Indian Festivals Essay

India is a country of colours and festivals. It is said that there are seven days in a week but nine festivals. They mark the grand, gay and happy occasions in the life of Indian people. These are celebrated with gay abandon. Great preparations are made well in advance to observe festivals. These are the occasions of family gatherings, exchange of greetings and sweets, joy, praying, fasting and feasting. People visit temples, holy places, worship gods and invoke their favors. Festivals come round the year and add colour, joy, happiness, variety and spice to life. Man is a celebrating being. He celebrates birth, marriage and even death. In India there are a number of festivals, fairs, and days of celebration. Celebration and festivity is in Indian blood and psyche. These have close links with our religion, myths, changes of season, harvesting and anal events. Most of the Indian festivals follow lunar religious calendar. Festivals in India are of great social, cultural and national value. They help people to forge greater and stronger national and cultural ties with one another. Festivals are a great factor to unite such a large population into one country and nation. Their mass recreational appeal is irresistible. The people are in their best clothes on this occasion. Even the poor get new clothes sewn for festivals. Their enthusiasm and preparations are seen to be believed on festive occasions. There are various communities in India. They have their respective festivals but they all participate in one another’s festivities with much delight and jest. Holy, Deepavali, Janmashtami, Dessert, Christmas, Id, Muharram, Mew Year are the main festivals celebrated on a vast scale. Besides, there are scores of other local and regional festivals. 15th August and 26th January are the national days of celebration and festivity. Holy, the most colorful festival marks the advent of spring and ripening of crops. It is also the most boisterous occasion. During the night bonfires are there, and then the next day there are a lot of singing, dancing and throwing of colours on one another. Sometimes the reveling is too much which turns into hooliganism, mud throwing and singing of obscene songs. However, it is an occasion when people of all classes mix-up with one another freely and enjoy singing and exchange of greetings and sweets. It is a special occasion in Gould, Matura and Barman, the places closely associated with the life of Lord Krishna and his consort Radar. Dessert is another great festival of India. It is celebrated to mark the victory of good over evil. It was on the Vijayadashmi that Rama defeated the ten-headed demon King Ravenna. During these days of festivity, the epic Ramayana is presented in dance-drama form on the stages all over the country. It is popularly called Camilla. On the final day of the festivities, the huge effigies of Ravenna, and his brother Kumbhkarna and son Meghan are burnt and there are fire-works. It is followed by Bharat Mila, an occasion of family reunion. In Mysore, a great royal and colorful procession is taken out on this occasion. In Kula also a special festival is celebrated on this day. In West Bengal it is observed as Durga Puja festival. Next comes the Deepavali, the festival of lights and fireworks. At night, earthen lamps and candles are lit to illumine the dark night of Amanas, the night before the new moon. Greetings and sweets are exchanged and Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth is worshipped. The businessmen close their old accounts and open the new ones. It is believed that Rama was crowned on this day after his triumphant return to Aloha from Lanka, foemen people also indulge in gambling on this occasion. Houses are cleaned, repaired and white-washed, and people wear new and colorful clothes on this day. 26th January is a major national Day when spectacular parade is held in Delhi along the Rajah. In state capitals also the day is celebrated with much enthusiasm and joy. Folk-dances are performed, processions taken out, parades held, and the National Flag is hoisted on this day. Then in the night there are fire-works and illumination of government buildings. It was on this day that our constitution came into being and India became a Republic. It is the most celebrated occasion for the Muslims in India. It comes after the month long fasting and praying of Raman. The Muslims visit mosques and Ideas to offer their prayers in their new and {east clothes. They embrace one another, exchange greetings and sweets, give alms to the poor and enjoy feasts. On Christmas, the Christians celebrate the event with much joy, jest and festivity, and exchange greetings and sweets. Special prayers and Teases are held in the churches on the occasion. New Year is celebrated with much jest, joy and enthusiasm by the people of all communities. Batsakis, Rachis, Roth Yare, Panama, Oman, Ganesha festival are some of the other important festivals of India.

The Wys in Which Steinbeck Presents Conflict in George’s Relationship with Lennie

‘Of Mice and Men’ is written by John Steinbeck, published in 1937. The novel is set in the 1930s during the great depression in California. The two protagonist characters, George and Lennie are farm workers who have a dream of one-day owning their own ranch. They find work in a ranch near Soledad which means loneliness in Spanish, after escaping from Weed because of George’s incident. They are met by different characters on the farm that all have a dream. In this story, the characters are lonely because although they are all together they all feel very much on their own. George and Lennie do not see themselves as lonely as the other characters because they have each other and a dream to go away one day together. In the novel there are two main characters, Lennie and George who are friends. ‘They had walked in single file down the path and even in the open one stayed behind the other. Both were dressed in denim trousers and in denim coats with brass buttons. Both wore black, shapeless hats and both carried tight blanket rolls slung over their shoulders. From the first sight of Lennie and George, a dynamic in their relationship is established. Though the men are outwardly of the same class (wearing identical clothes and carrying identical gear), one still walks behind the other. George is, of course, the leader, but it seems he doesn’t value himself as necessarily superior to Lennie; they’re both in it together. Lennie is a simple chap who has the mind of a child; George feels a need to look after Lennie and so takes on the role of a protective parent. While this thing going on George often gets frustrated with him because he has to look after him all the time and he doesn’t have time for himself. On this George says: ‘Whatever we ain’t got, that’s what you want. God a ‘mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, and no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want. ’ Steinbeck goes to great length to create very different personas for the two men even making the two different physically. In the later part of the text George says ‘If I was your relative I’d shoot myself. ’ This shows that George doesn’t really care for Lennie and he just wants an easy life as a migrant worker. At this time, The Great Depression, workers had to keep a job to keep them alive, so it was important to get the destination. Lennie at this time is being frustratingly slow therefore George is getting angry. The word ‘relative’ in this context means that George doesn’t want the responsibility of Lennie because he can live a lot easier without the burden. However as they only had each other George was reluctant to leave Lennie and travel alone, even though there were frequent conflicts between them. The context of the novel fits well with the scene when George is shouting at Lennie, after losing another job. Lennie has just been fired because he was accused of sexually assaulting women, when actually he didn’t. George knows this and stuck up for Lennie, resulting in Lennie being fired too. ‘I got you! You can’t keep a job and you lose me every job I get’. Here George loses his temper with Lennie, because once again they have been fired from their jobs, it causes conflict between the two. ‘I got you! ’ is a cruel and unnecessary thing to say, here George is insulting that his whole problem in life and the main reason for this upset is of the fact that he is having to put up with Lennie, it shows how much conflict and hurt was caused was caused in the 1930s, because the lack of money and food, all added up pressure, and resulted in mean outbursts like this. George seems to be of two minds when it comes to Lennie. He complains constantly that if he did not have Lennie he would be done with a huge responsibility. He could go to town, drink when he wanted, have a girlfriend, shoot pool, and in general have a life. Tired of constantly reminding Lennie things he should remember, George gets quickly angry when Lennie forgets to get the firewood, for example and instead goes after the dead mouse. On the other hand George’s anger is quickly under control and he blames himself for scolding Lennie. Steinbeck makes it clear that, despite his complaining and frustration, George looks out for Lennie and genuinely cares for him. The fact that George has repeated his instructions many times, the fact that he scolds Lennine for doing things (like petting the dead mouse or drinking the untested water) that could hurt him, and most importantly, the fact that George retails the story of their shared dream indicate the close relationship the two men have. In fact, George acts as a parent towards Lennie. He treats Lennie as one would treat a child, he laughs a great deal at Lennie’s words, and because he knows how much Lennie likes soft things, he promises to try to get Lennie a puppy and let him take care for the rabbits when they finally get their own ranch. LENNIE ‘I was only foolin’, George. I don’t want no ketchup. I wouldn’t eat no ketchup if it were right here beside me. ’ GEORGE ‘ If it was here, you could have some’ LENNIE ‘But I wouldn’t eat none, George. I’d leave it all for you. You could cover you beans with it and I wouldn’t touch none of it. ’ After George’s mean outburst about how much better off he’d be without Lennie, Lennie is the one who makes the first move to apologize for being a jerk. Even after this awful fight, the men’s friendship has a simple and remarkable erectness. George grudgingly knows he’s wrong and in fact he really loves his friend, and even though Lennie can’t express it in a terribly complex way, he loves George back.

Just A Pot Of Basil

At the age of eight one of my favorite things to do was dream about living in a time where gigantic beasts loomed over the earth. Form the gigantasaurus to the brontosaurus I enjoyed anything from the Precambrian period. I grew to appreciate the monstrous creatures even more after I took my first trip to the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh. I had never seen such elaborate displays of marvelous full-scale dinosaurs, since I was accustomed to seeing them no larger than the height of a book or television screen. I recall roaming through the many displays pretending that I was one of them. Usually, I pretended to be the Troodon, a species that is thought to have the largest brain in proportion to the rest of its body. Even though I was smaller than the rest of the dinosaurs, I always knew that I could outsmart them if I was a clever Troodon. Of course I would forget that they had been extinct for millions of years, as the plaques in front of the enormous exhibits reminded those who were tall enough to read them. But I carried on in my world of dinosaurs while I was in the museum, free to dream as I cared to. The distance and time between the real dinosaurs and I disappeared when I was in the museum, in my little world. Therein lies the significant difference between seeing and imagining, and being told or influenced, that is, being mystified. Mystification, as the art critic John Berger in Ways of Seeing explains, is the process of explaining away what might otherwise be evident (Berger 112). I was instantly captivated from the moment I saw the tied-together skeletons stretching as high as my own house; should I have cared about the petty details that would have distracted me from my own imagination? Original paintings are silent and still in a sense that information never is (Berger 125). The skeletal remains of ancient beasts strung up give only a portion of what such creatures really were millions of years ago. The color of their skin, the texture of their bodies, or even the size of their internal organs are just a few of the endless questions that remain unanswered, lost over time. But museums give something more than any book could ever tell, and that is the real life experience of seeing what could never be perceived otherwise. When life breathed through the dinosaurs they were never frozen into a perfect stance like they are portrayed in museums. Our imagination allows us to fathom what it really may have been like, but the past remains where it is, and can only at its best be relived in movies or museums or our imagination. Museums have never made me feel awkward or uneasy, they come as second nature to me. I enjoy being enveloped by a different emotion each time I look at the skeleton of a dinosaur, or see a mummified pharaoh, or even a beautiful painting of a landscape. I have always been able to let everything go, and be consumed by a striking or stunning image. The wonderful thing about museums is that every few feet there lies an artist waiting to draw you into their world. Artists and their works contained within a single building span over centuries and continents. All contain different points of view and expresses it to the best of their abilities. Today we see the art of the past as nobody saw it before. We actually perceive it in a different way (Berger 112). History meets in a museum, and constantly forms new accounts through time. Each day that passes we have gained something which may add to our overall perception of the world around us. This is why Berger claims that we see things differently and therefore there exists no definitive account of exactly the way things were at any specific moment in time. It is lost forever, and at best, can only be saved in an altered form. There is something magical about the power of the atmosphere of a museum. The silence is filled with a sea of thoughts running through viewers minds. When I first saw John White Alexander s painting Isabella and the Pot of Basil I was immediately captivated. Even my first glance told me that there was something more to the large pot in the painting than meets the eye. In a painting all its elements are there to be seen simultaneously (Berger 121). What the eye can perceive in an instant may take pages to explain. There lies the beauty of art. One glance at Alexander s work captivated me instantly. There lives some hidden secret inside the woman s soul that lay next to the pot. And sure enough, the small plaque beside the painting described a story that told me that my assumptions were correct. The painting was written as a reflection of a poem written by John Keats. Here, briefly, is the story of Isabella and the Pot of Basil. Isabella had two brothers that expected her to marry a well-endowed man so they could collect a significant dowry from her marriage. But Isabella never married, and fell in love with a carpenter named Lorenzo, who was working for brothers. The two were madly in love, and visited each other frequently whenever they were certain that no one could find them together. Soon though, a brother learned of their secret, and the two brothers took Lorenzo into the woods, killed him, and buried him in a shallow grave. One night while Isabella was wailing in bed over the mysterious disappearance of her supposed runaway love, Lorenzo’s ghost came to her and described the occurrences and location of Lorenzo s body. Isabella went to Lorenzo s grave, cut off his head, and took it back home with her where she put it in a big basil pot and covered it with moss, soil, and basil seeds. She watered the seeds with rose water and her own tears and talked to her basil until it grew incredibly lush. After her brothers stole her basil pot, Isabella died of misery and heartbreak, singing a song about the loss of her basil and love. Alexander was able to condense this entire love story into a single painting. Without having read the 500-line poem or at least having some knowledge of the story, the average viewer would never have guessed that her lover s head was contained in the pot. The emotions contained within Isabella and her sacred pot reach beyond words. The pain that she felt consumed her to the point of her own death, where no words can exist. Depicted in the painting is not just a sad woman, but a woman who is about to die, sick and miserable with heartbreak, love, and loneliness. The meaning of an image is changed according to what one seen immediately beside it or what comes immediately after it. [It] is distributed over the whole context on which it appears (Berger 123). Only after reading the small plaque beside the work and continued research after visiting completed my perception on the almost life sized piece of art. These important clues added to what I could deduce from the painting. Without them I would merely have seen just a pot of basil and a woman lying next to it. History is a mystery that is continually being investigated. Without knowing the past no deductions can be made of the present. Alexander captures Isabella in a moment of perfect stillness. Perhaps she is already dead in the artist s eyes, lying beside her love, their souls reunited. The barren space below the pot could contain the spiritual body of Lorenzo. Alexander seems to have purposefully left the open space on the right side of the painting for his spirit next to her. Isabella has her eyes closed and her hand is gingerly extended. Her two fingertips brush against the side of the pot, as if she s imagining the pot to be his face. Her neck appears slightly extended as if she were giving the curved pot a gentle kiss. The stench that must have emanated from the pot would have been almost unbearable to others, yet somehow the power of love caused Isabella to ignore all reason and sanity as her soul sought for her love and mercy. White flowers contrast with the overall melancholy of the image yet also add just the right touch of beauty, innocence, and peace. There are several of these flowers directly under the pot and another at the base of Isabella s feet. This white represents the purity of their love that was so terribly destroyed by her evil brothers. The tear of her garment on her right shoulder shows her distress and her apathy towards her self-appearance. Isabella s soul can be at ease once she is reunited with her beloved Lorenzo; her physical condition no longer matters. There are of course many other paintings depicting Isabella and the Pot of Basil, but none seemed to capture the emotion as well as Alexander does. His art is powerful, captivating, and entices the viewer to look deeper, to learn more, and to almost feel the emotions raging through the canvas. The moment I saw the painting, I knew that there was more to it. The stillness that Alexander recreates reaches beyond words, and required only the same silence in return. The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe When in love, the sight of the beloved has a completeness which no words and no embrace can match (Berger 106). Perhaps my heart goes out to Isabella, for I myself am in love and can reconcile with what she may have felt. Even if Isabella was just a fictional character for both Keats and Alexander the emotional consequence of such a painting is undeniable. The love between a man and a woman knows no end, and its eternity continues through people of all time and nations. Of course we are all granted different perspectives, but there lies a central burning passion about love which can only be depicted as a fraction of its entirety. Thus, love in fact, [closes] the distance between the painting of the picture and one s own looking at it (Berger 125). The research that I completed on Isabella and the Pot of Basil introduced a different and more in depth perspective on the work. Without reading the corresponding poem, I would perhaps have seen only a woman standing next to her favorite pot, and be left to imagine what more was involved. My intuition told me that there was more to the painting than what first met my eye. The observations and assumptions that I made based on the picture and poem are based completely my own deductions and learned assumptions that I have acquired throughout my life. Therefore, if John Berger had looked at this image in the same atmosphere as I did, he could have seen something completely different. Therein lies the truest beauty of art, for art is capable of capturing and recreating a moment lost in time without regard to the opinions of those who will see it. Art is beautiful often because we make it beautiful. Big ugly dinosaurs are certainly not beautiful to most, but to me as an eight-year-old, they most definitely were. Being told what is beautiful and what meaning lies behind a painting is the epitome of mystification. According to Berger this lends [undeserved] authority (121) to the artist. The image now illustrates the sentence (Berger 122). And thus, whatever thoughts a viewer has conjured about a painting or work of art are lost, negated, or skewed, yet it provides a strong basis for interpretation. The painting by Alexander exemplifies the poem by Keats. In many instances, poetry is associated with a visual image, but provides only the framework from which a perception of an image can be formulated. Words help set the tone, yet can never deter from the heart of work. I prefer to say that sentences help to illustrate an image. And John Berger would most certainly agree that there is much more to Alexander s work than just Isabella and a pot of basil.

You Are What You Eat Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

You Are What You Eat - Essay Example Also I exercise a lot which I consider a great way to keep myself in shape. With so many activities, it is important to have a balanced and a varied diet. I do not have any health conditions nor is anyone in my family suffering from a disease that has genetic origins therefore I do not have pre-disposition to acquire a genetic disease. The top ingredients in my diet are carbohydrates, proteins, fats. Protein is a natural ingredient which is present in all the living organisms. It is one of the most important building blocks of life. Proteins play an extremely important role in making up human body and they are present in almost every part of it, from blood to hair, a large number of organs comprise of protein. Therefore an important portion of the diet should be dedicated to the intake of proteins so that the repair and growth mechanisms continue to operate in the best possible way. Our body needs a certain amount of protein daily so that it can carry out the vital processes of life. It is needed to repair tissues, form broken cells and also in blood where it is necessary for efficient transfer of oxygen to all the organs of the body. Deficiency of protein can lead to a lot of serious diseases. I take a lot of fish, beans and poultry items in my diet which are rich in different types of proteins (Boylan, Spallhoiz, & Driskell, 2008). These are all natural sources so are free from any possible side effects.

Analysis of the US Market from Various Perspectives Essay

Analysis of the US Market from Various Perspectives - Essay Example So, this may be considered a good time to enter the US market by acquiring well managed and under-valued insurance companies. However, the investment decision should be backed up by thorough due diligence. Also, the investment should be done with a long-term perspective. 2. The government is amenable to foreign investment: The present economic recession has forced U.S. banks to tighten their credit standards and the issuances are getting more expensive. With the weakening dollar and depressed domestic and the foreign demands, U.S. businesses are currently facing hard times. In times like these, the administration will welcome any kind of foreign investment, including in the form of acquisitions. New President means changes and changes come from new policies. So the policies formulated by the new President will definitely affect business operations of the firm to an extent. Additionally, the new President has a substantially high acceptance among the US population and it is expected that entering the office will help boost the sagging morale of the US economy. All these factors may result in an earlier than expected recovery of the US economy. For most of the aspects of management and business operations, having a better understanding of a country’s culture is very important, both for a single country and international settings. Cultural backgrounds influence people’s conjectures about the organization and hence have a profound impact on the management and business operations. (IMD, n.d) 2. The decline of the â€Å"family†: Family as a social unit has been increasingly losing its importance in the US, and the percentage of family households out of total households have dipped to 69% from 89%. This trend is critically linked to Insurance Industry as there are more units of society that will look for individual insurance. (Michael T. R.,2003) These are the 6 major trends of the U.S. from three- Economic, Political and Cultural  Perspectives.  

Revise essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Revise - Essay Example This bothered me sometimes until the bigger picture, their future became clearer. Raising children off the reservation can be both beneficial and constructive depending on the situations. In the beginning, I questioned myself why I was doing this? Was it to rebel from a community that I did not feel connected to or was I thinking about the importance of my kids life? Keeping them off the reservation was not endangering them or making them culturally insensitive. I found it to be protective and looking at the well being of their future. Many would disagree with me and say I was selfish because one should be respectful of his or her culture. Calling my children names, frowning at them and not being allowed to participate in certain activities they wanted were some of the problems my children faced for not being fully involved within their tribe. I thought this was not crippling their opportunities, but allowing them to see what else was out in the world and not in the reservation. Most Native Americans find it oaky not to be educated; and instead opt to work for their Tribal Casino and Resort. This was not going to be the situation for my children. During my kids youth was apparently the time when Native American education was not taken seriously. At this point, the damage on the youth revolved around things such as addictions, lack of world experiences, good healthcare, and crime. Originally, we had opted to raise our kids in the reservation because it was convenient for them to attend tribal schools where it was inexpensive and sometimes had free childcare. The older the children got, it became obvious their education had to be a priority in our lives; thus, we decided to move. With graduation rates at an all-time low and test scores getting lower, it was evident this was the best move my children. I wanted my children to have the opportunity to learn and have new experiences. My kids’

Mobiles retailing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mobiles retailing - Essay Example The mobile solution providers have made this possible through the provision of a wide range and convenient mobile platforms. Smartphone is making all this possible as their sales and eventual effectiveness in eCommerce is proving and surpassing Tablets. For instance in the US, a larger percentage of the mobile transaction come from the Smartphones and this trend is forecast to be more prevalent. The introduction of large sized smartphones such as Samsung Galaxy and iPhone 6 has been a boost as more consumers increasingly prefer Smartphone arena for mobile transactions and ordering. Despite the fact that the conversion rates on smartphone tend to be a lower compared tablet or desktop, they are increasingly preferred by owners since they generate more transactions because of significantly higher traffic. Looking at the rate at which the Japanese employ Smartphone for various mobile transactions (90%) the future looks bright for Smartphones in mobile retailing. For the US, the situation is likely to improve in future as higher mobile conversion rates are expected due to increasingly turning browsing into com pleted mobile purchases. One probably trend forecast to be more prevalent in mobile retailing in future is increased mobile retailing of Fashion and Luxury products. Luxury goods and fashion retailers are controlling the industry in m-commerce, and as more shoppers increasingly to embrace mobile services in and out of fashion stores, likewise these retailers are forecast to continue broadening the gap existing between leaders and laggards. Closely related to this, Fashion and Luxury products retailers are currently having the highest share of mobile transactions. The world has also witnessed the first ever shoppable social network that will continue trending. The introduction of Net Set app will allow various users to shop while socializing with the stylish Net-A-Porter community. Various online beauty products have been made possible

Assignment Two Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Assignment Two - Essay Example Christianity, the religion of Jesus Christ and his followers, is frequently described as the most tolerant of the monotheistic religions. Perhaps this is true but Christianity is not without its history of forced conversion, pogroms and religious intolerance. Although the founder of Protestantism and responsible for the historically significant schism within Christianity and the Catholic Church, Martin Luther also displayed a candid intolerance towards people who did not share his religious persuasion. Accordingly, Luther writes that the â€Å"Turks pretend, despite the Holy Scriptures, that they are the chosen people of God, descendents of Ishmael† and argues that they are slanderous, warlike and barbaric. Although his saves much disdain for the Catholic Church, the Muslims people are to be feared and their idolatry is not too be tolerated (Luther 116-117). Roger Williams, an early American settler and founder of what would later become Rhode Island, railed against the Cathol ic Church and Catholicism in general but also preached for a plurality of religious persuasions in the United States. Advocating religious tolerance and diversity in this new land he was a strong proponent of the division between church and state (Williams 117). Accordingly, there is also a strong tradition of religious tolerance in Islam, dating back to the Middle Ages and the Empire of Akbar in the 16th century. Akbar, Mughal Emperor of a vast Muslim-majority empire, represented an era of tolerance and openness to religious other than Islam and presided over a diverse population. Although a Muslim himself and presiding over a larger Muslim population, Akbar also reached out to the Hindus in his Empire and further drew inspiration from the Buddhists, Zoroastrians and other religious denominations in the empire. According to a less than laudatory biographer, Christians were also integrated into the empire and encouraged their beliefs within the dominant

Marketing Audit on a 1 shop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Marketing Audit on a 1 shop - Essay Example According to the figures released earlier this year, Poundland reported an 81.5% increase in profits from the previous year. Poundworld posted record profits of ?5.4m in on sales of ?133m. Buying from these pound points provides incredible value for money to the consumers, and with budgets stretched, it makes pound shops very preferable for them. The low prices are made possible due to low costs incurred in their model, by these shops. A conscious effort to keep a check on costs is made, in terms of overhead expenses and direct costs. Pound shops are able to save large chunk of money by buying in bulk quantities. They don’t shelve varieties for their products, but usually stack on products from one or two manufacturers for each category. This allows them a lot of bargaining power with the suppliers. Since they only have to stock few varieties for each product category, they can always switch to those suppliers that offer the lowest rates. Even renowned brands have supplied the ir products to pound shops, recently. Pound shops’ model is based on keeping prices at the low price points, ensuring there’s price consistency across the shop, and which continues overtime. This creates greater certainty for the customers, who confidently return to the shop, knowing they would be able to shop without draining on their low budgets. For the administration too, it’s a relief, since they don’t have to spend time and hire resources, to calculate prices for each product item. All product items can be arranged anywhere in the shop, and rearranged to change the display, without worrying about changing tags, or shelves. Pound shops also don’t undergo price inflation. This certainty gives them a rare advantage over other consumer retail and other avenues of consumers’ pounds, where inflation can be a huge drain on consumers’ already limited incomes. Pound shops try to absorb inflation by negotiating harder with suppliers so th ey continue getting products at same level of prices. Alternatively, they might switch to another supplier, which, however, could be offering products which are inferior to those previously offered. However, at times, pound shops have been known to counter inflation by other means too. Instead of increasing prices, they have reduced the quantity of product offered. 99p Stores, for instance, were selling 200g Toblerones but later the chocolate bars were only 170g in weight. In general, however, the zero-price inflation, price consistency, and of course low prices, ensure a large customer base for pound shops. In times of recession and low economic growth, when wages don’t increase by much, if at all, low wage earners find pound shops extremely valuable. When unemployment is relatively high, more people are living off benefits. Middle and upper classes too feel compelled to look for value in their shopping, and then there are students and other such groups of consumers who are very conscious about their spending. With their unique business model, pound shops are able to reach out to, and cater to, a larger customer base than other retailers. Pound shops also employ an effective tool in their marketing mixes- that of psychological pricing, in pricing. 99c is a successful price point chain in UK, and others also use the psychological pricing effectively, to give the consumer the perception of greater value for money. In terms

1st Law of Performance, Eotional Inteligence, Issues in Managing teams Assignment

1st Law of Performance, Eotional Inteligence, Issues in Managing teams - Assignment Example Individuals’ gut reactions are the drivers of their decision making, which means that how they perceive other members of the group will dictate their performance. At my current workplace, this law was put into practice during the execution of a project plan. The team manager immediately set about managing commitment networks between members of the project team, even before the project began. He was obviously trying to control how the project occurred to members of the team by introducing us to one another and asking us for the parts of the project that excited us most (Zaffron & Logan, 2009). After discussing the project, most of the members began to respect one another’s expertise as we realized we had been chosen for specific tasks. One important aspect of this first law is the team members’ emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence can be generally defined as an individual’s ability to perceive their emotions and those of their team members, as well as ability to control their own emotions and evaluate them (Hicks & Bone, 2010). While some contend that EI can be strengthened and even learned, there is also a belief that it is inborn. Emotionally intelligence can also be more specifically defined as a social intelligence subset that involves an individual’s ability to monitor their own, as well as their fellow teammate’s, emotions and feelings. It is also a measure of how they are able to discriminate among these feelings, and to use the results as a guide to their decision-making. There are four principle factors that determine an individual’s EI, including emotional perception, reasoning ability using the perceived emotions, ability to understand these emotions, and abi lity to manage them. In the contemporary organization, emotional intelligence is important during meetings (Hicks & Bone, 2010). Emotional intelligence of meeting’s participants enhances the careful planning and skilful execution of the