Strategy in Practice â€Amazon

Strategy in Practice –Amazon STRATEGY IN PRACTICE – Amazon.com Introduction to Strategy In the Words of Johnson Scholes (2002), Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term which achieves advantage for the establishment through its configuration of resources within a changing environment and to fulfil stakeholder expectations. In some respects strategy can be seen as a reflection of the attitudes and beliefs of those who have the most influence on the organisation. According to Lynch (2000), the essence of corporate strategy is the identification of the purpose of the organisation and the plans and actions to achieve that purpose. Corporate strategy is often perceived as one of the most critical managerial activities that bring together the organisation’s internal resources and its external relationships with its customers, suppliers, competitors and the socio-economic environment in which it exists. In his conceptualisation of the Strategy concept Lynch (2002) clearly identifies three distinct aspects that have been discussed below: Resources Strategy – Companies, Businesses and firms hold or acquire a wide range of resources. A firm’s resources and capabilities include all the financial, physical, human and organisational assets used by a firm to develop, manufacture and deliver products or services to its customers Barney (1991). The purpose of strategy is to make the best use of the available resources so as to outperform competition. Environmental Strategy – The term environment includes every aspect external to the organisation. No organisation can gain competitiveness with a lack of vision for its environment. Focus that is restricted merely to what lies inside the boundaries of the firm is best criticised as incomplete and insufficient. Organisations need to and must be in synchronisation with their surroundings. It is here that strategy comes to play a major role. Adding Value – Lynch has stressed on the notion of value addition. Apart from the above corporate strategy must meet the need to add value to the supplies brought into the organisation. To ensure its long term survival, the organisation must take the supplies, add value to them through its operations and then deliver its output to the customers. The purpose of corporate strategy is to bring the conditions under which the organisation is able to create this vital additional value. It must also ensure that the organisation adapts to the changes in the environment so that it can continue to add value in future. In essence Strategy provides Decision Support (Grant, 2004) â€Å"to the extent that decision makers are limited by bounded rationality, strategy in the form of guidelines and decision criteria can enhance the quality and consistency of strategic decision making. It also helps in better decision making by pooling together the knowledge of many individuals and by facilitating the application of various analytical tools.† Strategy also acts as a Co-ordinating device. The many tools and components of strategy i.e. Vision, Mission, Objectives etc. bring together the entire organisation as a single locomotive headed in one direction. With all departments and personnel aiming towards the common goals, co-ordination can be achieved with greater ease. Strategy provides the organisation a target to work for. Strategy is forward looking; it establishes a direction to guide actions. It also sets aspirations for the company that can act as motivators for the whole organisation. The strategy function, as is evident from above, permeates through all organisational membranes to pervade into all levels and is not restricted to any particular zone. Practically all authors in field of Strategic Management acknowledge the prevalence of varied levels of strategy. Johnson Scholes (2002) believe that Corporate level strategy relates to â€Å"the overall purpose and scope of an organisation and how value will be added to the different parts (business units) of the organisation. It is also likely to be concerned with the expectations of the owners. It is the basis of other strategic decisions and may well take the form of a mission statement.† Corporate strategy deals with the ways in which a corporation manages a set of businesses together. (Grant, 1995) Business unit strategy is about how to compete successfully in particular markets. Business Strategy deals with the way in which a single business firm or an individual unit of a larger firm competes within a particular industry or market. Operational strategies are concerned with how the component parts of an organisation deliver effectively the corporate and business level strategies in terms of resources, processes and people. They deal with the day-to-day working of the various sections in a firm. Operational strategies are more about implementation than planning. Thus, â€Å"Strategic management involves understanding the strategic position of an organisation, making strategic choices for future and turning strategy into action. The strategic position is concerned with the impact on strategy of the external environment, internal resources and competences and the expectations and influences of stakeholders. Strategic choices include understanding the underlying bases for future strategy at both the corporate and business unit levels and the options for developing strategy in terms of both the directions and methods of development. Strategy into action is concerned with ensuring that strategies are working in practice.† (Johnson Scholes, 2002) This report aims to analyse the strategy in practice at Amazon.com. Amazon.com is one of the most successful e-businesses and undoubtedly the champion of all online retailers or e-tailers as they are often referred to. It has revolutionised the retail sector of business and is a subject of innumerable studies and research in the current e-commerce era. The material used for study has been drawn from the Amazon.com case study[1] and the web based portal for the company Amazon.com[2]. The report shall use existing theory as a basis to realise how strategy has worked for Amazon.com in practice. Although it is challenging to capture every aspect of the organisation’s life so far, effort has been made to cite relevant examples so to get a glimpse of its strategic approach. The Amazon.com Case A summary[3] of the Amazon.com case shall prepare the grounds to lay the analysis in the light of theories discussed. A number of strategic concepts shall be cited to gain deeper insights to particular issues. With the explosive growth in internet companies’ market capitalisation positions, one would ask if some hype is at play. But the trend data clearly reveal that the internet is for real. According to Forrester research the total value of goods and services purchased online exceeded US$43 billion in 1998. Amazon.com believes that it is well positioned to capitalise[4] on this growth. According to Media Metrix 16% of web users visited Amazon.com’s stores in December 1998. ‘In a very short period of time Amazon.com has become one of the world’s most recognised brands’, said Jaleh Bisharat, Vice-president, Marketing, Amazon.com. With Amazon.com’s current strategy combined with the ongoing recruitment of entrepreneurial top management team for each business segment, the challenge for Amazon.com is on the strategic implementation front. Bezos had always been fascinated with technology. He came up with the statistic that the electronic world would grow at the rate of 2300% monthly. Bezos said, when something is growing that fast, every second counts. Bezos considered selling a variety of products online, but he settled for books because the worldwide market is large, the price point is low and the range of titles is large. Being unsure of the ideal location, Seattle was chosen because it was the location of book distributor Ingram, which has continued to provide 60% of Amazon.com’s books. Seattle also provided a favourable sales tax climate and a high-tech workforce. â€Å"I know nothing about the book industry†¦I can get them to the customer and forget about bricks and mortar†, said Bezos in an attempt to raise funds for his venture. After its entry into the market, Amazon.com had no significant rivals and there were no dominant traditional players. Even at this time Amazon.com was providing a powerful search facility as well as a host of services not provided by other online competitors. Analysts warned of a volatile internet sector with strategic plans constantly being revised. Despite aggressive competitive entry, Amazon.com passed many milestones in 1997. The most notable of these was its ability to raise net proceeds of almost US$50 million in May. This enabled aggressive investment in building the business. Amazon.com focussed on establishing its executive team, which included the recruitment of Richard Dalzell of Wal-Mart. In the same year, 1997, Amazon.com offered the lowest book prices anywhere in the world. Extensive promotional relationships with other dominant internet players were concluded which reinforced Amazon.com’s momentum, e.g. Yahoo!, Excite, AOL etc. In 1998 the company launched music, video and gift stores in the US and expanded operations to UK and Germany. Jimmy Wright of Wal-Mart joined the company in the same year. Amazon.com’s expansion programme is evidence of a growth strategy via acquisitions, strategic relations and internal development. It received the Computerworld Smithsonian Award for having demonstrated vision and leadership in the innovative use of information technology. With its highly qualified top management team and the success trends, Amazon.com continued to enhance the total customer experience of shopping, giving them wider product range to choose from and more sophisticated services to complement them. The case study then goes on to list the various achievements of the company. It also provides detail information on the financial and personnel aspects of the organisation. These details have been passed over as they are beyond the scope of this paper. The Analysis of Strategic Practices The Basic Approach The Internet is one of the most fascinating products of the developments in information technology. It received mixed reactions from the public and the entrepreneurs. While most of them were overwhelmed with the possibilities and others called it â€Å"an over hyped mania†, only a few saw it as a business opportunity. Jeff Bezos had the vision that created â€Å"Ex ante limits† to competition (Peteraf, 1993) and gave Amazon.com the â€Å"First-mover advantage†. Among the various lenses or attitudes towards Strategy that have been theorised, Amazon.com’s approach can be regarded as that of an Ideas lens. The ideas lens (Johnson Scholes, 2002) sees strategy as a result of new ideas that can come from anywhere in the organisation. It promotes innovative thinking and does not inhibit experimentation. This is well evident in the very start-up of Amazon.com as an enterprise. Further, this approach is better characterised as â€Å"Emergent† than â€Å"Prescriptive† (Lynch, 2000). The dynamic nature of the internet environment makes a planned and prescribed approach unsuitable. Amazon.com’s strategy evolved largely during the course of its life depending on its position at that instant in time. In the words of Miles Snow (1987) Amazon.com as an entity is a â€Å"Prospector† who looks for new opportunities and is willing to take risks to be able to exploit the same. Stated in general, Amazon.com’s strategy is an ambitious one. Pattern of Strategy development In his business development Bezos attempted a â€Å"Transformational change† in strategy through the creation of an entirely new service. The change resulted in success because it created new expectations that did not exist earlier; Amazon.com was ahead of its time. Further, the ability to convert the transformational change into a business winner comes from the fact that as the strategy for the firm was emerging, there was little mismatch between the intended and the realised strategy (Mintzberg Walters, 1985). It is important to strike harmony among the understanding of the environment, identified opportunity, the strategy intended to capture such opportunity and finally the actual resultant strategy that was implemented. Without this happening, the transformational change would most often end in a failure. Stakeholder Mapping â€Å"Stakeholders are those individuals or groups who depend on the organisation to fulfil their own goals, and on whom in turn the organisation depends† (Johnson Scholes, 2002). For Amazon.com the major stakeholders were its customers, investors and Jeff Bezos himself. With respect to the Stakeholder Mapping drawn up by Savage et al (1991) Bezos and the investors can be referred to as â€Å"Dominant Stakeholders† while the customers would identify as â€Å"Dependent Stakeholders†. Environment The internet industry is characterised by a high degree of â€Å"Changeability† (Lynch, 2000) i.e. there is a greater number of new problems and each problem is more complex than in other sectors. Moreover it is not very â€Å"Predictable† due to a high rate of change and uncertainty of future circumstances. This made Amazon.com’s business environment highly turbulent. As a new entrant Amazon.com had to cope with all these difficulties; but once settled these factors acted as â€Å"Barriers to entry† (Porter, 1985) for its competitors. Culture Culture within an organisation consists of the shared basic assumptions that have worked well enough to be considered valid and passed to fellow employees over time (adapted from Schein, 1985). It refers to â€Å"the way we do things around here†. While there can be several factors affecting the culture at a work place, in case of Amazon.com it is the ownership and technological factors. Jeff Bezos is the leader of the organisation and also the cultural head bringing in ambition and motivation to the organisation. The work practices, routines, plans, the entire business is largely governed by the technological abilities inside and the advancements outside the organisation. The Cultural web is another important aspect that has a definitive impact on the strategy an organisation pursues. The Cultural Web (Johnson Scholes, 2002) consists of the Routines Rituals, Stories, Symbols, Power Structures, Control Systems and the Organisational Structure. For Amazon.com its brand name acts as a major symbol that binds together the various components of the system. It symbolises the scale of operations that Bezos aimed at, thus cultivating an aggressive work culture. If one was to draw out the power structure at Amazon.com, it would be a flat pyramid with Jeff Bezos at the peak. Although the investment came from outside, Amazon.com was his dream and â€Å"his† venture. He did not promise any profits in the first 5 years, but his faith in the idea won the investors’ confidence. All this clearly indicates the prevalence of a â€Å"Power Culture† at Amazon.com (Handy, 1993). Key Strategic Highlights Based on its first mover advantage Amazon.com was able to capitalise on the heterogeneity of its resources. It reaped benefits from the Ex post and Ex ante limits to competition (Peteraf, 1993). Its technological knowledge behind the search engine was imperfectly imitable for the competitors. Even if the rivals came up with substitute systems, the â€Å"first mover† position always allowed an edge in favour of Amazon.com. Employees and technicians at Amazon.com learnt to adapt and innovate better than the competitors, simply because the latter were merely copying what Amazon had done. The Knowledge at Amazon.com was rare, valuable, not easily imitable and well organised to allow the company to enjoy a resource based competitive advantage over its rivals (Barney, 1995). The technological skills were Amazon.com’s core competence that was used to create the Search facility – their core product which was at the heart of Amazon’s web based store/services – the end product (Hamel Prahalad, 1990). However, it also needs to be mentioned here that the Amazon.com was rich in dynamic capabilities (Teece, 1997) to be able to successfully carry out the above. The top management team which consisted ex-Wal-mart employees, were aware of their strengths as well as the business environment to be able to identify their core competence. They ensured carrying out the best use of their resources and maintained the momentum gathered from the initial push. Even with the best resources and opportunities a business may not succeed, if those managing it are not aware of their responsibilities. It is the management that lays out the strategy and takes all decisions that are critical to the overall success. Expansion Given the knowledge of Ansoff’s Matrix Amazon.com for a start pursued Market development i.e. offered the existing products to new markets. It also used Cost leadership (Porter, 1985) to expand its customer base. As the website served more and more customers over time, Amazon.com introduced new products to the existing market – a product development effort. Finally, with a secure market position Amazon.com was capable of Diversification i.e. offering new products to new markets. Not all of Amazon.com’s offerings were indigenous. It had partnered with several other wed based companies. While most of the early partnerships were aimed at gaining a greater exposure to the target audience, later excusive relationships were created to add to the existing list of products and services that were offered on the website. The motive behind these alliances was largely â€Å"Exploitative† (Koza, 1998). Such business alliances were primarily aimed at tapping into each others’ customer bases and render mutual benefits to the parties involved. Amazon.com’s approach to collaboration is well explained by the M-B-A (Make, Buy, or Ally) matrix. It allied with services such as Yahoo and Excite because the service was not important to Amazon’s business – it sought more traffic. However, in case of similar companies such as Bookpages and Telebook, Amazon.com preferred a â€Å"Buy† because of the importance to the business activity. It also had the requisite skills to run these companies. Amazon.com did not want to allow these smaller companies to grow and later pose a threat to them. Conclusion Amazon.com can be easily regarded as a strategy champion. It had all the components of a great Entrepreneurial tale, and shall be cited in many more academic works in future. However, it must not be overlooked that for the first five years Amazon.com did not make any profits. Moreover, with the growth in market share, loss per share also grew. If all other competitors would have grouped together to attack Amazon from all fronts, it could have been a different story. Essentially, Amazon’s first mover advantage was crucial. The fact that Amazon possessed the above resources and capabilities at the emergence of e-commerce is of vital importance. Therefore, it is questionable whether or not Amazon would have managed to achieve similar results if it were to launch today in 2004 in such a hypercompetitive market. Primarily, Amazon’s success was due to effective leveraging of its resources, especially knowledge and managing the capabilities derived from these resources. REFERENCES Barney, Jay B.. Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage From: Journal of management vol 17 (1) 1991 p.99-120. Grant, R. M. (Robert Morris), 1948- Contemporary strategy analysis : concepts, techniques, applications / Robe.. 5th ed . Oxford : Blackwell, 2004 Johnson, Gerry. Exploring corporate strategy / Gerry Johnson, Kevan Scholes. 6th ed.. Harlow : Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2002. Lynch, Richard L.. Corporate strategy / Richard Lynch. 3rd ed. Harlow : Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2003. Mintzberg, Henry. Strategy safari : the complete guide through the wilds of strategic manage Harlow : Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2001. Mintzberg, H. and Waters, J.A. Of strategies, deliberate and emergent Strategic management journal. John Wiley and Sons Inc. Vol 6 (1985) p.257-272 Peteraf, M. The cornerstones of competitive advantage: a resource-based view Strategic management journal. John Wiley and Sons Inc. Vol 14 (3) 1993 p.179-191 Porter, M.E. From competitive advantage to corporate strategy. Harvard business review Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, 1987 Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G. The core competence of the corporation Harvard business review. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. Vol 68 (3) 1990 p.79-91 Schein, Edgar H. (Edgar Henry), 1928-. Organizational culture and leadership. 2nd ed. San Francisco, Calif. : Jossey-Bass, 1992. (Jossey-Bass management series). Teece, D. et al Dynamic capabilities and strategic management Strategic management journal vol 17 (7) 1997 p.509-533 Whittington, Richard, 1958- What is strategy and does it matter? / Richard Whittington 2nd ed . London : Thomson Learning, 2001 1861523777 Footnotes [1] Amazon.com – from start up to the new millennium, Stockport Street in Johnson Scholes (2002) [2] www.amazon.com [3] This is a self prepared summary using the information provided in the Amazon.com Case study by Stockport Street. The purpose of the summary is informative and allows connection with the report – it has therefore been included in the main text. [4] Such text in bold are exhibits of strategic highlights

Language and translation Essay

Language is the basic tool people use to communicate with each other, including verbal language and non-verbal language. Language is used to announce, to persuade, to queries, to express emotions, to transmit complicated ideas or even to hurt people. Generally speaking, using the language correctly allows people to communicate better, compared with animals. However, we live in a big world, which has more than 6 billion people now. With the existence of many different languages, the issues of translation are generated. After reading Alberto Rios essay – Translating Translation: Finding the Beginning, I know Rios understands languages and translation in complex and stratified ways, from cultures and manners. He writes â€Å"Language is more than what we say – it’s also how we say it, and whether or not we even understand what we are saying. † in his short essay (508). It can be understood easily why Rios pays so much attention to languages and translation. He grew up on the southwestern borderlands, having a Mexican father and an English mother. (504) The place he grew up is a place where cultures of the United States and Mexico meet and collide. Based on his own experience of dealing with different cultures and different languages, he points out how to say is more significant than what we say. The elements making his essay to be persuasive and compelling is worth to be analyzed, such as his personal background, the examples of his experience he gives, the way he arrange the examples and the his unique writing style. Rios’ personal background not only determine the topics he prefers to write about languages, but also make his writing on these topics become more convincing because he experiences many problems of languages and cultural conflicts by himself and it cannot been denied. As I mentioned before, he grew up in a place where cultures of the United States and Mexico meet and collide. â€Å"My father was born in Mexico, on the border of Guatemala, and my mother was born in England. I had languages. †(506) We can see that, because of his parents, he is doomed to face a lot of bi-languages problems. In order to understand both people speaking Spanish and people speaking English, he has to know how they say in different way rather than just know what the words mean in Spanish and English. He needs to understand the ways of how people say for getting the real meanings beyond the simple words. Because of his experience of languages differences, he has special interests in figuring out how people use languages in different ways. That’s also why he is fond of topics on languages and translations between different languages. Due to the special background Rios has, he has some interesting experiences of translation problems. All three examples Rios gives help to make his writing persuasive since the examples are typical and are related to his idea of importance of how we say perfectly. Through those three examples, Rios tries to demonstrate that translation incorporates understanding what it says and how it say, instead of explaining what is translation and how to move from one language to another. In order to claim his viewpoint, he picks up three typical examples. In the first example: â€Å"My mother when asked what color she wanted the kitchen, said to the workers who were all Mexican, and who spoke very little English, limon. But when we came back the next day, the kitchen was painted bright green, like a small jungle. Mexican limones, my mother found out, are small and green that color exactly, no mistake. † (506) Rios’s mother asks the workers to paint their kitchen in the color of limon, but the workers understand it as limones, which is different from limon. It’s a small understanding in the communication. The misunderstanding happens because author mother’s wrong pronunciation but the workers do not really understand what she wants. It’s quite normal for a new leaner to have incorrect pronunciations. But in native speakers’ ears, they will think that may be another word. This is a small example that different understandings of words cause misunderstand between people who speak different languages. The second example tells a story that a man, who was arrested for illegally crossing the border from Mexico into the United States was arrested, and then was left in the jail without anyone coming to see him from a Thursday to a Saturday because of lack of understanding between the man and his jailers. (507) In that situation, everyone is supposed to say something even yell out when finding their own are forgotten by the jailers. But the man didn’t because he had manners. This example let me think of an observation of mine. Americans say â€Å"can I have a†¦Ã¢â‚¬  when they order in the restaurant, but most Chinese are accustomed to say â€Å"I want a †¦Ã¢â‚¬  when ordering. This difference cannot jump to the conclusion that Chinese are impolite. The expression difference happens due to the difference manners of language. This kind of case is more complicated than the first example. People have the same understanding of words but different manners still cause misunderstandings. Rios select this example to tell people if you want to understand other completely, the manner behind word cannot be ignored. The third example is interesting. The conversation took place between Rios and one of his students. â€Å"Hey,ese,† he said to me, with a small pointing of the right hand. â€Å"Hey† I said. He nodded his head. â€Å"You really like this poetry shit. † He asked. â€Å"Yes. † I said. And then he followed with the very best thing I could ever hoped for. †So how many fights you had? † (508) A student of Rios asks Rios â€Å"how many fights you had? † Rios understands the student is using his way to communicate. The boy was just looking for an equation for something to understand instead of embarrassing the teacher. If at that time, Rios didn’t understand what the boy really tried to do, Rios would be mad at the boy. This example perfectly shows that language is more than what we say, it’s also how we say it. If Rios just cares about the language that the boy says from his mouth, he will misapprehend the boy and have very bad impression of the boy. When we try to understand what others say, how can we only understand the words others say? We also should try to dig out the original meanings of the speaker in order to avoid the misunderstandings of verbal communication. The author, Rios, tries to illustrate the idea that language is more than what we say and we need to understand the way of how we say it by these three examples step by step. There is a point deserved to highlight. Rios does not arrange these examples randomly. Rios organizes the examples in a progressive relation rather than choose three examples in the same layer. He puts his mother’s example in the first place because it was very small example but it’s also enough to let people have the first understanding of what translation problem can happen between different languages. Compared with first example, the second example doesn’t only lead people to consider the issues of words, but also manners behind the words that different cultures hold. The progressive relation can be noticed here easily. The focus is moving from simple misunderstanding of words to misunderstand of manners because of different cultures. The feature of third example is more obvious. Rios add many action descriptions. For example, â€Å"Hey,ese,† he said to me, with a small pointing of the right hand. (508) Languages include body languages. By adding action description, Rios leads the focus move again, to a higher layer – action expression. Perhaps â€Å"pointing of the right hand† shows nervous in this case, so Rios notices that his student was looking for an equation but he just didn’t know how to do that and felt nervous. Rios arranging the examples in this order makes his essay persuasive because readers can reach the main idea of the essay step by step which helps his main idea to be more acceptable. Apart from adopting three appropriate examples to express his idea, Rios also has his own unique writing style to make his essay compelling. In an interview, he said â€Å"I would say that I write in Spanish – it just looks like English. †(504) I found the entire interview from Internet, he says† I do occasionally write in Spanish, but when I do it’s from another time, from childhood, often, I listen hard for how ideas come to me, in what container they are being delivered, and I try to be true to it. Sometimes that container is Spanish. † (Twenty-Four Questions: A conversation with Alberto Alvaro Rios) It means Rios sometimes form his ideas in Spanish although he writes in English. As a non-English speaker who but lives in an English speaking country, I got a deep feeling for this. Although I live in America where I listen English and speak English everyday, I still think in Chinese. I form my ideas in Chinese way and then say it from my mouth in English. Rios grew up in a Spanish speaking environment, and he used to think in Spanish. As he says, Spanish sometime is the container which holds his ideas in his mind. So his poems and stories are written in English but flavored by the sensibilities of his first language, Spanish. As Rios writes in his essay, â€Å"I often talk about the duality of language using the metaphor of binoculars, how by using two lenses one might see something better, closer, with more detail. †(506) We can see Rios regards the duality of language as a significant part of translation. Rios claims that the body itself speaks a language differently, so that moving from one language to another is more than translate words. (506) He changes the expression method rather than just translate the words from Spanish to English in order to keep the original meanings expressed in Spanish. Compared with other writers, this specialty of his writing makes his writing compelling. Language is the bridge of communication. According to Alberto Alvaro Rios, just understanding what we say is not enough. It’s necessary to know how we say it if we need to really understand what other say. Misunderstandings take place easily because of the unsuccessful translation of language or act. When a person says something or do something, but the listener misunderstand the person, it’s a unsuccessful translation. Especially in different languages, unsuccessful translations happen more frequently due to the different cultures. Therefore, when we listen to others, we should consider the different cultural background, different manners and different way of using language. That’s also what Rios means by â€Å"Language is more than what we say – it’s also how we say it. † Work Cited Bartholomae, David, and Tony Petrosky. â€Å"Short Talks. † Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 264. 67. Print. â€Å"Twenty-Four Questions: A Conversation with Alberto Alvaro Rios. † Alberto Alvaro Rios. N. p. , n. d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.

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What are the Duties and Responsibilities of a Substitute Teacher

There are two types of substitutes: short term and long term. Typically, each type has a different set of duties and responsibilities. Short-term substitutes take over classes for short periods of time during a teachers absence from work. On the other hand, long-term subs take over a class when a teacher is going on an extended leave. Short Term Sub Duties Arrive in each class on timeTake accurate attendanceFacilitate the lesson plans left by the teacherManage the classes effectivelyCollect papers and store them safelyLeave information for the teacher about what occurred in classMake sure that students are let out of class on time Long Term Sub Duties Take accurate attendanceCreate and implement lesson plans with or without teacher input depending on the schools expectationsManage the class effectivelyAssign, collect, and grade assignmentsAdminister assessmentsIf required, attend parent-teacher conferencesSubmit official grades at the end of the grading period as required by the school Education Required: Each state has different rules about substitute teaching. The following examples will show how varied these requirements are. Florida Each county decides their own requirements for substitute teachers.In Pasco County, Florida, substitute teachers must have an Associate of Arts (AA) degree, an Associate of Science (AS) degree, or higher, or at least 60 credit hours from an accredited college or university.In Miami County, Florida, you need to have a minimum of 60 college credits and overall 2.50 GPA. In addition, if your major was non-education, you will need to attend a two-day class. California Unlike in Florida, each county does not have a different rule for their substitute teachers.All substitute teachers in California must have a bachelors degree from a regionally accredited college or university. Texas As in Florida, each school district has its own set of requirements. In the Austin Independent School District, the minimum requirement to be a substitute is to have completed 60 college hours. However, this school district pays substitutes differently based on their level of education, so the more education that an individual has the higher their pay. Characteristics of Substitute Teachers: Substitute teaching is a great way to get experience in the classroom and get yourself known in a school. However, being a substitute is not always easy. Since it is an on call position, substitutes are not sure if and when they will have work. It is widely known that students try to give substitutes a hard time. Further, you will be teaching lessons that other teachers created so there is not a lot of room for creativity. Effective substitutes possess characteristics that help them deal with these and other unique situations. Following are some examples of these characteristics: Flexible attitudeSense of humorAbility to make do in situations beyond their controlAbility to learn names quickly (not required but a serious help for classroom management issues)Detail orientedCommanding presenceThick skinAbility to follow instructions set forth by the teacherLove of students and learning Sample Salary: Substitute teachers are typically paid a set sum of money for each day work. Also, a difference in pay is made based on whether the substitute is working on a short or long-term basis. Each school district sets its own pay scale, so it is best to use the prospectives school districts website to learn more. Current pay examples: Oakland County School District, California: $118/day for first 14 days with one teacher. $138/day for days 15-60. $152/day for days 61.Pasco County School District, Florida: Pay is based on educational background. Substitutes with a High school diploma get $55 per day, those with a Bachelors degree or higher receive $65 per day and retired Pasco County teachers earn $75 per day.Austin Independent School District, Texas: Pay for substitutes who have 60 college credits earn $75 a day. Those with a college degree earn $80. Individuals who have a Texas teaching certificate earn $85 a day. In addition, substitutes who are in a classroom for over 30 days earn a stipend. For days 31-60, they earn $20 extra. For days 61 they earn $40 extra per day. Finally, all substitutes earn an additional $5 per day for working on Fridays.

Exploring Human Nature in The Epic of Gilgamesh and Samuel I

Examining the nature of humanity and the reason for being has always been a topic of interest that transcends time, gender, age and culture. All literature in existence examines human nature or human interaction or interpretation with non-human things. The one thing we can know for certain is that life is not eternal: we all die. Despite this, each of us have a predisposition to survive and we go to extreme lengths to do so, such as by acquiring mass amounts of power in which to rule over other humans, ensuring a ruler’s survival. We fear what we know is inevitable, so we use the threats of power, including that of ‘higher powers’, to frighten people into believing that they shall face a terrible consequence if they threaten the survival†¦show more content†¦The epic concludes with Enkidu’s death and Gilgamesh flatly accepting the fact that he has lost immortality, and thus eternal power, demonstrating that the Gods are the ultimate source of power and mortals should not attempt to attain such power. The same message is found across the Christian Bible: humankind cannot rule itself. With particular focus on Samuel 1, this essay addresses the correlation between the two literary workings and their connection with human desire to conquer all. Samuel 1 begins with an infertile woman, Hannah, who prays to God to send her a child. Because she is a follower of God and his rules, he gives her the ability to birth a child. It is believed that the Christian God rewards his followers but punishes and destroys those against him. Hannah gives birth to a boy, Samuel, and promises to raise him in subservience to God. She sends him to live at the temple with Eli, a priest, and his sons. Samuel grows to be a follower of God, but Eli’s sons become corrupt. At the time, being a religious leader brought power, fame and wealth. Eli was aware of the corruption within his sons, yet he refused to acknowledge it much as it may have interfered with his position of power. Not wanting to jeprodize his position of power, Eli did not intervene and God saw this as a lack of fear and respect, creating a

Euthanasia Legalization Free Essays

Euthanasia Legalization By: Renee Rosenkilde Rosenkilde 1 Although the United States, and the rest of the world, have made astounding inventions and breakthroughs in technology, health care is still subject to criticism. Even in the twenty-first century, there are numerous terminal, chronic, and life threating diseases circling the world. Because of these circumstances, when a patient is diagnosed with a painful disease that will kill them in a short amount of time, they should be allowed to decide how they want to end their life: waiting for the disease to kill them, or instantly receiving assisted suicide and ending their pain immediately. We will write a custom essay sample on Euthanasia Legalization or any similar topic only for you Order Now Through the process of active euthanasia, a person diagnosed with a terminal illness can immediately die. Active euthanasia would allow a person with a terminal illness to be administered a lethal medication which will instantly kill them and release them from their suffering. Another form of assisted suicide, passive euthanasia, is eliminating any medical assistance in keeping a patient alive, until their death. Active euthanasia should be legalized because it is legal according to the constitution, it is a less expensive alternative, certain religions partake in the act of active euthanasia, and overall it will allow a terminally ill and suffering patient to end their misery. Active euthanasia should be legalized throughout the United States because it is legal according to the Constitution. Currently, assisted suicide is only legal in the states of Washington, Oregon, and Montana (ND NA wrtl. org). Active euthanasia would allow a citizen of the United States a painless death, and an allotted time to say goodbye to their friends and family members. Once consent is given from either the patient themselves, or the family, active Rosenkilde 2 euthanasia should be a possibility for someone with a terminal chronic illness. Steven Ertlet comments, â€Å"The bereaved family and friends of cancer patients who died by euthanasia coped better with respect to grief symptoms and post-traumatic stress reactions than the bereaved of comparable cancer patients who died a natural death. (ND Ertlet paragraph 1). Whereas passive euthanasia would contribute to an extensive amount of pain and suffering, active euthanasia would allow for an immediate, accessible, and painless death. The Constitution of the United States says, â€Å"†¦certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. †¦whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it. † The United States Constitution grants its citizens the right to pursue happiness, which in some cases may be through active euthanasia. The Constitution restates this idea in a more precise form in the Due Process Clause [first section of the fourteenth amendment]: â€Å"No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of†¦liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. † The Constitution states that if it is a person’s desire to die through active euthanasia, it shall be provided to them through to the Due Process Law [first section of the fourteenth amendment]. In the case that active euthanasia would be the best option for a United States citizen struggling with a terminal illness, active euthanasia should be considered. Euthanasia should be legalized in the United States, because it would allow for a citizen with a terminal illness a quick and painless death as well as abide to the Unites States Constitution. Rosenkilde 3 With the declining economy in the United States, saving money and cutting unnecessary spending is of great importance. With health spending accounting for over 17% GDP [how much a place produces in some amount of time] in the United States, it is the highest in the world (NA ND data. wordlbank. org). Cutting this percentage as much as possible would drastically improve the Untied State’s economy. The money spent in hospitals is used to cure patients with different illnesses. Although this is thoughtful on America’s part, in many cases it is unnecessary. If a patient is diagnosed with an incurable terminal illness, there is not much point in wasting money to keep them suffering for as long as possible. Mpoziemski, an online debater at euthanasia. procon. org comments, â€Å"Is it not more compassionate to end a human’s suffering then to make them hold on only to die later after a long, drawn out pain filled battle? † (Mpoziemski 2012 paragraph 1). Keeping a patient suffering until they die of natural causes is irrational when it is possible through active euthanasia to end their suffering as soon as possible. As an added note, this would also help save money throughout this country in drastic numbers. Once approval is given for active euthanasia to be administered, it is can easily save the patient and the hospital money. Certain cancer treatments can be as costly as $10,000, which is added to the accumulating bill for doctor visits, lab tests, room charges, imaging tests, radiation treatments, drugs and other medicines, nurse care, surgery, and homecare (NA ND cancer. org/treatment). Prolonging the life of a patient with an illness is costly for both the hospital and the patient. Instead of paying money to suffer for a longer amount of time, a person with a terminal illness can receive active euthanasia and avoid both the physical and financial pain. Rosenkilde 4 The United States was originally a British colony which British citizens fled to for religious freedom. America seemed as a place where everybody could freely practice their religion. Therefore, when the United States liberated themself from Great Britain, the basis of this country was based off of the freedom of religion. The first amendment of the United States Constitution says â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (www. archieves. ov amendment 1). According toreligions. pewform. org, Judaism, a religion that over 2% of all American adults practice, accepts the idea of suicide in certain circumstances. A story in the Torah tells of a young man who was told by God to commit suicide in order to end his suffering. The story tells of a young man who was being burned alive by the Romans, and god tells him to end his suffering by breathing in large amount of smoke and flames to kill him more quickly. Also, Jewish people do not associate suicide as murder. Although the Torah explains breaking one of the Ten Commandments â€Å"thou shalt not kill† as a sin, suicide does not abide by this commandment, and therefore is not considered a sin. Another main religion in the United States is Hinduism. Practiced mainly by Americans of Indian decent, this religion has ancient suicidal practices. One example of this is called â€Å"suttee†. This is a ritual practice throughout India in which a wife will commit suicide after her husband’s death so that he would have a partner in the afterlife. †¦[suttee] the Indian custom of a widow burning herself, either on the funeral pyre of her dead husband or in some other fashion, soon after his death. † (http://www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/575795/suttee). Another example of Hindu suicide is the practice of prayopavesa. Prayopavesa is when a Hindu will fast (not eat food) until their death. This practice is used under certain circumstances only for the religiously adva nced. Rosenkilde 5 Prayopavesa is only used when a person has an incurable terminal illness. Not consuming any food or water will eventually kill the person, most likely faster than the illness would have. The Hindu religion believes in the concept of karma: good or bad luck generated by your actions. Some Hindus believe that â€Å"†¦a person who helps other end a painful life and thereby reduce suffering is doing a good deed and will gain good karma. † (http://www. religionfacts. com/euthanasia/hinduism. htm). In all, the United States was based off of freedom of religion, and this concept has been encoded in the first amendment of the constitution. Therefore, if a religion accepts and enforces the practice of assisted suicide (active euthanasia), then it should be legalized throughout the United States. Although active euthanasia is a politically and religiously controversial topic, research can conclude that euthanasia should be legalized across the United States. Due to the fact that the United States Constitution accepts the use of euthanasia, it cannot be ruled as illegal. As well, the United States Constitution, and the entire country, was based off of the freedom of religion. Therefore, if certain major religions accept, and encourage the use of active euthanasia, than the medical procedure should be legalized across the nation so that these religious practices may take place in a safe medical environment. As well, active euthanasia should be legalized because it can save a great deal of money across the United States. With over 17% of GDP used on hospitals and the medical world, taking a person out of their misery would be more effective and less costly. The costs for doctor visits, lab tests, room charges, imaging tests, radiation treatments, drugs and other medicines, nurse care, surgery, and homecare accumulate to increasingly high bills for both the patient and the hospital. Finally, and most importantly, the practice of active euthanasia can quickly, easily, and effectively take a patient with a terminal Rosenkilde 6 llness out of their pain and misery with an allotted time to say goodbye to their loved ones. With a patient dying due to a disease anyways, wouldn’t it make more sense to end their life quickly and easily instead of keeping them alive to endure a life of pain? Active euthanasia should be legalized throughout the United States, and should be made an option for anyone with a miserable, chronic, long-term, terminal illness. Works Cited http://www. lifenews. com/2003/07/20/bio-21/ http://www. wrtl. org/assistedsuicide/assistedsuicide/whereitislegalus. aspx http://www. law. cornell. edu/constitution/amendmentxiv ttp://www. fed-soc. org/publications/detail/whether-there-is-a-constitutional-right-to-die http://www. ushistory. org/declaration/document/ http://euthanasia. procon. org/view. answers. php? questionID=000207 http://www. cancer. org/treatment/findingandpayingfortreatment/managinginsuranceissues/the-cost-of-cancer-treatment http://data. worldbank. org/indicator/SH. XPD. TOTL. ZS http://www. religionfacts. com/euthanasia/hinduism. htm http://www. archives. gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript. html http://www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/575795/suttee http://religions. pewforum. org/reports How to cite Euthanasia Legalization, Papers

Alexander the Great was king of the Macedonians an Essay Example For Students

Alexander the Great was king of the Macedonians an Essay d one of the greatest generals in history. As a student of the Greek philosopher Aristotle, Alexander was embedded with lasting interests in philosophy, politics and warfare. As king, he settled problems by immediate action, making quick decisions and taking great risks. His armies overcame these risks by sheer force and by the ingenious tactics instilled in them by Alexander. He and his armies conquered the Persian Empire, which stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to India and formed much of what was then considered the civilized world. Through his conquests, Alexander helped spread Greek ideas, customs and laws throughout Asia and Egypt and adopted a uniform currency system to promote trade and commerce. He thus spread the rich Hellenistic culture enjoyed by the Greeks throughout the world. Alexander had a dream of the brotherhood of mankind where every person shared a common language, currency and loyalty, but he was unable to see his dream through due to an illness that claimed his life at the young age of 33. Alexander was born in 356 B.C. He was born in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia. He was the son of Philip II, king of Macedonia, and of Olympias, a princess of Epirus. At the age of 13, Aristotle was hired to be Alexanders private tutor. Aristotle inspired interests of politics, other races of people and countries, plants and animals, and a great love for literature in Alexander (Overview of Alexander the Great. 1). He was an outstanding athlete and excelled in every sport of his time (Durant 538). In 338 B. C., at the age of 18, Alexander led the cavalry of his fathers army in the Battle of Chaeronea, which brought Greece under Macedonian control. At the age of 20, Alexanders father was murdered by one of his bodyguards, and Alexander succeeded the throne as king of Macedonia. After Alexanders father died, some Greek cities under Macedonian rule revolted. In 335 B.C. Alexander attacked the city of Thebes, storming its walls and destroying every building, except the temples and the house of the poet Pindar. His army sold the 30,000 inhabitants of Thebes into slavery or killed them. Alexanders actions against Thebes discouraged rebellion by the other Greek cities.(Alexander the Great. 1). With solid footing at home, Alexander prepared to invade Asia in 334 B. C. After crossing the Hellespont with an army of 35,000 men, he met his first Persian battle on the banks of the Granicus River. His cavalry charged across the Granicus and overwhelmed the Persians. From there, Alexander went on to conquer all of Asia Minor with little resistance (Alexander the Great. 2). After recovering from a serious illness in 333 B. C., Alexander marched to Syria, where the king of Persia, Darius III, had fortified a riverbank near Issus with 600,000 men (Durant 544). Again Alexander attacked with his cavalry and defeated the Persians. Darius III managed to escape but left behind his family and a large amount of money. Alexander then turned to Tyre, a small island about a half a mile offshore, where a large group of Phoenicians were assembled to defend Persia. Unable to conquer by sea, Alexanders men built a causeway to the island and attacked on land. Tyre resisted for seven months, so long that when captured, Alexander had his army slay 8,000 men and sell the other 30,000 into slavery (Alexander the Great. 2). Jerusalem surrendered and was spared, but Gaza fought for three months until every man in the city was dead (Durant 544). Alexander and his men now set forth to conquer Egypt. Upon arriving, he was welcomed as a .. .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e , .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e .postImageUrl , .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e , .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e:hover , .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e:visited , .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e:active { border:0!important; } .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e:active , .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ud3b895ecc20ce3b7fa835990139cb71e:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Foalktales1 Essay.divinely sent liberator from Persian rule and was crowned pharaoh (Durant 544). While in Egypt, he founded Alexandria, which would become a world center of commerce and learning, and he visited the temple and oracle of Zues-Ammon. In 331 B.C. Alexander marched back to Asia to attack Persia. He was greeted by Darius III and a large army at Guagamela. Alexander was dismayed by the size of Darius army, but it was no match for the fortification of Alexanders phalanxes and swiftness of his cavalry. Darius was forced to retreat and his own .