Atonement film essay

In the film, the perspective someone has on various events are shown to greatly contrast. An example of this Is an argument between two of the film's key characters, Cecilia and Robbie, at the beginning of the film. This argument is in fact shown twice in a row, once through the perspective of Celeriac's younger sister Bryony, and again close to the action. In Britons view, she observes through an upstairs window of their manor house an argument that she perceives to be full of sexual tension. She can hear none of what is being said, apart from Robbie sharply shouting â€Å"wait! â€Å".Her Inability to fully understand the argument meant that the little she could see, led to her making lady inaccurate conclusions as to what the argument was about. She assumes Robbie shouting is out of anger, and that the tension between Robbie and Cecilia is solely imposed by him. This is shown to be wrong when the scene is shown a second time, with this time showing that the argument was over som ething trivial, and the sexual tension was triggered by both Cecilia and Robbie. Because she had a skewed perspective, Bryony gets an Idea that causes many problems later In the film.By using these differing perspectives, Wright therefore forces us to consider what we are and rent shown in other films of the same genre. In most love stories, conflicts arise (and are resolved) in the course of the film. In his film, however, Wright shows how inaccurate having a single perspective on a conflict can be, making us doubt the truth in other stories. It is also a reflection on the real world application of perspective. Wright literally shows us that â€Å"there are two sides to every story†, and how the differences between them can define not only a film, but a life.Wright also uses time to expand on what is shown In his film. Unlike typical love stones In which a happily ever after is reached in not only the two hours of the film, but the limited amount of time the characters in th e film experience, Wright makes his characters live out their whole lives before the camera. The film begins in 1935 when Bryony is 13. She is shown at two other ages, at both 18 and 77, meaning the story we are told is 64 years long. This means that the characters' whole lives pass, and through this we can see their relationships develop and change over a large amount of time.As a result of a lie she told at age 13, Bryony spends her whole life trying to atone for the damage it as done, and by being able to see how she is still trying to atone for her actions 64 years after the fact means that we can truly understand the consequences of even small actions. This time-twist on the traditional â€Å"butterfly effect† mean that we see exactly what effects her actions have not only on herself, but on the people around her. Two such people are Robbie and Cecilia. The theme of love between them Is years long like Britons is.This is because one of the effects of her lie was their de aths, only months apart from each other, 5 years after the lie was told. However, ring these 5 years we are able to see the ups, downs, twists and turns of their aging love. In doing so, Wright makes their relationship more realistic than what is typical in romantic films. The usual structure involves one, maybe two obstacles to be overcome before reaching resolution and a happy ending. Robbie and Cecilia, however, are faced with unending hardship and a lot of time apart.The increased length of relationship time we are shown results in the audience being more able to compare the film to their own lives. Real relationships are never finished. They intention, whether interrupted or not, until one or both parties are no longer committed. Robbie and Cecilia remained committed to each other up to their deaths, and by showing how they stood the test of time despite adversities, Wright reflects on the need for commitment and patience in relation to the constant growth of real relationships .This truthfulness in Wright's portrayal of relationships is extended by the lack of a true happy ending in the film. Love stories are watched because a happy ending is guaranteed. The lack of such assurance in real life means people crave some sort of promise that true happiness is a real possibility. By watching characters on a screen have (or earn) their happy ending we allow ourselves to doubt the possible disappointment and cruelty life could offer. In Wright's film, however, he plays with this idea.The film's two lovers, Cecilia and Robbie, are not allowed a happy ending. They die apart and alone before they can have their happiness, denied the happy ending we have learnt to expect. This is initially shocking to the audience, with Wright delivering their endings abruptly, and without apology. But it is this very shock factor that sets this film apart. If the film were to have a happy ending, t would have nowhere near the same effect on the audience.Instead of being content and satisfied, we are shocked, saddened, and, ultimately, challenged by Wright to not rely on a happy ending falling into place, but to make our own happiness. The film Atonement directed by Joe Wright refreshes a traditional love story with interesting twists and conventions. By playing around with perspective, time and the idea of happy endings, Wright not only made an interesting and challenging film, but also challenges traditional genre conventions. In doing so, his film is new and refreshing, despite being a typical love story at heart.

Organizational Analysis: Apple Inc. Essay

Apple Inc. is an iconic United States technological company based in Cupertino, California. Apple is engaged in the development of World changing consumer electronic products such a mobile phones, music media devices, tablets, and personal computers. The company also sells and creates operating system software, peripherals and delivery of third-party digital content (iTunes) to consumers. Apple sells its products and services via it 250 U.S. and 140 international retail stores worldwide (Europe, Japan and Asia-Pacific), online stores and third-party wholesalers, retailers and resellers. As of September 29, 2012 Apple has 72,800 full-time employees and 3,300 temporary employees and contractors. Apple is one of the largest and most innovative companies in the world with increased net sales from $65 billion in 2010, $108 billion in 2011 and $156 billion in 2012. (Apple 10K) Two young entrepreneurs; Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded the company in 1997. They relied on each other different strengths to propel the business forward. Wozniak was the technical know person and Jobs was the visionary who knew how to conceptualize the product. One of their early computer products was called Apple II. The next big product that brought Apple to the forefront of the computer industry was the introduction of the first Macintosh computer reveled to the world in 1984. Apple spent over 30 million dollars on the advertising of the product, which also launched the famous and iconic television ad that ran during the Super Bowl. Over the years the company has survived management conflicts were Steve Jobs left the company for many years, but was brought back 1997 to help revive Apple from dismal stock prices and competitors. In short, under Steve Jobs leadership the company shifted its focus towards making the best innovative and uniquely designed products Worldwide for consumers. (WPost) Structure: Organizational structure that keeps Apple â€Å"alive† is uniquely different than other multinational companies, but they still follow distinct rules of a well-function organization. To help understand Apple’s structure, we first need to look what is the company’s purpose. Apple wants to be number one at creating some of the best and innovative products for consumers that brings life changing user experience to customers. Formalization – Apple is derived from the create quadrant of the CVF were they pay close attention innovation and envision the future, but at the same they also have a very formal structure that is running in full start-up mode at all times and they can still take part in spontaneous actions without the politics and red tape of normal large companies Centralization – One of the key drives of Apple’s corporation is that they are a highly collaborative company that works really well together in the decision making process, but I would also say they are combination of a highly centralized and decentralized type of business. Hierarchy – Consisted of Steve Jobs being the visionary and visible leader of the company till his recent death. The person now steering the ship is Tim Cook, who is a veteran Apple employee and has been appointed several times as stand-in CEO in the past. Apple has what would be considered a tall organizational structure, but still unique because of how they foster collaboration. Complexity – Like any large multinational company Apple has an array of 10 Top Executives, Board of Directors and a CEO Tim Cook (Apple bios). Integration – Apple is a highly integrated organization, but once again due to how collaborative the company is, different organizational units and sub-units work very well together to meet the core objectives and goals of the company. Leader-Follower Relationships: Apple is probably one of the best in the tech industry, even though Steve Jobs has passed away. â€Å"Entrepreneurial leaders leave a lasting imprint on the structures on the organizations they found,† which is the case with Apple being led by Tim Cook now. The management styles are a little bit different between the two men, but the revenue numbers speak for themself in this situation. Apple’s structure allows the current CEO to carry on with business as it did in the past with the exception of trying figure out what would Steve Jobs do in this scenario of keeping Apple a vibrant company. Steve Jobs watched companies like Walt Disney be non-productive after their CEO passed away and did not want that for Apple, so he explained to Tim Cook â€Å"don’t ever try to figure out what would I have done in a certain situation, just do what is right for the company† (MSNBC). I think this type of leader-follower relationship transcends throughout the Apple organiza tion very well. Stakeholder relationships on the surface seem to be in very good standings. Apple is a leader in so many ways with making superior products; they are number one, who doesn’t want to be a part of the Apple machine? For example, the recently opened Apple store in Grand Central Station, all forms of stakeholders are benefiting from that deal; consumers, employees, Grand Central, New York City etc. Multiply that by various locations around the world and we have a majority of happy stakeholders ready to follow with open arms all because of the structure of how Apple operates its company. Productivity and performance due the company’s organizational structure allows Apple to be number one. For example, when netbooks were all the rage and Apple was introducing the first iPad and started coining the phrase we are now entering into â€Å"post-pc era,† some people or industries did not take that statement serious, but look at the numbers now. 95% of all web traffic from tablets are from iPads and it is only increasing every year (AllthingsD). The benefit and cost of the current structure is very evident all over the world, especially when Apple has a new product launch. It’s like a cult following (in a good way). For example, people start lining up all over the world; to get their hands on whatever product is being released; online sales via Apples website will start to have a 3 to 4 weeks backorder on products because they are in such high demand. Basically the current structure allows Apple to achieve high net sales on all products being sold and keeps their position as number one consumer product seller in the world. Culture At Apple, the work culture was driven by a passion for new products with no end to challenges and opportunities. Apple became the pioneer of the â€Å"Work Hard Play Hard† ethic. The corporate culture at Apple was exemplified by its intense work ethics. Al though it’s work environment was relaxed and casual, there was a very strong commitment to company deadlines. Apple was based on an idea that self-motivated individuals will work harder if they do not have a boss micromanaging every action. This unique structure of Apple had allowed it to grow and react more quickly to changes than its competitors like IBM and Microsoft. The reason Apple took action to a quick responsiveness, is that it was much easier to get a project started if there are only a few people to obtain approval from. One view of Apple’s leader follower relationship can be explained by how quickly Apple initially grew. Due to the ability to have employees make decisions at the lowest possible level. Corporate headquarters made policy and oversaw all activities, but the local employees made the day-to-day decisions in countries all over the world. This type of top-down philosophy allowed for quick responsiveness and resolutions to situations without involving the corporate headquarters, thus avoiding corporate red tape. Analysts have been known to summarize the work culture at Apple as fun, yet demanding. â€Å"Culture helps focus individual effort directly on achieving the organization’s objectives.† (Greenwald, P207) The Apple experience as a stakeholder has always been about the user experience not just the technology, even though the majority of the market didn’t care about that Apple wanted to be different. Apple is a company that is in the business of making markets vs. addressing markets. The Apple ego is a belief that it is the best company in the world and it should carry itself that way, all its lenders, employees, software designers and customers understand its ego and for those who don’t like it found out it has become a call to arms for all of the company’s stakeholders. Another way to view Apple is that it doesn’t ask people what they need but gives them products they decide they want. Think about a simple question, does anyone need an iPhone or iPad? Not really, but a lot of people seem to want them. Apple’s culture is based on some basic facts that really drive its productivity performance. It is a vertical integration company where most of technology is developed in house for its key products and it will have key advantages over other less vertically integrated companies and Apple makes â€Å"cool† products. Attention to design and detail, fit and finish really distinguishes Apple’s products from competitors. The iPod was not the first digital music player and the iPhone was not the first smart phone and the iPad is not the first portable computing device. But having differentiated business models where Apple develops and innovates products with key features like the iPod+iTunes and iPhone+App Store provides a strong competitive advantage, where this process makes it difficult for competitors to match what Apple is producing in a timely fashion. Apples culture produces and offers very clear and simple set of products. It’s easy to understand the differences between their products, product families and the various configurations where many other companies complicate things unnecessarily. Apple’s employees had to run their own show and work in a challenging and creative environment. Apple adopted a style that was not too formal or hierarchical and a more results-driven approach, which worked best for them. Apple fostered a culture of secrecy. The demand for absolute secrecy and insistence on control were infused into the company culture right from the beginning. â€Å"My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better.†(Steve Jobs, 2010) Human behavior The understanding of the human behavior at the Apple organization has truly shaped its design, structure, function and culture by the following points. * Apple employees understand that a key internal emphasis at the company is that it cares about the design of its products more than any other firm in the market, unlike Microsoft who has done a poor job of creating aesthetically pleasing products. Apple’s focus on design shows it understands what consumers want and how to meet those needs and desires, and it sets out to beat any and all expectations. The pressure falls onto an employee who doesn’t help the company meet those needs they may end up with another company sooner than later. * Apple is known to do everything differently; therefore employees need to forget what they ever knew about the technology world. Whether it’s the design of products, system for developing ideas for new products or the way it handles data everything is different at Apple. Employees who function similar to a past employer is a mistake that could cause trouble within the rank and file. * Apple takes it flaws to heart and listens when it hears people criticize its products. They respond with firm tone and harsh statements in ways that other companies in the industry would not dare to replicate. Apple doesn’t like being told that it’s wrong. * Apple will never admit defeat no matter how badly its products are getting beaten. The company seems to find ways of turning itself around and out of the hole with an right strategies business action that saves the day. Nowhere is that more evident than in the computing market. With the results that Apple is setting record profits. * Apple understands attention to detail is key strategy that will pay off in the long run. Apple goes that extra mile which has become a staple of the company’s vision and it’s something that it expects from its employees. * Apple’s focus on technology domination worldwide is everything that the late Steve Jobs aspired to be. It was his ultimate goal to not only compete with his competitors in the all the markets his company competes in but rather destroy them. He wanted to make it clear to the world that his company was the best and would beat them all. At apple he established a culture that would help him achieve his legacy. Communication and decision making styles We know that the form of communication within an organization is directly reflective of its structure. Information is transmitted through diverse methods such as speech, writing, symbols, and body language. (Greenwald, Organizations; Management without controls, 2008) At Apple, communication is what they sell and what they welcome. â€Å"Whether or not you as an Apple employee choose to create or participate in a blog, wiki, online social network or any other form of online publishing or discussion is your own choice. In general, what you do on your own time is your business. However, activities that affect your job performance, the performance of other Apple employees, or Apple’s business interests are still covered by company policies and guidelines. This applies whether you engage in these activities in or outside of work, and whether or not you identify yourself as an Apple employee.† (Heath, Alex, 2012) It is clear that Apple knows that it is to protect itself from the very creative minds it cultivates. This policy leaves no room for unnecessary overlap. Business is business and that is what matters. â€Å"Apple runs an extremely tight ship, with tiny product groups; just two engineers were given the task of writing the code to convert the Safari browser to run on the iPad, a task that on its face seems like a huge undertaking that other companies such as Microsoft or Google might have devoted dozens of people to.† (The Dictatorship, 12) Apple, as a formal organization has had a long history of capturing informal leaders. The previous excerpt is from an article, which also describes the gathering of 100 exclusive employees. They were not all at same pay grade and or security clearances but they could be trusted to keep dates and products a secret as well as to give their honest opinions. â€Å"Every executive action, product or project has a â€Å"DRI† – directly responsible individual – who carries the can (or laurels) for its outcome.† (Heath, Alex, 2012) â€Å"The creative process at Apple is one of constantly preparing someone – be it one’s boss, boss’s boss, or oneself – for a presentation to Jobs,† writes Adam Lashinsky, who calls him â€Å"a corporate dictator who makes every critical decision – and oddles of seemingly noncritical calls too†. (Heath, Alex, 2012) While Apple does subscribe to what may be considered a ‘normal’ type of policy and set of norms, we often learn of the overlapping, dictator-ran, bully-driven ship that shines through in their product releases and market bravado. Observations: Our observations of Apple employees are limited to Apple Store ® employees. Although we have included various reports and accounts of encounters between Steve Jobs and other executives, we find it necessary to compare the culture levels on the outer bands of this grand organization. Passing by the Apple Store in any mall, it is apparent how different the selling atmosphere is. The products are all sprawled out for customers to play with and engage in. There is nearly a 1:1 staff/customer ratio. They have a â€Å"genius bar† where any consumer holding a MAC product can bring their device to for assistance. The environment is alive and vibrant. These geniuses are the face of the company to the everyday employee and they are raised and bread by Apple. They are taught communication styles, they are integrated into the norms and values of the Apple brand and they execute a marketing and sales strategy that benefits the customers and the company. This is done through verbal communication, non-verbal communication and symbolic communication. The entire store is a symbol of Apple. The training manual for the Apple Genius explicitly trains the employees on nonverbal queues and communications to control each interaction (Biddle, 2012). Apple Inc. executives could teach a PhD level course in human behavior and how to influence. It. Just as with any other product or organization, saturation levels are pushed if we don’t pay special attention to how we grow our business. In the early stages, Apple was more of a novelty and so could afford to hire ‘like’ minds to mind their storefronts. Having to expand its numbers in an effort to combat other retailers for sales, Apple has had to let in a second tier of mildly interested individuals who would be just as happy working for Geek squad ® at BestBuy ® or any other tech driven retail outlet. The promise of â€Å"first dib’s† and other benefits are now comparable to family discounts received throughout the malls. This is not only acceptable but it is a welcomed change in personnel type for Apple ®. The dictatorship can freely set plans for stores without worrying about everyone trying to become the next ‘Steve Jobs’. Part 2 – Team Analysis Team Formation: The team assignment was posted to the module 3 team assignment, but did not clearly state who the teams were comprised of. In an effort to be proactive and to get started on creating a team, Jim reached out to the entire class to try and obtain volunteers to work as a team to complete the assignment. Team member volunteers emailed Jim expressing their interest. Thirty minutes after his initial email, our team was formed. Initially the team consisted of Jim Fiorino, Amber Winters, Jason Shanks, Khari Clarendon, Kevin Connolly, and Michael Keys. Shortly after we formed this team, Dr. Kymn clarified team assignments and sent out communication to the class helping to bring clarity to the assignment. Dr. Kymn honored our volunteer formed team, minus Kevin who had previously left our class. The team formed is a formal organization, working and communicating with each other according to standardized patterns recognizable by everyone (Greenwald, 2008) as students under the larger group we all belong to, the Empire State MBA program. The team selection process reflected our coursework in our Human Systems and Behavior class, as well as earlier class work specifically Competing Values Framework (CVF). Our team has charged itself with finding the perfect balance to the 4 quadrants of the CVF, COLLABORATE, CREATE, COMPETE and CONTROL. The entire team is a group of independent and busy individuals who are all focused on completing the assignment on time, and making sure that we all contribute equally to the assignment given. Team members agreed to be flexible and focused in this process with the ultimate goal in site, a successful organizational analysis. Organization Selection Process: A list of companies was suggested via course email by Michael Keys and was sent to the team for consideration. The list included The Apple Store, Home Depot, Target, Macy’s, and Gap stores. Through email discussions, it was decided by consensus that the group would analyze Apple stores. Mike in the role of team liaison, texted Dr. Kymn with our result, and our selection was approved. Self managing teams are defined as groups of workers assigned the responsibility for making decisions over the manner in which work will be carried out, setting schedules, assigning individuals to perform specific functions, and evaluating members’ performance (Greenwald, Organizations. Management Without Control, 2008). This is a true example of our team, we all need to manage our own time and make decisions that are going to support the timelines discussed on our conference call and complete the specific assignments (specific functions) described earlier. Team Roles and Tasks Roles naturally defined themselves as our team members learned more about each other. Jim’s initial outreach to the entire class identified him as our team’s natural LEADER and PROJECT MANAGER. He was charged with keeping the team on task, on time and on topic. He also promoted positive and timely communication, key to the success of any organization. Our group by nature, is limited to strictly verbal/written communication in our virtual learning environment. This communication mode is characterized by use of words and numbers. Verbal communication has clear advantages over other modes for the exchange of deliberate messages. Transmission of data is always a verbal process (Greenwald, 2008). Amber took on the role of EDITOR and PROOFREADER. A major challenge of the approach our team took to writing this paper was creating it in five voices. The role of editor is important to put the paper in one voice. She also is responsible for reviewing the paper of grammar and typos. The team members shared a few common roles. We all played the role of TEAM MEMBER, RESEARCHER and WRITER. By assigning sections to each team member, we were individually responsible for researching our portion. Following the compilation of our research, we were each independently responsible for writing our 2 page section. Team Responsibilities: After agreeing on the organization to analyze, Jim reached out to the team and we agreed to have a conference call on Sunday December 9th to discuss next steps and to assign the work. Prior to the call Mike had sent out an email stating that he had already completed sections A & B of part 2, which was a great way to get everyone motivated on getting this assignment completed early. During the conference call, the work was split up among the team. Mike already completed A & B, Jason was assigned C & D, Khari was assigned E & F, and Amber was assigned G. Jim volunteered to take all of part two, the team analysis. During this meeting it was agreed that all team members would try and write two pages on their sections to meet the minimum assignment target of ten pages if the content. We agreed that each of our sections were to be completed by Wednesday night and emailed to Jim all of our work can be consolidate and sent over to Amber to allow her time to complete her part of the assignment. During this conference call we all agreed that we will regroup on Wednesday December 12th, to make sure that we are all complete with our sections and to seek assistance if needed. Team Outcomes: Our successful organization, role structure and communication allowed our team to be productive and successful. There were no disagreements or conflict and we all agreed that we want to complete the assignment early, but be successful in doing so. The entire team worked collaboratively with good discussions through positive verbal communication. . All of us shared in ideas and agreed on a time commitment and schedule. People who are collaborative share the same objectives, mutual and equal contributions, and a sense of collectivity among the group, producing a work environment that is free of conflict and tension (Cameron, Quinn, Degraff, & Thakor, 2006). Our two page sections were all emailed to our TEAM LEADER on time. He combined them and sent them to Amber for review and editing and for the summary to be completed. All team members met their obligations as agreed. Team Assessment: Our team can be defined as a high performance team. A high-performance team can be defined as a group of people with specific roles and complementary talents and skills, aligned with and committed to a common purpose, which consistently show high levels of collaboration and innovation that produce superior results. (Hanlan, 2004). The high-performance team has individuals who are highly skilled and are able to interchange their roles and are flexible. Our team operated in this exact manner and had positive outcomes. By definition, this is a good description of our team. Teams that are successful translate their common purpose into specific, measurable, and realistic performance goals. Specific goals facilitate clear communication and help teams maintain their focus on obtaining results (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Our time lines that we discussed on the conference call set clear goals and challenged the group to make sure that we left enough time for Amber to review the work and complete her section. Difficult goals have been found to raise the performance of team members especially to avoid letting down another member of the team (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Forming teams is almost always more productive than having people work by themselves (Cameron, Quinn, Degraff, & Thakor, 2006). This is very true when you have a team like ours that was very collaborative throughout the entire process. Because we were able to work independently, we are able to bring our own ideas to our assigned sections. Many new ideas come from individuals being given the time and resources and allowed to work apart from the normal activities of the organization (Cameron, Quinn, Degraff, & Thakor, 2006) Team Grade: As a team, we have agreed that our work qualifies for a minimum of an A-. We completed the project as assigned. It is our belief we met the challenge of this project by applying the tools of this class successfully. Through organization, structure, communication, role defining and proactivity, we were able to avoid conflict and complete this project on time and in good quality. Our established set of norms that exist within the graduate structure of this class set a good base for the team members to start from. Our team led the class in team creation before the professor was able to clarify the approach. We consider ourselves leaders. We are sure the paper isn’t perfect, no product from any working team is. But what it IS, is a successful compilation of teamwork. SUMMARY: Apple Inc. is a perfect company to analyze through the human behavior lens because their founders understood and structured their company with human behavior in mind. They considered their people and the behaviors that were desired, but they also pay close attention to the consumers and their behaviors. Jobs maintained a company by building a structure, culture, set of norms and values that fostered creativity. He was a genius of people and technology. Jobs did this at apple under 7 rules of success (his norms/values). Rule one is passion, because most people fail because they don’t love what they do. Rule number two is build a team of great people, success hinges on the ability to identify talent and the know how of building successful teams. Rule number three is vision. One must never lose sight of the big picture. Rule number four is creativity; you have to think outside of the box in business and in practice. Rule number five is to learn to say no more often. It’s all about the power of focus. Rule number six is help customers reach their dreams. If you don’t solve a problem, if you don’t accomplish a dream, you don’t have a business. Finally, work on your marketing message (communication externally). Trumpet your success and deliver it in a way people want to hear about it. Don’t be the norm or fill the status quo. (Gallo, 14 O) Steve Jobs says â€Å"Apple is an incredible collaborative company.† Did you know that? Do you by chance know how many committees they have at Apple? ZERO! Teamwork is key to Apple. Teamwork, in terms of trusting that people that will deliver what they committed to without watching them all the time. Jobs set up a training environment that taught his people about people and how to interact with them and get them to achieve the desired result (sales). There is a cult like following not only because of the quality of product, but because of the great care the leaders at Apple took to create and maintain their company in a way that considers (and possibly manipulates) human behavior. Recommendations for Apple Inc. are a bit more complex. With Jobs passing, Tim Cook is just starting to get his feet wet in running and driving the company. Consumers and employees have a high expectation for apple. In terms of structure and communication, roles and culture, it seems Apple is a leader. It will continue to be important for Apple to define that fine line between taking advantage of their knowledge of human behavior and manipulating it for strictly gain. Their technology has also been a leader in the industry. However they have many competitors who are catching up and arguably, surpassing them. The question will be how so they stay ahead and keep their creative people happy. It may require a new out of the box thinking. With new leadership in Cook, it is likely that there will be changes. He will have to establish himself with his people and his consumers who so loved his predecessor. References Cameron, K. S., Quinn, R. E., Degraff, J., & Thakor, A. V. (2006). Competing Values Leadership. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing. Greenwald, H. P. (2008). Organizations. Management Without Control. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Hanlan, M. (2004). High Performance Teams. Westport: Praeger Publishers. Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2009). Organizational Behavior. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall. All Things D. (2012, May 25). Mobile devices now make up about 20 percent of U.S. web traffice. Retrieved from AllthingsD.com: http://allthingsd.com/20120525/mobile-devices-now-make-up-about-20-percent-of-u-s-web-traffic/ Apple. (2012, December 9). Apple Press Info. Retrieved from Apple.com: http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/ Apple Inc. (2012, December 9). Investors Relaitons. Retrieved from Apple.com: http://investor.apple.com/financials.cfm MSNBC. (2012, December 7). Rock Center – Apple CEO on challenge of keeping company cutting edge. Retrieved from Video.msnbc: http://video.msnbc.ms n.com/rock-center/50112247#50112247 Washington Post. (2012, December 9). Apple: A history of one of the world’s most valuable companies. Retrieved from Washingtonpost.com: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/apple-a-history-of-one-of-the-worlds-most-valuable-companies/2012/02/29/gIQA1VFVmR_gallery.html#photo=1 Don Reisinger (2010) Apple’s Corporate Culture: 10 Lessons for Staying in Steve Good Graces, Enterprise IT Technology News, retrieved from: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/Apples-Corporate-Culture-10-Lessons-for-Staying-in-Steve-Jobs-Good-Graces-825505/

E-Supply Chain Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

E-Supply Chain Management - Essay Example More and more firms accelerate to implement their supply chains in a web-based manner in an effort to lower their operating costs and attain a fast response to the market condition changes. However, this framework considers primarily two factors of the organizational ability to integrate their external partners and the complexity of operation, which are natural in a market-centric economy. In a transitional economy where a centrally planned economy moves toward that of a free market, the government influence is a factor that cannot be ignored. Another important factor is the information asymmetry that will be discussed later. The organizational ability to integrate with their external partners is the common factor used in both frameworks. We use the information asymmetry instead of the complexity of operations and the new factor of government influence. (Panta, 2003, 205) Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK Ltd is one among many Japanese automotive manufacturers which lays claim to be at the forefront of these new specific developments in customer-supplier relationships (see for instance Mair, 1994; Wickens, 1987). Toyota now has 210 suppliers in 11 European countries, of which 50 per cent (by value and number) are UK-based. As production moves up to the projected full capacity of 225,000 units per year, the value of the supply chain is estimated to reach 880 million by 1999. Toyota Motor Company, with its emphasis on lean production, efficiency and quality, is seen by many to be an exemplary model of best practice for other firms to follow. Firms joining the Toyota supply chain will fully expect to become converts to the Toyota production method and the social demands of obligational contracting ways (Winfield and Kerrin, 1996). Customer influence examined The influence of a major customer on a supplier can and does have far-reaching measurable effects. Harland (1996) draws attention to the importance of the "softer" behavioural features of supplier-customer relationships, such as the attitudes, expectations and perceptions held by both parties, which can have profound implications for the actual success of the partnership. He also suggests rather tantalizingly that these changed behaviours within the contracting partnership can have direct effects on other aspects of organization-wide behaviour within the supply firm. Toyota claims in particular to encourage close partnering with suppliers; extending even to encouraging suppliers to participate in parts design (Ohno, 1988). Toyota will even offer advice and financial assistance to its suppliers who need to upgrade their production to meet the demands of quality and the JIT manufacturing system. Help is also freely given with the design of training and with management development programmes. All this takes place within the social boundaries of frequent company visits, an atmosphere of long-term trust and of a partnership based on mutual prosperity. In selecting suppliers, Toyota places emphasis not simply on product quality and future ability to meet the just-in-time production demands; but also it seems, on more subtle cognitive and social variables. These

Impressionism and post-impressionism in the art institute of Chicago Essay

Impressionism and post-impressionism in the art institute of Chicago - Essay Example Baudelaire says that "pleasure ennobles the soul and softens the heart," and a quick glance through the works exhibited in the Impressionist Gallery of the Art Institute of Chicago brings out a wholehearted agreement with the statement. Pierre-Auguste Renoir's "Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise," in Gallery 201 typifies the mood of the sentence where the artist has portrayed two young men, languorously enjoying the sun dappled afternoon. Giving them company is the young woman with her back turned to the viewer, decked out in the fashion of the day, a blue flannel dress. The faces have a look of ease and their casual way of sitting reveals that they have had a satisfying day, have enjoyed their lunch and a cigarette in the boater's hand is indicative of the end of their feasting. This painting has been called an image of "bourgeois leisure" (Impressionism and Post-Impressionism p. 45) and here we see men and women enjoying themselves, which in turn suffuses their selves and softens th e rough edges they might have possessed. The men and woman have an easy camaraderie, and they could be any of the vast multitudes who escaped the bustle of Paris to spend a day in the country, which was made possible by the new modes of transport like the locomotive.2. In Visions, Hannoosh cited Baudelaire as describing some major techniques (valuing color over line, depicting movement or "perpetual vibration," including "air" as an element, using minute strokes, etc to make a "unified whole") that Impressionism developed fully. Find an Impressionist painting here that does one of these, identify, and briefly tell how it does so. Baudelaire's analysis of the painting techniques of the Impressionists can be studied, once again, in Renoir's "Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise," where we find a look of unhurried action. Colors play a very important role in here as can be seen in the color palette that he used, full of yellows and greens and blues, with a complete dissociation from black and grey. The brushstrokes he has used are light and feathery which reinforces the indolence that is a result of being sated. There are no clearly marked contours, so that the whole scene is softened and the afternoon sun dapples the painting and leaves its mark on the viewer too. There is an energy to the painting because of the minute strokes and a masterly use of light and shadow, seem sometimes on the table and at other times in the fold of the lady's dress. A very striking feature of the painting is that it depicts ordinary people in an ordinary surrounding and indulging in the most common recreations. 5. Choose any painting here that is more RURAL in emphasis than one you've already remarked on. Identify it, and briefly tell how it contrasts with any one thing from Baudelaire, Hannoosh's remarks, another Impressionist or Modernist work, or any of the art theory from Freeland. Van Gogh's The Poet's Garden can be studied as a contradiction of Baudelaire's vitriolic attack on his country in " Three Drafts of a Preface" when he says that " France is passing through a period of vulgarity," when in fact we see the flowering of some of the greatest minds in art and literature during this phase. I t is also a contradiction of the subject chosen by the Impressionists, which tended to depict Parisian life most of the time. The two main theories of art, i.e. expression theory and cognitive theory, realize the fact that art should and does communicate. It sends out the emotions, and ideas that led to the creation of the piece and the reasons that propelled the artist to paint it in a certain way. An artist has the ability to convey ideas in ways which are "original, apt and unique to a medium."(Freedland, 161) This painting by Van Gogh was created by him as a decoration for Paul Gauguin's bedroom which he would occupy during

Journal 16 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Journal 16 - Assignment Example He managed to make plenty of money from handling cases of poor immigrants in New York City. He attracts clients through promises and extorts theme to bits. He believes that earning money brings more pleasure. He adds that making more makes his family happier. He observes that money produces happiness and does not take the time to address his family. Tito regrets his past behavior and treatment to his family. He wishes that he had created more time to measure up to his mistakes. On the contrary, it becomes too late to accomplish all that he wanted to share. He cannot show a decent goodbye to the family. Even though, Tito had plenty of complaints against his wife, he believed that the wife had a critical role within his life in Cuba. She was the main reason that pushed him to make more money as a way of satisfying her. He was aware that this had to be the only way of holding together the relationship. Previously, Tito lived a life of misery and difficulty. His wife came into his life while his business was successful and ran advertisements on mass media. Currently, Tito considers his wife a greedy woman who constantly asks the husband to award her money to expense. The fact that she shares no feeling for her husband, she refuses to divorce him for his riches. He has difficulties relating with Ines and Jaime. Tito’s life is limited within the confines of making profit from everyone. This has strained his relationships with his wife and children. He considers making more money through doctoring birth certificates, forging employment records, thwarting deportation, securing sponsors, generating legitimate green cards and applying for political asylums. These contrasts depict how people perceive of money as a happiness equivalent. The thought of more money amounts to equal amounts of happiness is misguided. Tito’s story shows that money does not have a direct comparison with the amount of happiness derived. Politics displays the characters’ in two

Ospedale degli Innocenti Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ospedale degli Innocenti - Essay Example Ospedale degli Innocenti is one of the great architectural masterpieces by Filippo Brunelleschi. The building is located in Florence, Italy. Its title is translated as a hospital of innocents and often referred as a foundling hospital in literature. Built during 1419–1451 to serve as an orphanage and hospital for children, the building represents clear influences of new architecture which came to replace dominant gothic motifs (GÃ ¼nther, 2010). The building was finished after the death of the architect. It is absolutely symmetrical and orderly organized which is typical for ancient Roman buildings. Inner courtyard of Ospedale degli Innocenti reminds Roman forum plan. It has an open space surrounded by arcades which create some private space in urban settings. Rectangular and square forms dominate the space. Columns are very important elements of traditional Roman architecture. In order to stress the symmetry of the building, all columns have equal distance between them. Cori nthian capitals add ornamentation to the building. Moreover, Brunelleschi designs fluted pilasters which are aimed at decorating the building and keeping the same order of symmetry (LaChiusa, 2002). This arcade on the ground floor of the building becomes the distinguishing feature of the building and makes it easy to recognize. Rounded arches which enclose the arcade create more space for decorum (LaChiusa, 2002). Overall, the exterior of the building shows that the architect was inspired by classical Roman architecture.

Genetic Fingerprinting in Paternal Testing and Forensic Science Research Paper

Genetic Fingerprinting in Paternal Testing and Forensic Science - Research Paper Example Introduction Genetic fingerprinting is a technique that relies on exploiting the differences between human DNA sequences, particularly in variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs), for identification. Predominantly the technique is used in paternity testing and the forensic sciences, and can be used as evidence in a criminal trial (Sheindlin 1996). The use of these VNTRs relies on the fact that these are highly variable between non-related humans and so any matches that are made, either between two individuals or forensic evidence and an accused, is not likely to arise by chance (Toth 1997). The purpose of this essay is to explore the applications of genetic fingerprinting technology in paternal testing and forensic science, as well as highlighting some of the pitfalls of using such technology, particularly in a legal setting. Genetic Fingerprinting The principles of genetic fingerprinting rely on the differences between human genomic sequences. Although 99% of the human genome is the s ame in structure, there are certain differences (known as polymorphisms) that are distinctly different in individuals that are not related. For example, VNTRs, particularly short tandem repeats (STRs or microsatellites) are molecular markers that are extremely prone to mutation (Gill et al 1987). All human genomes contain STRs, but these vary hugely between populations and within them, to the extent that 1 in 5 million people will have the same sequence by chance (Jeffreys, Wilson & Stein 1985). Any technique that can ascertain whether two DNA samples match will, therefore, reduce the possible number of perpetrators hugely, making genetic fingerprinting immensely useful to the law. Related individuals also have similarity due to the STRs being co-dominant; each offspring will have one allele from each parent. It is this fact that makes genetic fingerprinting useful in paternity testing (Jeffreys et al 1985). Genetic profiling can occur in a number of ways. One of the most common is polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which amplifies the amounts of a specific DNA sequence, which is evidently useful when working with known STRs. This is achieved using oglionucleotide primers as well as a DNA polymerase, with the primers targeting a specific STR and the DNA polymerase amplifying them for analysis (Welsh & McClelland 1990). It is important that multiple STRs are analysed using PCR, because each individual one can be shared by around 5-20% of the population (Sheindlin 1996). Using multiple STRs for analysis greatly increases the probability that an exact match will be made for whatever reason the analysis is occurring. This method relies on the principle of independent assortment, and the product rule for probabilities means that the chance of someone having the same alleles at multiple STR loci decreases with the number of loci analysed. Genetic Fingerprinting in Paternal Testing It is because of the nature of VNTRs that makes them useful for paternal testing; because they are co-dominantly inherited, each individual will inherit one copy from each parent. This means that when trying to ascertain paternity, an individual will have the same sequence at each VNTR locus as the father (as well as one from the mother at the corresponding locus). If the mothers VNTR genotype is known, then these

Responseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Essay

Responseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee - Essay Example is no optimum or correct channel of distributing a product or service; it is important for the marketer to focus on other factors when creating a regular channel marketing strategy and making precise channel decisions. Buyers buy a product or service to satisfy a particular need. In decision making in marketing, a buyer has a performed image on the goods or services based on the marketing messages and the company’s reputation. Thus, where the customer finally buys the product is irrelevant to the customer; so long as the product is to the best of his expectations and that the procedure for buying is as simplified as possible. Products that are strongly advertised or those with powerful brand names will definitely have consumers looking out for their products despite the type of distribution used. On the other hand, the consumer value proposition and the buying process changes and mirrors shifting priorities based on personal needs of the consumer. For major goods or eservices, customers may demand varying levels of attention, services, or uniqueness in the purchase (Rajan 20). Such consumer demands can be achieved by different channels of distribution, which are influenced by the type of channel used by the producer. This may include how well motivated and trained the channel is, and the way the channel services the consumers. Indeed, there is nothing like a correct or best channel of distribution for all goods. As products flow in a life cycle, channels that have been in existence will vanish to give way to new ones. As consumer positions, attitudes, usages, and positions of the goods change, it is highly probable that consumers will find the way to different channels. A product or service sold at one time through specified dealerships, at the start, might now be sold via discounters or mass-merchants at the final stages of its product life

Organisational Transformation in Practice Essay Example for Free

Organisational Transformation in Practice Essay Every module has a Module Definition Form (MDF) which is the officially validated record of the module. You can access the MDF for this module in three ways: †¢the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) †¢the My. Anglia Module Catalogue at www. anglia. ac. uk/modulecatalogue †¢Anglia Ruskin’s module search engine facility at www. anglia. ac. uk/modules All modules delivered by Anglia Ruskin University at its main campuses in the UK and at partner institutions throughout the UK and overseas are governed by the Academic Regulations. You can view these at www. anglia. ac. uk/academicregs. A printed extract of the Academic Regulations, known as the Assessment Regulations, is available for every student from your Faculty Office MAB301 (all new students will have received a copy as part of their welcome pack). In the unlikely event of any discrepancy between the Academic Regulations and any other publication, including this module guide, the Academic Regulations, as the definitive document, take precedence over all other publications and will be applied in all cases. 2. Introduction to the Module This module provides the opportunity for students to personally explore the relationship between personal change and organisational change/ transformation (de Vries and Balazs, 1999). And personally relate to the leadership and organisational challenges of transformational change in organisations. The module uses different activities to explore the nature of personal change issues required for successful employee engagement in an organisations change agenda. In the management and leadership field much is written and discussed about the following seven elements: (1) behaviour, (2) knowledge (3) skills / capability (4) belief systems, (5) values, (6) identity, (7) vision/ purpose. Using various methods, students will be encouraged to make sense of each of these ideas, and the interrelationship between them. This will be set against a real/simulated strategic learning context. Module participants are actively encouraged to reflect upon their own  existential experience and development through dynamic relations with others and performing roles. It is hoped the module will lead to students developing profound personal insights and also achieve personal growth. The module uses different activities to enquire into, reflect upon and diagnose personal, group and organizational leadership and transformation. Students will be able to diagnose where a/ their team or organisation is weak and design interventions that can help to guide significant change or transformation. The student will be equipped with a clear methodology for guiding his or her own development as an achiever or leader of the future. Assessment is by way of portfolio. 3. Intended Learning Outcomes Learning Outcomes (threshold standards) On successful completion of this module the student will be expected to be able to: 1 Knowledge and understanding Understand the values and leadership behaviours that create the modern enterprise and equip individuals to manage / lead in globally transformational contexts 2 Knowledge and understanding. Develop a robust understanding of leadership and change management within the context of organisational transformation 3 Intellectual, practical, affective and transferable skills Utilise a 7 element framework as a diagnostic tool to evaluate leadership capability in a team or organisation 4 Intellectual, practical, affective and transferable skills Demonstrate an ability to reflect upon ones own management development journey against the context of employability in global and transformational settings of the future 4. Outline Delivery. WkLectureSeminar/WorkshopReading 1 Organisational changeAction Learning SetsKets de Vries 2 Personal change Patchwork textKets de Vries Jung 3 Personal change organisational changePatchwork textKets de Vries James and Arroba http://triadllc. com/publications. html 4 Manager as personPatchwork textKets de Vries Tony Watson 5 Management leadershipPatchwork textKets de Vries Keith Grint 6 Managing leading changePatchwork textKets de Vries http://triadllc. com/publications. html 7 Managing Leading changePatchwork textKets de Vries. James and Arroba 8 Change agencyPatchwork textKets de Vries James and Arroba 9 Change processesPatchwork textKets de Vries 10 Organisational rolePatchwork textKrantz and Maltz 11 Wheel of changePatchwork textKets de Vries Jung 12 Wheel of changePatchwork textKets de Vries etc 4. 1 Attendance Requirements Attending all your classes is very important and one of the best ways to help you succeed in this module. In accordance with the Student Charter, you are expected to arrive on time and take an active part in all your timetabled classes. If you are unable to attend a class for a valid reason (eg: illness), please contact your Module Tutor Anglia Ruskin will closely monitor the attendance of all students and will contact you by e-mail if you have been absent without notice for two weeks. Continued absence can result in the termination of your registration as you will be considered to have withdrawn from your studies. International students who are non-EEA nationals and in possession of entry clearance/leave to remain as a student (student visa) are required to be in regular attendance at Anglia Ruskin. Failure to do so is considered to be a breach of national immigration regulations. Anglia Ruskin, like all British Universities, is statutorily obliged to inform the Border and Immigration Agency of the Home Office of significant unauthorised absences by any student visa holders. 5. Assessment Students are required to assemble a â€Å"patchwork text† (Illes, 2003; Winter, 2003) which relates your current or future workplace role. The patchwork text may be developed or based upon the following: †¢Kets de Vries (2004) suggests that people are prisoners of their past. Evaluate and reflect upon how your past might influence your future workplace role and development. †¢Evaluate and reflect upon a personal experience of change in your workplace †¢Apply Krantz and Maltz’s (1997) role analysis to your current workplace experience. †¢Using the â€Å"triangle of conflict† (de Vries, 2007), evaluate and reflect upon a major incident of conflict in your life. Consider your learning/ experiences in relation to your future workplace role. †¢Apply James and Arroba’s (2005) â€Å"reading and carrying framework† to critically evaluate and reflect upon how you interact with others. Consider the implications in relation to your future workplace role. †¢Conduct and develop a critical self-analysis using Jung’s notion of individuation (Carr, 2002), and relate this to your leadership archetype. †¢Critically evaluate, and reflect upon your own resilience and relate this your existing and future leadership competencies Guidance Notes for Students (see Smith and Winter, 2003) Your assignment will be assembled gradually during the progress of the module through a series of written tasks, which you will share with each other in small groups. There are several reasons for this:- †¢to avoid the last minute rush of having to write the whole assignment at the end of the teaching, when time is short; †¢to enable you to use a variety of different ways of writing, and thus to increase your opportunity to demonstrate your own particular abilities; †¢to enable you to give each other early constructive feedback as to how clearly you have presented your ideas and how they might perhaps be developed; †¢to enable you to write about all aspects of the module content (instead of having to select just a few aspects for a specific essay topic). Before you submit your assignment, you will be asked to write a final piece, to be added to what you have written already. This is designed to give you the opportunity to revisit (edit and revise) the ideas you have presented in your earlier pieces and to discuss what you have gained from the work as a whole. (This is the only task that will need to be completed after the end of the teaching. ) You MUST use academic theories and concepts to develop your personal reflection and portfolio. Your patchwork text SHOULD meet all the learning outcomes (see below; see mdf) Learning Outcomes (threshold standards): On successful completion of this module the student will be expected to be able to: Knowledge and understanding Understand the values and leadership behaviours that create the modern enterprise and equip individuals to manage / lead in globally transformational contexts Knowledge and understandingDevelop a robust understanding of leadership and change management within the context of organisational transformation Intellectual, practical, affective and transferable skillsUtilise the 7 Element framework as a diagnostic tool to evaluate leadership capability in a team or organisation. Intellectual, practical, affective and transferable skillsDemonstrate an ability to reflect upon ones own management development journey against the context of employability in global and transformational settings of the future The sequence of writing tasks which will make up the final assignment is as follows: Weeks 1- 4 (approx. ) 1Explore how your personal experience impacts upon, and has implications for how you interact with others, adapt and respond to change (Learning outcomes 1 – 4). Weeks 5- 7 (approx. ) 2. Using your chosen personal experience critically reflect upon and evaluate your own assumptions, values and leadership behaviours. (Learning outcomes 1 and 3). Weeks 8 – 12 (approx. ) 3 Write about an example of your own group experiences from the point of view of one of your fellow group members imagining their experience of your work with her / him (Learning Outcomes 1- 4) Weeks 1 – 12. 4. Use the learning from your personal experience, and group reflection, in relation to your future workplace role (Learning outcomes 1 – 4) 5. (Final synthesis) A retrospective summary of and commentary on your previous writing, indicating what you have learned which seems to you to be important for your own professional understanding and development (Learning outcomes 1 – 4) Time will be available within the teaching sessions for you to discuss in small groups the writing you have done in response to each of the writing tasks. So you will therefore need to make four or five copies to bring along to the session. The word-limit for the whole assignment is 3,000 words. There are no specific word-limits for the individual pieces of writing, but you should aim to make sure that there is a balance between them. And you will need to leave at least 500 words for the final task (no. 5 above). Patchwork text references Akister, J. (2005). Using a Patchwork Text to assess family therapy students. Journal of Family Therapy, 27(3), 276-279 Illes K. (2003). The Patchwork Text and Business Education: rethinking the importance of personal reflection and co-operative cultures. Innovations in Education Teaching International, 40(2), 209-215. McKenzie J. (2003). The student as an active agent in a disciplinary structure: introducing the Patchwork Text in teaching sociology. Innovations in Education Teaching International, 40(2), 152-160. Ovens P. (2003). Using the Patchwork Text to develop a critical understanding of science. Innovations in Education Teaching International, 40(2), 133-143. Parker J. (2003). The Patchwork Text in teaching Greek Tragedy. Innovations in Education Teaching International, 40(2), 180-193. Quinn J. (2003). Patchwork Text example one: becoming a science specialist teacher. Innovations in Education Teaching International, 40(2), 144-151. Ramsden, P. (1992). Learning to Teach in Higher Education, Routledge: London. Smith L. Winter R. (2003). Applied epistemology for community nurses: evaluating the impact of the Patchwork Text. Innovations in Education Teaching International, Volume 40(2), 161-173. Winter, R. (2003). Contextualizing the Patchwork Text: Addressing Problems of Coursework Assessment in Higher Education, Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 40(2), 112-122. All coursework assignments and other forms of assessment must be submitted by the published deadline which is detailed above. It is your responsibility to know when work is due to be submitted – ignorance of the deadline date will not be accepted as a reason for late or non-submission. All student work which contributes to the eventual outcome of the module (ie: if it determines whether you will pass or fail the module and counts towards the mark you achieve for the module) is submitted via the iCentre using the formal submission sheet Academic staff CANNOT accept work directly from you. If you decide to submit your work to the iCentre by post, it must arrive by midday on the due date. If you elect to post your work, you do so at your own risk and you must ensure that sufficient time is provided for your work to arrive at the iCentre. Posting your work the day before a deadline, albeit by first class post, is extremely risky and not advised. Any late work (submitted in person or by post) will NOT be accepted and a mark of zero will be awarded for the assessment task in question. You are requested to keep a copy of your work. Feedback You are entitled to written feedback on your performance for all your assessed work. For all assessment tasks which are not examinations, this is provided by a member of academic staff completing the assignment coversheet on which your mark and feedback will relate to the achievement of the module’s intended learning outcomes and the assessment criteria you were given for the task when it was first issued. Examination scripts are retained by Anglia Ruskin and are not returned to students. However, you are entitled to feedback on your performance in an examination and may request a meeting with the Module Leader or Tutor to see your examination script and to discuss your performance. Anglia Ruskin is committed to providing you with feedback on all assessed work within 20 working days of the submission deadline or the date of an examination. This is extended to 30 days for feedback for a Major Project module (please note that working days excludes those days when Anglia Ruskin University is officially closed; eg: between Christmas and New Year). Personal tutors will offer to read feedback from several modules and help you to address any common themes that may be emerging. At the main Anglia Ruskin University campuses, each Faculty will publish details of the arrangement for the return of your assessed work (eg: a marked essay or case study etc. ). Any work which is not collected by you from the Faculty within this timeframe is returned to the iCentres from where you can subsequently collect it. The iCentres retain student work for a specified period prior to its disposal. To assure ourselves that our marking processes are comparable with other universities in the UK, Anglia Ruskin provides samples of student assessed work to external examiners as a routine part of our marking processes. External examiners are experienced academic staff from other universities who scrutinise your work and provide Anglia Ruskin academic staff with feedback and advice. Many of Anglia Ruskin’s staff act as external examiners at other universities. On occasion, you will receive feedback and marks for pieces of work that you completed in the earlier stages of the module. We provide you with this feedback as part of the learning experience and to help you prepare for other assessment tasks that you have still to complete. It is important to note that, in these cases, the marks for these pieces of work are unconfirmed as the processes described above for the use of external examiners will not have been completed. This means that, potentially, marks can change, in either direction! Marks for modules and individual pieces of work become confirmed on the Dates for the Official Publication of Results which can be checked at www. anglia. ac. uk/results. Assessment Criteria and Marking Standards Patchwork text assignment guidelines (Jenkins, 2008) †¢Careful, detailed observation and recollection of events and situations †¢evidence the interrelationship between leadership behaviours, skills, belief systems, values, identity, vision and purpose (7 elements framework) †¢Noticing the various emotional dimensions of events and situations †¢Independent, critical and evaluative thinking †¢Recognising and responding to the complexities of events and situations †¢Effective communication and application of complex concepts and theories (e.g psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, psychotherapeutic) to personal/ inter-personal experiences of events and situations †¢Demonstrating learning in relation to personal development, effective relations with others and future workplace role. †¢Demonstrating the learner outcomes in relation to future workplace effectiveness †¢Coherent structuring, interlinking and presentation of patchwork text (including grammar, typography and referencing). ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY GENERIC ASSESSMENT CRITERIA AND MARKING STANDARDS LEVEL 3 Generic Learning Outcomes. (Academic Regulations, Section 2)Assessment criteria by levelMarking standards (by mark band) 70%+60-69%50-59%40-49%30-39%1-29% Characteristics of student achievement per mark band Achieves module outcome/s related to this GLO at this Level of StudyAchieves module outcome/s related to this GLO at this Level of StudyAchieves module outcome/s related to this GLO at this Level of Study Achieves a marginal pass in the module outcome/s related to this GLO at this Level of StudyFails marginally to achieve module outcome/s related to this GLO. MDF may permit compensation Fails to achieve module outcome/s related to this GLO and is not eligible for compensation Knowledge and UnderstandingLevel 3 (FHEQ level 6) is characterised by an expectation of students’ increasing autonomy in relation to their study and developing skill sets. Students are expected to demonstrate problem solving skills, both theoretical and practical. This is supported by an understanding of appropriate theory; creativity of expression and thought based in individual judgement; and the ability to seek out, invoke, analyse and evaluate competing theories or methods of working in a critically constructive and open manner. Output includes is articulate, coherent and skilled in the appropriate medium, with some students producing original or innovative work in their specialism. Excellent knowledge base that supports analysis, evaluation and problem-solving in theory/practice/ ethics of discipline with considerable originality. Good knowledge base that supports analysis, evaluation and problem-solving in theory/ practice/ ethics of discipline with some originality. Satisfactory knowledge base that supports some analysis, evaluation and problem-solving in theory/practice/ ethics of discipline. Basic knowledge base with some omissions at the level of theoretical/ethical issues.. Restricted ability to discuss theory and/or or solve problems in disciplineLimited knowledge base; limited understanding of discipline/ethical issues.. Difficulty with theory and problem solving in disciplineInadequate knowledge base; lack of understanding of discipline/ethical issues. Unable to discuss theory or solve problems in discipline. Intellectual (thinking), Practical, Affective and Transferable SkillsLevel 3 (FHEQ level 6) is characterised by an expectation of students’ increasing autonomy in relation to their study and developing skill sets. Students are expected to demonstrate problem solving skills, both theoretical and practical. This is supported by an understanding of appropriate theory; creativity of expression and thought based in individual judgement; and the ability to seek out, invoke, analyse and evaluate competing theories or methods of working in a critically constructive and open manner. Output is articulate, coherent and skilled in the appropriate medium, with some students producing original or innovative work in their specialism. Excellent management of learning, with degree of autonomy/ research that may exceed the assessment brief. Structured and creative expression. Very good academic/ intellectual skills and practical/ team/professional/ problem-solving skills Good management of learning, with consistent self-directed research. Structured and accurate expression. Good academic/ intellectual skills and team/ practical/ prof-essional/problem solving skills Satisfactory management of learning. Some autonomy in research but inconsistent. Structured and mainly accurate expression. Acceptable level of academic/ intellectual skills going beyond description at times Satisfactory team/practical/professional/ problem-solving skillsBasic use of learning resources with little autonomy. Some difficulties with academic/ intellectual skills Some difficulty with structure/ accuracy in expression, but evidence of developing team/ practical/ professional/ problem-solving skillsLimited use of learning resour-ces. Unable to work autonom-ously. Little input to teams. Weak academic/intel-ectual skills. Still mainly descrip-tive General difficulty with structure/ accur-acy in express-ion. Practical/ professional/ problem-solving skills that are not yet secureInadequate use of learning resources. Failure to contribute to team work. Major problems with structure/ accuracy in expression. Very weak academic/ intellectual skills. and weak practical/professional skills. No ability to direct own learning A mark of 0% may be awarded for non-submission, poor or dangerous practice, incoherent and insufficient work, and in situations where the student fails to address the assignment brief and related learning outcomes 7. Assessment Offences. You are reminded that any work that you submit must be your own. All suspected assessment offences will be investigated and can result in severe penalties. Please note that it is your responsibility to consult the relevant sections of the Academic Regulations (section 10 – see www. anglia. ac. uk/academicregs) and the Student Handbook. When you are preparing your work for submission, it is important that you understand the various academic conventions that you are expected to follow in order to make sure that you do not leave yourself open to accusations of plagiarism (eg: the correct use of referencing, citations, footnotes etc.) and that your work maintains its academic integrity. Plagiarism is theft and constitutes the presentation of another’s work as your own in order to gain an unfair advantage. You will receive advice and guidance on how to avoid plagiarism and other elements of poor academic practice during the early stages of your studies at Anglia Ruskin. Introduction Being honest in your work is at the heart of studying and working at university. To be honest in your work you must acknowledge the ideas and work of others you use, and you must not try to get an advantage over others by being dishonest. It is important that you understand what it means to be honest in your work. Although there is general agreement within the UK academic community about the types of activity that are unacceptable, this does vary slightly between institutions, and may be different from where you studied before. We have developed this guidance to help you understand what it means to be honest in your work, and what you should do to make sure that you are handing in work that meets our expectations. This means we can make sure that we can maintain reliable standards for our academic awards, and  students continue to enjoy studying for academic qualifications that have a good reputation. In this guidance we will: †¢clearly define what being honest in your work and good practice mean, and how you can achieve this; †¢define ‘assessment offences’, including plagiarism, cheating and collusion; †¢identify the resources, help and advice available to help you learn the academic skills you need to avoid committing assessment offences; †¢explain how we expect you to behave; and †¢describe what happens if we think you have committed an assessment offence. Being honest in your work and good practice You can show good practice when you do your work independently, honestly and in a proper academic style, using good referencing and acknowledging all of your sources. To show good academic practice you must: †¢show you understand the literature; †¢use research from academics and others in your area of study; †¢discuss and evaluate ideas and theories; †¢develop your own independent evaluation of academic issues; and †¢develop your own arguments. To support your own good practice you will need to develop your: †¢skills at studying and getting information (for example, reading, taking notes, research and so on); †¢skills in looking at an argument and making your own evaluation (for example, having a balanced opinion, using reasoning and argument); †¢writing skills for essays, reports, dissertations and so on; †¢referencing skills (how you include your sources of information in your work); and †¢exam techniques (for example, revising and timing). Achieving good practice is not as complicated as it may appear. You need to do the following. †¢Know the rules. †¢Make sure you reference all of your information sources. Poor practice or dishonesty in your work (such as plagiarism, cheating, fraud and so on) can be a result of you not knowing what you are allowed to do. †¢Develop your own style. Sometimes students include too much original text from the work of others, as they believe that they cannot ‘put it any better’. Although you should try to express ideas in your own words, quoting or summing up ideas from academic sources is fine, as long as you say where you have taken this from. You must also reference other people’s performances or art in your own work. It fine to use other people’s performances and art, but you must be completely clear about why you are using that work, and make sure it is obvious that it isn’t your own. Definitions of assessment offences Plagiarism Plagiarism is when you present someone else’s work, words, images, ideas, opinions or discoveries, whether published or not, as your own. It is also when you take the artwork, images or computer-generated work of others, without properly acknowledging where this is from or you do this without their permission. You can commit plagiarism in examinations, but is most likely to happen in coursework, assignments, portfolios, essays, dissertations and so on. Examples of plagiarism include: †¢directly copying from written work, physical work, performances, recorded work or images, without saying where this is from; †¢using information from the internet or electronic media (such as DVDs and CDs) which belongs to someone else, and presenting it as your own; †¢rewording someone else’s work, without referencing them; and †¢handing in something for assessment which has been produced by another student or person. It is important that you do not plagiarise – intentionally or unintentionally – because the work of others and their ideas are their own. There are benefits to producing original ideas in terms of awards, prizes, qualifications, reputation and so on. To use someone else’s work, words, images, ideas or discoveries is a form of theft. Collusion Collusion is similar to plagiarism as it is an attempt to present another’s work as your own. In plagiarism the original owner of the work is not aware you are using it, in collusion two or more people may be involved in trying to produce one piece of work to benefit one individual, or plagiarising another person’s work. Examples of collusion include: †¢agreeing with others to cheat; †¢getting someone else to produce part or all of your work; †¢copying the work of another person (with their permission); †¢submitting work from essay banks; †¢paying someone to produce work for you; and †¢allowing another student to copy your own work. Many parts of university life need students to work together. Working as a team, as directed by your tutor, and producing group work is not collusion. Collusion only happens if you produce joint work to benefit of one or more person and try to deceive another (for example the assessor). Cheating Cheating is when someone aims to get unfair advantage over others. Examples of cheating include: †¢taking unauthorised material into the examination room; †¢inventing results (including experiments, research, interviews and observations); †¢handing your own previously graded work back in; †¢getting an examination paper before it is released; †¢behaving in a way that means other students perform poorly; †¢pretending to be another student; and †¢trying to bribe members of staff or examiners. Help to avoid assessment offences Most of our students are honest and want to avoid making assessment offences. We have a variety of resources, advice and guidance available to help make sure you can develop good academic skills. We will make sure that we make available consistent statements about what we expect in this document, and in student handbooks and module guides. You will be able to do tutorials on being honest in your work from the library and other central support services and faculties, and you will be able to test your written work for plagiarism using ‘Turnitin ®UK’ (a software package that detects plagiarism). You can get advice on how to honestly use the work of others in your own work from the library website (www. libweb. anglia. ac. uk/referencing/referencing. htm) and your lecturer and personal tutor. You will have an opportunity to do a ‘formative’ assignment before you finish and hand in your first ‘summative’ assignment. A ‘formative’ assignment is one in which you can talk about your work thoroughly with your tutor to make sure that you are working at the correct level for your award, and that you understand what is meant by good practice (a ‘summative’ assignment counts towards the assessment for your course). You will be able to use ‘Turnitin ®UK’, a special software package which is used to detect plagiarism. Turnitin ®UK will produce a report which clearly shows if passages in your work have been taken from somewhere else. You may talk about this with your personal tutor to see where you may need to improve your academic practice. We will not see these formative Turnitin ®UK reports as assessment offences. If you are not sure whether the way you are working meets our requirements, you should talk to your personal tutor. They will be able to help you and tell you about other resources which will help you develop your academic skills. What we expect from you  We will make sure you have the chance to practice your academic skills and avoid accidentally breaking our Academic Regulations. On page nine of the Student Charter (see http://web. anglia. ac. uk/anet/students/pdfs/09_student_charter. pdf), it says you have to ‘be aware of the academic rules relating to your studies’. To make sure that you are aware of the rules, we expect you to agree to: †¢read this guidance and make sure you thoroughly understand it; †¢work through ‘PILOT’, the online tutorial available on our library website (http://libweb. anglia. ac.uk/pilot/), which aims to help you learn good practice and has a useful section on plagiarism; †¢make sure that you are familiar with how to reference (acknowledge other people’s work); †¢correctly reference all the sources for the information you have included in your work; †¢identify information you have downloaded from the internet; †¢never use someone else’s ideas for a performance, film or TV programme, their artwork, graphics (including graphs, spreadsheets and so on and information from the internet) as if they are yours; †¢only hand in your own original work; †¢never use another person’s work as if it were your own; and †¢never let other students use or copy your work. What we will do for you To help you avoid making assessment offences, our staff will: †¢make sure they are familiar with the guidance on being honest in your work and the Academic Regulations; †¢tell you clearly about the guidance on being honest in your work and any guidelines on misconduct, and record the dates for future reference; †¢arrange library information sessions for you;

How the Media Affect What People Essay Example for Free

How the Media Affect What People Essay The standard assertion in most recent empirical studies is that media affect what people think about, not what they think. The findings here indicate the media make a significant contribution to what people think—to their political preferences and evaluations—precisely by affecting what they think about. A he belief that long dominated the scholarly community is that news messages have minimal consequences (Katz and Lazarsfeld, 1955; Klapper, 1960). Many media scholars still endorse something close to this view (cf. McGuire, 1985; Gans, n. d. ; Neuman, 1986; also M. Robinson and Sheehan, 1983). The more popular recent view is that media influence is significant, but only in shaping the problems the public considers most important—their agendas (McCombs and Shaw, 1972). In some respects, agenda research challenges the minimal consequences view, but both approaches share a core assumption. Both assume audiences enjoy substantial autonomy in developing their political preferences. Research contradicting the notion that media have minimal consequences or only influence agendas has emerged during the 1980s (see, e. g. the pioneering yet disparate work of such authors as Bartels, 1985; Patterson, 1980; Iyengar and Kinder, 1987; and Page, Shapiro, and Dempsey, 1987; cf. Rob- The author gratefully acknowledgesfinancialsupport from the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation and the Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin, and thanks this journals referees and editors for useful suggestions. JOURNAL OF POLITICS, Vol. 51, No. 2, May 1 989 Portions of this article appear in DEMOCRACY WITHOUT CITIZENS: THE MEDIA AND THE DECAY OF AMERICAN POLITICS by Robert M. Entman.  © 1989 by Robert M. Entman. Used by arrangement with Oxford University Press, Inc. 348 Robert M. Entman inson and Levy, 1986). 1 But this burgeoning research has not yet generated a theory that explicitly refutes the assumption of audience autonomy and explains more fully the medias impact on public opinion. This article probes the theoretical underpinnings of the autonomy assumption and provides empirical evidence that media messages significantly influence what the public thinks by shaping what they think about. THE RESEARCH TRADITION The audience autonomy assumption provides the foundation for the minimal consequences position. The assumption is that audiences form their political opinions in relative independence from the media. There are two somewhat distinct variants of this position. The first emphasizes that audiences think about communications selectively, screening out information they do not like (Klapper, I960; cf. McGuire, 1985). The second holds that audiences pay so little attention and understand so little that the news cannot influence them (Neuman, 1986; cf. MacKuen, 1984). 2 In practice, both the selectivity hypothesis and the hypothesis of inattention and incomprehension (hereafter just inattention) hold that media messages tend only to reinforce existing preferences rather than helping to form new attitudes or change old ones. Thus the media have little net impact on politics. The central assumption of the more recent agenda setting research has been that media do exert significant influence, but only in a narrow sphere. In this view, the publics autonomy is not complete, but its susceptibility to media influence is limited to agendas. Agenda research almost always includes a sentence like this: Although a minimal effects model most accurately describes the medias ability to change opinions, recent research has shown that the media can play a much larger role in telling us what to think about, if not what to think (Lau and Erber, 1985, p. 60; almost identical assertions appear throughout the literature, e. g. , McCombs and Shaw, 1972; MacKuen, 1984, pp. 72, 386; and even radical critiques such as Parenti, 1985, p. 23; also see MacKuen and Combs, 1981; Behr and Iyengar, 1985; Miller, Erbring, and Goldenberg, 1979). 3 Agenda scholarship does not provide a comprehensive theory that explains why media influence is confined to agendas, but selecDeFleur and Ball-Rokeachs dependency theory (1982) describes an important theoretical alternative to the autonomy assumption, but that work predates most of the re cent surge in empirical evidence. 2 Neuman (1986, chap. ) grounds his argument in the lack of evidence that media can teach specific information or enhance political sophistication. The concern in this paper is with political evaluations and preferences, which do not require much information—often a simple emotional response will do (cf. Abelson et al. , 1982). A related argument cites the publics inability to recall specific stories. But the influence of a single news story or show is rarely of interest. The primary concern is the effect of repeated news messages over time (cf. Graber, 1984). But compare Iyengar and Kinder, 1987, and Protess et al. , 1987, for agenda setting research showing that media influence of agendas also shapes, respectively, the mass publics criteria of political judgment and public officials behavior. 1 How the Media Affect What People Think 349 tivity and inattention again seem to be key. In the agenda setting view, the media can overcome these bar riers in determining the issues people think about but not in shaping how they evaluate issues or candidates (the most explicit discussion is MacKuen, 1984). The problem with the agenda setting position is that the distinction between what to think and what to think about is misleading. Nobody, no force, can ever successfully tell people what to think. Short of sophisticated physical torture (brainwashing), no form of communication can compel anything more than feigned obeisance. The way to control attitudes is to provide a partial selection of information for a person to think about, or process. The only way to influence what people think is precisely to shape what they think about. No matter what the message, whether conveyed through media or in person, control over others thinking can never be complete. Influence can be exerted through selection of information, but conclusions cannot be dictated. If the media (or anyone) can affect what people think about—the information they process—the media can affect their attitudes. This perspective yields an assumption of interdependence: public opinion grows out of an interaction between media messages and what audiences make of them. I will call this the interdependence model. The competing positions, the minimal consequences and the agenda perspectives, both endorse the assumption that audiences form preferences autonomously. I will call this the autonomy model. INFORMATION PROCESSING AND MEDIA IMPACTS Combining a recognition of the interdependence of audiences and media with information-processing models developed by cognitive psychologists may offer the best foundation for a new understanding (cf. Gra ber, 1984; Kraus and Perloff, 1985). There is no consensus among those who study information processing. But a number of generalizations pertinent to the mass medias impacts can be gleaned from their work. Information-processing research shows that people have cognitive structures, called schemas,4 which organize their thinking. A persons system of schemas stores substantive beliefs, attitudes, values, and preferences (cf. Rokeach, 1973) along with rules for linking different ideas. The schemas direct attention to relevant information, guide its interpretation and evaluation, provide inferences when information is missing or ambiguous, and facilitate its retention (Fiske and Kinder, 1981, p. 73). Schemas are not filters used to select out all unfamiliar or uncomfortable information. As Bennett writes, [I]nformation processing constructs [i. e. schemas] like party identification and ideological categories should not be reScholars have used many other terms, including scripts, inferential sets, frames, and prototypes. While there are subtle differences among them, they need not concern u s here. The term schema is as good as any, and for claritys sake I use the English plural schemas instead of the awkward schemata. 4 350 Robert M. Entman garded as rigid cognitive frameworks that work infixedways to screen out unfamiliar information (Bennett, 1981, p. 91). Certainly people fail to think about much of the news, but not necessarily because they choose only congruent messages, or because they inevitably misunderstand or deliberately ignore media reports. Selectivity and inattention are stressed by the autonomy model, but that model fails to explain why many citizens do think about a great deal of the new information they encounter. Information-processing theory recognizes and helps explain how attitudes emerge from a dynamic interaction of new information with peoples existing beliefs. In Bennetts (1981, p. 92) words, political thought is data-driven by external information and conceptually-driven by internal schemas. Information-processing theory suggests that whether people ignore or pay attention to new information depends more on its salience, on whether it meshes with their interests, than on whether it conflicts with their existing beliefs (Markus and Zajonc, 1985, pp. 162 and passim; Kinder and Sears, 1985, pp. 710-12). While people may resist knowledge that challenges their fundamental values (Axelrod, 1973), most can accommodate new information and even hold a set of specific beliefs that may appear dissonant, contradictory, or illogical to an outsider (cf. Lane, 1962). The explicit model of thinking that cognitive psychologists have been putting together thus contradicts the implicit model in much of media research. Rather than resisting or ignoring most new or dissonant media reports, as the autonomy model assumes, the information-processing view predicts that people are susceptible to significant media effects. In the information-processing perspective, a person first assesses a media report for salience. If salient, the person processes the news according to routines established in the schema system. Processing may lead the person either to store the information or discard it; if stored, the information may stimulate new beliefs or change old beliefs. So selectivity and inattention are not the whole story. Often people may screen out information that contradicts their current views; but other times they think about disturbing reports they find relevant. The notion of an audience that actively resists all potentially conflicting information rests upon an assumption of a deeply involved and knowledgeable citizenry, a vision that does not apply to most people (e. g. , Converse and Markus, 1979; Kinder and Sears, 1985). Common sense suggests it takes more information and time to change the minds of strong adherents than weak ones, but sometimes even loyalists do change. When the implications are not obvious—for example when the information is contained in the form of a subtle slant to the news (see Entman, 1989, chap. )—the probability increases that even activists will store conflicting data without experiencing any immediate dissonance. And while it may take many repetitions of a media message to pierce the publics indubitable haze of neglect and distraction, this very same political indifference may enhance the likelihood that messages which do penetrate How the Media Affect What People Think 351 will have an impact. Ju st because on most matters Americans have so little knowledge and such weakly-anchored beliefs, information provided by the media can significantly shape their attitudes. Not only do the majority of audience members lack detailed, expert knowledge or strong opinions (cf. Fiske, Kinder, and Larter, 1983); sometimes there are no old attitudes to defend. Many of the most significant political contests are played out over emerging issues or leaders; audiences do not have set attitudes toward them. That clears the path for significant media influence. TESTING MEDIA INFLUENCE Identification as liberal, moderate, or conservative is a key component of the political schema system that much of the public applies to political information. Ideological leanings affect responses to specific media eports; different identifiers may read the same message differently. This is why the media, in common with all other sources of information, cannot dictate public views and why an interdependence model seems appropriate. The interdependence model predicts that media influence varies according to the way each person processes specific news messages. Instead of treating ideo logy as a tool people use to screen out reports that conflict with their liberalism or conservatism, the model sees ideology as a schema that influences the use people make of media messages in more complicated ways. The interaction between the attributes of the message and the schemas of the audience shapes the impact of the news. One element of this interdependence is message salience, which may vary among the ideological groups. Stories that interest liberals may bore conservatives; items that intrigue ideologues on either side may not interest moderates, who have few strong beliefs. Another aspect of interdependence involves whether the message is relevant to peripheral or central attitudes. The centrality of a message may vary for different groups, since liberals and conservatives appear to structure their ideas distinctively. Central to liberalism is attachment to ideals of change and equality; central to conservatism is attraction to capitalism (Conover andj^eldman, 1981). The two groups probably process some media messages^differently. This decidedly does not mean liberals, for example, screen out all material that challenges liberalism. Consider an editorial praising the ideal of capitalist markets and proposing to make the post office a private enterprise. While the message conflicts with liberal ideology, it does so peripherally, since government ownership of public utilities is not fundamental to American liberalism. The message may not only bolster conservatism among conservatives, but weaken liberals commitment to liberalism, if only at the margin. Another point of interdependence involves whether the message comes from an editorial, with its overtly persuasive intent, or from a news story that is ostensibly designed merely to inform. Conservatives may be more likely 352 Robert M. Entman o screen out editorial than news items that favor the left, since the slant of news may not be obvious. Afinalaspect of interdependence lies in how new or unfamiliar the reported topic is. All else being equal, the less familiar the object of the news, the less likely a person will respond by fitting the report into an established category and maintaining a set attitude. Where the subject of the news is unfamiliar to all sets of ideological identif iers, all will be susceptible to media influence. Four hypotheses emerge from this use of information processing theory to develop an interdependence model of media influence. They are not all the hypotheses that merit exploration, but they are the ones that can be tested with the data available, and they should provide support for the superiority of the interdependence over the autonomy model. Hypothesis #1: Editorials affect ideological identifiers more than moderates. Those identifying as liberals or conservatives are likely to find ideologically-charged editorial messages salient. Those with less-focused commitments, the moderates, may not find ideological editorials relevant. Hypothesis #2: Liberal editorials should exert a leftward push on those attitudes of conservatives not central to their ideology. Hypothesis #3: Editorial content has stronger effects on new subjects of news coverage than on long-familiar ones. Hypothesis #4: News affects beliefs among liberals, moderates, and conservatives alike. People will tend to screen out news messages less than editorials. Shaped by objectivity rules, news stories are designed to appear neutral to audiences (e. g. , Schudson, 1978; Tuchman, 1978; Molotch and Boden, 1985). The appearance of neutrality may soften the audiences defenses. DATA The dataset combines a national survey on Americans political attitudes from 1974 and 1976 with information on the political content of the newspapers read by respondents. The 1974 Michigan Content Analysis Study provides extensive information on the front page news and editorial page content of ninety-two newspapers throughout the country. The total number of news and editorial items employed here is nearly 18,000. 5 The content information (Institute for Social Research, 1978) is matched to data from a representative national survey, the University of Michigan Center for Political Studies poll of 1974. The sample analyzed consists of those who were surveyed and read  ° The study included ninety-six newspapers, of which four had incomplete data; readers of those four were excluded from the analysis. How the Media Affect What People Think 353 one of the ninety-two newspapers included in the Content Analysis Study, a total weighted sample of 1,292 persons. 6 Excluded were those who did not read a paper (approximately 30% of those surveyed) or who read papers for which no data were collected. 7 The content data were gathered for ten days during October and November, 1974. Even though the data were obtained over a short time period, a check suggests they accurately reflect the typical stands of the papers. For example, among the ninety-two newspapers, the Washington Post scores higher in editorial liberalism than the (defunct) Washington Star; the New York Daily News scores to the right of the New York Times, and so forth. 8 In any case, while far from perfect, the dataset is the most comprehensive collection linking media content to peoples attitudes. One measure of newspaper content taps diversity in news stories, the other liberalism in editorials. I expect both aspects of the newspapers message to encourage opinions to move toward more sympathy with liberal politicians, 6 The actual number of people interviewed was 1,575. The answers of some members of the sample were counted three times to make a weighted sample of 2,523. This was done in order to ensure adequate representation in the sample of sparsely populated areas of the country. Thus, the we ighted sample is the most representative. 7 The demographics of the final reader subsample closely parallel those of the 1974 national cross section as a whole. The mean education of the entire original sample, including non-readers (n = 2,523), is 11. 5 years, the mean of the sample analyzed (n = 1,292) is 12. 2; the mean income, about $11,000 versus $12,000. On other demographic and political characteristics, the two groups are virtually identical. 8 Further enhancing confidence in the validity of the content measures is their use in such important studies as Erbring, Goldenberg, and Miller, 1980. 9 Each editorial item was coded for zero, one, or two assertions favoring or opposing liberal and conservative policy stands. The editorial liberalism index is a percentage formed by first counting the number of times a paper endorsed a liberal position or opposed a conservative position, then subtracting assertions favoring conservative or derogating liberal stands. The result was divided by twice the number of editorial items, since each item was coded for up to two liberal or conservative assertions. The higher the score, the more liberal the editorial page. This index uses variables 21 and 28 in the CPS Media Content Analysis Study 1974. A second measure employed data on news (variables 27 and 34 in the CPS study). The news diversity measure taps a dimension of news slant that audiences are less likely to screen than editorial liberalism. Like most aspects of news slant, it is a subtle trait of reporting that few audience members would notice. The front page news items were coded for mention of zero, one, or two problems. For each problem mention, coders noted whether two different actors overtly disagreed with each other. Each news item was coded as having zero, one, or two instances of two actors asserting different points of view. The diversity index is the number of times two actors expressed different positions divided by twice the number of stories. The higher the score, the more diversity of news. Examples of the actors coded in this variable include Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, Nelson Rockefeller, Democratic Party, Republican candidates, and business leaders. Thus, a story might concern inflation and unions, and might contain opposing assertions by Gerald Ford and a Democratic Senate candidate on both the causes of inflation and the value of unions. The story would be coded 2 for one disagreement on each of the two problems. If the two actors agreed (or voiced no opinions) on unions but disagreed on inflation, the code would be 1. If they agreed on both or neither agreed nor disagreed, the code would be 0. 354 Robert M. Entman groups, and ideas. The basis for predicting that news diversity moves audiences leftward is that the majority of local newspapers appear to promote a generally Republican and conservative perspective (cf. Bagdikian, 1974; Radolf, 1984). Their editorial and perhaps news inclinations do not favor liberalism. All else being equal, I believe those papers with higher diversity probably provide more information that challenges the conservative editorial baseline. In addition, the mere presence of conflicting views in the news may convey an awareness of the diversity of the country, including its variety of races, economic classes, and viewpoints. Such consciousness may promote tolerance of change, and empathy for positions or groups that challenge the status quo. 0 Diversity may also undermine authority by conveying the impression that a range of ideas is plausible, that the existing distribution of power, wealth, and status is not immutable. As for the other content measure, while many readers no doubt skip editorial pages, Bagdikian (1974) shows that the editorial perspective tends to be mirrored in news slant. The editorial liberalism index may indirectly reflect the political tendency of news coverage. The survey incl uded feeling thermometer questions. Interviewers asked respondents to express their feelings toward several well-known groups and politicians. Respondents chose numbers ranging from 0 for the coldest feelings, through 100 for the warmest, with 50 meaning neutral or mixed feelings. I constructed five attitude indexes using factor analysis. 11 The Liberal Feelings Jndex combined ratings of Edward Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, liberals, Democrats, and unions. The Radical Feelings Index consisted of thermometer ratings of radical students, black militants, civil rights leaders, and policemen. The Poor Feelings Index tapped thermometers of poor people, blacks, and George Wallace. The Republican Feelings Index was created from ratings of Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, and Republicans. Finally, the Conservative Feelings Index rated big business, the military, and conservatives. 12 The Michigan survey also asked respondents for their stands on government guaranteed jobs; dealing with urban unrest by solving the problems of unemployment and poverty; protecting legal rights of those accused of crimes; A competing hypothesis might be that diversity challenges initial viewpoints, so that it would promote conservatism among liberals and vice versa. That idea is not borne out by the data. Diversity is consistently associated with more liberal views. 1 Surveys are described in Institute for Social Research, 1979. All feeling thermometers were classified on their face for relevance to the liberal-conservative continuum. Pertinent items received varimax factor analysis. Five factors had eigenvalues greater than 1. 0. Indexes added together scores on all feeling thermometer responses loading above . 40 on a factor. In two cases, items loaded more than . 40 on two factors; these were included on their highest loaded index. All dependent variable attitude indexes used in this paper have Cronbach Alpha reliability scores greater than . 80. 12 Policemen and Wallace loaded negatively on their respective factors. The feeling thermometer responses to each were subtracted from the sum of the other items in forming the indexes. 10 How the Media Affect What People Think 355 busing to achieve racial balance; the Equal Rights Amendment; integration of schools; government aid to minorities; and self-placement on the liberalconservative spectrum. 3 Using factor analysis again, all but one of the responses (to the ERA) were associated together and became the Policy Preferences Index. Twofinalvariables come from readers of sampled papers who participated in surveys during both 1974 and 1976. Their responses in 1976 provide an opportunity to check for media impacts on feelings toward a previously unknown presidential candidate, Jimmy Carter (Carter Index), and on presidential vote (Vote76). FINDINGS Testing the four p redicted media effects requires probing for impacts of editorial liberalism and news diversity on the seven attitudes and on presidential vote. Regression analysis enables us to see whether, with all else equal, readers of more liberal or diverse papers exhibit more liberal attitudes and voting behavior. Editorial liberalism taps the persuasive element of the newspaper, or, in agenda-setting terms, the aspect of the paper that attempts to tell people what to think. News diversity taps the putatively informational element that only tells people what to think about. The interdependence model holds that both editorials and news provide information to think about and thereby influence attitudes, whether intentionally or not. If selectivity or inattention precludes media influence, or if the effect is limited to agendas, the regressions should reveal no significant associations between attitudes and newspaper content. 14 Table 1 summarizes regression results for the impacts of newspaper content on the beliefs of the entire sample of readers. The feeling thermometers are coded from 0 to 100 so that higher scores are warmer (more favorable). The higher the policy preferences score, the more conservative the responses. Vote76 is 1 for Carter, 0 for Ford, so higher scores indicate voting for Carter. The regressions include the following additional variables to control for forces that might also influence attitudes: urban-rural place of residence; age; years of education; family income; race; region; party identification; and ideological self-identification. 15 The impacts of these non-media variables follow expecVariables 2265, 2273, 2281, 2288, 2296, 2302, and 2305 in the 1974 NES Codebook. Although partisanship and ideology are not truly interval variables, the results of the regressions suggest that it is quite reasonable to treat them as such. 15 These variables are coded as follows. Age: coded in years; non-South: 1 = North or West, 0 = South; income: coded in thousands; party i. d. : 7-point scale, 0 = strong Democrat, 3 = independent, 6 = strong Republican; urbanized: 1 = urban, suburban, 0 = rural; white race: 1 = white, 0 = nonwhite; education: coded in years; policy preferences index: adding six 7-point scales, so range is 6 = most liberal, 42 = most conservative; and ideology identification: 1 = most liberal, 4 = middle of the road or dont know, 7 = most conservative. On the latter, note 14 13 356 Robert M. Entman tations, which bolsters confidence in the validity of the attitude measures. For a full display of coefficients for all independent variables, see Entman, 1987). Multicollinearity among the independent variables is not a problem. Of the forty-five intercorrelations, only three exceed . 20. The strongest was between education and income (r = . 357). Table 1 shows that the more editorially liberal the paper, the more warmly their readers respond on the Liberal Feelings Index. This relationship suggests that editorial liberalism influences the publics evaluations of key leaders and groups associated with the liberal coalition: in this case, Hubert Humphrey, Edward Kennedy, Democrats, unions, and liberals.