Compare and contrast the stories of Roald Dahl and Sir Arthur Conan :: English Literature

Compare and contrast the stories of Roald Dahl and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Show how each writer creates a sense of mystery, And uses character description, themes and vocabulary to make an effective short story. In this assignment I am going to compare and contrast the stories of Roald Dahl and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I am going to show how each writer creates a of mystery and uses character description, themes and vocabulary to make an effective short story. I have read the Lamb to the Slaughter and Roald Dahl wrote it. I am looking at the similarities and differences. The story is about a police officer and his wife. The police officer came home from work and was very tired. She offered him tea he told her he didn't want any. Normally they eat out on a Thursday but this Thursday was different. The man drank drink after drink The man tried to tell the women something but she thought he was going to say something bad so she ignored what he was trying to say. Then the women went to the cellar and got the biggest piece of lamb she could find. She walked back up the stairs and hit him very hard on the back of the head. He fell to the ground. Then she thought what have I done? She walked out the house and went to the shop to buy some vegetables and pudding for her dead husband. She was trying to put on a brave face but it was hard. When she got in she phoned the police and they soon came round. They started asking her lots of questions. They searched the house for the murder weapon. They could not find it so she offered them tea. The Police eat the evidence. Mary has a sense of humor she's caring and loving. She has a split personality; she's both weak and strong. Patrick is a police officer. He likes his drink. He is very cruel to Mary. The detectives are not very good at the job. They are stupid. They drink Patrick's whiskey. They even eat the evidence. The tension was very high was Mary going to get found out or want she? The evidence was cooking in the oven. I thought the police officer was going to find the piece of lamb. It was a big piece of lamb. We didn't find out what Patrick was going to say because she didn't want to know. She thought it was going to be some thing bad. When Patrick comes in he is quite and drinks a lot of drinks.

Rational Choice Theory Essay

With the exception of a person who has a severe mental disability, every human thinks and weighs out the benefits and the consequences of a crime they are about to commit. People do not get as much credit for committing a crime as they should and this can result in getting a lesser punishment. Rational choice theory states that law violating behavior is the result of carful thought and planning. This theory has been used by many scientists to try and get a better understanding on why people make the choices they make. The main concept of the theory of rational choice was brought up by a man named Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham which influenced the criminal justice system greatly giving scientists a new way to look at the criminal mind. Beccaria mainly looked at rational choice as a free will in a way; Ones ability to make choices based on certain factors. Beccaria’s original concept was declined by the end of the 19th century. Later in the 1960’s a man named Gary Becker said that other that people with a severe mental illness, an individual makes a decision by looking at the good and the bad possible in the outcome of a decision. Rational choice theory denies any type of reasoning for an action other than that people weigh out possible outcome. The theory states that any and all law violating behavior should be looked at as an individual that makes a decision based on their situational factors such as valuable items, money or living necessities. Crime is directly related with the choice of an individual. Rational choice theory is currently a strong bias in the decision making process in the court system of the United States. When a severe crime is committed most investigators and lawyers tend to look for a medical answer. Now why is it  that they’re not looking at what they did and understand that it wasn’t just a medical issue generating the outcome by itself? Scientists will look into what could physically or psychologically cause an individual to commit such a crime. Lawyers don’t want to actually find out what the medical condition is to help the criminal; they want to find an excuse that will make a judge really think about giving the criminal a lesser punishment. If a lawyer gets paid based on their defendants punishment being lesser they will find even the slightest excuse possible for why they did what they did. Let’s look back to the murder trial in 1979 where Dan White, a former police officer, was accused of murdering two people. In court the defense claimed that White was suffering from a mental lapse brought on by a series of events in his life that left him temporarily insane. They also related the fact that he had been eating junk food to the murders saying that he had diminished capacity. When they claimed it was due to diminished capacity they said that he could not think critically due to the junk food. With this defense he actually got a lesser offense. He was initially accused of murder but only got manslaughter. This completely takes away the fact that he was using his own critical thinking to commit this murder. The court actually believed that he was not in control of the situation. These days when someone commits a well-planned and though out crime such as a mass murder or a shooting, the only thing the individual would have to do in court is plead insanity and they get a lesser sentence which takes away the deterrence of punishment. If you look into the shooter in Aurora, Colorado you can see exactly how well he planned out this mass murder. The gunman bought mass amounts of ammunition online and in stores. He obtained tear gas, masks, and all necessary items to commit a mass murder. He had his apartment wired to kill any law enforcement or investigators who entered. This was a well-planned murder where he had a specific location, at a specific time, with specific weapons. A lot of people may look at this and think that it was a well thought out murder and some will look at it and actually think that this is because some mental illness and was not entirely his fault. He is in court and is pleading not guilty due to insanity but just recently they uncovered sea rches from his computers and smartphones. The main focus of his search history was â€Å"rational insanity†. He had actually planned out how he was going to get away with this crime after he was caught and in court. Luckily with modern technology investigators were able to find out all of the planning that went into this murder or the case could have ended up like a lot of cases where they plead insanity or something else that would give them a lesser sentence and in a way get away with murder. This is definitely a man who has serious problems but he is in fact a very smart man with a well thought out plan that could play out in his favor. The shooter looking up the words â€Å"rational insanity,† shows that he looked at the potential consequences before he committed the crime. He obviously thought that he could commit this crime and cover it up with a mental condition. When you look at cases like this you start to realize what people are actually capable of. Yes we are all humans and have minds of our own so why do we look into making it easier on a criminal who is trying to wipe out as many humans as he can taking lives? People make rational choices about everything they do. People will think about the crime they are about to commit. They will make a choice on their own and it should be put on no person or condition, but on them. Rather than what the shooter did in the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting some people look at the possibilities of them getting away with the crime. Most people who commit crimes such as bank robbers or any thieves most likely think about the possibilities of them getting caught versus the possibilities of them getting away with the crime. To do this the criminal must look into the crime deep enough to be able to weigh out exactly what they will need to do to complete their task flawlessly. Criminals will look at the crime they are planning as sort of a challenge in a way. If they can complete the task successfully they will get some sort of pleasure out of it. Whether it is stealing a small item from a convenient store or stealing hundreds of thousands from a bank or jewelry store the criminal with have a well thought out plan to make it successful. They usually know exactly what the punishment could be and also how serious. Depending on the criminals living situation this could affect the choice that is made. Rational choice is a strong topic studied today in the criminology world.  Scientists are always finding reasons and sub theories to add into rational choice. Rational choice theory doesn’t directly explain reasons why people make the decisions that they do but it explains that deviant activity when violating a law is aimed directly at the individuals thought process. The United States should continue to carryout trials with the rational choice theory to help prevent criminals from taking advantage of pleading insanity for a lesser sentence. Work Cited Articles: Draper, E. (n.d.). Theater shooting suspect’s computer used to search â€Å"rational insanity† – The Denver Post.Colorado Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic, Jobs – The Denver Post. Retrieved October 15, 2013, from http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_24282613/theater-shooting-suspect-did-computer-searches-rational-insanity Gado, M. (n.d.). The Insanity Defense — Twinkies as a Defense — Crime Library on truTV.com. Crime Library. Retrieved October 15, 2013, from http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_ Books: Siegel, L. J. (2010). Criminology: the core (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth. Eriksson, L. (2011). Rational choice theory: potential and limits. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Samenow, S. E. (1984). Inside the criminal mind. New York: Times Books.

Benihana Simulation Analysis - 2597 Words

[pic] ASSIGNMENT FRONT SHEET Course Title: M921- Managing Service Operations in the Evolving Business Environment Faculty: A. Gervaix Student Class: MBA - group B Assessment Title: Benihana Simulation Analysis Due Date: September 21, 2012 Due Time: Midnight Word Count: Statement of Authorship I certify that this assignment is my own work and contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any degree or diploma in any institute, college or university. Moreover, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text of the work. I also understand that under no circumstances should†¦show more content†¦In this scenario, the writer decided to select the most minimize waiting time to decrease costs. The option of 45 minutes for open to 7 pm, 45 minutes for peak time and 70 minutes for 8:30 pm to 10:00 pm gave the most night profit as $220. This strategy allowed the customers of pre-peak time and peak time to finish their dinners in the shortest period and also increased the restaurant’s throughput time. Meanwhile, the average dining areas capacity utilization achieved 53.14%. The fourth challenge asked the writer to select the best advertisin g activities. At first, the writer decided to spend the advertising budget of 1.5x normal budget with using awareness building and opening at 5 pm, the profit was $203.57. However, the nightly profit increased to $362.42 through the least advertising budget which was only 0.2x normal budget while the opening time remained the same. Afterwards, discount promotion generated the least profit by using different types of advertising budget, and even generated negative nightly profit while the budget was normal. The last campaign was happy hour. After a series of attempts, the writer found out that the best strategy for advertising was the selection of happy hour that opens at 5 pm with 2x normal budget as a result; the nightly profit reached $515.60. Moreover, when spent less on advertising (only 0.2x normal budget), it spent lessShow MoreRelatedBenihana Simulation Analysis1338 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Benihana Simulation Analysis Harvard Business Publishing has created a computer simulation to replicate the operations management decisions facing Benihana. Benihana is a teppanyaki style restaurant franchise that focuses on bringing a theatrical dinning experience to its patrons. The layout of the restaurant consists of two seating areas: the bar and the dining area. The goal of this  simulation is to maximize utilization, throughput time and  the nightly profit using different batching, bar sizingRead MoreTask Instructions897 Words   |  4 Pagesrestaurant Benihana (which is one of three different types of restaurants run by the company (see http://www.benihana.com/about/video/ for a brief overview of all three)). Utilise the Benihana simulation used in tutorials to illustrate your arguments, analysis and recommendations in this assignment. Steps in the process: 1. Identify and evaluate issues/problems with Benihana’s Teppanyake restuarants current operations using theory/ies covered in topics 1-7 (You can chose any specific Benihana as anRead MoreBenihana Restaurant884 Words   |  4 PagesCHALLENGE 1 How many additional customers can Benihana service with batching? First of all, it was obvious from the first glance that batching strategy was the right one, as it was profitable. On the contrary, the non-batching strategy it was not profitable and there was a loss of $ 201.58. This is due to the fact that batching allows the restaurant to use fewer chefs which lowers the fixed costs maximizing the profit. We can also notice that in the cases of batching versus the cases of non

Animal Farm by George Orwells - 792 Words

Animal Farm Animal Farm was written by George Orwell, a British political novelist who loved to criticized governments and their abuse of power on their population. Animal Farm is a book that attacks the Communist Soviet Union, which is achieved through references to communist leaders. The story took place on a imaginary farm owned by Mr. Jones somewhere in England where a respected pig named Old Major assembled the farm animals to tell them about a dream he recently had in which all animals lived together in harmony without humans beings to oppress them. He taught them a song called â€Å"Beast of England† in which his dream is lyrically described. The animals greet Old Major visions with great enthusiasm. Unfortunately Old Major died three days later, but three young pigs named Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer formulate his vision into a philosophy called animalism. After old major was buried the principles of animalism were painted on the side of the barn in gigantic white letters. At first, many of the animals find the principles of Animalism difficult to understand; as they have grown up believing that Mr. Jones is their proper master. Revolution would come soon as one day the farmer lost money in a lawsuit and becomes lazy and neglectful. One day, Mr. Jones goes on a drinking binge and forgets to feed the animals. Nearing starvation the cows break into the store shed and the animals begin to eat the grains. Mr. Jones and his men discovered the transgression and begin toShow MoreRelatedAnimal Farm And George Orwell By George Orwell1034 Words   |  5 Pages Eric Arthur Blair, under the pseudonym of George Orwell, composed many novels in his lifetime that were considered both politically rebellious and socially incorrect. Working on the dream since childhood, Orwell would finally gain notoriety as an author with his 1945 novel Animal Farm, which drew on personal experiences and deeply rooted fear to satirically critique Russian communism during its expansion. Noticing the impact he made, he next took to writing the novel 1984, which similarly criticizedRead MoreAnimal Farm By George Orwell1397 Words   |  6 PagesAn important quote by the influential author of Animal Farm, George Orwell, is, â€Å"Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism.† George Orwell, a Democratic Socialist, wrote the book Animal Farm as an attack on the Communist country of Russia (â€Å"The Political Ideas of George Orwell,† worldsocialism.org). He had a very strong disliking of Communism and the Socialist party of Russia. However, he insisted on finding the truthRead MoreAnimal Farm, By George Orwell1545 Words   |  7 Pagesallow because an this elite institution of people often use this gear to dominate and oppress society. In George Orwell’s story, Animal Farm, Orwell demonstrates that education is a powerful weapon and is a device that can be used to at least one’s benefit. Living in a world where strength is a straightforward to benefit, the pigs quick use education to govern the relaxation of the animals on the farm to serve themselves worked to their advantage. This story in shows the underlying message that   firstRead MoreAnimal Farm By George Orwell944 Words   |  4 Pageslegs(Orwell 132). He carried a whip in his trotter(Orwell 133). In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, animals have the ability to talk and form their own ethos, Animalism. Animal Farm is an intriguing allegory by George Orwell, who is also th e author of 1984, includes many enjoyable elements. More knowledge of the author, his use of allegorical elements, themes, symbols, and the significance in the real world, allows the reader to get more out of this glance into the future. George OrwellRead MoreAnimal Farm, By George Orwell876 Words   |  4 Pagesrebellious animals think no man means freedom and happiness, but they need to think again. The animals of Manor Farm rebel against the farm owner, Mr. Jones, and name it Animal Farm. The animals create Animalism, with seven commandments. As everything seems going well, two of the animals get into a rivalry, and things start changing. Food starts disappearing and commandments are changed, and the power begins to shift. Father of dystopian genre, George Orwell writes an interesting allegory, Animal FarmRead MoreAnimal Farm by George Orwell1100 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction: Widely acknowledged as a powerful allegory, the 1945 novella Animal Farm, conceived from the satirical mind of acclaimed author George Orwell, is a harrowing fable of a fictional dystopia that critiques the socialist philosophy of Stalin in terms of his leadership of the Soviet Union. Tired of their servitude to man, a group of farm animals revolt and establish their own society, only to be betrayed into worse servitude by their leaders, the pigs, whose initial virtuous intentionsRead MoreAnimal Farm By George Orwell1538 Words   |  7 PagesMecca Animal Farm The Russian Revolution in 1917 shows how a desperate society can be turned into a military superpower filled with terror and chaos. George Orwell uses his book, Animal Farm, to parallel this period of time in history. This book is an allegory of fascism and communism and the negative outcomes. The animals begin with great unity, working toward a common goal. The government then becomes corrupted by the temptations of power. George Orwell uses the characters in Animal Farm to showRead MoreAnimal Farm by George Orwell1175 Words   |  5 PagesAn enthusiastic participant in the Spanish civil war in 1936, George Orwell had a great understanding of the political world and made his strong opinions known through his enlightening literary works, many of which are still read in our modern era. Inspired by the 1917 Russian Revolution and the failed society it resulted in, Animal Farm by George Orwell is an encapsulating tale that epitomises how a free utopian society so idealistic can never be accomplished. The novella exemplifies how influencesRead MoreAnimal Farm, By George Orwell1089 Words   |  5 PagesIn George Orwell’s â€Å"Animal Farm†, the pigs as the farm leaders, use unknown language, invoke scare tactics and create specific laws, thereby enabling them to control other animals, to suit their greedy desires, and to perform actions outside their realm of power. Because of the pigs’ use of broad language, and the implementation of these tactics they are able to get away with avoiding laws, and are able to convince other animals into believing untrue stories that are beneficial to the pigs. The firstRead MoreAnimal Farm, By George Orwell1212 Words   |  5 PagesShe stood there over the dead animals thinking to herself what have we come to? We try to become free but we just enslave ourselves to a so called superior kind. Napoleon killed the animals in front of the whole farm and said that this was to be the punishment for the traitors. Snowball was known as a traitor now and anyone conspiring with him would be killed. Snowball and Napoleon both represent historical characters during the Russian revolution in 1917.Snowball who was one of the smartest pigs

Plagiarism Essay - 775 Words

What is Plagiarism? Plagiarism is, in simple terms stealing someone else’s work without giving credit. It is a crime to commit and if you were to do it in college or even high school, you could lose all credit on the paper or project and, in extreme cases, be taken to court. In the paper, you will hopefully learn more about plagiarism, how to avoid it, and learn some real life scenarios of plagiarism happening. Plagiarism is unacceptable and is something that the student body needs to be informed about. Plagiarism, â€Å" is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone elses work and lying about it afterward† (plagiarism.org). Most commonly seen in high school is simply copying and pasting a sentence or paragraph into a paper and not†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"A writer who plagiarizes is no writer† (Carnett). The way to cite someone’s work and prove that this is not your own idea is to use either MLA or APA. It is vital to know when to use which and make sure that you use it properly. MLA is the preferred method of citation when citing an article found online or in printed works, citing information you got off of a website, or basically any published works that has to do with the common English language. APA is the technically formal way to cite an official journal or book, most people use this style when using citations for health related things such as researching a disease and using a doctor’s published work. Most times, the teacher or professor will request which citation they want you to use. One problem that we are facing today is that there are so many different places where someone can get information such as YouTube videos, social media, or other sources. As Colleen Flaherty said in her article â€Å"Streamlining Citations† in Inside Higher Ed â€Å"The process of developing and disseminating all of these citation formats runs the risk of creating a map that is larger and more complex than the terrain through which it attempts to guide writers and readers. And this is the point at which academic writers understandably begin to grumble about citations being outdated and unnecessary anyhow.† There should be a simpler way to cite a source. If there was a way, maybe people would be willing to give creditShow MoreRelated Plagiarism Essay1731 Words   |  7 PagesPlagiarism missing works cited Plagiarism is a distinguished sounding word. One would almost think that it sounds like some lofty philosophical ideal named for the great Greek teacher Plagiarus, something to be aspired to. This is not so. Plagiarism is in fact a moral misdemeanor, and an academic felony. By definition, plagiarism is a piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is presented as being your own work. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle would have frowned on such a practiceRead MorePlagiarism Essay1649 Words   |  7 PagesI think there was far more plagiarism in the last century. It was almost an accepted part of writing. The ethics of writing has changed. Nobody gets upset about whether Shakespeare plagiarized something. But I think the standards have to be pretty high now, particularly for non-fiction writers. [1] Introduction to Plagiarism According to most leading authorities, including The Office of Research Integrity, plagiarism includes both the theft or misrepresentation of intellectual property and theRead More The Problem of Plagiarism Essay1729 Words   |  7 Pagesresearching topics and sharing ideas, these same students are faced with the temptation to simply copy and paste information as they find it. Instances of plagiarism are on the rise, yet teachers are in a position where they cannot discontinue this type of assessment. Therefore, teachers face the question: How can we stop the rise of plagiarism among students? Input Since teachers have given assessments of any kind, students have attempted to find ways to cheat. Whether they were looking at anotherRead More Plagiarism On The Increase Essay1236 Words   |  5 Pages Plagiarism seems to be an increasing problem in todays society, especially on college and university campuses, with the immense resources presently available to people. Previously, individuals were restricted to finding information in resources such as books, magazines, journals, encyclopedias and newspapers, but with the technology and the growth and popularity of the Internet, plagiarism has truly become an issue. There seems to be a direct correlation with the increasing use of the InternetRead MoreOvercoming Plagiarism Essay1247 Words   |  5 Pages Plagiarism is an ever-increasing problem throughout the world today, as the internet, along with technology such as Iphones and Tablets, has made accessing another person’s useful work as easy as typing a few words into a search bar. Pirating that work is then a simple matter of â€Å"cutting and pasting†. Similarly, advanced word processors have provided a stress-free way of integrating another’s writin g into one’s own, or editing a plagiarized work so that it is more difficult to detect. HoweverRead MoreEssay on Plagiarism1301 Words   |  6 Pagescode of conduct at Clarion University plagiarism is â€Å"the use of anothers words without attribution and without enclosing the words in quotation marks. Plagiarism may also be defined as the act of taking the ideas or expressions of ideas of another person and representing them as ones own--even if the original paper has been paraphrased or otherwise modified.† (â€Å"Department of Nursing† ) A lot of people, including myself have been confused of what plagiarism really means. Through my research I foundRead More Internet Plagiarism Essay1563 Words   |  7 PagesInternet Plagiarism Plagiarism used to be easy to catch. It always took real work for a student to try to pass off someone else’s work as his or her own. Different sources of plagiarizing included copying texts from the library and buying old papers off of other students. There were not many resources to choose from where a student’s topic was contained. That has now changed. There is a little thing called the Internet. It has revolutionized the plagiarism world and made it a little more difficultRead MoreEssay On Plagiarism1754 Words   |  8 PagesPlagiarism Many people plagiarize their papers without meaning to. What exactly is plagiarism? Plagiarism is using someone else’s thoughts and ideas as your own and not properly citing them--or not giving the original author credit at all. In this case, we are going to focus on research papers. How do you write a research paper and if you have to use specific sources, how do you properly cite them? In this research paper, I will discuss the following: What is plagiarism? How do you avoid it? HowRead MoreEssay on The Internet and Plagiarism1042 Words   |  5 PagesThe Internet and Plagiarism The World Wide Web is larger than any one person can imagine. There are an infinite amount of links to libraries and other sources of information. There are numerous search engines, such as Yahoo, which make researching really easy. We can find anything that we want on line, because there are no boundaries to our explorations, and there are no laws to stop us. You can find anything from socks to guns. People can even find completed research papers online; theyRead More Plagiarism Essay1189 Words   |  5 PagesPlagiarism For many, many years schools have been trying to stop students from plagiarizing materials. Detecting this plagiarism used to be easy because students only had access to books in the library, magazines, and encyclopedias. However, as the popularity of the Internet increased, so did the number of essays and papers being plagiarized. Students can easily go onto the internet and in no time at all find and essay on their topic of choice. For a certain fee they can buy the essay and

A Particular Life Experience That Will Bring Me to College free essay sample

The track has a fog rising over it due to the recent rain, and runners seem to appear out of nothing. It is May 29th, and today is also the Sectional track meet to qualify for state. I, along with three other guys am in a relay in which each of us runs two laps, the 3200 meter relay. Our personal best time this year was 8 minutes and 23 seconds, the estimated time to qualify for state was 8 minutes. Our chances were slim at best, but regardless we were ready to go. Coach huddles us together, â€Å"Boys, what can I say? Go out and run the best you can, we can only hope for a personal best.† His tone is solemn and timid. â€Å"We know the plan: VT gets us off to a good start, Sprung maintains as best he can, Joey does the same, and Z runs like hell for whatever place he can. We will write a custom essay sample on A Particular Life Experience That Will Bring Me to College or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † That was it; from then on it was us four, the track, and the other ten teams all fighting for the top three spots that make it to state. I have grown accustomed to having a lot of pressure being the anchor of this relay, no matter how well or poorly the first three guys run, the final result always comes down to my performance. We finish our final strides and head to the staging area, a race official slowly walks us from one end of the track to the starting line, all runners except the first are taken off to the side. VT starts us off well as usual; we sit comfortably in fourth place through one lap. Where he usually starts passing a few guys, VT is blown away by half the field and sits in sixth when he hands off to Sprung. Sprung does his job like always, only better, he phenomenally ends up handing off to Joey in second place. The crowd is starting to get restless for the anchor legs, and the noise is growing. I look around at my competition, most of these guys are two years older than me, but that’s never stopped me from beating them before. Joe has recently come off of mono, and is weak, but he maintains well for the first lap. From that point on, it seemed as if nothing could go right. Joey quickly fell to the back of the pack and it seemed he could only get slower. â€Å"JOEY! Pick your butt up, these guys are counting on you!† Coach’s voice pierces through the whole crowd. Joey came in as best he could, and almost killed himself in the process, but gave me the baton in sixth place. â€Å"I’m sorry.† He faintly mutters before walking off the track and collapsing. I dart into position not knowing what is going to happen. I have to determine the outcome, and regardless of what place I started in it was my job to get us to state. Coming through the first lap, I had not moved position wise, which was perfect. One lap left, 400 meters, and I could not have been more satisfied with my plan. With 300 left I swing all the way out to lane three, I see my coach jumping at the end of the track for me to move, I respond without any haste. I fly by guys as if they are standing still, and I soon find myself in third place. This is it, this is all I needed, but there are 200 meters left. First place is out of sight, but I’m swiftly coming up on second, and then swiftly go past. The last 100 meters of this race are a blur; I do not remember how I ran it. I do know, however, that I finished in second place and brought our team to state. From the moment I finished that race, I was on a cloud of joy and pleasure. My team was dancing around me; our coach es were befuddled, not understanding how a relay team that had run a pitiful 8:23 the week before could run an 8:02 today. Frequently I am put in this position where I must stand above the rest, it cannot always end up perfectly, but for today it did.

Optimal performance and appraisals

Introduction Performance appraisal is the process of evaluating an employee’s performance of an employee in the dispensation of his/her duties. A performance appraisal is a strategic method of integrating human resource functions with the policies of the institution. This essay seeks to recommend a performance appraisal system that a person serving as a retail-store manager can effectively use.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Optimal performance and appraisals specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Among the responsibilities that a person in this capacity is expected to fulfill include the scheduling and assigning of duties to junior workers as well as the identification and implementation of customer needs. A retail store manager is also tasked with the responsibility of hiring employees and ensuring that the individuals who are taken on board are committed to the attainment of the company’s s trategic goals. Theoretical Framework Wayne Cascio (2013) describes performance appraisal as â€Å"the systematic description of an employee’s job relevant strengths and weaknesses† (p.331). Among the elements that are evaluated at when conducting a performance appraisal are the employee’s initiative, loyalty and regularity in comparison with their counterparts in the same position and in consideration of the company’s laid-down objectives. When conducting a performance appraisal, there are three key terms of relevance. These are rater, ratee and rating. The rater (sometimes called the appraiser) is the person who is conducting the assessment of the employees’ performance (Peretz and Fried, 2008). The ratee is the person whose performance is being evaluated, while rating is the process of a performance appraisal (Katleen, Ashford and Buyens, 2001). The techniques for conducting performance appraisals are divided into two main categories; old and mo dern methods of appraisal. Among the old methods of appraisal are ranking, which can be done by simple ranking, alternation ranking and paired comparison, depending on the requirements of the task. Graphic rating scales were also used in the traditional appraisal systems and these worked by rating the employees on elements such as the quality of work done and their reliability. Confidential reports, prepared by the immediate supervisor of the ratee were also used in the past to conduct performance appraisals. In presenting the confidentiality reports, the supervisors used a number of methods including checklists, critical incidents and narrative essays, all of which focus on evaluating the strength of the ratee.Advertising Looking for critical writing on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The modern methods of performance appraisal are more elaborate that the old methods. One of the popular modern methods of appraisal is referred to as Management by Objectives (MBO). This method is used to gauge the effectiveness of managers in the dispensation of their duties. The MBO process starts with the senior and junior managers setting common objectives and then making plans for the attainment of these objectives (Kondrasuk, 2012). The subordinate managers then put the plan into action before their performance is evaluated in comparison with the objectives. Any areas of weakness are corrected on time in order to allow the plan attain maximum effectiveness. The second method of modern performance appraisal is the usage of assessment centers. In this method, the ratees are given several psychological and management exercises, which are evaluated to help identify which individuals are ready for promotion. Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) are also among the modern methods of employee appraisal. The BARS method works by assessing the ratee’s attitude towards his/her job (Scott and Ei nstein, 2001). Individuals with a positive attitude towards their job tend to be interested in gaining more skills to enable them serve well in the position. They will, therefore, be ranked much-higher than individuals who have a negative attitude and are not making any effort to upgrade their skills. The other technique that is popularly used to conduct performance appraisals is Human Resource Accounting (HRA). In this method, the raters evaluate the contribution of the ratees to the overall success of the company (Scott and Einstein, 2001). If the contribution of an individual is found to be more than the cost, then the performance of the ratee is defined as positive, and vice versa. One of the primary functions of performance appraisal is the improvement of the employees work performance (Cascio, 2013). When workers know that their work will be assessed periodically, they tend to put in more effort than if they are not worried of an evaluation exercise. Performance appraisals als o furnish managers and their juniors with information that can be used to make relevant business decisions (Cascio, 2013).Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Optimal performance and appraisals specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More By pointing out the areas that need to be worked on, senior-level managers and their subordinates can easily identify the workers that are not contributing well to the growth of the company. Performance appraisals also help to identify the developmental needs of employee in a bid to establish the objectives for training (Cascio, 2013). It is only after a performance appraisal that managers can point out the areas in which the employees need more training on. Performance appraisal for a retail store manager A retail store manager is personally held accountable for the conduct of other workers in the store. He/She is also directly responsible for handling customer complaints and deman ds in ways that leaves the clients satisfied and encouraged to continue shopping in the same store. With this knowledge in mind, the performance appraisal system for use by a person in this capacity needs to be handled from various dimensions. A combination of the MBO and HRA will give the rater more insight regarding the output of the manager. The primary objective for a retail store owner is to make as much profit as possibly, while incurring the least-possible expenses. In setting up an MBO for the store, retail store manager and other members of senior-level management need to hold a meeting with the junior managers, in which the objectives of the enterprise will be presented. The junior managers have to confirm that the set targets are realistic and achievable. At their stations, the junior managers are expected to implement strategies that will see them meet all the targets that were set in the meeting with store manager. This is because the store manager is expected to visit their quarters randomly to check on the gains made. The rationale for using an MBO is that because the junior managers pre-set their targets, they are driven to achieve them in order to avoid the embarrassment of being branded failures. The other gain made by using the Management by Objectives strategy is that the regular assessment exercises can easily confirm whether or not as strategy is working well, with the possibility of scrapping it for a better approach.Advertising Looking for critical writing on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The HRA comes in handy to ensure that the store meets its primary target of making profits. The products in the store cannot sell themselves and that is why there are people working there. However, having the wrong person working for a retail store can lead to a loss in clients. It is of paramount importance that the manager of a retail store understands that each and every member of his workforce ultimately contributes to the profitability of the company. If the costs associated with keeping the junior managers and their workers in the company are much lesser than the financial gains by their presence, then they will be given a positive review. On the other hand, if retaining the workers in the company costs more than what the company gains, then they will be given a negative review and possibly recommended for release. Conclusion The discussion above has recommended the implementation of a combined MBO and HRA as the most-ideal appraisal technique for use by a retail store manager . The MBO has been selected because it has been seen as a technique that gets individuals to commit to particular strategy and are, therefore, be drawn to its implementation. The technique has also been selected because it allows for change to be implemented in a timely fashion, when a strategy does not appear to be working well. The HRA has also been selected to work with the MBO because it fits well in the nature of the business under assessment. By implementing the HRA, the retail-store manager is in a position to identify the individuals that are bringing gains to the establishment and setting them apart from those that are being burdensome. The major limitation of this combined strategy is that the two components both need a lot of time to implement and evaluate, time that may not be available when the institution is not doing well financially. Reference List Cascio, W. (2013). Managing Human Resources. New York: Mc-Graw Hill eduction. Katleen E.S., Ashford, S. Buyens, D. (200 1). Self-Regulation of Creativity at Work: The Role of Feedback-Seeking Behavior in Creative Performance. Academy of Management Journal, 84(4), 811-831. Kondrasuk, J. N. (2012). The ideal performance appraisal is a format, not a form.  Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 11(1), 115-130. Peretz, H., Fried, Y. (2008). National values, performance appraisal practices, and organizational performance: A study across 21 countries. Academy of Management Proceedings. 1(3), 1-6. Scott, G., Einstein, O. (2001). Strategic performance appraisal in team-based organizations: One size does not fit all. Academy of Management Executive, 15(2), 107-116. 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