusiness. com 10. wikinvest. com 11. wsj. com.

Maintaining Project Management in the Built Environment

Maintaining Project Management in the Built Environment â€Å"The UKs construction industry has been enjoying a period of strong growth, with the infrastructure and the commercial construction sectors at the forefront of this trend.† (Corporate watch, 2004) The environmental groups of UK, such as the Construction Industry Environmental Forum (CIEF), The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Envirowise, Construction Industry Council (CIC), Defra, Environment Agency, Corporate Watch, etc. are more cautious and active to built environment specifically in the UK construction industry. Their one of the main objectives is to improve the sustainability and environmental performance of construction. Thus it need a well organized preplan and to maintain it; that means project management. Now the question come that, does it really important to maintain a project management in the built environment specifically in the UK construction industry.  · Background: There is no doubt that the construction industries in built environment today face more challenges than in the past. The modern business environment is operating in a highly turbulent time. Demand for operational activities to achieve effectiveness and efficiency, the environment has increased the need for organizational accountability both in public and private sector. The UK construction industry is a growing sector and developing day by day. In this case project management is viewed as a tool that helps the organization to carry out selected project effectively and efficiently. This project management tool in the built environment does not guarantee the project success. It has been seen that some project completed within the determined time and meet all requirements, but has not succeed. On the other hand, some project perceived as successful though they have failed to meet the most important criteria. However, in a project environment, the project management can provide the achievement of project and organizational goals. In addition, project management presents a greater assurance to the stakeholders that all resources are utilized and managed effectively. â€Å"Projects fail at an alarming rate. Quantitative evaluations show that as many as 30% of projects are cancelled before completion, wasting all the time money and effort spent on them. Surviving projects usually fail to deliver the full initial project scope or deliver late or overrun the budget†. (William, 2002). Project management is very important when consequence is absence of proper project management or project management is not applied properly to the projects. Continues changes in project scope, the demand for efficient project management is emerged to maximize the resources. â€Å"Effective project management will help: meet or exceed customer expectations, maximize the use of your resources (time, people, money, space, etc.), bring the project to a successful conclusion on time and within budget, document what was done for any need of future reference, and build confidence in your team for future projects†. (Glenn ,2007)  · Aims of the dissertation: The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the importance of project management in the built environment, specifically in the UK construction industry.  · Method of the dissertation: The method of this dissertation is external referencing. Journals and reference books are used as the source of data to this dissertation. Materials are collected on the internet, libraries and other mediums of research.  · Results: One or two sentences indicating the main findings. For the touch of globalization and worldwide competition construction firms are not concern with accomplish the work within the time limit and budget; and get profit, They are competing with how efficiently, accurately accomplish the project with highest amount profit as well as proper implementation of the project.  · Conclusions: One sentence giving the most important consequence of the work. 2. To assess the significance, structure and execution of Project Management in built environment principally in the UK construction industry. Construction Industry Environmental Forum, UK says that their objectives and mission is to improve the sustainability and environmental performance of construction, by providing a cross-sector and independent forum for the exchange of new ideas and demonstration of best practice. 2.1. The objectives of Construction Industry Environmental Forum Their objectives are Demonstrate the implementation and value of sustainability best practice To identify the barriers and promote practical solutions To provide briefings on the latest legislative changes To showcase examples of best practice and innovation, and the business benefits To assist in the production of appropriate best practice guidance To promote research in sustainable construction Disseminate the results of new research and guidance that can help to deliver a more sustainable built environment. 2.2. Key themes of Project Management in built environment principally The key themes are- Biodiversity and wildlife Energy use and climate change Performance measurement Planning urban regeneration Sustainable resource use Contaminated land Environmental management Sustainability accounting and reporting The internal environment Social and corporate responsibility Waste management, recycling and materials Procurement and modern methods of construction 2.3. Illustration Rapid Globalization has made so much pollution that the people of the world are now cautious to build environment friendly construction. Government has imposed many rules and regulations on construction industries. This makes the construction projects more complex to do. Increasing amount of the competition in construction industries are now emphasis on the accuracy and the efficiency of work as well as the environment friendliness. So a proper management and well established plan is needed to face this situation. Thus the necessity of project management came to an question in of project management in the built environment specifically in the UK construction industry. The skills in Project management are not secret art especially in built environment. In regarding construction project success there are some techniques that should be developed. Now let see what a project management means. â€Å"A project is some overall task which has a definable beginning and a definable end. It consists of a number of related and dependent activities, all of which utilize resources, and upon which there are imposed internal and external conditions† (Marttino, 1968) â€Å"Project management in construction is a practical, easy-to-read guide to defining, organizing, planning, and executing a construction project so that it is completed to the satisfaction of the principal stakeholders†.( Research and markets,2004) The Project sponsor receives the projects due. The sponsor owns overall responsibility of directing and organizing for the project. Asides that, the sponsor resolves various issues around scope, schedule, budget, and staffing and accelerates finance for the project. Surely the sponsors want to get profit and frequent money circulation from their investment and invest where they the risk is low. To attract them project management is an attractive tool. Project management ensures optimum performance of their operation, proper use of resources and completes the project within the time limit. 2.4. Basic Elements of project Basically the elements of any project are Operations- the things organization/firm do Resources- the things organization/firm use, consisting of men, money, materials, machines and time. Conditions or restraints- under which organization/firm must work such as deliveries and deadlines. Resources may be fixed, variable or combined. When resources are used efficiently, they are said to be levelled. Planning is done independently of resources consideration. The assigning of resources to a plan determines the schedule automatically. Since duration estimates are only guesses, it is important that dynamic control be maintained. Network analysis is a tool for controlling, as well as planning. â€Å"Even organizations that have established a formal Project Management Office need an executive champion, particularly when the office is understaffed.† (Don, 2007) 2.5. Life cycle of a project Now let see how the Life cycle of a project is Project development and preliminary engineering Bidding and contract negotiation Engineering design Purchase and procurement Construction Commissioning (Prasanna,P-28.8) Figure 2: life cycle of a project (Prasanna,P-28.8) Project management is the primary means which manipulate the organizational strategy. Projects are to be said as unique units of work that put into action the policies and strategies of an organization. â€Å"Construction projects are directly linked with the strategic vision and mission of the organization. As far as owners or operators of physical facilities are concerned, construction projects are the means of supporting their organizational goals. Organizations are constantly faced with new demands on their physical facilities. Owners of facilities are continually re-shaping the way they design and organize their work practices, which in turn directly impacts the performance of their physical facilities.† (Michael,2004) In the field of UK construction industry the importance and need of project management is an important issue, because all organization, whether large or small, at one time or other, are engaged in manipulating new undertakings. â€Å"These undertakings may be diverse, such as, the development of a new product or service; the establishment of a new production line in a manufacturing enterprise; a public relations promotion campaign; or a major building programmers†.(Sandro,2004) The concept of project management is traditionally familiar with construction industry and is widely applied on projects of all sizes and complexity. The role of project management in the construction industry is to put in important value to achieve the successful delivery of projects. Project management function is applicable to all types of projects in built environment. Application of project management to the construction industry is an important component to raise the standards by setting objective standards of competence and encouraging their usage. To achieve the construction project success in the field of built environment the proper criteria should be followed. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said about them, â€Å"The RICS Project Management Faculty is the home within RICS for professionals who have an interest in the management of construction projects.† (rics.org ) 3. To classify the project management tools and techniques and quantify their influence in the construction project success. â€Å"There is a relationship between time and cost to perform an activity. There is a normal and crash point for both the time and cost of each job.† (Marttino, 1968) Team building, planning, controlling and monitoring, even terminating a project all are the part of the project management function. There are many reasons for which the construction projects are often completed late and the budget exceed the expectation. However, the department of the environment working with the construction industry, that encouraged a number of initiatives to promote improvements of successful construction. Skills of the construction workforce, information technology, research all these needs to be developed to achieve the construction project success. The right process makes built environment easy and application of information technology in the construction industry become available. It is known that high levels of understanding issues facing by the governments and the industry leaders and the applicability of project management provide a theoretical framework for strategic planning and emphasize the tools for research into the economics of the industry. In the field of construction industry promoting the importance of built environment is a significant issue. Construction industry is the process that adding infrastructure to the UK built environment. Commitment to the objective of project management is strong tool to continue and maintain a successful construction project. Excellent communication, well managed team leadership, capability to work at both internal and external levels of project management, being informed about when and how to make trade-offs and concentrating on business goal are to be said the techniques used to achieve the successful delivery of projects. 3.1. International project management The planning exercise provides the project appraiser with the following information- Determination of the major problem areas, Identification of goals and a good matrix to related targets purpose, purpose to objective and objectives to fid development goals, A consideration of alternatives strategies, sector allocations and programmes and a choice between them An identification of alternative project Thus the boundaries of project appraisal are determinate. (Wadhwa, Daver, Rao, -1998) The appraisal of the project is very important which consists of the following steps. Determination of expected contribution of alternatives actions to the various goals. The determination of costs-benefits of the various actions. The determination of a conceptual framework to monitor and evaluate the proposal action.(Wadhwa, Daver, Rao, -1998) So any Project investigation, analyzing, designing, implementing, and managing is done properly by the management. Management directs the project through appropriate process. The process goes through a continuous aspect as the Directing a Project (DP), Starting up a Project (SU), Initiating a Project (IP), Managing Stage Boundaries (MSB), Controlling a Stage (CS), Managing Product Delivery (MP), Closing a Project (CP), Planning (PL).( PRINCE2 2008) 3.2. Times with any project All this processes are related with time boundaries. The time lines are- Earliest start times- the earliest time at which all preceding activities can be accomplished. Latest starting time- the latest time an activities can be starts without delaying the project. Earliest finish time- the earliest possible time at which an activity can be completed. Latest finish time- the latest time and activity can be completed without delaying the project.(Marttino, 1968) Select time line boundaries are very important for a successful project management. Float is a measure of available time verses required time. Jobs without float are said to be critical and lie on the critical path. There are four Kinds of float- Total float- differences required time and maximum time. Interfering float (event slake) the measure of float share by downstream activities Free float measure of excess time when all activities start as early as possible. Independent float the difference between required time and minimum available time.(Marttino, 1968) 3.3. Common Difficulties There are some common difficulties that are playing as a determiner of the success or failure of the project. In a project, capital expenditure decisions are extremely important; they also pose difficulties which stem from three principal sources. Measurement problem Identifying and measuring the cost and benefits of a capital expenditure proposal tends to be difficult. This is more so when a capital expenditure has a bearing on some other activities of the firm (like cutting into the sales of some existing product) or has some intangible consequence (like improving the morale of workers). Uncertainty A capital expenditure decision involves cost and benefits that extend far into the future. It is impossible to predict exactly what will happen in the future. Hence, there is usually a great deal of uncertainty characterising the cost and benefits of a capital expenditure decision. Temporal spread The cost and benefits associated with a capital expenditure decision are spread out over a long period of time. Usually 10-20 years for industrial projects and 20-50 years for infrastructural culture projects. Such a temporal spread creates some problems in estimating discount rates and establishing equivalence. (Chandra, 2007) 4. To evaluate the stages onto which the project management tools and techniques are applied while executing any construction project. It is very important to evaluate the tools and techniques that are used in a project to its successful conclusion. Every steps of a project is very important. The efficiency of the management depends upon the perfect use of its resources. One fault may change the overall condition of the project. 4.1. Capital expenditure decision Capital expenditure decision often represents the most important decision taken by a firm. Their importance stems from three inter-related reasons- Long term effect The consequences of capital expenditure decisions extend far into the future. The scope of current manufacturing activities of a firm is governed targets by capital expenditures in the past. Irreversibility The market for used capital equipment in general is ill -organized. Further, for some types of capital equipment, custom made to specific requirements, the market may virtually be no existent. Once such an equipment is acquired, reversal of decision may mean scrapping be reversed without incurring a substantial loss. Substantial outlays Capital expenditures usually involve substantial outlays. An integrated steel plan, for example, in rolves an outlay of several thousand million. Capital costs lend to increase with advanced technology. (Chandra, 2007) 4.2. Facts of project analysis There are some factors to analysis any project. They are essential to estimate the importance of the project to the firm. According to Chandra, 2007 the factors are- Market analysis this factor determines the need of the project. That means how fruitful will be the project to the society. Technical analysis it determines the capability of the firm to complete the project. Financial analysis it determines the financial capability of the firm to complete the project as well as the profitability of the project. Economic analysis it determines the economic aspects of the project to the society. Ecological analysis it determines the biological aspects of the projects. Basically this is the most important factor to build built environment specifically in the construction industry.(Chandra, 2007) 4.3. Capital budgeting process Capital budgeting is the tool that ensures the outcome from the project and successful conclusion of the project. It is also very important to continue the regular activity and financing. It requires identifying all parties as well as stakeholders related to this project for proper execution of management of the project. First the plan of budgeting should be made than analyze it to determine the necessity and minimize the cost. After this firm should select the priority of financing and select the source of financing. Then implement it and review the effectiveness. The process can be shown as follows. In Capital budgeting process every elements is affecting others. 5. To investigate the role, application and efficacy of project management processes in achieving the successful delivery of projects. There are five resources to complete the project. Basically these are the elements that combine all the factors and tools to complete a project. Man Money Materials Machines and Time The building process maintains follows an identifiable life cycle at the time when important environmental impact occurs. However, this process is result to the function and rules of project management of varying degrees of formality that is liable about the procurement, control, and direction of the resources required. The function project management is practiced as it seeks to continue the explicit and implicit performance factors. â€Å"The roles, duties, and responsibilities of the project manager are examined to establish the positions during the life cycle at which the environmental impact of the building process is determined and the opportunities available to the project manager to exercise environmental responsibility whilst pursuing the satisfaction of explicit performance requirements (cat.inist.fr,1997) Single project management provides the project portfolio management efficiency. The previous research reminds that the single project management is related with project portfolio level outcome. â€Å"A questionnaire survey with 279 firms verifies the hypothesized role of information availability, goal setting and systematic decision making in achieving portfolio management efficiency.†(Miia Pà ¤ivi, 2007, Pages 56-65) So, reaching project management goals and portfolio management efficiency are two different hypothesized links. Project management is known as a general issue, but most of the time so many of us get it wrong. Even if one gets it right once, the next time project is often so disappointment. The reason behind it may be unable to embed project management into all aspect of the organization and dont learn from the mistakes. In the built environment of construction industry the organization needs to consider which projects will delivery strategic objectives. Project management has emerged as a well-built discipline which is practiced by high level of training, certified experts as organizations have come to observe that they would not stay in business if they cannot handle their projects. However, many organizations are still limiting or reducing the application of project management to the tactical level. It is so much important for the organization to stay in the survival of the construction enterprises in built environment. 5.1 Role of Project Management Notably, the role of project management is defined especially by the following strategies:- Executive championship: high level of buy-in decision and the guidance to give support the portfolio manager. â€Å"Even organizations that have established a formal Project Management Office need an executive champion, particularly when the office is understaffed.† (Wessels, 2007) Business acumen: in order to meet the organization objectives, the project managers need to take quick decision about which projects are necessary. A solid project management process: leadership is an important tool to do the excellent job to create strategic portfolio in regarding project management of construction industry. the project managers and their teams should maintain and continue the practice of just-do-it. Timeframes and budgets: the budget and timeframes should be within the control of project so that the projects would not set up for failure from the beginning. It is known that construction industry is sixth largest industry in United Kingdom. So, it is needless to mention the importance of successful project planning and the budgets in a timeframe. The construction industry comprises a huge amount of investment and cost that is to be said unrecoverable. Hence, if the proper implementation does not occur especially in the UK built environment then there is the possibility of a large amount of loss. â€Å"According to the latest figures (April 2003) from the Office of Government Commerce statistics, 569 PFI contracts have been signed in the UK, 418 of which are already operational. The combined capital value of these contracts is  £53 billion, although the value of individual projects ranges from under  £1 million to over  £1 billion. In the construction and property sector, the scope of PFI has been wide-ranging, including roads, bridges, sewage treatment plants, waste incinerators, hospitals, schools, prisons and office accommodation. But despite the large number of projects procured to date, the effectiveness of PFI is still subject to considerable debate.† (emeraldinsight,2008) Requirements analysis: most of the cases it has been viewed that the organization does not follow and meet the proper requirements. This lack leads to a risky result for any type of organization. Stay the course: the benefit of project management is that it helps to stay in the course when the objectives and goals are determined. Whatever the task is, whether it is difficult or easy, staying in the course makes it possible to fulfill. 6. To identify the importance and need of project management with the augmentation of scope and complexity of construction project. It is strongly recommend that the benefit, challenge, objectives, goals, strategies all should be selected in a systematic manner for the better outcome. Furthermore, the stages of project management are to be considered and implemented in a normal procedure. The following diagram shows the stages involved in project management. The above figure suggests that at first the organization would focus on what would be their task and strategy that already mentioned. Then the next step would be to emphasize on how those task and strategy can be implemented. To implement successfully, the organization must have to consider the following criteria in accordance with their objectives: Adequate formulation: the project management helps to formulate the required data and information adequately and make the function more reliable. Sound project organization: sound project organization means how smoothly and efficiently the organization can run. When the proper project is implemented then the organizational activities become functional and easy to retain. Proper implementation planning: whatever the plan is should be implemented properly. The organization needs to follow the right way to make their plan of project effective and desired. It is strongly recommended that the right thing at right way would be implemented at right time and obviously at the right place. Advance action: advance action needs to take before going to consider about any project success. Good project management thinking helps to identify and recognize the advance actions those are needed to run in the built environment of construction industry. The success or final outcome of the effort depends mostly on the proper advance action. Timely available of funds: the project management plays a major role in regarding budget issue. The budget issue is equaled important for achieving the desired success. Barriers are involved when the project is maintained and run. Available of funds is one thing that formulates the process of a successful project outcome. Judicial equipment tendering and procurement: Better contract management: management is to be defined as planning, controlling, organizing and implementing the functional activities. Contract management is the field where all things related with the planning, controlling, organizing and implementing. The more managed contract, the more desired success can be gained. However, project management to success of construction is similar with blood to a body. â€Å"Communication on projects between owners and contractors can sometimes be difficult†. (ehbrunjesassociates.com,2004). In UK construction industry, the external environment is very competitive and challenging. At every step, the organization has to face these challenges and only proper project management can make these challenge completed. Effective maintaining: the well maintenance of project is the heart of successful construction project. In the perspective of UK construction industry, effective maintaining can lead to a high level of success. â€Å"Project Management is not a catch phrase dreamed up by some marketing director. It is a well-developed body of science with its own processes, technologies, certified professionals, trade associations, and body of literature. So far, lawyers have not been a part of that world, but that is about to change†. (Donald,n.d) The importance and need of project management with the augmentation of scope and complexity of construction project cannot be ended in words. The development of project management within a construction industry related organization allows the management teams to work in partnership. Proficiency, locally, nationally or globally the implementation of project management bears some legal and ethical importance. The contribution of project management to a modern developed country like UK is a considerable topic. It is a formal methodology used to ensure that the projects would be completed on time and within the budget. However, project management is used historically in the construction industry, where methodology is firmly established. In the area of project management ability, making decision in a changing environment is the major concern. The rapid growth of project management is to be stated as an indication of a change in business function throughout all organization. It is implemented in construction industry to bring about change in organization platform so that they can lead change in organization. The trinity of project management is time, cost and quality (content or scope). All these things are the major objective function on a project. â€Å"The importance of effective project management is by no means restricted to new plant development and construction†. (Brian, n.d) For careful management, maintenance and plant outage work is necessary, especially for in light of growing competitive pressures. Project management in todays UK construction industry is faced with the challenge whereby the essential roles and functions they are performing witness a gradual shift in focus. To continue and retain their professional competency, application of project management in construction adapt to the changing environment by depending on effi

Socialisation Is A Fundamental Sociological Concept Sociology Essay

Socialisation Is A Fundamental Sociological Concept Sociology Essay Socialisation is a fundamental sociological concept as it is the way we learn to be a functioning part of the society we are in, how to become a member of the group. Socialisation starts from the moment we are born and there are many arguments that help to show how such socialisation is a continuous process. It continues throughout our lives to help us fit into and be accepted into the many groups within society that we encounter during our lifetime or to just adjust to the changes in our existing community. Although an Important social topic that affects all members of society at one time, widespread mainstream literature concerning gender socialisation is difficult to come by. As mentioned, socialisation starts from the day we are born, the very start, so to help understand socialisation as a whole, developing an understanding of some of its parts is helpful. For this piece of work I shall be focusing on gender socialisation and the impact it has on an individuals socialisation into society. The concept of gender socialisation helps us to understand how the notion of gender, what is expected of individuals as males and females in society and how much it matters. Throughout examining literature for this topic I hope to gain a better understanding of what academic sociologist have to say on this topic. The aim is to try to Identify important factors that impact gender socialisation and what literature is current on a similar topic. Has there been a change in attitude to such gendered socialisation and the idea or construction of gender? What are these and how are these developing; I.e. gendered parenting/modern schooling? I also would like to explore nature vs. nurture/boy vs. girl/male vs. female. What are these titles and how are they explained in a sociological way. I hope to gain a greater concept of gender theories and what is already known about my chosen topic. To help to develop my understanding of sociological explanations for gender socialisation I have approached several academic texts to help guide and aid my understanding. The first book that I revised is The Paradoxes of Gender (1999) by Judith Lorber. Written by Feminist and sociologist Lorber I found that this book challenges the basic idea we may hold of gender and its construction. Lorber argues that gender is a social fact constructed wholly by socialisation. Lorber also notes that gender is also a social institution, comparable to religion, the economy and the family as with it follows consequences and social significance. As a feminist Lorbers work focuses on the need for gender and how it is an inevitable fact that is important not only for the identity of an individual but also for societys construction. While I initially focused on Lorbers Text for a main point of reference I also followed up with works such as Women, Men and Society (1999) Renzetti and Curran, The Gender T rap (2012) Emily W Kane. These texts form the primary reading for this lit review. I supplemented these with more classical theory books such as Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Classical Sociological theory (2006) What is gender socialisation? There are many different theories of how gender socialisation happens and how/when it occurs. To help understand gender socialisation, an attempt at a definition is helpful. In its simplest form gender socialisation is how an individual learns and accepts the expected gender norms and values of the culture and society they are born into. Through this education they begin to develop a sense of identity and their ideas of gender become internalised and guide their behaviour. The Paradoxes of Gender (1994) attempts to explore all areas of Gender and the influences they have on gender identity and wider gender influences. To help with gender socialisation there are ideas within the wider concept that help to make up a persons gender socialisation. Lorber sees Gender norms as a set of rules appropriate for males and females; they are a set of expectations these expectations help to dictate how men and women are labelled, and therefore how they should behave. The rules and expectations follow on to become internalised and help to forma gender identity, which leads us to the second point highlighted to help gain an understanding of gender socialisation; Gender identity. Sociologists make a clear distinction between gender and sex. A persons sex is biological determined and gender is culturally learnt. Gender identity goes beyond just recognising the physical biological gender characteristics belonging to male and female and identifying them from each other. Gender identity is in fact an internal personal conception of how an individual view themselves as male or female. Gender cannot be equated with biol ogical and physiological differences between human males and females. The building blocks of gender are socially constructed. (Lorber 1994:17) How gender socialisation impacts Individuals life choices. Gender socialisation impacts all areas of social life and therefore does in fact make it an important topic of study. The way an individual is socialised in terms of their gender has an overall impact on daily life including that of social self, self-concept and the way we conduct personal relationships with others and the perceptions we make. Family, friends, social peers and outside uncontrollable sources are all agents through which socialisation occurs. Religion, mass media education and pop culture are becoming ever increasingly influential over socialisation and how an individual views themselves in respect to their gender. Boys and girls are treated different right from birth, this treatment is often primarily from members of their own environment, such as their parents, siblings and extended families, and the way they are treated helps them to learn the distinction between being male or female. Most parents create a gendered world for their new-born by naming, birth announcem ents and dress. Childrens relationships with same-gendered and different-gendered caretakers structure their self-identifications and personalities (Lorber 1994:25).Similar to The Paradoxes of Gender (2004), Men, Women and Society (2002) also addresses the many aspects of what we see as gender. One of the most interesting research topics explored in this book is the concept of how outside choices influence a childs gender socialisation. This is quite often transmitted through simple gestures such as the selection of gender based toys or giving a child a gender based task Research does show that children express gender based toy preferences as early as one year of age, but their toy choices may have been inspired even earlier by parental encouragement (Renzetti and Curran1999;74). These seemingly insignificant acts do in fact play a large part in the socialisation of children, and as a result how they develop their gender identity, and therefore their ender socialisation. A common th eme throughout all the literature based around gender, explore varying influences on what is gender and how it constructed. Nature vs Nurture vs gender identity. An influential and on-going debate amongst sociologists is the argument of the importance of nature vs. nurture in terms of gender socialisation. This ever evolving debate attempts to discover how a biological identity differs over individuals social surroundings to develop a gender identity. A biological and genetic gender identity fuels the nature area of debate whereas society and external influences help to form the idea of nurture. Many argue that to efficiently form an active gender identity, there must be a significant influence from either nature or nurture, but the question continues as to which is more influential, if either. In the Journal article The Nature of Gender Udry attempts to distinguish between what is sex; and what is gender. Gender is the relationship between biological sex and behaviour; a theory of gender explains the relationship. A gendered behaviour is the one that defines sex (Udry 1994;561). This idea and the theme of this article help to highlight my in itial argument about discussing how gender is a social construction. Sex is a given but a persons gender can be perceived differently dependant on how they behaviour. My project will attempt to further this idea by looking into how this behaviour is shaped and learnt. Children start to come into contact with such norms that define what it is to be masculine or feminine. What is acceptable or unacceptable behaviour is placed upon them in both conscious and unconscious ways. Young boys are taught not to show high emotion, to be strong and powerful whereas girls are showed how to be forgiving, docile and ladylike. If a child shows to be going against such expected norms then there is the chance that they can expected to be ostracised from their community or culture, or treated badly. In exceptional circumstances some cultures limit access to basic human rights such as nutrition health care. The treatment of genders in some cultures can also help to reinforce a separate gender identity, for examples in many third world cultures, girls have both different legal and ethical access to education so therefore go on to expect to be treated differently from boys, all based on their gender identity. Toy selection and clothing although seemingly innocent can i n fact play a crucial part in gender socialisation. Clothing plays a significant part in gender socialisation. As children become mobile, certain types of clothing encourage certain or discourage particular behaviours or activities (Renzetti and Curran 2002; 70) by this Renzetti and Curran refer to the idea that the way a child is dressed can influence their expected gender identity. For example a female child dressed in a soft, flowing or lace detailed dress would be expected to behave more soft and gentle compared to a male child in Denim jeans who would be accepted for rough and tumble behaviour. The Psychological and Biological explanations for gender. To develop a greater understanding of sociological explanations for gender socialisation it is also important to compare and contrast the arguments raised to those of another discipline. As Urdy notes it is important to consider new schools of thinking as social science stems from such thoughts. It is also impossible to study gender without noting the biological differences of human beings. Gender has biological foundations (Udry 1994 ; 571) One of the most prominent theories about gender acknowledgement comes from the school of psychology. Sigmund Freuds work focused on the importance of childhood and the experience that children experience that children gain throughout it, especially in relation to their gender. Freud noted that gender development is an unconscious experience that occurs through forming a bond with a parental figure. Although this project will focus on primarily the sociological explanations for gender socialisation many texts touch upon further academic disciplines who discuss the construction of gender. It is therefore important to include such references into my project, due to the reference through the literature I have reviewed. Societys expectations. Societys expectations of male and female positions within society have also changed over time. Throughout this project I hope to investigate the suggestion that societies tolerant of the changing gender of identity of females has become more positive. A rise in females in the workplace, taking on stereotypical male occupations (fire fighter, police force, and, engineer) and asserting dominance in regards to their position throughout society. Family socialisation can be seen to encourage female children to display characteristically male but male children are often scorned from displaying any stereotypical female behaviour. Girls are accepted even if they prefer to play with male orientated toys, if they were trousers or show an interest in rough and tumble but if a male child played with baby dolls or wore a dress may experience more negative reaction from society. Parents, through primary socialisation, can be seen to be more likely to encourage their daughters to these masculine qu alities then allow their sons to display feminine qualities (Van Volkon 2003) Here Van Volkon gives weight to the importance primary socialisation, through their family can have on a child. The role of women is seen to be changing in contemporary society, but does this mean that the main social gender identity is getting left behind? Conclusion. Looking at gender sociologically helps to reveal societal and cultural proportions of something that is generally thought of as biologically fixed. It helps us to understand how individuals are in a new viewpoint and to help raise and in the end answer new issues and debates surrounding gender. Throughout this project I hope to uncover answers to sociologically questions such as is gender culturally learnt? I am also interested in uncovering how important, or how much influence the family have on gender socialisation, especially in relation to children and childhood. To help with this the work of Emily Kane in The Gender Trap (2012) has proved useful. By conducting Interviews and observations of families, parents and children this literature helps to give empirical backing to the texts I have read throughout this review. Gender socialisation and how it is understood is an ongoing sociological question. Above is a brief overview of what literature I have found useful to attempt to study the subject of gender socialisation. As society can be seen as every changing I am interested in what such change, if any has on the construction and notion of gender. As understood throughout the literature reviewed modern institutions, such as education and the family, have great influence on society and how its individuals are taught how to fit in. Ideas and the construction of gender are constant with more radical forms of socialisation occurring i.e. gender neutral parenting and its societal impact. Not all the literature I have come across has proved useful to my project research, but this has allowed me to learn mistakes that previous research uncovered and helped to give my research direction and fresh thinking for future research. Throughout wider reading, I have concluded that using more contemporary sources and academic texts helped to give my research weight and productive reference. Introduction. The aim of this paper is to examine the influence that family has on gender development and the socialisation process. It will focus on how family influence can affect the construction of gender identity in children from birth through to the first year in primary schooling, around 5-6 years of age and also how the process of socialisation impacts parents. I shall attempt to examine both primary and secondary influences that can shape the gender identity of a family. The first part of this paper shall look at how becoming a parent can force an individual to have an influence on the gender identity of another and how this process may change their existing gender identity. Secondly this paper shall attempt to examine how the primary socialisation process impacts female children compared with male children. Society and its actors view the world through a series of lenses: those lenses can include class, race, age and gender. Society is full of stereotypes and the expectations that come with them. Social actors have little choice but to be subjected to learning these expectations and to submit to the influence they have on their personal identity. From childhood to adulthood our identity is constantly being reinforced as to what our culture and society wants and sees as acceptable. These stereotypes are expected of everyone but in fact may not be fair to all members of society. As they move through childhood, children are influenced by those that they interact with and are taught right from birth what it is to be a successful member of society. To understand the sociological concept concerned with the construction of gender, it is important to comprehend first of all the factors that influence ones gender construction. The continuing aim of this paper is to show that it is possible to identify different areas of gender socialization, which vary in their impact on children and those around them, which are essential to build up a gender identity. The best way to understand the concept of gender is to gain a basic knowledge of the concept it. From a structural perspective, gender is seen as the division of individuals within a society into contrasting and complementary social categories; boys and girls into men and women. In this conceptualisation, gendering in the process and a gendered social order can be seen to be the product of some kind of social construction (Lorber, 1994). Gender based norms can be defined as what we expect from males and females within society whereas gender stereotypes can be seen as how a society generalizes these expectations. Gender based stereotypes are generally first thought of being taught in the home, which are later reinforced by peer interactions, education and schooling, as well as widespread media contact. It can be seen that the family unit does in fact have the largest influence on a childs gender development. Their family members, parents in particular, overtly and covertly teach their child gender roles and reinforce the ideas of gender that they hold about themselves. Both socialisation, primary and secondary, cultural expectations and given biological attributes are all seen to influence an individuals gender identity and as a result has a significant effect on their personal identity. Vuorinen Tuunala, (1997) noted that Socialisation is the process, through which the child becomes an individual respecting his or hers environments laws, norms and customs. (pg45) From this, socialisation can be seen as a fundamental sociological concept and therefore is an important area of analysis. It is the way that individuals learn to be a functioning part of society and how to become an accepted member of the social group in which they are living amongst. Socialisation starts from the moment we are born and it is seen as a continuous process. It carries on throughout our lives, to help us fit and be accepted into the many groups within society that we encounter during our lifetime or to simply adjust to the changes in our existing community. The educational function that Murdock refers to, can also be termed socialisation. The family has the responsibility of transmitting a societys way of life, norms and values to the younger members. This function is an important one as, wi thout culture, the society could not survive, and too much deviation from the norm would disrupt the stability of the society. Classical sociology has also be long concerned with the process known as socialisation. Talcott Parsons (1959) has written about the functions of the family and identified two functions that he perceives as being basic and irreducible. For Parsons, the family provided primary socialisation of children and as a result, produced the stabilisation of the personalities within adults amongst wider society. [Haralambos Holborn, 2000, p.509] How children become socialised into different characters can be based on their sex. Through this more focused form of socialisation, boys and girls are repeatedly taught what it means to be male or female and what gender roles will be expected of them is termed gender socialisation (Giddens, 1993). Although it is an important social topic that affects all members of society at one time, widespread mainstream literature concerning gender socialisation is difficult to come by. There are many different theories of how gender socialisation happens and how or when it occurs. The two main theories I shall touch upon within this paper are social learning theory and as a follow on to this, social identification theory. These two theories are concerned with the development of gender identity and attempt to explain how the environment around an individual can influence their personal and social gender identity. Social learning theory proposes, established by Bandura (1971) that both gender identity and gender role are learned through a process including observation, imitation, punishment and reinforcement. On the other hand, social identification theory developed by Tajfel and Turner (1979) as a response to Bandura is based upon the notion that an individual portrays certain behaviours or an identity that reflects the social group to which they belong, to help them adapt and adopt the ways of the group. In its simplest form, gender socialisation is how individuals learn and accept the expected gender norms and values of the culture and society they are born into. Through this education they begin to develop a sense of identity and their ideas of gender become internalised and guide their behaviour. The mass media, wide spread social norms, environmental factors such as living conditions and even language distribute the stereotypes which influence social behaviour and therefore what is expected from gender in society. These external factors contribute to categorizing members of society and placing social label upon them. Examples of labels can include race, class and most importantly for this paper, gender. A shared stereotype is when an expected behaviour or conformity is mutual and accepted by all members of the social group, the way that individuals interpret this label determines how well they are accepted into their social group. Such gender stereotypes can be seen as a set of rules appropriate for males and females. These rules help to guide how males and females are labelled by their social group and indicate how they should behave, expectations become internalised and form an individuals gender identity. Separate stereotypes are linked to male and female members of society, with no two overlapping. Men are seen to be strong and emotionless whilst women are expected to show their emotions and are seen as submissive and gentle. For example, if a woman is seen to cry at an emotional moment in a movie, in a public cinema for instance, no individual around her would glance or question it, but if a male viewer was seen to cry openly and express such intense emotion, he may be exposed to ridicule or judgement. How fair this situation may be is often debated. For this paper the question of how such judgements occur will attempt to be answered. Why have social actors been encouraged to accept such stereotypes as a given? Why do individuals therefore find themselves accepting these roles for themselves? To understand gender identity it is important to make a distinction between sex and gender. Sex involves the biological and physical differences between men and women, whilst gender is culturally and socially learnt. Terminology such as male and female are sex based categories; however masculine and feminine are gendered categories. An individuals sex is a biological fact that is the same in any culture or society, nonetheless sex categorisation means, in terms of gender role as man or woman, can be viewed extremely differently across cultures ( WHO 2013). These gender roles can have a lasting impact in an individuals public and private identity. Although often used interchangeably, sex and gender are clearly different characteristics. Gender involves social customs, attributes and behaviours whereas sex can be seen as a more personal demonstration of such characteristics. In its simplest form sex is biological and gender is sociological. Gender role is seen sociologically as the characteristics and behaviours that society can attribute to the sexes. What it means to be a real man, in any society requires a male to be both recognised biologically as a man plus what the culture of that society defines as masculine characteristics and behaviours, likewise a real woman needs biological female attributes and feminine characteristics. Such stereotypical features are clearly defined for each sex, with those who break such guidelines being seen as deviant, outcasts in their given society. This paper will look further into what are expected gender behaviours and the sociological explanations for these expected personas. Gendered differences can depend on the given society and the cultural values, economic system, history and family structures that it holds, and are thoroughly maintained through these mediums. As a result of this a continuous loop-back effect between so called gendered institutions and the social construction of gender within individuals can be seen to exist (West and Zimmerman 1987) Gender identity goes beyond just recognising the physical biological gender characteristics belonging to male and female and identifying them from each other. Gender identity is in fact an internal and personal conception of how individuals view themselves as male or female and therefore how they conduct their actions within society. Gender cannot be equated with biological and physiological differences between human males and females. The building blocks of gender are socially constructed (Lorber 1994:17). As a social group, communities are embedded with gender, all members experience gender constructed experiences throughout their childhood, adolescence and eventually adulthood. These experiences are reproduced in and through those that they interact with. To what extent individuals accept the expected gender roles they are shown is debateable although no matter how much or how little they see themselves as masculine or feminine, gender can still influence their day to day existence. British sociology saw the only significant form of stratification within any given society was that of class. The term gender wasnt mentioned in early sociological thought, with any reference to difference between men and women categorised and referred to as sex. Sex being considered as an important and influential sociological concept only came into consideration with the emerging and developing feminist perspectives of the 1970s. Feminists had to fight through traditional theories to change existing thought on the concept of differences and inequalities brought about by an individuals gender and sex identity. Socialisation is a fundamental sociological concept and can be applied to many areas of society that are seen as important to sociological study. As highlighted earlier, socialisation is defined as the way in which an individual learns to become part of a group, including wider civilization, as well as their small immediate environment and community. Socialisation begins the moment an individual is born, and they encounter different degrees of the process throughout all their life stages in order to help them adapt to each and every social group they encounter. Socialisation also helps to equip a social actor with the tools they need to cope and bend with any changes that may occur within their existing social group. Given the importance of socialisation within the discipline of sociology as a whole, concentrating on a focused area of socialisation can help with building a general knowledge that can be applied to further study of sociology and its topics. Gender is something that is experienced and encountered by all members of any given society and there are many different theories about what exactly affects an individuals gender socialisation, but this paper shall focus on early socialisation and the influence family life can have in the socialisation process. Parental influence on gender identity A childs initial experiences come from their parents; therefore as a result their first experience with gender identity also comes from their close family environment. With the advancement in technology, expectant parents can learn the sex of their unborn child as early as 14-16 weeks into a pregnancy (nhs.co.uk). From that moment the words its a boy/girl! leave the technicians mouth, gender expectations begin. The most innocent of tasks such as buying a babys first blanket is gendered. A pretty pink flowered one for your baby girl is associated with the expectation that she will be soft and delicate, whereas purchasing a vivid blue truck covered blanket for the soon to be baby boy, can be seen to set him up to be strong and tough. Associating such gender traits in a simple act may seem extreme but it is just the start of teaching a child what is expected from their gender. The process of gender socialization can be seen to begin in the context of the family (McHale et al., 2003). The family unit is the environment that a child is introduced to the world in and what their developing gender demands. Although many factors are seen to have an influence on the socialisation of a child and teaching them what is expected from their gender, parents are seen to act as the principle source of socialisation, the primary socialising agents of a childs gender roles. (Block, 1983; Witt, 1997). Studies have shown that gendered treatment of children is evident in the first 24 hours after birth. Children internalize what they see from their parents behaviour and by the age of two, they have a compressive awareness of the difference in sex roles. Ruble and martin (1998) studied preschool children whose socialisation had only occurred at home (primary) and saw that children showed awareness of stereotyped gender traits. They could recognise males as having a higher power them females, but also associated negative connotations with a male figure, such as anger or unfriendliness, whereas they saw women as having less significant social standing but associated with positive traits such as kindness and approachableness. Children also demonstrated to discover gender identity through their own gendered perception. For instance, when asked to assign a sex or gender to a neutral doll, a girl would use female associations similar to them, whereas a boy child would make the doll into a male and demonstrate traits that are associated to societys masculine gendered attributes. Parents are seen to encourage such gendered behaviour by adhering to sex-based toys and games for their children, which have a heavy influence in the construction of gender identity and stereotypes. While both mothers and fathers contribute to the gender stereotyping of their children, fathers have been found to reinforce gender stereotypes more often than mothers do (Ruble, 1988). Lytton and Romney (1991) conducted a meta-analysis of 172 parents and their treatment of the boy versus girl children they were raising. Within this study, Lytton and Romney discovered that out of multiple identified socialisation areas; the only area that showed mothers and fathers treating children differently was giving them activities based on their separate genders. Giving boys and girls activities initially based on their sex, resulted in an enforcement of gender roles and becoming gender orientated. Encouraging their daughters to play house or with dolls and prams, or by allowing their sons to play with trucks or building blocks, parents may both knowingly and unknowingly be encouraging their childs future gendered persona. Perhaps due to an influence of western culture norms, Lytton and Romney saw that parents scold and punish boys more severely in the advent of misbehaving or going out of their gendered expectations, then that they do with female children. This idea shall be further explored in a later section of this paper. A further study, this time by Cowan and Hoffman (1986), saw that a childs first words are also seen as gendered. For instance, being taught to assign a different name to each of their parents, mother for female carer and father for male carer, demonstrates how parental influence takes place. Hoffman also noted that the

The Effects of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 Essay

The Effects of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 The verb copy is defined as â€Å"To reproduce an original.† (Webster, 57-58) This idea of copying has been around for hundreds of years. In the current time, laws have had to be written to protect against the idea of copying someone else’s work. There are ways around the copyright laws. â€Å"A copy is in violation of a copyright if the original can be â€Å"perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated by or from the copy, directly or indirectly.† As years go on, copyrights become more and more specific as to what uses and kinds of copying are covered. (Baase, 239) Copyrights, in general, have been around for well over 200 years. â€Å"The first U.S. copyright law was passed in 1790. This copyright only protected books, maps, and charts. The copyright law of 1790 was later revised, covering photography, sound recording and movies.† (Baase, 239) Back then, that was their version of new technology where as today, if that copyright was all we had, no one would have an original of anything and no one would probably make nearly as much profit as they do now with new copyright laws that have been passed to protect the new up to date technology. Some examples of copyrights changing with the new technology come in years following. One of these examples of a copyright being revised is the copyright of 1976 and 1980. These copyright laws were revised to include software. (Baase, 239) An example of these ever-changing laws is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Under this act, people are prohibited in â€Å"making, distributing or using of tools, which are devices, software or services, to circumvent technological copyright protecti... ...Act of 1998 can be seen as both a positive thing and a burden on some things. The act was generated to protect the originality of work and has successfully done so. To the artists it has helped and to the users of such things as Napster, it has hurt. At any rate, the act is an important one and when used correctly prevents fraud of a different sort. Works Cited Baase, Sara. (2003). A Gift of Fire (2nd ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 1994). Webster’s Dictionary. Nickel Press. Lee, J. (2001, July). U.S. Arrests Russian Cryptographer as Copyright Violator. [15 paragraphs]. The New York Times. Available: www.nytimes.com/2001/07/18/technology/18CRYP.htmll?todaysheadline Brown, J. (2000, May). Napster throws Metallica a curveball. [8 paragraphs]. Salon.com. Available: http://dir.salon.com/tech/log/2000/05/10/napster_metallica/index.html

Ambrose Bierces An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Essay example -- Bi

Ambrose Bierce's â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge† â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,† by Ambrose Bierce, is the story of the hanging of a Civil War era Southern gentleman by the name of Peyton Farquhar. The story begins with an unidentified man being prepared to be hanged by a company of Union soldiers on a railroad bridge that runs over a river. He is then identified as Peyton Farquhar, a man who attempted to destroy the very bridge they are standing on based on information he was given by a Federal scout posing as a Confederate soldier. As he is dropped from the bridge to hang, the rope snaps and he falls into the river. After freeing himself and returning to the surface of the river, he realizes that his senses are all much heightened and he even â€Å"noted the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million blades of grass† (153). Peyton then begins to swim downstream as he is being shot at by the soldiers and a cannon as well. He soon pulls himself ashore and begins the long journey home. After walking all day and night, to the point where â€Å"his tongue was swollen with thirst† and â€Å"he could no longer feel the roadway beneath his feet† he finally makes it to his home (155). Just as he is about to embrace his wife he feels a sharp pain in his neck and hears a loud snap. He is dead from the hanging, and all this was just a dream. â€Å"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge† shows the potential strength that a person’s will to live can have, and that we often don’t appreciate...

Conclusion Cults

The cults are characterized by their methods and also their beliefs. A cult refers to a social group that is cohesive and it is devoted to practices and beliefs of the surrounding culture considered to be out of the mainstream with notably negative or positive admired perceptions. In most of the times cults have a positive and a negative perception with the positive perception relating it to the groups of arts, fiction, writing, music and fashion. On the other hand the negative for cultic movements relates it to pyramidal business groups, questionable therapeutic groups and also extreme political groups.The status of a cultic populist group begins as a rumor of the belief system in a novel including its devotions that are great, its practices that are idiosyncratic and also its positive or negative effects on the members and its perception. In most cases cults are defined in such a way that they are viewed and identified as problematic groups and if we were to do away with the proble matic concern the attributes and the characteristics of cultic groups would not be in existence, (Richardson N. 2004). Types of cults The Utopian CultThis group of people share a belief that the Lord, Jesus Christ returned back to earth way back in the year 70. The return of Christ made it possible for the community to bring the millennium kingdom of Christ themselves. Consequently, the cult believers were able to free themselves of sin and have hence forth been perfected in the world. They do not wait for perfection in heaven since they already attained it down here on earth. This community was characterized by the spirit of communalism. They owned all processions and property communally. They were present in Vermont, New Jersey, Newark, Wallingford and Putney among other places.The community initially had 87 members but the number grew up to 306 by the year 1878. All the branches of this cult were closed down in the year 1854. The only surviving community by the name the Wallingfo rd community was unfortunately devastated and washed away by a tornado way back in 1854. The Apocalypse Cult This cult typology has people who believe that the world is coming to an end. The cult is also commonly known by the term, dooms day cult. They site the examples of the weapons of mass destruction as one of the elements that will bring the world to an end.They claim that the planet earth is being faced by wrath and great threats to the existence of human kind and that it will be wiped off from the face of the earth as well as the world history, (Wilson, Stephen, 1993). The cult holds affirm belief that the Lord Jesus Christ will only come back to earth after there has occurred a holocaust of nuclear in the Middle East. They then argue that the most powerful leaders today have been brainwashed by this belief and that’s the reason why they are propagating for the nuclear weapons and those of mass destruction.They cult leaders who are apocalyptic have contributed to the l oss of lives by thousands of people. The followers believe that they are the chosen ones by Christ and have been saved from the evils of this world and will eternally live at the right most hand of Jesus Christ. They prophesy on the rapture and try to speed up the second coming of Christ. Religious Cults A religious cult has other external religious observances and practices apart from the sacred scriptures and the faith of the believers. Religious cults normally have veneration devotion that goes beyond the living. They are characterized worship of the dead.The observances of religious cults include ceremonies and rituals that may be done in a variety of forms including sacrifice, prayers or hymns. These cult types also have idols and sacred places that are used for pilgrimages, (Weissen, K. 1992). The most notorious cults are the doomsday or apocalyptic cults since they are known to mislead and brainwash their follower’s minds and sometimes even to death. Cults and Canada C anada should have legislation against the formation and following of cults. Cults do lure many innocent citizens who feel that the world has not been fair to them.These people are normally desperate and the cults easily take advantage of this and promise them of a fruitful and good life beyond this earth. Through these cults, hundreds of people have lost their lives where the followers are at times advised by their leaders to take away their lives so as to meet Christ and move away from this desperate and evil world. Cults should hence be done away with and absolutely banned through legislation. The difference between a religion and a cult lies in extremity while the religions don’t and also the cults exhibit them with a greater vigor than all the other religions do.It is important to clearly define the term cult and how it differs or it’s similar to religion. A cult is not just defined as a religion and on the other hand the major world’s religions are not cult s, (Richardson N. 2004). Some people say that the only difference that exists between a cult and a religion is a hundred years. Cults do not have any positive gains since they eventually lead to the destruction of their followers or they misguide and mislead their followers to an extent that they become confused. The followers of a cult do not normally see those who are not part of this form of worship as leading the true way of life.They can even cause harm to those who criticize them, (James, Simon 1993). The strength of the cults is that they are able to lure worshipers into believing on the doctrines of the cult and eventually brainwash them. They are based on materialism and hence innocent people would give in to their ideas. Their main weakness is that they do not end well. More often than not, the cult followers end up losing their lives to the beliefs and ill advice of their leaders. The followers lead a miserable life with the untrue promises given to them by their leaders, (Herm and Jerhard, 2001). Conclusion Cults have existed for very many years to date.Some people normally are not able to tell the difference between cults and the true religious faith. This is more so because there are even religious cults. The cult community normally shares a set of beliefs which could have their end focused on Christ or not. A very prominent editor for the Washington weekly turned down an article proposal on the issue of science and church by saying that the only difference that existed between a religion and a cult was a hundred years. Similarly a larger number of people agree to such sentiments as they equate religions to cults and insist on the blurriness of any line that separates them in any way.It seems perverse for the religious people who are honest to their faiths to be grouped together with those who run cults. References Herm, Jerhard, (2001): The Celts: The People Who Came Out of the Darkness. NY: St. Martin's Press James, Simon (1993): The World of t he Cults. London: Thames and Hudson, 1993. Richardson N. (2004): The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Oxford Weissen, K. (1992): Goddess Worship and the Status of Women in Ancient Celtic Society. Hampshire College: Wilson, Stephen, (1993): Saints and their Cults: Studies in Religious Sociology, Folklore and History. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

Apple’s iphone – Not “made in America”

1) What is meant by globalization of human capital? Is this inevitable as firms increase their global operations? Globalization of human capital implies that people are moved out of their native country for employment in various fields. Since there are many companies around the globe and have branches in other countries, qualified people get an opportunity to move out and work. It is inevitable since globalization is established and the companies use the skills, labor, talent and knowledge as a part of globalization of human capital.2) How does this case illustrate the threats and opportunities facing global companies in developing their strategies? The main threat is when president Obama asked Steve job about reduction of job opportunities in United states and giving job in other countries, which made a feel of threat in their own country. And also many suicides at Foxconn lead a negative impression on Apple. The opportunities faced by them are high profit of $ 321 per i phone. It s hows the profit of a global company.3) Comment on Apple executives assertion that the company's only obligation is making the best product possible. â€Å"we do not have have any obligation o solve America's problems† I think it is really harsh to say these words. Everyone should have some obligation towards their country. But this is business and as an executive he is right he should always think about the growth and quality of the product. And should make maximum profit from low cost. So I think he is right.4) Who are the stakeholders in this situation and what, if any, obligations do they have? The main stakeholders are Apple company, Foxconn, and the government. All of these have obligations. Since Apple is a brand company and all expect best from them it is their obligation to be faithful and best quality provider to the consumers and also to the workers who work 24 hours for them. It is same for Foxconn too. They should be concern about the workers they should get the a dequate pay and rest. Also, government  should safe guard the people of each country from any type of pressure.5) How much extra are you prepared to pay for an iphone if assembled in the United states? I think I will not pay even a single penny extra to buy an iphone since they have a profit of $321 now itself. That is too much profit. I recommend they should decrease the rate of the phone. Some other product made in USA is not that expensive so the iphone should also be a little lower than now. After all, it is a phone although it has many application also it is not expensive enough to make it.6) How much extra are you prepared to pay for an iphone if assembled in China but under better conditions and pay? What kind of trade -off would you make? I have the same opinion as I said for United states. Better conditions and pay rights of workers and it does not mean the price should be increased since the already have a good profit. And it is the right thing to provide better conditio ns and better pay. We can also think about globalization of human capital to United states.7) To what extend do you think the negative media coverage has affected Apple's recent decision to ask the FLA to do an assessment and the subsequent decision by Foxconn to raise some salaries? What do you think will happen now?Since everyone knows about the case I think they will be more careful and take a favorable decision so as to protect the workers. It is sure that the negative media coverage has affected Apple's image very badly and so they asked for a FLA assessment. Foxconn on other hand was squeezing the workers to do more work with little pay and the suicide which occurred made made them into trouble and they increased the wages to save their face and I think they have to be very careful in future by providing good environment to work with a descent pay.