There are many paradigms on the origins of strategy

There are many paradigms on the origins of strategy. Critically evaluate the various schools of thought existing in both the prescriptive and emergent schools. Use each of the schools as ‘Lens' to analyse organisation known to you. A strategy is a statement of intent, defining where an organisation wants to be in the long term. It is about understanding what processes are involved and how to avoid difficulties to help plan successful strategies. Strategy was once defined as â€Å"the art of planning and directing large military movements and the operations of war.† However, from an organisation point of view it is about mapping out the company's future and setting out which of its products or services they will tackle to which market and how this will be done. When an organisation has a strategy it enables them to ensure that decisions made on a day-to-day basis fit in with its long term interests. Strategies are also important as any decisions an organisation makes today can have a negative impact on its future results. A strategy will also help encourage employees, departments etc to work together to achieve common goals There are many beliefs on the origins of strategy and many authors have written about this. In 1996, Michael Porter wrote an article that appeared in the Harvard Business Review in which he argued that competitive strategy is was about being different. He also stated, â€Å"It means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value† Porter (1996) Porter believed that strategy was about having a competitive advantage, distinguishing your products and services in the eyes of your customers, and about adding value through a mix of activities different from your competitors. According to Benjamin Tregoe and John Zimmerman of Kepner-Tregoe, Inc defined strategy in their book â€Å"Top Management Strategy† as â€Å"the framework which guides those choices that determine the nature and direction of the organisation† They believed that an organisation should select products or services to offer and the market to offer them in. However, Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) brought together elements of existing prescriptive and emergent schools of strategic thought into ten separate schools. The first three schools are grouped under the heading ‘Prescriptive Schools' which consisted of the design, planning and positioning schools. These schools believed in how strategies should be formulated rather than how they necessarily do form. The next six schools are grouped under the heading 'emergent schools'. These schools consist of the entrepreneurial, cognitive, learning, power, cultural and environmental schools. These schools concentrate less with prescribing ideal strategic behaviour, but more with describing how strategies are in fact made. Finally, the final school to be mentioned is the configuration school, which combines the methods and beliefs from all the previous schools mentioned. By describing each school in turn, we can critically evaluating each of these schools, then we can then go onto to use each of the schools as a ‘lens' to analyse different organisations. The first of the prescriptive schools is the ‘Design school' and this approach regards strategy formation as a process of conception, matching the internal state of the organisation to the external state of the environment. The origins of this school can be traced back to two writers Philip Selznick who in 1957 discussed the need to bring organisations internal state with its external opportunity whilst writer Alfred Chandler in (1962) recognised the design schools idea of business strategy and its connection to structure. The philosophy of this strategy formation is that it seeks to establish a fit between internal potential and external possibilities. The managing director, Dr Surendra, founded Rasmi electronics in 1974. They have grown to become one of the world's major filter manufacturers as well as being a major supplier of low voltage lighting transformers, energy lighting etc The strategy precedes structure in this type of organisation. Within the company they still adopt a hierarchal structure in which all decisions from marketing to production is made by the MD. They continually look for new market opportunities, which are a high priority within the company, by analysing the global market on a global basis and the strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis is a common tool that is used. However, in 2002, Rasmi Electronics designed a series of filters in which they distributed via a company called OmronYaskawa. They did not successfully analysed their market in Spain and this lead to another rival company producing a similar product. Fortnuatley due to the relationship Rasmi Electronics had with the customer this manage to keep the contract. This type of strategy formation places a great importance upon the ability to forecast the future external environment otherwise the strategy will be unsuccessful. According to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) the advantage of this type of school is that it forces consideration of external factors and will be more appropriate in organisation that needs re-orientation. Around the same time as the design school, the planning school also originated. The main influence was by a writer H. Igor in his book ‘Corporate Strategy' published in 1965. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) classified this strategy formation as a ‘Formal Process'. It follows a precise set of steps from analysis of the situation to the development and exploration of various alternative scenarios. â€Å"If we examine these principles closely, we find that the classical theorists were in effect designing the organisation exactly like they were designing a machine† (Morgan 1997) This type of strategy is normally developed by a team of specialists who specifically trained in the science of developing strategies. An example of this was seen in a company called Oldelft. Oldelft is a small high tech company whom operates in a global market. They specialise in products requiring advances knowledge of optics, electronics, electron optics etc. Their products normally have a short product life cycle and competition was both global and fierce. In 1975, the company saw a decline in their fortune therefore the executive board at the time pointed towards a cost reduction drive as a urgent step towards retrieving some of its profit back. However, at the time Oldelft had no adequate staff available that were trained or had the knowledge to do an overhead analysis they therefore decided to recruit a policy advisory council ‘Beleids Advies Radd) (BAR). This was the first of many different groups that Oldelft recruited between 1975 and 1981 all reporting to the executive board. The different groups, which were set up saw the process become more important than the product and according to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) this type of process can lead to no place for creativity. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) advised that it was important that an organisation had a formal strategic planning department within the organisation. In 1981, Oldelft saw its first successful strategic planning school come into operation and is was lead by a man called Ab Baas. Ab Bass made it compulsive for managers to contribute towards the planning cycle and by contributing information about the business segments within the organisation and the external factors. In this school of thought, the method in which strategy development occurs is by thorough strategic planning methodologies and scenario analysis. The company compiled a completed situation analysis, which was made up with an analysis of the industry maturity and the weighing up of the business segments competitive positions. Eventually this lead to Oldelft to recover its former profitability and even saw an increase in R&D expenditure. The final school of the prescriptive is the positioning school in which Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel state it is the strategy formation as an analytical process. This approach is very much influenced by Michael Porter. His works looks at placing organisations within the context of the industry in which they are. It also looks at how the organisation improves competitively within that industry. In 1995 Easyjet airlines a low fair airline introduced low cost flights within the European market. Haji Ioannou the owner of Easyjet believed that by reducing prices will lead to more people flying. He also believed that positioning is company was concerned with establishing the company in the mind of the customer, in a position relative to other airlines in the market The formation of this strategy is a mixture of defensive and offensive moves. Easyjet regularly uses the ‘Guerrilla promotional approach' to advertising by using distinguishing attacks on the airline establishment and in a serious of PR stunts. The principle is that the structure of industry drives strategic positions, which then drives the structure of an organisation. In the summer, 2002 Easyjet faced its first problem in the fact it was growing to fast within its market. This meant there was a difficulty in recruiting and training pilots and flights crew, which influenced the consumers, has believed this would affect the safety on the flights etc. Easyjet admitted that they should have looked at the various elements that depend on each other and how they change over time. By doing a SWOT analysis, this would have given an insight of the internal resources and the main features of the competitive landscape in which it operates. Some of the tools and methods used within this company are Michael Porter's Generic Strategies and the ‘Profit Impact of Market Strategies' (PIMS). In addition, according to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel (1998) is that the advantage of this school is that it emphasis on the analysis and calculation of the previous mentioned tools can be very strong support to the process of developing the strategy however; it should not become the process. The fourth school Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel go onto to discuss is the ‘Entrepreneurial School' in which is the first of the group under the ‘Emergent Schools'. This approach regards strategy formation as a visionary process, taking place within the mind of the charismatic founder or leader of an organisation. An organisation that forms strategy as a visionary process, is the company called ‘Fortnum and Mason'. Fortnum and mason is an established food hall for over 300 years and is family owned. The chairperson is currently ‘Jana Khayat' whom took over after her father who stepped down in 2000. â€Å"To choose direction, a leader must first have developed a mental image of a possible and desirable future state of the organization† (De Wit, 1998) The company is now in the process of going international and are intending to open their first shop in Tokyo later on this year. However, going international has cost the company a drop in profits of 40% due to their reshuffling of their distribution channels to make going international possible. Mintzberg, Ashland and Lampel (1998) advise that this school of thought does not really use any tools or methods for strategy development as it is normally in the mind of the visionary. Even though going international is a big risk for the company, they do feel however, the vision, which has been imposed from many generations of the ‘Khayat' family, is what will get them through this. Jana Khayat feels strongly about her vision and brand, which she has printed in her new book. She stated in a recent interview with the Sunday Times â€Å"It's a mission of intent: where we should be. It is very easy for a store like Fortnum and Mason to become a pastiche of itself† (Khayat, 2004) The advantage of this school of thought is that it does acknowledge the tremendous input that a visionary genius can make to the organisation. However, problems can occur, as other employees of the organisation will not have an understanding on how the vision is created as this is normally done in the mind of the leader. There is also no real ability for the organisation to carry on after the visionary has left the company. The next of the emergent schools is the ‘Cognitive School' which strategy formation is seen as a mental process. The viewpoint of this school of thought is that strategy development is an act of cognition. It is about understanding how the mind works and processes information is the key to understanding strategy development. Cambridge broadband started in 2000 as a group of experienced individuals with a collective aim to deliver the worlds leading broadband fixed wireless access system. The group consists of the best engineers, academics, and commercial management in the industry. Cambridge broadband attracts these people, as they believe that it is an ideal environment to explore their diverse and highly developed talents. The collegiate atmosphere brings an informality that encourages creativity, According to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) this strategy formation is a cognitive process that takes place in the mind of the strategist. The CEO, Peter Wharton believes that Cambridge Broadband will become world leader in their industry by using the knowledge and expertise of its team to provide up to date technology and to increase its customer base. Many of the ideas they have come up with have been from using tools such as cognition maps, frames, and Schemata, which are terms used about the mental representation of events and situations. They are data structures for representing both generic and specific concepts about the outside world. The advantage of this school is that is shows great promise even though the school of thought is that it is still relatively underdeveloped. However, the focus to date has been upon strategy formulation as an individual rather than a collective process, which can be more difficult to understand and manage. The learning school is the sixth school Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel go on to discuss. This school of thought regards strategy formation as an emergent process, where the management of the organisation pays close attention to what works and doesn't work over a period of time, and includes these ‘lessons learned' into their overall plan of action.. â€Å"†¦most organisations seem to have severe learning disabilities; most â€Å"die† before the age of forty† (Morgan, 1997) The Kao Corporation is a company, which has a strong learning culture. Dr Yoshio Maruta president of Kao Corporation believed that an organisation is not only learned but also learned how to learn. He stated â€Å"An educational institution in which everyone is a potential teacher' (Dr Maruta, 1990) He believed that the success to his company at the end of the eighties what the ability to integrate and enhance their effective marketing and information systems through learning. This resulted in them producing new products ahead of their Japanese and foreign companies becoming the largest branded and packaged group in Japan by 1990. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) argued that the paradigm is that strategy in an organisation emerges because of trial and error from learning within the organisation. This was evident when Kao operation decided to become international. They were potentially a significant competitor therefore, decided that product division developed its own strategy for international expansion. However, the company's business portfolio and strategic infrastructure varied from market to market It is important that the organisation is familiar in that the strategy must be consonant with the patterns of behaviour and responses that are inbuilt within the organisation. In addition, it is important to be aware that strategy changes and evolves over time. There is however a danger that a lack of urgency or a lack of discipline may predominate and nothing significantly changes within the organisation. Hence, the decision to become international was not successful. Kao operation blamed this on the lack of international experience, fewer human resources assets, especially in top management and had far less accumulated international knowledge than their western competitors had. The have since invested into 10 day training schemes which all managers need to attend to develop a broader and international outlook and advised they did not have enough talented people especially at management level . The next school to be discussed is the Power School which this school of thought regards strategy formation as a process of negotiation. The development of this strategy is the process of negotiation between the power holders of an organisation or sometimes it can be between the organisation and the stakeholders. An example of this strategy formation can be seen within the University of Durham, in which negotiations take place within the micro power elements such as the individuals and groups within the organisation and negotiation is often done by political analysis and collective bargaining. This commonly seen within the University when negotiations about pay rise, policies etc are done with the trade union representatives. The interdependence the University of Durham has with its external environment is called ‘Macro power', which is when negotiations take place with the stakeholders etc. The university as part of their mission and strategy is to serve the international, national, and regional communities by understanding and engaging with the needs of its stakeholders. Power is clearly a building block in the development of strategy within this school of thought. This type of strategy would benefit large or mature organisations where power structures are well established. However, there is a tendency for organisation who adopts this type of strategy to have a narrow view in that all strategies are about power struggle or as a power exchange. The eighth school to be discussed by Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel, is the Cultural School this approach look at strategy formation as a collective process, which involves different groups and departments within an organisation. The reflection of the strategy, which is developed, is of the corporate culture of the organisation. The origin of culture was discovered by management in the 1980's, coming over from Japan. â€Å"†¦is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes ine group or category of people from another† (De Wit, 1998) A company with a strong culture is Argos, which is one of the UK's largest non-food retail chains, with annual sales exceeding à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½3bn. After the takeover, Terry Duddy became Managing Director with the challenge of improving the firm's performance. He has done this by strengthening the brand, the quality of customer service, and the corporate culture The development of this strategy is the process of social relations, which take place within the beliefs and understandings shared by the employees of an organisation. He stated that it was challenging yet essential that the organisation reflected its strategy and focus on the customer. A key element of the new approach has been the corporate culture at Argos and the building of an environment, which is normative and cohesive. The commitment of Argos employees to these values seems extremely high in its 2003 ‘Speak Out' employee survey; the company found that among its employees 82% believe the company wants to beat its competitors whilst 74% believe strong teamwork is a major contributor to the Argos performance. The concepts for this strategy development come from the values, beliefs, and corporate culture etc within the organisation. The organisation needs to be aware that the corporate culture however vague and ill defined, is a very significant variable that can affect the culture of the organisation. However, this school of thought does tend to favour the consistency and continuation of the existing culture within the organisation and this may discourage necessary change. Argos also continues to work at building what it calls its 'employer brand' – a clear set of values representing the attitudes and beliefs of its employees. In 2003, after consultations with staff, these values were stated as change makes us better and more successful The Environmental School is the ninth school and here strategy formation is seen to be a reactive process. The organisation needs to respond to the forces of its environment otherwise it may be become extinct. A company who are well known in responding to their environment are the company ‘Rolls-Royce', which was first, established in 1984 and is now operating within four global markets. The success of the company is due to the rapid and substantial gains in the market share. They believe they have built a strong business by growing organically and through successful acquisitions. In the beginning of 2003, the aero engine division of Rolls-Royce introduced ‘Grid computing' to help reduce airline flight delays and achieve cuts in the cost of engine Maintaince. Due to a successful university research project on ‘Grid Computing' it has now became a major part of Rolls Royce's future I.T. Strategy. According to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel (19998) traditionally the contingency theory was used within this school of thought however more recently organisations have ended up in cluster's within distinct ecological – type niches, in which they tend to remain until they die out. Similar to the positioning school the environment school is aware of the importance of environment as context, although it does recognise that the death of the business entities or indeed the entire industry is a natural or even expected fact. Rolls-Royce believes that the knowledge they will learn from the research into ‘Grid Computing' will enable then to understand a utility-based computing systems and how they can make money from it. However, the definition of the environment is often so complex that companies like Rolls-Royce will find it difficult to usefully analysis. In addition, it accords too much control to the environment therefore; two different organisations that are competing within the same industry can have vastly different strategies. The final school Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel discuss is the configuration school, which is often seen as the school, which unites all of the previous mentioned schools together. This strategy formation is seen as a process of transforming the organization from one state of decision-making structure into another. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel (1998) stated the key to this strategy if for the organisation to recognise the need for the transformation, however to be able to do this without damaging the organisation. In 1992, Serge Kampf executive chairperson of Cap Gemini Sogeti (CGS) decided for the company to continue to compete successfully it was important that CGS and the large number of acquired firms should be moulded into a coherent transnational company. Some of the problems CGS would face were the creation of a new organisational structure into a dual organisation, improving service to clients and reduce reporting levels. Serge Kampf believed that all parts of the company needed to work the same way to function as a transnational organisation. This would inevitable force major changes within the organisation. Between 1992 and 1993 even though changes were being made CGS saw there worse year in 1992 when competition mauled the company and they had to lay off 600 employees for the first time in 25 years. This is when 81 managers throughout the organisation made a decision to launch a full-scale transformation of the entire company. The team of 81 managers were responsible for transforming working habits and implement new tools such as the sales funnel throughout the organisation. They also launched a 7-axis development plan to help restore CGS profitability. These changes was not appreciated by the competitors and shareholders as the process of transformation of an organisation with 20,000 employees would not be done short term. However, CGS did succeed it the transformational of their company, as they have succeeded in remaining profitable in 2003 in what was an extremely difficult market, implementing restructuring measures, which significantly reduced operating costs and prepared it to enter 2004 in the best possible condition. Since 1965, the amount of publication and attention within strategic management has varied within the different schools mentioned above. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (1998) illustrated how the schools take their place around and within the formation of strategy. In each of the schools of thought that have mentioned, the process of strategy formulation is regarded as something of a ‘Black Box'. However, the cognitive school did come close. None clearly describes how an individual or an organisation is able to leap from the collection and analysis of information to the conceptualisation of alternative courses of action. However, overall by looking at the schools together you can see why an organisation may favour one school from another. Overall, each of the schools offers some useful concepts, and some strong points to aid understanding, but has its disadvantages as well. â€Å"Strategy formation is judgemental designing, intuitive visioning, and emergent learning; it is about transformation well as perpetuation; it must involve individual cognition and social interaction, cooperation as well as conflict; it has to include analyzing before and programming after as well as negotiating during; and all of this must be in response to what can be a demanding environment† (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel, 1998)

Appraising the Secretaries at Sweetwater University Essay

1.What is computer? -Computer is an electronic device that is designed to work with Information.The term ‘computer is derived from the Latin term ‘computare’, this means to calculate.Computer can not do anything without a Program.it represents the decimal numbers through a string of binary digits. Computer is an advanced electronic device that takes raw data as input from the user and processes these data under the control of set of instructions (called program) and gives the result (output) and saves output for the future use. It can process both numerical and non-numerical (arithmetic and logical) calculations. 2.Four functions of computer -The four basic functions of a computer are input, processing, output and storage. Input is the information which is entered into the computer. Processing is performing operations on or manipulating data. Output is the result of the data processing. Storage refers to devices that can retain the data when the computer is deactivated. 3.Computer system -A system of interconnected computers that share a central storage system and various peripheral devices such as a printers, scanners, or routers. Each computer connected to the system can operate independently, but has the ability to communicate with other external devices and computers. 4.Classifications of computer according to 3 devices – (1) Micro computers: These computers use a microprocessor chip and this chip is used instead of CPU means that this microprocessor chip works as a CPU. These computers are also called personal computers. Two major types of these computers are laptop or Desktop computers. Only one user uses these computers at time that’s why they are also known as personal computers. (2) Mini Computers: These are powerful computer. These computers come into existence in 1960s at that time mainframe computer was very costly. Mini computers were available in cheap prices, so users start using it. (3) Mainframe Computer: It as a very powerful and large computer. You can get  idea of its power as it can handle processing of many users at a time. Terminals are used to connect a user to this computer and users submit there task through mainframe. Terminal is a device which has keyboard and a screen. By using terminal users put inputs into the computer and get the output through screen. (4) Super Computers: As the name â€Å"super computer† specifies that these are most powerful computers even than mainframe. Actually, when we optimize a mainframe computer then we get super computer. 5. History of computer – The word ‘computer’ originally implied a person, who, under instructions from a mathematician, performed mechanical calculations. Mechanical calculating devices such as the abacus were often put to use to aid this process. At the end of the Middle Ages, mathematics and engineering in Europe received a considerable boost, thus leading to the invention of numerous mechanical calculating devices. The technology for clockwork was developed by the early 17th century. The period between the early 19th century and early 20th century saw the development of a number of technologies which would be vital for the development of the digital computer later on. Some examples are the punched card and the valve. Charles Babbage was the first person to design a fully programmable computer as early as 1837. However, he was unable to actually construct his computer due to a variety of reasons. Analog computers were increasingly used in the first half of the 20th century for a number of scientific computing needs. However, they became obsolete after the development of the digital computer. The first digital computer was the Atanasoff Berry Computer . It used a binary system of arithmetic, parallel processing, a separation of memory and computing functions and regenerative memory. Binary math and electronic circuits – both of which are used in today’s computers – were first used in the Atanasoff Berry Computer. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, newer and more efficient computers were continuously developed. Gradually, they came to possess the key features which are present in modern day computers – digital electronics and flexibility of programming. Among the more important machines to be developed during this time, the American ENIAC was prominent. It was a general purpose machine, but had an inflexible architecture. Later a far superior technique known as the stored program architecture was  developed. It is the foundation from which all modern computers are derived. Throughout the 1950’s, computer design [http://www.online-computers.info] was primarily valve driven. This was later replaced by transistor-driven design in the 1960’s. Transistor-based computers were smaller, faster and cheaper, and hence commercially viable. Integrated circuit technology, adopted in the 1970’s enabled computer production costs to hit a new low, so that even individuals could afford them. That was the birth of the personal computer, as it is known today. 6.Examples of Input,Output Devices: *Manual- Abacus,Slide rule,Leibiniz’z Calculator,Napier’s bones,Pascal calculator,Babbage’s Analytical engine *Electronic-Unversal automatic computer,Electronic delayed storage automatic calculator,Electronic discrete variable automatic computer,Electronic numerical integrator and calculator,Atanossof-Berry computer *Electromechanical-Automatic sequence controlled calculator,Jacquard’s Loom, Hollerith’s punched-card machine

Jazz Heritage/The Roots of Jazz

Africa is the home of jazz, which spread to Europe and all throughout America. Today’s jazz music is influenced by the different countries mentioned. There are musical traditions and cultural traditions coming from Africa, Europe and America which contributed to the sound of jazz today. As jazz developed, it was centered in New Orleans (Yurochko 3). To better understand why jazz sounds the way it does today, it is best to examine its roots one by one, country by country. Africa The life in Africa is centered around the tribe. All its members participate in Every activity, function and ritual in the tribe. African tribes were highly interactive and participatory because all of its members always found a way to contribute and cooperate and common gatherings and functions (Yurochko 3). From this, it can be inferred that the musical activities of the tribe were also interactive and participatory. Because of these characteristics, the music they created was full of dynamics. No single member of the African tribe just sat down. No one just listened. All of them were tied to everything that was happening in the tribe. As a result, music was functional as it was properly suited to all the activities and events in the tribe (Bjorn and Gallert 178). What was unique in Africa was how people listened to music. In this country, one cannot find a single concert hall. Everybody gathered themselves in just one area to listen to music. Listening to music was a significant part of the tribe’s lives. In Africa, there were different types of sounds fit for different types of occasions. There was music for marriage, death and births. There was music even for chopping down a tree, or clearing out a path. What music was to Africans was a social glue that united all members of the tribe together (Yurochko 3). Meanwhile, the characteristics of African music can explain why jazz music rooted from Africa. African music makes the body perform. It means that the music alone involves the body by making it dance, sway to the beat, clap, and pound a rod on the ground. Apart from the musicians themselves, all members of the audience were also joining the fun. Africa music makes everyone sing, too (Bjorn and Gallert 178). Africans used different musical instruments like aerophones, idiophones and cordophones. The bass sound of the music was mainly acquired from the drum. African music was full of drums which came in different shapes and sizes. The drum was their main instrument which Africans produced from hollowed out logs and gourds. Across the opening of the drum was a stretched animal skin (Bjorn and Gallert 178). What makes jazz so â€Å"African† is its rhythm, since African music is highly characterized by the emphasis on rhythm. Cross rhythms and polyrhythms were made by African drummers, both of which were major contributors to the driving force of jazz or African music (Bjorn and Gallert 178). The beat of jazz and the beat of African music can be demonstrated by creating a single beat, and dividing it into two. The other half should be given two claps to a single beat. The other hand will be given three claps to a single beat. This is a simple polyrhythm compared to how much jazz has developed through time. The basic principle behind jazz beats is two beats against one (Bjorn and Gallert 179). African sound seems unorganized, and this is what jazz is all about. It is because of the more complex polyrhythm found in African music. Each beat of the drum has an already set rhythm. Then again, once this beat is combined with other drums which also have their own set rhythms, then that is where the complicated sound is produced (Bjorn and Gallert 180). Another characteristic of African sound which can be found in jazz music is the pentatonic scale. A pentatonic scale can best be seen in a piano. The scale is defined by five notes, thus the term â€Å"penta†-tonic, with the chords C, D, E, G and A. This musical scale can also be found in the music of Peru, Mexico, Scotland and Japan (Salzman and the American Studies Association 961). In Africa, singers sing and the members of the audience respond. African musicians can also chant a melody, and the rest of the people in the venue react with the type of response already established in the society. In Africa, this is called â€Å"call and response†, which is also highly used in jazz. In jazz, though, the way people respond is different. This can be seen in many churches with people singing jazz praise songs (Salzman and the American Studies Association 961). The characteristics of jazz can be traced back to the African music’s characteristics, too, in which bending tones, falsetto, buzzes in the voice, raspy tones and vocal manipulation can be found. No vocal sound is ever produced. Letting out their feelings and expressing themselves by belting out what and how they were feeling an emotion contributed to the very distinct characteristics of jazz music. The tones were also not organized. As a listener listens to a jazz music, he will mostly find the singer reciting words spontaneously (Henson 48). Europe Europe influenced jazz music through harmony and instrumentation. The harmonies in jazz music are characterized by diatonic scale. Jazz music is highly diatonic, and diatonic, in this case, is an expanded version of the pentatonic scale coming from Africa. Chord progressions from the European or Western sound influenced today’s jazz music. Europe contributed a big part of the instrumentation of jazz. Instruments from Europe used in jazz music are clarinets, trombones and trumpets. Most of the European instruments used gave jazz music its symphonic nature (Henson 48). The birthplace of jazz music is mainly in New Orleans. The people of the city made use of what they were hearing from Africa and Europe, combined the different techniques and various musical styles to technically call the new genre â€Å"jazz† (Henson 48). New Orleans: New Orleans was undeniably successful in giving birth to jazz because of various components. One of these factors is its location. Since New Orleans is located at the tip of the Mississippi River, it was easy for people to bring in jazz to the area. The river made it easy for New Orleans to export music to different parts of the globe, too, which made the music genre jazz, became popular in a very short period of time upon its conception (Brown 74). The Mississippi River was a very important factor in making jazz a popular genre because it has touched various states in America. Several states which were considered areas for slaves contributed in New Orleans’ highly diverse population. Since the city became a busy seaport, it also developed into becoming the gateway to the islands of the Caribbean (Henson 48). It is also important to study the demographics of the people in New Orleans as this is related to the development of jazz. The city is a very unique one because even before it was a state of America, it has been under the flags of France and Spain. When one would visit New Orleans, one would see how diverse the population is because of the different ethnic groups found in the city. Because of the diverse population, there was also a diverse culture. Cultural diversity helped in improving the quality of jazz music (Brown 74). The races inhabiting the city defined jazz music. The different cultures taking place made jazz what it sounds today. Since French people were among those who were occupying New Orleans, the tradition where they allowed males to have their mistresses was a big influence to the music. Several men chose women who were light skinned, and they went for those who had mixed blood. Most of these women were found in the southern part of New Orleans. Because of this, the group of lower class blacks grew and became known to the city (Henson 48). The black creoles were widely accepted in New Orleans, especially by the white society. However, it didn't stay this way for too long. They received the same privileges and rights from the government. In 1984, a law was passed by the Louisiana Legislature which suggested that people with African blood were labeled as â€Å"Negros†. Because of this, the black creoles were driven away from New Orleans. They had no choice but to join the black culture (Henson 48). The joining of the pure blacks and the black creoles (cross between black and light-skinned) gave birth to the full development of a new music which is now referred to as jazz. Slaves from different parts of the globe who were pushed to the United States possessed nothing but their clothing. Then again, they brought not only clothes in the United States, but music, too. They brought their heritage and culture. They shared their musical practices in the United States, specifically in New Orleans (Brown 74). Because of the struggle of the black culture, New Orleans slowly became identified as the city of refuge for blacks. All freed slaves and escaped slaves fled to New Orleans. They all gathered in Congo Square during Sundays because this was their only chance to be together and celebrate their culture. During these days, they all participated in the African culture where they played drums, sang and danced (Henson 48). New Orleans is then the breeding ground of musical activity. Numerous musical ensembles can be found here, like brass bands, musicales, opera companies and orchestras. Up to this day, there are still musical parties being held in the city. What made jazz sound disorganized and highly syncopated today is the merging of the musical influences of black slave culture and the black creoles. Their different cultures and distinct musical style made jazz sound like it does today. How jazz is being played is merely a result of the amalgamation of different tempos, beats and styles through time. Examples of African musical activities that highly influenced today's jazz music are rhythmic emphasis, African field holler, interactive music and the call and response ritual. All of these found a space into the style of jazz (Brown 74).

Islamic Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Islamic Finance - Essay Example The paper tells that despite the upheavals and mayhem that exists between the Islamic world and the United Kingdom, as peculiar as it may seem, it is wise to say that Islamic banking and finance has found its way in the United Kingdom. Islamic finance is the basis of Islamic banking system. Laying its foundation on the rules and principles of Sharia, commonly known as the Islamic law, this offers Islamic finance its very unique and competent features. As much as Islamic Banking has its challenge and opportunity, many western bankers have sort to involve themselves in this growing business. Their guiding principles and rules state that Allah owns everything in this world and that man has only been rendered permission to use it. In the United Kingdom, London has emerged itself to be the core ad centre of Islamic banking. In the United Kingdom, a decade ago, the business was perceived to be in its infancy this being the reason as to why its extent is limited. A decade later, Islamic ban king and finance has prevailed in the United Kingdom due to its unique characteristics. One of the most distinct characteristics that have made Islamic banking and finance business to grow is the fact that Islamic banking does not offer interests, which is commonly referred to as riba in the Islamic world. The reward for money deposited as perceived is done by not charging or paying interest. As a way of curbing the loss and profits occurred, Islamic banking use the technique of sharing both the profit and loss occurred. This is commonly known as mudarabhah, which in lay man’s term means profit sharing. In cases that involve mortgage buying, the bank itself buys the mortgage from the seller then giving it to the buyer making profits thus allowing the buyer to pay the money in installments. The mortgage is registered under the buyers name from the start to avoid any suspicions. This kind of arrangement is known as Murabah. The entrepreneur feature of the Islamic banking and f inance is another characteristic that has made this type of banking to stand out. Putting its focus not only on financial expansion but on also physical expansion of economic services and production, this has made many western bankers to use the Islamic banking and finance services. Trade financing and equity financing have led the way for the Islamic banks. No wonder the growing trend of people enjoying their banking services. The United Kingdom being one of the worlds’ most sophisticated and complicated banking and financial systems, this has helped the Islamic banking and finance to prevail. The main reason as to why Islamic banking and finance has prevailed more in London than in any other cities of the world is due to the fact that London is much closer to Middle East than any other cities. In fact, London is estimated to have hosted the world’s largest Islam’s in all the cities of the world (Anwar, 1995). In the center of London, the Arab community is rank ed among the most affluent Arabs in the world. To add on to that, Arabs restaurants and hotels exists in London center to cater for the Arabs that visit the city every now and then. There has been an increasing number of doctors, engineers, and students in the United Kingdom. London emerges to be the leading market in the world for foreign currency exchange, dollar being the popular currency trade. In the recent years, the retail level banking in the United Kingdom has gone down. This is due to the introduction of the Banking Act of 1987, which allowed external banking to exist. The big four banking players dominance namely Barclays, Lloyd, NatWest and the Midland bank, the latter being the only one that has managed to secure its market share. Evolving from a small niche bank in the Middle East in the last four decades, Islamic Banking and finance have grown in to a dynamic, profitable, and resilient competitor to all major banks in the United Kingdom. By the end of 2008, Islamic ba nks are estimated to be over $850 billion and

Race and My Community Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Race and My Community - Essay Example Although I don't look different, the fact that I am not a pure Chinese makes some people stop and think, and depending on their personal experience, they adjust their behavior towards us. My community is a pretty mixed up place, but I don't mean we are confused. No, there may be few of mixed Japanese-Chinese ancestry as I am, but the neighborhood is crawling with people from different parts of the country who have come to the capital, where I live, in order to study, find work, or stay with their families. This is how race becomes an issue, something that one would not expect from an island nation such as ours, but it does. Contrary to popular belief, not all the Chinese are of the same race. Neither are all the Asians of the same race. The label "Asian American" in countries like the United States says a lot about the confusion of the racialized Western mind that thinks that we are all the same race. We can be as white as the Japanese and the Koreans or as dark as Indians or Pakistanis or Arabs. My being half-Japanese just makes the classification more exciting. I enjoy the care and attention I get from people who think I am not the same as they are, but I also suffer when others think that I don't belong, since I am neither pure Chinese nor pure Japanese, but this is something I have learned to adapt to since I was small, and when my friends learn more about me, they adapt. That is why they are my friends: we have many things in common, but also many things that are different. Our community leaders are open to us. They are helpful and are doing a good job with everyone regardless of color or ethnic origin, because most of them are also immigrants from other parts of the country. I think this is what education and moving out of your place of birth does to people. You learn quickly that even a small country like mine is really a big place where all of us can live happily together. I wish I could say the same thing of leaders in other communities. A friend from another part of town was just telling me that their leader, who happened to have migrated from the south of the country many decades ago, was discriminating against immigrants from other regions and favoring those from his town. I don't think that is right. I think a leader should treat people the same way a parent would treat their children. Help the kids grow up and learn, because life in this world is not easy. After thinking about it, I think racialization - the construction of racially unequal social hierarchies characterized by dominant and subordinate social relations between groups (Marable, 2004)- works both ways. Others find it useful to support their own hidden intentions, which can be good or bad. This is why it is good because people become more educated and sensitive on this issue so that there is less racialization in society. But it is also bad, because we might reach a point when we become paralyzed by racialization that life stops becoming fun. One example I can cite, which is related to information by or about people like me that can be found in texts or work manuals, is the impression people get when they see a strange name as the author of something, a speech, article, or a book.

Australian Law-Surrogacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Australian Law-Surrogacy - Essay Example One dilemma in surrogacy is the determination of parenthood. Currently, family and parenthood are defined biologically instead of social terms. This brings an issue in when determining who the legal parents of the child are, mainly between the surrogate mother and the social or foster parents of the child. In some countries like Australia, the law identifies the surrogate mother of a child as its legal mother and any surrogate arrangements that transfer custody of the child to others is rendered void. This brings issues especially if the surrogate mother had offered the services as commercial surrogacy and later claims the child (Tuininga, 240). The issue of parenthood arises because of the fact that the commissioning parents consider themselves to be the real parents of the child because their chromosomes were used. The surrogate mother can also claim parenthood because their biological components were used. (Tuininga, 240). This is even more serious were gestation was absent in the commissioning mother and hence the surrogate mother has some genetic relationship with the child. Temana (1108) observes that surrogate mothers normally try to maintain close and intimate relationship with the social parents of the child and this could put those marriages at risk of breaking. Zimmerman (123) states that there is also a high tendency that surrogacy makes problems underlying a marriage to surface for example, it brings into light infertility problem in one of the couple. (Tuininga, 240).  ... gate mothers normally try to maintain close and intimate relationship with the social parents of the child and this could put those marriages at risk of breaking. Zimmerman (123) states that there is also a high tendency that surrogacy makes problems underlying a marriage to surface for example, it brings into light infertility problem in one of the couple. Ragone (201) states that he commissioning parents go through a complicated process in order to adopt the child they wanted despite the fact that they could have paid heavily to have the child born and that one of them, mostly the father, could be the genetic father of the child. This is because in surrogacy, the father or both parents donate gametes that will be transferred clinically to the surrogate mother. Ironically, the law does not recognize them as the legal parents of the born child despite the fact that this child might not have any genetic relationship with the surrogate mother. One dilemma that emerges in surrogacy is t hat others do not accept it yet it is a healthy way of creating human life as compared to other methods like cloning. History In Australia, all forms of surrogacy were considered to be illegal and all states passed laws to make this a criminal offense. However, things have changed over the recent years. According to the Lawyers and Legal Services Australia (1), altruistic surrogacy has recently been legalized and this has been done in all Australia states, except for the state of Tasmania. However, commercial surrogacy is still considered by the law to be a criminal offense. These changes in the history of surrogacy in Australia were made possible by the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008. This Act changed the legality of altruistic surrogacy from 1st January, 2010. In its part,

Academic Journals Exercise of Social Goegraphy Essay

Academic Journals Exercise of Social Goegraphy - Essay Example e articles published during the past few years in the selected journal will be reviewed and methodological approaches of the journal will be discussed in the paper. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies is the journal that will be analyzed and scrutinized in this paper. (ACME, 2009) In specific, social, spatial, and political analyses are welcomed and encouraged in the abovementioned journal; however, a significant importance has been given to the critical and radical approaches for such analyses. As the name suggests, different geographies have been analyzed in this journal critically with its relation with social sciences. Some of the social-scientific aspects, such as feminist, Marxist, anarchist, post-structuralism, and a number of other perspectives have been used by the authors to provide an understanding of such socialist aspects in terms of geography. It is believed that the abovementioned perspectives play a crucial role in the development of geographies, and thus, different political structures, such as nationalist, liberalism, fascism, etc. have been investigated and challenged in a critical and radical manner. One of the major reasons of choosing this journal is its international perspective and scope that allows contribution from academic, as well as, non-academic providers and contributors. Besides this, articles have been published in English, Spanish, German, Italian, and French in the journal that provides an overview of its diversity. Journal includes review essays, as well as, a variety of empirical based research articles that have critically analyzed socialist issues with respect to geography by debates, literature reviews, and poetry as well. Until now, ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies has published fifteen volumes since its first volume in the year 2002. Since its first volume, different topics, such as critical cartographies, sexuality and gender, mediated places, class struggles and geography,