Organzational Behavior

Clarification is the first step towards understanding dynamics of conflict within the work place. Exploring the various types of conflict should be used as a precursor to approach the differences between constructive and destructive conflict. Understanding how organizations can enhance employee strengths under varying conditions is reinforced through good communication skills in the conflict management process. Communication emphasizes the need for self-understanding and self-management for the conflict resolution process to work.The techniques of Indirect Conflict Management and Direct Conflict Management help in dealing with specific problems such as hostile individuals, personality conflicts, etc. are best used as a guide and should not be taken literal as each individual presents varying issues. Destructive conflict works as a disadvantage to employees, groups and organizations. Destructive conflict affects group efforts needed for team building, and creates hostility resulting i n a hostile environment. Constructive conflict is a beneficial factor for some organizations in which groups address issues and make decisions to provide an opportunities for improvement.Conflict-management appropriately models professional standards so that every employee may effectively progress in a professional manner appropriate for the workplace. Indirect conflict management approaches share the common quality of avoiding direct dealings with personalities. They include reduced interdependence, appeals to common goals, hierarchical referral, and alterations in the use of mythology and scripts (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008, p. 349). Reduced Interdependence creates a systematic approach by eliminating conflict by separating groups in which require interaction.By spreading or reducing contact with one another resolution is believed to be resolved. As an alternative to reduced interdependence another indirect approach is assigning a liaison to facilitate activities among gro ups to smooth the process creating conflict. Conflict is given a common perspective by directing the attention towards a focus of appealing to common goals as opposed to conflict. Hierarchy referral is used to provide employees with alternatives to conflict when the appropriate steps or conflict resolution is unattainable.Providing a smoke screen, Altering scripts and Myths is utilized when resolution has been unattainable. Approaching common goals indirect conflict management uses a system of individuals in ranking positions above one another. This strategy uses a chain of command for resolutions lacking the interpersonal relationship needed for team building. However, the organizational dynamics of indirect conflict can be useful when there is no direct conflict, and the plans recommended by a primary leader require guidance.Direct conflict management utilizes five methods of managing conflict smoothing or accommodation, collaboration and problem solving, compromise, avoidance, an d competition and authoritative command. â€Å"The five approaches to conflict management are described from the perspective of their relative emphasis on cooperativeness and assertiveness in the relationship† (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008, p. 349). Maintaining working relationships, direct conflict identifies the underlying issues first proceeded by utilizing systematic actions agreeable for all parties.Smoothing requires a mediator in which allows all parties to address the issues experienced and identify the dynamics of the conflict. Accommodating gives the power to ease conflict by obliging and exploring possibilities of resolution. Smoothing and accommodating prepares and facilitates the methods of Collaboration and Problem Solving seeks true satisfaction of everyone's concerns by working through differences, finding and solving problems so that everyone gains results. (Schermerhorn, Hunt, ; Osborn, 2008).Compromise is an essential effort in which requires an agree ment of resolution without it the likelihood of conflict is possible. In a win-lose conflict some employees may still not be satisfied with the mediation in which one party submits to the compromise to avoid further conflict. â€Å"Avoidance may be used when an issue is trivial, when more important issues are pressing, or when people need to cool down temporarily and regain perspective† (Schermerhorn, Hunt, ; Osborn, 2008, p. 351).All contributing information should be considered in mediation whereas some issues are personality conflicts in which do not apply to issues work related. Placing the conflicting ideas into perspective is advisable at best so long as it does not pose further immediate conflict. â€Å"Competition and Authoritative Command is working against the wishes of the other party, fighting to dominate in win-lose competition, and/or forcing things to a favorable conclusion through the exercise of authority† (Schermerhorn, Hunt, ; Osborn, 2008, p. 49). A uthoritative command is best utilized when immediate action is needed to firmly establish direction in conflict resolution. Understanding the mutual purpose of an organization is beneficial for teambuilding and management. Direct strategies incorporate team building to identify organizations success in business and working relationships. Firmly established leadership abilities are essential to mediate direct conflict.

Religion and Grand Zoroastrian Nation Essay

It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions; and I thank you in the name of the millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects. My thanks, also to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honour of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation, which has sheltered the persecuted, and the refugees of all religion and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion, which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: ‘As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee’. Quoted from Siva Mahimnah Stotram 7. The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: ‘Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to Me’. Quoted from Geeta 4:11. Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced  than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honour of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wend ing their way to the same goal.

An evaluation of the modernist art and educational art in the essay avant garde and kitsch by clement greenberg

An evaluation of the modernist art and educational art in the essay avant garde and kitsch by clement greenberg In his essay ‘Avant-garde and Kitsch’, Clement Greenberg claims that avant-garde or modernist art is a tool to prevent the ordinary culture caused by consumerism. Also with in his essay Kitsch gained popularity. The reason of he avant-garde’s arising is to defend aesthetic standards from the negative effects of consumer society over the artistic taste. He keeps avant-garde or art as more superior than kitsch. They are opposite sides according to Greenberg. He thinks that kitsch is much more like an Academic art. This gave a shape to the art and formed some rules to make the art something learnable. Many forms and ideas in contemporary poetry can be understood by analyzing this essay. For Clement, art includes two types: avant-garde and kitsch. Avant-garde takes the top position as a kind moving our society forward and it can be seen a genuine art. It focuses on the art itself and can make the common or minor, unimportant things a part of the art in artistic way. The avant-garde artists managing to do this, mostly are marginalized in modern world. However, even if kitsch has a characteristic of inauthenticity, modern society is more interested in kitsch. Also, kitsch can’t be behind its time. Art and life is connected with each other and this attracts people to kitsch. However, in other side this quality of kitsch can be seen problematic. Like avant-garde, it is not genuine. Kitsch doesn’t need the effort of readers or viewers while genuine art requires people to work hard and to be educated people to be able to acquire artistic ideas. The avant-garde is a product of Western bourgeois culture. It can be said that the capitalist and consumer society created avant-garde. It aimed to pursue art for its own sake but at the same time it couldn’t save itself from the money of bourgeois society. The avant-garde is both an academic and intellectual movement. Rather than being depended on history and tradition, it is about future and potential. Content is not significant, only the form of art itself is of importance. The avant-garde artist is not imitating or re-creating the world, but imitating and re-creating the form the art itself. The bacis principle in avant-garde is that instead of art that imitates life, art that imitates art. The avant-garde art requires a wealthy and educated audience. Kitsch is a product of the industrial revolution which urbanized the masses of Western Europe and America and established universal literacy. According to Greenberg, the kitsch arose to fill a demand for culture coming from the proletariat of industrial countries. It serves to lower class or middle class and that is it is easy to reach by everyone. It can be counted as a synthesis of culture and media. Kitsch is profitable, mechanical and has formulas. While avant-garde needs an educated class, kitsch doesn’t need such an audience to grasp the ideas. The avant garde imitates the process (and system) of art, and kitsch imitates its effect. Greenberg explains that socialism is the only movement that can support the avant- garde, or new culture. The avant-garde pushes its limits and so is producing new cultural value. Even kitsch is disposed to find new ideas in itself from time to time. While the avant-garde represents high culture, kitsch is the product of mass culture or popular culture and so it serves to common man. Some writers may look to do different things in terms of the structure of the work and the sequence of the sentences, while others working in poetry would create new forms and new ways of working. One of the key things about being avant-garde in literature is that it is all about breaking the existing rules about writing, and whether these are in poetry or in fictional writing, pushing the boundary and expressing themselves in a different way that doesnt conform to the existing rules is vital. The avant-garde has made writing an art form that is about more than just telling a story, but is actually about the form as much as the content. Although it can be an unique and individual way of expressing opinions and of working out new ideas, the changes in the format can also limit the audience for such work, and make it more difficult for people to access their work. James Joyce experimented with the medium of writing, and actually being successful in doing so, with landmark works such a s Ulysses he was a author of avant-garde. As well as Joyce, there are many poets who have also helped to push literature forward, and another of the biggest exponents of the avant-garde within literature is Jack Kerouac. With Allen Ginsberg, he brought many new dimensions to the literature. Their poems reflected unthought and unwritten issues not spoken until that day. If we give an example from world literature the most important example can be Franz Kafka. He chose to narrate the issues through different way of narration as in ‘Metamorphosis’ by using an insect character. The avant-garde painters tried new forms and things in their paintings like writers or poets. George Braque can be a good example. He is a French and develeops new art style, Cubism. With this new style he brings a new dimension to painting. As avant-garde requires, it needs a certain education or culture to grasp the ideas behind the products. In George Braque’s paintings, a common man can have difficulty in understanding art. George O’Keeffe is another important artist. She is an American artist. She is known as the mother of American modernism. Like many other avant-garde products, her art forces people to understand and needs some culture. As a conclusion, the avant-garde and kitsch are opposite sides and both have different audiences from each others. We mostly dealt with the avant-garde in this essay since it requires much more interest with its high-class culture. Kitsch is like a product of mass culture so many people find easy to deal with kitsch products. While kitch can’t go beyond the mediocrity, the avant-garde makes a breakthrough in art and literature. This basic difference between these two art forms create the different forms,audiences and cultures to understand them.

American History - 11 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

American History - 11 - Essay Example †¢ Served as the secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. †¢ On 1st December, 1955, Parks, seated in the ‘black section’ at the back of the bus, refused to give up her seat to a white person †¢ Arrested by the police and fined for violating the segregation law. †¢ Volunteered to let the NAACP use her as a test case to oppose segregation on buses. †¢ Was immediately sacked from her tailoring job with Montgomery Fair. †¢ Became the symbol of the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Civil Rights Movement. †¢ Founded the  Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development in 1987. †¢ Died on 24th October, 2005. 2. ____Martin Luther King, Jr.______ †¢   Baptist minister, preeminent civil-rights activist and orator par excellence. †¢ Born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. †¢ Married Coretta Scott in June 1953 and had four children, Yolanda, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice. â₠¬ ¢ Elected to lead the successful Montgomery bus boycott in December 1955. †¢ Co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in January 1957 †¢ Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, led several non-violent protests to promote civil rights reform. †¢ Led the 1960 â€Å"sit-in† movement in Greensboro and the1963 demonstration in downtown Birmingham. †¢ Led the historic March on Washington on August 28, 1963, which drew more than 200,000 people to the Lincoln Memorial and made his famous â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech. †¢ Instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Received the Nobel Peace Prize for 1964. Assassinated by  James Earl Ray in Memphis on April 4, 1968 3. ____Malcolm X_____ †¢ Civil Rights Activist,  nationalist leader and charismatic spokesman for the Nation of Islam †¢ Born Malcolm Little in May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska.   †¢ Father’s civil rights activis m led to his harassment and murder by white supremacists. †¢ Dropped out of school at 15 and turned to crime and drugs to finance his extravagant lifestyle †¢ Arrested on charges of larceny and sentenced to ten years in jail in 1946 †¢ Converted to the Nation of Islam and changed his surname to â€Å"X† – a tribute to the unknown name of his African ancestors. †¢ Urged any means, including violence, to fight racism and establish an independent state for black Americans †¢ Married Betty Sanders, a fellow member of the Nation of Islam, in 1958. †¢ Broke away from the Nation of Islam in 1964, converted to traditional Islam, changed name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and considered prospects for peaceful resolution to racism. †¢ Assassinated on February 21, 1965, in Manhattan, at the age of 39,  by members of the Nation of Islam.   4. __The Fair Deal________ †¢ Name given to Truman’s domestic program set out in his 1949 Stat e of the Union speech. †¢ Proposed federal initiatives to solve economic and social problems in post-war America. †¢ Envisaged the redistribution of income among all classes. †¢ New civil rights legislation †¢ Federal housing programs †¢ Unemployment insurance benefits †¢ New tax cuts for the poor †¢ Federal funding for education †¢ A federal health care and health insurance program. †¢ Failed as it was blocked by the conservative political coalition   5. ___ Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka ____ †¢ Acknowledged to be one of the greatest US Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century. †¢ Plessy v. Ferguson  (1896) legalized separate but equal school systems for blacks and whites. †¢

What is Leadership Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

What is Leadership - Article Example l cause, an explorer traveling a path through the wilderness for the rest of his group to follow and an executive manager growing an own company's policy to keep up with the competition from rival parties. This essay discusses the process of leadership, particularly, transformational leadership model recommended by James MacGregor Burns and then advanced by Bernard Bass (Manktelow and Carlson, 2015). I came across transformational leadership model, which focuses on visionary thinking and promoting change, in place of management activities that are intended to maintain and progressively increase current performance. Leaders assist themselves and others to do the right things. Leaders keep track of the direction to be followed. They create an inspiring idea and create something that is authentic. Leadership is about setting the direction of where you need to do to be successful as a team or an organization. Leadership should be self-motivated, exhilarating, thrilling and inspiring.  However, while leaders put across the direction to be followed, they must also use management tools to guide their followers to the right purpose, in a smooth and efficient manner (Manktelow and Carlson, 2015). I recently watched a video regarding inspirational leadership (link provided below) and learned that to create an inspiring vision of the future in business; the vision has to be a realistic, convincing and striking representation of where you want to be in the near future. Vision offers a sense of direction sets preferences and gives a marker so that you can tell that you have accomplished what you wanted to attain. A persuasive vision offers the base for leadership, but it is the leader’s skills to motivate and inspire people that assist them to accomplish that vision.  

Tata Nano Cross Culture Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Tata Nano Cross Culture Marketing - Essay Example The focus of the case study is on the Tata Ultra-Low Cost Car. The Tata Nano is a small car targeting the lower echelons in the society. The product has several distinct features such as size, engine size, design and speed. The car borrows from the principles used in the production of the Volkswagen Beetle and the British Mini popular with the Mr. Bean films. In all cases, the cars were produced to meet a certain market segment and increase the ease of acquisitions. The performance and efficiency of the cars may not be compared to other luxurious cars, but the main goal of the cars is to reduce cost of purchase, as well as maintenance (Hollensen, 2007, p. 287). The car has registered mixed fortunes in the market since it was officially launched into the market. The marketing of the product may be the weak link, but there are still other improvements to be implemented in the product to succeed. Additionally, the product will face stiff competition from Bajaj motors who also intend to produce fuel efficient cars that fit in the same category as the Tata Nano. Market Segmentation for Tata Nano Market segmentation is the process of dividing the market using a certain way in order to target a certain set of buyers or consumers. In the past, most companies employed mass marketing with the exception of the motor vehicle industry which initially targeted the rich, but later covered the middle class and the current trend are to incorporate the low end earners (Sandhusen, 2000, p. 34). To incorporate them, Tata Motors produced the Tata Nano. Tata Nano is nicknamed the â€Å"people’s car† based on the specification and performance stipulated by the company. The cars were rolled into the market in 2006 with the Nano have different specifications (Beverly and Thomson, 2011, p. 67). The four-door Nano is over 10 feet long and nearly five feet wide. The size indicates the targeted market segment because the bigger the size the higher the cost of the vehicle. In addition, it is powered by a 623cc two cylinder engine as compared to the standard four cylinder engines. The reduction in the cylinder numbers is to reduce fuel consumption. In the process of reducing the fuel consumption, other features are eliminated. The maximum speed of the car is 65 miles per hour, which is slightly slower compared to luxury cars. The location of the wheels of the vehicle at the extreme ends improves the handling. It has a small trunk for load carriage (Allen, 2010, p. 89). The product design ensures cost of production is reduced while ensuring that the needs of the customers are met. The product targets the low end users in India which has several challenges (Cleland and Ireland, 2006, p. 45). India is marked with a serious challenge in terms of transportation because of the increased traffic snarl ups and jams. These traffic jams leads to loss of fuel and affects people's wealth. The production of the Nano ensures easy transportation and lower cost even in t raffic jams due to the low consumption associated with the car. The lower echelons in the society have already been targeted by other companies such as the production of the Maruti 800 by the Maruti Udyog Ltd. The Nano has distinct advantages over the Maruti 800 because of the seating space, luggage space and cost. The product’s target market of the middle class and low echelons in the society must be evaluated to obtain brand association. The middle class in India cannot be

Economics goverment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Economics goverment - Essay Example While the partnership entailed several economic benefits such as enhanced efficiencies, it became problematic because of the perceived coordination of pricing and other behavior that were feared to lead to anticompetitive practices. Joint ventures are investigated by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) based on the provisions of the Hart-Scott-Rodino pre merger notification act of 1976. The said investigation was a requirement before the venture was finally consummated. There was not court proceeding, without any formal depositions or accounts by both parties of their positions before the court, as well as public disclosure of documents. The investigations merely involved the examination of a huge number of documents. After this type intensive antitrust investigation, FTC finally provided the stamp of approval and the joint venture proceeded, although with some modifications. The first legal issue in the GM-Toyota joint venture pertains to its impact on the market. Particularly, there is the perceived likelihood of cooperative behavior wherein the parties - both dominant players in the auto industry - would cooperate that can disadvantage the position of the consumers (Kwoka, p.50). For example, the level of partnership provides an opportunity for both companies to fix pricing. Ultimately - in this respect - the investigators were concerned that the venture would adversely impact the competition in the market or moderate competitive behavior if a complete consolidation of operations between these two companies was realized. The second and final issue in the investigation concerns the appropriate treatment of Japanese production. Under the so-called â€Å"voluntary restraint agreement or VRA, Japanese car import is subject to a quota: 1.68 million car export to the United States within the period of two years (p. 51). The legal implication of the joint venture is numerous. First, there is the debate whether the

CSR WEB REPORTING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 11000 words

CSR WEB REPORTING - Essay Example The corporate need to communicate information regarding corporate social responsibility practices at regular periods. There are various ways to do the same. One of them is web reporting. The web reporting of corporate social responsibility is relatively unexplored area. This paper discusses various issue related to corporate social responsibility, internet and web reporting and analyses the web reporting pattern of five companies from different sectors and parts of the world. Every organisation must function within the context of society and community. Concepts like competence, competitiveness, and profitability are the key to a successful organisation. Along with these comes the all-important aspect of responsibility. An organisations needs to adopt a responsible attitude not merely when dealing with employees, clients and shareholders but also its other stakeholders too. The image and success of an organisation is reflected in its commitment towards society, the commonly used term for which is Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR. Organisations have their own inner and external environment to manage. The management aspects of both the environments require transparency and proper information sharing. There are various factors that constitute together the concept â€Å"Corporate Social Responsibility†. Corporate social responsibility is an integral part of the wealth creation process. The paper first covers issues related to corporate social responsibility in the Section 1. Various views regarding the concept are discussed here. The next section elaborates the role of Internet and web reporting at present. One of the reasons of growing web responsibility in present scenario is the growing number of Internet users. Internet provides a faster mean of communication and information sharing. The information sharing has a great impact on stakeholders. Internet has provided a fast mean

Strategies of Market Growth Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategies of Market Growth - Assignment Example Today, the economies of most of these markets are growing and expanding at a rate that easily attracts multinational companies from all across the world. Most of these emerging markets are also having very favourable macroeconomic and microeconomic policies that put them at highly lucrative positions to choose in the doing of global business. With the coming and advancement of technology also, there has been a major boost in terms of how effective and efficient business is undertake in these emerging markets. All of these favourable conditions notwithstanding, it remain a fact that with the level of development in these emerging markets, companies need much strategic approaches to make good use of consumers in emerging markets, especially those at the bottom of the pyramid. In this paper, two key business strategies that can be used by these companies are critically discussed. Strategies of Market Growth Gollakota (2010) identifies consumers at the bottom of the pyramid as one of the most important stakeholders of any company’s supply chain, especially those in emerging markets. ... erstanding circumstances that consumers must satisfy to meet their needs, whiles the final parameter looks into the essence of what the consumer wants to accomplish (Gollakota, 2010). Generally, though, the deep cost management centres on the second paradigm, which advises the need for prices of products and services to be cut low to ensure that those at the bottom will also have the means of responding to their needs. For the companies to do this cost cutting without running at a loss it important that they are engaged in prudent management of production cost. In the second instance, the use of deep benefit management is recommended for use. Unlike the former which focuses on cost management, this is more concerned about value management, where the need for companies to think of ways of adding new features that give unique value to their products and services is recommended (Ghemawat, 2010). In most cases, what has been observed with emerging markets is that consumers at the bottom want to use their money in the most guaranteed means that they have to be very certain about value for money. In effect, even if they will have to be paying more, they would need guarantee that the same product or service from another outfit has less value than the one they are purchasing (Pelle, 2007). Meanwhile, the best way to raise the value of a product is by introducing new features that takes away cost in an indirect manner. Some of these ways include â€Å"offering convenient locations, transport, or other services that are essential for BOP customers† Gollakota, 2010 p. 361). Conclusion In conclusion, it will be reiterated that the need for businesses and organizations to succeed is not an achievement that comes by accident, especially when reference is made to emerging markets. As

Microeconomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 7

Microeconomics - Essay Example For instance, firms in the agricultural sector experience perfect competition. A firm that deals with supplying eggs may make a complete loss due to lack of good production. This does not make the firm go out of production but experience a loss (Francis 56). Firms that experience perfect competition often look at their competitors as a very small competitor in comparison to the total market. Though each company produces the same products, the aim is to provide a marketing edge to attain the customers (Krama, Bartram and Cieri 45). The problem comes as the products and services provided are of the same quantity and quality. By providing a competitive edge, companies are able to attract and maintain customers. A firm can go into a loss if it offers no competitive edge such as customer care service, after sale services, poor communication and in adequate advertising (Kern 78). Proper customer care services acts as a major consumer attraction. Firms under the same business line may suffer a loss but remain in business due to poor customer care services. Customers will prefer to access the same products or services from a different firm. The firm that does not offer proper customer care services ends up making sales only if the other firms are closed or their products supply is low. After sale services is another reason why firms can continue to make losses in a perfect competitive market. Firms may be offering the same products but others gain a competitive advantage by providing their customers with after sale services. A firm providing customers with eggs may offer an after sale service of providing free delivery of the products to the clients (Jain and Haley 98). Communication to the customers comes as an important aspect of ensuring competitive advantage. A firm in a perfect competition market should ensure to communicate properly to the clients before pushing for sales. Signs of the location of the business have to be communicated to the

George W. Bush and Darth Vader Essay Example for Free

George W. Bush and Darth Vader Essay More often than not when comparing two characters, whether one be real and the other fictional, we come up with both similarities and differences between them. Seldom however do these similarities and differences between a fictional character and a person from the real world become so glaring that such comparison consequentially provide a substantial realization. One of such seldom case is the comparison of George W. Bush and Darth Vader. This paper will venture on comparing both characters and at the end provide a realization of such comparison. The two mentioned personalities need no introduction hearing these names will immediately give us an image of them in our heads. George W. Bush is the current president of the United States. Darth Vader on the other hand is the popular character in the Star Wars movies. On first instance it may seem that a comparison between these two personalities is absurd. This paper however will show us that such comparison is not without realization. It is submitted that on rare occasions seemingly trivial things such as comparison of Bush and Vader can in fact provide us with a realization far better than any other concept we have. To outline this paper will proceed on first stressing the similarities of both characters, then proceed with its differences and eventually state the realizations made through the conclusion Their Similarities Leaders The most obvious similarity between Vader and Bush is that they are both leaders. Leaders in their own respect Bush lead a nation and Vader leads an army. More worth noting in this similarity is not only the fact that both are leaders but the fact that both have the same way of leading. Vader and Bush exercise an attitude of strength in leadership that they do not think of casualties they however have the end in mind. Like the war in Iraq started by George W. Bush he was fearless in proceeding with such war even if he knew what it would cost. His ratings of popularity went down and the economy of his nation went down with it. Whenever one comes to war inevitably lives are put on the line. Bush was not hesitant in outing young military soldier’s lives on the line in order for him to achieve his goal and win his war on Iraq. The same ideology is shared by Darth Vader. Darth Vader always has a goal or a mission to accomplish. The ruthless use of his army to achieve his directives are clearly gleaned within his personality. In this type of leading we find the similarity between George W. Bush and Darth Vader. They both seem to share the ideology that making sacrifices in order to achieve a goal is necessary. They also have utter disregard for the cost and the consequences as long as they achieve this goal this is their way of leading. This is the kind of leading we see in the Star Wars Movies by Darth Vader and the kind of leading we see in America by George W. Bush. It is therefore submitted that because they have the same kind of ideology of leadership the result of their leadership hypothetically are the same. The end of Darth Vader has already been seen this type of leadership resulted in failure. The present administration of Bush has not yet ended but the seeming similarity of leadership ideology with Darth Vader can provide us with a reasonable conclusion that the administration of Bush will end in failure. The Saga Journal as proof of Vader’s leadership provides: â€Å"George Lucas has succeeded in creating one of the greatest cautionary tales for the aspiring leader in his portrayal of Darth Vader’s devastating reign of terror. Darth Vader embodies traits that make most contemporary leadership scholars cringe. † (Cited in: Michelle Drum, The Saga Journal) Perceived as Villains Another similarity between these two personalities is that many of us perceive them as villains. Villains in their own right majority of the people see both George W. Bush and Darth Vader as villains. Darth Vader very much like George W. Bush were not always perceived as Villains. They were first considered as heroes. George W. Bush could not have been president if the people did not think of him as a hero. He won the election two times. This is only proof that before George W. Bush was perceived as a villain he was considered as a hero. The same is true for Darth Vader. Darth Vader was not immediately Darth Vader before his transition to such character. He was the young and promising Anakin Skywalker his views were moral and he had a good sense of justice. This however changed because of the circumstances as provided in the movie. This only means that sometimes the famous quote in the batman movie might be true sometimes we see ourselves a hero long enough to become the villain. This is the similar circumstance of both Bush and Vader. In one of the articles of the National News it provided the perception of Bush being a villain as it said: â€Å"According to an Associated Press-AOL News poll, President Bush is both the number one villain and the number one hero of 2006. † (cited in: Two Sided Coin for Bush: Villain and Hero By Cathy Gill) Powerful The final similarity this paper will provide from all the similarities of these two characters is their power. There is no doubt that both George W. Bush and Darth Vader are very much powerful in every sense of the word. George W. Bush being the President of the United States of America and Darth Vader being the leader of the imperial army. Vader being perceived as powerful in an article in USA Today as it said â€Å"Not only is Vader powerful, hes sexy, says David Prowse, who appears as Vader in the first three films and has made thousands of appearances as Vader in costume. † (Cited in: Breathing Life into Vader by Mike Snider) Their Differences Their Rise to Power Though it is granted that both George Bush and Darth Vader are powerful they however differ in the manner of their rise to power. Darth Vader used pure brute force in order to be the leader of the imperial army. He had to lean to the dark side in order to achieve this goal. George Bush on the other hand rose into power through the mandate of the American people. Bush rose into power because of his will and the will of the people. Darth Vader on the other hand had to search and conquer this power by himself. This difference in their rise of power gives us an insight on how they held this power. Darth Vader could hold his power until he wished to abandon it. Bush on the other hand is bound by the limits of mandate given to him. He can only have the power of being a chief executive according to the period of time given to him. This gives us an insight on why Bush tries his best to stay in power while Vader needlessly and calmly enjoys his power. This is because Vader’s power is not bound by any limits. Vader Quick on His Feet, Bush Not so Much Darth Vader even as a youngster known to be Anakin Skywalker has always been quick on his feet. His reflexes during his time were comparable to no one. Bush on the other hand has admitted that he might not be as quick on his feet than most people. This is reflected on the way Darth Vader and President Bush makes decisions. Darth Vader is ruthless and quick on making decisions. President Bush has apparently a considerable amount of thinking time before he can make a decision. This spells a very different effect of their leadership. Darth Vader being quick on his feet can easily command his subordinates and they follow him without question. The delay on the decision making however of President Bush spells a different story because of such his subordinates may not follow him right away and might even question his decisions. Bush Democracy, Vader Dictatorship The most important difference between these two personalities however lie in the fact that Bush leads through a democratic structure while Vader in every sense of the word is a dictator. This brings us to the question which kind of structure is more effective is it the democratic structure or the dictatorship? Dictatorship brings obedience, order and an unquestionable authority. Democracy however gives freedom for every individual. It is submitted that both structures have their advantages and disadvantages. It is further submitted however that ruling a democratic structure like the task of President Bush is much more difficult than ruling in a dictatorship like Darth Vader. In an article in the LA Times President Bush advocated this democracy as the article said: â€Å"President Bush made good Thursday on his inaugural vow to push for democracy around the world. † (Cited in: Bush Democracy Vows May Take Time to Bear Fruit by: Sonni Efron) Conclusion The similarities and the differences between the two personalities having been discussed we now proceed to the realizations this paper has to offer. George Bush and Darth Vader are two very different personalities. In fact one lives in the real world while one finds existence in a fictional movie. They are both leaders, they are both powerful and they are both perceived by many as leaders. On the other hand they differ on their rise to power, quickness in decisions and the structure where they lead. The most important thing we have to realize out of this comparison is the simple fact that Darth Vader’s story has already been told while George Bush’s story is still unraveling. This only means that we can learn from what happened to Darth Vader and necessarily imbue it with the unraveling of the story of George Bush. This will give us a reasonable conclusion on how George Bush’s story will end. The relevance of knowing how George Bush’s story will end is that if we are aware of the end then we can prepare for this end that we foresee. Works Cited †¢ Michelle Drum, The Saga Journal †¢ Two Sided Coin for Bush: Villain and Hero By Cathy Gill, December 29, 2006 †¢ Breathing Life into Vader by Mike Snider, April 22, 2005 †¢ Bush Democracy Vows May Take Time to Bear Fruit by: Sonni Efron, February 25, 2005

Glucose Improves Listening Span Essay Example for Free

Glucose Improves Listening Span Essay This study was conducted to see the consequences for listening comprehension by examining the effects of a glucose drink on performance. The researchers predicted a hypothesis. The hypothesis being that listening span will be sensitive to glucose consumption. Students who fasted overnight would improve after drinking a glucose drink, where the placebo drink would not improve performance after fasting. The hypothesis was supported. There was an alternate/ research hypothesis used in this study. The independent variable was the glucose and the placebo that was being used in the study. It also shows that there was a difference between the two groups being tested. The numbers show that the glucose level was higher when real sugar drinks were being used. The data was collected by physical measures. They took a convenience sampling of eighty A- level students from two colleges. Within the sample there were 44 males and 36 females. The participants were asked to report to a specific room at 9 a. m. No more than 10 were in each room within a particular college. They were randomly assigned either the glucose or placebo group (they were unaware of any distinction). They were administered a version of the Listening Span Test. The students listened to a series of sentences. Then on a response sheet, they would record whether the preposition in each sentence was true or false. Then the students were required to write down, in forward serial order the last word in each sentence. After completion there was a twenty minute interval. Students were given orange juice to drink. One group got real orange juice; the other was given a placebo drink to emulate orange juice. They were then given a different version of the Listening Span Test. Researchers took ten samples of blood; five from placebo and five from glucose group. There wasn’t a difference in the taste of the beverages that was given to the students, even though one drink had 50 grams of glucose and the placebo contained the 2 grams of sweetex in place of the glucose. There was a clinically trained staff member that handled all of the sampling as well as the disposal of the materials that was being used to conduct the study. The students that took part of this study gave three blood samples before the drinks were consumed, and three more samples of blood was required 20 minutes after the Listening Span Test was given for the second time. They used the experimental method to analyze the data, using the glucose drink and placebo drink as an independent variable compared to the test scores as the dependent variable. The researcher controlled as much as possible to determine the cause and effect relationship exists between the variables being studied. The research design was quantitative due to the data analysis and cannot take place until all data had been collected. The researcher starts with a hypothesis for testing, observes and collected the data, analyzes the data, and drew conclusions. There was a statistical significance found when comparing listening span test score of 2. 4 before the drink to 3. 1 after the drink. In examining the data collected, the corollary effects shown were the scores showed improvement in the glucose group after receiving the drink compared to no performance difference before the drink was consumed. Controlling blood sugar is very important because sugar is used as a fuel, but cannot be stored; it is broken down and released into the blood stream. Every person’s glucose levels are different; this test was done on healthy students that had never been diagnosed with having any problems with high glucose/sugar levels. If it had been done on some people that had been diagnosed with diabetes and some that are in good health, the results would have been much higher. There was a factor that could affect the internal validity of the study. The pancreas could affect blood glucose levels; because when blood sugar drops it releases glycogen from the liver. So after the fasting the body its self would release glycogen into the bloodstream. Therefore they could not present a clear relationship between blood sugar level and cognitive capacity. What we did learn was the brain uses glucose as its fuel. The glucose levels of the students that did participate in the study stayed the same, and the listening span did improve after the consumption of the glucose drink. There was no difference or change in the listening span of the students that had beverages containing saccharine. Fasting also played a role in this study; it helped improve the listening span after the students received drinks that contained real sugar (glucose). The purpose of using the Listening Span Test was to measure the capacity of verbal memory. Sentences were read to the students the longest was six sentences long. This was done to determine how much the students could comprehend in a short period of time. In conclusion the research showed a modest increase in listening span performance after a glucose drink was taken. It was preferable for students to eat a nutritious breakfast but if not the students could consume a convenient form of glucose to elevate blood sugar levels that suggests a relationship between glucose drink and improvement level of performance. This conclusion falls into explanatory use. It meets guidelines such as having a dependent and independent variable, a control group and experimental group. This study showed a clear cause and effect relationship due to the increase in listening span after drinking the glucose. All students were given guidelines to follow before the test was administered and was randomly selected from their local colleges. While the study had merit, the potential threat to the internal validity needs to be addressed. How much did the pancreas contribute to raising the glucose levels in the body?

The Education In Reduce Audit Expectation Gap

The Education In Reduce Audit Expectation Gap Introduction The issue of audit expectation gap (AEG) has been very significant to the accounting profession since mid 1970s and continues to be debated until today. In the 1970s and 1980s, massive corporate failures have caused the accounting profession to be severely criticized by the public. For example, in 1973, Equity Funding an insurance firm based in Los Angeles collapsed when its computer-based fraud was discovered. In May 1982, Drysdale Government Securities collapsed followed by Penn Square Bank two months later. In 1985, the $340 million fraud in ESM Government Securities has been the largest securities fraud case ever to come before a US federal court at that time. Auditors were then forced to battle with legal suits taken against them. Meanwhile, the mounting list of corporate failures and abuses, alleged audit failures, and lawsuits against prominent accounting firms has generated concern outside the profession which subsequently called the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Inve stigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce to conduct a hearing or congressional investigation of the profession, which was chaired by John Dingell, (Management Accounting, 1985). In defense, the profession defined the concept of AEG and focused public criticism on that concept. The US accounting profession also responded to the scandals and criticism by appointing the Commission on Auditors Responsibilities (the Cohen commission) in 1974 and in 1978. The Cohen report concludes that there is an expectations gap between what auditors do and what the public expects of them. And then in 1986 the Anderson committee issues its report, Restructuring Professional Standards to Achieve Professional Excellence in a Changing Environment, in response to concerns over the professions ability to serve the public interest and retain public confidence. In 1987 The National Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting (popularly known as the Treadway commission) reports on how fraudulent financial management can be reduced and how auditors can reduce the expectations gap between themselves and the public (Mousselli, 2005). This is followed by the Accounting Standard Board released, in 1988, of nine expectation gap standards (SAS no. 53 through 61) which were intended to redu ce the gap between what the informed public perceives auditors to be responsible for and what auditors regard their own responsibilities to be. However, those standards have not succeeded in closing the gap (Martens and McEnroe, 1991). The profession has the view that, in general, the public believes that auditors should take more responsibilities in detecting fraud, illegal acts, and material misstatements and to perform better in communicating about the nature and the results of audits including giving early warning about the possibility of business failure (Guy and Sullivan, 1988). The nine new standards are believed to address these issues. The standards cover four broad categories: improving external communication, detecting fraud and illegal acts, making audit more effective, and improving internal communication. This also involves a new auditors report (Kolins, 1988). However, the public regards that auditors have a covenant with society to be responsible for the independent certification of financial statements. And one crucial way in which SAS Nos 56-61 fail to express the auditing covenant and, hence, fail to close the expectation gap, relates to auditors responsibilities with regard to illegal acts by cl ients (Martens and McEnroe, 1991). Therefore, despite the professions efforts to address the issue of AEG, the gap still exists. As mentioned by the SECs Chief Accountant Michael Sutton, there were five dangerous ideas held by some accountants; one of it being auditors have closed the expectation gap. According to Steinberg in 1997, even the new auditing standards on fraud cannot be expected to totally close the gap. This is supported by Sikka, Puxty, Willmott and Coopers (1998) contention that due to social conflict, the meaning of social practices, such as audits, is subject to continuous challenges and renegotiations and the gap between competing meanings of audit cannot be eliminated. And so, in 2002, the profession is back under the spotlight following another series of corporate collapses that made history in the United States. As noted by Eden, Ovadia, and Zuckerman (2003), the criticism against the auditors is renewed with every public corporations failure and each financial loss the public takes. The firm Arthur Andersen came to its demise because of its association with Enron, even though the verdict of obstruction of justice against the firm was overturned in 2005 by the United States Supreme Court (Moussalli, 2005). The crisis then led to the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 that is said to be the most sweeping reform ever to affect the accounting profession (Castellano, 2002). Now the accounting firms are regulated entities. Those corporate crises led to new expectations and accountability requirements, and hence, create this called expectation gap. An expectation gap is detrimental to the auditing profession as highlighted by Limperg, 1933 (cited in Porter Gowthorpe 2001) that: If auditors fail to identify societys expectations of them, or to recognize the extent to which they meet (or, more pertinently, fail to meet) those expectations, then not only will they be subject to criticism and litigation but also, if the failure persists, societys confidence in the audit function will be undermined and the audit function, and the auditing profession, will be perceived to have no value. In view of the detrimental effect of AEG to the auditing profession, various methods have been suggested in the literature to reduce the AEG. Education is one of the methods often recommended by researchers and practitioners as a means of reducing the AEG (Gramling, Schatzberg and Wallace, 1996). Definition Of Audit Expectations Gap The expectation gap is the gap between the auditors actual standard of performance and the various public expectations of auditors performance (as opposed to their required standard of performance). Many members of the public expect that: auditors should accept prime responsibility for the financial statements, auditors certify financial statements, a clean opinion guarantees the accuracy of financial statements, auditors perform a 100% check, auditors should give early warning about the possibility of business failure, and auditors are supposed to detect fraud. Such public expectations of auditors, which go beyond the actual standard of performance by auditors, have led to the term expectation gap. According to the auditing profession, the reality is that: management, as preparers of the financial statements, is primarily responsible for their content, even though management may request the auditors to prepare them; an audit only provides reasonable assurance that financial statements are free of material misstatement based on The CPA Journal entitled The Past and Future of Reasonable Assurance; an audit is no guarantee of solvency or financial performance; auditors are only required to test selected transactions it does not make economic sense, in to-days world, to check all transactions; and although auditors plan and conduct an audit engagement with an attitude of professional skepticism recognizing that circumstances such as fraud may exist that will cause the financial statements to be materially misstated, an audit does not guarantee that fraud will be detected. Several accounting researchers and professional accounting bodies have offered their definitions. For example, the phrase Audit Expectations Gap was first introduced into the literature over twenty years ago by Liggio (1974). In his article The Expectation Gap: The Accountants Waterloo? has defined that: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the expectation gap is a factor of the levels of expected performance as envisioned both by the independent accountant and by the user of financial statements. The difference between these levels of expected performance is expectation gap. A few years later, in 1978, when the Cohen Commission Report was published, the definition extend to adds that a gap may exist due to the difference between the publics expectations and needs and what auditors can and should reasonably expect to accomplish. Porter (1993), however, argued that the definitions used by Liggio (1974) and the Cohen Commission Report were too narrow as they failed to consider the possibility of substandard performance by auditors. She states: these definitions are too narrow in that they do not recognise that auditors may not accomplish expected performance (Liggio) or what they can and reasonably should. They do not allow for sub-standard performance. It is therefore, proposed that the gap, more appropriately entitled the audit expectation-performance gap, be defined as the gap between the publics expectations of auditors and auditors perceived performance. According to Porter (1993), the gap has two components: the reasonableness gap and the performance gap. The reasonableness gap explains the expectation gap as the result of differences between what societies expects auditors to achieve and what auditors can reasonably expect to accomplish. Conversely, the performance gap views the issue as the differences in the publics expectations of auditors and their perceptions of auditors performance. Viewed in this way, the gap can be widened either by an increase in societys expectations (some of which can be unreasonable) or a deterioration in perceived auditor performance (sub-standard performance arises where the auditor fails or is perceived to fail to comply with legal and professional requirements). Therefore, the gap can be narrowed either by a reduction in societys expectations or an improvement in perceived performance. Other than that, a few researchers also attempt to define the audit expectations gap in general terms. For example, Liekerman (1990), indicates that expectations gap refers to the discrepancy between what professionals (auditors) appears to believe they are telling the rest of the community and what the rest of the community believes it is being told. This highlights the seriousness of the problem faced by the auditing profession which serves society rather than its immediate clients. Monroe and Woodliff (1993) defined the audit expectation gap as the difference in belief between auditors and the public about the duties and responsibilities assumed by auditors and the messages conveyed by audit report. Jennings et al. (1993) defined the audit expectations gap as the differences between what the public expects from the auditing profession and what the auditing profession can actually provide. Humphrey (1997) defines it as a representation of the feeling that auditors are performing in a manner at variance with the beliefs and desires of those for whose benefit the audit is carried out. According to Humphrey (1997), this definition can be extended to include other issues such as the adequacy of auditing standards and the quality of audit delivery. Local Auditing Context In Malaysia The Companies Commission of Malaysia regulates all companies including public listed and private limited companies incorporated under the Malaysian Companies Act 1965 (CA 1965). Section 169(4) of the CA 1965 requires every company incorporated under the Companies Act to have its financial statements audited before they are presented at the annual general meeting. Section 9 of the Act further requires that the audit must be performed by an approved company auditor as defined under Section 8 of the CA 1965. The auditors in Malaysia are regulated by Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA). Malaysias first documented financial reporting regulations were the Companies Ordinance 1940, which was repealed in 1965 to make way for the Malaysian Companies Act (CA, 1965). Introduction of the CA (1965) marked a significant turn in the countrys financial reporting practice as the Act, through the provisions of section 167 and the ninth schedule, established formal requirements, rules and regulations on accounting. Section 169 of the act requires the directors of every company to present audited financial statements at the annual general meeting and to ensure that the statements give a true and fair view of the companys affairs and results of its operation. The duties of the auditor were specified in section 174, which include: reporting to the members of the company on the accounts; ensuring timely submission of the audit report to the company; expressing an opinion on the truth and fairness of the financial statements; and ensuring compliance with the requirements of the Companies Act 1965 and the applicable approved accounting standards. The approved accounting standards are those standards that are issued or approved by the Malaysian Standards Board (MASB). Under Section 174 (8) of the Company Act 1965, auditors are required to report to the Registrar on any breach or non-observance of any provision of the Company Act 1965. The auditors are required to follow the Malaysian Approved Standards on Auditing (MASA) in the conduct of their audits. Any breach of or failure to comply with MASA could be considered as conduct discreditable to the profession, and this could lead to disciplinary action against the auditors (Arens et al 2003). With effect from 30 September 2004, the MIA has implemented the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2001 (the AMLA, 2001). The AMLA (2001) requires auditors, accountants and company secretaries who are members of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) to report suspicious transactions of their clients to the Financial Intelligence Unit in the Bank Negara (Central Bank of Malaysia). In addition, Section 50 of the Securities Industry Act 1983 (SIA) stipulates that auditors are required to report to the Securities Commission any irregularities that are found during the course of the audit which may jeopardize the funds or property of the shareholders. Qualification Levels Education is not only aimed at meeting short-term professional and labour market needs and requirements. Education plays an important role in science and culture and for personal development. However, education has to provide access to qualifications and competences which facilitate a professional career. Most accountants and auditors need at least a bachelors degree in business, accounting, or a related field. Many accountants and auditors choose to obtain certification to help advance their careers, such as becoming a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), ACCA or MICPA. Generally, they take those professional papers for the purpose of become qualified professional auditors. Level qualifications usually focus on a particular subject or area in basic knowledge, skills and understanding. ACCA The ACCA qualification is designed to provide the accounting knowledge, skills and professional values which will deliver finance professionals who are capable of building successful careers across all sectors, whether they are working in the public or private sectors, practicing in accounting firms, or pursuing a career in business. It also embeds the global accounting education standards set by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). There is a strong focus on professional values, ethics, and governance. These skills are essential as the profession moves towards strengthened codes of conduct, regulation, and litigation, which with an increasing focus on professionalism and ethics in accounting. CPA Certified Public Accountant (CPA)  is the statutory title of qualified accountants in the United States who have passed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination and have met additional state education and experience. CPA members and students work across a variety of roles in both practice and industry including, sectors such as financial services, banking, manufacturing, construction, education and consultancy. MICPA Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA) promotes high standards of professional conduct and technical competence of members to safeguard public interest and provide quality professional education and training. It also enhances the value and distinctiveness of the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) qualification. This professional qualification is qualified for membership of the Malaysian Institutes of Accountants (MIA) after 3 years of approved working experience and as a member of MICPA. Research Problem The profession believes that the gap could be reduced over time through education. Studies have been carried out overseas and in Malaysia to determine the effect of education in narrowing the audit expectation gap. Previous research done in Malaysia had investigate the effect of audit education in reducing audit expectation gap by Kasim and Mohd Hanafi in 2005 and the benefits of internship to students by Minai et al. in 2005. However, Pierce and Kilcommins (1996) in Ireland suggest that although education can make a significant contribution to narrowing the expectation gap, there is a need to supplement it with other measures. Therefore, this study seeks to provide evidence of another way of education such as implementing active learning strategies, improve the illustration of lecturers during the classroom learning and seminar or training as a further education to increase the knowledge of auditors roles and responsibilities. Purpose of The Study The purposes of this study are: The surveys on auditors perceptions on issues of education in reduce the expectation gap regarding roles and responsibilities of auditors in the auditing process. To determine whether there is a significant different in auditors perception between the big firms and small firms. In particular, this study sets out to test three main method of education in order to ensure that it can be narrowing the gap: to examine the impact of implementing active learning strategies in education. to examine the impact of illustration of lecturer during the class room learning. to examine the seminar or training as a further education to increase the understanding of auditors roles and responsibilities. Scope of Study This study aims to perform a research among the auditors in big firms and small firms. It investigates the perceptions of auditors between big firms and small firms about the method of education that may help to reduce the audit expectation gap. Emphasis was given on the aspects of roles and responsibilities of auditors in auditing process. According to this study, a statistical hypothesis test is used as a method of making statistical decisions based on the experimental data. Contribution It is hope that this study on the method of education enables the audit expectation gap to be reduced in a comprehensive and effective manner. It also hoped that such an attempt can provide some valuable insights for the auditing professional and regulatory bodies to enable them to take effective steps to reduce the audit expectation gap in Malaysia. Besides, it gives a clear view that education improves the level of understanding of the roles and responsibilities of auditors in relation to the function of auditing process. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction Literature relevant to the expectations problem in auditing is extensive and ranging, for example, from empirical and experimental research to ascertain beliefs about auditing and its effects on the decisions of particular groups to analysis of legal judgments and to the work of various professional and governmental investigations established to consider audit related issues. There are also studies concentrating on psychological aspects, that is, theories of human judgment relating to views and opinion formed by different groups of people. They are documented in forms of reports, research findings, commentaries and argumentative writings in various auditing and accounting journals, magazines and even newspapers. Research On Expectations Gap The audit profession began to face public criticism in the 1970s, leading to the emergence of the expectations gap. Most debates on expectations issues seemed to cover, broadly, the specification of the role or functions that auditing is intended to fulfill, communications and reports from auditors, the structure and regulation of the provision of audit services, and the level of quality in the performance of audits. Most of the studies ascertain the auditors and the publics view of the roles and responsibilities of auditors through the use of questionnaire surveys. In the United States, Baron et al. (1977), they had examined the extent of auditors detection responsibilities with respect to material errors, irregularities and illegal acts. The aims of this study are to establish whether they are any differences in the perceptions regarding auditors detection and disclosure duties between the auditors and users of accounting reports (financial analysts, bank loan officers and corporate financial managers). The result from this study was that auditors and users of accounting reports have significantly different beliefs and preferences on the extent of the auditors responsibilities for detecting and disclosing irregularities and illegal acts. They also show that small-firm CPAs, large-firm audit partners, corporate financial managers, bankers and financial analysts thought Statements on Auditing Sta ndards (SAS) Nos. 16 and 17 inadequately clarified the CPAs responsibilities for detecting and reporting on clients deliberate material falsifications, other material misstatements and non-material illegal acts. In particular, users held auditors to be more responsible for detecting and disclosing irregularities and illegal acts then the auditors believe themselves to be. Based on the study in Singapore by Low et al. (1988), their objective was to examine the extent of the expectation gap between auditors and financial analysts on the objectives of a company audit. The study finds that, both groups perceived the traditional objectives of the audit such as expressing an opinion on financial statements as one of the primary audit objectives. However, besides this objective, respondents possessed an array beliefs as to what they considered as audit objectives. In the views of financial analysts, they perceived an audit as setting a seal on the accuracy of the financial accounts of the company. Furthermore, their perceptions of fraud prevention and detection responsibilities of auditors were more demanding than those that the auditors believed they themselves should possess. According to the Humphrey, Moizer and Turley (1993) in United Kingdom, they had examined the expectation gap by ascertaining the perceptions of the individuals of audit expectations issues through the use of a questionnaire survey comprising a series of mini-cases. The issues investigated include the following: What is and should be the role of the auditor? What should be the prohibitions and regulations placed on audit firms? And what decisions could the auditors expected to make? The respondents included chartered accountants in public practice, corporate finance directors, investment analysts, bank lending officers and financial journalists. The surveys review a significant difference between auditors and the respondents which represent some of the main participants in the company financial report process in their views on the nature of auditing. The result from this study showed that an audit expectation gap exists, specifically in the areas such as the nature of the audit functi on and the perceived performance of auditors. In this study they also found that the critical components of the expectation gap includes auditors fraud detection role, the extent of auditors responsibilities to third parties, the nature of balance sheet valuations, the strength of and continuing threats to auditors independence, and aspects of the conduct of audit work for example, auditors ability to cope with risk and uncertainty. Humphrey expressed concern over the possibility of completely closing the gaps because such problems have been persistently in existence within the audit profession. An empirical investigation on audit expectations gap in Britain was done by Humphrey, Moizer and Turley in 1993. Questionnaires were mailed to chartered accountants in public practice, corporate finance directors, investment analysts, bank lending officers, and financial journalists to ascertain the perception of individuals about audit expectations issues. Out of the total of 935 respondents, 82% were accountants and 73% were auditors. Both groups agreed that too much was expected of auditors by the investing community. The financial directors were almost equally split on the issues, which is 42% disagreed, 19% neutral and 41% agreed. The three user groups were disagreed. From the research, 67%.of the overall of users disagreed. Extending from the study by Humphrey, Moizer and Turley (1993), Gloeck and De Jager (1994) studied on the expectation gap in the Republic of South Africa. The respondents were grouped into users, auditors, and financially knowledgeable person, which have the same characteristics as the sophisticated users in Humphrey. The results found that financially knowledgeable person in South Africa seemed to be more sophisticated than their counterparts in the United Kingdom, particularly in understanding the contents of an auditors report. However, they also concluded that the expectation gap regarding the fraud and auditors going concern opinion. Another empirical study was conducted by Porter (1993) in New Zealand to test the postulated structure of the audit expectation-performance gap and to establish the composition and extent of the gap and its constituent parts. According to Porter, this research is an extension of those conducted by Lee (1970) and Beck (1974), who investigated the duties which auditors were expected to perform in the late 1960s in Britain and early 1970s in Australia, respectively. By using a mail survey, Porter ascertained the opinions of auditors interest groups (auditors, officers of public companies, financial analysts, auditing academics, lawyers, financial journalists and members of the general public) regarding auditors existing duties, the standard of performance of these duties, and the duties that auditors should perform. The findings from the survey revealed that 50% of the gap is attributable to deficient standards, 34% from society holding unreasonable expectations of auditors and 16% from perceived sub-standard performance by auditors. According to the study by Chandler et al. (1993), they looked at the various aspects of the development of the audit function in the United Kingdom and sought to explore the nature of auditors responsibilities and the publics perception of the auditors role. Their study that reviewed the evolution of audit objectives over the period of 1840 to 1940 suggested that statement verification was the primary concern of auditors in relation to public companies in the period 1830 to 1860, after which more emphasis was placed on fraud detection in the late nineteenth century. In the early part of this century, the primary audit objective reverted to statement verification. The study showed that audit objectives and practices tend to follow external events and that the profession has encountered great difficulty in reconciling public expectations with the practicalities of auditing. It also suggested that general confusion over the role of auditors has existed to such an extent that it has been difficult even for the profession to reach agreement on the main purpose of company auditing and the message to be sent to the investing public. Besides that, based on the study of Cameron (1993), he explored the relationship between public accountants and their small business clients in New Zealand by seeking the opinions of public accountants, small businesses and associated third parties like bankers, business consultants and enterprise agencies with respect to the roles that auditors are expected to perform and those that they actually perform. The results from the study were revealed that the three groups expected auditors to provide compliance services, give accounting-related advice, show concern for clients financial health, actively seek out client problems, and give general business advice. Auditors were perceived that they were actually providing all of the services expected of them except the service of actively seeking out client problems. In relation to the other functions, the actual performance of chartered accountants was generally perceived to fall below the expected levels. Epstein and Geiger in 1994 had conducted a survey of investors to gather information on various aspects of financial reporting issues, in particular on the level of assurance they believed that auditors should provide with respect to error and fraud. The surveys result suggested that investors seek very high levels of financial statement assurance and there exists an expectation gap between auditors and investors on the level of assurance an audit provides. Mohamed and Muhamad Sori (2002) performed a study about the audit expectation gap in Malaysia. They revealed that the audit expectation gap exists in Malaysia. The existence of the gap is due to a number of contributing factors; such as, uncertainties concerning the actual role of auditor; the satisfaction of clients with services provided by the auditors; and audit firms lack of independence and objectivity. However, this study did not include the differences in perceptions of the users and auditors in relation to the meaning conveyed by an audit report. Furthermore, issues such as the differences in perceptions between the users and the auditors in relation to the true and fair view of the financial statement and the going concern of the company were also not identified. A more comprehensive study have been conducted by Fadzly and Ahmad (2004) to examine the audit expectation gap among auditors and major users of financial statements: bankers, investors, and stockbrokers. The study focuses on the positive view of the expectation gap, which compares auditors and users perceptions on the duties of auditors. They found that the comparison of the auditors and users perceptions is able to reveal whether there is a state of unreasonable expectations among Malaysian users. The study reveals that an audit expectation gap exists in Malaysia, particularly on issues concerning auditors responsibility. A wide gap was found regarding auditors responsibilities in fraud detection and prevention, preparation of financial statements and accounting records, and in internal control. To complement the findings of Fadzly and Admad (2004), Lee and Palaniappan (2006) then conducted a survey on audit expectation gap in Malaysia to examine whether an expectation gap exists in Malaysia among the auditors, auditees and audit beneficiaries in the relation to the auditors duties. In addition, the study analyses the nature of the gap using Porters framework. The results proved the existence of an audit expectation gap in Malaysia. The study shows that the auditees and audit beneficiaries placed much higher expectations on the auditors duties compared with what auditors have perceived their duties to be. The analysis of the expectation gap indicated the exis

Antigone and Ismene :: English Literature Essays

Antigone and Ismene Tragic heroes are generally people of high social stature with a tragic flaw that usually manifests itself in the form of poor judgment and arrogance, condemning the hero to a disastrous end and establishing the character’s destiny. Antigone is a tragic heroine deeply conflicted between her virtue and her hubris, personifying courage in her civil disobedience against criminal "leadership." A product of incest, her very existence is shameful, but perhaps this is why Antigone has such a burning desire for righteousness. She has great regard for following tradition, and a compulsion to follow these traditions even at the cost of her own life. Sacrifice is one of her qualities and she is ready to die for what she believes in. She shows disdain for Ismene’s cowardice and tendency to be a fair-weather friend. Her reprisals against traitors are especially fiery. Her concern for family becomes almost an unhealthy obsession, and her selflessness is soon shown to be madness and self-infliction. Being a tragic heroine, she shows excellence of character and bravery, but her fatal flaw is that her will to please the gods is greater than her will to preserve her own life. In the end, uncompromised rigidity is her downfall. She obeys the laws of the gods and is careless about the mortal law’s penalty, her own death. Antigone does not understand the need to act according to humanity’s place in the scheme in things, one’s pleasing of the gods should continue up until the point when it puts ones life in danger. Our heroine shows hubris by breaking the rule of the golden mean, not because she is egotistical, but because her head gets in the clouds when she believes herself to be a high and mighty enforcer of virtue. This is a form of arrogance, which Zeus despises. Her conception of justice is so rigid that she puts herself in harm’s way, which is not at all honorable in the eyes of the Greeks. Her ‘holier than thou’ quest has gone too far, and she is stubborn and irrational, lacking the common sense the Greeks so valued. One example of Antigone’s extremely twisted vision of unbending idealism is when she told Ismene she wouldn’t care if she yelled incriminations about the burial from the rooftops, an unnecessary passion and clear disregard of moderation. The exact opposite of her sister, Ismene is, according to Greek conventional wisdom of the time, functioning ideally in her moderation, aware that it is vital not to overstep her boundaries in the overall scheme of things.

Non-Chronological Narration Technique Used in Faulkner’s The Unvanquished :: Unvanquished Essays

Non-Chronological Narration Technique Used in Faulkner’s The Unvanquished The novel The Unvanquished is a about a young boy’s coming of age story, as seen through the eyes of the grown man that he is to become. The great advantage of this form of narration is the ability it grants Faulkner to be able to reach forward and backward through time unrestrained in order to pull the type of significance and lesson from this boy’s story that can only be seen upon reflection. Despite surely being a technique borrowed from the author James Joyce, William Faulkner was arguably the first to realize what this disregard for chronology could offer to a story of values of masculinity. By looking back on what it means to be a man, as opposed to forward, William keeps the lessons of manhood clear and concise, as opposed to the vague and confused path a boy must in actuality take. From the very first lines we see the stark contrast between protagonist and narrator, and the important role it plays. The story opens with the two youthful friends, Ringo and Bayard, fantasizing about the battle in Vicksburg they believed their hero and Bayard’s father, Colonel Sartoris, was fighting. As they stage their own imitation though, the narrator’s tone is completely opposite of the idolatry of the children. He says of their mock Vicksburg landscape, that it was â€Å"possessing even in miniature that ponderable though passive recalcitrance of topography which outweighs artillery, against which the most brilliant of victories and the most tragic of defeats are but the loud noises of a moment.† In this way the narrator has completely laid bare the naivety of the children in getting caught up in the passions of their limited and ultimately insignificant struggles, and even more importantly, the ignorance of the man whom they attempt to emulate. While the story is one of confederate pride, embodied in spirit by the character of Bayard’s father, the narrator is the voice of tempered reflection. He describes the futility of the south’s plight through the metaphor of the children playing. He says of their miniature battle of Vicksburg, â€Å"[It was] the very setting of the stage for conflict a prolonged and wellnigh hopeless ordeal in which we ran, panting and interminable, with the leaking bucket between wellhouse and battlefield,†¦ to join forces†¦against†¦time, before we could engender between us and hold intact the pattern of recapitulant mimic furious victory like a cloth, a shield between ourselves and reality, between us and fact and doom.

Williams Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Essay -- Williams Cat Hot Tin Roof Ess

Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" In 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' Williams presents the audience with w world of mendacity. Every fibre of the character's being is based on a spectrum of deceit, from self-deception, to exploitation to social lies. The characters' names themselves conceal the irony and deceit, for example Brick, the leading man. The name Brick itself suggests a tough, strong man, but Brick's character suggests a weak, pathetic man who tries hard to forget his past by indulging in a life of alcohol. Brick is mentally insecure, he lies to himself and those around him, in the first scene he pretends not to hear his wife, 'did you say something, Maggie?' The other members of the household refer to Brick as the brick house that sheltered the 'three little pigs', the strong structure that cannot be easily blown down. The 'no-neck monsters', Mae and Goopers children are the pigs, sheltered by the security of Brick. In the play lying is used to 'protect' other people's feelings because 'the truth hurts'. A web of lies covers the truth about the state of Big Daddy's health. This is to 'protect' Big Daddy and his wife from the painful reality, 'Nothin' a-tall's wrong with him but' 'a spastic colon'. Lies are used to disguise the characters real feelings, they live a lie putting on 'jewelled sandals' and 'cream silk underwear' to stop their feelings being shown. Gooper and Mae are partners in games of lies and deceit, working together to get their wishes, the inheritance from Big Daddy. The name Big Daddy suggests a physically imposing man with a big ego and Big Mama suggests a frightening woman, head of the family, a matriarch. Their names suggest how they would like others to see them but they do not... .... She builds herself up by putting Maggie down, by the end her comments have worn thin and she is ignored when she questions Maggie's 'pregnancy', Big Mama only believes what she wants to hear. It is this pressure to fit in to the family that is the source of most of the lies in the play; the audience is constantly left guessing the future, the family's lives beyond the death of 'the boss', Big Daddy. Williams leaves the end of the play open to this guessing, will Maggie get pregnant by Brick? The real question though is will Brick be able to face up to the responsibility of replacing Big Daddy and will the uncovered lies mean a truthful future for the family? I think that this is an interesting way to leave the play as it does not end 'happily ever after' but there is finally hope for the future for Maggie and Brick now they have faced up to the truth.

Review of Related Literature Essay

Assessment and evaluation of the availability of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) resources and how well these are being utilized in secondary school among pre-service teachers will be stressed in this research. This chapter will review the literature associated with the accessibility and integration of ICT resources in the teaching and learning process. To serve the purpose of learning from this research, the chapter will commence with examining different ICT resources available and to what extent are they used in teaching and learning Science. It will then highlight the roles and benefits of ICT integration among pre-service teachers and then finally emphasize potential factors hindering the utilization of existing ICTs in secondary schools. Information and communication technology (ICT) has become an integral part in the context of education in most developing countries. Since the evolution of ICT, giving and receiving information or lesson content have not remained the same. In the time past and now, nearly everybody in the industrialized countries of the world has gained access to the use of ICT. The provision of computers, radio, ancillary equipment, audio tapes and audio-visual tapes, microfilms for online learning in schools are not new to citizens of such countries (Jegede, 2013). Many pre-service teachers are members of the net generation and are expected to be familiar with different ICTs, yet several studies have indicated that they are not necessarily able to use them for teaching and learning (Kontkanen et. al, 2014). Consequently, a great deal of researchers has been carried out to help to advance the pedagogical knowledge and application of ICT in education. These studies focus on the importance of future t eachers’ understanding, not only about how to use ICT but also about the specific knowledge involved in the pedagogical use of ICT, and the full comprehension of the impact of technology on learning processes. Integrating ICT in Science has been most often utilized in teaching where students learn best if they have accessibility to view and/or hear a certain lesson through the audio-visual presentation. Bitok (2014), grouped the applications of ICT into two where the first group is applications that were used generally in all subjects like word-processing, searching for information, communication using e-mails, and multimedia presentations. In the second group, applications are adapted or developed to be used in science teaching. It involves imaging systems in microscopy, virtual dissections, simulations, virtual laboratory, and real laboratory exercises with data acquisition systems. One of the challenges encountered by pre-service teachers in science is selecting and integrating instructional materials for teaching. At the turn of the 21st century, technology grew and expanded at an even faster rate. Teachers of today are expected to know how to navigate around these technology changes i n improving teaching and make learning more effective. According to Bitok (2014), knowing how to relate the potential of ICT to complement the role of a teacher in the teaching and learning process is the real challenge for educators. It can be considered how the role of a teacher in an ICT-equipped classroom is being dreaded. Lack of chances of developing professionally in the use of modern ICT will make teachers feel under threat. This implies that a teacher is significant through the willingness to develop in this way. Mavellas (2017), in their research paper titled â€Å"Assessment Of The Availability And Utilization Of ICTs For Teaching And Learning In Secondary Schools – Case Of A High School In Kwekwe, Zimbabwe† revealed that there are unavailability and inadequacy of ICTs required for training. The available ICTs are not being utilized to its highest extent that made it a factor affecting or hindering the use of available resources in schools. In Chile, an international study was conducted in the Initial Teacher Tra ining about the availability and use of ICT that was developed since late 2008. It provides required vision, experience, and skills for enabling future teachers to integrate ICT into their professional practices in primary and secondary education levels (Brun & Hinostroza, 2014). The Philippines is a developing country in Southeast Asia whose educational system shares many of the same problems and limitations as those of its fellow developing nations. Some provincial schools lack chairs and tables, blackboards, and laboratory equipment. Some do not have electricity and water. The role of ICT in education is deemed vital but there are factors that hinder the effective integration of ICT which includes the scarcity of ICT resources, such as the limited number of computers and the unavailability of Internet services (Dela Rosa, 2016). Despite these conditions, the Philippines along with other countries in Asia, are generally interested in ICT hoping that their educational systems reap the pedagogical benefits associated with it. There are arguments that have been still debated until today about the implications and impacts of technology to the society whether it is useful or not. Shan Fu (2013), cited the implications of ICT in education and how ICT integration is beneficial. It has been found to assist students in accessing digital information efficiently and effectively. Students have more access to acquiring knowledge and comprehension in different concepts when they are engaged in the application of ICT. They create new knowledge out of what they have learned through accessing, selecting, organizing, and interpreting information and data which leads to producing a creative environment. ICT also enables students to work collaboratively in a distance-learning environment such as teleconferencing. The teaching and learning quality will also improve through the use of ICT in which there are more opportunities to develop critical higher order thinking skills. Researchers have demonstrated that using some ICT tools benefits students better than relying on traditional methods, for example, Alharbi (2014), conducted a study aimed to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of using ICT in the classroom for teachers and students in selected subjects in the curriculum. The research has shown that if students are less able in ICT use, then they will be less likely to fully appreciate or achieve the benefits offered by it through teaching and learning. In addition, the viewpoints of students towards the use of ICT in the learning process are regarded as the main driver to increase their motivation towards learning.

Part Seven Chapter 3

The coffins lay side by side on biers at the front of the church. A bronze chrysanthemum oar lay on Krystal's, and a white chrysanthemum teddy bear on Robbie's. Kay Bawden remembered Robbie's bedroom, with its few grimy plastic toys, and her fingers trembled on the order of service. Naturally, there was to be an inquiry at work, because the local paper was clamouring for one, and had written a front-page piece suggesting that the small boy had been left in the care of a pair of junkies and that his death could have been avoided, if only he had been removed to safety by negligent social workers. Mattie had been signed off with stress again, and Kay's handling of the case review was being assessed. Kay wondered what effect it would have on her chances of getting another job in London, when every local authority was cutting numbers of social workers, and how Gaia would react if they had to stay in Pagford †¦ she had not dared discuss it with her yet. Andrew glanced sideways at Gaia and they exchanged small smiles. Up in Hilltop House, Ruth was already sorting things for the move. Andrew could tell that his mother hoped, in her perennially optimistic way, that by sacrificing their house and the beauty of the hills, they would be rewarded with a rebirth. Wedded for ever to an idea of Simon that took no account of his rages or his crookedness, she was hoping that these would be left behind, like boxes forgotten in the move †¦ But at least, Andrew thought, he would be one step nearer London when they went, and he had Gaia's assurance that she had been too drunk to know what she was doing with Fats, and perhaps she might invite him and Sukhvinder back to her house for coffee after the funeral was over †¦ Gaia, who had never been inside St Michael's before, was half listening to the vicar's sing-song delivery, letting her eyes travel over the high starry ceiling and the jewel-coloured windows. There was a prettiness about Pagford that, now she knew that she was leaving, she thought she might quite miss †¦ Tessa Wall had chosen to sit behind everyone else, on her own. This brought her directly under the calm gaze of St Michael, whose foot rested eternally on that writhing devil with its horns and tail. Tessa had been in tears ever since her first glimpse of the two glossy coffins and, as much as she tried to stifle them, her soft gurglings were still audible to those near her. She had half expected somebody on the Weedon side of the church to recognize her as Fats' mother and attack her, but nothing had happened. (Her family life had turned inside out. Colin was furious with her. ‘You told him what?' ‘He wanted a taste of real life,' she had sobbed, ‘he wanted to see the seamy underside – don't you understand what all that slumming it was about?' ‘So you told him that he might be the result of incest, and that I tried to kill myself because he came into the family?' Years of trying to reconcile them, and it had taken a dead child, and Colin's profound understanding of guilt, to do it. She had heard the two of them talking in Fats' attic room the previous evening, and paused to eavesdrop at the foot of the stairs. ‘†¦ you can put that – that thing that Mum suggested out of your head completely,' Colin was saying gruffly. ‘You've got no physical or mental abnormalities, have you? Well then †¦ don't worry about it any more. But your counsellor will help you with all of this †¦') Tessa gurgled and snorted into her sodden tissue, and thought how little she had done for Krystal, dead on the bathroom floor †¦ it would have been a relief if St Michael had stepped down from his glowing window and enacted judgement on them all, decreeing exactly how much fault was hers, for the deaths, for the broken lives, for the mess †¦ A fidgeting young Tully boy on the other side of the aisle hopped out of his pew, and a tattooed woman reached out a powerful arm, grabbed him and pulled him back. Tessa's sobs were punctuated by a little gasp of surprise. She was sure that she had recognized her own lost watch on the thick wrist. Sukhvinder, who was listening to Tessa's sobs, felt sorry for her, but did not dare turn around. Parminder was furious with Tessa. There had been no way for Sukhvinder to explain the scars on her arms without mentioning Fats Wall. She had begged her mother not to call the Walls, but then Tessa had telephoned Parminder to tell them that Fats had taken full responsibility for The_Ghost_of_ Barry_Fairbrother's posts on the council website, and Parminder had been so vitriolic on the telephone that they had not spoken since. It had been such a strange thing for Fats to do, to take the blame for her post too; Sukhvinder thought of it almost as an apology. He had always seemed to read her mind: did he know that she had attacked her own mother? Sukhvinder wondered whether she would be able to confess the truth to this new counsellor in whom her parents seemed to place so much faith, and whether she would ever be able to tell the newly kind and contrite Parminder †¦ She was trying to follow the service, but it was not helping her in the way that she had hoped. She was glad about the chrysanthemum oar and the teddy bear, which Lauren's mum had made; she was glad that Gaia and Andy had come, and the girls from the rowing team, but she wished that the Fairbrother twins had not refused. (‘It'd upset Mum,' Siobhan had told Sukhvinder. ‘See, she thinks Dad spent too much time on Krystal.' ‘Oh,' said Sukhvinder, taken aback. ‘And,' said Niamh, ‘Mum doesn't like the idea that she'll have to see Krystal's grave every time we visit Dad's. They'll probably be really near each other.' Sukhvinder thought these objections small and mean, but it seemed sacrilegious to apply such terms to Mrs Fairbrother. The twins walked away, wrapped up in each other as they always were these days, and treating Sukhvinder with coolness for her defection to the outsider, Gaia Bawden.) Sukhvinder kept waiting for somebody to stand up and talk about who Krystal really was, and what she had done in her life, the way that Niamh and Siobhan's uncle had done for Mr Fairbrother, but apart from the vicar's brief reference to ‘tragically short lives' and ‘local family with deep roots in Pagford', he seemed determined to skirt the facts. So Sukhvinder focused her thoughts on the day that their crew had competed in the regional finals. Mr Fairbrother had driven them in the minibus to face the girls from St Anne's. The canal ran right through the private school's grounds, and it had been decided that they were to change in the St Anne's sports hall, and start the race there. ‘Unsporting, course it is,' Mr Fairbrother had told them on the way. ‘Home-ground advantage. I tried to get it changed, but they wouldn't. Just don't be intimidated, all right?' ‘I ain' fuck – ‘ ‘Krys – ‘ ‘I ain' scared.' But when they turned into the grounds, Sukhvinder was scared. Long stretches of soft green lawn, and a big symmetrical golden-stoned building with spires and a hundred windows: she had never seen anything like it, except on picture postcards. ‘It's like Buckingham Palace!' Lauren shrieked from the back, and Krystal's mouth had formed a round O; she had been as unaffected as a child sometimes. All of their parents, and Krystal's great-grandmother, were waiting at the finishing line, wherever that was. Sukhvinder was sure that she was not the only one who felt small, scared and inferior as they approached the entrance of the beautiful building. A woman in academic dress came swooping out to greet Mr Fairbrother, in his tracksuit. ‘You must be Winterdown!' ‘Course ‘e's not, does ‘e look like a fuckin' buildin'?' said Krystal loudly. They were sure that the teacher from St Anne's had heard, and Mr Fairbrother turned and tried to scowl at Krystal, but they could tell that he thought it was funny, really. The whole team started to giggle, and they were still snorting and cackling when Mr Fairbrother saw them off at the entrance to the changing rooms. ‘Stretch!' he shouted after them. The team from St Anne's was inside with their own coach. The two sets of girls eyed each other across the benches. Sukhvinder was struck by the other team's hair. All of them wore it long, natural and shiny: they could have starred in shampoo adverts. On their own team, Siobhan and Niamh had bobs, Lauren's hair was short; Krystal always wore hers in a tight, high pony tail, and Sukhvinder's was rough, thick and unruly as a horse's mane. She thought she saw two of the St Anne's girls exchange whispers and smirks, and was sure of it when Krystal suddenly stood tall, glaring at them, and said, ‘S'pose your shit smells of roses, does it?' ‘I beg your pardon?' said their coach. ‘Jus' askin',' said Krystal sweetly, turning her back to pull off her tracksuit bottoms. The urge to giggle had been too powerful to resist; the Winterdown team snorted with laughter as they changed. Krystal clowned away, and as the St Anne's crew filed out she mooned them. ‘Charming,' said the last girl to leave. ‘Thanks a lot,' Krystal called after her. ‘I'll let yer ‘ave another look later, if yeh want. I know yeh're all lezzers,' she yelled, ‘stuck in ‘ere together with no boys!' Holly had laughed so much that she had doubled over and banged her head on the locker door. ‘Fuckin' watch it, Hol,' Krystal had said, delighted with the effect she was having on them all. ‘Yeh'll need yer ‘ead.' As they had trooped down to the canal, Sukhvinder could see why Mr Fairbrother had wanted the venue changed. There was nobody but him here to support them at the start, whereas the St Anne's crew had lots of friends shrieking and applauding and jumping up and down on the spot, all with the same kind of glossy long hair. ‘Look!' shouted Krystal, pointing into this group as they passed. ‘It's Lexie Mollison! Remember when I knocked yer teeth out, Lex?' Sukhvinder had a pain from laughing. She was glad and proud to be walking along behind Krystal, and she could tell that the others were too. Something about how Krystal faced the world was protecting them from the effect of the staring eyes and the fluttering bunting, and the building like a palace in the background. But she could tell that even Krystal was feeling the pressure as they climbed into their boat. Krystal turned to Sukhvinder, who always sat behind her. She was holding something in her hand. ‘Good-luck charm,' she said, showing her. It was a red plastic heart on a key-ring, with a picture of her little brother in it. ‘I've told ‘im I'm gonna bring ‘im back a medal,' said Krystal. ‘Yeah,' said Sukhvinder, with a rush of faith and fear. ‘We will.' ‘Yeah,' said Krystal, facing front again, and tucking the key-ring back inside her bra. ‘No competition, this lot,' she said loudly, so the whole crew could hear. ‘Bunch o' muff munchers. Le's do 'em!' Sukhvinder remembered the starting gun and the crowd's cheers and her muscles screaming. She remembered her elation at their perfect rhythm, and the pleasure of their deadly seriousness after laughter. Krystal had won it for them. Krystal had taken away the home-ground advantage. Sukhvinder wished that she could be like Krystal: funny and tough; impossible to intimidate; always coming out fighting. She had asked Terri Weedon for two things, and they had been granted, because Terri agreed with everyone, always. The medal that Krystal had won that day was around her neck for her burial. The other request came, at the very end of the service, and this time, as he announced it, the vicar sounded resigned. Good girl gone bad – Take three – Action. No clouds in my storms †¦ Let it rain, I hydroplane into fame Comin' down with the Dow Jones †¦ Her family half carried Terri Weedon back down the royal-blue carpet, and the congregation averted its eyes.