3 Basic Beliefs and Integrity Walmart Essay

Walmart was founded on three basic beliefs: service to our customers, respect for the individual and striving for excellence. Our adherence to these principles has created a unique work culture at Walmart. No matter where you go — to any of our stores and offices in any of our brands around the world — our associates live these values. * Service to our customers * Respect for the individual * Striving for excellence A Foundation of Integrity Our basic beliefs are built on a foundation of integrity — our values of honesty, fairness and objectivity guide how we apply these beliefs to the workplace. In other words, we strive to: * Be honest by telling the truth and keeping our word. * Be fair by using our business influence appropriately and creating an open environment for raising questions and concerns. * Be objective by making decisions based on Walmart’s interests, rather than personal interests, and by avoiding even the appearance of impropriety. 1. Service to Our Customers Every associate — from our CEO to our hourly associates in local stores — is reminded daily that our customers are why we’re here. We do our best every day to provide the greatest possible level of service to everyone we come in contact with. But what do we mean by service to our customers? * We serve our customers by making them our first priority. * We support our associates so they can best serve our customers. * We give to the local community in ways that connect to our customers. 2. Respect for the Individual From Walmart’s earliest days as a small discount store, we have emphasized the importance of respect for every associate, every customer and every member of the community. But how do we show respect for the individual? * We value and recognize the contributions of every associate. * We own what we do with a sense of urgency, and empower each other to do the same. * We communicate by listening to all associates and sharing ideas and information. 3. Striving for Excellence The key to our success is constantly looking for ways to improve ourselves and improve our business. We strive to lead not just our industry, but also each other to the next level of success. But how do we strive for excellence? * We innovate by trying new ways of doing things and improving every day. * We model a positive example as we pursue high expectations. * We work as a team by helping each other and asking for help. Business Model Value proposition Walmart’s value proposition is based on offering Everyday Low Price (EDLP). This is the core of Walmart’s Business Model, and the rest of the key features of Walmart’s Business Model are aligned to keep the everyday low price. This proposition implies that the customers do not need to wait for sales to have the best deal possible (Manning et al., 1998). Besides, not only the sells convenience is associated by providing the wide range of products and services to choose from, but also with one-stop is possible to make all the shopping needed, from groceries to pharmacy (Basker, 2007). Walmart’ customers save time and money. Distribution channel To deliver its value proposition Walmart communicates with and reaches its customer segments with its distribution channels which are owned and direct, and brings higher margin. Walmart also is corresponding with its customers mainly through mass media and other ways which have a low cost, such as internet. Customer relationships & Customer segment Walmart establishes a customer relationship is based on self-service and automated and towards co-creation of some products once it is possible. Walmart tends to reach to the mass market toward mass customisation. Walmart’s customers can be divided into three groups: â€Å"brand aspirations†, people with low incomes who are obsessed with brand; â€Å"price-sensitive effluents† wealthier shoppers who love deals; and finally â€Å"value-price shoppers† who like low prices and cannot afford much more (Barbaro, 2007). Key activities The key activities which are needed to run Walmart’s business model are: ï‚ · Purchasing goods ï‚ · Their delivery ï‚ · Total cost control Other activities would be to create products that will cover needs of a specific customer segment and to control the brand, which has been developing lately. Walmart’s technological edge is in its inventory control, logistics, and distribution (Basker, 2007). The ability to move products place to place quickly and efficiently keeps the costs down as well as the time system in combination with logistics force permits Walmart to have accurate time information of the products in the stores shelves that allows restocking automatically (Tierney, 2004). In addition the logistics involves the suppliers and workforce of 85000 employees, 147 far reaching distribution centers, transportation offices, more than 100.000 tractors and trailers and 8.000 drivers (Walmart logistics facts sheet). Key resources The key resources of Walmart classified in 3 categories. First, the physical resources which are owned by it like stores and logistics. Second its human resources, experienced managers and stores managers, and finally the company culture. Walmart culture is based on restless effort at constant self-improvement, discipline and loyalty (Fishman, 2006). Key partnership Key partnership is a strong buyer-supplier relationship in which suppliers were considered as close partners of Walmart. They also are part of the value chain of each other and it provides suppliers the chance of accessing to a large market. However it made suppliers, who wish to take advantages of its broad market, to keep their prices and costs low and therefore, suppliers give the control of their own business and negotiation advantage to Walmart (Parnell and Lester, 2008). Walmart also creates economies of scale that optimizes its cost structure. Revenue stream Walmart Revenue Streams that generated from its customer segments are basically come from retail sale, such as music downloading with fixed menu pricing. Walmart also drive revenue from selling its own brand, produces by others to cover a segment not cover by other suppliers. Moreover, it takes advantage of selling goods before paying to its suppliers. Cost structure The Cost structure is cost-driven model since it is focused on minimizing costs wherever it is possible and it is characterized by economies of scale. The expansion of Walmart allowed it to benefit from economies of scale and reducing its cost besides its technology let it to grow and caused to lower its costs; hence, economies of scale at both the chain levels and stores strengthen Walmart’s advantage, rather than being its root cause (Basker, 2007). Walmart’s financial discipline is well known as well as their tendency to pass operating costs to suppliers.

Electronic books verses paper book Essay

Reading is a big part of our lives, whether you are reading for work, school or pleasure, books, newspapers or magazines, it is something that most people do on a daily basis. Today, there are different ways you can read: either electronically or by paper. Electronic devices are starting to run our lives, by getting an e-book or e-reader (kindle, nook, iPad, etc†¦) reading could change for the average reader. Electronic readers are better than paper books. Having an electronic reader can be very convenient. You can rent or buy books, magazines, and newspapers for free from virtual libraries similar to the way you would from your local public library. There are a lot more books available through the virtual library. Since it is a virtual library, you are using Wi-Fi and you can instantly receive your reading material electronically. Usually when you rent a book from the virtual library, you can have it for as long as you like, but are limited to one book month. However, it is quicker than getting in your car and driving to the library or store to get a book. â€Å"The convenience of downloads saves transportation costs and reduces carbon emissions from book distribution and consumer travel to and from bookstores. † (Maxwell & Miller, 2013, para. 4). Loaning books to family or friends is a bit easier with having the psychical book to give. Yet, some devices may allow you to share downloaded books with others. All things are faulty in life. â€Å"As convenient as the use of different e-readers can be, technology isn’t always reliable. † (Taylor, 2013, para.4). Since e-readers are an electronic device, you have to charge the battery; however, it can last for a month or two. The screen can break on e-readers just as easy as a page can tear out of a book. You can change the font size if you have difficulty reading small print and you can also adjust the screen brightness so you can read in the sunlight or in the dark. Paper books do not need to hold a charge for you to enjoy and the screen will not ever break, but pages can tear. The font size is what you get and it cannot be altered on what is already printed. It is nice to have a collection of books and you can do that with either an e-reader or paper books. With your e-reader you can carry all of your books at once and your paper books can be on display in your home. E-readers are pretty slim and light-weight, some books can almost double the weight and be bulky. For the average college student, e-readers may be better so they are not carrying a few different heavy books around campus. Electronic readers are much more diverse than paper books. There are a dictionaries built into e-readers, so you can look up a word just by highlighting it. A great feature to e-readers is it has a bookmark to save your place. Turning the page is as simple as a tap or swipe along the screen of the e-reader, whereas with a paper book or newspaper you physically flip the pages. Reading with children may be better with paper books, but tablets can be used as an e-reader and games and learning applications can be downloaded for children. â€Å"Many e-readers also offer Web browsing, games, music, movies and an endless array of apps such as The Weather Channel or Microsoft Office to enhance the user experience† (Cancio, 2011, para. 3). Children growing up today will probably be reading more things electronically at school, so getting them use to the electronic devices young can be a good thing. With technology advancing so rapidly, it can be hard to keep up with the advancements. Paper books are great if you are a book collector who wants to show off those books and if you do not mind carrying them around. In the long run, e-readers can be more convenient and cost efficient because of the discount on the books being electronic instead of printed. If you enjoy reading while traveling, lying in bed, and want to have a large selection of books to choose from and receive them quickly, e-readers are the better option for you. References Brown, Taylor. (2013, October 3). The best of both worlds: E-readers vs. traditional books. Cal Times. Retrieved from http://sai. calu. edu/caltimes/index. php/2013/10/03/the-best-of-both-worlds-e-readers-vs-traditional-books/ Cancio, C. (2011, March 7). Are e-readers making books obsolete? Retrieved from http://electronics. howstuffworks. com/gadgets/other-gadgets/e-readers-making-books-obsolete. htm Maxwell, R. , Miller, T. (2013, September 5). Greening the media. Psychology Today. Retrieved from http://www. psychologytoday. com/blog/greening-the-media/201309/don-t-be-misled-about-paper-versus-electronic-books

Plato, Descartes and the Matrix Essay

After obtaining knowledge from the Matrix, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave or The Republic and the first Mediation from Descartes, I see that there are a few likenesses and contrasts. I would need to say that The Matrix and Plato’s hole purposeful tale were more comparable because the individuals included in both stories, they existed in this present reality where they were being cheated about what the fact of the matter was. In the Matrix, once Neo saw this present reality and that all that he thought was true was really a hallucination, is very much alike to the shadows on the dividers of the surrender that the prisoners saw in Plato’s Allegory of the hole. In both stories, both characters could encounter reality as well as the phony world and was given opportunity to see reality and were confounded. Nonetheless, the detainee in Plato’s story in the wake of picking up this new information let others in servitude know of his recently discovered learning however felt that the first truth was less demanding to with the exception to. Then again Neo in The Matrix chose he needed to realize what the right truth was. Both characters were intrigued by figure out reality however they recognized reality in an unexpected way. Plato thought it was fundamental for the affixed man in the Allegory of the Cave required to escape from the hole to look for reality. Socrates portrays a gathering of individuals who have lived anchored to the divider of a buckle the greater part of their lives, confronting a transparent divider. The individuals watch shadows anticipated on the divider by things passing before a blaze behind them and start to attribute structures to these shadows. As indicated by Socrates, the shadows are as close as the detainees get to review the reality. He then clarifies how the savant is similar to a detainee who liberated from the hollow and comes to comprehend that the shadows on the divider are not constitutive of reality whatsoever, as he can see the genuine type of reality as opposed to the minor shadows seen by the detainees. Descartes considers and rejects the likelihood that my faculties could just lead me adrift. We research situations when we have been tricked by our faculties, through the activity of those extremely same faculties. However, wouldn’t I be able to be envisioning now, and not understand this? This theory is hard to negate, on the off chance that you permit that a  Ã¢â‚¬Å"fantasy† require not be disconnected and unreasonable. It is coherently conceivable to have an intelligible dream where, for instance, I am in Sheffield, at my machine, composition a consummately or at any rate sensibly mindful response to Ask a Philosopher, regardless of the fact that such dreams happen just seldom if whatso ever. Coherent probability is everything Descartes needs. This is what might as well be called the Matrix situation. As a general rule, while I form my answer, I am dozing in a â€Å"unit† having encounters sustained specifically to my mind by a super-machine. The Matrix speculation is hard to negate. However it still isn’t sufficient for Descartes’ reasons. Since, even on this speculation, certain key convictions stay unchallenged. Specifically, the conviction that there exists a universe of material questions in space. The presence of a physical world is one of the essential suppositions of the Matrix story. That is the reason Descartes makes the additional stride of imaging a capable, non-physical sagacity fit for creating the knowledge of ‘an universe of material protests in space’ in me, despite the fact that in all actuality no such world exists. A fiendishness evil spirit. Anyhow how â€Å"wicked† is this spirit, truly? Berkeley took Descartes’ contention for uncertainty and stood it on its head: nothing could possibly consider confirmation of the presence of ‘matter’, on the grounds that all we ever have is ‘experience’. All that exists, in extreme the truth, is God and ‘limited souls’ similar to us who have encounters that God delivers in us. – When you gaze out at the world you are taking a gander at within God’s thoughts. Ignorance is bliss of illusion when we have security in the unknown of danger. It’s when we establish the danger we want to return to the ignorance to regain the safety. The very nature of man is to need what he doesn’t have. All promoting was focused around that start. You have an auto; however, you don’t have another auto or that auto that was constantly publicized. The very nature of all creatures is â€Å"Fight or Flight.† When they exited the hole – they didn’t have the security of the cavern. So as I studied that story, they came back to the hollow. Security is a manifestation of solace however is not acknowledged until we have lost it – or expects that we will lose it-. The extent that obliviousness, the greater part of us does not feel we are uninformed. We are and need to be unmindful of something else we would go insane. For example, might you want to know the date and time of your  passing? In the event that you realized that, it would cloud any of your problems. You could presumably consider nothing else, irregularly. That information would overpower you. Study the passing line convicts. Obliviousness is most happy when we don’t know we are incorrect yet think we recognize what we are doing – or we think we are on the whole correct. We weren’t sheltered when we fail to offer particular knowledge of looming dangers, yet we feel safe when we don’t think about those risks. To be certain are beliefs are true to ourselves we must firs t pretend that they are not and then begin to question their truths. Descartes argued that our customary knowledge of the world can’t give the sort of ensured establishment on which all other information could be based. We are frequently disillusioned to discover that what we have been taught are simply biases, or that what our faculties let us know is erroneous. That ought to make us ponder about whether the various things that we think are clear may moreover be mixed up. With a specific end goal to test whether what we think we know is genuinely right, Descartes recommends that we embrace a strategy that will dodge slip by following what we know back to a firm establishment of indubitable convictions. Obviously, it is conceivable that there are no totally unshakeable truths. It is additionally conceivable that we may find that our partialities can’t be uprooted or that convictions we think are extreme establishments for all our different convictions are not so much extreme whatsoever. The purpose of our contemplations is to test those convictions, regardless of the possibility that we have held them for quite a while. Furthermore that assess toward oneself will take a true effort. In request to figure out if there is anything we can know with conviction, Descartes says that we first need to uncertainty all that we know. Such a radical uncertainty may not appear sensible, and Descartes positively does not imply that we truly ought to uncertainty everything. What he recommends, however, is that with a specific end goal to check whether there is some conviction that can’t be questioned, we ought to incidentally imagine that all that we know is faulty. This misrepresentation is what is known as a speculative uncertainty. To verify that we consider the affectation important, Descartes recommends that there may be great contentions to believe that such questioning is defended and along these lines more than just something we ought to put on a show to do. His  contentions fall into two classifications: those pointed against our sense encounters and our supposition that we can recognize being conscious and envisioning, and those pointed against our thinking capabilities themselves. http://philosophy.tamu.edu/~sdaniel/Notes/descar1.html

Ethics modules Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics modules - Essay Example The investigator chooses a case-control design with paired lifestyle interviews and a few blood and urine tests and assigns a study manager to identify patients with the diagnosis from the pathology logbook that lists names. The study manager would then ask each patients primary physician for permission to contact the patient. Which of the following is required before the investigator begins the study? The Belmont Report defines and delineates between "Practice" and "Research" , describes the concept of "Respect for Person" and provides formulations for the ethical distribution of research benefits and risks (Principle of Justice). The Belmont report does not describe the necessity to effectively manage conflicts of interest as an example of the Principle of Justice. The best answer is "heightened awareness". In 1966 Dr. Henry K. Beecher, wrote an article describing numerous research studies with controversial ethics, conducted by reputable researchers and published in major journals. Beecher concluded, "unethical or questionably ethical procedures are not uncommon." Beechers article played an important role in heightening the awareness of researchers, the public, and the press to the problem of unethical human subjects research. In order to meet the definition of research with human subjects a researcher must obtain data about a living individual through interaction or intervention or obtain individually identifiable private information. Although à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“public behaviorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  may be construed differently from setting to setting, public behavior is, by definition, not private information. Information without identifiers that is publicly available is also not à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"private identifiable informationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ so it too does not meet the definitional requirements. Information that is publicly available is also not considered to involve human subjects

The Souls of Black Folk Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Souls of Black Folk - Research Paper Example The book begins with an introduction, which is extremely beautiful and catchy, â€Å"Herein lie buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here at the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader; for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of color line. I pray you then, receive my book in all charity, studying my words with me, forgiving mistake and foible for the sake of the faith and passion that is in me, and seeking the grain of truth hidden there†(p.1). The first and second portion of the book sheds light on the history of the Black folks. Moreover, it also highlights the flaws of the government that resulted in the form of disorder largely in the south. The manner that Dubios adopts to explain how the previous leaders did not manage things properly is excellent. For example, the third section of the book discusses Booker T. Washington, a black leader who is severely condemned for not providing quality education for the Blacks. Dubios mostly emphasizes on the need for education, the fourth and the fifth portions of the book deal with edification only. In his opinion, He disagrees to the notion of black people not acquiring university education. I found this line very inspiring when he says, â€Å"Progress in human affairs is more often a pull than a push†¦..thus it was no accident that give birth to universities centuries before the common schools, that made fair Harvard the first flower of our wilderness†(p. 53). These words indeed have weight because university qualification is usually considered important for only the upper class. However, this remark by Du Bios could also be criticized by many people, because du Bois was the first black person who acquired a degree from Harvard. Hence, some theoretical issues like these that could be raised by people like scholars or researchers. Secondly, race is another

Effective communication Case study Analysis Essay

Effective communication Case study Analysis - Essay Example Some convenience stores like Sheetz with more than 250 stores had to withdraw more that sixteen Diet Pepsi bottles from their shelves following a case in West Virginia where a man found a syringe in his drink. Convenience stores and grocers from Oklahoma to Iowa also closed down. The third public was the employees of the company to whom the communication impacted very negatively, they were thought to be the one involved in the syringes scandal, lastly there was local Pepsi - cola bottlers as the last public. They were believed to be the one behind the needles and syringes found in the Pepsi cola cans. The used communication impacted negatively to all the four publics a better way of doing it was for the first compliant to contact the company's management instead of reporting to a lawyer who made it aired in twenty four states. The company applied good methods in managing communication between them and the publics so as to manage, build and sustain a good image. To win back customers loyalty the company incorporated Alpac (the local bottler) in its investigation jointly with food and drinks administration and local head officials the investigation cleared Alpac. The media was allowed to visit the plant owner with the quality assurance manager and the plant owner being made available for them. The coordinator of crisis organized a group of six specialists in media relationship to provide devel

Fireworks Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Fireworks - Term Paper Example Fireworks The properties of firework explosions are force, velocity and heat. The combusting components undergo rapid entropic change, and thus this lends to the term â€Å"firework explosion.† The forces produced are generated by the rapid evolution of gases and heat that force them to expand according to the combined gas law (PV/T=k) where p is pressure, V=volume and T is temperature. The force of explosion is a component of the gas pressure. It is exerted equally in all directions obeying Pascal’s principle. Therefore, P=F/A where the ‘A’ is the area of confined combustibles. The force is responsible for the launching of the fireworks, their dispersion velocity and sound (report). Heat is a consequence of combustion and exothermic reactions such as oxidation and thermite-like redox reactions with the firework. The total summation of the energies produced obeys the first law of thermodynamics by adhering to the basic principle of â€Å"conservation of energy† Fireworks are generally composed of three chemical compounds; a fuel, an oxidizer, color producing compounds, a chlorinator and a binder. Manufacture of the fireworks is mainly done using chemicals that are non-toxic. Some compounds though, elicit high reactivity and toxic properties if handled directly. As will also be seen in later sections, the reactive products given off some other compounds are toxic. The fuel is the main component that allows the fireworks to burn. It is composed of sulphur, carbon based compounds, or metals. Phosphorous is also added to some fireworks for its glow in the dark properties. The most common metals are aluminum and magnesium. These burn brilliantly and are therefore preferred to others such as titanium. They are also cheaper. Often, the alloy, Magnalium is used. This is because magnesium does not form a protective oxide coat. This can be directly attributed to its high reactivity and thus higher risk of uncontrolled combustion. It may also cause serious burns and blindness due to its characteristically high temperatures and brilliance on combustion. The oxidizer is the accelerant used to make the burn more intense and violent. Potassium compounds are mostly preferred for this purpose. They include the nitrates, perchlorate, chlorate and peroxides. The potassium ions may also impart a pink color to the flame. Direct contact with these compounds may ca use an oxidizer burn to human skin or any organic material. Not to mention the fire risk if exposed to already combustible organic materials such as cloth, natural gas or dry grass. The colour imparting compounds are mainly metals. Their cations are the main contributors of the color. Their anion compounds determine how brilliantly they burn. Examples are the chlorides and nitrates that enhance brilliance. Carbonates and oxalates reduce brilliance. This is also where the aspect of toxicity emerges. a) Infra-red color- rubidium nitrate- it is not directly toxic, but is capable of oxidizing compounds b) Silver/ white- antimony sulphide- exists as stibnite and the antimony pentasulphide. The pentasulphide is flammable and can have potentially toxic effects on reacting with strong acids such as HCl. The reaction produces hydrogen sulphide which is a potent nerve toxin. HCl is naturally found in the stomachs of many mammals as a component of gastric juice. The pentasulphide is thus poten tially harmful if ingested. The stibnite form is also potentially toxic c) Blue- copper arsenite- the compound is toxic, and this can be

One of the most important issues concerning e-commerce is the privacy Assignment

One of the most important issues concerning e-commerce is the privacy and security of one's indentification and financail information - Assignment Example having login or password that enhances the security of the information passed between the customer and the business (McCarthy, Campbell & Brownstein, 2001). An overly secure environment looks into the security of the transaction by creating passwords and logins in order to ensure privacy and confidentiality of the details of the transactions. In cases where e-commerce involves financila transactions, the risk of loss of money becomes high hence making security issues key in e-commerce. However, both an open and overly secure environments have both advantages and disadvantages. There are various advantages of conducting business in open environments. First, users will not require login and passwords in order to navigate on the websites. Paying for items or making orders will not require one to give login for identification purposes. This makes the process easy and faster compared to a secure environment where login is required. The graphical user interface of open environments are simpler and easy to use hence cause customer satisfaction and convenience (Becker, 2008). Cost advantage also arises in an open environment. There is no cost involved in developing a secure environment thereby reducing the need to engage experts in developing the site. The costs of hosting such a website is also lower compared to that of an overly security environment which requires shrewd experts to develop. However, cost may arise where customers sue the business for protection purposes. On the other hand, browsing in an insecure open environment is characterized by various drawbacks. To begin with, the computers can be hacked thus infringing on private information. This may make the future transactions insecure and further cause loss of resources. Moreover, it would be easier to get computer virus attacks, which could stall operations and further cause loss of data that may be expensive to acquire. In addition, a company can be faced by innumerable cases from customers for violation

In what ways did industrialization create new opportunities for women Essay

In what ways did industrialization create new opportunities for women How and why were these opportunities limited - Essay Example Important changes occurred included the elevation of women positions and set up of more demanding jobs. Industrialization shifted American economy from agricultural to an economy characterized by workforce enabling many women to enter the paid jobs. This was possible as women worked in textile industries, mining and agriculture. A change in industrial configuration lessened the number women labors. Opportunities like being employed as a miner were then outlawed by the regime as being illegitimate for woman to toil as a drawer in coal excavating. Another impediment to the employment of women came from gender partition of labor. Gender defined the role of women and women discretely (Hillstrom et al., 205). The cultural devaluing of women household jobs camouflaged its continuation leading to decrease in economy importance. The working place was another cause to limit the opportunities. That was possible when the working places were far away from women homes. Therefore, women were unable to comfortably work and at the same time taking care of their children (Sylvia 2008). Women who got married would rather stay home and look after children due to undue influence from their husbands and core cultural values that need to be

Production Planning using ERP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Production Planning using ERP - Essay Example However it is not widespread these days, it is probable to carry out material requirements planning tasks by hand as well (Waldner & Duffin, 1992, p. 47). MRP is a procedure that comprises a number of fundamental business tasks and information across the business encompassing entire levels in the bill of materials, sales forecasts, sales orders, and inventory. With the help of MRP it can be decided accurately what as well as when materials are necessary to manufacture the most timely as well as competitively priced services and products for customers (GreenTree, 2009) and (Qiang, Khong, San, Jianguo, & Choy, 2001). Beasley (2009) has stated that material requirements planning system is a material planning technique which appeared in 1970s by making use of information technology and computer technology. The major characteristics of material requirements planning are the formation of material necessities by means of exploding the bills of time-phasing and material of requirements by means of posted standard lead times (RockfordConsulting, 2009) and (Beasley, 2009). Material Requirements Planning II is acknowledged as the next generation of material requirements planning and it comprises the characteristics of closed loop system. Through this system the production planning takes the fundamental and main schedule that force the material plan which is the main input to the business or manufacturing capacity plan. Feedback loops proffers input to the elevated levels like a reiterative procedure (RockfordConsulting, 2009). In material requirements planning II operation, forecasts are linked as well a s synchronized for client orders, as well as supplied to the main/master scheduling module. When the master schedule is positioned, the material requirements planning procedure explodes the bills of material, usually on weekends or overnight, also builds up the material requirements. The requirements or materials feed the capacity planning

Globalization and North East India Essay Example for Free

Globalization and North East India Essay I.Introduction Ever since the term ‘globalization’ appeared for the first time in the second half of twentieth century no other word has meant so many different things to different people and has evoked as much emotions. The forces of globalization affect virtually every country in the world. It has opened the door of many new opportunities as well as formidable challenges. All spheres of life–social, political, cultural and economic–have been subjected to both the positive and negative elements of globalization. With all its promises on the overall qualitative improvement of life and social harmony, some see it as the saviour of universal peace and prosperity. On the other hand, rising mercury of its negative elements some condemn it as a new kind of chaos. While everyone welcomes the new opportunities that has emerged one cannot simply leave those negative elements unattended. Therefore, the main task now is to analyze, understand and manage globalization doing our best to harness its benefits and keep those negative consequences at bay. 1 India joined the club of globalized economy in 1991when its economy is under the spell of fiscal and balance of payment crisis which compel her to initiate several structural adjustment programme and economic liberalization. Since then, India’s share to the global economy is getting larger. Today, looking at overall health of the economy and growth performance2, India seems to have struck the right note of the globalization string. With its vast natural and human resources and ability to synchronize the speed of change taking place in the international market, many have considered the India’s economy as one of the most resilient economy in the world. Now, the most pertinent question arises in the recent years is; has the benefits of globalization disbursed to all the regions of the Indian union? Certainly the answer is NO. India’s attempt to tackle the problems of income inequalities has been going on since independence under the centralized planning system. It, however, failed to provide the necessary growth impetus to the poorer states to reduce regional disparities in any meaningful manner in spite of four decades of economic planning. In the post globalization era, considering the size and diversity of the country, shrinking role of government would ultimately be a failure to achieve the set objective. With the opening of economy, states with better infrastructure facilities, better skill labour and work culture, investor friendly environment and more importantly states which can reform themselves in accordance to the need of the market oriented economy have attracted much of the private investment–both national as well as foreign. These states have grown much faster than states which are not, leading to widening disparities.3 This has posed a great challenge to academicians and polic y makers, even though globalization is an uneven process with unequal distribution of benefits and losses, who must ensure the benefits of globalization be distributed to all the regions/states of Indian union. Secondly, to what extent the high growth rate achieved so far has been translated into development for the well-being of its people? It is all the more necessary to ascertain the magnitude of development because development shouldn’t be seen as mere enhancement of national or personal income as it alone cannot serve the objective of securing the socio-economic equality. High growth rate achieved so far is a big accomplishment as the resources so generated could be utilized for developmental purposes to meet the desired social ends.4 It would, however, be highly injustice and misleading to interpret economic growth and economic development synonymously, yet a popular cynicism among the political circle in particular, as development covers much wider range and value. In short, achievement of higher growth rate should be reflected in terms of quality of life of the people. The failure to realize the value of high growth is the main reason for the rejection of ‘shining India/feel good factor’ slogan of the ruling party in 2004 general election. This implies that the higher growth rate achieved so f ar in the post globalization period could not be translated in terms of improvement in the quality of life of the common people. According to Sen any reform programme should consists of three R’s–reach, range and a reason–which every responsible individual should analyze, understand and act accordingly. The values of high growth often depend on what the size, composition and nature of that growth do to the lives and freedoms of the people involved.5 With the increasing concern of widening of inter-state disparities and lack of development, it is highly imperative to assess the effects of globalization on North East India-a relatively uncharted region of the country-as fifteen years is long enough to give some clear pictures. With this objective, the present study attempts to locate the clues of the following quarries; has the region been able to gain from the benefits of globalization? What are the major issues and challenges confronting or likely to confront in the coming years? What are the unexplored opportunities that can be harnessed? This would require examining the prevalent scenario of the region in the pre and post globalization period. The present study shall cover 1980 to 2005 considering 1991 as the dividing year of the two periods. The study has been organized into five sections including introduction. In section II, a brief profile of NE states has been sketched. In section III, some of the issues and formidable challenges needed to be addressed sooner than the later has been discussed. In section IV, discussed the unexplored opportunities in the region. Finally, we conclude the study in section V . II.North East Profile The North East India comprises of eight contiguous states6 of highly undulating hilly terrains, covering 263,179 sq km which is about 8% of the total geographical area of the country. The region is one of the landlocked regions of South Asia. About 4500 km i.e. 98% of its border is with five different countries of South Asia–Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh. No other region of the Indian union share common border with so many different countries connecting with the heartland through the tenuous 22 km Siliguri corridor. The region is the home of extraordinarily diverse mosaic of ethnic groups having distinctive social, cultural and economic identity, more akin to their South Asia neighbours than main land India. The total population of the region is about 38 million, 3.8 per cent of the country’s total population, of which Assam contributes 68 per cent of the total population. Assam recorded the highest density of population with 340 per sq. km., which is also higher than the national average of 313 per sq. km., followed by Tripura with 305 per sq. km. Otherwise, the region is sparsely populated with an overall density of population of 149 per sq. km. Table 1 The decennial growth rate recorded in most of the states during the previous decade is higher than the national level of 21.54 per cent. Nagaland recorded the highest growth rate (64.46 per cent), also highest among the states of the Indian union, followed by Sikkim (33.25 per cent) and Meghalaya (30.65 per cent). Only Tripura (16.03% per cent) and Assam (18.92 per cent), two of the most populated states, have recorded lower growth rate than all India level. The region is richly endowed with bio-diversity, hydro-potential, minerals like oil and natural gas, coal, limestone, dolomite, graphite, quartzite, sillimonite etc. and forest wealth. Over 10 per cent of forest products requirement in the country are met from this region only. The region has a very high potential to generate hydropower i.e. about 80 per cent of the total hydropower potential in the country. Arunachal Pradesh alone is expected to generate 2,67,474 MW i.e. 30 per cent of the total available in the country. With varied geo-climatic condition, the region is ideally suited for horticulture, floriculture and other plantation crops. A variety of fruits like pineapples, banana, orange, lemon, mango, papaya etc. grow abundantly in the region. The region is famous for most number of orchid varieties in the country. Tea is the major plantation crop grown in the region and is the largest producer in the country contributing over 95 per cent of the total production. The region is also richly endowed with varieties of medicinal plants having high value in the international market. But, due to the lack of proper infrastructure, transport and communication system and geo-political condition of the region these resources largely remained untapped. Source: Report of the Twelfth Finance Commission, p 61. The region is grossly deficient of infrastructure to tap the available resources and push the economy forward. An examination of the infrastructure index–a composite profile of the availability of physical, social and institutional infrastructure available in the states revealed that all the states of the region are at the lowest rung of the infrastructure index ladder. It shows that the level of infrastructural development in the region is almost negligible. In terms of human development index–a composite index capturing the three dimensions of human development viz. economic, education and health-the region have done reasonably well than most of the states of Indian union. Among the eight states, Assam ranked the lowest, which has been placed in lower middle category and Mizoram in high category while rest of the states are either in high middle or middle category. The success of these states in this regard is mainly induced by the education sector. Apart from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya the literacy rate in the remaining states, as shown in Table 1, are higher than the national average. The economy of the region primarily depends on agriculture sector contributing over 40 per cent of the income and employ about 70 per cent of the total working population. Although NSDP share of agriculture sector has declined to about 30 per cent, the number of population dependent upon this sector continued to remain high even in the post globalization period. The decline in the NSDP’s share of agriculture sector has been more or less compensated by the increase in the share of service sector. That is, the service sector growth rate during the corresponding period is commendable. Nevertheless, the industrial sector in the region continued to be in pathetic condition. Industrially the region is one of the most backward regions in India. Only Assam, and to some extent Meghalaya, have moved ahead of the rest of the states in terms of industrial development whose industrialization centered on tea, oil and timber. An examination on the overall annual compound growth rate of NSDP in the region revealed that there is a slight improvement in post globalization period though varies from stat to state. Source: http://mospi.nic.in/rept%20_%20pubn/ftest.asp?rept_id=nad03_1993_1994type=NSSO Note: * At 1980-81 prices, ** From 1993 to 2002 only, †  at Current Price, a denotes Acceleration, d denotes Deceleration During the decade of 80s only Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland experienced higher annual compound growth of NSDP than the national level. However, in the post globalization period i.e. 1991-2002, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura have performed better than the national level. The growth rate experienced in these states is not only higher but also accelerating. Though the NSDP growth rate of Manipur is lower than the national level but higher than the previous decade and is accelerating. While Assam’s growth rate is lower in the post globalization but grows at an accelerating rate which is a positive sign. In the post globalization period the growth performances in the region have improved marginally. The higher growth rate of NSDP in the region is mainly induced by higher and accelerating growth rate of service sector. The higher growth rate of NSDP experienced in some of the states is not commensurate with the growth rate of per capita income. The per capita income growth rates of all the states, baring Tripura, falls below the national level in the corresponding period. While Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Nagaland have worsened, the performance of Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura seem to be relatively better than the previous decade. The lower growth rate of per capita income experienced may be attributed to high growth rate of population, particularly poorer section of the society. The percentage of population living below the poverty line in the region continued to remain high. Only Mizoram seems to have done exceptionally well in poverty eradication where the percentage has declined from 36 per cent in 1983 to 19.47 per cent in 1999-2000. In the remaining states there is only a marginal decline in poverty ratio. In 1983, the percentage of population living below the poverty line at national level is much higher than that of all the states of the region. It is just the reversal in 1999-2000-all the states other than Mizoram have higher percentage than national level of 26.1 per cent. Over one-third of the population is still consists of the most vulnerable section of the society. Further, an examination on the per capita per month consumption expenditure revealed that the inequality in the per capita monthly consumption expenditure has also increased in spite of the improvement in the growth performance in the post globalization period. In 1993-94, Assam has the lowest per capita per month consumption expenditure followed by Manipur and Sikkim. These three states are even lower than the national level of Rs. 328.18 per month. However, in 1999-2000, only Assam and Sikkim experienced lower per capita per month consumption expenditure than that of national level of Rs. 590.98 per month. The increase in consumption expenditure in the globalization era is quite impressive. At the same time, inequality in consumption expenditure, as revealed by the Gini coefficient8, has also increased in most of the states which is an indication of widening disparities among different sections of the society. This implies that the benefits of higher growth rate experienced, though marginally, in the post reform period have not been tickled down to the poorer sections of the society in the desired pace and the problem of income inequality within the state has worsened. An overall scenario of the region in the post globalization period is not very impressive as in the case of other region of the Indian union. This may be attributed to the prevailing geo-political condition in the region and attitude of the central government in tackling the issues of the region. In the following section we shall examine some of the issues and challenges which required an immediate attention. III.The Challenges Being one of the most neglected regions of the Indian union, overall state of affairs in the region is quite alarming. The unattended issues and problems of the past are being accumulated, multi-layered and have become multifarious. Over and above, the mounting pressures of emerging challenges of rapid transformation need to be countered. The clock is ticking fast and situation in the region is very delicate which may explode anytime from now if not tackled carefully. At this juncture the old habit of alibis and hinting would only aggravate the maladies of the past and swell negative elements of the globalization. Instead, it is the time to think and act collectively. The region has more issues to be addressed and challenges to face than any other parts of the country. Of which, the three most important areas which require immediate attention are insurgency, infrastructure and governance. All the other issues are derivatives which would dry up once these three are addressed. a.Insurgency The problem of insurgency in the region has a long history. The insular politics and Delhi centric approach of the Indian government is at the core of much of the discontents, widespread criticism, feelings of subjugation and notion of being colonized. There is a constant fear in the minds of the people that their identity is being eroded due to the submergence into the vast ocean of Indian humanity.9 The people of the region started alienating themselves and the feeling of self-determination started to germinate. With the aim of preserving their own identity various ethnic groups inhabiting in the region, undisturbed for centuries, began to differentiate among each other severing the local ties and affinities and started to struggle with arms.10 Thus, insurgency has mushroomed in the region and the secessionist movements, either for sovereignty or for separate homeland, began to lock horns leading to a vertical division among various ethnic groups. Therefore, prior to any policy pro gramme to resolve the problem of insurgency in the region, the political processes that has been framed and pursued to convert a breeding ground of insurgencies must be reversed first. Simultaneously, the attitude and security obsess mindsets of the central government should also change and embrace the region with open arms so as to restore the lost confidence of the common people. Insurgency is the major problem inflicting the region. With the passage of time it has increasingly become more complex and difficult to understand as their objectives, role and activities varied widely.11 In the name of nationalist movement they were involved and interfered in every state’s affairs including household chores, like a moral police, of their people. Each insurgent group runs parallel government. In a way, apart from Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, all the remaining states have multiple governments. The problem of insurgency has become the stumbling block in the course of development. It foundered every development strategy and hampered all the developmental works. Kidnapping, extortion, killing, bandh, strikes and curfews have become the order of the day. At the same time, the numbers and activities of the plain criminals masquerading as insurgents have also increased alarmingly. Today, the region has become the killing field and specialized in the export to death bodies, if not the manufacturing products. In short, the region has reached the pinnacle of the industrialization of insurgency and criminalization process. It would not be easy to find the solution. However, keeping in mind the rising global terrorism, it would be wise to work on a holistic approach for amicable solution sooner than the later. At the same time, what every insurgent group, operating in the region, should realize is that the formation of separate homeland or attainment of more autonomy or sovereignty is not the solution because within itself formation of new group with new demand can not be ruled out. b.Infrastructure The rich natural and human resources available in the region could not be utilized to the full extent mainly due to the geo-political condition, including ever-deteriorating law and order, which has a lot of implication on the development of must needed infrastructure. The negligence of the central government in the past and due to the problems of insurgency at present resulted into the gross deficiency of infrastructure in the region. This has crippled the free flow of factors as well as products. In such a situation, it would be hard for the region to accrue the benefits of globalization. It is also not surprising to find the lack of FDI inflow in the region. During January 2000 to Mach 2006 the region received only 9 million US dollar i.e. 0.04 per cent of the total FDI inflow in the country. The lack of infrastructure, as revealed by the infrastructure index given in Table 2, has not only spoiled the prospect of economic development but has also created a horizontal division amon g various ethnic groups affecting the fabrics of social harmony in the region. All the â€Å"constituent states of the region are internally locked–themselves locked and locking out others, unable to connect with each other physically in terms of poor transport links, and more seriously, unable to make connections intellectually and emotionally with their closest neighbours, or even with and among their own people.†12 It has displaced the common understanding and linkages for peaceful coexistence and regional cooperation. In order to reconnect the lost connectivity, trade and commerce and more importantly to foster emotional attachment among various ethnic groups inhabiting in the region infrastructures like roads, transports, communications electricity, banking etc. must be developed adequately. Such exercise would not only enlarge the base for the growth of the economy in the region but also enhance the regional cooperation-an engine of growth in this era of globalization. Underdevelopment breeds insurgency and insurgency retards development. Th is two are mutually reinforcing. This is a classic case of vicious cycle of underdevelopment-insurgency-underdevelopment. Therefore, any policy programmes either to resolve the problems of insurgency or development of much needed infrastructure should go concurrently and not sequentially as it hampered the progress of one another. Further, as it has been asserted in the Planning Commission report on Transforming the North East, the approach of the central government should change from â€Å"planning for the North East to planning with the North East†.13 This implies that, under the prevailing circumstances mere allocation of funds or implementation of new policy would not suffice to tackle the problems in the region. Considering the emotional sentiments of the inhabitants and sensitivity of the issues, the region must be handled with care. Every developmental programme for the region should have the consent of the inhabitants and needs to be executed with sincerity without delay. c.Governance â€Å"The state is responsible for the creation of conducive political, legal and economic environment for building individual capabilities and encouraging private initiatives.†14 It would, however, depend on the quality of the governance–mechanism, processes, systems, structures and institutions that guide the social, economic and political relationship. Good governance exercises its legitimate political power in a manner that is perceived as equitable, non-discriminatory, socially sensitive, participatory, transparent and accountable to the people at large. This includes not only the process of transformation of human and natural endowments to a socially desired ends but also reveals the long term vision and commitment of the state to secure human well being and sustained development of the people.15 The state of governance in the region is in pathetic condition. Government machinery is on the brink of collapse. Corruption, squandering of public funds, deteriorating law and order, lack of transparency and accountability, bureaucratic rigmarole, insensitivity and so forth are quite rampant in the region. There is widespread allegation of insurgency-government officials-bureaucrats-politician nexus, including law enforcing agencies, and siphon off public funds. All this has eroded the individual capabilities and institutional capacities to meet the social objectives. Until and unless the quality of governance has been improved, no matter how much is the fund earmarked for whatever the policy programme initiated would not be successful and only the common people have to bear the brunt. Taking into consideration of the paradigm shift in the development strategy and the amount of funds allocated16 in recent time, we may no longer be able to blame the central government in the near future. The present state of affairs in the region is past deed of the central government and what the future generation will face would be decided by what our government has done today. IV.Opportunities The economy of the region has been disrupteded by the forces discussed in the preceding section in spite of her rich natural resources. Besides the natural resources, many new opportunities have also emerged with the changing contour of world economy that can boost the economy of the region. But, the need of the hour is to focus on those areas which would lead to growth of the economy, develop the sense of participation and can extinguish the social and political chasm. The two main areas that can boost the economy are as follows: a.Tourism Tourism is one sector where the region has comparative advantage. This industry is highly competitive where the tourists have a wide range of choices and look for good value of their money. With bountiful nature’s breathtaking scenic beauty, salubrious climatic conditions, extraordinarily diverse rich art and cultural heritage of the people, this region can become a hotspot for eco and adventure tourism. Tourism industry involves a vast network of business activities relating to attracting, receiving, accommodating, managing and servicing of tourists. These include hotels, restaurants, transport agency and several other related activities. The development of this industry would promote national integration and international understanding, generate employment and revenue and provide prospective buyers for local manufactured products especially handloom and handicraft products–a dyeing industry due to lack of access to market. Tourism can generate more employment per million of rupees spent than any other activities. It can generate jobs in the remotest corners for unskilled to highly specialized skilled workers which would help in the realization of plan objectives. It would also enlarge the base of locally manufactured products. All this, however, would be possible only when there is well-developed infrastructure like transport and communication and sense of participation of the people of the region. b.Border trade The lack of connectivity and access to market, the main causes for under utilization of resources and weak resource-industry linkages, have set the economy of the region by half a century behind. The region has lost the markets in her neighbourhood, particularly in Bangladesh, due to partition, insurgency and diplomatic strains and tensions. Due to the peripheral location and stiff competition from mainland industries having better access to critical inputs like finance, technology and management, the base of traditional manufacturing in the region has been eroded leading to deindustrialization. While resource base can support a variety of industries at all scales, the existing industrial structure, dominated by small-scale demand based industries has not been developed proportionately. This has widened the gap between resource base and industrial structure in the region. Further, due to the restriction of free movement of men and material across the border, the notion of isolation h as developed in the minds of the people. It is in this context, there is a strong argument to develop border trade. In this increasingly borderless world, establishment of border trade would not only provide an opportunity to revive the local manufactured units but also serve as a transit corridor for the mainland big industrial units to explore the vast Asian market. This would also bring the centrality and visibility of the otherwise peripheral north eastern region.17 It is with this vision that ‘look east policy’ was initiated in 1991. Unfortunately, as old habits die hard; the central government still continues to live in the shadow of security obsessed mindset and prefers inward looking approach. As a result, even after fifteen years of implementation of border trade agreement, it has failed to invigorate the region’s trade with their neibhouring countries. As a result, India’s look east policy has, by and large, bypassed the region. The percentage of trade with neighbouring countries have zoom up to 8 per cent of the country’s total volume of trade in 2003-04 from a mere 1.7 per cent in 1987-88. However, over two-third of the total volume of trade with these countries flow via Bay of Bengal while the land borders of the region have been left for transit corridors for illegal trade . The tepidity of the central government in implementation of the policy has only led to rise in the porosity of these borderlands. An impressionistic assessment reveals that there is a rise in negative activities like cross-border insurgency, gunrunning, smuggling drugs, narcotics and AIDS, money laundering, trafficking women, illegal immigration etc. which further add to the existing multifarious problems in the region. Conclusion Globalization has become the most potent force emerged in recent time. It virtually affects every walk of lifepositive or negative. Unlike other regions of the Indian union, North East India is more likely to swamp by its negative effects. The region is at the throes of discernible crisis. Since 1991, there has been increase in inequality and unemployment, decline in the quality of the governance, rise in smuggling, trafficking, illegal immigration, corruption, squandering of public funds, escalation in insurgency related activities, etc. These have led to underdevelopment and erosion of the capacity of the individual and quality of life. A sense of deprivation has developed particularly among the educated youths of the region. The clock is ticking fast and fuse is not long. It is time to work on a holistic approach to resolve problems in the region. Notes 1. Chanda, Nayan, 2003, â€Å"What is Globalization? Coming Together: Globalization Means Reconnecting the Human Community†, YaleGlobal Online, http://www.globalenvision.org/library/8/567. 2. Recently it has been argued that the turning point of higher growth rate in India was 1980 but not 1991 as perceived by many. For more details see Nayyar, Deepak. 2006. â€Å"Economic Growth in Independence India: Lumbering Elephant or Running Tiger?†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 15, pp. 1451-1458. 3. Some authors even argued that coastal states with open port facility have outperformed non-coastal states in the post globalization era. For more detail see Kishore, Adharsh. 2002. Towards an Indian Approach to Globalization, http://www.rba.gov.au/PublicationsAndResearch/Conferences/2002/kishore.pdf. 4. Sen, Amartya, 2005, â€Å"The Three R’s of Reforms†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 40, no. 19, p. 1. 5. ibid., p. 1. 6. Sikkim becomes the member of North East Council on December 2002 after an amendment of the NEC Act 1971. Since then all development purposes of the state has been treated at per with the other seven states of the region. However, the addition of Sikkim in the North Eastern Region is yet to be reflected in the literature of NER. 7. The Report of the Special Group on Targeting Ten Million Employment Opportunities per Year over the Tenth Plan Period has viewed that Current Daily Status (CDS) is the better measure to capture unemployment than Usual Principal and Subsidiary Status (UPSS). 8. The National Human Development Report 2001 provides the estimate of Gini Coefficient for rural and urban area only. It does not provide the combine estimate of the two. 11. For more detail analysis see Roy, Sanjay K. 2005. â€Å"Conflicting Nations in North-East India†, Economic and Political weekly, vol. 40, no. 21, pp. 2176-2182. 12. Prabhakra, M. S. 2004. â€Å"Is North-East India Landlocked?†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 39, no. 42, p. 4608. 13. GOI. 1997. Transforming the North East: Tackling Backlogs in Basic Minimum Services and Infrastructure Needs, High Level Commission Report to the Prime Minister, Planning Commission, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/ne_exe.pdf, p. 2. 14. GOI. 2001. National Human Development Report, Planning Commission, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/nhdrep/nhdreportf.htm, p. 114. 15. ibid, p. 114. 16. Apart from all the constituent states being classified as Special Category States, establishment of NEC and induction of DoNER speaks the volume of fund allocated to this region. 17. Verghese, B. G., op. cit. Reference Ahluwalia, Montek S. (2000): â€Å"Economic Performance of States in Post-Reforms Period†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 35, no. 19, pp. 1637-1648. Bajpai, M. (2002): â€Å"A Decade of Economic Reforms in India: The Unfinished Agenda†, Working Paper no. 89, Center for International Development, Harvard University, http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/CID/cidwp/089.pdf. Barbora, Sanjay (2006): â€Å"Rethinking India’s Counter-insurgency Campaign in North-East†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 35, pp. 3805-3812. Baruah, Sanjib: â€Å"The Problem†, http://www.manipuronline.com/North-East/November2005/theproblem23_2.htm. Bhattacharya, B. B. S. Sakthivel (2004): â€Å"Regional Growth and Disparity in India: A Comparison of Pre and Post-Reform Decades†, http://iegindia.org/worksakthi244.pdf. Chanda, Nayan (2003): â€Å"What is Globalization? Coming Together: Globalization means reconnecting the human community†, http://www.globalenvision.org/library/8/567. Ghosh, Madhusudan (2006): â€Å"Economic Growth and Human Development in Indian States†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 30, pp. 3321-3329. GOI (1997): â€Å"Transforming the North East: Tackling Backlogs in Basic Minimum Services and Infrastructure Needs†, High Level Commission Report to the Prime Minister, Planning Commission, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/ne_exe.pdf. GOI (2001): â€Å"National Human Development Report†, Planning Commission, New Delhi, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/nhdrep/nhdreportf.htm GOI (2002): â€Å"Report of the Committee on India Vision 2020†, Planning Commission, New Delhi, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/pl_vsn2020.pdf. GOI (2004): â€Å"Report of the Twelfth Finance Commission (2005-10)†, Ministry of Finance, http://finance.rajasthan.gov.in/doc/12fcreng.pdf. Grare, Frederic Amitabh Mattoo (2003): Beyond the Rhetoric: The Economics of India’s Look East Policy, Manohar Publishers Distributors, New Delhi. Gupta, K. R. (2005): â€Å"Liberalization and Globalization of Indian Economy†, Gupta, K. R. (ed.) Liberalization and Globalization of Indian Economy, vol. VI, pp. 304-315, Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi. Humanshu (2007): â€Å"Recent Trends in Poverty and Inequality: Some Preliminary Results†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 42, no. 6, pp. 497-508. Khanna, Sushil (2005): â€Å"Economic Opportunities or Continuing Stagnation†, http://www.manipuronline.com/Economy/November2005/stagnationoropportuny18_1.htm. Kishore, Adharsh (2002): Towards an Indian Approach to Globalization, http://www.rba.gov.au/PublicationsAndResearch/Conferences/2002/kishore.pdf. Kurian, N. J. (2000): â€Å"Widening Regional Disparities in India: Some Indicators†, Economic and Political weekly, vol. 35. No. 7, pp. 538-550. Nayyar, Deepak (2006): â€Å"Economic Growth in Independent India. Lumbering Elephant or Running Tiger?†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 15, pp.1451-1458. NSSO (1997): Employment and Unemployment in India, 1993-94, 50th Round, Report No. 409. NSSO (2006): Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, 2004-05, 61st Round, Report No. 515. Prabhakra, M. S. (2004): â€Å"Is North-East India Landlocked†, Economic and Political Weekly, vo. 39, no. 42, pp.4606-4608. Ramachandran, H.: â€Å"Governance and People’s Participation†, 15 Background Paper: Vision 2020, http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/reportsf.htm. Roy, Sanjay K. (2005): â€Å"Conflicting Nations in North-East India†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 40, no. 21, pp. 2176-2182. Sen, Amartya (2005): â€Å"The Three R’s of Reforms†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 40, no. 19, pp. 1971-1974. Sinha, A. K. (2005): â€Å"India: Steps Towards Liberalization and Globalization†, Gupta, K. R. (ed.) Liberalization and Globalization of Indian Economy, vol. VI, pp. 315-330, Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi. Sinha, Aseema: â€Å"Globalization, Rising Inequality, and New Insecurities in India†, http://209.235.207.197/imgtest/TaskForceDiffIneqDevSinha.pdf Upadhyay, Archana (2006): â€Å"Terrorism in the North-East: Linkages and Implications†, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 48, pp. 4993-4999. Verghese, B. G.: â€Å"Unfinished Business in the North East: Pointers Towards Restructuring, Reform, Reconciliation and Resurgence†, Seventh Kamal Kumari Memorial Lecture, http://www.freeindiamidia.com/economy/19_june_economy.htm.

Comparing The Golden Pathway Annual to Blue Remembered Hills Essay Example for Free

Comparing The Golden Pathway Annual to Blue Remembered Hills Essay In the autumn term of 2006 I performed as Enid and The Head in The Golden Pathway Annual, a play by John Harding John Burrows, for my scripted performance. The class was split into groups of three (which was very fitting as in The Golden Pathway Annual most scenes have only three characters, only the odd few scenes had four) and then given different extracts from the play. My group was exceptionally conscious in keeping the props, costumes and especially acting appropriate to the time period, so some brief research was done using the Internet to give us a better understanding of, for example, what statuses the mother and father would have in relation to each other, or what costumes should be worn. Obviously, a reading of the entire play was done prior to any rehearsals, so that the scenes that we would be performing made sense to us. We also read through Blue Remembered Hills, by Dennis Potter, as a class. The Golden Pathway Annual is almost completely non-naturalistic. The same actor plays Michael, the lead role, throughout all his ages from the age of two-and-a-half into his adulthood. Also, two of the four actors play a range of characters, as opposed to one actor playing one character, as they would in a naturalistic play. At first glances, Blue Remembered Hills would seem to be a non-naturalistic play. Firstly, the characters are all children, whereas all the actors are adults, similar to The Golden Pathway Annual, where an adult actor would play the role of the child Michael. However, the scenarios in Blue Remembered Hills are completely naturalistic everything that happens could happen in real life. In contrast, The Golden Pathway Annual has moments, such as the fantasy sequences, where Michael is a dog with members of the Famous Five, which are evidently not naturalistic. The other very naturalistic thing about Blue Remembered Hills is that the play is in real-time one incident after another without the imposition or intervention of memory in the form of flashback in Potters words. The play is set in one day, unlike The Golden Pathway Annual, which spans a time period of more than 20 years there is even an instance in the beginning where the transition between two scenes indicates the change of several years, where a child had been born and raised to the age of two-and-a-half not naturalistic in the slightest. The emotions in Blue Remembered Hills are very naturalistic. This is because the play shows realistic emotions and how the different characters would react, for instance when Donald dies towards the end, all the characters are badly shaken. If the emotions were non-naturalistic, such as in a comic style, the emotions would portray Donalds death as humorous. The Golden Pathway Annual also has very naturalistic, touching moments, such as: Enid: Whats going to happen to us? George: When? Enid: When we die. Enid feels upset and slightly pessimistic now that Michael has left home, a natural reaction for a mother to feel. George, in the following lines, tries to be brave and attempts to convince Enid shes not talking sense an also natural thing for a husband to do. A noticeable difference between the two plays is the themes. The Golden Pathway Annual mainly has the theme of expectations, where Michael is pressured throughout his life, by his parents and by his school. He works hard, however this is only to find that all he worked for amounted to nothing. The main theme of Blue Remembered Hills is, in my opinion, childhood (other people may think differently it depends on a persons interpretation). The play goes through the emotions and activities of children, with an ending showing how all fun and games can end in catastrophe. Basing the two plays on their main themes, it could be said that they are divergent, however the two plays have other themes, which do relate the two of them. Nostalgia seems to be portrayed in both of the plays. A sense of looking back can be seen in both Dennis Potters and Ed Thomasons (the director of the first The Golden Pathway Annual productions) introductions; Every event in the script which had sparked off a personal memory, a moment of recognition for me, would do the same for an audience (Ed Thomason). It is clear that The Golden Pathway Annual was written with the intention of nostalgia and Blue Remembered Hills was written using Potters memories. Both the plays similarly experience the theme of fantasy, however one experiences it naturalistically and the other non-naturalistically. Blue Remembered Hills has times when the children will imagine they are Indians and cowboys, for instance, running through the forest wailing and shooting each other with their imaginary guns. This is naturalistic, as the audience sees the children playing pretend. The Golden Pathway Annual has non-naturalistic fantasy sequences. Michaels fantasies are much more like dreams the audience views a dream where Michael is a dog or is James Bond; it is not Michael pretending he is James Bond. Although Blue Remembered Hills was written for television, a successful stage adaptation has been made of it. A problem posed by this, which is overcome in different ways, depending on the production, is the staging. There is a section towards the end where there are instant transitions between inside a barn and outside a barn. On television, this is easy to do, however on stage this is harder. Therefore, the staging must be unnatural the stage could be split, for instance. This is alike to The Golden Pathway Annual, where the staging is very unnatural such as in a scene I performed a Grannys footsteps scene, where Michaels parents advance on him in the ironic fashion of this childs game. As a group, we decided to stage it abstractly, similarly to the way Blue Remembered Hills would be staged. The Golden Pathway Annual is set during the 1940s and 1960s. Our group established this time period in many ways; one was the way the two parents related. I performed as Enid in a way that allowed George to be the more dominant character, reflecting on the main beliefs of that time, that men still seemed to be the superior gender. The Golden Pathway Annual begins just after the war, whereas Blue Remembered Hills is set during the war. It is interesting to see that just the two years changes the historic period entirely, making the two plays acted very differently. There is a similarity in time periods between the plays, and that is that the time period is a given circumstance it is set, and cannot be changed. The reason Blue Remembered Hills cannot be changed is quite obviously as it is during the war, and the context of the play wouldnt make sense without the time period. The time period in The Golden Pathway Annual is essential to the characters, plot and emotions; without the time period, the nostalgia of the play would be lost. In addition, the production notes stress the time period heavily. One difference I notice about the style of how the two plays are written is the freedom the writers allow for the production, and what given circumstances there are. Blue Remembered Hills seems to be more flexible with how the play can be performed. Potter gives an option of what Willie can be doing in the first scene, whereas Harding Burrows have much more strict given circumstances, where the props, as examples, are much more set the placing of the two chairs (which are the props that create the illusion of many other items in the play) is stated. Society and culture is a significant difference between the two plays. The Peters family in The Golden Pathway Annual is of working class. The family was hard-hit by the war literally; their house was bombed and they lost everything. Society in the times of the beginning of when The Golden Pathway Annual is set had the popular belief that the future would get better, the high hopes due to the recent winning of the war. It was also believed that the young generation should make the best of what they have offered to them, a culture reflected deeply into Enid and Georges parenting, which is shown through all the pressure applied on Michael to do well at school and get good qualifications, so he can succeed in life. However, as the play progresses, we see that cultures change and Michael finds that like the pound, his degree has devalued. The class and culture are both very different in Blue Remembered Hills. The children spit, threaten and fight regularly in the play, something that Michael is never known to have experienced. Michael is always made presentable, as his parents believe that they need to fit in with the society. It is likely that the same case occurs in Blue Remembered Hills, however the culture is different the entire town is likely to be of the lower agricultural class, working on the farms; the way the children behave is normal in the society they are in. It is clear that the upbringing of the children in Blue Remembered Hills is not to get a degree and do well in life and to better themselves, as Michael is in The Golden Pathway Annual; the children are parented in a sort of the present matters mentality, in contrast to The Golden Pathway Annual where Enid and George have firm beliefs that it is the future that matters, and that everything is done for a child to better themselves in the future. In conclusion, I have learnt that although the two plays are very different in where they are set and the way the characters behave, similarities still lie in the themes and some of the styles, such as staging.

Social interaction and how we rapidly forms impressions

Social interaction and how we rapidly forms impressions Human beings are social creatures. Our interaction with another is important as it provides us with a vast amount of information necessary to carry out daily activities. With the amount of information that is available to us at one time, the human mind has naturally developed shortcuts that allow us to function more efficiently in a social world. One function of human interaction is the ability to make rapid assessments about other people. We often form impressions about people within seconds of meeting them. Impressions of personality form quickly and easily. It is quite hard to forget our impression of a person once it has been formed in our minds. These impressions form automatically and instantly provide us with important information about others. Then, this information provides us with a foundation on which we make additionally judgments and effects future attitudes about an individual. This ability to form rapid impressions of people is neither bad nor good. According to Asch (1946), it is simply a precondition of social life. Concerning social psychologists in particular are questions regarding the manner in which our impressions of other people are established, and what are the principles that regulate the formation of these impressions. It has been found in social psychological research, that impressions of personality can be influenced by certain cognitive biases. An excellent example of a cognitive bias that influences our perception of personality of others is the halo effect. The halo effect is a cognitive bias that occurs when the perception of one trait of a person or object influences the perception of another trait or multiple traits. Thorndike (1920) was the first to support the theory of the halo effect using empirical research. Commanding officers were asked to use a rating scale to assess traits of their soldiers. The results of his study showed a high cross-correlation between positive and negative traits (Thorndike, 1920), which suggests that people do not think of others in mixed terms, but rather as generally good or bad across different categories of measurement. Primarily, the halo effect biases our perception with a tendency to focus mainly on the good. A classic example would be judging a good-looking person as more sociable or more intelligent. Another example would be perceiving an individuals personality differently based on information given about that person. This includes influencing expectations of another person through the use of interchangeable adjectives. An overwhelming amount of research supports the notion that describing a strangers personality using particular words can significantly affect the way that person is perceived by others (Asche, 1946; Mensh Wishner; 1947; Kelley, 1950; Biggs McAllaster; 1981; Widmeyer Loy, 1988). A strangers disposition can be perceived to match up to the personality traits previously stated, despite the actual nature of the person. Influential Social Psychological Research Over sixty years ago, Asch (1946) demonstrated that certain labels can affect the entire impression of a person. Asch read a list of adjectives which were supposed to describe a hypothetical person. His subjects who were all college students (mostly women) were then asked to characterize that person. Asch found that by simply using interchangeable adjectives representing central qualities, such as warm and cold, he could influence the descriptions given by subjects about the personality of a hypothetical person. However, it was also found that including words to describe peripheral qualities, including terms such as polite or blunt, did not have a significant effect on subjects perceptions of the personality of the hypothetical person. A number of the Asch experiments were replicated by Mensh and Wishner (1947) to determine if the results of Aschs experiment were population specific. In their study, they used subjects that were a mix of both male and female students. Furthermore, they took measures to make sure that subjects were graduate and undergraduate students, and they also selected subjects from different geographical locations. Despite Mensh and Wishners modifications to Aschs experiments, the findings in Aschs study were effectively confirmed and reinforced by Mensh and Wishner (1947). Aschs experimental work was also extended by Kelley (1950) who demonstrated that the warm/cold manipulation extends to actual people, as well. That is, Kelley found that this warm/cold manipulation effected subjects perception of a person with whom they had actually encountered, instead of just a hypothetical person whom they had never met. In Kelleys study, a man posing as guest lecturer was introduced to subjects in a neutral manner. Later, one of two notes about the stimulus person were randomly distributed to subjects. One note contained a description of him as being rather warm, while the other note described him as rather cold. Then, the guest lecturer proceeded to give a 20-min discussion to the subjects, while the verbal interaction that between the subjects and the stimulus person was recorded. The recording of the subjects interaction with the instructor was novel, because according to Kelley (1950), no previous studies reported had dealt with the importance of first impres sions for behavior (Kelley, 1950). After the discussion, subjects were asked to rate the personality of the stimulus person on 15 different scales that were predetermined. In addition to rating the stimulus person, subjects were also asked to write free descriptions of him, as well. It was by observing the interaction between the subjects and the stimulus person that Kelley found support for the autistic hostility hypothesis (Newcomb, 1947). The autistic hostility hypothesis states that when someone perceives another individual as cold, that person will limit his or her interactions with the cold person. It was observed by Kelley that students who were in the warm group engaged in discussions more freely and more frequently than those in the cold group (Kelley, 1950). Like Asch, Kelley found that subjects total impression of a person is significantly influenced by the attribution of a central quality such as warmth. Kelleys results showed that subjects who were given preinformation describing him as warm, gave him consistently better ratings on multiple personal attributes than did those who were given preinformation describing the stimulus person as cold. Furthermore, Kelly found that 56% of the warm subjects actively participated in the discussion, as opposed to only 32% of the cold subjects. These studies conducted by Kelley (1950) and Asch (1946) are important because they were both novel and influential. Their early studies stimulated a considerable amount of research concerning the perception of people, specifically a study by Widmeyer Loy (1988). They designed their study with the primary intent to determine whether or not Kelleys warm/cold effect could be replicated in a classroom setting 35 years later. More specifically, they examined the effects of warm/cold manipulation on first impressions of individuals and their teaching ability. In Widmeyer Loys study (1988), a man posing as a guest lecturer gave a neutral lecture to 140 male and 100 female college students. Before the lecture, as in Kelleys study, forms were randomly distributed to subjects describing the instructor. One half of the group received information describing him as rather cold, while the other group received information describing him as rather warm. To half of each of these groups, the stimulus person was said to teach physical education, while the other half of these groups were told that he taught social psychology classes. Following the stimulus persons 40-min lecture, subjects evaluated his personality and teaching ability though a Likert scale and through additional written comments. Results showed that subjects who were told the stimulus person was rather warm rated his personality and his teaching ability more positively than did subjects who were told he was rather cold. Additionally, it was found that the manipulations of both discipl inary status of the instructor and the sex of the subjects had no significant influence on subjects ratings of the stimulus persons teaching ability. Research done by Asch, Kelley, and others is strongly supported by the findings of a similar study conducted by Biggs McAllaster using warm/cold manipulation (1981). In this study, it was found that subjects who were told that a guest lecturer was warm tended to evaluate that person as more favorable than subjects who were led to believe he or she was cold. Additionally, the use of the neutral group (one that was told that the speaker was neither warm nor cold) also helped to reinforce the findings of Asch (Biggs McAllaster, 1981), which will be discussed in further depth along with some interesting novel occurrences within the experiment. Critical Review of Research The studies conducted by Asch, Mensh Wishner, Kelley, Biggs McAllaster, and Widmeyer Loy are similar in ways that link them together and give them the ability to use modifications in order to add to existing research. It is because of these modifications that they all contain important differences that extend the level of research to a new level. One important similarity is that they use all warm/cold modification to discover if subjects total impression of a person is influenced by the attribution of a central quality such as warmth or coldness. All studies found that this modification of adjectives did affect the way the stimulus person was perceived by subjects. Additionally, four out of the five studies use a male as a stimulus person. Interestingly, Biggs McAllister (1981) intentionally uses him or her when discussing the stimulus person. This raises an important question regarding the sex of the stimulus person. Would subjects rating across multiple characteristics such as personality and teaching ability differ if the stimulus person used was a female? It might be interesting to see how a female instructor might be rated by female subjects, and also by male subjects, as well. Another variation of this experiment might seek to investigate the length of the description of the instructor provided to the subjects. It might be interesting to examine whether a longer description would increase or decrease the differences between the cold ratings and the warm ratings. In a longer description, for example, the word warm or cold might be glossed over given the larger amount of information being provided or ultimately missed all together. It is possible, however, that people might accidently read only certain words that help them to form an impression of the stimulus person due to an overload of too much information. Varying the length of the description could be another possible modification of these experiments. It should also be noted that while the study conducted by Asch (1946) found that the use of interchangeable adjectives could influence the descriptions given by subjects about the personality of a hypothetical person, Kelley (1950) found that this warm/cold manipulation effected subjects perception of a person with whom they had actually encountered, instead of just a hypothetical person. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, no previous studies reported had dealt with the importance of first impressions for behavior according to Kelley (1950). This made Kelleys recording of the subjects interaction with the instructor quite novel, as it had not been reported to have been done by a previous study. Widmeyer Loy (1988) sought to modify and extend Kelleys work in three specific ways which will be discussed below. Since Kelleys study only examined teaching performance indirectly by looking at whether the observers expectation of the instructor was favorable or not, Widmeyer Loy tried to determine whether warm/cold manipulation would affect subjects impression of the instructors teaching ability specifically. Secondly, according to Wilson (1968), an instructors perceived status has an influence on subjects perception of an instructor. For example, physical education is likely to be seen as being less academically prestigious than other disciplines that are more traditional (Seater Jacobson, 1976). These finding were of particular interest to Widmeyer Loy who wanted to determine whether the labels of physical education professor and social psychology professor would have different influences on subjects judgments on an instructors teaching performance, and on their central and peripheral personality traits, respectively. They found, however, that the disciplinary status of the instructor had no significant effect on subjects ratings of the stimulus person. Thirdly, based on evidence that suggests male and female college students assess college-level instructors differently (Lombardo Tocci, 1979), Widmeyer Loy were interested in the sex of the subjects. The subjects in Aschs study were mostly female college students, while Kelleys study included only male college students. Just as Biggs McAllister intentionally used gender-neutral terms when discussing the stimulus person, the sex of the subjects was also went unreported. Widmeyer Loy specifically made efforts to determine if male and female subjects were influenced differently by the preinformation given about the instructor, in regards to the warm/cold variable, by using a mixture of both male and female college students as subjects. It should be noted that Mensh Wishner (1947), seeking to extend on the original research of Asch, also used subjects that were a mix of both male and female students, but despite their modifications to Aschs experiments, the findings in Mensh Wishne r showed that subject sex had significant influence on subjects impression of the stimulus person. Despite the finding that the manipulations of disciplinary status and the sex of subjects has no significant effect on subject ratings (Widmeyer Loy, 1988), effects were found in regard to perceptions of personality and perceptions of teaching ability. In regard to the warm/cold manipulation, significant effects were reported. More specifically, subjects who were told that the stimulus person was warm, perceived him (with regard to personality) as less unpleasant, more sociable, less irritable, less ruthless, more humorous, less formal, and more human compared to subjects to were led to believe that has was a cold person (Widmeyer Loy, 1988). Additionally, in regard to perceptions of teaching ability, it was found that subjects who were told that the stimulus person was rather warm perceived him to be more intelligent, more interesting, more considerate of the class, and more knowledgeable of his material than subjects who were given information that the instructor was cold. These findings strongly support previous research in a number of ways. First, they confirm the hypothesis that the attribution of the central quality of warmth greatly influences the overall impression of subjects on the personality of the instructor. These results also lend support to Kelleys observation that the size of this effect seems to depend upon the closeness of relation between the specific dimension of any given rating scale and the central quality of warmth or coldness' (Kelley, 1950). In other words, it was asserted by Kelley that the warm/cold manipulation does not have an equal influence on all variables. In the studies conducted by Asch, Kelly, Biggs McAllastar, and Widmeyer Loy found that being sociable, humorous and considerate were positively related to warmth, while being proud ruthless and irritable were negatively related to warmth. It was also found that being proud, self-assured and dominant were not related to warmth at all. The discovery that the warm/cold manipulation affects the ratings of some characteristics more than others supports an assertion made by Kelley concerning the extent of the halos effects influence. Kelley states that, the effect cannot be explained altogether on the basis of a simple halo effect (Kelley, 1950). The pattern found by Widmeyer Loy with regard to the differential effects across 12 common scales is similar to the patterns found by both Asch Kelley. This pattern lends support to the explanation given by Kelley of how the effect is dependent on the closeness of the characteristic being rated to the quality of warmth (Kelley, 1950). Any discrepancies in the findings of Widmeyer Loy that do not parallel the patterns in the other studies, lend support to an idea asserted by Mensh Wishners (1947) that depending on the context, the strength of the effect of the warm/cold manipulation can vary. For example, formality was not related to warmth in Widmeyer Loy, while it was related in Kelleys investigation. Biggs McAllister (1981). Using warm/cold manipulation, subjects who were told that a guest lecturer was warm tended to evaluate that person as more favorable than subjects who were led to believe he or she was cold. Additionally, the use of the neutral group (one that was told that the speaker was neither warm nor cold) also helped to reinforce the findings of Asch (Biggs McAllister, 1981). More specifically, the warm/cold comparison made it possible for Biggs McAllister to replicate Kelleys experiment, while the addition of the neutral group allowed them to make sure that other words in the biography were not contributing to differences in the evaluations between the warm and cold groups, as Asch did in his study. Something else that should be taken into consideration is the lecture or discussion led by the stimulus person. In Asch and Mensh Wishners experiments the person described was merely hypothetical, so there was no lecture or discussion. In Biggs McAllisters (1981) study, the stimulus person used was real as opposed to hypothetical. This stimulus person gave a lecture as opposed to an interactive discussion, but not amount of time was reported regarding the length of the lecture given. In Kelleys experiment, the stimulus person led the class in a 20-min discussion and subject verbal interaction was recorded. In Widmeyer Loys experiment, however, the stimulus person gave a 40-min lecture to the subjects, and there was no reported subject interaction with the lecturer. Discussions can vary in formality and the comfort-level of the atmosphere can be influenced, while lectures do not tend to vary as much in these respects. It could be possible that one of these conditions could be easie r or harder for the stimulus to demonstrate intelligence and knowledge of the subject. Also, it may be the case that subject interaction with the instructor could provide a different foundation on which subjects base personality ratings and ratings regarding teaching ability. As previously mention, there were some interesting occurrences within the Biggs McAllaster (1981) experiment. There were two occurrences in particular that should be noted. First, some students realized later, after talking to each other, that some descriptions of the instructor contained the world warm, while others contained the word cold. What was interesting, though, was that one subject later told the instructor that the cold groups description of contained words such as vicious and unforgiving, as well as other negative thing that were not included in the description. It seems that in the perception of the instructors personality, the word cold became combined with extra negative characteristics. The second occurrence to be noted is that one individual from the class felt that she did not have sufficient information to rate the instructor. Her refusal to finish the questionnaire was turned into a positive point of discussion in this study because it demonstrated that her decis ion regarding the personality of the instructor did not have to be made based solely on the information that was provided. Conclusion Each of these studies replicates, modifies, and/or extends the original Asch study pertaining to warm/cold manipulation in a variety of ways. They all lend support to hypothesis that a subject who is told that another person, whether real or hypothetical, is warm will tend to evaluate the stimulus person more favorably than another person who is led to believe he or she is cold. These studies demonstrate how easily first impressions are formed despite limited or even invalid information. Additionally, the experiments can be used to discuss trait theories of personality perhaps and why it would be important to be careful when make predictions based on single traits. Furthermore, the error in cognition referred to as the halo effect can be pointed out since the evaluator is making generalizations about a person from a single personality trait. It is noteworthy that personality characteristics as well as teaching abilities can be influenced by the halo effect. By being perceived as a wa rm person, an instructor would be able to influence students rating of his or her personality as well as teaching abilities. When considering the role that students evaluations of their instructors play in regard to tenure and promotions, these findings have considerable implications within the educations system. Teachers who would like to get ahead, for example, should present themselves being warm. It is possible that students expectations of professors can be influenced by student ratings. These expectations can, in turn, have an influence on the attitude and behavior of the instructor. Thus, these studies have significant educational implications.