Cultural Awareness Essay

Culture and the environment affect a business in many ways. Culture is not simply a different language, a different shade of skin, or different styles of food. Culture, and the environment in which you are a part of, affect the running of day to day business operations of all companies’ day in and day out. This paper will assess how Linda Myers, from the article, â€Å"The would-be pioneer,† (Green, S. , 2011) was affected by the huge culture shock of working for a global conglomerate from Seoul, South Korea. We will discuss what went wrong with Ms. Myers approach to business, Hofstede’s five dimensions of culture as it pertains to the article, and make some recommendations based on the author’s thoughts. Let’s first start by discussing how culture and environment affect management in an institution. A culture and its environment affect the operations of a business because that culture generates practices based on its environment. To clarify, how a business sets its policies is based on cultural exceptions, like politics, points of view, whatever is considered the â€Å"norm† for that environment. In many cultures, it is also safe to assume that women do not have the same pull as a man in charge. An example of how women are belittled can be women in Middle Eastern countries that are forced to wear veils to cover their faces and walk behind their husbands, not hand in hand like in Western cultures. Politics plays a huge part in how a company runs as well. If a country is firm in the belief that men are the only way to accomplish goals and run the government, then companies under that government will more than likely have the same approach. Many countries still believe that men are superior and don’t quite believe that women should be in the workplace. We have seen American culture change to where women successfully run businesses. These gender based assumptions are inadequate to reality, however, some countries still hold on to those beliefs. For Ms. Myers, being successful in America, did not translate to being successful in South Korea. Although she was an executive, she had many barriers that hindered her from adequately helping the company in the ways that she wanted. Hofstede’s Five Dimensions of Culture  Dr. Geert Hofstede created the first four dimensions of culture in the 1970’s after analyzing statistical data from IBM over the course of many years. In the 1990’s he created the fifth dimension after noticing specific cultural differences in Asian countries and their ties to Confucian philosophy. (www. mindtools. com) The five dimensions are as follows: Power/Distance (PD), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS), Uncertainty/Avoidance Index (UAI), and Long Term Orientation (LTO). I will only discuss a few of these as they seem more prominent to this case. First, let’s talk about the Power/Distance (PD) dimension as it pertains to Ms. Myers in South Korea. Power/Distance (PD), â€Å"refers to the degree of inequality that exists- and is accepted- among people with and without power. A high PD score indicates that society accepts an unequal distribution of power, and that people understand â€Å"their place† in the system. Low PD means that power is shared and well dispersed. † (www. mindtools. com) As an example from the article, Myers goes on to say, â€Å"there were basically four levels: VP, director, manager, and worker bee. You only talked to people at your level. SK Telecom boasted that they were one of the first Korean cultures to rid themselves of a strictly hierarchal form of running. However, Myers saw that although they said that, they did not embrace that to the fullest. Merely putting something on paper does not constitute practicing the said task. In order for the company to have abolished the hierarchal form of leadership, they would have needed to instill better practices and allow more input from all levels of the company. Masculinity (MAS) refers to how a society views/values the traditional aspects of male versus female roles. This dimension ascertains that men are in the positions of power and women are to be in the home, or hold less valuable roles in the workplace. This example is considered a workplace with high MAS. A workplace with low MAS is considered to have male and female positions; however, those positions work closely together and do not get in the way of the work environment. This traditional view was another obstacle in Ms. Myers’ venture in Korea. The company brought her in to fix their issues with cultural growth, but did not utilize her to the best of her ability. She failed to recognize that the Eastern culture she was working for, did not allow her to have a longer â€Å"leash† like the American/Western companies she had worked for in the past. Uncertainty/Avoidance Index shows how anxiety of workers affects the workplace. High UAI is considered looking for rules and regulations for all situations. There is no â€Å"grey† area and everyone is to operate exactly the same. Low UAI refers to there being less rule writing and more personal growth and interpretation of the conflict or decision. In this article, I would say that SK Telecom had a high UAI however; Ms.  Myers herself was a person working with low UAI. Her anxiety and how she approached situations was not in-tune with the policies and procedures of the company. There were cultural boundaries such as language and expectations that she did not know how to confront. Although she was qualified for the position, she really was not prepared well enough to meet the tasks and policies of the company based on her experiences. The last dimension that really applies to this case is Long Term Orientation or LTO. This refers to how a company values a member’s loyalty/seniority in the company. Men and long time employees have more pull in the workplace. I feel as though SK Telecom valued the opinions of those members who had been with the company for a substantial amount of time. Bringing an outsider in to work, did not work with how the company operated internally. SK Telecom had high LTO and again Myers’ internal operation was with low LTO, a promotion of equality, creativity and individualism. Conclusion In this paper I discussed, The Would-Be Pioneer by Green. We discussed how the cultural differences affected Ms. Myers and how different South Korea is compared to Western culture. We also covered the four of five Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions that applied to the article. We discussed Power/Distance, Masculinity, Uncertainty/Avoidance Index, and Long Term Orientation, all of the factors that played a part in Myers’ failure as a consultant with SK Telecom. In the future, for those who look to work abroad, we should study as much about the culture as possible. We need to understand as much as possible about the work environment in which we work, if we wish to succeed in a foreign government.

Adjective Phrase Definition and Examples

Adjective Phrase Definition and Examples In English grammar, an adjective phrase is a group of words that functions as an adjective  in a sentence. An adjective headword may be accompanied by modifiers, determiners, and/or qualifiers  (all of which are called dependents). Also known as an  adjectival phrase.   Adjective phrases modify nouns. They may be attributive (appearing before the noun) or predicative (appearing after a linking verb), but not all adjectives can be used in both positions. Examples and Observations The prototypical adjective phrase consists of a single adjective, tall in Sally is tall, or an adjective headword and a qualifier, very tall. Even taller than the woman who coaches her volleyball team is more elaborate, but because it can substitute for the single adjective tall (Sally is even  taller than the woman who coaches her volleyball team), you can recognize it as an adjective phrase.(Thomas P. Klammer et al., Analyzing English Grammar, 5th ed. Pearson, 2007)Humans can be fairly ridiculous animals.(Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, 2007)The unicorn blinked and swished its tail and  looked fairly ridiculous  on the folding tabletop.(Steven R. Boyett, Elegy Beach, 2009)  Tina lost her dark brown briefcase.Mr. Sweet was a tall, thinnish man with thick kinky hair going dead white.  He  was dark brown, his eyes were very squinty and sort of bluish, and he chewed Brown Mule tobacco.(Alice Walker, To Hell With Dying, 1967)After Dons ac cident, his behavior grew stranger and stranger. You  want a second opinion? O.K.  says the doctor. Youre ugly, too.  She liked that joke. She thought  it was terribly, terribly funny.(Lorrie Moore, Youre Ugly, Too, 1990) Premodifiers, Postmodifiers, and Discontinuous Modifiers An adjective phrase consists of an adjective which may be preceded and/or followed by other words. The premodifier is always an adverb phrase, but the post-modifiers can be an adverb phrase, a prepositional phrase, or even a clause. It is also possible to have a modifier that is partly in front and partly behind the head, called a discontinuous modifier, abbreviated as disc-mod. (Marjolijn Verspoor and Kim Sauter, English Sentence Analysis: An Introductory Course. John Benjamins, 2000) Noun Phrases and Adjective Phrases There may be very little difference between a noun phrase and an adjective phrase in structures where the adjectives occur before the word it qualifies. Most noun phrases consist of a head noun plus one or more adjectives, or indeed an adjective phrase itself. Consider the examples in a, below. a. [ADJECTIVE PHRASES]It was cold, bleak, biting weather.Hes an extraordinary looking man, and yet I can really name nothing out of the way.In Beijing these days, one of the fastest-growing fortunes the world has ever seen is managed by fewer than two-dozen traders.This was a hearty, healthy, dapper, red-faced gentleman, with a shock of hair prematurely white, and a boisterous and decided manner. In each of these examples, if we include the italicized head nouns, we have noun phrases with embedded adjective phrases; without the head nouns, we have adjective phrases. The focus is always on the head word (HW). (Bernard ODwyer, Modern English Structures: Form, Function, and Position. Broadview, 2006) Phrases Within Phrases [C]onsider . . . our example: The young man picked the best bloom from the very delicate orchid. The sequence from the very delicate orchid is a prepositional phrase. The prepositional phrase consists of a noun phrase and a preposition. One can demonstrate that the sequence from the very delicate orchid is a coherent group of words by moving it as in: From the very delicate orchid the young man picked the best bloom. The word very is an intensifying adverb and it modifies delicate to form an adjective phrase within the noun phrase within the prepositional phrase. This phrase-within-a-phrase structure is shown by bracketing below: [The young man] picked the best bloom [from [the [very delicate] orchid]]. We could add very carefully to this sentence. Since carefully is an adverb and very is an intensifying adverb modifying it, very carefully would be an adverb phrase.(Barry J. Blake, All About Language. Oxford University Press, 2008)

One Flew Over the Cuckcoos Nest essays

One Flew Over the Cuckcoos Nest essays Try to imagine living life pretending to be a different person, being surrounded by people who can barely talk let alone being somebody you can relate with. Well after a lot of jail time, Randle McMurphy, the protagonist from the book One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, thought that this life might be easier then the hard labor he went through on a prison work farm. Ken Keseys One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest is a truly effective book that puts you right in the environment of a Mental Hospital, taking you through the ups and downs of man who pretends to be mentally ill in hopes of surpassing jail time; a once and in a lifetime experience. Randle McMurphy is a spark plug of a man that soon experiences the feeling of being trapped after being sent to a mental hospital to be evaluated. The sentiment of relief enters his mind when he realizes the life he will soon be living wouldnt be all that bad. At first things seemed to be moving along smoothly for McMurphy (or as the patients called him, Mac) once he was settled in. He introduced his fellow nuts to the game of black jack, even though none of them really caught on... without a fight at least. The patients started to really like Mac and the needed character he brought to the hospital. The only one that didnt approve of his behavior was the uptight Nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched truly felt that Mac was indeed mentally sick and needed help. And while Mac was cattin around the hospital and disturbing the order, she was making it clear that he was not on the outside world. She used threats to shape up Mac and subtly took away daily conveniences that he once acted up without any regulations. For example, gambling was ended quickly in the hospital when Nurse Ratched became aware of it and confiscated all the winnings. On top of that, she made little refusals like denying him the right to watch the World Series; Mac has never missed a World S...

Anna Pavlova – Ballerina Biography

Anna Pavlova Ballerina Biography Anna Pavlova, a famous Russian ballet dancer best known for changing the ideals for ballet dancers, was the first to make ballet popular in America and the rest of the world. Her love for classical ballet, determination to perform her love for the arts, influences and zest can still be evidently felt. Born on 31 January 1881, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Anna Pavlova was awestruck by the first ballet performance she watched and was intent on becoming a ballerina. Petite Pavlova entered the Imperial Ballet School in 1891 despite not having the preferred body type of a ballerina which was a strong, muscular and compact body. However, she gave the examiners enough confidence that she would work hard and excel. In the later years, Pavlova became one of the most astounding ballerinas. Young Pavlova was a talented and hardworking student. Training years were difficult due to her special physique. She was considered physically weak as she was small and thin coupled with highly arched feet un like the preferred body of a ballerina at that time. Pavlova was fed with cod-liver oil which tasted awful to her in the hope of getting the ideal body. Even so she remained slender. In order to improve faster, Pavlova tried imitating other ballet dancers. However her teacher, Pavel Gerdt taught her to  understand her unique dancing of daintiness and fragility and the importance to dance out those rare qualities. Her zeal for ballet was remarkable; she worked hard to strengthen her weakness and also with what she had instead of trying to be someone else. Her willingness to overcome these obstacles at such a young age is commendable. Soon, Pavlova grew in gracefulness and could stand in a way that her body formed a beautiful line where she was able to bend and twist her torso with ease and grace. Instead of mastering multiple fouettes turns and other technical steps that the muscular Italian style had induced at that time, Pavlova danced poetically and expressively. She stood out.. Finally upon graduation, Pavlova’s hard work paid off – she graduated as a first class dancer. After Pavlova’s school years, she continued training hard to improve her technique and even took extra lessons with different teachers such as Christian Johansson, Madame Sokolova and Nikolai Legat. Pavlova graduated at a time where virtuoso Italian ballerinas and a muscular ballet stylewas popular. Although Pavlova had mastered difficult steps and ballet technique, her highly arched feet were still too weak for the flamboyant pointe work. She experimented with ways to wear her pointe shoes with the hope of maximizing her potential. Through experiments, she discovered that by adding a piece of hard leather to the soles, the shoes provided better support. Many people thought this as cheating because ideally, ballerinas should be able to hold their own weight on their toes. However, her idea enabled her to perform better and allowed her to balance in her arabesque with poised and elegance inflicting less pain and  hence easier to sustain on pointe. In doing so, Pavlova created what is known as our pointe shoes today. Being able to go on pointe with ease and having a beautiful extension, flexible torso and tremendous feminine expressive dancing, Pavlova set a higher aesthetic of beauty in ballet where ballet dancers were able to perform with poise and elegance like a princess. With the recreation of the pointe shoes, there was a demand for brilliant and fancy footwork like jumps, multiple turns and balances and that of ballerinas performing on pointe.

Critical review on the ratification of principal to the third party Essay

Critical review on the ratification of principal to the third party - Essay Example Here we may cite another example of agency contract in respect of employment of suitable candidates. Numbers of companies are hiring the services of HR consultant to assist them in right sizing and locating the valuable human capital to meet the desired objectives of their companies through rigorous selection process. Moreover, in the shipment of goods to their destined port, the role of clearing and forwarding agencies are worth praising in terms of their services. It is not necessary that the whole tasks of the company be assigned to the agency that performs certain jobs on behalf of their clients. Many relationships do not necessarily require involvement of agency services. Hence, contractors and providers of goods and services do not fall within the category of agency relationship. There are number of laws, which an agency has to follow to perform certain tasks at the behest of their customers. In this particular situation, the law of contract plays key role in defining and discharging responsibilities within the framework. In fact it’s a tripartite relationship amongst a) Self b) Principal and the c) third party. In other words it is a special kind of contract under the agency contract. The principal contract which executes between the principal and the third party is implementable on either sides in favour or against and has the same repercussions as the principal has for self. Since there are no privets of contract between the agency and the third party who had signed the agreement, therefore, the agent has the right to step down. Let us see the important ingredients, which are required to establish an agency a) by signing an agreement b) functional in accordance with law c) authority to strike a deal and d) ratification the act of agent who in some areas does not enjoy the authority of principal to do so. The agency has to perform number of tasks strictly in line with the agreement made

Female Participation in Lessons in Saudi Arabian Universities Dissertation

Female Participation in Lessons in Saudi Arabian Universities - Dissertation Example 1.3 Research Goals This research has been set with an overall aim of improving female performance in science classes. To achieve this aim, the following specific objectives ought to be achieved: 1. Investigating cause of low female participation in science lessons in Saudi Arabian universities. 2. Identifying the neglected role of educationists and other stakeholders in enhancing female education in Saudi Arabia. 3. Adapting a student centred intervention to tackle the problem at hand. 1.4 Justification of the Study The education of females in Saudi Arabia can be made better if females are given many roles to play in the course of their education . This will motivate them to feel important to the educational system. By extension, they will recommend to their colleagues to take up courses in science. Furthermore, the more involved females are in science lessons, the more understandable lessons will become to them and so the better their chances of improving in their overall academic performance. 1.5 Research Questions 1. What are girls attitude in integrated science lesson? 2. Why do the teachers neglect the use of teaching learning aids or materials in their lessons? 3. What are the causes of female low participation in science? 4. What are the measures that can be put in place to help improve female low participation in science lessons? 5. What advantages and disadvantages do activity and discovery methods have in the teaching of science lessons that can be transformed into improving female performance in class?

Research about the realtionship between Mausoleum of the First Qin Paper

About the realtionship between Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor and the Great Wall - Research Paper Example Other than the Burial Army, the Great Wall is another miracle initiated by the Qin Emperor. All those heavy constructions required thousands and hundreds of people sacrificing their lives to finish this masterpiece. The Emperor of Qin has always emphasized on his wealth and kingdom, so not only is the burial army represented as his guard of his kingdom afterlife but also the Great Wall, which supposed to prevent the Xiongnu from invading China. Especially since Chinese emphasized so much on their afterlife. We can see the Emperor of Qin has great plans for his afterlife or death for both of these constructions started building since he first became the King and was young (O'Connor 13). In this essay, I am going to investigate the relation between the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin and the Great Wall and the importance of the army to the Emperor by going into details of the inside of the tomb. The Relationship between Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor and the Great Wall After he got to power, around the 246BC, Emperor Qin’s main aim was to unify the city-states of China into one kingdom. He was indeed successful in his aim to unify China. After the unification of China, he joined the separate walls of china to form the Great Wall of China, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The Great Wall of China was a way of protecting his kingdom. The huge number of life sized terracotta warriors that were found in his mausoleum are believed to be a symbol of his ability to protect the newly unified China even in death the same way he could protect it by building the wall in life (Turnbull 30). The complexity and technicality that were used in the construction of the mausoleum of the first emperor of China is both a wonder and a mystery. From the life sized and uniquely made terracotta armies, bronze chariots and horses, the underground pits to the yet to be discovered tomb. All this shows the advanced technology that the emperor used that beats th e modern day technology. The mausoleum is considered the eighth wonder of the world. The same advanced technology was used in the building of the Great Wall of China. The scientist has tried to find the technological mystery behind it in vain and ended up calling it a wonder (Ferrante-Wallace 83). The mausoleum of the emperor Qin of construction began as soon as he ascended the throne around the year 246BC at the age of 13. He wanted his afterlife to be a replica of his life and wanted to assure it is prepared before he dies. The construction of the Great Wall of China started around the year 220BC. The wall and the mausoleum of the emperor were hence built around the same time, when the emperor was in power, and this could be evidence that the emperor of china is the one who ordered its construction. The Chinese believed in after life and regarded it with great importance. According to them, one would need most if not all of the things that they needed when they are alive in their afterlife, life after death. They really took time preparing for the afterlife and took with them all that they thought they might need in their next life after death. They would hence be buried with their pottery, slaves, horses, livestock, farming equipment, and everything they thought they