Geicos Modified Rhetorical Approach - 1226 Words

Geico’s Modified Rhetorical Approach Geico Insurance Company is known for using humorous and absurd mascots as a main selling point in their advertisements. Mascots that Geico has used in the past include the infamous Geico gecko, with the mysterious accent and the Geico caveman who seemed to be a jack-of-all-trades. Geico has recently taken a new approach to advertising their insurance. Authors of Geico commercials have recently introduced their newest mascot, Mike McGlone, a well-known actor, to play the role of pompous reporter. Through the use of their new character, Geico is able to able to reach their target audience of anyone that is uninsured by Geico. Geicos new technique of advertising is based on a heavy use of the pathos appeal to play on the audience’s emotions while using lesser amounts of ethical and logical appeals. This new strategy has proven to be a very effective method of marketing. The Geico commercial takes place in a dentist’s office where a dentist is performing a cleaning for a patient while watching television. When a Geico Commercial appears on the TV, the dentist is seemed surprised to hear that, â€Å"15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more on car insurance†. The patient in the room responded as if the information was common knowledge and that a majority of people would be aware of Geico’s 15-minute ad. The patient comment acted as a confirmation to validate Geico’s mission statement. The educated dentist felt foolish in front of his patient

Cyberbullying And Its Effects On Society - 860 Words

Cyberbullying is any bullying that takes place with the use of electronic technology; cell phones, computers, social media, texting, and other electronic methods of communication. Cyberbullying typically happens to teenagers, when it happens to an adult is considered cyber-harassment or cyberstalking. Cyberbullying is different than in person bullying because it can happen anytime, victims find it hard to escape, the bully can be anonymous, and the bully can be anywhere in the world. Children who are being cyberbullied are also most likely being bullied in person. There are many different types of cyberbullying. Harassing someone through texting, instant messaging, and emails. Posting rumors or embarrassing information on the internet.†¦show more content†¦If a child is the bully they may become increasingly aggressive, get sent to the principle more often, or even have friends who are bullies. Children who are less popular and who have less friends are more at risk of being bullied. Being different is also a contributing factor. Bullies in some cases have been bullied themselves in the past or are having trouble at home. Kids who are bullied are more likely to have depression and anxiety, complain about their health, and have lower grades. They are also more likely to drop out of school and have suicidal thoughts. While not every kid who is bullied will be suicidal, minorities are the most likely; American Indians, Asian Americans, Native Americans, African Americans, and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) youth. Even kid s who just witness bullying are more likely to be depressed, skip school, and use drugs and alcohol. According to Cyberbullying statistics from the i-SAFE foundation and the Cyberbullying Research Center, over half of teenagers experience some type of cyberbullying, and 20 percent said that they experience it regularly. Because over 80 percent of teenagers use their cell phone regularly, it is the most common method for cyberbullying. More than half of young people do not tell their parents that they are being cyberbullied, and according to the Harford County Examiner, less than 1 in 5 cyberbullying occurrences are reported to the police. Sometimes there are case of

The Status of the Company Free Essays

Running Head: AVON PRODUCTS, INC. 1 1. Provide a brief description of the status of the company that led to its determination that a change was necessary. We will write a custom essay sample on The Status of the Company or any similar topic only for you Order Now Avon Products, Inc. (Avon) is a 122 year old company whose primary focus is on the economic empowerment of women around the world. Basically, the organization is a leader in direct distribution of cosmetics, fragrances and skin care products. Prior to and including the year 2005, the company was considered to be a very successful company operating in over 40 countries with 70% of its revenue from outside of the United States. Its growth rate on profit margin was outstanding. In 2006, the company found itself in a declining state in revenue and profits. The company’s direct-selling business was taking on great costs for a number of reasons including global legal restrictions and some dissatisfaction of the company’s representatives. Since Avon’s reliance is on its direct-selling, the earnings and representative satisfaction are essential for the success of the business. The underlying factor along with other contributing causes was that Avon had grown faster than portions of its infrastructure and talent could support. The structure, people and processes that support a $5 billion company were not necessarily a good support for the $10 billion company. In the process of reviewing its talent practices the talent management team was able to identify six areas of missing or poorly functioning talent processes. The weaknesses that were found in Avon’s existing talent practices were listed 1) opaque; 2) egalitarian; 3) complex; 4) episodic; 5) emotional; and 6) meaningless. 2. Identify the model for change theory typified in the case study of your choice. Discuss what led you to identify the model that you did. Faced with the challenges of its flattening revenues and declining operating profits, Avon’s CEO restructured the organization and significant changes were made. As the changes began, it was found that Avon had some issues with its talent, both with the existing talent and with the company’s ability to identify and produce talent. The change model in the Avon case was the 360-degree feedback assessment tool. According to Silzer Dowell (2010), the rise of 360-degree feedback assessments encouraged greater use of competency models built specifically around leadership behaviors. Silzer Dowell (2010) go on to say that â€Å"organizations soon had lists of the leadership behaviors they expected from their managers,† which was the case with Avon. Avon was found to be opaque. As such, the talent practices within the organization were not known to the managers or to the associates. The resulting change was that of new practices and a re-making of the existing practices to become more transparent except for when there were confidentiality concerns. Another weakness that existed with Avon’s talent practices was that the company was egalitarian and needed to turn around the quality of its talent. Once this was understood, Avon made a change to differentiate its investment in its talent. This allowed for the company to better match the effectiveness of its talent investment with the expected return since before the turnaround the high performers were not engaged and the low performers were not managed very effectively. Avon’s level of complexity in its talent management practices was another noted weakness. Quality talent was not grown as quickly as was needed by the company so Avon simplified its talent process to ensure a balanced process. Employee surveys and talent reviews were performed episodically. Decisions concerning promotions and other objectives were more or less influenced by as much by individual knowledge and emotion as by objective facts. The turnaround that was made here was that relationships became stronger and as the business grew, leaders know of other’s performance or development needs and used this factor in determining talent management. Finally, meaningless talent practices such as Human Resources professionals not being able to answer most of the basic questions posed by managers about talent practices and there was not existing accountability. With the new talent practices, questions were answered and talent reviews were done and notations of progress were made. This was indication that effective communication had begun to take place. In this case, feedback was helpful and resulted in changed behaviors and overall things were done differently. According to Silzer Dowell (2010) as leadership concepts and education gained greater currency, it became clear that the followers (subordinates) of leaders should share their views on their leader’s effectiveness. Greater use of this model encouraged greater use of competency models built around leadership behaviors. 3. Illustrate the types of evaluation information that were collected and how they are used to benefit the company. As stated earlier, Avon faced challenges of flattening revenues and declining operating profits. Regarding this situation there were many contributing causes. One underlying issue was that Avon had grown faster than portions of its infrastructure and talent could support (Goldsmith, Carter, 2010, p. 2). Avon’s structure, including people and processes, had grown from that of a company with $5 billion in revenues to that of a company with $10 billion in revenues. With this growth Avon’s structure was no longer a good fit and was in need of a turnaround. To begin the process of turning the business around, the talent management group (TM) started by requesting copies of the 360-degree assessment of each VP, not to take any action against anyone, but to gain more knowledge about the behavioral information of the top leaders. Every enterprise must build knowledge into its value proposition. Knowledge cannot be separated but needs to be an explicit part of everything about an enterprise† (Edersheim, 2007, p. 189). The 360-degree feedback is a performance measurement which involves rating individuals on work-related behaviors. According to Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, Wright (2011), there are benefits of the 360-degree feedback. Organizations collect multiple perspective s of managers’ performance, allowing employees to compare their own personal evaluations with the views of others. The request for the 360-degree assessment was denied citing confidentiality. This matter was addressed and a new and simpler 360-degree assessment process was designed and implemented which now allowed for the disclosure of behavioral information to be used when making decisions relative to promotions and assignments. The new process aided in making the talent process less complex and more transparent The performance management form within Avon was a ten page long form and many of the associates had not had a review in a number of years. With the turnaround process, Associates were now aligned with a different set of goals and could expect fair rewards. More value was added to the process because now managers had a simpler tool to use and it allowed them to manage their teams more effectively. Prior to the turnaround at Avon, accountability for talent practices was non-existent. With the implementation of the new process, it was believed that the focus could be on people issues and that mangers could be held accountable for the improvement thereof. Further, Associates were empowered to hold the managers accountable and to inform Human Resource leaders if things were not happening. The issues concerning accountability were applied such that talent management was the responsibility of the leaders within the organization and in keeping with Avon’s culture. 4. Speculate about success of the changes within the next five (5) years and how adjustments could be made if the results become less than ideal. The talent practices at Avon had some weaknesses which were addressed during a year to a year and a half turnaround period. This process after turnaround saw great effective improvements in the talent practices. The most noticeable changes were in the areas of clear goal setting, feedback, development planning, and people effectiveness. As the talent management process has become simpler and more transparent at Avon, the development of leaders is now on a faster track. The work experience is also improved having made leaders more accountable for their behaviors. The effectiveness of the new process has contributed to Avon’s goals of reducing expenses and increasing revenue. It is expected that Avon will continue to grow and with the updated talent practices, better leaders will be developed faster and those leaders must continue with the development and growth of potential new leaders. This process is expected to continue and Avon will stay on track in achieving its goals for continued success. It is important that the vision of the organization is continuously communicated. According to Bates (n. d. ) many leaders fail to get their messages across even though they are intelligent, analytical, and decisive leaders. Human resource professionals know that the consequences are serious if leaders cannot successfully communicate a vision. Executives have to motivate and inspire, or they will fail. One role of HR professionals is to recognize when there is an issue and help leaders develop this skill. References Bates, S. (n. d. ). Communicating vision: How HR professionals can help leaders articulate big ideas and get people moving in one direction. Retrieved 11/03/12 from http://www. hrcrossing. com/article/270140 Edersheim, E. H. (2007). The definitive Drucker. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Goldsmith, M. , Carter, Louis. (2010). Best practices in talent management: how the world’s leading corporations manage, develop, and retain top talent. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer Noe, R. A. , Hollenbeck, J. R. , Gerhart, B. , Wright, P. M. (2011). Fundamentals of human resource management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Silzer, R. , Dowell, B. E. (2010). Strategy-driven talent management: A leadership imperative. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. How to cite The Status of the Company, Essay examples

Cyclical nature of the play Essay Example For Students

Cyclical nature of the play Essay The structure and pattern of Act One is a template for the rest of the play and reflects the cyclical nature of the play as a whole. In each Act, with each character, the Inspector outlines the events involving each family member, shows a photograph to the relevant family member which leads the character to confess to their misdeeds. Act One begins with this chain of events; the Birlings feeling self-satisfied, the next stage is that they are then upset by the Inspector, then the Inspector leaves and the Birlings return to feeling self-satisfied. The play closes with an inspector calling to bring the cycle full circle.  Ã‚  That was the Police; a girl has just died on her way to the Infirmary after drinking some disinfectant. And a police inspector is on his way here to ask some questions. There is a dramatic mood change during Act One, brought on by the arrival of the inspector. Priestleys stage directions regarding the lighting reflect this, The lighting should be pink and intimate until the Inspector arrives, and then it should be brighter and harder. This change in lighting represents the idea that before the arrival of the Inspector, the Birlings were seeing the world through rose-tinted-glasses (only seeing the nicer side of life, things they wanted to see) whereas when the inspector arrives the truth is revealed and reality kicks in. There are no longer any shadows to hide the Birlings from their inconsiderate acts. Another of Priestleys messages seems to be that there is hope for the future. On seeing how they have affected the life of Eva Smith, both Sheila and Eric act remorsefully. The character of Sheila is fairly caring at the beginning of the play, but as events unravel, and Sheila realises her guilt, her character develops from a fairly naive young girlish character to a more mature, understanding person. This change is so dramatic that to compare the Sheila who at the end of the play has taken to heart the Inspectors lessons, I remember what he said, how he looked, and what he made me feel. Fire and blood and anguish., with the Sheila who had a young girl fired from her job because of her own personal paranoia and who acted so differently earlier, you would think they were different people. This is similar to a comparison made between the drunken, playful Eric of Act One with the sober serious Eric at the end of Act Three who has learned that his own mother played a major role in driving the woman bearing his child to suicide The older generation, however, fail to change their views representing the fact that they are set in their ways. Mr and Mrs Birling are all too happy to dismiss the evenings events as false once the chance appears that the Inspector may not have been a police Inspector. The senior Birlings are the examples of the people who will be taught through Fire and blood and anguish. They will only learn through their own foolish mistakes. This is very different to the reactions of younger generation who are disturbed and moved by the Inspectors visit and comments. You seem to have made a great impression on this child Inspector comments Birling. The Inspector answers this comment with the statement We often do on the young ones. Theyre more impressionable. This implies that Priestley is trying to say that there is potential for change in the young ones which is not as evident in the older generation. The play An Inspector Calls is set in 1912 but was written in 1945. Edwardian society at that time (1912) was strictly divided into social classes and over two-thirds of the nations wealth was in the hands of less than one percent of the population. Below the very rich were the middle classes (doctors and merchants, shop workers and clerks), after that came the craftsmen and skilled workers. At the very bottom of the social ladder was the largest class of all the ordinary workers and the poor, many of whom lived below the poverty level. The men of industry treated the workers very badly and they were paid a pittance. This caused workers to become better organised and strikes were becoming more frequent as they demanded better conditions and higher pay. .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a , .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a .postImageUrl , .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a , .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a:hover , .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a:visited , .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a:active { border:0!important; } .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a:active , .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u22d62a130993fd3b94e0e9e87a999c2a:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Romeo and Juliet: What is the dramatic significance of Act 3, Scene 1? EssayAct One presents the audience with Priestleys understanding of the middle classes, of this time, through the life of the Birlings, very accurately, and sets the stage for this moralistic mystery to be played out. J.B. Priestley was writing the play for a middle class audience and was trying to speak up for the working class by showing how the Birlings and Gerald Croft were all involved in making a young working class girls life a misery. Priestley wants to show us that we have a responsibility to others to act fairly and without prejudice and that we do not live in isolation. Our actions affect oth ers. This is the concept of collective responsibility. Priestley says, things could really improve if only people were to become more socially responsible for the welfare of others. We have to confront our mistakes and learn from them Act One begins the process of inspection into beliefs and morals for both the audience and the characters. In my opinion, in the writing of this play, Priestleys aim was to make us think, to make us question our own characters and beliefs. He wanted to show us that we can change, and we can decide which views we side with. He wanted us to ask ourselves if we wanted to be a Sheila or a Sybil, an Eric or an Arthur. Priestley wanted the audience to learn from the mistakes of the Birlings. Priestley wanted to make a difference in the way people think. The play gives the audience and society as a whole, time to change their actions towards others. That is, before an Inspector calls on you, to warn you that if the lesson is not learnt, it will be taught in blood and fire and in anguish.