Translation Studies Lecture Essay Example for Free

Translation Studies Lecture Essay Introduction: Translation and Translation Studies Translation and Translation Studies (Definition and a brief history of the discipline) Hermes the god of thieves and liars is also the god of translation. But he has so many other tasks as the god of roads, commerce, travel (these can be connected to translation) as well as arts, magic and crafts not talking about matrimonial matchmaking†¦ A translator has, at least, as many tasks and roles when translating that I hope to show you this term. As a translator, Hermes is a messenger from the gods to humans. As an interpreter who bridges the boundaries with strangers he is a hermeneus. So the word â€Å"hermeneutics† for the art of interpreting hidden meaning can also be traced back to his name. (By the way in Greek a lucky find was also a hermaion. ) What is translation? 1/ oral form is called interpreting or interpretation 2/ written form is called translation that has roughly 2 main categories from our point of view: (a) specialized translation (b) literary translation (Task: Look up the word in different dictionaries and see how different explanations work) e. g translation (an on-line dictionary; mind the phrase underlined: do you agree? ) – a written communication in a second language having the same meaning as the written communication in a first language – a uniform movement without rotation (see the meaning of Hungarian word ‘forditas’); [cf. ‘What’s in a Word? ’ my lecture of April 08, 2007 now an article in Faces of English soon in print] – the act of changing in form or shape or appearance; a photograph is a translation of a scene onto a two-dimensional surface etc. The most common explanation: translation is the expression in one language (target language TL) what has been expressed in the source language (SL) Meaning: †¢ the notion of movement btw. languages †¢ †¦of some kind of content and context †¢ †¦of obligation to find â€Å"equivalents† (expression commonly used in the 1960s and ‘70s; linguistic schools) which â€Å"preserve† features of the original Is total equivalence possible? There is no absolute synonymy btw. words in the same language; even less btw. different languages (one of the causes some say it is impossible to translate). – sg. ‘lost’ or ‘gained’ in the process – translators ‘betraying’ the author’s intentions (cf: Hermes; Italian proverb: traduttore traditore). ’translator is a traitor’ ‘a fordito ferdito’ (Kosztolanyi ABECE a forditasrol†¦. Gondolat, 1957) The term Translation has several meanings: Translation – the general subject field, the abstract concept encompassing the other two Translating – the process, the activity (our main interests during the term) A Translation – the product, the translated text, the target language text A theory of translation must explain both the process and the product. Previously it was rather the product theorists tried to analyse, later interest turned towards the process, and translation today is as much about the translation of cultural, political, and historical contexts and concepts as it is about language. (cf. The cultural turn of the 1990s! the emergence of a new discipline called Cultural Studies that uses translation moreover literary translation as its main field of comparative analysis; all these have generated the emergence of an independent discipline called Translation Studies. ) Cf. [translation turn in Cultural Studies; translating cultures is not â€Å"cultural translation†; see Rushdie= a translated man] (LITERARY) TRANSLATION v v Linguistics (applied linguistics) Literature (comparative literature) Both fields dealt with it marginally and created their own translation theories, explanations (by researchers in linguistics and in literature but not translators! ) First linguists: looking for basic similarities in languages – computers, machine translation They try to understand the mental process of translation: what happens in the ‘black box’ the mind of the translator. (Input and output) 1)Psychological studies: cognitive science (a) perception (b) information processing (encoding and decoding of messages) ( c )memory 2)Language (concerned with psychological a social aspects) (a)psycholinguistics – the process in the mind of the translator focus on decoding and encoding (b)sociolinguistics – place SLT and TLT in their cultural contexts focus on the participants (nature of the message; how codes are used etc) (results made possible to create computer programmes that work in the case of simple systems such as METEO: weather forecast uses a relatively small vocabulary cf. Lecture 3. ) All translation is communication (and all communication is translation) The basic scheme (monolingual): 1/ receive signals containing messages in a communicative system 2/ deconstruct. 3/ reconstruct (vertical transfer e. g. historical epochs; horizontal transfer: e. g. social classes)–(cf. readers’ interpretation of a text) The basic scheme ( BILINGUAL ) The translator is a communicator, â€Å"a mediating agent† btw. 2 different languages – 2 different monolingual language communities; decodes message transmitted in one lang. and re-encodes it in another. The main diff. lies in the encoding, re-encoding process: †¢ the message must be re-encoded into a different language †¢ the same message as received †¢ aimed at a group of receivers who are not the same as the original sender  Faced by a text we have to work out 1) the semantic sense of words, sentences †¦ 2) its communicative value 3) its place in time and space 4) information about the participants involved both in its production and reception There are 6 questions to consider: 1 WHAT? – message contained in the text 2 WHY? – intention of the sender (purpose of the text issued; underlying structure : informing; persuading, flattering etc. but text usually possess more than a single function – multiple function – task of the receiver to find primary intention, function 3 WHEN? – time of communication realized in the text (e. g.historical context; past, present, future†¦) 4 HOW? – a) manner of delivery (serious, ironic); tenor of discourse b) medium of communication (channels: verbal, writing†¦); mode of discourse 5 WHERE? – place of communication (physical location realized in text) 6 WHO? Participants involved in communication (sender –source language, receiver –target language (reveal characteristics of speaker/writer as individual) Lets see the a model of communication in the case of translation proper: 1 translator receives signal 1 containing message 2 recognizes code 1 3 decodes signal 1 source language 4 retrieves message  5 comprehends message - 6 translator selects code 2 target language 7 encodes message by means of code 2 8 selects channel 9 transmits signal 2 containing message (Bell: 19). As a result: there are 2 codes, 2 signals 2 texts –2 sets of content (more than 1 message) as there is no 100% equivalence – 2 kinds of explanation Translation process: transformation of SL text into TL text by means of processes, which take place within memory 1) analysis of SL text (language specific) into a non-lang. specific, universal semantic representation (cf.  metatext) 2) synthesis of it into another lang. specific (TL) text Theory won’t solve translators’ problems but helps when looking for solutions in particular cases. (more conscious ). What is the unit of translation? Word, phrase, sentence, paragraph –but one has to have the whole text (with its special qualities) in mind when trying to find solutions! What is translation studies? A new academic discipline that is a) multilingual, b) interdisciplinary James Holmes defined it as â€Å"the complex of problems clustered round the phenomenon of translating and translation. It is really the discipline of the 1990’s: 1)a number of specialized translating and interpreting courses (in the UK. at least 20 postgraduate courses in 2000) and even more BA course at departments of translation in a number of European and non-European countries. / A smaller number of schools specialized in literary translation (but nearly everywhere in Europe! ) 2) conferences and workshops (organized by universities and international societies e. g. EST) 3) journals Babel (NL), Meta (Ca), Target (Israel/Belgium)†¦ 4) Publisher specialized on TS: Multilingual Matters, John Benjamins, Rodopi, Routledge, St. Jerome.

Culture Is Separated Into Two Aspects Management Essay

Culture Is Separated Into Two Aspects Management Essay The Oxford Dictionary defines culture as ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society; the attitudes and behaviour characteristic of a particular social group. Culture cannot be precisely defined, but it may be sensed and felt. Mobley, Wang and Fang (2005) also states that culture provides direction to peoples behaviours, in visible and sometimes unnoticeable ways; and it deeply influences decision-making. Culture is separated into two aspects which are visible and invisible. Visible aspects include the appearance of a person or what food does he consume. While invisible aspects include the importance of religion, beliefs in a society or the thoughts and feelings people have about certain issues. In the global market today, culture is an important aspect to multinational companies (MNCs). Apart from serving a diversified marketplace, MNCs would also be consisting of different nationalities. As such, companies are faced with the challenges of serving and managing a culturally diverse workforce. In addition, doing business on a global basis requires a good understanding of different cultures. Failure to understand cultural differences can lead to serious consequences such as an impact on the companys business relationships with overseas customers, clients and employees and bad public relations. Culture also shapes the way people do business across international borders. Same organizations of different nationalities may operate differently due to their culture and this impact on policies, communication strategies, organizational structure, and human resources management. Organizations particularly MNCs can no longer afford not to consider the culture of the countries where they operate in. Thus, the main objective of this essay is to critically evaluate that culture is the most important factor in shaping and accounting for international differences in employment relations. The essay will be evaluating culture through national culture and organisational culture. In national culture, it will begin by comparing and contrasting three different countries (France, China and Japan) with their distinct national cultures in employee relations using the Hofstedes six cultural dimensions with case studies of Danone Vs Wahaha and Renault Vs Nissan. The two case studies will then illustrate the importance of national culture to organizations and employment relations. In the second part, the essay will be evaluating the importance and the need of an organisational culture. It will further evaluate organisational culture by using Edgard Scheins Three Levels of Culture with an example of Google as a case study. Lastly, it will end of by discussing the other underlying factors that also help in shaping and accounting for international differences. It will also conclude with recommendations and the rationale why culture is the most important factor. National Culture Hofstede (1991) de ¬Ã‚ ned national culture as the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or people from another. It implies that the people share a collective national character that represents their cultural mental programming which is a set of norms, behaviours, beliefs and customs that exist within the population of a sovereign nation. Hofstede also claims that every national population shares a unique culture. However, in the recent years, many MNCs have not yet grasped the culture of the country which they are operating or selling their products in. By using case studies of Danone Vs Wahaha and Renault Vs Nissan in this essay, it will attempt to compare the vast differences in national culture between France, China and Japan using Geert Hofstedes 6 dimensions of defining and interpreting culture. First Case Study: Wahaha Vs Danone In 1996, Chinas Hangzhou Wahaha food group, Frances Danone group and Hong Kongs Bai fu qin corporation decided to form a joint venture named Wahaha. In this joint venture, Danone attempted to enter the china market using Wahaha brand that is well-received by the Chinese. However, problems surfaced when Danone became the biggest shareholder in 1998; thus producing resentment from the Chinas Wahaha group as they felt that Danone misled them from the beginning. To worsen the problem, Hangzhou Wahaha food group that is managed by Chairman Zong was accused of breaching the contract by establishing non-joint ventures which infringed the interests of Danone, claiming that the Hangzhou Wahahas establishment of the non-joint ventures and the illegal use of the Wahaha trademark has violated the clause in the contract. After which Wahahas Chairman Zong was sued by Danone in California and Italy, he created a series of small companies producing the same products as the joint venture. The Wahaha Vs Danone case has significantly depicted a dispute between ownership rights. Conflicts between Danone and Wahaha may be caused by unawareness of the cross cultural differences between France and China. Second Case Study: Nissan Vs Renault Nissan, a Japanese company and Renault, a French company decided to come together to work on a joint project. Both companies were well known for their distinct corporate cultures and brand identity. The joint project was formed as both companies shares a single joint of strategy for profitable growth and community of interest. However, Nissans management style strongly encouraged group performance while Renault focuses on individual performance. Communication between the top management and employees were unclear and indirect, therefore resulting in misunderstanding within the company. The conflict between the 2 partners was due to Nissans employees assuming that Renault was similar to them that encourage group performance. However, Renaults management style belongs to a much more individualistic approach, making the Nissans employees felt uncomfortable of having the feeling of losing their family atmosphere. Communication between the Nissan employees and Renault employees broke down; Nissan did not understood what were Renaults main objectives and their company goals in their partnership with Nissan. Some of the Nissans managers felt frustrated and opposed to the entry of Renault representative on Nissans board. The managers were old employees, and they felt that employees should be promoted according to their seniority instead of individual performance. The breakdown of communication is also caused by the differences in their language. With such a significant difference in their management style, there is a need in cross cultural awareness for the business joint venture to be a successful one. Geert Hofstedes Six Dimensions According to Geert Hofstedes cultural research studies, culture can be classified into six different dimensions; Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism Vs Collectivism, Masculinity Vs Femininity, Long term orientation Vs Short term orientation. The table below illustrates for France, China and Japan. France China Japan Power Distance 68 80 54 Uncertainty Avoidance 86 30 92 Individualism Vs Collectivism 71 20 46 Masculinity Vs Femininity 43 66 95 Long Term Orientation Vs Short term Orientation 39 118 80 Figure 1.0 Scores allocated to the different dimensions for France, China and Japan Power Distance Power distance can be defined as all individuals in societies are not equal it expresses the attitude of the culture towards inequalities among us. Power distance can be defined as to the extent to which the less powerful expects and accepts that power is distributed unequally. (Geert Hofstede,2001 ) In comparison of France, China and Japan, China belongs to a society where the people believes that inequalities is acceptable, there is a presence of a powerful employer-subordinate relationship which the subordinate will abide all rules and regulations set by the employer. France on the other hand may be prone towards a more hierarchical organization system where the attitude towards managers are more formal. Japan belongs to a more hierarchical society where the Japanese should be conscious of their hierarchical position in any situations. All decisions must be reviewed by each level of the management and finally the top management. Individualism Vs Collectivism Individualism can be identified as the high degree of independence a society maintains among its members. It relates to peoples self image in terms of I while Collectivism can be identified to be the opposite. In a individualist society, people tends to only look after themselves and their direct family while a collectivist society consists of people belonging to a group that takes care of them in exchange for their loyalty.(Geert Hofstede,2001) Comparing the 3 countries, there is a significant difference; China belongs to a highly collectivist country where people act at an interest of a group. In this norm, personal relationships prevail over the task and company. However in France, there is a certain degree of independence a society maintains among its members. The French prefers individual and private opinions and work relationships between the employer and employees are contract based where everyone focus on the task itself. Communication within an individualist company would be direct where everyone gives their opinions freely if they do not agree. Referring back to the Nissan Vs Renault case, it has clearly shown that Renault (France) encouraged a more individualist approach by promoting individual initiatives and hoped that the employees are promoted through individual performance. Direct contacts between the top management and employees were encouraged in their individualistic approach. Japan similar to China; belonging to a highly collectivist society, this can be shown through putting their harmony of group above the expression of individual opinions and the Japanese have a strong sense of shame for losing face. In the Nissan Vs Renault case, Nissans employees feel that it is important to have a family atmosphere in their working environment. The managers of Nissan felt frustrated and opposed to the entry of Renault as they felt that promotions should be done according to seniority, not individual performance. Masculinity Vs Feminity Masculinity Vs Feminity is another dimension where we can infer that a masculine society will be driven by competition, achievement and success. It is a value system that starts in the school and continues throughout organizational behaviour. On the contrary, a feminine society will be driven by caring for others and quality of life. It is one where quality of life is sign of success and standing out from the crowd is not admirable. (Geert Hofstede, 2001) In China, leisure time is not as important compared to the status and better salaries. Such examples can be found in students as they care very much about their exam scores and ranking as the main criteria to achieve success or not. France belongs to a relatively feminine society. It may be due to their famous welfare system, securità © sociale where the French are only required to work 35 working hours per week and entitled to 5 weeks of holidays per year. France cares greatly for their quality of life and focuses more on work in order to live the reverse. Competition in the working environment is usually not encouraged and flashy signs of success should not be shown in the public. In the Renault Vs Nissan case, Nissan is shown to treat males and females equally. Some of the female employees were offered several managerial positions in the company. Japan, a total opposite from France has a highly masculine culture. It is usually shown through competitive situations between groups, not individuals. Their famous workaholism is another expression of their highly masculine culture. In Japan, women find it difficult to climb the corporate ladder due to their masculine norm of long working hours. Contrasting Renault in the case study, Nissan belongs to a masculine company which managerial positions are only offered to the male employees, not the female workers. Uncertainty Avoidance Uncertainty avoidance has to do with how the society deals with the fact that their future will not be known. The unknown elements will bring about ambiguity and different cultures will react to the ambiguity in different ways. The uncertainty avoidance can be defined as the extent to which the members of a culture feels threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these. (Geert Hofstede, 2001) High degree of ambiguity can be seen from the Chinese as their language is often full of ambiguity that can be seen as confusing for the westerners. It is shown that the Chinese are comfortable with ambiguity and seem to be adaptable and entrepreneurial. 70% 80% of Chinese businesses tend to be small to medium sized and family owned. France on the other hand tends to have their training done in a deductive approach. In the management level, rules and securities are ensured to create a stress free working environment and a certain level of expertise are welcomed. A change of policies can also be seen as a stressful event. Japanese is one of the few countries that have the highest uncertainty avoidance score. It may be due to the fact that Japan is constantly threatened with natural disasters such as earthquake, volcanoes eruptions that most Japanese are always prepared in any kind of situations. In the business environment, a lot of time and effort are put into feasibility studies and all the risk must be worked out before the project can proceed. Long term Vs Short term orientation In the Long term Vs Short term orientation, a long term orientation can be seen closely related to teachings of Confucius and can be separately interpreted as dealing with societys search for virtue. Long term orientation can be defined as the extent to which a society shows a pragmatic future orientated perspective while Short term orientation shows a conventional historical short term point of view. (Geert Hofstede, 2001) China belongs to a long term orientated society whereby persistence and perseverance is normal. The Chinese are thrifty and tends to invest in long term projects such as real estate. They also recognized that the government is by men rather than being influenced by external factors such as god or the laws. France on a contrary is a short term oriented society; there is a great respect towards traditions, cultures and their language. In business related issues, the French tends to focus on short term results and therefore, companies are usually driven by quarterly results. They do not focus on saving and the management style is based on self-reliance, personal achievement, hard work and managers are judged based on short term results. In Japan, people lives their lives guided by virtues and good examples in life. There is a hint of long term orientation in the constantly high rate of investment in RD, even through difficult times. This is for the sake of a steady growth for market share instead of a quarterly profit, thus increasing durability of the company, serving the stakeholders and the society for many generations to come. Figure 2.0 Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions table for France and China From the graph above, it shows that the cultural differences between France and China are distinctly different in the different dimensions. The graph implicates the importance of focusing on the awareness of cross cultural differences between the 2 country in order for the joint venture between Wahaha and Danone to be a successful one. In the case study, Danone, the French company may not understand the ambiguity in how the Chinese operates in Wahaha and thus misinterpreted their good intentions. Likewise, for Hangzhou Wahaha, it is founded by the Chairman Zong who started the company from a small company which may be very much more family-owned. Chairman Zong may not have a vast understanding of how international joint ventures works and can end up leading to bigger misunderstanding and conflicts which results in failure of the joint venture or business attempts. An example from the case study; Zhang Cheryl(2001) stated that the interpretation of losing control is different between the western society and china. In the western society, losing control may not be treated at a personal level. However, losing control in china is meant as losing face, which would refer to losing the power to make decisions which puts Chairman Zong of Wahaha in a disrespectful situation among his employees. Wahaha therefore insist to runs normally in their daily operations in order to keep their face. To worsen the situation, Wahaha perceived it was losing face when Danone established other IJVs with their competitors resulting in Wahaha being less motivated to settle their conflicts and disputes between each other. From the case study, we have seen how important cross cultural awareness is in shaping and cultivating a good business attempt. Figure 3.0 Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions table for France and Japan In comparison of France and Japan, there is a significant difference in the 6 dimension index from Hofstedes theory. In the Nissan Vs Renault case, the difference in management style, breakdown of communication, different cultural values and language barrier are factors which may have caused a conflict between the two companies. One of the major problems may be the different management style; where Nissan is works in a family like atmosphere. However, Renault focuses on individual performance where an individual only cares about their own results. Nissan can also be seen as a more masculine society which managerial positions are only offered to male employees while Renault treats all employees as equal and it can be shown that several managerial positions were taken up by female employees. In such a different cultural environment, it is important that both companies should have cross cultural awareness for the business venture to be successful. Therefore, it is crucial for MNCs to be exposed to the different international cultural differences as in their daily operations they are exposed to multiple national cultures. This suggests that managing across borders introduces substantial complexity because it forces multinationals to attune their practices and approaches to each and every cultural context they operate in. Edgard Scheins Three Levels of Culture Apart from Geert Hofstedes 6 dimensions of defining culture, there is another famous culture theorist, Edgard Schein that devotes all his effort into comparing and identifying the organizational cultural differences. According to Edward Schein(1992), Organizational learning, development, and planned change cannot be understood without considering culture as the primary source to change. Schein has categorized culture into 3 different levels: Artifacts, Espoused Values, Basic assumptions and values. Figure 4.0 Three Levels of Culture (Schein, 2004, Organizational culture and leadership, 27) Schein defined that culture is first seen through artifacts such as visual organizational structures or tangible items. Underlying artifacts is the values such as strategies, goals and philosophies. The core of the 3 levels would be assumptions such as taken for granted beliefs, perceptions, thoughts and feelings through experience. Through the case studies, it has implied that each country has a unique cultural perspective and approach to certain situations and hence it is important for companies to strive to understand and support relevant programs or strategies in each region. Failure to appreciate and account for them can lead to issues like strain relationships in employment relations, communication breakdown between management team and drag down business performance. Newman Nollen (1996) also state that there is no one best way to manage a business. Differences in national cultures call for differences in management practices. One of their conclusions also states the importance of the congruence between management practices and the national culture should be in harmony in order to produce better performance outcomes, therefore pinpointing in another way the importance of cultural differences. Therefore, the management of a company should pay extra attention to national cultural differences as it may influence the effectiveness of the strategies and decisions that the company makes. Based on Geert Hofstedes research on national culture, he has demonstrated that organizations can also no longer ignore the impact of national cultures on organizations cultures particularly for MNCs. Therefore it is clear that in current times, the implementation of positive organizational cultures and effectively merging of national cultures into organizational culture is critical for positive business performance. Therefore as a start, MNCs should understand and be aware of the different types of national culture as well as adopting a fitting organizational culture themselves to account for international culture differences in employment relations. Organisational Culture Greenberg and Baron (1997) define organizational culture as a cognitive framework consisting of attitudes, values, behavioural norms, and expectations. These values stated have a strong influence on employees behaviours, thinking, and behavioural patterns which in turns encourages diversity and adaptability to support its performance. Organizational culture is also an effective control mechanism for managing employee behaviour. In an organization with different nationalities, the company would need to foster a common diversity culture in the company to create a mutual respect for each and every different employee; which may in turn enhance their full potential. A strong organizational culture is a primary generator of real motivation and commitment and has a unique absorptive power to congregate people (Mobley, Wang and Fang, 2005). Therefore, this is a need for an organizational culture that fits to the needs of the company and its employees. Now, using a case study on Google in this essay, it will attempt to evaluate how Google makes use of national culture and their organizational culture to account and shape for international differences using Edgard Scheins Three Levels of Culture theory. Third Case Study: Google Google is a worldwide company that has strong practices in diversity. Google culture revolves around their mission: to organize the worlds information and make it universally accessible and useful. (Corporate Information, 2011) Google consists of a diversity of staffs, supporting various cultural norms. Through this cultural norm, they encourage and support the diversity of its customers and employees. Google consist of bilingual employees catering to their diverse consumer base. In fact, Statistics shows that more than half of the results Google provides to its customers are outside of the US. (Corporate Information, 2010). Diversity is distinct in Google such as their employees, offices, products, and customers. By understanding national culture and accepting the different nationalities differences, Google leverage and make use of the different skill sets of each employees. Googles Culture As Google consist of a diverse staff group, it shows the importance of having a strategically appropriate culture, a culture which will fits the needs of the organization, its employees and the marketplace. At Google, we dont just accept difference we thrive on it, we celebrate it, and we support it for the bene ¬Ã‚ t of our employees, our products, and our community. (Google Annual Report, 2010) Google has embraced diversity and integrated it into their culture and into their core culture statement. The manifestations of Googles culture are analyzed by evaluating the artefacts at Google (Gagliardi, 1992). Through looking at the various aspects of Google, it is shown that Google has an integrated and informal culture (Martin, 1992), which comprises of four key elements. Mission Innovation Fun Reward Using Edgard Scheins Three Levels of Culture, it is first defined and seen through the artefacts such as visual organizational structures or tangible items. Google supports diversity of norms in each office by utilizing their office and cafes. They are designed to encourage interactions between employees within and across teams, and to spark conversation about work as well as play. Social interactions stimulate knowledge and learning breakthroughs. Without communication, there is no way to express thoughts, ideas, manage differences and feelings. Communication plays an important role in keeping and maintaining values and relationships necessary to keep the system of the organisation united. The next level of culture would be the exposed values which are the strategies, goals and philosophies. Daft (2003) stated that managing a global environment requires managers to have the ability to manage change through innovation and creativity. Therefore, the employees in Google are motivated to contribute their suggestions and ideas. Most of Googles work are project based hence employees are required to team up and pursue the project. The team may consist of a diverse group of members. Through the concept of a group project, members would then need to learn to accept one another and work together. This enhances the communication between Googles employees and hence they share a unified common goal and vision. However, conflicts between the employees are bound to happen in project based work. Therefore, conflict management between employees and respect for cultures must be structured and organized for the many cultures and diversities. One strategy that Google implement is to create awareness of international national differences is by organizing national cultural events such as The 6th Sense: Diversity Week in India and Diwali and Google Mela to develop cultural intelligence to the employees and international cultural competence. The purpose of these cultural events is that the employees would generate a culture-specific understanding of the other and positively regard of the other. Through these events, it will groom and educate the employees on cultural awareness. During such events, Googles employees are able to interact and appreciate each others culture; consequently, an accommodating culture and organizational behaviour is then established within the organization. The next level of culture would be the assumptions such as taken for granted beliefs, perceptions, thoughts and feelings through experience. Googles employees are passionate and self-motivated, and the company empowers them to a certain degree to make responsible decisions. Therefore, employees could get an equal and fair opportunity to innovate and unleash their imagination and ideas through their meetings. After analyzing all of Google culture characteristic, using Deal and Kennedy model of organizational culture (Deal and Kennedy, 1982), Google most likely falls into the work hard/play hard culture. Characteristics of the culture include high levels of activity and where employee has to take few risks and these characteristics are clearly reflected in Google. Through the concept of organizational culture on how they are establish and reinforce, it will make a big difference in the way employees act and in the way the organization act as a whole when ethical dilemmas are faced. Through cultivating a fitting culture from the start, the organization and the employees will have a shared set of understandings about what is correct behaviour and how ethical issues will be handled. Therefore, if a company would to embrace and be accepting to international culture from the start, this will account and shape the employees to be more accepting to cultural differences and hence improve employment relations. Therefore, it is proposed that companies should ensure mentoring their employees through guidance coaching of the culture and encourage bonding and communication between levels of management and their employees. Also managers that have to work across different countries are required to understand the importance of national culture and organisational culture as well. Gabriel (1999) states that managers have to also recognise and build on cultural particularities, adapting organisational products and policies to local cultures and managing employees in a manner appropriate to their culture. It is beneficial to understand the country culture and the organisations culture. The country may have its own set of framework and culture in which they operate in. This will impact and forces multinationals to attune their practices and approaches to each and every cultural context they operate in. Different companies may operate things differently due to their home countrys culture and thus causing an impact on policies, communication strategies, organizational structure, and human resources management. By understanding and managing these cultural differences, it will be a vital ingredient of organisational success. Other Factors In this essay, it has stated the importance of national culture and organisational culture in how they account and shape for international differences in employment relations. However, other factors such as economic, social, political, and technological factors may also constitute an impact on international cultures. Amongst the different factors, economic, political and technological factors are identified to be one of the most important factors that affect international differences. Economic Factors Economic factors like globalization are one of the factors affecting international employee relations. Through effects of globalization where companies may become more advance, the management has to ensure that the skills processed by the employees are compatible with those required in the market to meet the customer needs. Globalisation will increase the competitiveness and inequality among the countries. Under globalisation, industries and services move from one country to another, thus restricting opportunities for permanent employment relationships to the benefit of economic performance. To improve their competitiveness, many MNCs sought to relocate their business operations to countries where labour is cheaper and workers are less protected and hence neglected employment relation to focus more on the performance of the company. Technological Factors Sometimes companies that undergo technological developments have destroyed jobs as they undergo aggressive growth and rapid expansion. This may make it necessary for its human resources department to focus on recruitment and staffing internationally and locally. Therefore a company may have its problems to expand and recruit new employees, as it may need to focus its recruiting efforts outside the region if the labour pool is not large enough. Companies may also make specific requirements for a job where the applicant is required to possess a certain degree of skills or nationality and this in turn affect employment relations. Political Factors These reg

Project Life Cycle Sustainability Indicators

Project Life Cycle Sustainability Indicators INTRODUCTION A typical meaning of sustainability is hard to build, which represents a test when endeavouring to achieve agreement on the most ideal route in which it might be accomplished, (Mog, 2004). Various stakeholders have begun to adopt the technique of sustainable building, (Zhang, 2014). Developing consideration and interest over the social and environmental impact of business and how the social and environmental (surroundings, habitat, climate) issues affect business has led some companies to strongly report and take care of their sustainability footprint, (Adams and Frost 2008). The building sector has dependably been viewed as an extremely noteworthy front line for advancing sustainable development by more feasible practices in the procurement, planning, design, construction and office administration stages, (Zhang, 2014). Different advances are accessible for implementation in creating sustainable projects over distinctive phases of the projects, including planning, designing and maintenance, (Zhang, 2014), perception of sustainable implementation of projects is essential because of the effect it has on surroundings and environs and also concerns various parties (Bueno et al., 2013; Jeon and Amekudzi, 2005; Litman, 2007). Several indicators have been developed to be able to identify project sustainability at various levels of the project life cycle. SUSTAINABILITY The triple bottom line has been made reference to in several research works, this is often referred to as the 3P’s (people, planet and profit) or sometimes as 3BL, the triple bottom line is referred to as the foundation of sustainability and it emerged in the mid 90’s. Sustainability has been defined in so many ways by so many authors in their research work, but there is still a similarity in the definition, sustainability is about preserving natural resources, the environment for future generations while utilising it, the concurrent development of social, technological, environment and ecology are general requirements for sustainability, (Pons and Aquado, 2012; Terio and Kahkonan, 2011; Abeysundara and Babel, 2010). Kleindoorfer et al., 2005 defines sustainability as the . Since the ideology of sustainable development was introduced in 1987 by Bruntland, a lot of gradual events have taken place to boost the attention on environment and sustainability program, (Zainul A bidin, 2008). Abidin, (2010) mentioned awareness and knowledge as factors that boost sustainable movement, interest, demand and implementation comes after (Du Plessis, 2007). Civil engineering projects has a large percentage of contribution to the environmental sustainability, in construction organisations, sustainable development has been an important issue, (Holton et al., 2010), in an annual report in UK, 42 construction companies were reviewed to have little information on sustainability, (Myers, 2005). Considerable changes related to materials, management, skills, technique and innovations needed in the construction organisation are as a result of sustainable issues, (Glass et al., 2008). The issue of sustainability and how it affects the projects progress has been a rising issue among management teams, in order to address the need towards sustainable development, sustainable evaluation frameworks have been executed by the development industry (Clevenger et al., 2013), several frameworks for assessing infrastructural sustainability of projects has been developed, (Lim, 2009; Clevenger et al., 2013), these sustainable assessment are created either by non-governmental, government or by joint work with academic bodies, some of these assessment schemes are available in state system and also some are available at national level, (Hezri, 2004). Companies that comply with the sustainability regulation are likely to experience loss of income, (Tan, Shen and Yao, 2011), sustainable buildings are expected to have less impact on the environment, although the efficacy of the delivering process would be affected by complications in delivering sustainable building projects, (Horman et al., 2006; Salkin et al., 2012). Several sustainability factors for assessing sustainability have been developed; Lim (2009), suggested some sustainability factors and the impact its implementation has on road infrastructure projects, also sustainable factors for assessing built infrastructural projects were suggested by Ugwu and Haupt, (2007) in their research work; these built infrastructure categorised under project management, economy, resource utilisation and the environment. Several means of monitoring sustainability in projects have been developed, sustainability indicators have been developed by various authors to monitor sustainability at various levels in a project, Dasgupta and Tam in 2005 developed a sustainability indicator (Technical sustainibilty index) based on existing research, also (Ugwu et al., 2006) in their research work proposed a sustainability indicator called the Sustainability appraisal in infrastructural projects. CIVIL ENGINEERING PROJECTS Various civil engineering projects impacts on the environment, Zhang, Wu and Shen, 2014 reported that construction projects expend a large amount of energy, resources, land and water, this leads to consumption of resources and energy. To achieve a sustainable development in construction projects, it is necessary to have a sustainable performance across the project’s life cycle, (Shen et al., 2007), due to the evolving interest in the preservation of nature, construction projects are faced with the challenge of producing a sustainable project, for a construction project to be termed sustainable it must consist of social, economical and environmental factors (Abidin, 2008). In implementing sustainable projects, previous research work has indicated that although it can be time consuming, the cost of its implementation is not as expensive as it seems. Cost, time and quality has been generally described as an essential factor in measuring the performance of construction projects, ( Chen and Chen, 2004), for construction projects to be completed on time is a requirement, although previous research prove that construction projects are hardly completed on time, (Hussin, Rahman and Memon, 2013), Amu and Adesanya, 2011 reported that with a total of 3,407 projects in Nigeria, 1812 were abandoned, 1517 were delayed while only 24 projects were completed on time, also in Vietnam, it was recognised by their government that the completion of projects on time especially government funded projects was a hassle, (Le-Hoai, Lee, and Lee, 2008). Towhid and Amiruddin, (2012) identified that the cause of the delay in project delivering is inadequate planning, delay in design approval, disagreement with design report. FEASIBILITY Notwithstanding, advancing the sustainability in any business area has gotten to be progressively vital and at the operational level inside organizations. In accordance with this advancement, there is a developing worry that social and financial issues have been exceeding natural issues in the current practice of directing project feasibility study, (Jorgensen, 2008). Shen et al., (2010) described feasibility study as a priority before commencing project design and construction, also mentioned in their research work is that the progress of a project is directly affected by the efficiency of the feasibility study. PLANNING Planning is very essential in projects, for a project to be executed successfully it has to be planned properly, (Nowak and Nowak, 2013), linked the success of project to the righ plan at the beginning of the project, also Litman and Burwell, 2006 reported in their work that the need for organised planning in different sectors is brought about by the emphasis on sustainability with respect to human activities. Every project is different and because of this it is difficult to estimate the duration of the planning process, (Schute, 2005). There are various factors that affect the planning of projects, some of these factors are financial, environmental and internal issues that have to do with the project teams such as misinterpretation and lack of understanding, lack of cooperation among team members, in Sozuer and Spang (2014) research work, planning process (duration and cost) is not only affected by financial issues but also government law on sustainable environment (protecting the h abitat), so many other factors were indicated also to affect the planning process DESIGN Due to lack of integrated structured procedure for sustainable assessment, designers use their previous background in designing projects to make judgements on new project design, (Ugwu et al., 2006). Sustainability issues due to different factors that arise during various projects can be addressed at the design stage. Negative and positive aspects in design are identified at an early stage through the use of sustainable appraisal, this early detection makes it easy for problems to be addressed and also to further modify and improve the project design, (Kumar, Rouquette and Lerner, 2012), Mulder (2006) described sustainability with regards to design in his research work as an attribute a design ought to meet rather than a extra precedent. Issues surrounding sustainability should in this manner be considered by engineers amid all design phases of a project through generally incorporated supplements to the ordinary methodology IMPLEMENTATION/BUILDING Few researches recommended that while implementing construction projects, sustainable principles should be embraced, as this can contribute to profit making, (Turk, 2009), however cost appears to be an issue when implementing sustainable civil projects, Zhang, Wu and Shen, 2014 identified cost as the most important factor which affects project teams when they make decision, cost was also identified in their research work to be increased during sustainable (green) construction implementation, Ofori and Kien, 2004 reported in their research also that in implementing sustainable constructions, cost was seen as a limitation. Numerous designers are not eager to push the limit particularly when it implies they need to move the ordinary method for development and wander into another domain of engineering which may bring about more forthright expenses, (Abidin, 2008). The term ‘green’ has been used generally to describe sustainability and protection of the environment either by using recycling materials and / or environmental materials in our daily activities. Green has been introduced in the construction industry as a means to reduce the harm imposed on the environment, in the implementation of this ‘green’ construction, four areas of concentration were listed; the proper utilisation of energy and natural resources, the use of environmental friendly equipments, recycling and environmental awareness, (Zhang, Wu and Shen, 2014), Shi et al., 2013 describes green construction as the use of technology and scientific management to ensure safety and proper utilization of natural resources in engineering construction and also to reduce the adverse effect the construction process would have on the environment. In implementing green construction, three factors were identified to limit the effectiveness of these; cost increase, added time and a finite amount of green resources, Shi et al., 2013.

Cherokee Indians :: essays research papers

Out of the many Indian tribes of the past, none have been more interesting as the Cherokee. This interesting tribe was brutally forced out of their native land during the â€Å"Trail of Tears.† Here is the story of these remarkable Indians and their legacy left in the United States today. The Cherokee’s believed earth was a floating island suspended by four cords in the sky, which was made of solid rock. Before the island was created everyone lived above the rock sky, where it was very crowded. The tribe leader sent down a water beetle to explore the vast sea beneath the sky. The beetle came to find no land, but it dived below the water and surfaced with mud that began to grow until it formed the island of earth. The water beetle eventually returned to the sky and the buzzard went down to see if the island was dry enough for the animals. While the buzzard was flying he became tired, and his wings began to hit the ground. Everywhere his wings struck earth, which was still soft, there was a valley, and when he lifted them he made a mountain. At last the earth was dry enough for plants and animals to come down from the sky. (The Cherokee, Perdue) The first people were Kana’ti and Selu. They had only one son until a mysterious child whom they called â€Å"w ild boy† sprang from the river where Selu had washed game. They tried to tame him but he remained mischievous. Kana’ti provided meat for the family. One day the two boys followed their father to see how he was such a skilled hunter. They watched him climb a mountainside where he moved a large rock and a fat buck ran out, which he eventually killed. Several days later the boys tried to imitate their father. They lifted the rock and a deer ran out, and got away. The boys left the hole where the buck ran out unattended, and eventually all the game that was hidden inside the hole escaped, which explains all the game of the world. (Cherokee History, Page 1 of 3) The Cherokee lived in villages that sometimes stretched for several miles along river banks. Each village had a council house (or town house) and a plaza where the villagers met to socialize, make political decisions, and conduct religious ceremonies. The council house was a very large circular building that sometimes sat atop an earthen mound.

An Analysis of Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions Essay -- Vonnegut Bre

An Analysis of Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions Kilgore Trout is a struggling novelist that can only get his novels published in porn magazines. Dwayne Hoover is a fabulously well-to-do car salesman that is on the brink of insanity. They only meet once in their lives, but the entire novel, Breakfast of Champions (1973), is based on this one meeting. The meeting is brief, but that is all the author, Kurt Vonnegut, needs to express his message. In fact, it is quite crucial that the meeting starts and ends almost instantly. It is the meeting between sanity and insanity. Kilgore Trout is simply the novelist that Vonnegut was when he was younger. Dwayne Hoover is the older, insane man that Vonnegut has turned in to. The meeting between the two is the exact moment when Vonnegut has transformed. The bad chemicals now will run amuck through poor Dwayne's head. Mr. Trout has spent his whole life writing crazy novels, mostly about other planets and the crazy things that happen on them. He lives alone in his house with only his parakeet, Bill, to keep him company. Most of what he talks to Bill about is how the world will be ending very soon. "Any time now," he would say, "And high time, too"(pg 18). This is a product of Dwayne's theory that the Earth's atmosphere would soon become "unbreathable" [sic] (pg 18) and kill off all living creatures. This idea was crazy, but Kilgore does many more things that would seem eccentric to any normal person. The adventure of Kilgore Trout starts when he receives a letter from Midland City. One man, Mr. Rosewater, wants him to come to their fine arts festival as the guest of honor. Kilgore had no idea that he has even one fan. Enclosed is a check for one thousand dollars, which would aid him on... ...whole life. The ink hold that he has on Trout, is now being released. It is almost as if he is releasing sane Kilgore and accepting insane Dwayne. Dwayne read Kilgore's novel and went on a violence spree. He spent the rest of his life in an asylum. Kilgore went on to become a world-renowned novelist. Vonnegut is a world-renowned novelist, who is known for his crazy and insane novels. It seems as if he feels that he has wasted the first part of his life in the novel, when he is Kilgore Trout. After he meets Dwayne he seems to have all of his success and make all of his money. Kilgore confirms this in the end when he only wants one thing from his creator. He yells out to Vonnegut as he disappears, "Make me young, make me young, make me young!"(pg 295) Work Cited Vonnegut, Kurt. Breakfast of Champions. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. 1973.

Evolution Of American Society Essay

Following the War of1812, Americans started to feel the spirit of nationalism. Proud of what they achieved, Americans started to expand westward. This dramatic rise in expansion helped mold the American society as it separated from the Old World. This migration produced â€Å"profound effect on the nation’s economy. Likewise, the westward movement also played out in the Civil War. It brought people of diverse backgrounds to convene and associate with each other, some with favorable outcomes, others were deemed â€Å"disastrous†. The expansion fever is indeed a major step unification of the United States. Several reasons were cited for this westward expansion: population and economic burdens, vast lands in the West, and the weakened Indian resistance making them migrate to the West. The growth of population in the East grew dramatically that people started to notice how dense the areas had become. By 1820, the population had reached 9. 6 million. The increasing population was caused either naturally or through immigration. European immigration rapidly grew in the country, most of whom were Germans and Irish. The influx of Germans and Irish in the country was mainly due to liberal revolution that plagued Germany and potato famine that ravaged Ireland. Such migration to the country affected the population that some people started to pack up and look for a new home. Furthermore, the growing population also affected the economy of the region. The lands in the east were all occupied, with some becoming depleted already. This caused the settlers to find new agricultural lands. Their search led them to the west. Settling in the west, they started to cultivate the lands, raise families, created communities and institutions such as schools, churches, and stores. It served as the foundation for the formation of American society. Additionally, trading started to look up for the white settlers. Mexico, which controlled Texas and California at that time, proved to be a perfect opportunity for white settlers to move eastward. Mexico opened its trade and the white settlers grabbed it. They sold their trades at a low price and eventually were able to depose of the Mexicans and Indian traders in the area. They would also settle in the region, with some of the settlers marrying Indian and Mexican women. After the War of 1812, the federal government sought a policy that would move Indian tribes to the west. The government also created a â€Å"factor system† which provided the tribes with goods at a certain cost. This did not only help the Native Americans but also the government in transacting with them. In 1830, the Indian Removal Law was passed, which enabled the President to do land exchanges. Five tribes exchanged their lands in the east of Mississippi for lands in the west. The years that follow saw the rise of the Industrial revolution. The outburst in transportation, communication, and technology further helped the country’s expansion. The creation of the Erie Canal paved the way for the Canal Age. The construction proved to be valuable to the nation’s economy. It facilitated faster transfer of goods for merchants. Another breakthrough was the railroad system. By 1840, railroads replaced canals and were used not just for merchandise for but migration as well. This also contributed to the enlargement of the population of the country in the west. The settlement in the west opened up a lot of roads in the country- creation of new states, better economic opportunities, and enlarging the population of the country, which paved the way for the evolution of the American society. BIBLIOGRAPHY Brinkley, Alan. American History A Survey 11th ed. USA: McGraw-Hill, 2003. May, Ernest and Winthrop Jordan. The American People A History to 1877. Illinois: McDougal, Littell and Company, 1989.

Care for our environment

Care for our environment Albert Einstein once said â€Å"Look deep into the nature and you will understand everything better. † Save your environment because it is a place where you live and do whatever you want to. I get a lot of questions these days about going green. The most common of those questions is â€Å"Why should I Care for the environment? † The problem is this hasn't been raised by people who love recycling an organic food but from people who think recycling and buying organic food is Just futile and an utter waste of time. Let me explain some simple reasons to save our environment. Firstly†¦ ow the world your good side. The impact we have on the environment today will make a big difference on the future generation. Your attitude towards the environment shows your personality. I f you are a person who doesn't care for the environment, it shows that you are an irresponsible person. Secondly nobody likes to live in an atmosphere filled with smog. It beco mes hard to breathe and it causes a number of health problems which ultimately leads to death. Thirdly beautiful parks and beaches are scintillating to the mind and body. Unfortunately these have been destroyed by the mankind itself.As a result these gifts of nature are becoming more of a past memory and less of a reality. Last but not the least, human race isn't going to die out anytime soon. But we are using up our resources faster than we can replenish them. If we continue at the same place, we are eventually going to run out of fossil fuels, trees, drinking water etc. So remember, a green world is a better world. So let us Join hands and strive towards building a greener and better place to live in and let's make the future generation proud of what we did for them.