The Evaluate Current Strategic Choice And Implications Management Essay

The Evaluate Current Strategic Choice And Implications Management Essay Strategic Management is a term that is not new, first used in the 1970s it was conceived that a team of strategic planners would come up with strategic ideas to sell to decision makers. It is all about identification and guideline used by the managers in order for the company to have a competitive edge over the competition. Joel Ross Michael Kami(Fred 2011, 35) mentioned that; Without Strategy, an organization is like a ship without a rudder, going round in circles. Its like a tramp; it has no place to go. According to Wheelen and Hunger(2006,3) A set of decisions and actions that are used to charter the performance of a corporation can be defined as Strategic management. The process of this would take into account the scanning of external and internal environmental factors, long term and strategic planning for strategy formulation as well as the implementation and evaluation and control process. Wheelen Hunger(2006,3) strongly focused on the analyzing and evaluating of external opportunities and threats compared to the companys strengths and weaknesses. A SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is an ideal tool for strategic managers to plan for both predictable and unfeasible contingencies. In the point of Dess and Miller(1993), the combination of three major interrelated activities; strategic analysis, strategic formulation and strategy implementation can be called strategic management. These activities are a continuous process that helps evaluates and controls the company and the industry it is in, benchmarks the competition and set realistic targets and strategies to meet its existing and potential competition. Lamb(1984) states that strategic management is a continuous process that evaluates and controls the business and industries the company is in; it also assesses the competitors to set goals and strategies then reevaluates them every quarterly or annually to decide on the implementation of the strategy is successful. It then reevaluates the if there is any new factors such as technology, competition, economic market, social, financial and even political environment that can be used to create a new strategy. As a summary, Strategic Management and Planning is the understanding of the process of strategy formulation, implementation and evaluation. For company an organization to gain the edge over its competition regardless of size, scale; each organization needs to have a well planned strategic management in order to strive and compete in the market while optimizing its potential for tomorrows trends of today. Background of company The birth of Singapore Airlines was from Malaysian Air Limited where it first started in 1947, because of political reasons, the company was renamed to Malaysia-Singapore Airlines and finally the company split its shares to Malaysian Airlines System and Singapore Airlines in 1972 on which Singapore Airlines is owned by Singapore state owned investment house; Tamasek Holdings Singapore Airlines was forced to focus on the international market that was subjected to intense competition because there was no domestic route available to after the separation. The difficult start of was one of the factors that drove Singapore Airlines driving spirit to compete and dedication to branding. It started the branding strategy by engaging a French haute-couture designer in 1972 to come up with a special version of the Malay Sarong Kebaya for the airline stewardess uniform and adopting a branding Singapore Girls that provide top quality in-flight hospitality. This feature became one of the most recognized signatures for Singapore Airlines. The marketing strategy was accompany by background lobbying effort to talk country in granting access to its airport and dedication to its human resource management by investing 20million on training facilities. This was paid off at 1973 when the airline was ranked third in the Far East Asian region. The company then are force to conduct cost cutting program to struggle with surge of oil price on 1973~1977. Surviving this, in 1977 the airlines joint operation with British Airway to provide Concord jet service between Singapore and London, the service was terminated in 1980. This however was deem a marketing success as Singapore Airline were make famous around the globe with this achievement. At the same period, new Changi Airport was constructed, leading to a higher service standard being provided by Singapore Airline. This has paid off and Singapore Airlines were the top preference in Asia-Pacific Region in 1981. The airline follows a steady internal growth strategy in the 1980s, expanding its size, renewing fleet and adding route. SIA was privatised on 1985, listing on Singapore stock exchange with Temasek Holding owning a 63% initially and gradually reduced to 54% in 2008. During 1990s, the company follows a more aggressive growth pattern, two subsidiaries were form in 1992, Silk Air to close the gap between its route networks and cater to a lower cost market segment, SIA Engineering is form to increase productivity and pursuit better business opportunity. Globalisation in the 1990s have also prompt the airline to expand overseas, invest in other airline company and forming new subsidiary in other country to provide better support on is airlines. The Asia financial crises at the end of 1990s prompt the airline to review its operation cost again, cutting down on not profitable route. [St James Press, 1999]. Against conventional wisdom, the company have utilized its strong financial resources during financial crisis to make capital investment, spending 300million to renovate cabins of its aircraft. This had benefit the airlines as the price level during the crisis is low and the airlines have more bargaining power over its supplier [Scott, 2008]. Till date, Singapore Airlines group of companies provide passenger and cargo air transportation, airport terminal services, aviation engineering services, training of pilots, air charters and tour wholesales and related activities. As of March 2009, the group have 31,834 employee, posted a revenue of SGD 15,996 million. The airlines also operate route on 36 countries with 66 destinations and 726 weekly flights. The performance of Singapore Airlines at the beginning of year 2009 was severely hit by the economic downturn and pre-purchase fuel priced hedge at high level before the financial crisis [SIA annual report 08/09]. Recent health crisis like bird flu, H1N1 had also affected the travel industry which the airline is operating in. Organisational structure SIAs organisation is divided primarily by function and has disadvantages of low responsibility at bottom level staff and compartmentalize on manager. To tackle this, SIA have a flatten organisation chart with few level of hierarchy within the organisation, this allows autonomy and create a more flexible and dynamic business that empower people to make decision and leads to job enrichment. The company also promotes independences and encourage senior staff to train and allow junior staff to made decision. To tackle problem of job compartmentalize, non technical manager are rotated on jobs and allows them to have a broader picture. The management of SIA also stress on importance of maintaining good and healthy work culture inside the organisation. Team works is place on high importance by the company. As the company have established sales office in over 80 countries, it had divided the sales operation by geographical area. To tackle problem on management control, the company had placed the focus point on end results objective allowing site manager to exercise flexibility and made adjustment based on situation. Full authorities had been given to its overseas regional general manager allowing decision to make quickly in respond to local issue and customize business operation to suit local climate [Times 100, undated.]. The company used organic growth strategy and stress on profitability rather than size, this allow slow and steady growth and leader to be groom properly. In general, the organisational structure of SIA is decentralise encourages autonomy allowing quick response to business treat and opportunity which is crucial in the airline industry which are very fast and dynamics. 4.0 Analysis of External Environment 4.1 Political The political environment of Singapore is stable with its dominant political party Peoples Action Party (PAP) controlling the government since the independence. Singapore government has allowed the freedom in corporate governance and has little set restrictions to the industry. Singapore Airlines make 90% of the decision on its own and has only influence the appointment of the director over the company (Sikorski, 1995). Singapore Airlines was allowed to stress on profit in comparison with public or social responsibility and was even backed by the government during its retrenchment practice during the economical crisis. (Sikorski, 1995) With a strong foreign policy that maintains good relationship with 175 countries, Singapore has a particular good relationship with huge economical countries such as France, United Kingdom, and Germany. It also has a mutual free trade agreement between Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India, United States of America and recently with China in 2008. With Singapore signing the Gulf Cooperation Council-Singapore Free Trade Agreement in December 2008, it embarks to build strong ties with the middle east countries as well. Singapore is a stable base for the operations for SIA comparing itself to other regions in the Asia Pacific that have seen unrest over the recent years. Terrorism alerts affected some countries in the Asia region with India(2008) and Pakistan(2009) hit with the lost of hundreds of life. The tourism industry for Thailand was affected in 2008 during the protest and heavy floods as well as the Tsunami event that happened in Langkawi, Malaysia as well as Thailand that affected the influx of tourist there. There was also the riots in China and the Korean Missile crisis that effect the Singapore Airlines to re-route its flight to other locations. 4.2 Economic Financial Crisis in 2007 affected many countries over the world that brought recessions to most of the affected countries. This slum lasted through 2008 that made the global financial institutions very cautions on its loans of money and many companies had to underwent a cost cutting measure to stay afloat. The IMF predicted the regeneration of the world wide economy by 2009 and it the up market trend has steadily grown from there. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) also contributed to promote Singapore as a destination for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions). In SGD 90 Million BOOST (Building on Opportunity to Strengthen Tourism) program was launched in February 2009 and was followed up in October with an announcement for a new Tourism Compass 2020 roadmap to grow tourism 2015, with the goal to set Singapore as the leading city for MICE (STB,12 Oct2009). The growth was further spurred by the building of two integrated resort projects, Marina Bay Sand and Resort World at Sentosa. Singapore has also continued to host the Formula One Night Race and with all this factors surely has a positive impact for the travel and tourism sector for the country. 4.3 Social Cultural Singapores population comprises of more then 75% Chinese, followed by Malay and Indian; the main religion of the country is Buddhism, Islam, Christian, Taoism and Hinduism. Having a rich Asian culture in the country, Singapore is one of the most westernized countries within Asia. With the growing China economy and its open door policy; Singapore has landed a great pool of foreign labor arriving from China. This in return has created a cultural conflict among many Singaporeans. With a highly diversified culture with close to 35% of its population is non citizen residing in the country, (25% of is foreigner and 10% are permanent resident); Singapore can be considered as an immigrant country. Although having high non-citizen to citizen ratio, the country never stops to promote foreign talent and believes that if the immigrant policy were to be stopped, Singapore would face a shortage of quality labor. Having a strong Chinese influence over its working culture that has made it a culture of high in power distance with the lower employees accepting the subordinates positions that seldom questions the managements decisions. The working culture also stresses on good team work and maintaining group harmonies. (Warnstam,2007). This has made Singapore to become a very cooperative employee to employer relationship and its labor union is in good terms with companies throughout. 4.4 Technology The growth in the usage if Internet around the globe has prompted the growth of customized web addresses to be used around the world. This has also given the potential for the usage of Chinese characters to form the web address (Choe,Oct 2009). With the emergence of such technological advancement, the electronic devices has also evolved to become more portable with increased performance and now almost every household in Singapore would have a portable laptop, hand phone and digital cameras loaded with personalized music, games , photo and video. The growth of such technology has prompt an expansion of innovation over the past decade. The development of high speed networks and compression has allowed faster transfer of data and transfer rate, resulting in the availability to have high quality real time video conferencing with people around the globe from the office or even without leaving the house. This has made it a very good substitute for companies to use instead of having to send its employees for business travelling. (Yu, 23 Jun 2009). 5.0 Evaluate Current Strategic choice and implications 5.1 Analysis of Current Strategic Position 5.1.1 Financial position Singapore Airlines has maintained its profit over the years, the group has maintained its profit even through the 2008 financial crisis. After the growth in 2009 the group assets are worth SGD 22.04 million and debt of SGD 1.077million with an equity debt ratio of 0.08. With a general reserve of SGD 11.264 million the company is poised to be able to sustain its operations in any case of crisis. (SIA, Annual report 2012) 5.1.2 Product position Carrier RPK (Million) SIA 90,128 Cathay Pacific 90,975 Qantas 99,176 Total of   AAPA member 550,014 Table 1 Comparison of RPK Airlines market size can be measure by Revenue Passenger-Kilometer (RPK). Having based in Asia Pacific region, SIA, Cathay Pacific and Qantas all falls into the same category of medium cost, developed airlines. These airlines have similar offering and price level. It can be seen that SIA, Cathay and Qantas have market share of similar size [AAPA, 2009]. The company is ranked number two in Skytrax Best airline award; the airline is in the top five ranking for 10 out of the 12 award Skytrax have. The airline has the Best 1st Class and best in-flight catering award in 2009. The only part the company dont have a ranking is on the airport lounge service [Skytrax, 2009]. 5.1.3 Marketing capability The initial distribution of SIA is mainly by the travel agents or through internet bookings, SIA has come a long way by providing a ticketless system for its passengers that even allows boarding as well even for connecting flights with its partner airlines (SIA,2009). SIA also engages social networking website in Facebook though quite limited in its presence. This is a drawback with the current trend of younger generation who associates more with social networking sites. Another factor that is a slight disadvantages for Singapore Airlines is that the domain www.sia.com and www.sia.com.sg is not owned by Singapore Airlines, but to counteract this, they company has engaged to actively publish itself as the preferred search referee if anyone searches for SIA online. SIA has also made good placement in the search engine for using the key world Singapore airlines and Air Ticket Singapore which prompts SIA at the top of the search list. 5.1.4 Organizational structure The organization is divided by function and the disadvantages of low responsibility for the employees at the bottom as well as the compartmentalization on the managers. To overcome this, SIA has flat organization chart with few hierarchical levels for its organizations, this enables autonomy and create a more flexible but yet dynamic business that empowers its people to make decisions and lead to better job satisfaction. The promotion of independence and encouraging its senior employees to train and give chances to the junior personnel to make decisions are a key factor for SIA. Non technical management personnel are rotated on jobs and this gives them to have a broader perspective for the job. This is further strengthening by the stress on the importance of having a good and healthy work culture for the company. Great importance is stressed on having good team spirit. To overcome sales operation issue, SIA has focused on end results while giving its site managers to exercise flexibility to make necessary changes based on the situations. The full power is given to its overseas regional general manager to ensure fast response time for local issues and a more localized business operation to site the climate. The company focuses on the growth strategy that focuses more on profitability rather than size, thus allowing slow and steady growth with chances for leaders to be groomed properly. In general, the organisational structure of SIA is decentralise encourages autonomy allowing quick response to business treat and opportunity which is crucial in the airline industry which are very fast and dynamics. 5.1.5 Human Resources SIA has a strong emphasis on human resources. The requirements for entry level to the company is only for diploma holders are accepted, these employee would then go through the recruitment process. After the appointment, these cabin crew is trained for 15 weeks, 2 times longer the industrial standards. The SIA employees have a 6 month probation that needs to be reported continuously by their supervisor with a confirmation rate of 75% while 20% will be on extension. These trainings are changed periodically to adjust to show the customers expectations. While on the job, the employees are also required to engage in various voluntary community services, arts and cultural activities. Refresher courses will be available for employees allowing 3 to 4 days per year, this is a form of motivation for the employees to engage in self learning and the employees will be accountable for their own growth and development. Results from these stringent training has been obvious by producing Stewardess that have high esteem, motivated and capable in handling the customers in the companys best interest (Heracleous and Wirtz. 2009). The focus on talent form within the company, the company focuses on development of the human capita given training spending of SGD100million for its employees. The company also offers scholarship programs for recruiting management trainees from the universities. 5.1.6 Condition of facilities and equipment Having one of the newest fleets in the world, with an average age of 6 years, Singapore Airlines is one of the most updated planes compared to the worldwide average of 15 years (Prystay, 28 Aug 2009). By adopting the newest planes and technology this impacts in the reduction of maintenance and petrol cost. Other than that, SIA also went through an upgrading of its plane cabins to provide customers with the most updated entertainment systems and a better seating arrangement. Training equipment for its pilots is also provided from the SGD 1 million flight simulator that is capable of simulating the high altitude scenario. SIA also updated its training center in 1999 to ensure the recruitment is capable to facilitate a better and efficient training environment. Overall the airlines does have a great training faclilities for its personnel as well as their commitment to bringing top quality service with a strong financial background but because of the financial crisis in 2008 and the lack of demand over supply, SIA is laden with excess aircraft that has not been utilized. 5.1.7 Past objective and strategies SIA corporate level uses a diversified strategy whereby it expands its business to airline catering, airport terminal services as well as into aircraft maintenance. These dual strategy in cost leadership and differentiation enables SIA to have excellent cost efficient service through high business efficiency. SIA has secured its high business competence through the execution of five organizational systems. The first is the structured service development and design that allocates dedicated departments for its enhancement of service and thorough testing to ensure that there will be a quality service that will be able to meet the latest customers expectations. Second is the focus on consumer trends over the years, with a specific department that monitors closely to ensure that innovation is tailor to focus on improving and enabling a cost effective and highly productive service innovation. The focus will also be on the companys weak point, adapting the best practices from other successful developments while reducing the cost and risk involved for the innovation. The third set is the focus on a profit conscious culture, with the education of its personnel on the priority of profit and customer satisfaction. SIA also focuses on a reward based system that gives proper recognition to employees based on their performance to encourage team work and productivity while reducing wastage. The fourth is the goal for the organization to achieve success through the diversification and infrastructure of its subsidiaries. These integration allows the focus and control that will enhance the knowledge while reduction of cost at the same time. The management of its subsidiaries is based on a clear expectation that enables the subsidiaries to be subjected to market discipline. The last focus for the company is the development of its personnel through training and development while encouraging the development of a direct self continuous learning system to boost their self esteem. The overall strategies that SIA has adopted has made the company to have a high competence core with the overall ability to achieve a differential offering through exceptional levels of efficiency (Heracleous et al 2009) 6.0 Strategic Potential Justifications Choices for strategy for SIA should be based on the logical elements for the process and have a central role. The company should focus their choices of strategy through based on the internal and external factors while taking into account its core competency to strive for profitability and service excellence of its personnel. Strategic Choices for Singapore Airlines Business Level Strategy Corporate Level Strategy Direction and Method of Development Strategy for competitive advantage Adhere to government regulation and satisfaction Internal training and development Profit measurable success for strategies Diversification in market Creation of value added services to gain competitive advantage 6.1 Business Level Strategy Price Based Strategy This strategy takes into consideration of the product to price to gain a competitive advantage. There are many low cost airlines company as of this moment that is conducting business in the Asia region. This causes the market to be very competitive and Singapore Airlines is one of such company that faces challenges. Low cost airline companies such as Air Asia is one of the competitors that are focusing on the usage of price based strategy to capture a market share in the current market. Justification: Acceptable and feasible pricing strategy: The focus for the price based strategy is important as the current completion from the low cost airlines also focuses on the same routes of travel while providing a lower air fare. One of such routes traveled is from Singapore to Bangkok, from this example, Air Asia is selling its seats for a round trip for a price of $150 while compared to SIA that cost $500. Because of this the company is losing money as customer trends are now slowly switching over the low cost seats. http://htmlimg1.scribdassets.com/4abs74bzsw9yk25/images/16-b0f782e011.jpg 4.2 Corporate Strategy Direction Policy Matrix Used to measure the health of the industry for the Asian regions and the capabilities of Singapore Airlines. Below is the representation of Singapore Airlines in comparative to Air Asia ad MAS in the Asian Region. http://htmlimg1.scribdassets.com/4abs74bzsw9yk25/images/17-978ec5a00e.jpg Source: Johnson G, Scholes K. 2005. P 320 Justification: Acceptability Feasibility of Directional Policy Matrix From the analysis it can be seen that the market positing of Singapore Airlines is aimed towards the middle business class strength that offers a highly attractive market. The bargaining power, threats for substitute and competitive rivalry is high for the Singapore Airlines. In the event of a cost increase for jet fuel to USD 115/barrel, the supplier has the upper hand the the treat of substitute is potentially high for the market. For this the feasibility and acceptance of a directional policy matrix for Singapore Airlines is High. 6.3 Directional and Method of Development TOWS Matrix Through the analysis of the internal and external environment, the generation of a TOWS based matrix. This will enable Singapore Airlines to focus on the strategic options available to cater for any potential changes or adapt strategies to further strengthen its market share while limiting its weakness. http://htmlimg2.scribdassets.com/4abs74bzsw9yk25/images/18-6f7d0e3282.jpg Suing the strength and opportunity for Singapore Airlines, there is potential for market diversification. To overcome the potential treats, SIA can have a merger or acquisition with certain airline companies. Avoidance of weakness for Singapore Airlines can adopt a cost leadership strategy. The airlines can develop their internal factors to avoid the treats and weaknesses. Justification Diversification: The current airline industry for the Asian region is highly competitive. There are many airline operations in the region and one of such competition comes from the low cost airline Air Asia. Air Asia flies twice daily from Malaysia to Guangzhou. Currently Air Asia has 86 routes that offers no frills service and has garnered wide recognition from the china market comparing to Singapore Airlines which has 88 destinations in 38 countries. Singapore Airlines would need to strengthen and diversify its market by planning out more feasible routes to high business locations and take a competitive advantage though expansion of the Asian market. Merger and Acquisition: Singapore Airlines needs to have a strong understanding on its competition and to avoid the treats they possess. With their strong financial background, the potential for merger and acquisition is a great choice for Singapore Airlines. Currently there are two national carriers that are seeking to limit Singapore Airlines to access their home market thus slowing down the growth for the airline. Because of this Singapore airlines joined the Star Alliance to take advantage of its international strategy. This is also boosted by the investment of SIA groups into China and India to ensure strategic alliances with the local organizations for their cargo divisions, airport services, enginnering and catering. Internal Development During the previous years, Singapore Airlines recorded a low asset turnover ration in comparison with its competitors. Because of this, the weaker asset turnover ratio has a potential to show that the companies ineffectiveness to utilize the assets to generate profit and will eventually lead to the decline in the groups growth. Singapore Airlines can adapt to this by using better use of information technology to enhance its services to the customers and gain back better response and efficiency. Singapore Airlines website is now one of the most advance and user friendly in the industry that offers the customers to check their schedules, buy tickets, check in and manage their accounts as well as even choosing the meal for their flights. Because of this value added service, the company is able to further maintain its market share and slowly cover up the losses by creating a portal for customers and potential clients to interact with Singapore Airlines. The efficient use of IT has proven to significantly reduce the cost and enhance service levels for Singapore Airlines. Conclusion Singapore Airlines is the national carrier for Singapore and is one of the industry leaders in Asia. Currently the operations route carries Singapore Airlines to South East Asia, East Asia, Europe, Middle East and the Australia. The analysis for the external factors indicates that Singapore Airlines does face some barriers due to the international economic and political sector. The prices of oil over the years have been very volatile and would play a major impact on the profitability of the airline industry. Other than that with some ups and downs in the economy and the growth of high speed networks through the usage of information technology has played an impact for the overall performance in the airline industry in general with people become less mobile while still being able to work with their counterparts across the globe. The internal factors with the successful branding of Singapore Airlines is one of the drawing factors that is able to sustain its competitive edge as well as w ith strong management background that ensure a quality of service for its customers gives the company its core competencies. For Singapore Airlines to keep evolving towards the new market trends, the company should take into account the internal and external surroundings.

Ho families are changing :: essays research papers

How Families Are Changing†¦ For the Better The present structure of the average family in America is changing, mainly due to the growing number of mothers who now work outside the home. The current mark of dual-earner families stands at 64 percent, making it a solid majority today. This alteration of the â€Å"traditional† structure of the family is a catalyst for other changes that may soon occur. One of the changes that recently have been evident is the increased participation of men in the family’s raising of children. Of course, this is almost essential considering nearly two-thirds of all women now work out-side the home. Among other changes, women’s new economic gains have made marriages increasingly egalitarian. This leads both spouses to have more flexibility in choosing careers and balancing family life. Children today are increasingly being taught new values about the roles of men and women. Day care is becoming increasingly prevalent and is becoming somewhat of an extended family. Also, institutions outside the family such as the workplace and schools are creating the biggest stresses for parents. The biggest reason for all the changes at home are that women demand them, and their new economic resources carry a lot of weight in the decision. This has also led for the young men of today to increasingly accept this new domestic structure. Often, they choose wives which seem as their equals, as opposed to someone who â€Å"does not bring home the bacon.† Though, men today often feel threatened because they no longer solely own the breadwinner role. This leads to increased stress for men, who not only want to remain breadwinners, but also want to increase the time spent with their children. Yet, today’s families have come to face some big stresses dealing with institutions that have not advanced as far. Workplaces often do not offer flexible schedules to employees, while schools are still structured as if mothers still solely remained at home. Work schedules also provide a very difficult time schedule that often conflicts with domestic responsibilities. This has lead to inflexible schedules being on of the top sources of stress for parents.

Review of “the Propaganda of the Saints in the Middle Ages.”

The â€Å"Propoganda of Saints in the Middle Ages† article, written by Esther Cohen, goes over many of the methods the Catholic Church employed to gain power over the people in Europe. Cohen goes through the middle ages by describing how the Catholic Church was spreading its faith; mainly through the use of propaganda. An Age of Faith took place between the fall of the Roman Empire and the discovery of America. Cohen describes how the in the early years of the church, martyred Christians rapidly assumed a high position in the churches hierarchy of faith. These saints where given to have special powers and gradually became central to the Catholic Church; as opposed to God. Cohen describes a clear attempt from the Church to portray a consistent propaganda campaign aimed at raising the level of sainthood in the public eye. This was not difficult to do as the church had three things with it that gave it absolute power. First thing the church had, was that its message it brought with it that could not be questioned in any way. The information they brought with them could not be voluntarily accepted or rejected, and the church had an obligation to spread that message. Secondly, the churches message was absolute and its authority was unquestionable. The church had no competition in that there was no one who could match the propaganda they brought. Lastly, the church had a centrally organized, universal message, which meant that it could be easily tailored for the masses. Pilgrimages became common; this cemented the church even further as they build grand churches filled with â€Å"holy relics† of the saints. These relics were given to have special powers when yielded by the saints of the church. Many of the pilgrims believed this message and probably never questioned it. Many of them were filled with awe when they saw the grand magnificence of the church and the stained glass windows within them (peasants would never see such sights if it hadn’t been for the church). The fact is that all of the church’s teachings came from a central point, making the message more or less universal and uniform. The central church was able to put together its message, and then pass it along to other churches that administered it to the masses. The message was hammered in generation to generation. The Catholic Church was a big influence in the lives of people in Europe. This essay by Cohen illustrates just how big an influence it actually was. From the very beginning, it brought a centralized message which was labelled indisputable. The reason it was followed was that since no one could actually challenge their message; they destroyed everything in their way to ensure it. Cohen really describes the transgression well as he describes it progress thru the ages and develop into what amounts to an international conglomerate. They opened up many different franchises, preaching the same message. Of course the message had its deviations; much of the church’s beliefs stemmed from the local saints. As saints were given more and more power; this was another good way of getting the locals to support their cause. It is remarkable at the amount of effective propaganda that came from the church in the earlier period of history; as there is not too much in the way of intelligent, centralized, effective messages before that time period. The church truly did stand the test of time even until today. It has and had tremendous effects over people’s lives as they try to come to terms with the world around them. The reason it’s so important is that even though Gods message has always been around over time, no one was more able to use it to their advantage other than the Catholic Church. The message became centralized and faith was transferred from God to local Saints, which also took away from any truth that the church might have brought with it. Their reason for doing it may be obvious, in that they ended up controlling massive amounts of territory and even holding sway over Kings and Nobles; the ultimate aphrodisiac happens to be power. The church had no boundaries so it could cross vast amounts of areas relatively untouched. Cohen s article really is a shocking look at some of the practises of the Clergy creating magnificent churches and housing â€Å"Holy Relics† in them to prove their point. This is the precursor to what we knew as propaganda as it seems the Catholic Church must have had people working for them who knew how to get the masses attention. Their organization stood the test of time; and possibly did everything they possibly could to maintain it. Towards the end of the Church’s iron grip over Europe, the organization was so engrained in the people’s hearts and minds that it, even hundreds of years later, still holds tremendous sway over what kinds of decisions people make in their lives. Even if there are not as many people who follow the Catholic Church as much as they would have done in the past, the Pope is regarded as an important symbol for peace the world over (even though the words peaceful and the Roman Catholic Church can hardly be used in the same sentence). It appears that the Church values its image very highly, and tend to move with the times according to the general feeling what it would consider its subjects. In the past, the church would not hesitate to use force to establish themselves in a certain area; but in this politically charged world, they have given themselves more of a cleaner image by not physically attacking their opposition. It is shocking to read about how they Church went as far as to make fake relics filled with tears, etc. Going to the lengths they went to, it is clear how they could have held so much power. The Catholic Church was known to be ruthless in their all encompassing network. They went to great lengths to preserve this power. This is evident from the very beginning of the church as its entire history is drenched with warfare and power grabbing. One of the tools church had at its disposal was the power of knowledge, which it did its best to hoard. Knowledge is power, and keeping the masses ignorant helped it keep its power structure. The Catholic Church confiscated or destroyed everything that it considered against the church. This led to many works that may have criticised the power structure labelled as heresy; resulting in the torture and death of the writer or anyone associated with it. The article delves into some important details about the manipulation of materials to grab people’s attention. The strategies and tactics the church used were remarkable in that they built magnificent cathedrals just so they could bring in pilgrims to show them holy relics, which they were told had special powers. Having the knowledge and expertise to build such churches at such a time shows a very large concerted effort to push an agenda forward. The Catholic Church has truly stood the test of time in many ways; they were able to successfully push their message across and labelled it undisputable, at the same time making an effort to expand and keep the people eating from their hands. Even today, there are very few in politics who would dare cross the line to admonish the church, as it would mean suicide in the world of politicians. They would rather have the church as an ally, which does tend to give them a better image in the public’s view. In the past and even now, top elected officials have to appear to be faithful, or otherwise the mentality of the voting public would hardly chose them. In â€Å"Critical Theory and TechnoCulture: Habermas and Baudrillard,† Karl Marx’s theories are reviewed by two big contributors to communication theory: Jurgen Habermas and Jean Baudrillard. Mark Poster writes about how these two theorist dove into the areas where Marx was ambiguous and tried to explain the situation in more detail. Although they weren’t completely successful in their quest to explain the behaviour of mankind, Habermas and Baudrillard did make a big leap forward in their respective contributions. One of the problems with Karl Marx’s theories is that he tends to overlook or downplay the parts that are uncertain. Habermas and Baudrillard talked about how Marx failed to acknowledge basic communication theory, and the fact that he ignored technology as one of the biggest drivers of human civilization. Marx’s only aim seemed to be was the wage labourer to free himself from the greedy capitalist. Mark Poster attempts to ask about the theories of Karl Marx is that: did Marx give enough reasoning behind the relationships between technology and culture, labour and symbolism in work, and whether he really understood human consciousness? His argument is that Marx’s vision was too easy, and that he did not pay attention anything that was too complicated to explain or did not fit as part of his predictions. Poster understands that Marx knew his history, and was very knowledgeable about his topics, but there were still gaps in his writings that needed further explanation: The critique of political economy explores every turn of the capitalist structure; the critique of cultural politics is general, vague, and undeveloped. †[1] Poster explains that when Marx was doing his analysis, he did not theorize enough about the nature of social communication and how technology becomes signified objects. Technology is peculiar as it seems to have a two pronged approach; one where it levels the playing field for general society, or one where it extends the gap between the haves and have not’s. Language is termed as one of the central tools of social interaction and that needed more explanation before the theory could be complete. Without this missing piece, Marx was way off in his predictions of what would happen to capitalism and the role of workers. The spread of bureaucracy also solidified the way language was used. Technology and the change it brought also included change in language structure. The essay goes on to explain the extensions that Jurgen Habermas and Jean Baudrillard make to the critical theory. One of Habermas’s arguments is that Marx was unable to distinguish between emancipation and science. Habermas came from a school of thought which was worried about the fact that the scientific movement became the reason for domination, instead of it being used as a tool for freedom. He believes that Marx had left out the communication and language aspect of individuals which is a major part of our behaviour. For Habermas, speech has an important aspect as it can be used to distort the truth and can be a means of domination. His argument is that any time a speech situation fails; it can be down to the class struggle which Marx talked about. Of course, in practise, it is very difficult to find an ideal speech situation; making it difficult to analyse the truth. Jean Baudrillard criticizes Marxism’s analysis Marx analysis of the mode of production as the driving force of society. Commodities become social signifiers rather than something useful. One of the problems Baudrillard sees with Marxist ideology is that he ignores culture. The problem with Marx is that he never saw the symbolic nature of products and production. Baudrillard maintains that products become symbols whether by intention or not. The word â€Å"hyper-reality† is used to describe the fact that products began to contain their own reality; that is, nothing becomes more than ownership of the product itself. There is much missing from Baudrillards theories. He fails to describe what he meant by the â€Å"code,† which is how he described the relationship between consumers and consumed. At some points, he failed to realize the real positive potential that the media brought with it. But what Baudrillard brought to critical theory was remarkable. The insights provided by him went beyond convention to explain these theories in more detail. Mark Posters article brings a lot of interesting points about the missing pieces in Marx’s theories. There were many missing pieces of Marx and some of them are pointed out from the writings of Baudrillard and Habermas. One feels that Marx did leave out many details of his work, because people do not necessarily think about working for the state in the way it was described. Marx did not realize the importance of technology and its place in society. But in his world, there would not be much room available for research and development. When we put technology as a big part of human evolution, good things happen as the quality of life has improved. The idea behind everyone in society being equal sounds nice; but in practise, is rarely possible. The elements of language and technology where important to the framework of human interaction, this is one of the reasons why Marx’s predictions didn’t go to plan. He did not envision the fact that politicians would use bureaucracy to further establish their control over society. This use of language was not present in earlier periods, which may be why it may have been overlooked. New technology also changed the way language was used to further complicate the communication process. Technology also brought with it further divisions between those who have it and those who don’t. New products or technology has a materialistic nature to it that is still unexplained with the critical theory of Marx. One of the reasons Marx may have failed to have predicted violent revolt from the masses is that they do not want violent rebellion. Marx failed to foresee the fact that people would try to work together by creating unions and similar institutions to protect themselves from undue distress from their work. Marx was half right in that the powerful capitalists at the time were exploiting their workers for mostly the owner’s benefit. The other half that Marx did not envision was that most people would not choose violence; given the circumstances force became the last possible option. Technology also helped the regular working class to live comfortably by at home. Habermas picks up where Marx left in the explanation of critical theory. There were many missing pieces that Marx did not talk about; some of these were about technology and communication theories. Technology changes over time and can be very beneficial to us; failing to see its advantages and disadvantages is ignoring a big aspect of human behaviour and actions. As technology improves, our lives improve as well and modes of production change as well. Of course the other aspect of technology is that it can be used to dominate. Marx should have explored this topic further and he would have understood the consequences better. Ignoring these ideas shows that Marx probably had his own agenda in place as he wrote his theories. He may have deliberately left these things out in his argument to make it seem simpler than it first appeared. Maybe if he mentioned technology, it would have opened up a new world to mention and explain. The same can be said when it came to the communication aspect of Marx. Habermas also mentions how class struggle is bourne out of a failure in communication. This statement has a lot of fact because it is ultimately the class we identify with as the class we understand. The aspirations and lives of those who are poor are different than those of the middle class or ultra-rich, and those 3 groups barely understand one another. But these divisions will always exist – there will always be people who are well off and those who are not, even in a ideal communist society. Mark Poster also writes about how Habermas tries to fill in the gaps of communication theories left unexplained by Marx. Would the masses really want a violent revolution? People do not have a thirst for warfare; it is usually forced upon them by their leaders. Having endless war to bring about easier lives does not seem too economical; so they would prefer resistance by nonviolent means as it is understood that they are the drivers of the system. Without their input, machinery could not move, so the â€Å"greedy capitalist† was somewhat marginalized by labour unions and laws. Marx failed to see this, even though the powder keg was definitely in place. Habermas’s theories about the ideal speech situations are interesting. There would be very few times indeed that it would be true. It seems possibly one of the societies that come to mind that bear a place for the ideal speech would be the oral Greek tradition. A man who knows how to use speech could possibly get away with murder if he knows how to sway the audience. Again, the ideal speech situation might not garner good things; it may present powerful people with bad intentions using it to dominate their society. Baudrillards arguments about Marx have also have also showed gaps about critical theory. He feels that it can be dangerous for a society to be solely reliant on commodities for the states benefit. Every society has some sort of culture that it brings. Marx, in Baudrillards view, ignores culture as one of the major driving forces of society. Culture is ultimately what decides the direction society takes and the ideas it chooses to adopt. An idea from one culture might not be acceptable in other cultures, so it becomes difficult to transmit ideas across nations. Marx does not mention these facts and pretty much ignores them. It is difficult to understand how Marx, who was well aware of history and its nuances, could ignore such an important factor. Baudrillards analysis of products is an interesting one. It is remarkable that he could see that commodities become status symbols. This is exactly what happens to products; they become more for show than for the function they are supposed to carry. This is evident is the advertising that is presented in the mass media. These status symbols can become part of who we are as people, and this has always been the case throughout history; whether it is gold and other precious metals and stones in the past, or Bentlys and Valentino suits today. These things cannot change under any kind of rule, so ignoring these facts means ignoring our general makeup. In missing this analysis, Marx ignores the true nature of products and production; to keep the masses quite and consumed. One of the pieces missing from Baudrillard is the proper explanation of what he meant by his â€Å"code. The reader gets a sense of what he meant by reading and analysing his work, but a good definition would go a long way in explaining just what he was talking about here. It is unclear whether he is talking about the materialistic nature of things or the guidelines by which they are advertised. It is remarkable that Baudrillard understood these facts; he would have witnessed firsthand, the world of advertising taking its current form. This new form stopped advertising things with simple functional messages, and started advertising them with relation to fantasies that play against our minds to capture our attention. Early psychologists understood this and used their knowledge to help advertisers come up with these new messages. Mark Poster tries to explain the missing parts of Marx critical theory. The missing gaps were quite gapping and Jean Baudrillard and Jurgen Habermas exposed many of them. The essay delves into these gaps and tries to explain the missing pieces, as told by well known communication theorists. It seems that Marx, rather than a genuine interest in the freedom for man, has an agenda behind his writings. There as so many important gaps that he just completely ignored, so this scenario seems likely to be true. Technology and culture are important to us, without them, we can become aimless and self destructive. Poster brought it together very well by indicating that there are many parts still to be explored, indicating the work on the complete analysis for critical theory is still incomplete. Bibliography Cohen, Esther. â€Å"The Propaganda of the Saints in the Middle Ages. † Journal of Communication, 1981. Poster, Mark. â€Å"Critical Theory and TechnoCulture: Habermas and Baudrillard. † In The Second Media Age. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992. ———————– [1] Poster, Mark â€Å"Critical Theory and Technoculture† pg. 97

Analysis Of The Veldt By Ray Bradbury - 726 Words

In today’s society, people count on technology and think it is improving the world for families. In the story â€Å"The Veldt† Ray Bradbury, the renowned author, believes the opposite and that being dependent on technology is going to damage the world. Through characterization and symbolism, Bradbury conveys that overlying on technology can be harmful for families. Through the use of characterization, Bradbury characterizes the children as spoiled and disrespectful because of the influence of technology. After the father says that he wants to close the nursery, Peter responds with â€Å"That sounds dreadful! Would I have to tie my own shoes instead of the shoe tier? And brush my own teeth and comb my own hair and give myself a bath?† This reaction†¦show more content†¦and Mrs. Hadley: â€Å"the lions were fifteen feet away, so real, so feverishly and startlingly real. The yellow of the lions and summer grass, and the sound of the matted lion lungs exhaling from the painting, dripping mouths. The lions stood looking at George and Lydia Hadley with terrible green-yellow eyes.† These lions represent the children because the children are controlling the veldt. Bradbury chooses the use of lions to show how powerful the children are compared to the parents. When George and Lydia Hadley were having an argument over shutting down the nursery Lydia mentions, â€Å"That’s just it. I feel like I don’t belong here. The house is wife and mother now, and nursemaid. Can I compete with an African Veldt? Can I give a bath and scrub the children as efficiently or quickly as the automatic scrub bath can?† This interaction shows that the nursery and the house is like a parent to the children because the house can do everything a parent can do. This realization by Lydia makes her feel unwanted and not needed because technology has taken over her house and family. Another instance of symbolism is where the transformation from a nursery to an African veldt occurred: â€Å"an African Veldt appeared in three dimensions, on all sides, in color reproduced to the final pebble and bit of straw. The ceiling above him became a deep sky with hot yellow sun.† Instead of using another ecosystem, BradburyShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Veldt By Ray Bradbury730 Words   |  3 PagesHowever, within the shor t story â€Å"The Veldt,† Ray Bradbury challenges this notion as he writes of a family’s futuristic nursery, a materialistic possession, which goes on to destroy the togetherness of the family unit. Bradbury uses the material-driven Hadley family’s innovative nursery to portray, that when caught up in materialistic objects, family is often left behind and forgotten. Therefore, through the use of characterization, setting, and irony, Bradbury establishes the notion that family isRead MoreAnalysis Of Ray Bradbury s The Veldt 2920 Words   |  12 Pagesonly is technology hurting our younger children in society but, many of our adults too. In Ray Bradbury’s story, â€Å"The Veldt† he describes how the more technology you have the more dissatisfied you become. Society has come to show us how technology is slowly dehumanizing our world. In our world today, technology has become more and more advanced and it seems to take control over our lives. In the poem, â€Å"The Veldt† the theme had been set on how technology had make life somewhat easier. Technology hadRead MoreAnalysis Of Sandra Cisneros Twelve And Ray Bradbury s The Veldt1230 Words   |  5 Pagesfoundation of a storyline. However, what is the significance of having realistic characters? 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Questions for The Veldt FOCUS ON THE FAMILY Describe and evaluate the relationships between the parents (George and Lydia) and the children (Wendy and Peter) in the Hadley family.   (comprehension and evaluation) 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚   How does Bradbury show us what their relationship is like? †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What does the interchange between George and the children reveal? †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   LydiaRead MoreEssay on The Veldt1782 Words   |  8 Pages Raymond Douglas, known as Ray Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Bradbury was born in Illinois in 1920. He graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1938 but he did not attend college. However, he thinks libraries are much more important than colleges and universities. Bradbury began to publish science fiction stories in fanzines in 1938. He became a full-time writer by the endRead MoreAnalysis Of Ray Bradburys Work Essay example1626 Words   |  7 PagesAn Analysis of Ray Bradbury’s Work Ray Bradbury does an excellent job of making his literature both interesting and fascinating to read. This makes him a great American author. He wrote a novel, The Illustrated Man, which is filled with details about futuristic events. An effect on the outcome of the way this piece of literature was the time it was written. The time period was revealed through the use of characterization, and setting. Throughout the novel, Bradbury uses the literary elements simileRead MoreWhat Is The Rule For Forming Questions Within The Simple Present And Simple Past?1523 Words   |  7 Pagesalso will endeavor to apply the three most important aspects of this course to what would be my first opportunity to teach an English course (more specifically ENG 102 Composition) whose content emphasis is persuasive, argumentative, and literary analysis writing contingent on sufficient enrollment. And even if it turns out that this online course section is not assigned to me next semester, there is a good chance it hopefully would be in the near future. At first a syllabus was sent to me of a fall